Combat sports continues to evolve to the point where we get to see the kind of moves formerly reserved for unrealistic action flicks performed in the ring or cage on a weekly basis. This week’s ripped straight from the movies move comes from Phucket, Thailand where Rafael Fiziev pulls off an epic Matrix dodge against a kick from his opponent Sawgraw.
Dodging a kick by leaning back is by no means an uncommon move in muay thai fighting, but Fiziev takes things to the extreme by folding back a full 90 degrees with seeming effortless skill and lightning speed.
Unfortunately, pulling off a Matrix dodge wasn’t enough for Rafael Fiziev to beat Sawgraw that day. In the end, Sagraw took the fight on the judge’s scorecards. You can watch the highlights from their back and forth war below, which involves many other ridiculous yet typical muay thai moves like roundhouse kicks and flying elbows to the eye socket. Now excuse me, I’m going to go rewatch Ong Bak now.
