(Dekkers, seen here with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and Invicta FC fighter Marloes Coenen. Via Coenen’s Twitter.) 

Some terrible and unexpected news from the world of kickboxing, Potato Nation. Yesterday afternoon, it was made public that kickboxing legend and former Muay Thai world champion Ramon Dekkers had passed away at the tender age of 43. According to various reports, the Golden Glory coach collapsed in his hometown of Breda, The Netherlands during a bike ride after complaining about light-headedness. Attempts to revive him on the scene were unsuccessful and Dekkers was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

Within hours of the announcement of his death, the MMA community took to the internet to express their condolences, including world-renowned trainer and fellow Muay Thai legend Duke Roufus, who posted the following on the UG:

I wanted to express my gratitude & respect to late great Ramon “Diamond” Dekkers. Ramon & Rob Kaman were my early influence in Muay Thai. The first time I saw Ramon was early 1989 via video tape.

I was in a family of very involved in the PKA Kickboxing. My older brother Rick a Champion & my father a coach, manager, promoter, judge & ref. Pursuing Muay Thai was foolish to them at the time but it paid off. I went to Thailand trained at SitYodtong where Rob & Ramon had before me. I wanted to follow in foot steps of their greatness.

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(TURN DOWN YOUR SPEAKERS. YOU WILL THANK US.) 

Right now, the East Coast has basically been shut down by Snowstorm Nemo, a frigid, unrelenting bastard of a blizzard that has cast the majority of our coastal cities into a state of chaos. The streets of Boston, for instance, are either gridlocked beyond the point of visibility, or conversely barren, save the ever-increasing presence of snow. It’s the kind of storm that makes you feel like using hyperbole when attempting to describe it, and if you’re an MMA fan, it’s also the kind of storm that makes you want to cancel all your plans and surf the web for knockout videos while drinking yourself into an early grave.

Luckily for you, I’ve already done all three of those things for you, starting with the above video of the Collin Reuter/Gerald Fike fight that went down at SAARFC II on February 1st. The fight has gained some notoriety around the web over the past week, not for ending with a spectacular technique ala Uriah Hall, but rather for the manner in which Fike collapsed to the canvas once he was knocked out. Not since the unconscious masturbater have I seen such a hilariously brutal reaction to a KO as Fike, who appears to mimic one of the Golden Arches before crashing head over heels into the fence.

Here at CagePotato, we’ve been responsible for trademarking such unique knockouts as “The Falling Tree” and “The Lawn Chair,” but this one had even us at odds when it came to deciding upon a name. “The Slinky,” “The Reverse Cowgirl,” and “The Gumby” were among our top choices, but we’ll leave it up to you Taters to decide. Just this once, we ask that you don’t make us regret our decision. Just. This. Once.

And if you think that KO was great, join us after the jump to check out a couple more…

(Kru Phil Nurse on the left with his student, Georges St. Pierre)

By Elias Cepeda

Despite being one of the very best trainers in MMA, Phil Nurse gets relatively little press and up until now very little has been publicly known about his life, careers and philosophies. He coaches Georges St. Pierre, Frankie Edgar and Jon Jones, just to name a few UFC fighters.

As we discovered when we visited Nurse at his downtown Manhattan gym, however, the Kru is much more than his impressive resume. He is a combat genius and is able to convey his unique perspective and vision to his students with calm clarity. It is no wonder that some of the best fighters in the world seek him out to become even better.

With Georges St. Pierre returning to action after a year and a half at UFC 154 this Saturday in Montreal, it is a perfect time to hear from one of his coaches and corner men in Nurse. After the jump, sit with us and listen to the newest episode of The Conversation where Nurse talk about his unlikely path to Muay Thai, his own fighting career, meeting Georges St. Pierre and the spirituality that can be found through fight training.

(YOU LITTLE SHIT, YOU JUST COST ME 1,000 BAHT! / Video courtesy of DBaciFightMedia.com via TheUG)

The morality of children fighting for sport (both here and abroad) has given us plenty of opportunities for debate over the years. In Thailand, no such debate exists. Little kids fight Muay Thai, and that’s the way it is.

Still, it’s always a little unsettling for us American non-sociopath-types to see a child kicked unconscious, which is what happens around the 1:59 mark of the video above. The referee’s position actually blocks the impact from our view, but the aftermath — in which the losing fighter in the blue gloves is motionless on his back for about 15 seconds — suggests that he got seriously rattled. For what it’s worth, the YouTube page identifies the winner as “Baby Muay Thai fighter Pee,” and calls it a KO via body kick. Congrats, Pee.

Look, I know this is how things are done over there, but just because something is tradition, doesn’t mean it’s sacred. Kiddie Muay Thai knockouts — good or bad for humanity? Call 1-888-CAGE-TATO right now and let us know how you feel. Or just use the comments section.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/DesireisDeath20XX)

This knockout from an unidentified and undated muay thai event video is as nasty as any we’ve seen.

(Props: Olieng)

By Jack Slack

The upcoming welterweight tilt between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit at UFC 143 (February 4th, Las Vegas) is an exciting prospect for casual viewers and passionate fans alike. The match-up will answer no questions about Diaz or Condit’s ability to deal with the great wrestlers of the division — Diaz in fact hasn’t fought a real takedown artist in half a decade — but it promises to be a damn good tear-up. With Georges St. Pierre out of the fight game for a while and an interim title on the line it also provides just what UFC brass has likely been seeking: We will finally see an exciting striker at the top of the welterweight division.

The match is expected to stay on the feet and it is hoped the two men will “bang it out” until one is left standing. Assuming that neither fighter will come out with the plan of exposing the other’s takedown defense, this article examines the assets and deficits in each man’s bag of tricks from the standing position.

Nick Diaz’s Boxing

Much has been made of Nick Diaz’s pugilistic talent, and rightly so. His excellence while boxing against pure strikers over recent years almost excuses the lack of skilled wrestlers on his record in that time. Nick has taken on the likes of Paul Daley, Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos, KJ Noons, BJ Penn, and Marius Zaromskis in striking contests and got the better of all of them through his ferocity, grit and unique style.

Diaz is a prolific volume puncher, having been known to crash the Compustrike computer by throwing over a hundred punches a round. His form is not attractive in that it rarely provides one-punch knockouts, but his straights are uncompromisingly straight, his hooks loop in behind his opponents guard and when he sets his feet he rips terrific punches to his opponents’ torso; unquestionably he is the poster boy for body-punching in the sport.

Nick often attacks almost side-on in an old fashioned boxing stance with his lead foot turned in, allowing him to turn his lead shoulder further towards his opponent and gain a couple more inches on his already considerable reach (a stylistic feature he shares with his younger brother Nate). Often taking a few substantial punches in the opening exchanges, the Diaz brothers seem near impossible to knock unconscious, yet every opponent they face seems to labor under the illusion that they will be the first to do so.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/WhatsOnVideos)

Typically you don’t many instances that demonstrate the effectiveness of Taekwondo in combat sports.

Sure, guys like Anthony Pettis and David Loiseau (back in the day) have shown just how flashy and exciting the art can be, but as far as knockouts go, Muay Thai has become the weapon of choice for most fighters who want to finish opponents like Anderson Silva did Rich Franklin.

This kickboxing competition video out of Japan flipped that theory on its head in a matter of seconds when the Taekwondo dude immediately ran out to the center of the ring and spin-kicked the muay thai stylist into dreamland.

If Jordan Mein’s brutal finish of Evangelista “The Other Cyborg” Santos this past weekend showed us anything, it’s that the elbow strike is easily one of the most underutilized, not to mention plain deadly, tools in the MMA game. Now I know, I know, there are a couple people out there who will say that the lesson has already been taught, but the fact remains that until we witnessed it, many of us had all but ruled out the elbow as a means to finish a fight on the feet. Well, except for one really, really epic way, which I’m not sure counts. So with that in mind, let us take a look at some of the finer instances of the elbow in combat sports.

Jongsanan Fairtex v. Sakmongkol

Props to Geezer for the find, which features former Muay Thai phenom Anucha Chaiyasen a.k.a “Jongsanan Fairtex” and fellow fighter Sakmongkol. And before you go thinking “Jongsanan Fairtex” is some kind of “Kimbo Slice” style alternate persona, it is actually part of a tradition in Thailand to take the name of your camp. The match, which became known as “the elbow match”, was actually the fifth out of eight times that these two had met in the ring, and was nominated for fight of the decade. The devastating power of the elbow strike was first showcased in Muay Thai, its sharpness equated to that of a razor, and this match is perhaps one of the best examples of its effectiveness.

Knockout videos are a dime a dozen, particularly in the unforgiving sport of Muay Thai. What makes this one stand out is the anomaly of a one armed man delivering the final blow. As it turns out, this is no anomaly; this is Baxter Humby.

Humby’s right arm was amputated following a complication at birth, and rather than accepting that he’d never play recreational sports he pushed himself to excel at the professional level. “The One Armed Bandit” competed internationally as a member of Canada’s National Track Team. Having trained in the martial arts as a youth, Humby made the questionable decision to embark on a career as a professional fighter and soundly answered those who doubted his resolve.

Baxter has won over 15 kickboxing and muay thai titles, including: Canadian Super Welterweight Kickboxing Champion, IMTC World Middleweight Champion, IKBA International Kickboxing Champion, and IKKC USA Kickboxing Champion. The above first round knockout over Zidov Domenik took place Friday night at the Muaythai Premier League “Stars and Stripes” event. Humby successfully defended his WMC Intercontinental Championship.

Cosmo Alexandre could pan out to be a very exciting addition to Bellator’s roster

Yesterday, Liverkick.com passed along a report that Bellator has signed accomplished Muay Thai kickboxer Cosmo Alexandre to compete in their lightweight division. Fighting mostly at 160 and 170 pounds, Cosmo has compiled a 40-14-1 kickboxing record over the past seven years, as well as a 2-0 professional boxing record. As for his mixed martial arts experience, the Brazilian currently has none in the form of professional fights. Alexandre trains out of Imperial Athletics, whose notable fighters include Rashad Evans, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Jorge Santiago.

Intriguing signing, to say the least. It is certainly consistent with Bjorn Rebney’s model for developing fighters. Cosmo Alexandre is an unknown name to the American MMA fan that could essentially develop into Bellator’s version of Donald Cerrone: An elite striker who isn’t a fish out of water on the ground. Yet while Cosmo Alexandre may be able to translate his elite striking pedigree and strong camp into a successful MMA career, it is just as likely that he may be Bellator’s version of Ray Sefo: The world class kickboxer who gets caught in submissions that most of the white belts at your gym would feel embarrassed for succumbing to. Bellator’s lightweight division (and welterweight division, if he decides he’s more comfortable at 170) is stacked with good grapplers. While it helps to have Rashad Evans as a training partner, Alexandre is going to find himself getting taken down often due to the lack of fighters willing to stand and trade with him. If he doesn’t have good enough jiu jitsu to mount some offense off of his back, or at least avoid submission attempts, we may be in store for some pretty dissappointing fights. I’ll pause for you to make your own “It’s cool, he’s Brazilian” jokes.

Highlights from his Muay Thai career after the jump.

(Props: KahL1One)

Not just a badass highlight reel editor and part-time cartoonist, Kahleem Poole has put a lot of effort into promoting New York’s MMA scene, which is often overlooked due to the bullshit political climate in this state. Here’s the latest installment of Kahl’s "MMA in NY" series, which focuses on Evolution Muay Thai and Ultimate Gym. Shameless plug time: Evolution is the gym where I (BG) personally train, so I was incredibly excited to see how well this episode turned out; it’s awesome to see folks like Brandon Levi, Rene Driefuss, and Angela Hill start to get the recognition they deserve. If you live in New York City and you’re interested in taking up Muay Thai or BJJ, you should really come by sometime and say hello…

(Props: barochoc)

While cruising YouTube for Muay Thai knockout videos last night — hey, it’s my life and I can waste it any way I want — I came across this gem, filmed in Thailand a couple years ago. When you keep up a pace like that, it’s only a matter of time before one guy catches a bad one. Watch as Mr. Red Shorts lands one of the nastiest cobra punches ever recorded, then knocks Blue out again with a head kick as soon as the poor bastard gets to his feet. Two questions: 1) Did that referee graduate from the Yves Lavigne School of Letting Fighters Suffer Multiple Concussions? and 2) Who would be watching soccer at a time like this? Anyway, good morning everybody…

(Props: jamie98s via Fightlinker)

What better way to start your week than a ten-minute lowlight video of MMA fighters getting blasted in the testicles, eye-gouged, and kicked in the head while they’re down? All your favorite fouls are here, including: Gabriel Gonzaga’s infamous nut-punt on Chris Tuchscherer, Frank Mir getting curb-stomped by Wes Sims, and the impressive moment when Brandon Vera was able to kick Randy Couture in the groin and poke him in the eye at the same time. Brandon, if you’re remembered for nothing else — and let’s be honest, you probably won’t be — may you be remembered for that.

After the jump: Some squirrelly-lookin’ kid from Boston named "Dana" (LOL, that’s a girl’s name!) shows up at UFC 30 and tells James Werme how he’s going to turn the organization around. Lots of luck, buddy. Also, two quick knockouts just because we love you.

(Props: MMAFightGirls)

Remember Ozzy Osbourne’s nerdy, chubby son Jack? Well he’s still a little nerdy and chubby, but he’s also pretty serious about Muay Thai these days. The video above shows Jack discussing his experiences training at Fairtex Bangplee; highlights from his successful Muay Thai debut can be seen here. When the latest retarded Osbourne-family TV spinoff meets its merciful end, maybe Jack can produce a celebrity-MMA competition show. Someone’s gotta be tough enough to beat Bonaduce…

Below: Arianny Celeste, possibly after a Sunday morning wake-and-bake session, makes some breakfast in boots. Watch out, Giada De Laurentiis — someone’s gunning for your job.

(Props: TheGarv)

After the jump: The trailer for Tyson, a soon-to-be-released documentary about the rise and fall of the boxing legend/cautionary tale. (No children were eaten in the making of this film.)

(Props: MMA Mania)

THQ has released some more preview footage from UFC 2009 Undisputed, showing Da Spyder and Da Troof getting their pre-fight introductions. For more intros, hit up videogamer.com.

Below: RawVegas catches up with Junie Browning at Xtreme Couture and discusses his upcoming matchup with Cole Miller and his new training partner, War Machine. On War: "I think he’s a cool dude. That’s the kind of guy I would hang out with outside of here. [Ed. note: God help us all.] You get a lot of computer warriors and people like that, but they don’t really know a person…I think people get the wrong interpretation of him."

After the jump: NFL linebacker Dhani Jones learns some Muay Thai in a clip from his new show Dhani Tackles the Globe — which premieres March 16th on the Travel Channel — and an epic board-breaking fail.

(Just one of the reasons why you should rent “The Story of Ricky” immediately.)

Long before we became obsessed with MMA, martial arts flicks satisfied our thirst for blood. We now pay tribute to the best of the best — and the kickass fight scenes and iconic stars that made these movies so essential. Click the links for video clips, and let us know how you feel in the comments section…

***

10. Kickboxer (1989)

Say what you will about Kickboxer, but it delivers what it promises. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Kurt Sloane, the European-accented brother to an American kickboxing champion (?) who travels to Thailand only to be paralyzed by the vicious Tong Po. It isn’t until Sloane seeks out the wisdom and awesomely unorthodox training of Xian Chow that he is ready to seek revenge in a brutal underground match that features no shortage of broken glass-encrusted fists and long, drawn-out screams.

Best Ass-Kicking: How do you prepare for the fight of your life? By getting drunk and beating up bar patrons while dancing horribly in pleated pants. How else?

Classic Quote: “I tell them you say they no good fighters… and that their mothers have sex with mules.” (Xian Chow)

9. The Legend of Drunken Master aka Drunken Master II (1994)

In the latest installment of the half-hour MMA web show, Dana White stops by to chat about Anderson Silva, the UFC’s July SpikeTV event going up against Affliction’s PPV, and Lorenzo Fertitta’s new role in the company. On the UFC’s global expansion, White says: “In eight years, this will be the biggest sport in the world. Bigger than the NFL, bigger than soccer (!!!), it’s gonna be the biggest.” Later in the show, Kenny Florian talks about avenging his losses as well as punishments for missing weight, and Josh Barnett calls in to analyze the ongoing DREAM tournaments and his Affliction debut against Pedro Rizzo. In the “MMA for Dummies” segment, Ken-Flo demonstrates the Muay Thai clinch.

Whoever’s in charge of video editing at Triumph United has incredible taste in music (though we would have probably chosen this jam for the soundtrack instead). If you’re not interested in seeing Kimbo Slice and Bas Rutten do some synchronized striking drills during a recent meet-and-greet at Elite MMA, we’d suggest skipping to the 1:54 mark to get your first taste of Kimbo workin’ it on the ground. Props to BloodyElbow. Also…

(James Irvin prepares for his UFC 85 fight against Rashad Evans at Fairtex Bangplee in Thailand. Props to MMAMania.)

(‘Pet and the Wildman, L.A.’s wackiest drive-time talk radio team. Image courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

If you’re feeling bloodlustful this evening, we suggest setting the DVR for Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/PT, when the ShoXC Elite Challenger Series kicks off from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, CA. Headlining the event is explosive former Muay Thai world champion Malaipet Sitprapom (3-1 MMA), who faces King of the Cage vet Thomas “Wildman” Denny (25-16). Also on the main card is undefeated bantamweight Chris Cariaso, as well as 205′er Aaron Rosa, who took his first career loss in his last ShoXC appearance in October against Jared Hamman. The weigh-in results are below. It looks like a few guys went over, but hey, it’s ShoXC, so whatever.

Televised Card
Malaipet Sitprapom (154.75 lbs.) vs. Thomas Denny (160 lbs.)
Marlon Mathias (159.5 lbs.) vs. Conor Heun (159.5 lbs.)
Aaron Rosa (203.25 lbs.) vs. Jaime Fletcher (205 lbs.)
Shane Del Rosario (231 lbs.) vs. Analu Brash (256.5 lbs.)
Mark Oshiro (138.75 lbs.) vs. Chris Cariaso (139.5 lbs.)

Preliminary Card
Brandon Tarn (250.5 lbs.) vs. Jason Williams (257.25 lbs.)
Devin Howard (172.5 lbs.) vs. Mark Kempthorne (170.75 lbs.)
Vince Guzman (161 lbs.) vs. Lyle Beerbohm (160.75 lbs.)
Kenny Johnson (170 lbs.) vs. Michael Penafiel (168.25 lbs.)
Steve Gable (169.75 lbs.) vs. Eric Jones (168.5 lbs.)

Bonus: Malaipet highlight reel…