This Fight is pretty Rad, but it's only four years old, so it doesn't meet the requirement of being from Yesteryear. So, I decided to create another sub-category of "Here's a non-recent fight that I enjoy, and now I'll talk about it". Fantastic Finishes are about fights that are fairly unremarkable up until those last few seconds that ends the whole thing. Not every KO or submission is a fantastic finish, it takes something special and memorable.
Who Are These Jerks?
Alexander Shlemenko is a kickboxer and a military combatives
guy and probably a sambo dude, too, because which Russians aren’t? Robert McDaniel is a guy nicknamed Bubba,
with fewer total fights now than Shlemenko’s fight tally at the time of this
bout.
What's Going On, Why Should I Care About This Dumb Thing?
What's Going On, Why Should I Care About This Dumb Thing?
This fight turned me into a Shlemenko fan, even though he
doesn’t really do much. McDaniel gets a
takedown early in round one, and some fun grappling ensues. Shlemenko briefly threatens with a kimura and
even gets a sweep, but for the most part, McDaniel controls the grappling. He gets both full front and back mount,
fishes for a rear naked choke, but is unable to secure the submission. Shlemenko gets back to his feet very late in
the round, tries a spinning backfist (Which has since become one of his
signature moves), misses, gets taken back down, but manages to get up again. With seconds remaining in the first,
Shlemenko feints, then lands a flying knee, dropping McDaniel to the canvas as
the round ends.
Shlemenko raises his arms in victory while the referee tries
to roll the obviously hurt McDaniel onto his back. McDaniel briefly rests his hands on his
stomach, which convinces the ref that Shlemenko’s knee hit below the belt. McDaniel’s corner enters the cage and
everyone huddles around Bubba, trying to sort out where exactly he got
hit. Did I mention that McDaniel is
groaning in severe pain the entire time?
He totally is, and it’s pretty disturbing and haunting to hear. McDaniel finally manages to moan that his
ribs are hurt, the ref stops the fight for good, and Bubba continues trying to
not die. Shlemenko is officially
announced as the victor while a replay shows his knee hit McDaniel right below
the heart, probably detaching the Xiphoid Process and dropping it into McDaniel’s
stomach (Which I totally heard from a friend’s cousin’s friend’s uncle’s cousin
who is a Special Forces guy that is totally a Special Forces Death Move, which
probably means Shlemenko is totally Spetsnaz/KGB/SMERSH).
What Did We Learn?
- If you’ve been outwrestling a guy for an entire round and he gets up with seconds left in the round, take your time getting back to your feet
- Flying knees to the body are pretty rad
- HURGH OH GOD ARGH MY RIBS BLEARGH URGH OH GOD BLORG
