‘There Was No Fake Glove Touch’

Yannick Bahati has denied using a fake glove touch to knock his opponent out cold at this weekend’s Cage Warriors 186 event.

Yannick Bahati now holds the record for fastest knockout in Cage Warriors history, but it comes after the fighter committed one of the cheapest shots we’ve witnessed in our decades covering MMA.

Bahati knocked out Charles Joyner in four seconds, which is impressive. Not so impressive: Bahati holding his hand out as the bout started for a glove touch, only to grab his opponent’s mitt and hammer him in the face with a punch.

It’s a perfectly legal thing to do, but not something that’s going to win you any sportsmanship awards.

Neither will Bahati’s statement on the subject, which tells you to ignore what you saw with your eyes and believe his words instead.

“There was no glove or fake glove touch on my part only hard work,” Bahati wrote. “I asked but he didn’t respond so I went straight to my game plan.”

“I was locked in, focused and nothing was getting in my way to passing that message to 2 sons.”

Let’s be real: Joyner did hold his hand out for the touch. That’s how Bahati was able to grab it and throw his underhanded right. While fighters are expected to protect themselves at all times, using the customary glove touch to sucker punch your opponent is widely considered a b—h move.

This fight was a rematch of a technical draw between the two back in November 2024. The win moves Bahati to 3-6-1 over his last ten and is his first victory since May 2019.