Missed Fists: Tina Black wins title with furious face-planting knockout flurry

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.

This past week, the world witnessed the highlight-reel knockout that saw a champion previously undefeated in their weight class lose to a hard-hitting challenger after being backed up and then slumped against the cage.

Of course, I’m talking about Tina Black dropping Taylor Mauldin.

What were you thinking of?

(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.)

Tina Black vs. Taylor Mauldin

Alright, Mauldin might not exactly be Alexander Volkanovski (she was 4-0 heading into her first title defense, just a few wins shy of Volkanovski’s 16-0 record at featherweight prior to UFC 298), but I thought setting up this highlight worked better with that cutesy comparison at the top. Sue me.

Tina Black a.k.a. Valesca Machado may as well be Ilia Topuria though the way she flattened Mauldin at Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 18 on Thursday night in Lemoore, Calif.

By my count, Black landed five straight right hands on the money during that finishing sequence, with the fifth and final one detonating Mauldin’s chin. Not only was this the second-best knockout of the week (again, hat tip to Topuria), it wins our Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week award for the chilling way that Mauldin sank to the canvas.

Plenty of credit and style points to Black for not following up on that last shot.

To say that Black rebounded nicely from losing her Invicta FC strawweight title to Danni McCormack last March would be an understatement. She has won five of her past six fights and I get the sense that a rematch with McCormack happens sometime down the road.

Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 18 is available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Mirali Huseynov vs. Tommy Aaron
Eddie Bernal vs. Armando Vasquez

Heading over to Lights Out Xtreme Fighting 14 in Long Beach, we have our second runner-up for this week’s most vicious title fight knockout, Mirali Huseynov rattling Tommy Aaron’s chin with a short right that looked unbelievably painful.

We say all the time that a fighter has no idea what hit them and in this case, it looked like Aaron had no idea who or what hit him, where he was, or why he decided to step into a cage to face a monster like Huseynov in the first place.

Azerbaijan’s Huseynov was awarded a vacant welterweight title for his efforts and presumably a nice pat on the back from cornerman Cain Velasquez.

Speaking of getting knocked senseless, imagine being Armando Vasquez here.

One second the bell is ringing, 18 seconds later it’s your bell getting rung and you’re suddenly squaring off with the referee. Eddie Bernal hurt Vasquez bad with a left hook, leaving him open for a crushing right hand down the middle. Referee Jonathan Romero, we salute you for your alert officiating.

Stick Ramirez vs. Bruno Cabrera

Before we check out another amazing KO, let’s return to Fight Pass for a second and admire Stick Ramirez’s work at Fusion FC 72 in Lima, Peru.

That’s a truly evil anaconda choke by Ramirez, who muscled Bruno Cabrera over onto his side, made excellent use of the cage wall to take away Cabrera’s leverage, and then tied up a leg before putting Cabrera to sleep.

Stick Ramirez? More like “Slick” Ramirez, am I right?

Qalandar Tabarov vs. Mavlet Amirov

Our next knockout on the list? Just a ho-hum spin kick courtesy of Qalandar Tabarov:

A right feint and an intentionally whiffed left hand are what led to Mavlet Amirov’s demise as you can see his defense drop at exactly the wrong moment. Go frame by frame and watch how his jaw drops in surprise just before Tabarov’s heel crashes into it. You can’t time a kick better than that.

Free fights from Open Fighting Championship 39 are available on the promotion’s YouTube channel.

Kozhakhmet Imangali vs. Daniyar Zhanbosyn

Then again, if you want to talk about great timing, Kozhakhmet Imangali certainly deserves mention for this knee knockout of Daniyar Zhanbosyn.

Now, to me, that looked like either a knee or kick to the body that turned into a knee to the face, but I could be convinced otherwise. Either way, make sure to stick around for the replays of that one and listen to how the sound of the impact seems to get worse with every viewing.

Octagon League 55 is available for free replay on YouTube.

Jovan Leka vs. Amiran Severni
Danijel Spoljaric vs. Elves Oliveira

Let’s go to one more example of luck meeting timing from ARMMADA 7 (free replay available on YouTube) in Sombor, Serbia.

Jovan Leka definitely threw this high kick with bad intentions and his movement caused Amiran Severni to lean right into it. One second Severni was zigging and the next he was zagging on a rapid downward trajectory to the mat.

Make that six straight wins now for Leka, all by knockout or submission. The 21-year-old Serb is one to watch at heavyweight, though looking at his 6-foot-4 build, I wonder if he can slide into the 205-pound range eventually. Either way, let’s hope we see more of Leka in Missed Fists and that he gets a look from the bigger shows in a couple of years.

Let’s also hope that Elves Oliveira learns some body strike defense during that time because he allowed Danijel Spoljaric to tee off on his guts, culminating in a brutal soccer kick to the ribcage.

And guess what? The flyweight joins his teammate and countryman Leka on the six-fight win streak train.

Wiktoria Czyzewska vs. Petra Castkova

Now, a quick quiz for the class before we finish today’s lesson: What were two of this week’s major themes?

If you said, WMMA excellence and sweet body strike finishes, then you get top marks.

From KSW 91 this past weekend in Liberec, Czech Republic:

Wiktoria Czyzewska bounced back from her first loss in emphatic fashion, snapping a kick off right into Petra Castkova’s torso that instantly froze her. With the win, the 20-year-old Czyzewska improved to 3-1, with all of her wins coming by way of first-round knockout and none taking longer than two minutes.

Don’t forget to check out Saturday afternoon’s KSW: Epic event, which takes place Saturday and features the legendary Mamed Khalidov taking on former WBC and IBF champion Tomasz Adamek in a six-round boxing match, and heavyweight champion Phil De Fries locking up with Josh Barnett in a 10-minute grappling match, among other oddities.

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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.