Johnathan Ivey fought Travis Fulton in the main event of this weekend’s Colosseum Combat XLV event in Kokomo, Ind., and while fans didn’t exactly get their money’s worth of action, they at least got to witness an all-time theatre of the absurd moment. After Fulton connected with a body kick in the first round, Ivey clutched his chest in apparent pain, lurched forward, and sprung out of his fake injury posture to surprise a retreating Fulton with a flurry of punches.
Ivey peppered Fulton with strikes for a good 40 seconds until relinquishing, letting Fulton stand up, then ambling to the center of the cage and tapping out.
Both Ivey and Fulton are as grizzled as grizzled gets, so it’s possible that Ivey gassed out. However, it seems more likely that Fulton’s status as a regional MMA legend (he has a 256-54-10 record) may have helped him escape the knockout. After the fight he was asked what the hell happened, and he said, “You get it in your head that you can’t beat somebody you look up to, and maybe that’s what happened.” So the lesson here is either to win by faking injuries or win through sheer force of respect.