Missed Fists: A referee shows off his takedown defense, Peruvian MMA, more

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where Jed Meshew and Alexander K. Lee 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 become used to seeing great action from fighters all over the world since debuting this feature, but this week we’re starting off with some action (and inaction) from the third man in the cage.

Karlo Caput vs. Renat Lyatifov

AL: Everyone enjoys “Adventures in Officiating” and this week, we have two memorable ones.

First, referee Armen Ananyan got the chance to show off his grappling and takedown defense against Renat Lyatifov when he oversaw a lightning-fast KO at a Crimea Rush show in the Ukraine last Wednesday.

It looked like Karlo Caput started the job with his striking and Ananyan may have finished it with that guillotine choke.

JM: Sure, I guess the guillotine was fine but truly good takedown defense would have been to stop letting the concussed dude get in on his hips.

Also, I always enjoy vids like this because it proves how dumb people are who complain about stopping fights while a fighter is still conscious or standing. As Lyatifov shows, you can still be conscious and be on a completely different plane of existence.

AL: If anything, maybe Ananyan should have let Lyatifov take a couple of extra shots so that he wouldn’t have had to choke him out after. A fairly awkward scene to be certain, but that’s nothing compared to what took place on Saturday at German MMA Championship 16 in Cologne, Germany.

Khurshed Kakhorov vs. Said Eidi

AL: It seems like every couple of weeks we have a new nominee for worst official ever, but Marco Broerson is making a strong case for consideration. I can’t even begin to explain what he was thinking here when he let this bout between Khurshed Kakhorov and Said Eidi continue.

JM: Yeah, speaking of idiots who don’t want to stop fights unless someone is dead, Broerson turns in one of the ugliest officiating performances in recent memory. Outside of “I had money on that guy and didn’t want to mark my bet a loser,” there is no logical explanation for letting that fight continue on that long. I genuinely hope that man is never allowed to ref again.

AL: If Broerson were officiating this next KO, the fight might still be going.

JM: If we’re being honest, this isn’t A+ officiating either. The referee is too far away from the action to make a quick save when Jamal Majidi gets melted. But at least he understands when a fighter is finished and doesn’t make him eat 30 unnecessary punches.

AL: This is true, but credit to Karsten Liebich here for the wicked one-punch KO. That’s a homerun swing if I’ve ever seen one. Liebich picked up his first pro win here and it was a heck of a way to check that achievement off of his list.

A free replay of GMC 16 can be viewed on the promotion’s Facebook page.

Ending this section on an even more positive note, we step back to Crimea to say happy trails to Jim Alers, who retired at 31 after losing via submission to top Russian fighter Marif Piraev. Alers is a veteran of the UFC and Cage Warriors and he ends his career with a 14-4 record.

We here at Missed Fists wish the veteran nothing but the best.

JM: Good for Jim Alers. Basically everyone stays in this game too long so I’m always a supporter of anyone who walks away while they still have most of their faculties about them.

Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs. Tagir Ulanbekov

JM: But enough about fighters ending their careers, let’s get back to talking about non-fighters in MMA who are terrible at their jobs.

While Broerson’s officiating may have been the most unsettling performance of the weekend, it may not have been the most egregious. That honor should fall to the two judges who somehow gave Zhalgas Zhumagulov a majority decision over Tagir Ulanbekov to win the Fight Nights Global flyweight title at FNG 88 in Astana, Kazakhstan, last Friday.

Ulanbekov is a solid young prospect out of Eagles MMA (Khabib Nurmagomedov’s fight team) who was 7-0 coming into this fight and should have left it 8-0. Ulanbekov out-struck Zhumagulov and consistently took him down and controlled him in every round. I have no idea what the judge’s were watching but the only way to explain this robbery is that they were confused about which fighter was which.

AL: Through the first couple of rounds, I couldn’t help but wonder what Zhumagulov was doing as his output was lacking and he didn’t seem to have any plan to get in on the taller Ulanbekov. As the match went on, it only seemed to favor Ulanbekov more as he was able to plant Zhumagulov on his back against the cage and essentially neutralize his chance of a comeback.

However, I guess this is why we’re writers and not fighters because Zhumagulov apparently had the magical formula to pull a decision win out of thin air. It’s not an exaggeration to say that if this fight took place in the UFC or Bellator and had more eyeballs on it, it would probably go down as the year’s worst robbery.

Kevin Borjas vs. Junior Chate Ramos
James Llontop vs. Ricardo Paico

AL: Up next, we take our first look at Inka Fighting Championship. The Peruvian promotion was on hiatus for a couple of years, but has since returned in 2018 and most recently held a show in Lima last Thursday. Several future UFC fighters have previously competed for Inka FC including Humberto Bandenay, Enrique Barzola, Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Marlon Vera, Claudio Puelles, and Jose Quinonez, plus ONE’s Luis Santos and Bellator’s Ben Reiter.

I’m not saying Inka FC is going to produce the next big MMA star, but Kevin Borjas certainly had a star moment with his exquisitely timed counter-knee knockout of Junior Chate Ramos.

JM: Holy s**t. That dude is dead. That was awesome.

That’s definitely the best KO of the week, right?

AL: I’d say so, and it happened in Borjas’s second pro fight. Maybe it was luck or maybe Borjas is some kind of prodigy, but I’m definitely keeping an eye on “El Gallo Negro” from now on.

There was another great KO from his show, James Llontop’s wild head kick finish of Ricardo Paico, but unfortunately we don’t have a clip. The good news is that the entirety of Inka FC 28 is available for free to watch on Facebook, both the prelims and the main card.

I highly recommend checking it out as there are several spirited amateur scraps on the show in addition to three pro bouts that all end in convincing finishes.

Around the 39:30 mark of the main card, you can see Llontop take Paico’s soul.

JM: I stand corrected. Borjas may have the best KO of the weekend but Llontop’s KO was easily the coolest. Look at how Paico just collapses with his eyes still open! Plus Llontop falling down makes it so much more amusing. This is just high quality regional MMA.

AL: You have a twisted definition of the term “amusing”.

JM: How can you be a fan of fighting and watch that and not be amused? It’s like Paico got possessed by the Ghost of Sitting the F**k Down. Don’t judge me.

Maurice Greene vs. Przemyslaw Mysiala

AL: The last nominee for KO of the week comes from a somewhat surprising source, surprising only in that I’m not sure anyone besides me knows that this show still exists. That’s right, it’s a highlight from The Ultimate Fighter 28, which aired its season premiere last Wednesday. The first fight saw heavyweights Maurice Greene and Przemyslaw Mysiala face off, or at least as much as they could given that Greene looked to be about two heads taller.

Greene is a kickboxer who has competed for Glory. Mysiala is not.

JM: It’s always hard for me to judge how good heavyweights are since they are all terrible but that was one hell of an uppercut. Is Greene good? Should we keep an eye on him moving forward?

AL: Maybe. Do you feel like watching TUF with me this year?

JM: HAHAHAHAHA. Don’t try and put that nonsense off on me. That’s your job. You can just let me know at the end of the season if “The Pirate” has potential in the heavyweight division.

AL: Well, for the rest of my “TUFfies”, you can catch TUF 28 on FS1 every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET with the replays being uploaded later to UFC Fight Pass.