Russia's slapping champion behemoth Vasiliy 'Dumpling' Khamotiskiy, who shot to fame as the vicious viral star of a crazy new Russian sport, has been sensationally slapped unconscious in a recent shocking defeat.
Dumpling, a farmer from the small Siberian village of Ilansky, became a viral hit when footage of him knocking out rivals on his way to winning the inaugural 'Russian Slapping Championships' was shared thousands of times online.
The tournament, in which male contestants attempt to slap their opponents into submission with open-handed strikes at the Siberian Strength Show in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in March 2019, was retweeted by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, among other major figures in the sporting world.
Also on rt.com 'I didn’t know I could knock him out with a slap!' Russian slapping champ on viral victory (VIDEO)What followed was a wave of popularity for Khamotskiy, who went on to became a media personality through further footage of his thunderous KO slap power, modest farm life, his jovial persona and animalistic eating habits that saw him gorge himself on piles of traditional Russian delicacies, such as the 'pelmeni' dumplings that earned him his moniker.
Internet stars all wanted a bite of the Dumpling, but he disposed of the competition with one sweeping strike of his giant hand after another. Fallen Dumpling foes reacted, including a bizarre call-out from Russia's synthetic-muscled Kirill 'Bazooka Arms' Tereshin and the a fight that never happened with YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul.
His exploits produced spin-offs including a Booty-Slap challenge, won by Russian champion body builder Nasty Zolotaya, which in itself also grabbed its fair share of attention for obvious reasons.
Dumpling scored another viral hit when he was filmed knocking out a tattooed pretender to his slapping crown in recent months, and for a while it seemed as though 'Dumpling' was indomitable.
That was until a recent opponent connected clean across the bearded jaw of Dumpling and sent him into what he later described as a "mini coma," ending the tournament and also Khamotskiy's reign of terror among the slapping elite.
In the footage, Khamotskiy's body can be seen flopping forward as he momentarily lost consciousness, before being grabbed by security to prevent him falling flat on his face. He was duly hospitalized following the KO but released after a check-up by paramedics and was nevertheless magnanimous in defeat.
"It was a good hook, I liked it. I was put to sleep for a little bit. I could have carried on but they grabbed me and wanted to get me out of there," Khamotskiy said, in an interview with Russian YouTuber Alexey Safonov.
However, there were some questions raised over the legitimacy of the slap, as the bullet-domed, bearded giant who delivered the blow had raised his feet from the floor and swung his weight around in an apparent illegal move.
"My biggest mistake? That I'm too nice. I needed to swing myself at him straight away and brush him off his backside. That's what I'll do next time, the penny has dropped, just smash him and that's it" Dumpling ranted.
"There's no need to slap! I hit him at about 25 percent and he hit me with a hook and I was f*cked. I can't really call it a slap, seriously, it's a hook...he caught me good, before my cheek used to burn and now it's here!" Khamotskiy bellowed, pointing to his furry jawline.
Nevertheless, the former slap champ hasn't lost any of his appetite for food, even if he may have lost his hunger for slapping contests; he was filmed scoffing his usual dumplings after the loss.
Despite the KO setback, and perhaps buoyed by Anthony Joshua's bounce back to victory at the weekend from his own knockout defeat, Khamotskiy said that he was undeterred and would further his slapping career.
Whatever Khamotskiy decides is the next step in his sporting career, his legacy will be one that reached out internationally. It has emerged recently that the 'Slapping Championships' phenomenon had reached South America, with the recent emergence of a tournament in Peru.