We’re a long ways away from the wild days of mixed martial arts, but other parts of the world are still playing fast and loose with the rules. Many Asian countries allow kicks to the head of a downed opponent, leading to attacks with accurate names like ‘face stomp’ and ‘soccer kick.’ And in Thailand, it’s apparently possible to convince a referee to restart your fight after you’ve been finished.
This video comes from UFC fighter Cat Zingano, who’s been training in Thailand for several months en route to an eventual return to the cage. Her training partner, Caleb Lally, TKO’d his opponent, only to have that opponent argue with the ref until the fight was allowed to continue. Apparently Caleb ended up fighting the same guy three times — finishing the fight the next two times via submission to avoid any more controversy.
Fights like this take place in a gray area of legitimacy and often don’t show up on fighter records. At best, they’re marked as amateur or unsanctioned fights because how much stock can be placed in a fight when ridiculous stuff like the video above can go on? But that’s just part and parcel of fighting in other parts of the world without proper commissions ensuring rules (and safety) are taken into account.
(Via Bloody Elbow)