Fighter Appreciation - Pat Barry

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's been submitted by turtlenecks on several occasions.

Pat Barry serves all

Once again, I've created a new category of articles because I'm all over the place with this blog. Instead of focusing on retired (Or at least fighters with a decade or more of experience) guys, Fighter Appreciation is all about me gushing over how cool and awesome I find current fighters.

Pat "Hype Or Die" Barry is an outstanding fighter, personality, motivator, cornerman, and all around great person.

Tell Me More, Tell Me More!

Pat began his combat sports training and career in his 20s, which is both impressive considering how quickly he's picked up on kicking someone's ass, but also baffling since Pat is basically a fusion of a human ninja turtle and a live action Street Fighter that'd you would actually want to watch (Van Damme it!). Apparently he spent his first two decades of existence osmotically learning about martial arts.

After a couple years of beating dudes into quivering heaps of pain, sadness, and failure, Pat decided to find a new crop of people to break in half and transitioned from kickboxing into MMA.

Pat's first couple of MMA bouts were pretty straightforward: Pat kicks dork in legs, dork either gives up then and there, or cringes in anticipation so much that Pat knocks the dork's head clean off, quickly putting Pat at 4-0, all by first round stoppage, 3 by leg kick TKOs (And you wonder why I love this dude so much), one by head kick KO, all in a grand total of 8:40.

Unfortunately, Pat's opponents soon realized that taking a kick from Mr. Thunder Thighs is the worst possible thing, they started grappling him voraciously. Due to, in some cases, being decades behind his opponent on the ground, Pat was unfairly saddled with the reputation of having no ground game. This is simply untrue, and, quite frankly, borderline slander.

Barry has trained grappling, and while he's yet to record a submission in his MMA career, he's got an arsenal of moves that would easily win him gold at ADCC, some, like the above, he learned from no-gi grappling wizard, Eddie Bravo.

Other submissions were passed on to Barry from his girlfriend, "Thug" Rose Namajunas, and all UFC heavyweights going forward must be on notice for Pat's ever-improving ground game.

Check out more about Barry after the break!

Fantastic Finishes - Overeem vs Fujita

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's more ridiculous than the average Jonathan Goulet haircut.

Today on Fantastic Finishes, we take a look back at the time Alistair Overeem's foray into fighting large-headed monsters didn't end with him getting murdered via hubris (Of course, it helps that Fujita is about five hojillion times worse at the mixing of martial arts than Antonio Silva).

Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita - Dynamite!! 2009 (December 31, 2009)

Who Are These Dorks?

Alistair Overeem is a Dutch kickboxer that packed on an entire Demetrious Johnson worth of muscle in about two years, allegeldy through a steady diet of horse meats. His knees are so powerful, they have been known to shakedown the Tunguska event for its lunch money.

Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese (pro) wrestler born with Homer Simpson Syndrome, otherwise known as a slightly thicker than average skull. He's used this X-gene to absorb his opponents' punishment and gently nudge their exhausted bodies over for glorious knockouts (technically) (Or, in the case of Ken Shamrock, force a heart attack).

Why Is This Fight Special?

In all his history as a punching bag, Fujita had never gone entirely unconscious. He had several TKO stoppages on his record, but they were either from cuts, his corner calling off the fight two seconds in thanks to injuries, or, in the case of his bout against Wanderlei Silva, Fujita was on his way back to his feet (For I believe the sixtieth time) when the ref waved off the contest.

Against Overeem, though, Fujita went out entirely. In fact, he went super out, so much that Overeem ran into Fujita being taken to the hospital on a stretcher in the back of the arena. Fujita went so unconscious, I don't believe he retired from MMA so much as he just hasn't woken up yet.

What Did We Learn?

• Alistair Overeem's knees will murder your brain so hard your parents will forget you ever existed
• A person needs more than a thick candy shell around their head to be a successful mixed martial artist
• Knee Death claims another victim, having previously stopped a man's heart, and later, drained a man of all his head-blood.

Fantastic Finishes - Henderson vs Bisping

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's got a white belt in comedy.

Today on Fantastic Finishes, we celebrate AMERICA!

Dan "Hendo" Henderson vs Michael Bisping - UFC 100 (July 11, 2009)

Who are these guys?

Dan Henderson is a wrestler that posses a megaton warhead in his right fist known as the H-Bomb. Michael Bisping is a kickboxer that has been called out by ever fighter that's ever made the UFC roster. They spent several weeks coaching against each other on The Ultimate Fighter were Dan was charming and funny, and Bisping was contentious, smarmy, and a big dumb jerk.

What's so special about this fight?

This fight is pretty much the best knockout in the history of knockouts. To the people that watched the entire season of TUF and saw Bisping constantly complaining, and making fun of people, but unable to handle even the slightest bit of joking at his expense, it was sweet revenge.  It spawned hilarious photoshops, the best of which is this one:

Uncle Sam says BLAMMO!

What did we learn?

• Don't circle to the left against Henderson (Bisping's corner SCREAMS this at him between rounds)
• AMERICA RULES, BRITAIN DROOLS

Fighter Retrospective - Ikuhisa Minowa

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's proof that if you have a dream, go ahead, anything is pasta bowl!

Today on Fighter Retrospectives I'm taking a look at one of the more pro-wrestley guys, Ikuhisa "the Punk" Minowa, more commonly known as MINOWAMAN. He's also currently active, so this is more of a Fighter Appreciation than a Retrospective, so leave appropriate vitriol in the comments for such an egregious goof up.

Who is this man, and what does he do?

A typical Wednesday for MINOWAMAN

Ikuhisa Minowa is a grapple-man made out of a mullet, a red speedo, dropkicks, and pure amazing (Yes, part of his training includes racing airplanes).  He's most well known for challenging guys with at least fifty pounds on him, but far inferior skills.  This is because Japanese MMA is both ridiculous and great, and cares not for fighter safety or fair fights.

Minowa got his start in 1996 and went 1-8-1 in his first ten fights, most of them taking place in Pancrase (Apparently I can only do a Retrospective if a Fighter competed amongst other Hybrid Wrestlers). Undaunted, Minowa continued fighting, and slowly started to even out his record, finally getting to .500 in 1999 with a 10-10-5 mark. He reached a true winning percentage in 2000, getting to 12-11-6, and he currently stands at 55-34-8, with over a quarter of his fights contested as Openweight bouts (Japanese MMA, you are truly, truly outrageous).

Minowa is impressive in the ways he wins, too, with 39 of his 55 wins coming by way of submission (71%), with 12 different types of submissions used to finish fights. He's mostly a leg specialist, with 18 wins coming below the waist (46% of all his submissions). He does have two wins by scarf hold armlock, which is about as many as the rest of the MMA world combined.

He Ever Win a Title?

Has he ever! MINOWAMAN only won the most glorious and prestigious tournament in the history of combat sports, the DREAM Openweight tournament, also known as SUPER HULK! It was a grueling contest, pitting three non-heavyweight mixed martial artists (plus Jose Canseco, because Japan) against four super heavyweight fighters.

Minowa's first match was against the enormous Bob Sapp (This was before Sapp decided to just collect a paycheck, and probably have at least a quarter of a fuck left to give). Minowa easily dispatched "The Beast" with a leglock in round one.

Next, came the even more gigantic Hong Man Choi, the only super heavyweight to win his opening round fight (Because it was against Jose Canseco. Again, JAPAN).

Minowa won again with another leglock, but it took him until round two to dispatch the biggest man in the tournament.

The tournament finals pitted Minowa against "The African Assasin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Sokoudjou had won both of his fights with impressive ground and pound stoppages, and though he was bigger than MINOWAMAN (The smallest competitor in the tournament), he appeared to have some amount of fighting skill. It was to be an epic showdown.

In a hilarious turn of events, MINOWAMAN knocked out Sokoudjou.

With the win, MINOWAMAN now laid claim to the greatest prize in the history of combat sports, the SUPER HLUK title!

 The prestige is overwhelming.

MINOWAMAN and the SUPER HLUK title's creator.

Anything else?

He does pro wrestling, sometimes just as MINOWAMAN, but apparently he's also Tiger Mask V. Allow MINOWAMAN into your heart, for all he wants is to make it brighter.

Fantastic Finishes - Manhoef vs Hunt

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's more hated than Chael Sonnen in Brazil.

This time on Fantastic Finishes, the finish is the entire fight. It's also a testament to how fucking scary Melvin Manhoef's punching power is (But I don't want to get ahead of myself).

Melvin "No Mercy" Manhoef vs Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt - K-1 Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2008 (December 31, 2008)

Who Are These Guys?

Melvin Manhoef is a Dutch/Surinamese kickboxer that wears a gladiator skirt and dog collar and dances to the ring because nobody is going to say anything about it. He currently has a 93% knockout rate.

Mark Hunt is a former K-1 World Grand Prix champion, which means he is a very good kickboxer. Also, Samoan stereotypes are true, because he once did this in a K-1 fight (Absorbing punches with the face is never a smart choice, unless you are Mark Hunt/Ray Sefo)

What's so Special about this Fight?

In his combined MMA and kickboxing career up to that point, Mark Hunt had only ever lost by submission, decision, a corner stoppage TKO, and a body shot TKO. The fact that a man outweighed by close to one hundred pounds managed to knock out Hunt while back pedaling is either bullshit or magic, I can't decide.

What Did We Learn?

• Don't let Melvin Manhoef punch you
• Even a stereotypical Samoan skull can be compromised
• Don't let Mark Hunt punch you (I know it wasn't demonstrated in this fight, but it needs to be said)

Fighter Retrospective - Bas Rutten

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that will always let you bang, bro.


This time on Fighter Retrospectives, I’ll be taking a look at a Dutch maniac, Bas “El Guapo” Rutten.

Who is this guy?

Bas Rutten is a guy from Holland that was very good at killing people’s faces.  He began his martial arts career in Tae Kwon Do and Kyokushin karate, then later transitioned into Muay Thai kickboxing (I think 80% of all Dutch people are skilled in Muay Thai), before participating in mixed martial arts.

He started in Pancrase, a Japanese organization that had a fair amount of professional wrestling influences (Combatants were allowed rope breaks for submissions during a match, for instance, and closed fist punches to the face were illegal.  The rope breaks were in finite supply, though, and once you used them up, the next rope grab would end the fight.).  Bas was initially very good at knocking out people with his excellent striking background, but would quickly become lost when a fight went to the ground.  One of the top stars of Pancrase, Masakatsu Funaki took on Bas and several other fighters to train submission skills simply to give himself more of a challenge (Rest assured, I’ll be writing about Funaki in the future).  Rutten learned the ground game very well and started submitting people with numerous different holds.

Were any of his fights any good?

Boy howdy, were they!  Bas had some very impressive and fun fights with such peoples as Jason DeLucia, Frank and Ken Shamrock (Individually, of course, this was Pancrase, not ZST), and Masakatsu Funaki.

Rutten versus Frank Shamrock III - The Fighting Clown, Frank Shamrock

 Bas struggled against the Shamrock family, going 2-3 overall with the grappling brothers.  This fight is to unify Bas's King of Pancrase title with Frank's interim KoP title.  Bas is on commentary because he's awesome.  There's a good mix of grappling, striking, and conversation to start things off.  Oh, they also spill out of the ring during a takedown attempt by Frank.  Crazy times in Pancrase!

It's not really until the latter stages of the fight that Frank starts goofing around.  He throws a turtled-up backhand, and during a leg lock attempt, just pulls ridiculous faces as Bas tries to punch his way out.  Frank ends up with a cut over his eyebrow, and that's the official reason for the end of the fight, but Bas says, and I'm inclined to agree, that Shamrock just looked like he was done, cut or no cut.

Check out more about Bas after the (splits) jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's less intense than Gegard Mousasi.

Fights - A whole lot of fights went down, so let's not waste any time and get right into the action.

SFL 13 - Super Fight League crowned a bunch of champions on Friday as it was their last show of the year.

Khan vs Eidehlouei

Jamshed Khan defeated Rouhollah Eidehlouei due to retirement at the end of round two.

Check out a ton more fights, plus pure craziness after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s dirtier than Matt Lindland.

Fights - A whole lot of action when down this weekend, so let's get right into the punches!

SFL 12 - Super Fight League brought the awesome with a bunch of sloppy fighting that amused me to no end.

Babu vs Singh

Sharath Babu finished off Varinder Singh in just under four minutes by way of technical knock out due to punches.

For way more fights, check out the rest of This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s dumber than letting Masakazu Imanari touch your foot.

 

 Fights - A whole lot of fights to cover, and some of them were half-decent!

Hardrock MMA 51 - The only reason I know about this event is because noted psychopath Junie Browning was making his return to MMA here.  It looks like it was pretty neat!

Goodal vs Bell

Ian Goodal submitted Eric Bell in round three with a rear naked choke.  It was a pretty good fight with a neat finish, but I think I love Ian's entrance music the best.

For a lot more fights (Seriously, a LOT more), and some news about fights, follow after the break!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s more delusional than Phil Baroni.

 


Fights - A lot of fights from around the globe this week.  India, Canada, South Korea!

SFL 10 -What's this?  Super Fight League didn't have a fight go to decision?  Did someone not get the message that at least one fight has to go to the judges?

Kumar vs Farhan

Jagdish Kumar sloppily punches and kicks his way to a first round TKO (by retirement) over Shaikh Mohammed Farhan.

Check out way more fights after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s more erratic than Dominick Cruz.

Fights - There was a UFC PPV, Bellator, SFL (BOOM, POW, PUNCH, KICK, WOW!) and a random assortment of two people flailing their limbs at each other until one cannot take it any more (Wait, I already said Super Fight League).

TPF 15 - Tachi Palace Fights is a regional MMA organization that works as a half-decent feeder league to the UFC.

Clark vs Miranda

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Dominick Clark knocked out Andy Miranda in just under two minutes in the first round.

Perez vs De Soto

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Alex Perez took just two seconds longer than Clark to knockout Carlos De Soto with punches.

Check out many much more fights after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s more of a joke than Kimbo Slice.

Fights - Hey, UFC fights are back, yay!  Plus Bellator and SFL (PUNCH KICK WOW) as always (Well, not always, Bellator's season ends in a month, and I don't know if SFL is going to literally run every week or not).

Bellator 80 - On this edition of Bellator Fighting Championships, the finals for the Heavyweight and Featherweight tournaments were set up, plus former champion and self-proclaimed "Baddest Man on the Planet", Joe Warren returned to see if he would get knocked out for the third fight in a row.

DeRocher vs. Krahl

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Ryan DeRocher punched Taylor Krahl, and now Taylor has to crawl everywhere he goes.  I am the worst.

Vedepo vs. Bernhard

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

This is some crazy stuff.  Bernhard throws a kick and slips, so Vedepo dives into guard, and gets stuck in a triangle.  Vedepo jams his shin and knee all up in Bernhard's neck, and eventually postures up enough and the pressure causes Bernhard to tap out.

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

So, ladies and gentlemans, here is the Vedepo choke.  If works perfectly against dorks too dumb to let go of a crappy triangle to avoid getting themselves choked out.

Check out more Bellator, SFL, UFC and other fights, plus lots of news after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s spiraling downwards more than Drew Fickett.

Fights - In addition to the Bellator, Super Fight League (PUNCH KICK WOW) and random grab bag fights, there was also World Series of Fighting 1 going down on Saturday.  Hooray for new MMA organizations!

Bellator 79 - There were some vicious beatings doled out to people with ridiculous choices in personal grooming (So, pretty standard for a MMA event).

Minakov vs. Starcencov

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Bellator has a ton of Russian fighters, and sometimes, they get matched up (Though Starcencov is technically Russian-Canadian).  Vitaly Minakov punched Vladimir Starcencov in the face for a while until Vladimir fell down.

Ford vs. Baker

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

In the first of two "guy what looks dumb gets beaten up" fights, Ryan Ford punched the ridiculous out of Kyle Baker's mustache and bald head on the way to a unanimous decision victory.

Check out more from Bellator, SFL, WSoF, and much more after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s less predictable than Genki Sudo.

Fights - As always, fights happened, and I'm here to give a brief synopsis of the cool parts, and whatnot.

Bellator 78 - As usual, Bellator Fighting Championships had a good event on Friday that was kind of marred by some bad refereeing in the co-main and main event.

McNally Beats Blattman
 

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Justin McNally made extremely short work of Dave Blattman, choking him into unconsciousness with a triangle in under 40 seconds.

Parlo Clips Combs's Beard

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Mikkel Parlo finished off Jared Combs in just under four minutes with a TKO.

Check out more Bellator fights, Super Fight League (BOOM, POW, PUNCH, KICK, WOW!), some more randomly grabbed fights, plus some fight news, including Halloween costumes after the jump.

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s sadder than Jens Pulver.

Fights - There are no UFC events until November 10, so we'll have to make do with B-league and lower level fights.

Bellator 77 - Bellator Fighting Championships had the opening round of their new Lightweight tournament on Friday, and once again helped to provide evidence that Free MMA is Best MMA.  A small highlight video courtesy of Bellator FC can be viewed right here.

Brett Martinez vs. Eric Albright

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

 
Martinez and Albright traded submissions briefly before Martinez finished the fight with a guillotine.

Check out more Bellator and all sorts of other stuff after the jump.

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s emptier than Jason Guida’s gas tank.

Fights - A whole lot of fights from a lot of events to cover, let's jump right in with the biggest one of the This Week!

UFC 153 went down on Saturday, and it was one of the best events I've seen in quite some time.

Rony Bezerra vs. Sam Sicilia

"Honey Jason" took on Sam Sicilia on the prelims, and there was lots of fun punches.  Rony hit Sam with some good shots and finished things off with some ground and pound.

Check out more fights and some VERY INTERESTING NEWS after the jump!

These Weeks in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s less powerful than a Side Czech Kick.

 Sorry for the hiatus, I am a dumb, lazy jerk!  I'm going to try and recap as much of the stuff I missed from last week's nonexistent Dumb MMA Stuff, and also include the Dumb MMA Stuff that happened this week!  Let's get to it.

Fights - Oh, man, too many fights, all kinds of crazy, fun fights happened!

UFC on Fuel:  Struve vs. Miocic - UFC insists on airing fights on Fuel, a fake, made up channel that only six people on the planet get, and half of them are sasquatches.  The fights were good, though!

Robbie Peralta's a Busy Man

Peralta made very short work of Jason Young, finishing the fight in 23 seconds with a flurry of punches.  Man I love tinyweight fights.

Check out a bunch more fight recaps after the break!

UFC on Fuel - Struve vs. Miocic Primer

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s shadier than PRIDE.

 UFC's running a free card from England tomorrow, which is good, but it's not on tape delay to the US, so prelim fights start at like 1:30 ET.  Normally when I do an event primer I cover the entire card, but I've got to be honest, there are a lot of dudes on the undercard that I don't know anything about (This isn't really that different from most cards, I'm just using it as an excuse to be lazy), so I'll just cover the main card.

Welterweight:  “Beautiful” Che Mills vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig

• Mills’s Style – Muay Thai
• Ludwig’s Style – Kickboxing
• Prediction – Ludwig will do a knockout upon Mills to make the Englishers sad.
• Thoughts – Ludwig is way cool, because he’s got one of the fastest knockouts in UFC history against JohnathanGoulet, plus he did the crane kick pose while beating the crap out of ShadSmith one time.

Welterweight:  John “the Hitman” Hathaway vs. John Maguire

• Hathaway’s Style – Freestyle
• Maguire’s Style – Gypsy Jiu-Jitsu
• Prediction – Maguire via submission

Lightweight:  Paul “Sassangle” Sass vs. “Handsome” Matt Wiman

• Sass’s Style – Jiu-jitsu, Luta livre
• Wiman’s Style – Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• Prediction – Sass by triangle/heel hook combo, since those are the only ways he wins fights.

Bantamweight:  Brad “One Punch” Pickett vs. Yves “Tiger” Jabouin

• Pickett’s Style – Striking
• Jabouin’s Style – Striking
• Prediction – I’m taking Pickett by knockout

Welterweight:  Dan “the Outlaw” Hardy vs. Amir Sadollah

• Hardy’s Style – Boxing, child fighting
• Sadollah’s Style – Muay Thai
• Prediction – Sadollah will outpoint Hardy to a decision.  He might do some wrestling to Hardy, too.

Heavyweight:  Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve vs. Stipe Miocic

• Struve’s Style – Jiu-jitsu, tall
• Miocic’s Style – Wrestle-boxing, baseball
• Prediction – Struve with a submission on Miocic
• Thoughts – Struve falls down in funny ways a lot

Check out Struve falling down in a floppy, baby giraffe heap after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s dirtier than Chieck Kongo.

Fights - UFC is back, yay!  I did super awful in my predictions, but I'm not that concerned, there is current A-League MMA in my world again!  The fight section is going to be pretty much all UFC 152 related.

Baczynski vs. Thoresen

Seth Baczynski dropped Simeon Thoresen with a nice overhand left to help start out the night.  Clearly the “Polish Pistola” was a higher caliber opponent for Thoresen (I AM AN AWFUL PUNSTER, PLEASE HELP!)

Magalhaes vs. Pokrajac

Vinny Magalhaes finished Igor Pokrajac with a beautiful armbar.  Igor complained the next day about getting submitted, whining that he didn’t want a grappling contest, but a fight, yet he’s the doofus that initiated a trip takedown on the jiu-jitsu blackbelt.  In the paraphrased, garbled words of Scott Steiner, I’ve got no sympy for Igor Pokrajac.

Check out action from the main card, plus much more after the jump!

This Week in Dumb MMA Stuff

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s worse than Pete Spratt’s submission defense.

Fights – There weren’t any major promotions putting on fights this weekend, but the Z-leagues are always doing something.

Legacy Fighting Championship 14

Jeff Rexroad vs. Lucas Pimenta

Gif by https://twitter.com/ZProphet_MMA

Jeff Rexroad submitted Lucas Pimenta with a pretty wonky triangle choke in their Welterweight title fight.  The triangle usually has the opponent’s arm doing part of the choking, but it looks like Rexroad’s arms are the only thing with direct contact on Pimenta’s neck.  It got the job done, which is all that matters.  Congratulations on the title, Jeff!

Check out more LFC 14 and other MMA stuff after the break!