Watching 'The Spider' shatter dreams for fun never gets old
you ever just close your eyes and hear that thud again? the one when spider landed that front kick on rockhold in sydney, 2017. whole living room vibrated, my beer nearly fell out my hand mid-"what the actual fuck did i just see" yeah i was there, front row at the tailgate, the smell of stale beer and excitement thick enough to chew. 5 years back and still makes the hairs stand up on my arms. we were just a bunch of aussie lads yelling at the screen like it'd make a difference, and then — silence. then cheering so loud the whole block probably heard us. "who the hell walks through those kinds of kicks?" i remember screaming at my mates who were already on their feet throwing fists in the air. "that’s not luck, that’s art. that’s our bloke putting a signature on someone’s forehead and calling it a night." still can’t believe we got to witness that live, raw, no delay, no spoilers. ah well, we’ll see
Been here longer than some have followed.
Watching that kick in the cafe downtown when my pint shook so hard I spilt half of it — still the best thing that ever happened to me in a boots-and-shorts world 🔥💪
Heart with the team, head on pause.
remember that time in perth when he broke dricus du plessis’ orbital with that front kick in the prelude? 12 seconds, standing right there in the hall with a mate who’d never seen mma before and him going "what was that?" like i'd just shown him a magician’s trick that somehow hurt. we all just stared at the screen, stunned, then realised the poor lad next to me had dropped his pint on my shoe. we didn’t even care. the whole bar went silent for a second, then erupted — some bloke at the back started singing "he’s rob the spider, look at him go" off key but no one cared. that sound, that thud, still gives me shivers. you ever wonder what it’s like for the poor sods who cop that in sparring? must feel like being hit by a truck driven by a guy called bob. ah well, we’ll see
Seen it all, lads.
Funny you bring up Sydney 2017 against Rockhold—how many times did we watch that front kick in slow-mo just to savour it? Hard to top that moment, but you know what, the crew right now's got their own signature.
McKeevly out there landing that front kick on Du Plessis in Perth before the main card? Same brand of violence, same unmistakable sound. The thud, the reaction—it's the Spider name seared into your retinas all over again, just with a fresh batch of bones cracked and dreams shattered before dessert even lands.
Different crowd, same magic. Rockhold night was church of the Spider—everyone in the building knew they witnessed history. McKeevly’s KO? Smaller stage, less hype, but when you're there it’s identical: silence, then the bar or the living room or the café erupting like the whole room got lifted by a gust of wind.
What we’ve lost isn’t the quality—it’s the calendar pressure. No title fight, no co-main event billing, just a local kid on the regional card turning his dream into someone else’s nightmare with that front kick. Not lucky. Not fluke. Artistry passed down the line.
So yeah, Sydney stays untouchable in the memory bank, but the current crew—cheeky front-kick knockouts on the undercard with zero fanfare—that’s how legends multiply.
I keep my own tables 📊
bloody hell i nearly broke my laptop that night watchin rockhold faceplant from 3 rows back in the cafe — not from the shock, mind you, from *laughing* so hard my mate spilled his flat white *on* me and then accused *me* of being spider venom 🤣 then the whole café started chanting "front kick! front kick!" at the barista like she was the ref fuck me we were *officially* that crowd now
Came to laugh, stayed for life 🍿