Former UFC fighter James Vick was on the improper finish of one of many scariest fight sports activities knockouts you’ll ever see at Karate Fight 47 this previous Friday evening.
Vick was knocked unconscious by a change kick from Rafael Alves, capping off one of many craziest occasions in promotional historical past. Vick was out chilly for fairly a while earlier than being despatched to the hospital, however stories started to flow into about how unhealthy issues truly received for Vick after that kick.
Karate Fight president Asim Zaidi gave his response, and in addition offered readability on the scenario.
“I’ll inform you this: The occasion, this was presupposed to be an occasion for our prospects, form of a filler occasion, a smaller Karate Fight to arrange our larger reveals,” Zaidi instructed MMA Preventing. “It was going so properly, and simply every little thing about it was simply so electrifying and ideal — even the entire brawl, strangle incident was hilarious. The group was chanting, they’d a good time with it. Nobody received damage. It labored out in a really optimistic manner, every little thing was comfortable, and at that second when James Vick received knocked out, I might now not be comfortable.
“It actually sucked as a result of it was one of the profitable reveals, bought out crowd, everyone seems to be cheering. I might have went residence and had a really nice evening and rejoice a beautiful occasion, and I couldn’t as a result of my coronary heart was damaged as a result of it was such a tricky knockout. It’s onerous for me to look at the video. It truly is like after I see the video of that knockout, it’s not simple to look at. I cringe watching it and, it was simply as unhealthy as every little thing [that’s been] stated.
“Sure, he was KO’d, he was out for some time. We didn’t present it on the printed, however he seized. They took him into the ambulance, he wanted assist respiration, they put some tubes for some respiration. It’s onerous for me to speak about it, you recognize, however thank God he recovered and every little thing is okay.”
Vick’s UFC run ended with 4 straight losses, together with three knockouts by Justin Gaethje, Dan Hooker, and Niko Worth, after which was stopped by Andre Fialho in his first struggle exterior of the octagon for XMMA. The 37-year-old pivoted to the boxing world the place he picked up consecutive knockout wins, after which tried his hand within the Karate Fight pit, going 1-2 with all three fights going to the scorecards.
After 14 months out of the promotion, Vick returned and suffered the jaw-dropping knockout. Regardless of the aftermath, and the scary nature of the scenario, “President Superior” says that when Vick regained consciousness and began speaking in regards to the struggle, he appeared to have a grasp of how issues went down as soon as he put the items collectively.
Whereas that’s all properly and good, Zaidi wouldn’t wish to see Vick competing once more — for Karate Fight, or wherever else.
“He awakened and I went to go go to him and what’s loopy is I used to be there proper when he awakened and, he’s like, ‘Man, what did I mess up? What did he hit me with? And I stated, ‘He hit you with a change kick,’” Zaidi stated. “He’s like, ‘Oh, he went low, then went excessive,’ I stated, ‘Yeah, one kick went to your leg, one went to your head. He’s like, ‘Oh I dropped my palms after I checked the kick.’ He understood every little thing, man. So we’re speaking about strategical errors instantly when he awakened, which made me really feel so a lot better and confirmed how confirmed how conscious he’s.
“Thank God he’s good now, he’s been discharged, he’s residence, and he can hopefully, take a break and I’d not wish to see him within the pit once more. … “I hate to say it and I I don’t need to to sound heartless, however I simply can’t convey him again to Karate Fight, and I don’t suppose he ought to struggle once more. I hate to say that as a result of he’s a warrior. However he has a beautiful faculty, he coaches many, many superb gifted younger fighters. I feel it’s time to say, hey, that’s my path and that’s what I’m going to go on to, and he was profitable, man. There’s a time the place he was 9-1 within the UFC. So he was a profitable dude, and I feel that a part of his life is over and now it’s time to concentrate on his superb skills and college students that he has.”
Zaidi hopes that Vick will seem as a coach and cornerman for his fighters for years to return, and can also be open to Vick being a part of the Karate Fight broadcast workforce.
However when requested the place Vick’s coronary heart was at, Zaidi stated that there gave the impression to be no indicators of him desirous to stroll away from competitors.
“He talked about the alternative,” Zaidi defined. “He truly stated he wished to return again. He truly instructed one of many Karate Fight workers that he wished to struggle once more. I didn’t need to even speak to him about that, and it’s simply, it’s not going to occur. It’s simply, I can’t enable that to occur for his personal security and I feel he he has a terrific thoughts within the sport and might discover different nice avenues to achieve success to create, and additional his legacy.”
