It`s been a year marked by discussions about unfair play in combat sports, with frequent eye pokes in UFC events and questionable calls in boxing. While cheating is generally frowned upon, sometimes bending the rules can inadvertently lead to victory.
Let`s look at a recent Contra MMA event in Poland where a fighter benefited from a rule infraction, though unintentionally.
Daniel Czarniecki, in an amateur fight against Mikolaj Koguciuk, accidentally kicked his opponent in the groin at the start of the second round. The kick was clearly unintentional but landed hard. Czarniecki paused his attack, but the referee urged them to continue.
Czarniecki then proceeded to aggressively attack a clearly stunned Koguciuk, who, possibly still recovering and not hearing the referee, turned his back. Czarniecki capitalized with punches, a left hook sending Koguciuk`s mouthpiece flying and ending the fight.
In another fight from Road FC 72 in Seoul, Ji Yong Yang moved up in weight on short notice and faced Nandin Erdene. Despite his eagerness, Yang was quickly overwhelmed and defeated within 90 seconds by the larger Erdene.
Also at Road FC 72, Ye Jun Pyun and Sin Woo Lee had an intense staredown. Pyun then went on to win the fight with spinning strikes and powerful right hands in the second round.
At a Beatdown Promotions event in Australia, Jean Alexander Romano delivered a decisive knockout to Nick Thornton, seemingly hitting his head on the ring post.
In Slovakia at Real Fight Arena 20, Branislav Zuzak, channeling Fabricio Werdum, rushed in on Maicon Kobayashi and suffered a knockout defeat.
Marcel Simo dominated Daniel Konyari until Konyari attempted a desperate takedown. Simo countered with a jumping knee, ending the fight.
At National Fighting Championship 174, Cole Ferrell achieved an 18-second knockout against Cody Shelton, and Javanis Ross scored a stylish knockout with a spinning kick to Louis Brewington`s chin.
Miguel Suazo landed a lightning-fast 12-second knockout at Tuff-N-Uff 142 with a powerful left hand.
Jesse Roberts demonstrated the concept of “coffin nails” by finishing Omar Rzgoev with brutal follow-up punches after a knockdown.
Yaroslav Amosov, a former Bellator champion, also secured a quick victory at Cage Fury FC 140 against Curtis Millender.
Finally, at Fusion FC 88 in Peru, Kevin Pastran expertly countered a kick from Martin Rafael with a precise right hand knockout.
Marcus Blakely