Soccer Kicks Are Simply Too Brutal And Dangerous In MMA, And Here’s Proof

It took six seconds for Timofey Nastyukhin to win his MMA fight against opponent Rob Lisita today at ONE Championship 43: Kingdom of Champions in Bangkok, Thailand. The Russian fighter caught Lisita with a flush left hook to the temple that dropped his opponent. He then followed up on that with a soccer kick to the head.

Take a look at the knockout, care of Twitter users Caposa and Jolassanda. Be warned, though: it’s not for the faint of heart.

https://twitter.com/GrabakaHitman/status/736215294037925889

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/736213884256813056

It was a quick and brutal finish to the fight, and Lisita raising his arms after the kick is called a fencing response, an indicator that he just suffered a concussion. Fortunately, updates on social media are reporting that Lisita is conscious and responding normally — well, as normally as you can expect immediately after suffering a knockout like that.

ONE FC’s ruleset is closer to the rules formerly used by Japanese promotion PRIDE than the Unified Rules of North America, which means you’re allowed to kick your opponent when they’re on the ground. That’s a rule Nastyukhin has taken great advantage of — this is his third ONE FC win that has involved soccer kicks. Considering how brutal the move is, we’re kinda glad it’s only allowed in a few leagues any more.

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