Video: Fighter suffers skull fracture in kickboxing debut
Well that’s an unfortunate way to see your debut end.
What do Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos, Jeremy Balasse and Danil Sharov have in common? All of them have suffered horrific skull fractures in their respective fights.
The aforementioned Sharov joined the likes of Santos and Balasse after his kickboxing debut at FKR Pro 1 this past Friday went awry. In the second round of his fight with Danil Kirikov, the Russian was caught with a knee straight to his forehead.
Upon seeing his opponent, Kirikov noticed the damage he caused between the eyes, paused and pointed it out immediately. In response, Sharov reached up and felt his forehead, which was now stamped with quite a dent. But he wanted to continue, and threw one more kick before the referee finally saw what the initial pause was all about.
The ringside physician was requested, and after one look at the dent, told the referee to stop the fight. Kirikov was declared the winner by second-round TKO.
You can watch the fight-ending sequence below, courtesy of Twitter user @FDRNPHW:
Warning: The video below is graphic. Please proceed with caution.
Horrific injury at a kickboxing event in Russia (headlined by Vladimir Mineev) 4 days ago. Knee to the head broke one of the fighters skull à la MVP vs Evangelista Santos. pic.twitter.com/k5c28PGvSz
— Fedor’s nephew (@FdrNphw) November 22, 2022
There is no word yet on the condition of Sharov, but it is likely he requires surgery to repair the skull fracture. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery and can return to the kickboxing ring at some point.
As for Kirikov, he improves to 1-0 as a professional kickboxer. He also dabbled in mixed martial arts, but fell short in his debut against Vyacheslav Starikov at AMC Fight Nights 112 in Russia earlier this year.