Just when you think you’ve seen it all in MMA, you realize you’ve barely scratched the surface.
Thursday at Open Fighting Championships 36 in St. Petersberg, Russia, an all-time odd moment occurred when one of the on-duty cameramen got stuck in the cage, where he remained for a few seconds during live action.
The incident took place at the start of the fourth round of a professional flyweight title bout between Gadzhimurad Gairbekov (5-0) and Dilshot Norkuziev (3-1).
The transition angle panned down from the rafters, but when the camera shifted to the normal, above-cage visual, something was not right. A large wire ran from one side of the cage to the other, as the fighters tumbled to the canvas.
Finally, the referee noticed what was wrong, called timeout, and emphatically told the camerman to exit. When the videographer was out of the cage, the action resumed exactly where it left off.
Check out video of the madness below, courtesy of the great Caposa.
Today in Russian MMA things, a cameraman got trapped in the cage at Open FC pic.twitter.com/BKl1anrL9m
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 24, 2023