Missed Fists: Gustavo Lopez defends the title Combate Americas with a powerful knockout, plus

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists, where we highlight struggles from around the world that may have been neglected in these turbulent times, where it seems like an MMA show is taking place every day.

Last weekend was rare, without a UFC card. The rest of the MMA world seemed so determined to show up with a brutal KO litany. First, visit scenic Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for Combate 42.

Gustavo Lopez against Joey Ruquet
JJ Torres against Cole Jordan

Last Friday's Combate event was marked by two title fights to showcase two of the emerging stars of the promotion, senior lightweight champion Gustavo Lopez and featherweight Andres Quintana, who was trying to become the first champion of the season. Combat at 145 pounds.

In the main event for a vacant featherweight title, Quintana actually lost a unanimous decision in favor of outsider Bruno Cannetti, but Lopez more than held his share of the market in his first defense in the league.

There are many ways to describe Lopez's crackling and Ruquet's downfall, but how about calling UFC star Julianna Pena's call from the radio station:

"Oooh ooh! Yes Yes Yes! Ooooooh!

Summarizes things well, is not it?

In fact, Lopez and Ruquet fought in December 2015, meeting Lopez won through the submission of an armed triangle. This is a result that Ruquet would have probably welcomed in the course of their return match.

Earlier in the series, one of the best fights of the year in the Missed Fists took place between professional beginners JJ Torres and Cole Jordan.

This fight is all you can expect from two beginners. Non-stop crime, courage, dubious defense, and more than a pinch of purple. These two did not only fight wildly either, they showed a great confidence in them and a surprising patience before dropping everything.

A credit for the two middleweights, Torres for his victory and Jordan for his absurd hardness. He was bleeding all around Torres' back in the first round and if the referee had not stopped the fight after the second, the canvas would probably have been a much darker red hue at the end. It's a good thing that it's a good thing that the fight was stopped because none of the fighters seemed to have five minutes left of that level yet.

The best part is, Torres vs Jordan was on the Facebook Preliminaries, which you can watch for free! In order to replay the main board, you have to jump to DAZN.

Kris Berberich against Chance Staggs
Jacob Jones vs. Zack McCone
Caleb Miller against Alex Aschenbrenner

2019 was a great match for Chance Staggs, the Alaska Fighting Championship champion. He won two fights to improve his record to 4-0 and last Wednesday he was about to leap with his first major event opportunity in Anchorage, Alaska (AFC 151 available for the retransmission on UFC Fight Pass).

Instead of a jump, Staggs was triggered by the modest Kris Berberich.

Staggs, who appeared in Missed Fists last April for his role in a five-minute adventure, fell prey to Bererbich's submission match and was forced to score under an armband in the first round. While both men are still young in their careers, Staggs missed an opportunity to show up here as he faced an opponent in Berberich who lost two in a row, three of his last four, and entered the show. with a 2-6 record pro. Beberich, nicknamed "Easy Money", was anything but that night.

It's been a while since we have not seen a question mark ending the fight, so thanks to welterweight Jacob Jones for forcing:

Yes, there were punches that followed, but when a question mark lands properly, it's not long anyway.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, Afroman was in the house.

Bruno Ogro against Heder Araujo

For the ICYMI department, here is Bruno Ogro who gave a head to Shooto Brasil 94, which took place Friday in Rio de Janeiro.

Heder Araujo just confuses his defense, lowering his arms a little as Ogro's shin rushes to his head. The result: a huge knockout victory for Ogro and one of the many faceplant finishes we saw this week.

Caiona Batista against Raul Marcos Amorim

Caiona Batista, who stayed in Brazil at Sao Paulo's Future FC 8 (which can be replayed for free on YouTube), nearly equaled Ogro's brutality with a furious assault on Raul Marcos Amorim.

It's not fair from the ground and the pound, they are ferocious blazers that are launched and almost all of them land on the chin of Amorim. Falling from the knee to the referee's chest afterward probably did not help.

Kaisei Kondo against Riki Matsuoka
Ryo Aitaka against Karimian Sina
Kimura Minoru against Sho Oizumi
Black Masaaki against Sami Lamiri

We promised you to face the plants and plants you will have. Who knows what was in the water in Osaka at the 2019 K-1 World Grand Prix in Japan Saturday, but the suckers were cracking and they were in no hurry to get up.

Even though Kaisei Kondo only served two pieces here, it was more than enough to let Riki Matsuoka question her career in combat sports.

Look at this face at the end. It's the face of a man with regrets.

Ryo Aitaka could have auditioned for a starting point with the Hanshin Tigers with this upcoming knockout. There is the liquidation … and the land!

It is Karimian Sina who joins Matsuoka in Dream Street and Aitaka, Chuck Liddell, on the list of fighters whose right hand should be avoided at all costs. It's an indirect right that would make The Iceman blush.

This following clip presents a facial plant as part of a montage:

Kimura Minoru puts Sho Oizumi in hell, making him kiss the canvas and later and knocking him into a corner! It was a beat straight out of anime.

Our latest K-1 clip does not show a fighter taking the supine position, though it may be even harder to watch. Discover the disgusting body work of Masaaki Noiri and its effect on poor Sami Lamiri:

This is what we call a good old-fashioned case of "making someone sit down" and not politely.

The historically violent night of Bellator 225 was marked by the end of 14 fights. Although the series has had a lot of commercials and rightly so, there have been some knockouts that could have gone unnoticed and we can not stand this kind of thing at the headquarters of Missed Fists.

Sabah Homasi has never found his place in the UFC, despite teasing about his potential future as an exceptional brawler. He did not disappoint his return to Bellator, smoking absolutely Micah Terrill in just 17 seconds.

Ryo Aitaka, Chuck Liddell and Sabah Homasi are guys you do not want to let you hit with a right backhand. Stay safe, guys.

The prospect, Ricky Bandejas, was also rewarded. The 27-year-old made an incredible first impression last August by eliminating James Gallagher, but was rushed into a duel with Juan Archuleta and quickly submitted by his compatriot Patrick Mix. If it could not exceed Ahmet Kayretli, it would be the end of Bandejas' time in the Bellator's cage.

But Bandejas is not going anywhere and closes the edition of this week's Missed Fists with (what else?) A face-plant KO:

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If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked or a promotion that might catch your attention, please let us know on Twitter. @JedKMeshew and @AlexanderKLee using the hashtag #MissedFists.