Claudinei Angelo (right) made headlines earlier this week after suddenly fleeing the cage in the midst of a bout in Brazil

By Jesse Heitz

In my time as a MMA columnist and enthusiast, I’ve seen and heard of many seemingly outrageous things.  As a sports community, we’ve witnessed grotesque injuries, bizarre post-fight interviews, and even a fighter soiling himself in the cage.  However, a story leaking out of Brazil might just take the proverbial cake.

Apparently, during an October 5^th MMA card in Brazil, Fox Sports reported on the unprecedented ending to the bout by stating,

“Silva was controlling the action against the cage when Angelo lost his mouthpiece. He’d reportedly done this twice before in the fight, with the ref calling for a stoppage each time to let him replace it. But this time the ref did not do so — it’s at his discretion — and so Angelo seemed to ask for a timeout, which does not exist in MMA, while his opponent and the referee looked on in confusion.

As Angelo walked away and the ref threw out his hands in confusion and then picked up the mouthpiece, Angelo paced around the cage before jumping up and over the cage and then exiting the arena.”

I must say, I’m beyond baffled by this.  It’s true, given the footage of the fight that is currently available, that Claudinei Angelo was getting battered fairly well.  So, it’s perplexing to see a fighter, in the middle of getting thrashed no less, signals a non-existent timeout and is essentially granted it by a referee and opponent who are visibly confused.  Even far more strange, is that this fighter ostensibly called the timeout to collect his mouthpiece, yet when it was presented he didn’t take it, opting instead to hope the cage walls and leaving the arena.

This is truly something that if one were told such a story they would be inclined to not only shrug off such a preposterous.  They might even suggest to the person who proffered such a ridiculous story that an MRI might be in order.  Sure, we’ve seen fighters like Kalib Starnes and others run inside of the cage, but not one run out of the cage mid-fight.

Did Angelo lose his heart in the middle of the fight?  Did he suffer some sort of physical or psychological injury?  Will he ever get booked for another fight?  These questions I cannot answer, however, he will go down in MMA history as “The Running Man”