Cross training is part of the very fabric of mixed martial arts. However, Shonie Carter is an exemplar of not cross training, but cross competing.
“Mr. International” has competed extensively in Kickboxing, Judo, folkstyle, freestyle, and Greco, Knockdown Karate, grappling, Jiu-Jitsu, open hand Pancrase rules, and of course mixed martial arts. And he did it at welterweight, middleweight, and light heavyweight.
Shonie Carter has done it all, and seen it all. But in all that time, he had never seen a double knockout. Until 16 May 2008, at Legends of Fighting 25: Breaking Point at 8 Seconds Saloon, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
And Carter was the guess referee!
Fighters Tyler Bryan and Shawn Parker were each making their pro debut. Both launched simultaneous right hooks, and both landed square.
Bizarrely, the fight was at the 8 Second Saloon, and it ended in 8 seconds.
My first thought was ‘holy $#!^’, said Carter to MMAjunkie.com shortly afterwards. Then my second thought was that someone needs to get in here and make sure the guys were OK.
It was actually kind of amusing to me because one fighter’s father was trying to tell me his son was OK to continue. I was like, ‘Your son just got knocked out, and his opponent just got knocked out. It’s over.’
I felt bad for them honestly. I felt bad for both fighters because you and I know that if that fight is on pay per view in the UFC, that’s a Fight of the Night bonus and Knockout of the Night. That’s money that could change their lives. … I just wish, for them, that it would have happened in a bigger show.
That’s the first-ever double knockout. I’ve seen spinning backfists, body-shot TKOs and some strange things, but I’ve never eyewitnessed, up until that very moment, a double knockout. I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait before there’s another one. However, I do know that I had the privilege to be a part of history in the making.
Now comes the technical part. Should a double KO go down in the record books as a Draw or a No Contest? For the record, this one was ruled NC.
