Missed Fists: Vanessa Demopoulos gets thrown head over heels taking on sumo wrestler

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.

Modern MMA as we know it was founded on the thrill of seeing a smaller fighter like Royce Gracie dominate his competition with mystifying and forbidden techniques, proving once and for all that every David has a chance against Goliath with the proper tools.

Who better than UFC strawweight champion Vanessa Demopoulos to show this?

(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. )

Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Ramy Elgazar

Suffice it to say that “Lil Monster”, while not as successful as the legendary Royce Gracie, was still a success.

In what looks to be playful spar, Demopoulos opens the contest with an attempt at a flying I’m-not-entirely-sure-what and is promptly dumped to the mat by Egyptian sumo wrestler Ramy Elgazar. He looks to have about 800 pounds on Demopoulos, so the failed attempt can be forgiven in this instance.

Demopoulos has become famous for her post-fight celebration in which she jumps into the interviewer’s arms, so it’s cool to see her try and implement that into an actual fight. Maybe her next octagon opponent should be wary of the 5-foot-2 dynamo going airborne to set up an attack.

According to Demopoulos’ post, this was part of a segment for Master Vic PodcasTV and the full episode will be available on Aug. 15.

Now, bear with me as we do a little globe-trotting and some slick segueing. Bogota in Colombia, our first stop.

Ivan Londono vs. Duvan Felipe Lopez

At a Naciones MMA show (events now available to stream on DAZN) bantamweight Ivan Londono had an insane pro debut as he completely wiped out opponent Duvan Felipe Lopez with a powerful slam.

That’s just head getting caught right between head and mat there. Prayers all the way up for Lopez, who was also competing as pro for the first time.

Josh Rettinghouse vs. Chris Beal
Teruto Ishihara vs. Westin Wilson

We travel from Colombia to Columbia (S.C.), where XMMA hosted its fifth event. This Florida-based organization has made a name for itself by securing fighters who recently competed in major promotions. However, this highlight shows a veteran fighter who may be America’s best fighter right now and has not yet competed for Bellator or the UFC.

Josh Rettinghouse has dabbled with greater notoriety, challenging Marlon Moraes for a World Series of Fighting title in 2014 and most recently getting his shot at a UFC contract on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter (he lost in the opening round of a tournament to eventual finalist Brady Hiestand). This past weekend, he faced UFC vet Chris Beal and he reminded everyone that he can more than hang with bigger name competition.

Those last couple of uppercuts had Beal swimming.

Another former UFC fighter, Teruto Ishihara appears to have found a rhythm on the regional scene as he picked up his second straight knockout to string together his first win streak since 2016.

Ishihara finished Jose Hernandez at Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 1 show this past May and he topped that with this absolute one-shot bomb knockout of Westin Wilson. Yashabo!

XMMA 5 is available for free replay on YouTube.

Ryo Takagi vs. Yusaku Hayashi

Speaking of Japanese fighters landing one-shot KOs, here’s 22-year-old featherweight Ryo Takagi disintegrating Yusaku Hayashi at Pancrase 328.

Takagi is now 4-0 with three of those wins coming by way of first-round knockout. Don’t get punched by this guy, that’s just my advice for future opponents.

Jose Mariscal vs. Jordan Beltran

I don’t think any advice could’ve helped Jordan Beltran last Friday at Combate Global as he received a stunning question mark kick by Jose Mariscal.

Rafael Fiziev himself ain’t getting out of the way of that one (just ask Conor McGregor).

Jim Wallhead vs. Daniel Skibinski
Samuel Bark vs. Tobias Harila

Judo Jim is back!

Jim Wallhead is a well-known name in the real world. He was a member of Bellator, UFC, KSW and BAMMA. The English judoka hadn’t competed since 2019 before returning to the Cage Warriors stage last Friday, where he authored a stunning TKO of Daniel Skibinski.

Take another look here :

At 38 years old, Wallhead has given no indication that he plans to retire and given how he looked in this outing, who can blame him?

Just shy of Wallhead’s 43 pro bouts, Samuel Bark improved to 5-1 as a pro with this truly devastating knee right up the middle.

Cage Warriors 141 is available to stream on UFC Fight Pass.

Wallace Italia vs. Deydivan Luiz
Maicon Kobayashi vs. Wesley Mutante

This week’s award for most stylish performance has to go to Wallace Italia, who straight clowned Deydivan Luiz before landing the big kibosh right hand at Favela Kombat 38 in Rio de Janeiro.

It should be noted that Wallace has a career record of 6-4 after that win, so his style points have yet to add up to consistent results inside the cage.

Maicon Kojibayashi submitted one of the best moves in the week. He pounced upon his opponent’s legs and tap him with lightning speed.

Lucas Miletich vs. Elias Ru
Jesus Ru vs. Pablo Pucci

It’s important to note that Kobayashi had one of the best submissions because he was up against Lucas Miletich and Jesus Ru’s outstanding efforts from a Circuito Argentino de MMA in Buenos Aires.

Miletich pulled out the impressive Suloev stretch, which his opponent had no defense against. Elias Ru was in panic when he saw what Miletich had done.

Jesus Ru took time to set up a submission. However, he began the sequence with a strong slam.

It was textbook Jiu-jitsu from there. You just had to progress slowly to the top positions, before you could transition to an armbar. Royce would be proud.

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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 Twitter – @AlexanderKLee – using the hashtag #MissedFists.