This week in Martial arts: UFC’s Greatest KO, McGregor Returns and Texas Opens to Combat Sports
‘The greatest knockout in UFC history’ occurred at Fight Island over the weekend. Impa Kasanganay caught Joaquin Buckley’s rib kick, only to be countered by a spinning heel kick to the jaw, instantly dropping him to the canvas. The middleweight drilled the kick during practice, but had never been able to land it in a fight until now.
McGregor returns
Conor McGregor is expecting to come out of retirement for the third time later this year. The notorious Irishman retired from his prolific career in June, but has since been very vocal about his desire to fight. First, he tweeted on September 25th that he would be ‘boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East’, and then continued to tweet about his frustrations with Dana White and his lack of opportunity this year. A few days later, he organized an exhibition charity fight between him and former opponent Dustin Poirier, in Connor’s hometown of Dublin. The matchup has since been offered by the UFC, with both fighters confirming their agreement. Conor wants the fight to happen this year, but has agreed to still donate the $500,000 to Poirier’s non-profit, The Good Fight.
Texas opens up to combat sports
Fight promoters can once again apply to hold combat sports events in Texas, for the first time since March, when the state went into a strict lockdown. Unlike Nevada, the home of the UFC fight promotion, Texas will allow an audience at a reduced 50% capacity.
Sam-A Gaiyanghadao retains his featherweight title at One Championship’s most recent event. The Lumpinee Stadium champion defeated Australian, Josh Tonna, via TKO, after a trio of knockdowns in round 2.
Up and Coming Fights: Ortega Returns
Brian Ortega faces Chan Sung Yung in a highly anticipated featherweight bout set to headline UFC Fight Night on October 17th. The winner will likely be the #1 contender, so the stakes are high. The ‘Korean Zombie’ was due to face ‘T City’ back in December when Ortega suffered a knee injury and was forced to pull out. This will be his first fight back after two years out of the octagon.
Up and Coming Fighters
18 year old BJJ ‘prodigy’ Jessa Khan has earned her black belt, after beginning the sport aged 12. Since becoming old enough to receive her blue belt, she dominated every tournament, collecting titles at the Worlds, No Gi Worlds, Pan American, and European championships. The Cambodian is the first person to earn a black belt from Art of Jiu Jitsu’s children’s programme, headed by the Mendes brothers.
This article was written by Alanna Sheridan
📬 Get weekly updates straight to your inbox
💬 💬 💬 💬 💬 💬
We also have a chat room! (We use Discord) join here
The unleashed network is a network of all martial arts related accounts with ~1 million follows across all our accounts. We are on all major platforms.
