WATCH: ONE Championship’s INS*NE spinning elbow knockout will drop your jaws

It’s a jaw-dropper, indeed. Muay Thai’s stylistic spinning back elbow remains one of the most devastating tools in UFC. Even MMA at large. So, it’s not unusual to see it in full display at more singular base promotions like ONE Championship. All credit to Asadula Imangazaliev, as his spinning back elbow KO is stirring up a storm.

ONE Championship was back to the signature Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok, on July 19, with ONE Friday Fights 71: Songchainoi vs. Rak II. ONE’s very own Asadula Imangazaliev faced Petmuangsri Wankhongohm at Catchweight Muay Thai (133 lbs). While Petmuangsri was reeling back in from the periphery, the Russian subjected him to some heavy salvo before catching him with a spinning elbow in the first round.

Imangazaliev countered a kick separation; one huge right overhand and a spin later, he won his first ONE bout. He was set to make his debut against Osaka’s own Seiki Ueyama at ONE Friday Fights 66, but this proved better anyway. He also has a 4-0 elite record (-60kg ) fighting for the International Federation of Muaythai Associations. ONE Championship has produced some standout staples over the years.

Heavy-handed brawler Anatoly Malykhin, who takes a shine to Islam Makhachev, made history by capturing gold in a third division. Scrawny yet dangerous BJJ savant Mikey Musumeci went 7-0 with his win over Gabriel Sousa. There’s ex-UFC and all-time flyweight G.O.A.T. Demetrious Johnson. While not of those mettle, Imangazaliev can go similarly someday. As such, he has already gone viral.

Asadula Imangazaliev’s ONE Championship debut goes viral

With no padding and more technicality than a regular parry-and-punch, spinning elbows are a totally different beast. Quite literally, it was just a bone-to-bone collision. More than that, it’s tough to connect at point-blank range for even tried and tested fighters. Jon Jones is famous for his penchant for bursting out spinning elbows.

Asadula Imangazaliev adds to ONE Championship’s lore of spinning back elbows (Source: X/es.agfight.com)

Boasting a high battle IQ, the Team Jackson’s Acoma MMA striker made use of whatever movement available to break pace downrange. Maybe that is the reason why he made the ESPN SportsCentury project’s list of ‘Top 100’ athletes since the 2000s. ‘Bones’ never knocked out anyone in that manner, though. Dong Hyun Kim vs. John Hathaway was one. Ricardo Ramos vs. Aiemann Zahabi was another. Jiri Prochazka had one of the most viral ones to finish Dominick Reyes.

ONE Championship has had more success with the standard Muay Thai base technique. ONE: ROAR OF TIGERS in 2014 had an infamous one, as did Brown Pinas, Kirill Grishenko, Yukinori Ogasawara, and others. Now, Asadula Imangazaliev adds one with his promotional debut. Here are the top reactions yet to the Team Mehdi Zatou fighter: