Media What did you make of the backflip that landed a shin to Potieras chin?

[Streeter]

Michel is one of the entertaining fighters in sport. That was glancing blow if it even really hit his chin . There's a reason they let it go - it did no damage.

 

[chardog]

lol the first knee lands fairly clean right on the jaw, the knee that lands after that lands on the shoulder

Love to see you take that knee and brush it off as "mostly shoulder" lmao

here was a clear punch to the face that floored the guy too

aside from that, a back flip during the match is pretty wild, a backflip in itself takes a bit of practice to learn

 

[DomiDomi]

If you actually look at the rule, the intent is that you are not to throw kicks or knee strikes aimed at the head. “Knees” may misconstrued because they name both the body part and the action of kneeing. It is clear that it is a foul if you intentionally throw a knee strike at a grounded opponents head. Shins or knees touching a downed opponents head from any type of movement to that is not a kick or knee are not mentioned in the rules.

The aim of the law is that you don't hit your opponents head with your knee, shin or foot with any meaningful force, the words "kick" and "knee" are perfectly adequate to cover people doing a backflip and dropping their knee directly onto their opponents head while they're on the ground.

 

[SuperNerd]

Standing moonsault is sooo 90s.

It's about the standing shooting star.

 

[MillingMeSoftly]

It's crazy how many actually stupid people there are here

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

It's crazy how many actually stupid people there are here

Hitting someone hard with your leg isn't a "kick." Just as the same logic applies that if I just swing at air repeatedly, it's someone else's fault for getting in the way

^Sherdoggers

 

[welcometohavoc]

Eyes

The leg/knee is right along the jawline.

That's only the jawline if you have some weird deformity that causes your jaw to fuse to your shoulder

 

[Gamer2k4]

It's not a kick or a knee to a downed opponent. This is similar to Randy Couture vs Gabriel Gonzaga. Couture took Gonzaga down, but Gonzaga's head smashed off the octagon and Couture ended up headbutting him and shattering his nose. It wasn't an intentional headbutt, and therefore it gets classified as incidental contact.

I feel like the rules are somewhat arbitrary on this point. On the one hand, if you're throwing a right hook and the guy turns and your punch lands on the back of his head, that's part of the game and no one's going to argue it. But if they're on the ground against the cage and you try to knee them in the body and hit their head instead, there's at least going to be a pause in the action, and maybe it'll even be a DQ (or at least a NC).

In this particular instance, I'm fine with the move not being illegal, but I wouldn't have an issue with them stopping the fight and giving the guy on the bottom his five minutes. No one's trying to kick someone in the cup, but the ref will still pause the fight if it happens. Same situation here.

 

[MarleyLynx]

If your leg falls on a downed opponent is it not a head strike?
Also, from the gif looks like it lands on throat or collar bone

 

[fighters_respect]

I would like to see John McCarthy or Marc Goddard or Dana White review the move.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

It was cool as fuck and that's the main thing.

 

[Poatan Power]

Neat.jpg

But also probably illegal and should have been treated as such.

 

[Cooliox]

I loved it and hopes he does it again. Anything sakuraba would do should be allowed

Yes

Now could you please help us get a Saku sticker on sherdog

 

[HHJ]

Yes

Now could you please help us get a Saku sticker on sherdog

I will drop the hint over by the Mod booth.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

That's only the jawline if you have some weird deformity that causes your jaw to fuse to your shoulder

Or if the other guy's leg isn't a 2 dimensional flat piece of paper.

The head is leaning down to the shoulder. What, you think Michel's blade-leg sliced in between that?

 

[Dr Fong]

I'm not going to rehash all the legitimate arguments as to why this wasn't called a foul given the rule is unclear, but the drama queens need to accept two basic things about MMA refereeing and fighting:

1. Refs have to make tough calls and it is their call to make.

2. Fighters need to protect themselves at all times and should not assume a position will necessarily make them safe. Look at the Weidman-Mousadi debacle, for example.

Now, we can legitimately complain about the injustice of eyepokes or nut shots where really there is no opportunity to defend from these illegal moves. But when a guy is literally telegraphing a fucking backflip on to you, you have an opportunity to defend yourself.

In summary, the ref made a difficult call and if Ihor was hurt by the move (which didn't seem to happen) it is partially his fault for getting hurt by it. Just accept it, you children.

 

[Noraaq]

Should be turned to a NC at the least

 

[FilipEmoFights]

This should be a pro wrestling finisher, would be a great spot and you could even set it up to outside of the ring or through a table.
Jumping backflip to knee, would call it the Theory of Gravity

 

[FilipEmoFights]

I used to purposely slam my knees onto opponents stomachs/fingers/noses in BJJ, the go makes it hard to notice and making someone as uncomfortable as possible will help make them quit.
Yes it’s a dick move, but it’s not like I haven’t had it done to me literally hundreds of times before I started catching on

 

[wufabufa]

Not that much different than landing a punch or kick to the back of the head as your opponent turn their head. Collateral damage.

I have no problem with it.