Golpes perdidos: Lutador realmente executa chute de mudança de salto, nocauteia o oponente em vez de se machucar — Federação de Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation

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.

Alexander K. Lee is on a well-deserved vacation this week, so I, Jed Meshew, am taking over these hallowed pages. And I intend to have fun. Starting with our lead, which proves one thing: some dudes’ knees are just built different.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Conor McGregor made his return to MMA last week after a five-year layoff, fighting Max Holloway at UFC 329. Well, sort of.

McGregor technically fought Holloway, but the whole bout lasted just over a minute as “Notorious” blew out his knee after throwing a jumping switch kick just moments into the fight and landing awkwardly. It was not a good scene.

And obviously, that’s not how it’s supposed to work! McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, said they trained that technique for months, but really, they should have just worked with Noah Starowicz, because this young man knows how to pull it off.

Starowicz has a solid amateur MMA career to his name, but made his professional debut last week at Ultimate Battlegrounds 29 in North Carolina, and you could hardly hope for a better debut, as he flattened Jahrael Cromartie with the very technique McGregor attempted.

In McGregor’s defense, had he successfully done that to Max Holloway on Saturday, it would’ve been the biggest story in sports.

Sabrina Van Damm vs. Liliya Platova

The runner-up to lead things off this week took place over at Open Fighting Championship 67 in Moscow, where Sabrina Van Damm moved to 2-0 in her professional career with a 90-second triangle choke win over Liliya Platova. It was Platova’s first professional loss, but she unfortunately added another just moments later as, after waking up from the submission, Platova started fighting referee Dmitry Valuevich. And I’m not talking about a simple takedown attempt; Platova tried to wrestle this man for nearly 10 seconds before her team pulled her off Valuevich.

That’s how you know you went to SLEEP sleep.

Luke Modini vs. Jay Cutler

Anyone who followed the NFL in the 2010s probably had the same strange discovery as I did: former Vanderbilt QB and NFL star Jay Cutler was NOT the most famous Jay Cutler. In fact, there was a very accomplished bodybuilder named Jay Cutler, who won Mr. Olympia a few times and had legs the size of a midsize sedan.

Well, can I interest you in a third Jay Cutler? This one gets punched in the head at International Brawling Championship 3 in Australia.

Sadly, in the Jay Cutler power rankings, I think the Australian Jay Cutler is firmly in last place at the moment.

But you know what isn’t in last place? That square cage. Give me more of that.

You can watch the full ICB 3 event here.

Ethan Hatcher vs. Wayne Baker

We’ve got a bit of a weird one over at Combat Night Gainesville in, you guessed it, Gainesville, FL. Ethan Hatcher appears to knock out Wayne Baker in just three seconds (according to the promotion), and the video sure suggests that’s exactly what happens. But Tapology lists it as a 2:55 finish for this amateur KO.

For the record, I count it at five seconds when the referee jumps in. Also, credit to Baker, who gave Hatcher props in the comments.

And don’t sleep on that ref. Man has style.

Cooper Simon vs. Max Cannon