MX-48: Karina Gotika vs Steve
November 12, 2015
Karina Gotika’s (5′ 9″, 132 lb; 175 cm, 60 kg) second mixed wrestling match during her visit to Fight Pulse was against Steve (6′ 2″, 170 lb; 189 cm, 77 kg). Returning after 8 months of absence, just like Ryan, Steve has grown stronger. Manual labor has helped him develop a pair of incredibly strong arms. He has also become fitter and improved his stamina. Unfortunately, he has not taken any wrestling classes, and only relies on his superior upper body strength during this very aggressive encounter. Karina is yet again much smaller than her opponent – almost 40 pounds lighter and 5 inches shorter.
One will not be wrong if they say that this is a match of legs vs arms. While Steve mostly uses his upper body to control the opponent and gain advantage in this match, Karina relies on her excellent legwork, developed through BJJ training, and tries to choke Steve to submission with them. Once again, Karina demonstrates incredibly leg power, agility, and fantastic defense techniques, lifting and throwing the 170 lb man off her several times during the match (you can see it done in the preview video below) using only her legs.
This match is not one of those matches where there is such a considerable difference between the skill level of opponents, that we find it hard to count the number of submission correctly during the match. This match is a competitive battle between a man and a woman that are closely-matched, one having size and strength advantage, and the other having experience on her side. Both wrestlers are aggressive, and every submission is earned through hard work. In fact, this might as well be one of the most aggressive matches that we have filmed so far. Karina gets elbowed in the face several times, and Steve takes several knees to the face, one of them being a very hard one. In fact, we had to stop the match and let him take his time after one of these knees (depicted here).
This video is a must-see for fans of real competitive mixed wrestling.
Match outline: introductory interviews, staredown, the match itself, victory pose (foot on stomach, then foot on chest), final interviews.
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This is a hard-fought competitive match, featuring an smaller and more experienced woman taking on a larger and less experienced man. Both Karina Gotika and Steve want to win and put forward a great effort in this match, and because of that it is a fun match to watch. Karina is physically fit and has much more wrestling experience and knowledge than Steve and she also has stronger legs than him. But Steve is very fit and is in great shape and has a stronger upper body than her. The description of this video is correct in saying that this is a match of legs vs. arms. Steve tries throughout this match to control Karina with his arms, while Karina tries to use her legs throughout the match to control Steve. In fact, Karina’s legs are strong enough to lift and push the larger Steve, who is almost 40 lbs. heavier than her, several times during this video! Both are able to get in dominant positions, and both are fit individuals who hate to submit, thus each of them are able to escape some of their opponents’ holds and pin attempts. Because of these factors, this is not a video where the winner scores a much larger number of points, as often happens in some of the other Fight Pulse videos I have seen. Both also take some accidental shots to the head and face in this video as well, so I take my hat off to both of them for being able to continue the match so quickly after this, with only limited breaks in the action because of this. I’ve experience that myself before, when wrestling women, so I know first-hand how much that can hurt, so I admire them both for not needing a longer break after experiencing this. I know definitely, from my past experience that I would need a break after that. All in all, this is a tough, hard match, with both using a lot of energy, and both competitors are tired and breathing somewhat heavily by the end of the match. They both mention this in the post-match interviews.
So who wins this match between a larger, strong, young man and an experienced, tough woman? The woman, Karina, wins but it is definitely not easy for her. Steve’s size and upper body strength make it a tough win for her, as he is able to hold her to only 3 points during this match. She wins those points by using her very strong legs to put him in body scissor holds and triangle holds. The triangle holds especially are effective for Karina, as she repeatedly wraps her strong legs around Steve’s neck throughout this match, and although he escapes some times, at other times, when Karina locks this hold in well, Steve has no choice but to submit. As someone who has been put in this hold by other women during both competitive and non-competitive wrestling sessions and matches, I know how painful the triangle hold can be, especially when applied to the neck. Because of that, I don’t blame Steve at all for tapping out to that hold. Karina mentions that in the post match interview as well, saying that Steve’s only weakness was his neck. This is a good match, despite the low number of points scored, as both opponents do their best to gain the upper hand and try hard not to submit. I think that fans of that type of wrestling match will definitely like this video.