UFC fighter mounts Rocky-like comeback after surviving groin kick

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MMA star Joshua Culibao came back from some serious adversity to submit Melsik Baghdasaryan in the second round of their UFC 284 undercard bout. The Aussie was caught with a brutal spinning-back kick to the groin in the first round that left him writhing in pain.

Despite being given five minutes to recover, Culibabo only took two and came back to stop his foe in the following stanza. Cheered on by a home crowd, Culibabo checked an incoming kick, causing his opponent to lose balance as the 28-year-old took Baghdasaryan’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke for the finish.

But Culibao admitted the groin kick was a difficult obstacle to overcome. “It was pretty bad,” he said during his post-fight interview. “It was one of those ones where you have just got to kind of figure out if they are still there. Do you know what I mean?

“Yeah, if you’ve been hit the nuts, you know what it feels like. That’s the game we play when we’re younger, you get smacked in the nuts and it comes up.”

“This is a dream come true,” he added. “Perth, thank you for having me and the UFC for coming down here. I f***ing love you guys! Hey! That’s 50K bonus worthy, give me my money!”

Unfortunately, he missed out on a performance bonus as the UFC bosses decided to award them to Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkanovski, Yair Rodriguez and Jack Della Maddalena instead.

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The victory was made all the more satisfying after Baghdasaryan grabbed Culibao’s throat when they faced off at the ceremonial weigh-ins. Speaking about the incident during the post-fight press conference, Culibao bizarrely thanked Baghdasaryan for doing it.

He said: “Melsik did me a favour in adding to it by playing the villain. He came in and did that shove, obviously, he played a big part in building this fight and being the villain, which gave me the chance to be a superhero in this story, so thank you to Melsik.

“At the fighter hotel we were sweet, we did bloods together, we were bumping into each other plenty of times and there was no animosity. I just feel maybe coming to my territory he felt some sort of way and got rubbed the wrong with them booing him. So, the only real way to take it out was on me and I don’t blame him.”

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