Missed Fists: Super heavyweight Austin Mallory gets up for ‘Showtime’ Superman punch, Anthony Pettis reacts

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.

I’d wager to say that one of the things we all love most about combat sports is how it’s still such a developing art form, which is to say that while there are certainly tried-and-true tactics and conventions and traditional ways of doing things, there is still so much freedom to explore.

That’s especially true in the regional and international scene, and especially the farther out to the edges you go. In this case, we’re actually heading into Jed Meshew territory where a young man believed that he could fly.

(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.)

Austin Mallory vs. Kevin Archer

AL: Amateur muay Thai super heavyweight Austin Mallory had Kevin Archer in his sights here at a show in Macon, Ga., so he did what any respectable amateur muay Thai super heavyweight would do: he went for a Showtime Superman punch.

No, he didn’t come close to connecting, but if you think we’re not awarding Mallory for his sheer audacity, then you have a misunderstanding of what Missed Fists is all about.

JM: I have so many thoughts and feelings. First and foremost: Georgia Stand Up! 2022 has already been the Year of the Dawg with my beloved Georgia Bulldawgs winning a Natty and then Matt Stafford winning a Super Bowl, but this may be our greatest achievement thus far. Super heavyweight Showtime Superman Punches are the best and purest expressions of love in this world and I’m here for it. I too believe this man can fly.

AL: Sure enough, the high-flying maneuver caught the attention of Anthony Pettis himself and I believe he was suitably impressed:

Just as important as impressing “Showtime” himself was, Mallory also happened to win his fight.

A win is a win, even if it wasn’t the highlight-reel finish he was clearly hoping for.

The joint NFC/Aries FS/Conflict MMA event is available for replay with a subscription to Spectation Sports.

Michael Oliveira vs. Guilherme Silva
Alexandre Rodrigues vs. Emerson Ramos

I wish I could say that the rest of our highlights are as wholesome as Mr. Mallory’s performance, but that would be a blatant lie because it’s nothing but unsightly beatdowns from here on out.

Case in point, from Arena Global 16 (free replay available on YouTube) in Rio de Janeiro, here’s Michael Oliveira literally shutting Guilherme Silva down against the fence and locking down this week’s Humpty Dumpty award.

JM: Oh I don’t think this is a Humpty Dumpty at all. This is an even more majestic and precious award. This is the rarely seen Tommy Speer award, named for the Ultimate Fighter welterweight whom Anthony “Rumble” Johnson ruthlessly KO’d against a cage in Broomfield, CO.

Some people say you can still see the ghost of Speer still slumped there to this day, waiting, waiting for his corner to throw in the towel.

AL: On that same show, Alexandre Rodrigues needed just six seconds to flatten Emerson Ramos.

Looks like Ramos wanted to see if he could win a fight with negative head movement. The answer: a definitive no!

JM: Love the CCTV footage Arena Global is working with. This is one step up from filming fights in a rundown gas station convenience store. I’m half-surprised the cage door doesn’t have a height strip right next to it.

Markethe Simpson vs. Victor Gonzalez

AL: Somehow, that wasn’t our fastest knockout of the week as amateur bantamweight Markethe Simpson was clocked in at five seconds for this truly ghastly KO.

Once again, that damn fence comes into play.

JM: When your entire fight fits on TikTok, you’re probably doing something right.

That being said, I don’t love the excessive violence on some of those follow up shots. My man was down for the count. Simpson didn’t need all of those and he was legitimately going to keep bashing an unconscious man in the skull until he was pulled off it appears. Hope he reins that in a touch.

AL: Simpson is just 20 years old and he’s won his first two amateur bouts in a combined 69 seconds. That doesn’t really tell us much about his future prospects, but it certainly sounds impressive.

JM: I think you mean to say, ‘Nice.’

AL: I truly, truly didn’t.

Jeferson Pereira vs. Thiago Ozorio

Back to Brazil, this time stopping off in Curitiba to take in Jeferson Pereira face-planting Thiago Ozorio with an absolute haymaker.

JM: You’ve got to appreciate the pull back from Pereira after chucking the right hand. He wasn’t planning for that to be the last strike of the fight and maybe that’s exactly why it was.

Brazilian Fighting Series fights are available for replay on YouTube.

Aiden Collins vs. Szabi Kovacs

AL: From Evolution Combat MMA (available for PPV replay at MMATV.co.uk), amateur middleweight Aiden Collins ran right through Szabi Kovacs.

Alright, I’m just gonna say it: we gotta get rid of that fence! It’s almost as if it’s an enclosure designed to prevent combatants from retreating and to heighten the barbarism on display.

Oh.

JM: It really has been a rough week for fighters against the fence. Especially when you take into consideration poor old Johnny Walker in the UFC. *shudders*

Chris Herd vs. Travis Floyd
Robbie Kennedy vs. Rhino Daley

AL: We close out our list of KOs with a pair of kicks to the head that are ridiculous for completely different reasons.

First up from Next Level Fight Club 13 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., here’s Chris Herd landing one of those spinning kicks that looks like it catches just enough of their opponent’s headtop to completely ruin their day.

JM: Man, Myrtle and Macon making it on Missed Fists? Good week for the south. Not as good for Mr. Floyd, but fortunately he can cheer himself up with roughly 500 different places to play minigolf.

AL: Over in Barnsley, England, at Almighty Fighting Championship 23, Robbie Kennedy won with an Anderson Silva front kick that actually took him two tries to land clean.

Like, Rhino Daley, love your name, but did you not see what he was going for here?

JM: That’s the elegance of it. Daley is sitting there thinking, ‘No chance this guy tries this again right now. He just did. He’ll come back with that later and I can counter.’ But nope, Kennedy just runs it right back.

AL: Damn, that is next level.

JM: It’s so stupid that it’s genius! Brilliant.

Keith Keogh vs. Ronan Deegan
Wanderlei Goncalves vs. Isac Silva
Ali Kamilov vs. Artur Murtazaev
Darrin Hardin vs. Jackie Stephens

AL: Alright, let’s end with a round of Who Tapped It Better? because we have got four absolutely insane submissions that need to both be appreciated and, frankly, explained.

Keith Keogh stole the show at last week’s Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association event with this stunning choke of Ronan Deegan.

Apparently, Keogh later referred to it as a “Keith-O-Plata.”

What say you?

JM: I mean, that’s just an omoplata but the dude rolled back instead of rolling through and so then Keogh grabbed the neck. Honestly, that’s the sort of thing that you will basically only see in an amateur MMA event. Deegan did like, a billion things wrong that led to getting choked. I don’t believe this will be my choice.

AL: Our next two entries come from Gladiators Fight Night’s Wanderlei “Soul Glo” Goncalves and Real Fight Promotion’s Ali Kamilov, who broke out a pair of Missed Fists favorites, the Peruvian necktie and the Suloev stretch.

A free replay of Real Fight Promotion 88 is available on YouTube.

JM: Well, that Peruvian is basically the idyllic scenario for that choke and also showcases why it’s so rare: the set up position is very similar to a D’Arce so you should go for that instead. But when you pull it off, it’s gangster, as shown.

For the second, the poster incorrectly identifies that as a banana split but it’s a Suloev stretch. The split is where you control both legs and you are essentially perpendicular to your opponent’s torso. This is essentially a back mount where you catch a leg and yank like hell. It’s a tremendous tool for breaking opponents down out of the quad-pod escape and occasionally leads to something like this.

AL: We began with precious amateur action and we close out with this memorable sequence from a B2 Fighting Series event in Bowling Green, Ky.

Sure, that may look like the slowest developing inverted triangle in history, but that’s the kind of magic that happens when you book an 0-9 guy (Darrin Hardin, the guy who actually won the fight!) against a 1-4 guy.

JM: That explains a lot. I mean, inverted triangles are always cool, and I’m happy for Hardin to get his first W in the cage, but I have absolutely no idea what Stephens was doing there. Despite knowing he was in a triangle setup for like, a minute, he just hung in there and then ultimately tightened the choke up for Hardin. Not grappling wizardry on either side.

AL: So what’s the verdict, who had the best tap-out of the week?

JM: I have to give it to the Peruvian necktie. The omoplata choke and the inverted triangle are both fun but also incredibly bad, and while I have a great deal of respect for the utility and relative safety of the Suloev stretch (for the person applying it I mean, you aren’t sacrificing position), the Peruvian necktie is one of my favorite stylish maneuvers in MMA.

But let’s throw it to the people. What say you all?

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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 – @JedKMeshew and @AlexanderKLee – using the hashtag #MissedFists.