Missed Fists: Rocky Saboya delivers powerful double slam 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.

There’s plenty of combat sports goodness to sink your teeth into this weekend, starting with the historical GFL on Friday evening and then early morning MMA courtesy of the PFL in Dubai. And don’t forget BKFC KnuckleMania 5 also goes down Saturday, headlined by Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stephens.

With that look-ahead out of the way, let’s look back at the week that was, starting with an absurd show of force in Lima, Peru, yesterday.

(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.)

Rocky Saboya vs. Riran Zenidim

If at first you don’t succeed, slam, slam again.

I believe that’s how the saying goes, anyway. It certainly worked out for Rocky Saboya, who tried once to slam his way out of a triangle choke, didn’t quite get all of it, and then decided to just do it again. The second time was the charm (or should, I say, the “harm” he he he he) and poor Riran Zenidim got dropped right on his head, neck, and shoulder.

That triangle choke attempt fell apart real quick after that. Saboya unloaded with ground-and-pound and that’s all she wrote.

Fusion FC 86 is available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Radley Da Silva vs. Drew Brokenshire
Danny Malette vs. Dejan Kajic

Also on Thursday, Battlefield Fight League 82 went down in Vancouver, Canada.

And it featured one of the cleanest spin kick knockouts you’ll ever see.

Radley Da Silva teed this man up and then wasn’t done spinning as he decided to throw in a few more 360s to celebrate. Style rating: 45/10.

Earlier on the card, Danny Malette showed off a mallet of a right hand as he just let it fly to great effect.

His opponent Dejan Kajic had him in trouble with an overhand right, but Malette kept his composure and fired back to connect square with Kajic’s chin. Kajic had no idea where he was after that one landed.

BFL 82 is also available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Bogdan Pshebelskiy vs. Rustam Aripbaev
Abay Zhalal vs. Mahyar Rafiei
Hamidreza Tayebinia vs. Arnur Kabdoldaev
Kozhakhmet Imangali vs. Kanatbek Asankulov

At Octagon League 69 (free replay available on YouTube) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, souls were straight-up being snatched from people’s bodies.

Bogdan Pshebelskiy topped Malette’s comeback with this ridiculous spinning back elbow out of nowhere.

There was the smallest window to hit that and Pshebelskiy somehow found it. Rustam Aripbaev is probably still wondering what hit him.

If you want to see someone’s body just unravel at the seams, check out Abay Zhalal’s knockout of Mahyar Rafiei.

Gonna need that Gorilla Glue to put this lad back together after that one, yeesh.

As pointed out by Caposa, we got a callback to Andrei Arlovski’s ill-fated leap at Fedor Emelianenko when Hamidreza Tayebinia caught Arnur Kabdoldaev with a mid-air counter punch.

Fighters, please be cautious when making that decision to leave your feet. It looks great when you can deliver a flying knee to the face, but it’s a long way down when it doesn’t work out.

Speaking of knees, you ever see a dude just knee another dude in the head and are like, “That shouldn’t be legal!” That’s how I felt about what Kozhakhmet Imangali did here.

That orbital has to be in a dozen pieces right now.

Julian Plaza vs. Justin Frady

Heading to the amateur ranks, Julian Plaza knocked Justin Frady silly with the stiffest of head kicks at a SteelFist Fight Night event in Salt Lake City.

Arms up, full Matua.

Salamat Isbulaev vs. Tuul Namnanbayar

The beautiful thing about fighting? A head kick translates in any language.

We go from Utah to Shanxi, China, where Salamat Isbulaev loaded up a head kick and got all of it.

That little shuffle step before throwing the kick? Chef’s kiss.

Jue Cheng King 007 is available for free replay on YouTube.

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.