Date 6 December 1992 54-1-1 27-1-1 | "The Terminator" "The Man" 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | |
Venue Melbourne SEC in Melbourne, Australia Title(s) on the line Alexio's ISKA Oriental Rules World Heavyweight Championship | ||
Dennis Alexio vs. Stan Longinidis was a heavyweight kickboxing bout that took place at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre in Melbourne, Australia on 6 December 1992. As one of the most highly anticipated fights in the sport's history, it ended in an anticlimax as Longinidis broke Alexio's leg with a low kick within ten seconds of the first round.
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Background
Dennis Alexio was the golden boy of American kickboxing, having lost only one bout in his career (a decision to Don "The Dragon" Wilson at light heavyweight in 1984) and co-starred in the film Kickboxer with Jean-Claude Van Damme. The undisputed World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion, he held titles for all the major kickboxing associations such as PKA, IKF, ISKA, KICK and WKA.
Stan Longinidis, meanwhile, was the first Australian to win a world kickboxing title when he took the KICK full contact Super Heavyweight Championship in 1991, and also held the WKA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Both men shared a common opponent in future K-1 World Grand Prix winner Branko Cikatić, who had fought the pair earlier that year. Longinidis had defeated Cikatić while Alexio's bout with him ended in a controversial draw.
The fight
The bout took place on 6 December 1992 at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre in Melbourne, Australia in front of 8,000 spectators, with the fight set for ten, three-minute rounds. Also, the fight took place under "Oriental rules" which allows leg kicks; Alexio had spent the majority of his career fighting under full contact rules which only allows kicks above the waist and requires foot pads to be worn.
Six seconds into the fight, Longinidis hit Alexio with a left low kick, causing Alexio's fibula and tibia to break. Officially, the fight lasted just fifteen seconds and Longinidis was named the winner via technical knockout.
Aftermath
As the bout was the most eagerly anticipated kickboxing super fight at the time and a huge media event in Australia, it was considered a disappointment and an anticlimax. Michael Schiavello called it "the greatest anti-climax in ring sport history". This bout was listed on the Guinness World Records as "the fastest KO in kickboxing world title match".
Alexio and his manager, Bob Wall, disputed the fight and claimed that the fracture was caused by twisting his leg on a depression in the ring floor. A rematch between Longinidis and Alexio was discussed but a promoter with enough money was never secured.
Although Alexio recovered from the broken leg and went on to fight many more times afterwards, the loss virtually removed him from contention as the world's best heavyweight kickboxer. Stan Longinidis went on be a regular competitor in the K-1 promotion, although never won a Grand Prix.