Saturday was not a marquee date on the MMA schedule. But it doesn’t take huge cards to produce great moments, and that was the case all around the world.
The day’s first “big” card was PFL’s second event in Africa, this time visiting Johannesburg, South Africa. It didn’t take long at all for the first violent knockout of the day, with Burkina Faso’s Abdul Razac Sankara unloading a head kick that put Shadrick Dju Yemba to sleep on contact just two minutes into their featherweight fight.
One fight later, the South African fans saw one of their own, Elbert “Picachu” Lukas Steyn, finished with a crushing knee to the body from Abderrahman Errachidy. The knee put Steyn on the canvas, and a few punches to the head led to the stoppage.
Not to be outdone, Team Alpha Male’s Dwight Joseph made it three violent stoppages in a row when he put Wilker Nsamo to sleep. Joseph just missed with a highlight reel spinning heel kick, but beautifully followed up with a perfectly-timed jumping knee that put Nsamo to sleep.
While PFL fans had to sit through a fight ending by submission, briefly interrupting the train of knockouts, the violence kept rolling shortly after when Emilios Dassi connected with a two-punch combination that left Osvaldo Benedito slumped against the cage.
The UFC was also in action on Saturday, with a Fight Night card inside the Apex in Las Vegas.
The world’s biggest MMA promotion wasn’t looking to be outdone and their fighters stepped up to provide a run of three wild knockouts.
First, Uros Medic connected with a perfect straight left hand that put Gilbert Urbina on dream street.
The women then got in on the act, with Joselyne Edwards landing a clean two-punch combination followed by some brutal ground and pound to finish Priscila Cachoeira.
The three-fight knockout run was capped off by Elijah Smith busting out a pro wrestling-style powerbomb that put Toshiomi Kazama to sleep.