Must-See: Insane Capoeira Knockout
Most evidence seems to suggest that Brazilian dance-fighting isn’t very effective in an actual MMA match. But the doubters were proved wrong on Saturday night, as a Capoeira practitioner named Marcus “Lelo” Aurelio (not to be confused with Maximus) scored one of the most epic knockout-kicks in history at a North American Challenge event in North Vancouver.
Marcus Aurelio’s Capoeira Knockout
Aurelio’s opponent Keegan Marshall was clearly unprepared for the whirling-dervish routine, and let his hands drop at juuuuuust the wrong moment; the devastation comes at the vid’s 0:31 mark. After checking to see if Marshall is still alive (he was), Aurelio commemorates the moment with a victory dance that lasts about as long as the fight itself. Enjoy it, buddy — these kinds of things don’t happen very often.
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Capoeira in MMA
For years capoeira was treated as a punchline in MMA circles: more dance than fighting style, too flashy to work against a trained opponent. Knockouts like this one helped change that view. The spinning, momentum-based kicks that capoeira drills relentlessly are exactly the kind of unpredictable strikes that catch opponents with their hands down.
Later generations of fighters with capoeira in their background, Thiago “Marreta” Santos among them, brought those movement patterns into the UFC, and acrobatic finishes that would once have been dismissed as gimmicks are now a regular part of the sport’s highlight reels.