WTF – Mascot mayhem in Japan!

Even the bigger stages of combat sports have seen some odd events as of late, especially in the midst of a bit of a drought for star-powered events on the MMA scene. No matter the week and the strength of schedule, however, we’ll always have the weird outskirts of martial arts and combat sports to lean on.

In fact, fans could go so far as to rest easy on the absurd and bewildering this time around. Starting with our pal Jerry over at Fight Commentary Breakdowns. No oddball Kung Fu vs Aikido stuff, but back to basic self-defense techniques being put to the test. We’ve seen this before, where Jerry takes a few videos from around the internet and puts them to the test in practical live scenarios.

Starting with a simple headlock defense/escape, he moves on to ninja and pressure point techniques. Maybe not the circus-styled combat we’re used to, but great to see how these ideas get broken down.

Next up, we’re back in Nigeria for Dambé Warriors, and it’s still nuts. There’s always a quality payoff here, and this week is no different. We’ve got a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it knockdown off a quick counter that nicks the top of the head.

Bahagon Dan took one to give one, but man… it was a hell of a give. This wasn’t even a “game of inches“ situation. One guy landed with more evil intent, and it stuck.

Also, here’s a devastating finish in which white shorts decides to spam the same button over and over. Much like the most annoying E. Honda guy at the arcade, somehow it works.

This was definitely a case of ”speed kills”, and the other guy had a hard time processing what felled him.

We’re gonna follow that with some action courtesy of SAMBOFIAS, in which we get a lovely match from the European SAMBO championships in Serbia. It’s a treat with fun scrambles and grappling engagement.

And we’ll stay in the jacket graps world with a highlight vid from the always reliable Judo Highlights. Here’s the top Ippons from the recent Abu Dhabi championships:

Let’s follow that with more Judo with some Kodokan Cup middleweight highlights:

Here’s a grueling Lethwei bout that is strictly back and forth, bite-down-on-your-mouthpiece action. It’s not the easiest watch, but you have to respect what these guys put themselves through.

Finally, we’ll end with the most vicious grappling you’ll see all week, a truly reprehensible display of dismemberment. Absolutely not for the squeamish. You’ve been warned.

That’s it for today, kids. Keep your powder dry and don’t worry about VIP status on social media. Send me $8 directly instead, I promise you it’s a better use of your money. And remember: you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.