High Fives: A Crown Fit for a Queen
Even without an Ultimate Fighting Championship or Bellator MMA event May 4-6, there was plenty of entertainment for MMA-hungry fans, with shows taking place across five continents. Here are the five best highlights from the weekend that was:
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GONE IN 9 SECONDS … Two fighters familiar to
stateside fans went head-to-head in the Rizin Fighting Federation
10 main event on May 6 in Fukuoka, Japan. A highly anticipated
matchup between onetime UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji
Horiguchi and Ian McCall
lasted all of nine seconds. A straight left from McCall was
countered by a thunderous Horiguchi left hook to the head that
dropped the American to the seat of his pants and forced the
referee to intervene to prevent further punishment. The
brick-fisted Horiguchi now finds himself on a nine-fight winning
streak. As for “Uncle Creepy,” he has lost three in a row for the
first time in his career.
HEAD SHOT … Daron Cruickshank knocked out Shooto 154-pound champion Koshi Matsumoto with a highlight-reel left kick to the jaw on the Rizin 10 undercard. When Matsumoto backed out of a clinch, “The Detroit Superstar” threw a roundhouse kick upstairs that left the dazed Japanese fighter to languish on the canvas. It was a much-needed win for Cruickshank, who put a stop to a two-fight skid 3:50 into the first round.
HEAVYWEIGHT VOLATILITY … Russian Cagefighting Championship 2 on May 5 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, saw Aleksander Emelianenko square off with former UFC heavyweight title contender Gabriel Gonzaga. A longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Gonzaga lived to regret his inability to capitalize on a sustained period in top position late in the first round. In the middle stanza, Emelianenko cut loose with a barrage of punches and dropped Gonzaga to all fours with a fight-ending knee. The resurgent Russian has rattled off four consecutive wins since he was released from prison. Gonzaga has lost five of his last six.
NO WASTED EFFORT … Ian Heinisch dispatched Gabriel Checco with punches 3:44 into the first round to capture the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight championship at LFA 39 on May 4 in Vail, Colorado. The finish resulted from an overhand right, as Heinisch improved to 10-1. Knocked out for the first time in his career, Checco fell to 10-3.
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