The FF-Files: Do It Again
“Paint my face and bang my drum, hold my bone up to the sun. Bang my drum and paint my face, on my plane to hyperspace.” – The Chemical Brothers, “Do It Again”
The Sherdog Fight Finder team has completed a massive project that will positively overhaul our database – to be clear, no actual changes in function will occur, as it pertains solely to methods of victory. As a reminder, our internal system once allowed for manual entry of every type of result imaginable, so it was up to the entrant to be consistent and accurate. We made some updates a few years ago to cut down on typos or entry errors. While at one point there were typos and slight misclassifications abound on Fight Finder, when this update launches, it will all come to an end.
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For those not following the FF-Files series closely, it was the dawn of a new day when this project began in late 2022. The Fight Finder team unearthed many unexpected results, long-lost entries or one-of-a-kind moves. In our piece, we gave a “show and tell” of several of our favorites, with video embedded for your viewing enjoyment. As we continued down the rabbit hole, several glorious victories or fight endings came to light, whether as a reminder of something from over 20 years ago or a discovery of something unbelievable. As we enjoyed encountering them, so can you now.
Local Kombat Onesti, Dec. 12, 2012, Onesti, Romania.
If anything can happen in MMA, that goes double for heavyweights and probably quadruple for super heavyweights. In different parts of the world, rulesets differed even as recently as about a decade ago, as certain nations revved up their MMA engines slower than others. This matchup in Romania between two goliaths of men featured a lot of carnage in their two-and-a-half-minute engagement, from slappy chest-to-chest to knees to a grounded opponent to a fighter getting chucked out of the ring.
You read that last part right. In a position reminiscent of sumo wrestling, Lungu shoved Banks from one side of the ring to the other until Banks went flying out of it—and the 350-pounder followed and landed on top of him. “Panda” was in a bad way when he hit the announcer’s table, and the organization called the fight and awarded the victory to Lungu. Banks needed oxygen and help getting up, and it appeared to have concluded his MMA career. For our database, to tweak and simplify, the strange result is now TKO (Thrown from the Ring). It is not the only time this has happened in the sport, but it is quite a rarity and something that could not occur now.
EFL 4: Bad Intention, Feb. 4, 2012, Sainte-Julie, Quebec, Canada
Some results need to be updated for uniformity and simplification—“Banks thrown out of the ring” became “Thrown from the Ring” to match other results on Fight Finder. There are others that no amount of tweaking would seem appropriate. We always strive to use the fewest words on the database to keep them clean, clear and still descriptive. Then, this happens.
This was an amateur pairing in Canada between a future World Series of Fighting competitor and a fighter that would tour Canada for a few years before shelving his career. The match itself was nothing special until it was. Lariviere landed a low kick, leaned back to avoid a counter right hand, and then fired off a lead-leg head kick. He only discovered mid-strike that his rear leg had also come off the ground, resulting in his landing square on his head. The resounding impact separated Lariviere from his consciousness in one confusing blow, so sudden that even Capony shrugged his shoulders while referee Guillaume Lamarche waved off the contest. KO (Lariviere Knocked Himself Out) will remain as it is entered because it is the perfect result for everyone not named Dan Lariviere.
WFC 6: Battle in the Bay, March 22, 2008, Tampa, Fla.
Stop us if you’ve heard this: A fighter got something in their eye. In this case, future Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors Magana and Aguilar faced off years ago in the second leg of a trilogy. When reaching the third frame, Magana had bloodied her opponent’s nose, which caused a problem for Magana and not Aguilar. With “Her Majesty” on her back, the blood leaked into her eye, and she cried foul to the referee. The official took this as a verbal surrender, registered for the last 15 years as a technical submission. However, verbal submissions are listed as submissions on Fight Finder, and it is not our purview to dispute or challenge a referee’s call. So, it is now listed as just a submission, but the details remain the same. Blood stings the eyes, something fierce.
Shooto R.E.A.D. 8, Aug. 4, 2000, Osaka, Japan.
Dokonjonosuke Mishima Defeats
Justin Wisniewski
From that bloody one-of-a-kind result to another less graphic, this result is among the most rare and unusual submissions anyone could ever see. It has a name, and it is one that we at Sherdog will not alter to refer to a jiu-jitsu maneuver, a la shoulder choke instead of Von Flue or brabo instead of D’Arce. Everything seemed simple: Mishima got Wisniewski down and quickly advanced to side control. From here, one could set up an arm-triangle choke, isolate an arm, consider passing to mount or even keep moving laterally to reach a north-south position. Mishima wanted nothing to do with any of that. Instead, he hooked his left arm behind Wisniewski’s neck, laced his right beneath the crook of his foe’s left knee, and pulled them together. This unbearable cranking maneuver, torquing on Wisniewski’s hip, neck and back simultaneously, elicited a tap almost immediately. No one on record has performed the Cobra Hold in the sport since.
Collision Fight Ultimate 12: Arena, June 19, 2019, Salto, Uruguay
This maneuver is typically reserved for a fighter many levels higher than his opponent in skill, which showed in this match. Trindade, an 11-2 fighter coming into this pairing, drew an MMA newcomer and positively styled on him. BJJ practitioners may be salivating at the setup and sleek technical prowess on display, courtesy of a black belt looking like he was rolling with a guy off the street. What does one call this special and extremely odd submission? It is Buggy Choke-adjacent but not one; it sets up similarly to a Clock Choke but is its own entity entirely. Per a few instructional pieces, this unique move is called a Kraken Choke, possibly because of all the limbs (tentacles) draped over the opponent to get them to tap. Perhaps most interestingly, it appears that the calf was what strangled Camargo, but Calf Choke sounds lame.
Cut Throat MMA: Supremacy 4, Sep. 16, 2011, Cedar Lake, Indiana, United States
If a fighter somehow ensnared their adversary with simply their legs and the calf did the job, a designation of calf choke could be warranted. There are other ways to describe such a maneuver, like a triangle choke or leg scissor choke. What if, however unlikely, the move was pulled off with simply a competitor on their back and the other pressing down with their calf? This happened, except with a foot instead of a calf. The adage of “just squeeze” bore fruit. During 50/50 positions, combatants will occasionally push off the face, and as long as it is not in a striking motion, it is considered legal. Sands decided to take it one step further, positioning the inner ridge of his right foot beneath Bailey’s chin and pushing with all his might. It was a one-in-a-million shot, and he got the tap thanks solely to his foot. How else could this move be defined other than a foot choke?
Did we miss any wacky results that need to be corrected or tweaked? Is there a spectacular knockout not given its due in our database? Do we have a result that needs to be updated? Send it, and any other Fight Finder-related inquiries, to [email protected].
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