Missed Fists: Shergazy Bolotbek Uulu wins fight with axe kick to groin knockout

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.

As any self-respecting combat sports fan will tell you, the greatest rivalry in the history of our industry is the blood rivalry between Eric Prindle and Thiago “Big Monster” Santos. Long story short, Prindle and Santos first fought in November 2011, with the bout ending in under 90 seconds when Santos caught a supine Prindle with a kick right to the taint. Suffice to say, a no-contest.

Fast forward nine months, Prindle and Santos meet again and this time it’s Santos on his back with Prindle hovering over him. Intrusive thoughts won out and moments later, WHAMMO, Prindle fired off an axe kick to the nuts. Prindle had his revenge, and by revenge I mean a disqualification loss that knocked him out of a heavyweight tournament.

I remind you of all this to queue up our first clip that somehow doesn’t end in a no-contest or disqualification, but rather a shocking knockout victory.

(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.)

Shergazy Bolotbek Uulu vs. Khusniddin Nasriddinov
Murtazali Magomedov vs. Claudeci Brito
Sofiia Bagishvili vs. Marina Shutova

I’m not a doctor, but that sure looks like an illegal kick to the yabos, in my opinion.

Upon further review and about 50 replays, I can see that maybe Shergazy Bolotbek Uulu’s axe kick landed above the groinal region before drifting downward. Either way, I’m seeing a lot of below-the-belt contact and I’m not inclined to think Khusniddin Nasriddinov is faking.

Screw it, let’s watch it a few more times.

Regardless of how we might feel about it, believe it or not the official result was a third-round TKO for Bolotbek Uulu. That’s how the Octagon League website has it, that’s how Sherdog has it, and Tapology has it as a KO/TKO via “unintentional groin kick.” Of all the fighters who got away with one in 2024, Bolotbek Uulu might take the cake.

What do you guys think?

In the main event, featherweight champion Murtazali Magomedov successfully defended his title with this spectacular knee knockout.

He caught Claudeci Brito leaning in with his jab and countered perfectly, driving that knee right up into Brito’s chin. Follow-up shots might have been unnecessary, but they definitely sealed the deal.

Let’s check in on the latest exploits from strawweight submission specialist Sofia Bagishvili.

When we last wrote about Bagishvili, she was playing the role of fighter and referee, essentially calling an end to her own fight as she pointed out that her opponent’s arm was injured. That win improved her record to 7-1, but she’s seen mixed results since then, winning just four of her past 10 fights.

That’s one of the four above, a nasty-as-all-get-out armbar preceded by a slick trip. Even if Bagishvili never becomes a champion, she’s leaving a trail of mangled limbs in her wake.

Octagon League 67 is available for free replay on YouTube.

Ion Surdu vs. Kaik Brito
Marek Bartl vs. Endrit Brajshori

If we visit Octagon League, it’s only fair we also give time to Oktagon MMA, which held an event in Munchen, Germany this past Saturday.

In the main event, former KSW fighter Ion Surdu gave us maybe the dirtiest head kick of the year as he leveled Kaik Brito to capture a vacant welterweight title.

By dirtiest, I don’t mean illegal, but how I felt inside watching it. Coming off of a separation, Brito just happens to circle right into Surdu’s leg and it absolutely destroys him. He can’t even fall down straight with his body completely shutting down.

Marek Bartl had an equally filthy finish on the preliminary portion of the card, breaking out an inverted triangle to submit Endrit Brajshori.

Sometimes you see submissions like this seemingly materialize by accident, but that looked like brilliant improvisation and execution by Bartl. He knew exactly the position he had to get into to lock that one in. Great stuff.

Cristian Rodriguez vs. Sebastian Vidal
Myllena Messias vs. Marinez Rodriguez
Gerald Morales vs. Leonardo Colmenares

From Open Fight Latam 11 in Chile (replay available for free on YouTube), we have Cristian Rodriguez turning a rolling blunder into a pretty sweet triangle choke.

Remember what I just said about cool finishes sometimes happening by accident? I’m guessing that’s a closer description to what happened here as Rodriguez looked like he was ready to roll out the damn cage were it not for him crashing into the fence. Regardless, he had the wherewithal to kick off of it and then tangle Vidal up to bring him to the mat. Then he took advantage of a scrambling Vidal to lock in the choke. Just like coach drew it up, I’m sure.

In bantamweight action, Myllena Messias used that long leg of hers to straight punt Marinez Rodriguez in the stomach, bringing an abrupt end to their fight.

And lastly from OFL, here’s Gerald Morales locking in a punishing calf slicer.

Simply put, one of my favorite submissions in all of MMA. I’ll never leave it out.

Ryogo Takahashi vs. Ginji Hara
Jin Aoi vs. Takahiro Ashida

From DEEP 123 Impact in Tokyo, a tale of two soccer kicks.

In the first clip, Ryogo Takahashi put an exclamation point on a knockout win with this powerful kick on a fallen Ginji Hara. To me, it looks like Hara was already done, and maybe the referee could have stepped in quicker. But Takahashi also could have, like, chosen not to go full Ibrahimovich on dude’s head? I don’t know.

Jin Aoi, on the other hand, super necessary! His opponent slipped and left themselves in a vulnerable position, Aoi reflex kicked, and moments later he had another notch in the win column. That’s just good footy.

Jose Antonio Dimas vs. Nexar Pincay

Want to see an arm just get destroyed by an Americana? No. Well, skip ahead, then.

Otherwise:

At an Ultimate Combat Challenge event in Panama, amateur bantamweight Jose Antonio Dimas caught Nexar Pincay’s arm and moments later it was uh-oh-SpaghettiO for the limb as it was bent in all the wrong ways. Once that adrenaline wore off, that had to hurt something fierce.

Rafael Silva vs. Ariel Jaeger

At Jungle Fight 133 in Sao Paulo, Rafael Silva’s persistence paid off with this combo that fell just short of top marks, but was effective all the same.

Silva cracked Ariel Jaeger with a right hand, which just about stopped the fight there, then attempted a flying knee that whiffed. It didn’t matter, because another right hand hammer followed and Jaeger was knocked out cold.

Roberth Batte vs. Moises Calatayud

Your “Blink And You Missed It” Award this week goes to Robert Batte, who closed out the main event of Copa Ciclon Combat 2 in THREE seconds with this blitzkrieg of Moises Calatayud.

Hey, is that another missed knee into a right hand knockout? Is missing a knee the best setup to land a haymaker? Discuss.

Cristiano Oliveira vs. Davi Cadena

Joaquin Buckley fights this Saturday and what luck, we had Cristian Oliveira paying homage to him at a Paranagua Fight International event this past weekend.

We all remember Buckley’s unbelievable spinning heel kick KO of future millionaire Impa Kasangay and while Oliveira didn’t quite replicate that feat, this is a fine effort and one neither he nor his opponent will forget anytime soon.

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.