If you can’t hold your liquor, don’t drink.
The incident below took place at Idols nightclub in Newcastle, England, at about 1:00 in the morning. A Newcastle University student, Luke Taylor, recorded the incident on his phone, with the caption, “Biggest KO I’ve ever seen.”
Despite being in college, Taylor, unfortunately, shot the video in portrait, rather than landscape, proving once again that college typically doesn’t provide sufficient practical skills.
Breakdown of What Happened
A patron squares up with the bouncer, light heavyweight MMA fighter Lewis Barrow. The bouncer immediately calf kicks the belligerent, and attempts to close the distance, rather than follow through with strikes.
As the bouncer is trying to control the aggressor, three punches are thrown at him, and after the third, he responds with a single knee to the body. The bouncer again could have continued to strike, but instead tries to use minimal force, trying a front headlock, a clinch, and a back body lock. All this is harder than it looks when someone is going crazy and trying to strike.
Oddly, another man with a security badge is present, but does nothing to help his fellow doorman. Eventually, the apparently frustrated bouncer underhooks a leg from the back, elevates the belligerent, and then hits him with the planet Earth.
There is a scene in the documentary The Foot Fist Way where an older, female student named Marge is kayoed after trying a distracting backfist, and sah bum nim Fred Simmons, asks, “She still alive?”
After watching the slam, you may have a similar reaction - “Is he dead?”
Luke Taylor, who filmed the incident, wrote, “He was fine afterwards, got up and walked off.”
Northumbria Police initially treated the incident as an assault, and appealed for witnesses and the victim to come forward.
“This was a serious incident of violence which will not be tolerated by Northumbria Police,” said City Centre Neighbourhood Inspector Caroline Ord. “So far we have not yet heard from the man who was assaulted and would appeal for him to make contact with us so we can check on his welfare.”
The Idols bouncer was spoken to by the police but later released without charges. The doorman was barred from working at Idols, and faced disciplinary action from Phoenix Security, the contracting door company.
The power of a punch is widely understood, but what is appreciated far less is the power of the slam, of hitting someone with the planet Earth. Even on a mat, a slam can stun or knockout. On pavement, it could potentially kill.