Missed Fists: Kickboxer scores knockout with spinning kick to the groin

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.

We’ve never kept an official tally for which finishing technique is most frequently featured in Missed Fists, but I feel confident saying that we see an inordinate amount of head kick and knee knockouts on the regional and international scene compared to your average major league show. Every week, two or three poor souls end up taking a part of the leg to the dome and getting wiped out.

What are sorely lacking are fights finished via kick to the groin (probably because they’re not “legal” or whatever), a situation that we can rectify for one week at least.

(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.)

Yuki Koza vs. Kan Nakamura

From RISE El Dorado 2024 in Tokyo, here’s Yuki Koza firing a spin kick right between the legs of Kan Nakamura and scoring a third-round TKO win:

First off, let me say that personally, I agree with the official call here that the kick likely connected with the inner thigh. Here’s another angle:

It’s reasonable that this was a legal strike, right? That said, it’s also hard for me to believe that the spinning strike didn’t at least catch some of Nakamura’s twig and/or berries, so having him take a knockout loss here seems unreasonably harsh. Then again, we can all agree that no-contests suck and you don’t want to rob someone of a victory either.

Regardless, watch either angle again and you’ll agree that it’s a hell of a visual as it’s certainly possible that Koza sharply connected with his heel to a spot where no fighter ever wants to be spin kicked. If Nakamura wasn’t faking or embellishing, this is our front-runner for the weirdest and arguably worst knockout loss of 2024.

In better news, we also saw one of the best knockouts of 2024 when Ryunosuke Omori landed maybe the fastest spinning backfist in recorded human history.

I’d swear up and down that that’s a sped-up clip, but nope, Omori landed that bad boy in real time. He finds his balance, drops his hands, and then BOOM whips that glove into Koyata Yamada’s face. Instant KO.

Jorge Calvo vs. Kike Gonzalez
Uriel Uribe vs. Carlos Gomez
Alan Alexis Castro vs. Alejandro Villarreal

Viewer warning for this next set of clips! We got a little blood on the way.

From Lux Fight League 41 in Monterrey, Mexico, Jorge Calvo successfully defended his flyweight title against Kike Gonzalez, but not without having to make it through five rounds that became the stuff of nightmares.

The challenger was actually on his way to taking the first round with a late flurry of ground-and-pound before Calvo caught him with an elbow from the bottom. That scraping shot is all it took to bust Gonzalez open. Badly.

By the end of the fight, the mat was soaked in Gonzalez’s blood, looking more like a demented Slip N Slide than an apparatus that two human beings should be fighting on.

Calvo survived a spirited effort from Gonzalez to take a convincing win on the cards (49-46 across the board), but he’ll be thinking about this one for a while, I’m sure.

Here are a few more highlights from the fight:

Earlier on the card, Uriel Uribe delivered a perfectly timed Sparta kick to Carlos Gomez to secure a knockout in the closing moments of the fight.

Look at that, just kicked him right in the mush as he stood up.

And on the prelims, Alan Alexis Castro and Alejandro Villarreal decided to toss out the rules and engage in a classic “First Guy To Die Loses” duel, which Castro won handily.

Lux Fight League 41 is available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Marcelo Morrelli vs. Sylwester Miller

We had a major upset at Strife Tube 4 over in Legionowo, Poland, as one-time Cage Warriors bantamweight title challenger Sylwester Miller was choked flat-out unconscious by the relatively unknown Marcelo Morrelli.

Depending where you look, Morrelli was either 1-3 or 3-3 heading into this contest and according to Sherdog he actually won a fight just five days before stepping up for this fight. No matter how you slice it, this is an impressive feat and another tough break for Miller.

The Polish standout memorably challenged then-undefeated Cage Warriors bantamweight champion Jack Cartwright in 2021 and looked capable of handing him his first defeat, but found himself disqualified because he just could not stop throwing headbutts. Miller is 2-4 since.

A free replay of Strife Tube 4 is available on YouTube.

Michele Martignoni vs. Raz Bring
Omiel Brown vs. Rafael Aronov

Speaking of Cage Warriors (and winning fighters with the initials M.M. oddly enough), we head back to the land of Fight Pass to admire Michele Martignoni’s sweet knockout setup at Cage Warriors 167 in Manchester, England.

Martignoni rifles in a body shot and a feint to open up Raz Bring’s defenses, leaving him vulnerable to a baseball bat right hand that puts him down. Volume and precision!

Slightly harder to watch, but no less impressive from a technical standpoint, here’s Omiel Brown nearly popping Rafael Aronov’s head off with a guillotine choke.

Brown actually won his first two pro bouts via guillotine and hadn’t scored one since 2021 before putting choking out Aronov this past weekend.

Anthony Drilich vs. Satoru Enomoto

Not sure if you heard, but these Australian flyweights have got some hands.

At Eternal MMA 83 (also available on UFC Fight Pass) in Queensland, Australia, Anthony Drilich crushed a charging Satoru Enomoto with an elbow to the chin before finishing with hammerfists. This was Drilich’s first defense of his 125-pound title and his fifth straight win overall.

Steve Erceg is already leading the way for Aussie flyweights with a title shot and a pay-per-view headlining spot just four fights into his UFC career. Don’t be surprised if his countryman joins him on the roster soon.

Damian Rzepecki vs. Giorgi Esiava

At Fight Exclusive Night 53 in Lubin, Poland, we had ourselves a good ol’ fashioned noggin-rattler, courtesy of Damian Rzepecki.

If this was a movie, you’d be screaming at the screen for Giorgi Esiava to move his hands downward to around Rzepecki’s midsection to prevent him from loading up the knee. Instead, he ducked his head right into the fight-ending blow and Rzebecki knew right away there was no need for a follow-up.

Santhiago Paiva vs. Rodrigo Rivoin

This week in the world of successful Buggy chokes, we have Santhiago Paiva snuffing out the best submission defense efforts of Rodrigo Rivoin.

I’ve figured out that this is one of those en vogue holds that is a sure win if your opponent hasn’t practiced defending it, but also potentially calamitous for the attacker if they have. It worked out for here for Paiva, who resembled a human bear trap that Rivoin had the misfortune of wandering into.

Until next week, remember everyone, never be afraid to punch upwards:

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.