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WTF: Slip-n-Slide MMA, Lobov destroyed by Olympian, MMA in sand, wheelchairs

July 29, 2021

What the Fight: Bringing you the good, the bad and the utterly bizarre of combat sports.

It seems like such a simple and silly thing, but us humans often have a tendency to forget that we’re at the mercy of the elements. This week, we’ll look at how that affects pugilism and hugfighting, check out some bonkers action out of southeast Asia, wheelchair boxing, and some utterly devastating slapboxing competition.

We’ll start out with internet hero and an entity near and dear to our hearts, the inimitable Caposa. This time he’s got a treat for us out of Georgia, where GFC 13 took place in an outdoor venue blessed by the surrounding mountain vistas. It’s an impressive locale for a fight, and reminiscent of mid-90s fighting game dreams, but this idea clearly needed some further consideration.

See, it rains up in them hills. And it rained on this day, meaning that the action was sullied due to the action being affected very badly by the weather.

The first fighter to come out immediately had regrets as she landed butt-first on the walkway.

There’s omens of things to come, and then there’s just this. It just set the tone for what was to follow. That Turkish fighter that slipped and fell? Yeah, it didn’t get that much better for her when the action started as the canvas turned into a slip n’ slide.

Now, we’re not experts on regulatory bodies in Georgia and how they handle their business, but it would be very sad if there wasn’t a way for these fighters to appeal these results on the grounds of basically fighting in a World Heroes hazard stage.

This dude straight fell on his keister like the Turkish fighter above did, only he had it happen during the fight. Yes, it went as badly as you expect after that.

Wacky inflatable wavy-armed tube guy action, or whatever:

It just... kept going. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve got bills to pay.

Moving on, we’ve got something truly reckless. Russia’s STRELKA keeps delivering some boffo action with MMA on sand. Yes, sand. Much like volleyball and soccer, fighting on sand is a totally different proposition.

I don’t speak Russian and don’t have any immediate plans to get an intensive series of lessons on it, but this ditty is titled “Steroid vs MMA fighter“. Anyone that’s been here long enough knows we’re not exactly fans of the eye test, and we’ll have to go easy on this and not make any judgements. We can’t vouch for the veracity of the “steroid” part, but the second part of the title is dead-on. This was a wild knockout finish in which the clearly more seasoned and well-trained fighter pours on the volume. Kicks, knees, and lots of forward movement lead to an explosive hook that drops the musclebound pugilist and sends him back to bench pressing.

Next up, a bit that may be somewhat controversial. Much like STRELKA, StreetBeefs has been out here with the dirt pit fights between willing competitors of varying degrees of skill, talent and training. This time around, they’ve done something interesting: wheelchair boxing.

This sort of thing normally has the potential to be exploitative and cheap, but this was totally not the case here. Two competitors slug it out in the spirit of healthy competition, and it all ends with displays of sportsmanship and respect.

If anything, this is as close to a feel-good story as you can find in outlaw combat sports outfits out there, and it’s great that this was treated with a degree of tact.

We’ll follow that up with a classic from 2018, a women’s Lethwei banger billed as Thailand vs Myanmar. It’s good and solid action from the outset that really heats up in Round 4. There’s a lot to love here, and it’s worth watching from start to finish.

Seriously, don’t think about it too much. set aside the ~20 minutes to watch this.

From there we’ll pivot to Missouri’s SlapFIGHT, and it’s big meaty men slapping meat all over again. A gentleman by the name “Young James“ decides to go toe to toe with “Frank the Tank“, and it seems evenly matched at first. Unfortunately, James doesn’t seem to have the same level of firepower despite a spirited effort. But it goes long, all the way to round 8 with both taking major hits, but James eating the lion’s share of punishment.

Frank starts to wear James down, and by the end ends up slapping James so hard he ends up wondering if he got blasted through the portal from Hellraiser. Five stars.

Finally we have Ukranian Olympic boxer Denys Berinchyk, who met the one and only Artem Lobov (the People’s Champ) in a bare knuckle match that had plenty of back and forth action this past weekend. Mahatch hosted this event, and it was a brutal affair.

To be perfectly blunt, it gets harder to watch as it goes on due to Artem taking wild swings while gassed. It’s not a pretty sight at all, but the 2012 Olympic silver medalist in Berinchyk really delivered. Lobov put up a great fight at first, but Berinchyk’s speed and accuracy was too much, and the fight ends due to Lobov calling it quits. Credit to the production crew with the perfect use of replay and really showcasing how unforgiving this sort of fight can be.

So that’s that for this week, kids. Be sure to tune in next week, we’re bound to find more gems and hijinks from around the world.

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