Mixed Martial Arts? More like Mixed Martial Arse, am I right?!
In all seriousness though this is a tough, brutal sport and not for the faint of heart. Fights often involve competitors going hell for leather in order to get a leg up on their opponent, and often some less-than-savoury tactics can be involved.
This weekend saw Bellator 223 take place in London, with a preliminary matchup between UK-based Brazilian Jorge Kanella and London’s own Alfie Davis.
The lightweight fight saw the London lad continue his impressive fight record of 12-3 with a unanimous-decision victory from the judges.
However, Davis’ win wasn’t the only thing to turn heads during the contest. Though there’s often talk of being punished in the ring during these fights, this takes the saying to another level.
Davis and Kanella were going head to head, or toe to toe, when Kanella – frustrated by Davis’ defence – aimed a kick at an area of the body not normally utilised during an MMA competition.
While at first it might look like a standard kick to the groin, footage reveals Kanella seemed to know exactly where he was putting his big toe – and Davis looked rather uncomfortable with the (w)hole thing.
Check it out:
And another angle:
While MMA competitions are usually no-holds-barred, it seems this toeing took everyone by surprise.
Referee Kevin MacDonald spotted the foul and halted the action immediately. The ref deducted a point from Kanella and, after Davis had composed himself after the strange invasion of privacy, the bout continued.
Davis went on to win the fight, earning scores of 29-27 on all three cards, so it could be argued a kick up the arse did him a favour.
After the fight, Davis told MMA Junkie:
It was like, the bum, right at the bottom of the balls. If you’re standing up with someone on the floor, you do not go straight line like that. You’re never taught that because it’s a foul.
It slid up. So when I stood up, it was right in the gooch. It’s normally pleasurable for a man, isn’t it? The gooch. We all enjoy the gooch, but not when you’re getting kicked straight in it.
Despite the painful punt to the perineum, Davis was delighted with his win, and re-stated his declaration he wants to become the Bellator lightweight champion within the next two years.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.