One Of The Wildest Ends To A Kickboxing Match Ever Results In Winner Getting Cheap-Shotted By Fans In The Ring

One of the wildest finishes in recent fighting memory occurred this past weekend at the Glory 42 co-main event bout in Paris.

Welterweight fighter Murthel Groenhart won the match against Harut Grigorian by knocking the Armenian out when he inexplicably turned his back in the middle of the round. Although the vicious blow appeared to be a cheap shot, Glory 42 announcers explained that the knockout was entirely legal. Groenhart, one of Glory’s top welterweight fighters and the 2016 Glory welterweight tournament champion, rightfully defended his strike with the explanation below:

“When you are in the heat of the game, you just continue,” Groenhart said. “He turned away. I came after him and got him with the right hook that’s all. I did nothing wrong. It was all in the fight, all in the game. Everyone says in the rules to protect yourself at all times. The referee did not come in. I came in with the right hook. He fell down, and then I saw the referee come in. I did nothing wrong.” [via MMA Fighting]

Grigorian’s trainer, Nicky Hemmers, said on the broadcast that his fighter turned his back due to a cut, “which you never do in a fight,” he said. He admitted that the hit was totally legal and didn’t hold it against Groenhart, for the most part–“It was not nice to do, but it was not illegal,” he said.

Regardless, seconds after the fight, a couple reckless fans who believed Groenhart was out of line for knocking out a defenseless opponent jumped into the ring and began throwing punched at the fighter while he was celebrating on the ropes.

“Some guy caught me with a hook to my face,” Groenhart said on the broadcast. “I got my guard up. With those hands without gloves, it came through to my chin and my teeth. I think it’s broken [jaw], I don’t know. It hurts.”

Groenhart was surprisingly level-headed for just having got his clock cleaned by a couple lunatics who had no business being in the ring.

“I was in the corner and I saw these guys coming out,” Groenhart said of the attackers. “I was like come on guys this is a sport. Things happen. Some people get emotional, too close. But this is a sport and little children are watching this sport at home. You can not come into a ring like this.”

It’s yet to be made public the charges these two men will face.

[h/t MMA Fighting]

 

 

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.