Cutwoman Carol Siracusa is bowled over by Billy Brand at a Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat show in Wheatland, Calif., on July 22, 2023 | @UFCFightPass, Twitter

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

We see MMA celebrations go wrong all the time, not just for the fighters themselves but for any unfortunate souls that happen to be in the immediate vicinity (remember Darrion Caldwell’s ill-fated backflip?). Well, guess what, we had ourselves another post-fight collision this past weekend at Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 12.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Billy Brand vs. Pedro Juarez
Taylor Mauldin vs. Laura Gallardo
Carlos Figueroa vs. Ian Morken

You’d be forgiven if you heard about Billy Brand scoring a knockout win over Carol Siracusa a.k.a. “Carol the Cutwoman” and not his actual opponent, Pedro Juarez.

After capping off a fun striking battle with Juarez with a third-round TKO finish, Brand was caught unawares by an approaching Siracusa and it ended exactly how you’d expect. A hopping Brand accidentally gave Siracusa a stiff shoulder check, sending her tumbling ass over teakettle to the canvas.

The good news is that Siracusa was able to shake it off and Brand immediately went to help her out before apologizing profusely. These things happen in MMA.

Less common? Strawweights winning title fights via gogoplata from full mount.

That’s what Taylor Mauldin pulled off in this past Saturday’s co-main event as she worked a gogo from bottom position in the second round of her fight with Laura Gallardo. Maudlin managed to roll on top of the Ultimate Fighter 30 cast member to finish the maneuver, a rare sight that would make Brad Imes proud.

With the win, Mauldin improved to 4-0 and became A1’s inaugural strawweight champion.

The strangest knockout of the weekend came courtesy of Carlos Figueroa, who scored a 35-second finish off of a blink-and-you-missed-it boop elbow.

Never underestimate the boop!

Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 12 is available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

Harry Hardwick vs. Vitor Estevam

Also on UFC Fight Pass, we had a painful looking choke-out at Cage Warriors 157 in London,where Harry Hardwick went from brawling with Vitor Estevam right into an aggressive back take.

They don’t call Hardwick “Houdini” for nothing.

Hardwick’s arm clamped right down on Estevam’s neck as they went to the ground and you can see Estevam’s mouthpiece get ejected. It didn’t take long for Estevam to go night-night after that.

And in case you missed it, make sure you check out Omiel Brown’s awesome uppercut knockout of Jesse Urholin. Plus, catch another event this Saturday as Cave Warriors 158 goes down in Rome, headlined by flyweight champion Shajidul Haque going for his first title defense against Italy’s own Michele Martignoni.

Selver Mahmic vs. Nemanja Milakovic
Leo Ounok vs. Nikola Durdev
Frano Brnada vs. Anze Vujcic

At FNC Armageddon 4 (free replay available on YouTube) in Bugojno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selver Mahmic scored a 17-second knockout after rocking Nemanja Milakovic and then ground-and-pounding him into dust.

It was a bad night for fighters too tough for their own good, as Nikola Durdev also refused to go down after eating a hard strike; instead, he stumbled around with zero health for a few seconds before Leo Ounok left him limp against the side of the cage.

Same story with Anze Vujcic, though he was also the latest victim of in-cage advertisement.

We hear UFC fighters complaining about the slippery vinyl ads on the mat all the time and you can see the worst-case scenario of that problem play out here. Frano Brnada already had Vujcic on shaky legs, so when Vujcic slipped off of a kick, it was inevitable that Brnada would seal the deal.

Zhu Kangjie vs. Min Hyuk Lee

This was a bizarre and hilarious-looking knockout from China’s Dragon FC and I don’t have much to add beyond Chris Presnell’s perfect caption:

“Zhu Kanjie sent Lee Min Hyeok to the shadow realm in 20 seconds, then he tried to come back as a zombie at Dragon FC.”

Can’t even blame Zhu for the late shot there. Everyone knows you’ve got to double tap a zombie.

Oseyiomon Oiyemhonlan vs. Zumarr Archer
Bekzat Almakhan vs. Mateus Gloria
Shokhasan Mirzamatov vs. Akbar Azadi Far

Speaking of emphatic head shots, we close this week’s show with a trio, courtesy of Oseyiomon Oiyemhonlan, Bekzat Almakhan, and Shokhasan Mirzamatov.

Head kick.

Head kick!

HEAD KICK!!!

LFA 163 is available on UFC Fight Pass, while you can watch Octagon 47 for free on YouTube.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.