Missed Fists: Fighter stops his opponent with pair of flying knees

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

And truth be told, times are even more hectic this week as Christmas came on Wednesday, and the holidays always play havoc with MMA scheduling. Nonetheless, plenty of people got concussions and/or broken limbs for the holidays, and so, of course, we’ve gathered the best of them here as our gift to you fine readers.

By the way, Alexander K. Lee is off for the holidays, so you’re stuck with Jed this week. Hope that’s cool.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Yutaro Asahi vs. Jan Kaffa

Sung Hyun Lee vs. Berjan Peposhi

Miguel Trindade vs. Kento Haraguchi

Miguel Trindade vs. Chadd Collins

Tenshin Nasukawa vs. Petmai Superlek.

While we all love MMA, the best highlight of this past week most assuredly came from kickboxing, specifically, Glory Kickboxing’s RISE World Series 2024 Final.

In a reserve bout for the featherweight grand prix, Yutaro Asahi finished Jan Kaffa with flying knees, and while there is a little bit of controversy surrounding the stoppage, there’s no controversy about how friggin’ cool this fight was. Both men let it rip for almost three full rounds before a pair of leaping knees ended the action. Just look at this!

I genuinely do not understand how Kaffa managed to survive that first knee, and while I can kind of understand his argument about the second knee, that thing landed and he fell over.

How often do you see multiple flying knees lead to a finish, even a questionable one? Never, that’s the answer.

This was just an appetizer though because a little bit later, during one of the quarterfinal matchups, Sung Hyun Lee and Berjan Peposhi went to war, highlighted by a second round featuring knockdowns from both men.

Lee ultimately won a majority decision, but lost to eventual grand prix winner Petch in the semifinals.

The MVP of the card though was undoubtedly Miguel Trindade, who won both his quarterfinal and semifinal matchups with devastating knockouts over Kento Haraguchi and Chadd Collins respectively. Against Haraguchi, Trindade landed a blistering overhand right that floored the Japanese fighter, while against Collins, the Portuguese fighter battered him with combinations and finished the job with a brutal knee.

And, of course, I’d be remiss not to mention Ryujin Nasukawa, younger brother to the great Tenshin Nasukawa, picking up a nasty knee victory of his own over Petmai Superlek.

Only 18 years old, Nasukawa fought once in MMA, picking up a win at RIZIN 45 last New Year’s Eve. Might be time for him to go back.

Salahdine Parnasse vs. Wilson Varela

Marcin Held vs. Davy Gallon

Laïd Zerhouni vs. Alain Van De Merckt

Artur Szczepaniak vs. Alex Lohore

Amaury Wako-Zabo vs. Maciej Rebacz

Now let’s move over to Poland, where quite possibly the most fun MMA organization in the world, KSW, held its 101st event, headlined by a lightweight title defense for two-division champion Salahdine Parnasse. Widely considered to be one of the best fighters currently competing outside of the UFC, Parnasse showed why he’s so well-regarded, dominating Wilson Varela en route to a second-round finish.

With a 20-2 record in his professional career, with one of those losses coming when he attempted to become a three-division world champion, the 27-year-old showed that he’s still improving each time out.

But Parnasse wasn’t the only fighter to pick up a big win this past Friday. In the co-main event, Marcin Held picked up his third consecutive win in KSW, finishing Davy Gallon with a mounted guillotine choke in under three minutes.

Held has basically fought for everyone at this stage of his career — at one point (sort of ) winning the Bellator season 10 lightweight tournament (he missed weight for the finals), making a brief run in the UFC (he went 1-3 in the promotion), and even a couple of years in the PFL. Still only 32, the Polish fighter began competing for KSW in 2023 and seems to have found a home for his unique grappling skills.

You know who else has a home? Laïd Zerhouni, who laid down a thunderous KO on Alain Van De Merckt in the feature bout of the evening.

Back in the day, AK and I used to give out the “He Fell Funny” award for the best Ric Flair Flop KO. I don’t know if AK still does that, but this is definitely a contender.

That wasn’t all from KSW though as the rest of the undercard also did its best to entertain the fans at KSW 101. Case-in-point, Artur Szczepaniak finished Alex Lohore about three times in their fight before referee Lukasz Bosacki finally decided to intervene.

Lohore must have made enemies with Bosacki because by my count he takes 18 unanswered strikes after getting wobbled with the high kick and then dropped with the right hand. Yeesh.

And in just the second bout of the evening, Amaury Wako-Zabo really set the tone with a nasty body shot KO of Maciej Rebacz.

With an extensive amateur background, Wako-Zabo made his professional debut this year and is already 3-0 in his career.

Bagdat Zhubanysh vs. Yan Ferraz

Nikolay Kiosse vs. Nurbek Kabdrakhmanov

Now, let’s move over to the burgeoning MMA hotbed of Kazakhstan, where this past Saturday, Naiza FC held its 70th event, and two men walked away as champion.

In the co-main event, hometown hero and strawweight champion Bagdat Zhubanysh defended his title against Yan Ferraz, and the 28-year-old champion battered the Brazilian challenger with a vicious combination to earn the TKO stoppage at the bell in the second round.

Things then got even spicier in the main event where featherweight champion Nurbek Kabdrakhmanov defended his title against Nikolay Kiosse, but things didn’t go nearly as well for this local favorite.

After a competitive first few minutes, Kiosse landed a thunderous right-hand counter when Kabdrakhmanov went to knee him, flooring the champion and taking his title.

Kiosse is now 9-3-1 in his career with seven finishes, and at just 27 years old, he may be one to watch out for in the coming years.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.