MMA's 'biggest mismatch' ever had to be stopped by referee in first round
When two MMA fighters with very different physiques took to the ring, the referee had to call it off after a few seconds, with many fans shocked the face-off was allowed to go ahead to begin with.
People called the fight the ‘biggest mismatch’ ever in the sport. You can watch a clip of it here:
I mean, it should go without saying that you have to be a certain kind of person to get into a ring of any description and fight another human being.
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Usually, you should be in decent shape, pretty fearless and have trained for a long time beforehand.
However, in this major ‘mismatch’, a young lad called Craig Wood found out the hard way how quickly a fight can end when you're out of your depth.
The 21-year-old was competing in the Evolution of Combat 9 event in Glasgow, Scotland, back in September 2021, when he got in the cage against Aron Lee.
A photo was shared on social media in early 2022, showing the pair standing side by side after, unsurprisingly, Craig had been beaten, quite comprehensively, within the first 15 seconds of the fight.
After a picture of the controversial matchup was posted on X, it led to many people commenting and asking what the hell was going on and how Craig was paired with Lee.
Sharing the photo to his page, MMA writer Harry Williams asked: "Can we please find out who allowed this fight to go ahead? I know there’s journeymen, but there’s a line, surely."
Replying to him, someone who attended the event shared footage from the fight itself, in which Craig is seen falling to the canvas after receiving a combo from Aron.
He then receives a couple more thumps as he lies on the ground before the referee steps in to put an end to the contest.
Ahead of the fight, Craig was introduced as Craig Knight, which caused even more confusion.
Replying to Harry in the comments, Craig explained: "I asked them to change name to mine but because I filled in for another journeyman within the couple hours of fight they couldn't."
He then hit back at the criticism of his physique, saying: "I'll let ya in on something, I'm in a lot better shape than I look."
But be that as it may, the event was heavily criticised for allowing the bout to go ahead.
The promoter who organised the event admitted they would have acted differently in hindsight.
They said: "We as a promotion regret that this matchup happened with such a size discrepancy and looking back would not make the same decision. We can, however, say that two consenting men chose to step into the octagon to compete and both walked out healthy.
"Since this event we have ran another event with a different outlook and look to ensure we keep good standards 100 percent of the time from now on."
Jess Battison