Bonecrunch Fighting League 1/12/08

This is another fight card from Fightzone's TV series on Sun Sports. Bonecrunch Fighting League attempted to capitalize on the failure of the IFL by basically being like an Arena Football League to them. Points are awarded for stoppages over decisions here, unlike the IFL. Well, they were. The League shuttered up two weeks after this card. The first portion of the show features a battle between Gracie Black Belt Rob Khan's team and one brought by Din Thomas. Randy Harris and Benjamin Glossop are the announcers. 

Khan's fighters are on the left, Thomas' on the right.

1) GILBERTO BURGOS vs. PAT SEIDEL: This is at 135. Burgos is 1-0, Seidel is 1-1.

Burgos shoots in for a takedown, sweeps the leg and is in guard. Seidel gets a high guard and goes for an armbar. Burgos slams him twice and gets out, but gets locked into a triangle. He tries to punch his way out against the cage. Seidel transitions to an armbar then back to a triangle. Burgos starts going for a slam but Seidel releases and Burgos continues with punches. Really nice punches against the cage by Burgos. He finally breaks through and is in the full guard dropping 'bows. Seidel tries to sweep with butterfly guard and Burgos takes him down with a slam again. Seidel regains guard and goes for another triangle, then transitions between it and an armbar attempting to get a submission. Burgos is still single minded in looking for a stoppage by strikes. Another armbar attempt fails and Burgos probably wins the round.

Second round opens with Seidel dropping for a shot and just pulling guard when that fails. Both men have abrasions, but Seidel is far worse off with a pretty decent on his nose, over by his left eye. The submission attempts have slowed to barely happening; Seidel looks burned out. He does go for a gogoplata and is easily defended against and Burgos moves to side control. There's some rolling that goes on and Seidel ends up on his back holding Burgos in guard. Seidel has some pretty solid BJJ and goes after lots of submissions, but he's awful at finishing them. He's had so many good opportunities that if he loses, he has no one to blame but himself. Burgos probably outstruck Seidel 50 to 1. 

A third round and Burgos goes for a takedown off a very lazy Seidel punch. After some time inside the guard, he passes momentarily, but Seidel is good enough to regain it. Problem with both: Burgos is a decent wrestler who would be submitted by a better grappler, and Seidel is a decent grappler with no standup with too much willingness to pull guard and take shots. Seidel goes for a triangle and Burgos easily breaks through it. Not much more to the fight. Burgos wins by unanimous decision. (0) Decent fight, neither man means much in the scheme of things.

2) JOHN TURNER vs. RALPH ACOSTA: This is at 145. Bass is 1-0, Turner is making his debut. Acosta goes for a body lock and take down early. Acosta goes for an armbar and is successful with it. (0)

3) JOE "BAMBOO" WISSMAN vs. MIKE HYMAN: What an unfortunate last name. Welterweight fight, with Wissman being the more experienced of the two with a 1-0 record. 

Bamboo has apparently quit his job to fight full time.  He has a horrible haircut and an even worse tattoo of a spinal cord on his back. Hyman stuns and drops Wissman with a punch, and then drubs him a bunch on the ground as Wissman sorta flops around. Wissman survives and Hyman stands up out of his loose guard before diving back in. Sloppy fight on ground and standing. Hyman is nearly caught in a bad triangle but pulls loose and forces the ref to stand up Wissman. "Awesome action" says the announcers. I suppose. Seeing some M level talent in a slug fest is not the greatest thing ever. Dana would give these guys bonuses on TUF. Wissman lands some pretty stout looking knees but Hyman doesn't buckle too badly and he ends up on top inside of Wissman's guard. Wissman uses a omaplata to sweep and crucifix the arm as the round ends and just blasts some punches into Hyman's face, and the ref stops the fight with about 5 seconds left in the round. Somewhat questionable stop from Jorge Alonso. Wissman has gone onto lose his next fight. (0)

4)  MIGUEL SHOFFNER vs. MITCH HARRIS: This is the fourth fight for this team bout and its not listed on the card for this post weighins. Its at 185.

Miguel has some karate style kicks and apparently is a pro wrestler of some sort in Mexico. Harris is bothered by something, complains to the ref, and gets bombed by Schoffner. Harris just falls down and the fight is over. Schoffner does the post fight interview with a lucha mask on. 

5)  ALONZO ROANE vs. JOE STUTZMAN: Heavyweights! Who doesn't love fat men pummeling each other? Oh, me.

Stutzman is hella active standing in place, which means he will gas if this goes more than 4 minutes. Roane is looking for takedowns and gets a big slam, starting in side control, eventually going to north south. It ends up back in side control and Roane locks up a kimura but can't finish. Roane is a poor man's Wayne Cole, which gives you some idea how exciting watching him lay on top of a guy is. 4:40 of Roane laying in side guard in this round.

Round 2 opens and both are gassed. Alonso takes lots of time cleaning the ring up. Roane goes for a single and eventually gets a takedown and is in half guard. Nothing happens and Alonso finally stands this up. Both have awful standup. Stutzman throws a big right hand lead and gets bodylocked, pushed into the cage, and then takes him down, right back into side control. Roane locked up the arm and throws some punches, and Stutzman just sorta moves and gets out of it and gives up his back. Roane doesn't put the hooks in and Stutzman stands up, only to get slammed Rock Bottom-style to the mat. Stutzman survives and gets up to throw lazy punches which land and seem to affect a gassed Roane. Roane is able to grab a leg and get a single and return to side control. Stutzman's most effective strikes are knees to the head on the ground from his back that he is warned for. Another strong round for Roane.

A third round? Oh man. Why did I pick this? Roane gets a single leg takedown after Stutzman throws a shitty right hand. I fast forward because this fight is shitty. Roane wins with a sort of reverse STF. (0)

Now its onto Tim Riddle's Cinci team to face Ross Kellin's Lakeland Blaze! I know, I can't believe this promotion is out of business either. Kellin's guys are on the right.

6) RYAN MCINTOSH vs. STEVEN WEEKS: Pro debut vs. guy with 0-2 record.

McIntosh throws Weeks with a front headlock, lands 'bows, knees when they stand again, another takedown, slams his way out of an armbar, and just outclasses him in every aspect for the first 90 seconds. Weeks reverses position and gets lasts in dominant position for roughly 20 seconds before McIntosh bucks and gets on top. Weeks gets an arm and acquires an armbar that McIntosh cannot slam his way out of. Tapout win for Weeks. (0)

7) MATT TERLAU vs. JOHN SCHALL: Heavyweights. Terlau is listed as 4-0 and has some meaty man tits.

Schall with a takedown early. Is he related to Meat Truck? Perhaps. Terlau reverses position and gets armbarred. He tries to stack up and defend it, but fails. Schall with a w. (0)

8) ANTONIO GRANT vs. DANNY RUIZ: Final fight for the night. No idea what weight this is.

Ruiz with a shot early and he can't get a takedown thanks to Grant's holding of the cage. He pulls him away and gets him down with a double and then punches him a bit. Grant doesn't know what to do other than to keep a closed guard and hope the other guy gets tired. Ruiz doesn't. Ref stoppage and Ruiz is your winner. He reappears shortly after to fight Spirit Wolf in the WFC show I've already reviewed. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Burgos/Seidel

KO OF THE NIGHT: Ruiz/Grant

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Roane/Stutzman

Overall for the Night: 1 out of 10. Really, this is a pointless show. No one looks like a prospect here, the promotion is dead, the production is mediocre, etc. There were some awful fights to boot.

D&R RATING: 0%. 

WFC 6 (3/22/08)

This is from the Fightzone TV broadcast courtesy of Sun Sports. Jay Adams and Benjamin Glossup. Lots of hype about how awesome this is gonna be and I know nothing about any of these dudes.

1) MATT MCCOOK vs. GABE MALDONADO: This is at 155. McGirt is 2-0 and has white trash dreads. Other dude is making his debut. Maldonado lands a right early and is taken down shortly after. McCook pushes him against the cage and gets locked into a triangle. McCook doesn't really do a good job defending it and while he hangs on for awhile, and gets swept with it. Maldonado ends up tapping him less than two minutes in. (0)

2) DANIEL PEREZ vs. MARCUS JONES: Two undefeated heavyweights. Perez is a lumpy guy, Jones is pretty cut. Neither has more than 2 pro fights.

Marcus has that old school BJJ stance and I'm stunned that he's going with that. So is Perez, who punches him in the face and drops him very early. Jones never recovers and is stopped shortly after. (0)

3) YORK ASH vs. ERIC REYNOLDS: At 155. Reynolds is 7-0, Ash is from TRAVERSE CITY, MI. Holla at me, Cherry Capital.

Reynolds rushes across the ring and gets caught in the clinch after doing nothing. Apparently Reynolds is a kickboxer or something and that will matter, but right now its all about greco clinch. Ash pulls guard but gets slammed hard. Reynolds throws some strikes and then stands up. Great front kick by Reynolds. Ash looks gassed at the 1:30 mark. Clinch again. Reynolds with karate style kicks. Also catches a roundhouse by Ash and punches him a couple times. Ash is cut over the left eye pretty badly. Ash ends up just giving up his back and goes to the mat. Easy submission for Reynolds. (1) because Reynolds will probably end up getting thrashed in TUF eventually.

4) PATRICK MIKESZ vs. JOE WISSMANN: At 185. Wissman is undefeated, Mikesz is from the Czech Republic and 4-3.

Joe gets a takedown early and the czech dude who is supposed to lose sweeps him. Apparently Wissmann wins off his back, so I'm guessing he's okay with this. Rubber guard from Wissmann. Nothing really happens and Mikesz stands out of the guard and then goes for stomps to the stomach. He is pulled back into the guard for his trouble and nearly leglocked. After that, Wissmann doesn't do much of anything and Mikesz does little to actually cause damage. Mikesz stands up periodically and on one occasion in the first, Wissmann shoots for a single. Mikesz spins off that, takes his back, and sinks in a RNC. (0)

5) JESSICA AGUILAR vs. ANGELA MAGANA: 120lbs. Women. Who cares?

Magana pushes her punches and Aguilar is counter punching with the hooks. Solid right hand shakes Magana and Aguilar uses the opening to clinch and get a takedown. The announcers like women's MMA because they "listen to their corners". Even in MMA, there are gender roles. Aguilar assaults the senses by laying in half guard and waiting for a standup. Of note: 5 minute rounds in this. This is not a good thing because I don't care about this and want to move on. Wild swinging occurs. Aguilar with a Matt Hughes style slam. And yes, they lay in half guard doing nothing. Round eventually ends.

Round 2 starts like most of the rest except that Magana pulls guard instead of getting slammed. She sweeps Aguilar and it is seemingly in slow motion. Aguilar sweeps her and is in mount. Aguilar is bleeding and I don't know how. Magana escapes out the back after hellaslow GNP, but apart from surviving, there's nothing to be said about this great success. We end up with more half guard and more slow motion lesbian rape. Dan Severn is apparently calling this bout too but you can't tell because the mics sound so bad.

Yes, there's a third round. Clinch with Magana going for the guillotine. Since this fight sucks, she does not succeed. It gives her an opening for knees and her first effective offense of the fight. Aguilar with a double leg takedown. More painfully slow submission wrestling style ground work. Fight is stopped while Magana is going for an armbar because of a small cut on her face. (0) One of the more horrible fights this year.

6) TOM LAWLER vs. SHANE PRIMM: Yes, you read that right. Dudes from TUF against each other before TUF.

Standup in the early going, with Lawler getting a strong position in the clinch following a superman punch. He backs off but uses the opening from another punch to clinch and takedown Primm. Primm goes for a triangle and Lawler goes for a power bomb to get out. He doesn't actually get the slam off, but Primm does end up releasing it. Lawler has a D'arce in pretty tight and then throws a knee to Primm's head with all 4 points down. Primm sells it well and wins by DQ. Interesting historical footnote, just like Kyle Kingsbury's similar fight in KOTC. (1)

7) RICH ATTONITO vs. RYAN HODGE: I feel like I've seen Attonito before.

Attonito drops Hodge right away with a right hand and ends up in his guard. Attonito pushes him up against the cage and lands some more blows. Hodge gives up the back to try and improve position and actually returns to a standing position before being slammed back to the mat with Attonito in side control. Hodge eventually regains guard but is not terribly offensive off of his back. When he's able to get back to a standing position he just gets slammed again. Hodge gets the fight standing again and while he tries to steal the round, he gets taken down once more.

Hodge lands a nice flying knee at the start of the first, but a second attempt at one gets him taken down. The next 2:3o are all about Hodge getting punched in the face from his back. It ends when he gives up his back and continues to be punched with less resistance. Attonito is looking for a suplex or choke and neither is really present, so be just keeps throwing punches. The round ends with Attonito landing punches while in back control.

The third is a replay of the other two combined. Hodge takes some punches standing, gives up his back and is pounded for awhile until submitting verbally. (1)

8) EFRAIN RUIZ vs. DAVID VIEIRA: Vieira has a really nice backdrop. Both are welterweights.

Ruiz came out swinging, Vieira clinched and then pulled guard, then stood up. Vieira is a wikdman on the mat and its pretty awesome to watch him transition between various attempts. Standing d'arce/anaconda for awhile, then Vieira pulls guard. Boring grappling battle for much of this round. Its a battle of positioning with Ruiz trying to be on top and Vieira allowing it. Ruiz gives up his back for a moment and gets choked out. (1) for Vieira.

9) WAACHIIM SPIRIT WOLF vs. DANNY RUIZ: Welterweight title fight.

Spirit Wolf goes for a single at the start and Ruiz defends it against the cage for awhile. Ruiz reverses and has underhooks. They end up separated once more and back into a tenative striking bout. Ruiz with some strong punches and he stuns Spirit Wolf, then later hurts him quite badly. Spirit Wolf has some serious heart though and keeps on going. After some strikes are landed between the two, the lights go out. Pentagon Combat? Spirit Wolf claims he hurt Ruiz with some punches at some indeterminant point I'm sure was before the lights went out. Spirit Wolf gets the takedown and Ruiz responds with a high guard and some triangle/armbar setups. Spirit Wolf stands up out of the guard and then drops some bombs down on his opponent. Ruiz is out cold and the native american is your new champ. (0)

Fight of the Night: Attonito/Hodge

KO of The Night: Spirit Wolf/Ruiz

Submission of the Night: Maldonado/McCook

Overall: 1.5 out of 10: Seriously, none of the fights were actively good, no high level fighters, even the production was bad with audio issues the entire time.

D&R Rating: 9% (4/45)

European Vale Tudo Genesis (12/6/2003)

After like, 3 months away, I go ahead and finally do a new review. This show I downloaded from somewhere. I can't understand the announcer. Oh, wait, he's not even speaking English, that's why. The event is in Copenhagen, not that you care and is held in a small cage. Production values are a couple DV cams.

1) CHRISTIAN GRAUGART vs. SONNY NIELSEN: This is at 77KG which is like, not heavyweight. 3 5 minute rounds.

Graugart gets a TD and mounts pretty early on. BOMBZ are thrown and the other dude is no good, so he just gets hit and flails a lot until using the fence to reverse position and end up inside the guard. Graugart sweeps him momentarily and is utilizing a high closed guard to prevent anything from happening while he's on his back. Nielsen tries to get out and is armbarred. Graugart has done nothing since. (0)

2) JOAKIM ENGBERG vs. SKI SVIRSKIS: At 77KG again. 

Engberg with takedown immediately, and lies inside the guard. Svirskis is kinda active off his back with punches that do nothing. engberg pushes him into the fence. Svirskis goes to rubber guard, fails to do anything, Engberg escapes, and starts throwing punches and elbows, most of which land. this continues for some time until the inevitable stoppage. Engberg is still on the European circuit. (0)

3) MARIO STAPEL vs. THOMAS HYTTEN: 77KG bout. Stapel is the biggest MMA fighter in Germany, capable of selling out venues that seat 2000. Its like being the most famous grindcore band in Japan. 

Staple with a flying front kick that doesn't land, into clinch. Hytten is able to pin him against the cage and get underhooks. Stapel is much bigger, actually. Did I mention that being the best MMA fighter in Germany doesn't mean you're very good? If some nobody from Norway can get underhooks and take you down, your chances with like, Tyson Griffin are not good. Hytten stands out Stapel's guard and in an attempt to punch him gets his leg hooked. He punches his way out, Stapel rolls around a little, and Hytten is in half guard, then to side control. Stapel regains half guard, then sweeps, goes for a single, and is caught in a guillotine. Hytten can't sink it, and Stapel pops his head out after some frightening moments. Much laying occurs, and the crowd is stunned with such excitement, they are speechless. Round ends. 

We enter the second round, and it starts with bad linear standup into a clinch, this time initiated by Hytten. Stapel is looking for a single and eventually succeeds, but just ends up standing out of it so they can clinch again against the cage. Slow dirty boxing until Stapel pulls guard. More laying. Hytten stands, throws some half hearted leg kicks, Stapel gets a heel trip, and then stands again to throw leg kicks of his own. Butt scoot inactivity = worst. It goes on for awhile too. Stapel jumps through the guard, is kinda slow doing it and doesn't succeed, then tries to get a leg lock. They trade heel hooks for the rest of the round and are motionless doing so.

A third round! Thrilling! They paw at each other for awhile this time, only ceasing to do so to throw big kicks that don't land. Hytten throws awful punches, Stapel spins him around, but then gets spun himself and Hytten takes his back standing. Somehow, they both go to the ground and they are looking for leglocks. Hytten gives up a knee bar and Stapel tries rolling into it to lock it up, but ends up losing the leg and has Hytten in half guard on top. A punch is thrown by Hytten, meaning that they're just not good enough to remember to GnP, not that this is a gentleman's agreement. Stapel sweeps, passes guard to side control, and Hytten turns over and goes for a single to get back in top where he can be delightfully inactive. He pushes for it and pushes for it and there is more grappling where no one actually moves. Stapel briefly tries to get up and fails. Hytten tries to pass guard by going through the right leg of Stapel. Round ends. Dull fight that I give to Stapel 29-28. Hytten wins, and since this, he's gone on to lose to Sergey Golyaev in ZST. Stapel will probably lose to someone in the UFC. (1)

4) KIM HOVGAARD vs. AARON BLACKWELL: 70KG bout. Blackwell looks to be 14.

Headkick by Hovgaard real early on that is awesome. Blackwell responds by shooting a double, and he does get the fight down. He stands out of the guard and starts throwing some spinning kicks and shit. Another single leg attempt is defended by Hovgaard, so he goes for a double. Hovgaard spins to Blackwell's back and puts in both hooks, but he's high enough up that Blackwell can turn himself around. Lots of scrambling on the mat and both men end up standing again. Not a bad fight, though a little substandard technically. Kicks and clinching again, with Hovgaard getting Blackwell down and mounting him. Blackwell gets half guard but still absorbs a lot of punishment. Hovgaard goes for a leg lock, but can't sinch it up, and the ref stops the fight for a low blow by Blackwell, and stands them up. Hovgaard with a big right hook, then follows with a flying armbar, which he actually gets and wins by. Sadly, Hovgaard hasn't fought since 2004. (1)

5) MARK EPSTEIN vs. TRAVIS LUTTER: Woah. That's an upgrade in matchmaking.

Epstein with some punches that don't land, Lutter with a takedown and into half guard. Epstein is going for a guillotine he has no chance of getting. In wasting his time, Lutter passes to side control and pops his head out. Knee on belly and some punches from Lutter, who is just controlling poor Epstein. Very transparent armbar setup, but Lutter just grapevines the arm and lands some shots in the Hughes crucifix position before giving that up. More knee on belly, and that finally leads to an armbar attempt. Epstein defends it and somehow bucks out, but again Lutter is on top, this time in mount. He returns to side control/knee on belly, then transitions back to mount and doesn't do much initally. Epstein tries to bridge and isn't even close. Lutter is taking us to lay and pray city with his Sherk like fight method of "change position once every 30 seconds, do nothing". Round ends.

Second round mirrors the first. Lutter with immediate takedown. This time they edit the fight and we see Lutter go from side control to mount back to side control. Usually I hate clipped bouts and don't rate them. This will be different. Epstein finally tries a serious escape and gets his back taken and a choke sunk in almost instantly. (3)

6) MARTIN KAMPMANN vs. TONI VIVAS: Another interesting fighter in Kampmann, Vivas is a step down from Epstein though.

Vivas has no standup and Kampmann lands some short shorts that are rather bothersome. Vivas clinches and holds on tight. Waltz around the ring with Kampmann throwing knees to the body and trying to shake off the spaniard. Eventually they separate and Kampmann ilands a bunch of stuff to the head. Vivas tries to go to buttscoot and more punches land. The ref stops it and vivas complains. No one cares to listen. (2)

7) SCOTT IRELAND vs. LARS BESAND: Is this a swing bout?

Big slam to start things from Besand, and he is in side control. He passes to mount and then throws some punches. If you are stoked to see a skinny white dude get punched in the face by a tatted up guy who looks 10 years older than him, you are in luck. It sounds like a bizarre fetish film, honestly. Once mounted, Besland punches him for about 4 minutes until Ireland taps out. Two fights later, Besand was stopped by Jordan Radev in 8 seconds. (0)

8) GUY MEZGER vs. DANIEL BERGMAN: The final fight in the career of Mezger.

Bergman looks huge in the ring. Doesn't mean much though with Mezger. Clinch early after some jabbing by Mezger and he and Bergman push each other around. Bergman ges a trip takedown but position is reversed almost instantly, with Mezger getting on top in side control, then mount. Bergman gives up his back and it appears that it should be over soon. Bergman turns over a few times and is popped in the face consistently between mount/having Mezger on his back. Mezger gets one hook in and lands a lot of body punches over a long period of the round  in control of Bergman, along with the occasional hammer strike. Bergman rolls back into having Mezger in guard, which isn't that much better, as he is now getting hit in the face instead. Bergman simply lacks answers to the questions posed by Mezger. The ref separates them and the round ends. 

Round 2 opens with some standup, which Bergman is much better at, but after some even trading, Mezger scores a takedown and is in the half guard of Bergman. More strikes are landed and its a repeat of the last round in terms of Mezger domination. Bergman keeps looking like he'll give his back up only to turn back over and take more punches to the dome. He does eventually do a fine job of momentarily escaping but Mezger just pins him back against the cage and throws punches till the ref stops it. (3)

Fight Of The Night:  Hovgaard/Blackwell

KO Of The Night: Mezger/Bergman

Submission Of The Night: Hovgaard/Blackwell

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Short as the whole kit and caboodle came in at under 54 minutes. Some interesting stuff historically (Mezger pre-stroke! Lutter pre-weight fail!) along with a couple winners and the ability to say that you've seen Mario Stapel fight and that he is not any good. 

D&R Rating: 10/40 (25%)

World Combat Championship 1: 10/171995

The one and only show from WCC occured in North Carolina. Sherdog says Charlotte, I thought they said Raleigh Durham, in the end, does it matter? This is a phenomenal promotion as far as MMA goes: Boom Boom Mancini is their chairman, some dude named Christopher Peters is their figurehead president guy/money mark, none of the announcers are recognizable, and the fighters are quite the assortment. We've got Ben Spijkers, Renzo Gracie, Erik Paulson (w/long hair), James Warring, Bart Vale, Jerry Flynn, and so many more. There's these hilarious video intro pieces for everyone, which show Bart Vale punching bags and shit like that.

Also, we've got two sets of rules. Grapplers division features Renzo and Bart Vale, and they have a 22 minute single round with a 10 minute time limit on the mat. Strikers have a 2 minute ground limit and you cannot win by joint lock or choke.

1) BEN SPIJKERS vs. RENZO GRACIE: You might know this fight already. Spijkers is rocking a gi and is a judoka from the Netherlands. Gracie is Renzo.

Spijkers gets a gnarly slam early on and is inside the full guard of Gracie. Renzo sweeps him though and gets it standing. Gracie gets the takedown this time, and Spijkers tries to counter on the ground with a gi choke. Gracie pushes him into the cage and moves to side control. Spijkers tries to get up by flipping over onto his stomach and Gracie retaliates with some elbows to the base of the skull. Oh, the irony. Gracie then chokes him out, holds on a little long, and then in his celebration of getting the tap out, decides to cross the ring by stepping on the back of Spijkers neck. Renzo ended up coming across as a super nice guy years later on 60 Minutes. How times have changed. (2) for the outrageous finish.

2) SEAN MCCULLY vs. ERIK PAULSON: McCully is supposedly a boxer. Paulson is in the striker's division for some ungodly reason.

Clinch early, and McCully gets a takedown. Paulson is constantly trying for submissions but he can't do them without getting DQed, making this a bizarre bout of Paulson fighting his best instincts. McCully, on the other hand, is actually doing some decent GnP and cuts Paulson before the fight is stood up at the end of the 2 minute mark. They clinch again and Paulson lands some nice knees before taking down McCully. Paulson is in mount and just blasts McCully with punches until the ref stops it. (1)

3) MIKE BITONIO vs. BART VALE: Vale is everyone's favorite shootfighting redneck, even if he was rarely ever in shootfights. Bitonio is a teammate to John Matua.

Bitonio gets a takedown to start but is sweeped fast. Vale just headbutts the shit out of Bitonio, busting his face up. Vale is beating Bitonio silly and the announcers are wondering why the fight isn't being stopped. Vale tries for a kimura in the mount and Bitonio sweeps using the cage. Vale is on the bottom but gets a side choke from there and Bitonio is finally done. Brutal 7 minutes of Bitonio having brain damage inflicted on him. (1)

4) JAMES WARRING vs. JEROME TURCAN: Turcan was the favorite of the strikers division, being a well known muay thai and savate talent. Warring was himself a kickboxing champion in the late 80s/early 90s and also won the IBF Cruiserweight title.

All standup, kinda tenative given the distance and what not. Turcan threw a lot of kicks and Warring some weak punches. Suddenly, Warring lands a monster rabbit shot to the back of Turcan's skull. Turcan drops and Warring follows it with a stomp and several punches. Cecil Peoples was the ref, and like now, he ended it late. (1)

Bart Vale is apparently injured and unable to continue, so let's watch the alternate bout from earlier!

5) JERRY BELL vs. PHIL BENEDICT: Benedict is a big muscled up wrestler guy and Bell is a boxer who boxrec shows as having stopped fighting in 1998 with a 9-0(9KO) record.

Benedict charges straight at Bell, takes him down, but ends up with Bell on top by accident. Benedict knows to sweep and ends up winning early with a RNC. (0)

6) PHIL BENEDICT vs. RENZO GRACIE:

Benedict tries to keep the fight standing, recognizing that his strength is a benefit for throwing strikes. He is able to defend one takedown but fails with the second attempt and Gracie quickly attains mount. Lots of nasty elbows and punches and Benedict taps. (1)

7) ERIK PAULSON vs. JAMES WARRING: This is the only time a former world champion/titlist in boxing faced a champion (Paulson was a Shooto champ) in MMA history. The rules help out Warring a huge deal though.

This was a close contest almost entirely standing, mostly in the clinch against the cage. Warring realized about midway through that holding Paulson's long hair could be a key and used it to control Paulson's movement. Warring has a better gas tank than Paulson and uses his weight to push him around and tire him. Eventually, Warring lands an uppercut in the 17th minute and Paulson is dropped hard. Warring stomps him until the towel is thrown in. (2) for historical importance.

Another prelim fight!

8) JERRY FLYNN vs. FRED FLOYD: Floyd is a fat black man that was once decimated by Igor Vovchanchin after this in that Russian IFC event that the mob tried to take the tapes of. Flynn was a wrestler in WCW.

Flynn is dropped early with a right hand and Floyd gets on top. Flynn is semicompetent and sweeps him and is in side control, and tries to get a kimura. Flynn decides to give up the arm and goes for a leg and toe hold, but Floyd rolls him and tries to stand. Flynn goes for a heel trip and Floyd defends it, spins to north/south, and gets a front choke that forces a submission. (0)

9) RENZO GRACIE vs. JAMES WARRING: This is with grappler's rules.

Gracie with a single, goes to half guard, then mount. Gracie wins with a neck crank. Nothing special. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): McCully/Paulson

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Warring/Paulson

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Renzo/Spijkers

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10 - What a fun ass show. The rules were frustrating with the strikers, but it was a talent filled event. The only sad part is that there was a very real chance of Gracie having to fight Spijkers, Vale, and then Paulson in one night. That would have been the toughest overall draw of any one night tourney during the time frame.

D&R RATING: 11%(5/45)

SHOOTO DISC 1: 5/12/1995 & 6/4/1995

Finally, I begin digging into the world of Shooto. Thanks to a certain dude, I now own hundreds of Shooto DVDs encompassing everything ever recorded to tape. We start almost randomly in 1995 with Shooto Vale Tudo Access 4 before shifting to Yokohama for Shooto Yokohama Free Fight. Its all part of the same program, commercials removed.

1) KAZUYOSHI KUDO vs. JIN AKIMOTO: Kudo looks like a bouncer. This is at feather, three 3 minute rounds.

Akimoto shoots in, gets a takedown, takes the back, rear naked choke. At least it was fast. (0)

2) MAGNUM KAWAMURA vs. UCHUU TATSUMI: Kawamura is rocking the grappling pants! Yessssssss. Lightweight bout, Three 3 min rounds.

First round is pretty straight forward. Both men trade takedowns, but Tatsumi is better doing stuff once he gets it to the mat. However, even with his ability to get mount, he's not able to finish. Second round is a repeat of the first outside of a pretty nifty judo throw by Kawamura, and the third...well, you can guess. The lack of striking on the mat is unfortunate when guys who don't know what to do are in the ring. Uchuu Tatsumi wins a decision in this bout. (0)

3) YUJI HASHIGUCHI vs. MASATO SUZUKI: Middleweight bout, three 4 minute rounds.

Suzuki landed a hard left hand early in the round and gets a pretty solid judo throw as well to put in the most offense of the two while alternately controlling position on the mat for the first round. Second round sees Hashiguchi dominate the majority of the round in top position on the ground, but slips up and gets thrown late in the round. Suzuki then applies a sort of kimura/crucifix hybrid that is called a "v cross armlock" and Hashiguchi taps. (1) for the nifty sub.

INTERMISSION! It is time for Shooto Talk with Tiger Mask Sayama, Kenji Kawaguchi, Youki Nakai, and some dude named Enson Inoue that has hair at this point.

4) KYUHEI MIKAGE vs MAURICE ROUMIMPER: There is a segment of broken english where Roumimper talks about what he is going to do. Given that he's from the Netherlands, either he is a stupendous judoka or a kickboxer with no chance. Later, text on the screen tells us it is the former. This is at middleweight, and its three 5 minute rounds.

Both are horrid standing. Somehow, there is not much surprise here. Roumimper gets a takedown with a side headlock, but that's always a bad idea. You know, giving up your neck and stuff. Kyuhei (who is introduced solely as that) takes the back and gets an armbar to win. Judo and mankind are the losers. (0)

5) YASUNORI OKUDA vs. NAOKI SAKURADA: This is held at 80KG, three 5 minute rounds.

Leg lock battle. Oh, the olden days of catch wrestling based MMA. Sakurada gets a heel hook after the bell and Okuda taps. Since the bell went off two minutes early, the ref is okay with that and Sakurada is the winner. (1) for funny finish. Sakurada improves to a record of 13-7-1, which is pretty damn incredible in 1995.

6) YASHUSHI WARITA vs. KAZUHIRO KUSAYANGI: This is at -78KG, three five minute rounds.

Warita gets a headlock early, tries a guillotine with the arm in and Kusayangi in half guard. As expected, this does not work. Kusayangi takes an arm very soon after popping his hear out and passing to secure an armbar victory. (0)

7) RENE STIGER vs. KAZUHIRO SAKAMOTO: Not even sure what weight class this is. Forgot to record that. Sakamoto is claimed to be 11-4, which isn't bad. Stiger? Pro debut.

Sak shoots off a right hand, gets in side control and then knee on belly. Not a lot of action, and the ref breaks them and stands it. Stiger throws a kick and he gets caught and slammed. Sakamoto secures an armbar and the win. (0)

INTERMISSION AGAIN~! There is footage of Narita airport, some random Shooto dudes Ford Escort rental, and an exhibition at the Jujitsu Denmark Open on 5/27/95. Then the Shooto dudes do a seminar at Remco Pardoel's school for two days (5/29 and 30). Then footage of fights from Yokohama Free Fight that were not good enough to show in full. They were all in Japanese and I didn't bother matching them with the results to find out what was what. Oh, wait, there are no results on Sherdog for those fights. Never mind! The fighters also rocked the headgear, so I'm guessing it was ammy rules.

8) JIN AKIMOTO vs. MASATAKA KAWAKAMI: This is Akimoto's second appearance, so he must be a big deal. Featherweights, 3 min X 3 rounds.

Akimoto catches a kick and takes down Kawakami. Inside the guard, he postures up, punches to the head. Pretty serious GnP ensues at a time when it was just being invented. Akimoto passes guard, punches the stomach, and mounts. Kawakami rolls over and basically allows himself to get choked out. (1) Tactically ahead of its time.

9) RUMINA SATO vs. KATSUAKI YANO: Sato was a quantum leap in the right direction for MMA. Its a shame he'll be largely forgotten years from now.

Sato tries to takedown Yano with a headlock, but Yano defends and is on top in side control. Sato is good enough to prevent any offense and force a ref break. Yano misses a punch and Sato pulls guard in order to get it back to the mat, but Yano shakes him off. Sato does go onto his back and Yano has enough of a brain fart to follow him there. Sato is in control from there, going for a triangle and using it instead to sweep Yano. Sato blasts him with strikes to head and body and the ref stops it. Rumina Sato, welcome to the big time. (3)

The show closes with a montage of Sakamoto standing on the ropes and random footage from Europe.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Sato/Yano

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Sato/Yano by default

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Hashiguchi/Suzuki

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Compared to the modern classics, nothing to get excited about. Plus, a distinct lack of top end talent on the shows.

D&R RATING: 13%(6/45)

King Of The Cage: Eclipse (5/26/07)

I found a review I did of a KOTC show from a couple weeks back, so, hoorah, here it is. The event comes to us from the Apache Gold Casino and we're "blessed" to have a Super Heavyweight Title fight on the bill.

1) KEVIN HICKENBOTHAM vs. ANDREW HERRERA: Hickenbotham is an independant fighter. You know what that means.

Herrera rushes and grabs Herrera, drags him to the ground with a headlock and gets a rear naked choke. Blah. (0)

2) DAVE MEYERS vs. BRYAN PARDOE: Pardoe still looks ripped after all these years. This is Meyers' debut.

Pardoe throws some punches, takes down Meyers with the double. He tries to take the back of Meyers right away, Meyers is able to roll back into half guard. Pardoe then applies some sort of odd neck crank thing and gets a tap out. Interesting submission, but not really interesting as a bout. (0)

3) TRAVIS HOOKE vs. KEVIN FRAZE: Hooke has a shirt on, so its heavyweight time.

Sub-toughman level striking from both. Fraze is a big guy but has no idea how to use his advantages, and gets obliterated by Hooke's wild punching. (0)

4) SAMUEL KOZIE vs. JACOB COLLINS: Sorta a middleweight fight with Kozie at 175.

Some weak striking to start, Kozie gets a take down. Collins tries to scale the fence to stand up, but can't. Kozie is inside the guard of Collins and isn't that active. Like a bull to a red cape, Cecil Peoples' springs into action to stand the men up. Collins lands a couple of knees that hurt Kozie, takes his back, and gets a rear naked choke. (0)

5) ANDREW BELVADO vs. STEVE KEELE: This is at welterweight, and we are blessed to have Sean Caroba (?) start working as color.

First round was pretty solid. Keele tried to sneak a right hand in right after the touch of gloves and Belvado shot in. Keele stopped the takedown, and there was a short scramble period that ended with Keele in side control. Decent grappling. Belvado turns to give up his back, blocks an armbar, and ends up inside the guard of Keele. Fight eventually gets stood up, and Belvado lands a nice belly to belly suplex and is on top in guard. Keele isn't all that great off his back and just ties up Belvado. Another stand up near the end and Belvado shoots for a double. Keele sprawls initally but then gives it up and pulls guard. Round ends.

Second round starts and Keele just gets pushed down by Belvado, who is pretty tired. Belvado is swept and mounted and gives up rather than take punishment. Okay fight, not really important, not any sort of war. (0)

6) KEITH DIXON vs. ROBERT SIMMONS: This is being contested at lightweight. Dixon is wearing wrestling shoes.

A bunch of wild activity in the early part of round 1. Dixon grabbed a guillotine and tried to pull guard to sinch it in, but Simmons has an arm in and pops out. Some GNP from Simmons busts up Dixon, but Dixon gets the fight standing in a scramble. Wild, wild punching in the standup, and Simmons goes for a takedown. Dixon defends, but Simmons is able to get himself into the clinch and starts up the 'ol dirty boxing. Dixon's nose is broken by the punches and he taps out. (0)

7) LEROY FORNOFF vs. LARS HAVEN: Fornoff I've watched more of than any man rightfully should. Have no idea who Haven is.

Fornoff goes for the takedown right away, and Haven lands some hard punches and knees in defense. Fornoff does eventually succeed, mounts, and Haven gives up his back. Fornoff wins by tapout and apparently its an upset. (0)

8) LEWIS MCINTOSH vs. LEVI COMPTON: McIntosh has a rash guard, so I think I know what he's good at.

McIntosh consistently goes for takedowns. He gets a single and moves immediately into mount, changes to side control, back to mount, and then ends up in full guard. Some ground and pound follows, and Compton gives up his back only to go out the back door and stand. McIntosh again with takedown attempts and Compton tries to fight it off with punching. McIntosh constantly in superior positions, but doesn't seem to understand how to finish. He has some horrible armbar and triangle attempts. First round ends and Compton is just getting rolled on.

Second round starts, McIntosh goes for the double, Compton defends, punches him in the face, and KOs McIntosh. Didn't expect that. (0)

9) MARVIN GAINES vs. PAUL O'KEEFE: Heavyweights. O'Keefe is an army guy I've seen Bobby Hoffman crap on.

Clubberin' at the onset and Gaines gets a takedown. Unlike Hoffman, he is talentless and doesn't do anything. Fight is stood up, lots of wild punches and knees from O'Keefe and Gaines taps out from strikes. (0)

10) BUCKLEY ACOSTA vs. CHRISTIAN GROSINSKY: Acosta I've seen a bunch of times and he isn't bad. Beat Aaron Brink to start his career. Grosinsky is a guy I am much less familiar with.

Opening round and Grosinsky is a kickin'. Acosta isn't interested in striking and gets the clinch and takedown, and once down, he throws some decent shots to Grosinsky's body and head. Acosta passes to half guard, and pushes Grosinsky to the cage. After some time, the fight is stood up due to inactivity. Acosta with a right hand and he ends up taking the back of Grosinsky. Grosinsky works his way up the cage and lands a few low kicks once they are separated. Acosta with another single, but Grosinsky defends. As the ref breaks them against the cage for inactivity, Grosinsky lands a knee to the stomach of Acosta that drops him. Acosta claims its a nut shot and the ref decides to err on the side of caution. Grosinsky is not amused. When Acosta recovers, he gets a belly to belly and the round ends.

We enter round 2 and Acosta lands some hard rights and gets the clinch. Takedown, into half guard, and not much activity after from Acosta. Fight is stood up and both throw wild shots. another clinch from Acosta, single leg takedown. Grosinsky tries to get a guillotine, but that doesn't work. Acosta pushes him to the cage and the fight is stood up. Acosta is whipping his punches and Grosinsky is a mess. Grosinsky spits out his mouthpiece and Acosta refuses to hit him until the ref puts his mouthpiece in. So the ref then disqualifies Acosta and Grosinsky, who was being beaten down, wins his only MMA fight in the most bizarre of fashions. Remember kids, if you want to win at KOTC, just spit out your mouthpiece and hope someone takes mercy on you. (1) for Refereeing Gone Wrong.

11) MAURICE JACKSON vs. KYLE KINGSBURY: Kingsbury is on the upcoming season of TUF! How exciting. He also comes in with a Ric Flair like purple robe.

Jackson throws a sidekick to start. Kingsbury blocks a couple more kicks, clinches with Jackson, and then throws an accidental low blow. Jackson is a big pussy and can't continue. (0) for a NC.

12) ALBERT HILL vs. DEL HAWKINS: Hill is a police officer who fought in a cop vs. criminal bout for KOTC about a year before this. Hawkins is a very experienced bantam/featherweight fighter.

Hill opens with punches and Hawkins gets the clinch, pushing Hill into the cage. Hill with knees in the clinch, but gets taken down. Hawkins then knocks out Hill cold with a single left hook on the ground. (0)

13) ADAM PADILLA vs. CHANCE WILLIAMS: Fat dudes fighting for a belt.

YAMMA like ground work from the black belts in Beached Whale Jiu-Jitsu and toughman like boxing. It goes a full round and Chance Williams nearly has a heart attack afterwards, so Adam Padilla wins the title. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Belvado/Keele

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Hill/Hawkins

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Fornoff/Haven

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1 out of 10. This is truly low level MMA. Really low level MMA.

D&R RATING: 1.5% (1/65)

HookNShoot Absolute Fighting Championships 1 (4/5/97)

A good fellow sent me some DVDs recently and this was in that batch. I have a KOTC and a Shooto review on paper that I've lost, but I'm going to start working with dedicated notebooks for this sort of thing to prevent that in the future.

This has no commentary whatsoever and has been marketed under the name "Bare Knuckle Beatdown" rather than its proper name. It is being held at the Bam Bam Gym in Evansville, IN, and there is no ring or cage. Rather, the fighting surface are the grappling pads of the dojo. Two of the sides are just walls with outlets and posters hanging on them and the other two sides are tape on the floor indicating where it is safe to grapple and not fall on the crowd. Jeff Osborne has dorky glasses, long hair, and looks like a holdover from the late days of thrash metal. In fact, watching this (clearly recorded on Super 8 with two camcorders) you'd swear up and down it was put together in the early 90s. Not only that, in classic Jeff Osborne fashion, he tells you what happened to dudes after the fights. This was a feature of the US IVC DVDs in case you ever bought those.

The centerpiece of the show is a one night tournament with 8 men. Those were popular back then, dontcha know.

1) DAVE BARNEY vs. LANCE TRAMMELL: Sherdog actually shows an 11th fight that was not taped, probably because the lens caps were on. Oh well. This is a reserve fight for the tournament. Barney is listed as a freestyle kickboxer (whatever that means) and Trammell as vale tudo.

Trammell comes out swinging, hurts Barney, gets a big takedown and starts throwing hammer fists in side control. Barney gives up after :35. (0)

2) DAVE MENNE vs. TIM WILLS: Menne won the lightweight HNS crown the day before, not that I have any idea what the weight limit for that was back 11 years ago. And yet he fights again, here against some guy listed as being a "jiu jitsu" practicioner.

Menne with the takedown, pushes Wills into a wall, passes the guard, and then grapevines the arm Hughes style. Wills taps out immediately rather than get hit. Wills would lose 15 more fights according to Sherdog and never won in his four year career, finishing 0-17. (2)

3) BRETT AL-AZAWI vs. GEZA KALMAN JR.: Kalman was a UFC vet. Okay, so he was an alternate. And Carlos Barreto and Kevin Randleman both fucked him up in Brazil.

Kalman is a "catch wrestler" and goes for the takedown. He punches some inside the guard, and Al-Azawi sweeps him and ends up in mount. He lands some shots of his own and goes for an armbar. Kalman prevents the submission and ends up passing the guard of Al-Azawi. He lands a bunch of strikes and forces a tapout. No stellar futures here. This also was a special attraction or something.(0)

4) PAUL STROFFOLINO vs. CHAD BARTLETT: If you've heard of neither, that's okay. Neither have I. Stroffolino is a pretty smallish dude and Bartlett is a "freestyle fighter".

Stroffolino shoots in, Bartlett yells, and he almost tumbles into the crowd as he's taken down. Stroffolino is in side control, and because the fight is practically in the seats, its stopped and restarted in the same position. Stroffolino tries to take the mount but is bucked off. As Bartlett kicks him off, Strofffolino goes for an armbar and then transitions into a leglock. The last of the sequence is used to sweep Bartlett and Stroffolino instead decides to hold onto knee on belly rather than mount. A lot of hard punches force a tapout. Its kinda disturbing to watch this in the format presented. Its a step away from snuff. Bartlett isn't the kind of guy to DISAPPEAR FOREVER in the postscript of the fight, rather, he is to be on a MMA reality show in 2005. So much for that. (0)

5) SAM WELLS vs. JOE CANALS: Wells is a JKD fighter and Canals is a wrestling/kickboxing hybrid dude.

Canals is on offense early. He gets a single leg takedown that holds down Wells for about 5 seconds, hurts him with punches standing, then takes him down again with a double. Wells is trying a few different things off his back but Canals and his corner have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Well, sorta. Canals cornerman is loud as hell and he asks someone in the crowd what the time limit is. When he's informed that there isn't one, he tells Canals to relax. After all, he has all the time in the world. Canals responds by laying on top of Wells for a really long time and doing nothing. Somehow, there is a sudden burst of action that leads to Canals getting armbarred almost instantly in the middle of the nothing. Hooray for Wells. For Canals, that was a career. (0)

6) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. BILL CIOCI: Amalfitano is wearing a gi and Cioci a t-shirt. Amalfitano is also hella fat.

The fat guy goes for a single immediately and pounds on Cioci. Somehow Cioci gets up, gets his shirt torn off bar room style, and then a judo styled throw that I don't know the name of but is really common happens with Cioci taking a ride. Amalfitano goes for that arm across the throat choke in half guard, but Cioci proves somewhat capable and actually defends and gets up. Amalfitano goes for a guillotine standing while leaning on the wall and Cioci jumps into it, again shocking everyone by knowing defenses to submissions. They're tearing posters down and all sorts of shit, and you can see why there was a call to ban the sport early on. Amalfitano grabs Cioci with a body lock, belly to belly suplex, and Cioci is screaming in pain. Fight over and done. Cioci actually fought a couple more times in spite of being one of the worst fighters in history. Sub Harry Moskowitz. (0)

7) MARK NELSON vs. JOHN RENKEN: Renken I've seen before! Its almost a miracle to see a fighter I know on this show, though Renken is hardly a god. Nelson is a submission fighter, whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean.

Renken is rocking the thai shorts and starts with low kicks. They clinch, and Renken gets a nice throw. He is in mount almost immediately, but Nelson bucks him off and is in Renken's guard. Renken grabs and arm and gets a nice straight armbar. Nelson taps, but his arm is broken in two places. (0)

8) PAUL STROFFOLINO vs. SAM WELLS:

Semifinal action. Wells refuses to do anything to start, fearing any sort of defense from Stroffolino. Stroffolino charges him, arms flailing, screaming, clinches, and gets a guillotine. He pulls guard just to get Wells down and locks up a triangle. In doing so, he sweeps Wells with it and ends up with a mounted triangle choke with Wells in the crowd. Wells taps out. Astounding. (0)

9) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. JOHN RENKEN:

Renken is infinitely more talented but way outsized. Amalfitano pushes him into the wall and just tries to splatter him with his weight, spinning him off the wall into a takedown. Amalfitano is so big, Renken can't close the guard. He does try to sweep Renken, and Amalfitano just responds by shoving him back into the wall. After awhile there doing nothing, the fight is moved to the center in the same position. Renken does get a sweep this time and actually attains north south. He is kneeing the shit out of Amalfitano when he goes for an illtimed RNC. Amalfitano uses his bulk to muscle out of the attempt and Renken is rolled into the crowd.

Fight is restarted standing, as Osborne is making up rules as we go. Amalfitano gets another throw, but Renken gets the back again. Being too close to the crowd, the fight is stopped, moved to the center, and restarted. Amalfitano takes control on the ground and eventually scissors up Renken's arm. Renken taps rather than letting himself get punched. The move allowed him to continue a long career as a mediocre journeyman and trainer for the US Army. (0)

10) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. PAUL STROFFOLINO:

Huge disparity in weight. Probably 100 lbs. Fight starts with Amalfitano getting a suplex and once again, his opponent can't close guard around him. Amalfitano doesn't do much either and stands up. He tries for a throw but Stroffolino defends it to some degree, but still ends up on his back. Amalfitano tries the forearm choke and it is the wrong dude he tries it against. Stroffolino sweeps him, takes the back, gets both hooks, and gets the rear naked choke to be the first Absolute Fighting Champion of Hook N Shoot. Viewers are told that Stroffolino's win "is still talked about to this day," though there's nothing really discussing it out there. Amalfitano was a Detroit cop apparently questioned about excessive force a few times, but innocent always. Stroffolino is a super genius who programs retrogame shit and real video games. You can blame him for Pit Fighter. Then there is a ceremony where Osborne's kids (or kids of his girlfriend) give out some trophies and Stroffolino gets a belt and the 100 people in attendance clap politely. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Amalfitano/Renken

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Amalfitano/Cioci

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Stroffolino/Amalfitano

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10: Outstandingly bizarre show from the olden days of yore. No memorable names other than Menne, but entertaining nonetheless. The rawest fight video imaginable.

D&R RATING: 2/50 (4%)

King Of The Cage(or NOT): Crackdown (5/11/07)

Another King of the Cage classic. Maybe. I did review a Shooto event from 1995 but the paperwork is still in my storage stuff so until I find it, some KOTCs I've watched recently and committed to a lawyer's notepad left behind by the professor who lived in this home prior to me.

First, a big secret! This is not actually a KOTC show. No sir, its a Gladiator Challenge show in a KOTC boxset. What cheats! But it is okay. Its about as good as most KOTC shows if not better. We are in Tahoe, so that means real unified rules. And given that there are two title fights, well, that's a big deal. The poster shows that Shawn Bias/Josh Rabedeaux and Emanuel Newton/Buckley Acosta were supposed to happen, but never did. Inman and Sean Kanoda (???) announcing.

1) JOSHUA TURNER vs. DANIEL SCHMITT: Turner is a Gracie trainee.

Round 1 has Turner seeking and getting the takedown, laying on top, throwing occasional shots, not doing anything else. That is the entire round. Round 2? More of the same. Josh Rosenthal does stand the fight up this time, and Turner throws some bad punches and gets another TD. There is another ref standup near the end of the round, but it is meaningless. Turner wins by UD. Neither man has fought again. (0)

2) CHRIS DAVID vs. WALTER PATTERSON: Patterson is a trainee with Faber.

David goes for a TD right away, Patterson sprawls, spins, and takes side control. David turns, gives his back, Patterson goes for a RNC but only gets one hook in, allowing David to escape out the backdoor and get into Patterson's guard. David gets in some GnP, Patterson pushes off with his legs, gets the fight to the standing position, and David again clinches immediately. David has a big slam here putting him immediately into side control, but opts to go inside the guard again and throw elbows and punches. Good first round.

Second round see David throwing some low kicks early on before the inevitable shot. Patterson defends by leaning on the cage, but David eventually gets a double and is inside the guard of Patterson most of the round in a somewhat inactive fashion. Another late standup by Rosenthal to give Patterson one last chance, but David drops in for a double. Patterson defends, but its still pretty simple to figure out who wins here. David by unanimous decision. (1) - Neither man is particularly great, but this was an entertaining fight.

3) NASSOR LEWIS vs. JUSTIN SAMPSON: Sampson is a Gracie guy but he lurves his karate.

Sampson with some fast side and high kicks, Lewis takes him down for the trouble. Sampson is good enough to get full guard but gets pushed into the cage and worked over. Sampson tries to stand up and fails, as Lewis gets his back and wins by rear naked choke. (0)

4) TOMAS ROSSER vs. RICK CHEEK: Cheek has a claimed boxing background. Rosser is a claimed 3-1, but Sherdog shows him as 0-0 coming in.

Cheek eats a bunch of jabs, tries to rush in for a clinch, and Cheek pushes off. Left hooks landed cleanly for Cheek, and he drops Rosser with a 1-2 and hammerfists him into oblivion. Ehhh. Cheek looked impressive but against a nobody and has gone nowhere special since. (0)

5) JOSH RABEDEAUX vs. GIGO JARA: Gigo is the brother of Jamie Jara, but not as good.

Rabedeaux goes for a double and Gigo defends. Josh tries to throw him, Gigo defends that too, takes his back, and pounds him a little. Rabedeaux turns over, tries for the triangle, Jara just pulls himself out of it and pounds out Rabedeaux. (0)

6) BRYSON KAMAKA vs. JAMIE JARA: This is for the GC middleweight title. Jara is also the LHW champ of GC at the same time. P4P candidate! Kamaka is a dude who has been beaten up in prior reviews.

Kamaka throws a not too shabby one-two, clinches, and Jara pushes him off. Same thing happens again. Jara clinches and third time and gets a trip TD into half guard. Jara easily passes on the hapless hawaiian, and gets some really bizarre can opener from side control and turns Kamaka onto his shoulders, making him totally helpless. Tapout from Kamaka and Jara with a submission of the year candidate. (2)

7) RONALD JHUN vs. JEREMIAH METCALF: I have no problem with Strikeforce, but who thought it would be a good idea to take a guy who was GC champ to fight the "Michael Jordan of the WCL"? Metcalf is perfectly adequate as far as fighters go. Here he defends against Jhun, who is an old school legend.

Metcalf opens the fight by going to clinch immediately, and Jhun fires punches back. Nothing hits solid. Clinch fighting for most of the round ensues, and Metcalf is getting the better of it. Eventually both push off and we are back to standup at distance. Jhun lands a nice body kick and Metcalf catches it and drops Jhun. Metcalf spends the final minute on top inside of the guard.

Second round sees Jhun stuck in the clinch again after an early punching exchange and lots of dirty boxing. Jhun does get separation momentarily and lands a nice right hand, but is back in the clinch and on the mat by the end of the round. Metcalf changes strategy for the opening of round three, throwing low kicks and using them to set up a combination of punches before scoring a takedown. The fight stays on the mat with Jhun controlling Metcalf to some degree inside the guard, and is able to force a scramble that gets it back to the standing position. Metcalf does score another takedown, however.

We enter round 4 of this, a welterweight title fight, and Jhun starts off well with some decent strikes. Metcalf with another takedown, but Jhun tries for a kneebar. Metcalf is too good to get caught like that, stacks up, and drops shots on Jhun. Metcalf takes a mount position, Jhun is exhausted and gives up the back, and the ending is fundamental. (2) for a solid midlevel title fight.

8) DAVID HUCKABA vs. BO CANTRELL: Oh man. This is for the GC Heavyweight title Cantrell holds. Huckaba is a dead ringer for Mick Foley and was in a joke of a fight on a ShoXC card last year. Cantrell? Well.

Huckaba punches as Cantrell charges, and then gets a takedown. Cantrell quits for no reason. We've seen that before, haven't we? What's amazing is that there was a rematch and Huckaba won in 5 seconds. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): David/Patterson. Jhun/Metcalf wasn't bad and I liked the length, but David and Patterson fighting had more action throughout.

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Rosser/Cheek

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Jara/Kamaka

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. Inoffensive, had a decent title fight between two guys who aren't bad. The bouts that were meaningless were either fun to watch or over fast.

D&R RATING: 12.5% (5/40)

Cagewarriors 9 (12/18/04)

I return to the UK and The Wrestling Channel for this slightly abridged version of CW9. Frederic Fernandes fought on this card but was not televised. For shame.

At some point soon I will come up with a way to make the rating system look more sane. Its just too tough to have anything above a 50% for an entire card, so I'll fudge with it a little. For right now? I am lazy.

1) BJJ SUPERFIGHT! ANDY ROBERTS vs. YANJA ABYANEH: There was some grappling between two guys I have ever heard of in a cage and no one won after 7 minutes. (0)

2) AARON BARROW vs. DAN HARDY: Hardy is now in the UFC after almost winning the Cage Force tourney. Barrow? I dunno.

Hardy comes out and head kicks Barrow. Fight over. Seriously. It went :13. (2)

3) TOM NIINIMAKI vs. ANDRE SOARES: Soares recently got a chance to lose on a fight no one saw on the EliteXC under card. Niinimaki has fought a bunch of places and isn't that successful in any of them.

Round 1 has Niinimaki with the takedown against the vaunted BJJ guy in Soares. They stand up after some time with no action. Soares then shoots in, and Niinimaki defends it and ends up on top. Soares has his best moment of the fight with a triangle attempt Niinimaki defends, and he again stands up out of Soares' open guard. From this point forward throughout round 2, a pattern develops: Soares goes for a takedown, fails, pulls guard, Niinimaki goes down on top of him, doesn't do anything, fight stands, repeat over and over and over. As time goes on through the end of round 2 and into round 3, Soares just falls on his ass in butt scoot and Niinimaki is more effective landing shots from inside his guard. Pretty lousy fight, Niinimaki wins a decision. (0)

4) MICHAEL HOBBS vs. IAN JONES: I know nothing about either. Judging by Fightfinder, there is good reason.

Clinch at the start, Hobbs, gets a takedown, and postures up to strike inside the guard. He goes for a leglock, Jones prevents it and stands and ends up back on the ground, this time on top in half guard. Hobbs regains the full guard, goes for a triangle, Jones throws it off and passes, and Hobbs goes for a single in the scramble. As he does so, Jones locks in a tight guillotine, winning the fight. This was Hobbs' last fight, and Jones didn't have the best streak of luck afterwards. (0)

5) CENGIZ DANA vs. JZ CALVAN: JZ! Now here is a surprise I can get behind.

Right hand from Calvan drops Dana, he passes immediately to side control, and I'm excited because it appears this is just about over already. He ends up in the mount but in reverse and tries for a kneebar. Dana escapes, sadly, and we are treated to more. He tries to take JZ's back and gets taken down again. Calvan goes for a guillotine from the mount at the end but fails.

Round 2 opens with both men weakly striking and, surprise surprise, JZ Calvan with a takedown off a leg kick from Dana. Some ground and pound for most of the round, eventually the fight is stood up. Same thing happens as before, Calvan grinds out the round in the 1/2 guard of Dana.

Third round is Dana's best, as he is somewhat effective with leg kicks in the early going. JZ jumps in and clinches up, getting a big slam as he takes down Dana. Dana really just defends against JZ here and tries to force a standup, but gets the guard passed and eventually he's mounted. Calvan again goes for the guillotine in mount and gets it the second time to finish this inside the distance. (3)

6) PAUL "SEMTEX" DALEY vs. ABDUL MOHAMED: Jess Liaudin and Jean Silva have both lost to Mohamed. Daley has wins over guys like Professor X and Duane Ludwig. Looks interesting! Abdul Mohamed has a fucking bandage all around his head though. Huh?

Clinch early as Mohamed wants the takedown. He does get it, but very little happens there and Daley is able to get back on his feet. A staring contest ensues, which ends with Daley throwing punches wildly and landing a few on the head of Mohamed. Abdul is hurt and is on spaghetti legs for a little while, going for takedowns trying to hold on. At the very end of the round he is successful, but its a clear Daley round in my book.

Round 2 opens with Daley throwing punches and kicks, very little landing, and the strikes are few and far between. Abdul with a shot and takedown, and he's on top for most of the round. Daley uses the cage wall to climb his way up to his feet, but really isn't able to do anything standing. Abdul gets another takedown and this is a 19-19 fight.

Round 3 is a boring ass round. No action early on as they are both too afraid of the other to try anything. Daley breaks the monotony with a flurry of punches, none of which solidly connect. Abdul is going for the takedown and nothing else. Daley is able to fend them all off and land some punches, winning him round 3.

Daley starts throwing leg kicks in round 4, sensing that Mohamed is tiring. Abdul does nothing the entire round but grab a takedown with less than 20 seconds left. Otherwise, it is all Daley with strikes. Its 3-1 with Daley pulling ahead into the final round of a not enthralling fight.

Abdul is able to get a takedown fairly early in the final round and tries to ride it out without doing anything in the less than impressive guard of Daley. Daley gets the fight back on his feet and throws some leg kicks. Theoretically, Mohamed's round. And so we go to the scorecards: one card for each and one card a draw. I have no idea how Mohamed won 3 rounds, or hell, drew in two and won two others. (3)

7) TENGIZ TEDORADZE vs. JEFF MONSON: Who isn't happy to see TENGIZ? His opponent is everyone's favorite socio-anarchist, Jeff Monson.

Clinch is immediate, and Tengiz gets an awesome belly to belly suplex on Monson. Monson absorbs punches but spins around and gets a double. Tengiz almost immediately gives up his back, and, yeah. Bad idea with Monson. Tedoradze defends for awhile but is eventually choked out. (3)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Calvan/Dana. I suppose. All the fights kinda sucked.

KO OF THE NIGHT(S):Hardy/Barrow

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Calvan/Dana

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Even with Tengiz, Calvan, Hardy, and Daley, this was a shitty show to watch. Daley/Mohamad was just embarassingly bad, and Calvan/Dana not much better. Watching two minutes of Monson with his hooks in wasn't much better.

D&R RATING: 15% (11/70)

RUMBLE ON THE ROCK 4 (10/10/2003)

It seems almost amazing in retrospect that this show was five years ago. Not that it feels like it was yesterday: it seems more like it was 100 years ago in an alternate dimension. Announcing the fights are Mike Onozuka(?) and Phil Baroni.

1) ANTONIO BANUELOS vs. YOBIE SONG: Banuelos was not particularly well known here, whereas Song was a local product whom even less was known about.

First round has the usual feel out process followed by Banuelos pummeling Song. Song is slammed to the mat, then german suplexed to the mat, and gets punched and elbowed a ton. Song has an armbar attempt and is able to scramble to his feet towards the end of the round, but otherwise this looks like a squash. Banuelos swings wildly at the bell for round 2 and slams Song again. More and more ground and pound from Banuelos is just ruining Song for the entirety of the round, with Song not even competent or athletic enough to do anything about it. Somehow, the fight is allowed to go to round three, where Song is taken down and elbowed until cuts that resemble a prison shivving end the bout. Banuelos got into the WEC and has been a decent competitor at 135 since. (1)

2) DESHAWN JOHNSON vs. SANTINO DEFRANCO: Johnson is a tall striker, Defranco a wrestler.

This is mostly a grappling based fight. Johnson fends off Defranco's attempts at getting the fight down, so Defranco pulls guard to force the matter. Johnson is able to stand out of it, and back to the feet. Defranco goes for a single as Johnson throws a right, and Johnson defends by just dropping his knee onto Defranco's face as pretty much all four points are down. Defranco turns over and taps out, but its overruled as a submission loss, give why he tapped. Johnson loses by DQ. There was never a rematch, and Defranco is at best a fringe contender. (0)

3) GABE CASTILLAS vs. ROSS EBANEZ: Ross has appeared on numerous EliteXC cosponsored events of late. Castillas had a short tenure in the IFL with an 0-2 record there.

Ross is cut early, assumed to be from a strike of some sort. Other than that, its mostly Ebanez on top with elbows and punches and stuff like that. A standup late in the round produced a knockdown of Castillas from a combination of punches that followed a pretty solid knee to the noggin of Castillas. In the second round, Ebanez gets the top position after Castillas falls from trying to throw a kick, and decides to try and wipe out Ebanez from that position with elbows and punches. There's some weird rule where the ref counts to 4 then stops the fight with unanswered strikes on the ground, and that's used as the justification for hometown fighter Ebanez to be given a TKO win as Castillas rolls for a kneebar. (1)

4) GILBERT MELENDEZ vs. STEPHEN PALLING: Palling was actually really good at this point. He had just drawn with Pequeno Noguiera and prior to that had wins over Mark Hominick and some guy named Norifumi Yamamoto. I guess he's a big deal or something.

Melendez, as everyone expected, sorta rushes out for the clinch. He even gets a double leg and slams Palling. Melendez rains a lot of shots and is looking really good in there, which catches the crowd and announcers off guard. Palling is able to force the fight standing and get a trip takedown of his own, but Melendez pushes him off. Palling goes for Melendez's back as he stands and Melendez counters with a single leg takedown that puts him back on top. He cuts Palling pretty nice with an elbow.

Next round begins as the last did, but Palling times Melendez and lands a hard uppercut. Melendez isn't stopped by this and continues to work for the double, and just like in round 1, is successful in his efforts. This is classic Gilbert Melendez, as he does nothing more than ground and pound Palling into hamburger. Melendez passes guard and Palling is desperate to change position, allowing north/south as he tries to stand. Melendez just shoves Palling back and mounts him. Eventually, the fight is stopped due to strikes. Melendez makes a huge splash with this fight, and Palling was retired a year later. (4)

5) SEAN TAYLOR vs. RONALD JHUN: Jhun has become a living testament to the way the sport has evolved. He's a vet of pretty much everything imaginable, but has been reduced to tomato can from "strong vet" in recent years. Taylor was 0-2-1. Not much expected.

Both men do not move any aspect of their body when punching, even their hips. Jhun is better with landing punches and gets the takedown. Jhun just hangs out in the guard or half guard of Taylor for the rest of round 1 and hits him a lot. Another poorly defended takedown for Jhun, more elbows, and the ref stops the fight at about the same time Taylor's corner throws in the towel. (0)

6) GIL CASTILLO vs. RENATO VERISSIMO: Castillo had a undulating record that shifted from day to day and week to week. He's officially listed on most fight finders as having had less than 10 pro wins, but he generally claimed between 16-20, depending on the day. Verissimo was a young gun here, Castillo already quite aged for an elite athlete at 36.

Castillo wants the clinch early, and that shocks no one that ever watched the man fight before. Verissimo shows he can prevent takedowns well though and throws some nice punches and knees while preventing the takedown. A lot of borderline low blows occuring during this inital period, too. Verissimo is eventually able to get distance, and Castillo lands a nice right hand which Verissimo answers with a high kick. Castillo has been cut somewhere along the way, though not heavily. Verissimo starts landing some right hands after a brief interruption for ref Larry Landless to stare at some of the cage padding and then decide not to fix it, and Castillo responds with (what else?) a takedown attempt. In getting it, he absorbs a punch that breaks his nose and turns the cage into a murder scene. Not nice. Close round goes to Verissimo, however.

Round 2 starts with Castillo complaining that vasoline is in his eye. Oh god. Maybe people would buy it if he hadn't pulled that stunt at UFC 40....but I digress. Landless decides to let him get it cleaned up, and we start the round, albeit about a minute late. Verissimo lands a lot of strikes, Castillo clinches, there's a knee somewhere around the groin area, and Castillo needs 5 minutes. Its kinda odd that he gets it, because Landless says he "didn't see it". News flash: If you are a ref, and someone turns to you complaining of a foul you did not see, you do not stop the fight.

So after a long ass delay, Castillo is willing to restart and jumps in with a hard right punch, his best strike of the bout. Verissimo absorbs it and continues on leading the striking overall. Castillo goes to squash Verissimo into the cage again, stalls, ref breaks it, repeat. Second time, Verissimo is all like "fuck this" and gets a trip takedown. He lands some decent shots but lets Castillo get up at the end of the round and even throw a punch. Castillo promptly quits between rounds. Blah. Still, its a fight between guys who fought for titles in the UFC, even if both are now irrelevant. (3)

7) PAUL BUENTELLO vs. ANDY MONTANA: I'm not really excited about this.

Montana is a kickboxer, and like Carter Williams 4 years later, he decides to be a wrestler. Buentello brushes off his shitty wrestling and ends up kicking him in the head. This is the coolest thing Buentello ever did. (2)

INTERMISSION! There is an uncomfortable Falaniko Vitale/Phil Baroni hype thing here for a fight they would never have at UFC 45 or ever, in fact.

8) DENNIS HALLMAN vs. RAY COOPER: I am giddy about Dennis Hallman fights in the same way I assume millions are giddy to get back positive STD testing.

Cooper goes for a takedown immediately and Hallman secures a guillotine. It is over! So much earlier and better than I could have hoped. Hallman calls Frank Trigg a "fairy" and Hughes a "pussy". (2)

9) TAKANORI GOMI vs. BJ PENN: Oh yeah, this is the main event. You may recognize Penn and Gomi as being the best lightweights in the world. Probably the best lightweights ever, actually. Penn had failed to get the 155lb UFC title twice by this bout and Gomi had just lost the Shooto championship, so while they were both top 5, neither was really "the man", so to speak. Well, at least at this point.

BJ takes down Gomi right away and gets the mount and back control. Gomi does a lot to try and shake BJ for the first two minutes and finally succeeds to get in BJ's guard, which is still not the best place in the world to be. Gomi decides to stand instead and BJ just takes him down again, again getting the back, again with a body triangle, again throwing strikes. All BJ in round one.

Different story with the beginning of round two. BJ decides to stand with Gomi a little and actually gets the better of the Fireball Kid. Gomi is hurt by a three punch combo and Penn again tries for a judo throw. Gomi actually defends it and gets on top, but as in the prior round, is ineffective against Penn's rubber guard and defense. Gomi's nose has also been broken and his right eye has a mouse under it. Penn stalls enough to force the standup, and again controls Gomi there. Gomi does lands some jabs every once inawhile, but its nothing nearly as damaging as Penn holding his head and going to town hockey goon style. BJ starts pushing to get a takedown in the final 30 seconds and pulls one off just moments before the bell.

Round 3 starts and both are exhaused. Penn grabs a single and Gomi actually tries to submit Penn with a guillotine. Not smart. Penn gets out very quickly and in the process of mounting, Gomi again gives up the back. Gomi's mouthpiece falls out as he desperately tries to get in air, but Penn is all over him in the worst position possible. The inevitable occurs: BJ Penn gets the arm under Gomi's chin and Gomi goes out. Post fight interviews are nothing special: BJ Penn doesn't talk much and he knows it, Gomi just wants people to say "hi" to him the next day. (5)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Gomi/Penn

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Buentello/Montana

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Hallman/Cooper

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. This is a two fight card, really, though at the time it was much, much more. Still, as impressive as any North American outlet in years has ever done.

D&R RATING: 40% (15/45) Its worth noting that this is almost unfair a ranking. If you were to do this same ranking in 2004, my guess is it probably would have been about a 47-49%. The Penn/Gomi fight is among the most important ever outside a major promotion, and certainly the most important to the modern day. For the $9-10 you can find this boxed set for, its worth it for that alone. And hey, they're gonna release a bunch of Cage Rage shows on a 5 event DVD set also soon...I'm way stoked about that.

ShoXC/KOTC 7/27/07

I ended up doing these totally out of order from their boxed set, but whatever. I got a new KOTC boxed set about a week ago and I'm already attempting to run through it. There's a total of 9 shows and a Thomas Denny documentary, of all things. This "show" is actually the Proelite.com streamed undercard to the ShoEX show from 7/27. Gary Shaw's kid is doing color and I have no idea who is announcing.

1) SHAYNA BASZLER vs. JEN FINNEY: Baszler is a pretty good fighter that Elite XC has invested some money into. Finney I know nothing about.

Finney wants the clinch and to Tim Sylvia the bout early on by pushing Baszler into the cage and squashing her offense with mere endless holding. The ref breaks it up, and then they return to action and the same thing happens. However, Baszler expects it, drops from the clinch for a single, gets the takedown, and Finney is helpless on her back. Baszler eventually grabs an armbar for a submission win. (1)

2) JOSH NEAL vs. ERIC BEONDO: Neither one is a fighter I've heard of. Beondo is a wrestler and is quite a bit older.

Beondo likes to go for takedowns and Neal wants to KO Beondo standing. Beondo's gas tank fails him miserably, as by the halfway mark of round one, it is clear that Beondo has no real plan to bypass the striking of Neal. There's some okay groundwork in this one, with a series that sees Neal reversing an armbar attempt of Beondo's and getting in mount, followed by a bunch of scrambling that leads to a big knee in the face of Beondo. As I said before, Beondo gasses and as he flails uselessly to get inside, he's caught with another big knee and Cecil Peoples stops it. Both are not contenders at any level presently. (0)

3) ANTHONY RUIZ vs. JASON GERIS: Ruiz just fought in an awful 5 rounder for Strikeforce.

Geris, like Southworth was against Ruiz, is all about takedowns. Unfortunately for him, he has Cecil Peoples in the ring as the third man, and so when he gets side control in round one and is landing a ton of elbows with Ruiz pinned against the cage, of course the fight is stood up. Somewhere along the way down to the mat, Geris ended up with a nice abrasion in the center of his forehead, between the eyes. Doesn't really bleed or anything, but it makes for a nice target for Ruiz, who given the opportunity to work his superior standup by Peoples, takes advantage. Geris is, as Beondo was in the last bout, pretty gassed by the mid point of the round, and Ruiz is able to control the action even as he attempts repeatedly to just jump in for the clinch. At the end of the round, Ruiz ends up dropping for a single leg takedown that Geris defends, but as the bell sounds, Geris tweaks his knee. He's unable to continue and Ruiz is given a TKO win. (1)

4) DREW MONTGOMERY vs. TONY RUBALCAVA: This is Rubalcava's debut. Montgomery is 3-1.

All Rubalcava. He clinches early in the round, takes down Montgomery, and pounds him out from full guard. A pretty impressive performance, and in spite of having lost since, I'll give this a (1), as he's a fairly interesting prospect at 205.

5) BRIAN COBB vs. JOHN REEDY: This is apparently the third fight between these two. Cobb won the first two, so why another fight between them, I don't know.

Cobb gets an early takedown after catching a kick from Reedy, and goes for an armbar. Reedy gets out and tries to throw shots to Cobb's face from inside his guard, and has to dodge repeated submission attempts in doing so. Reedy shows some skill and passes the guard after a triangle attempt, goes to north/south, and Cobb takes it as an opportunity to stand, switch to Reedy's back and get a rear naked choke. For the third time in Reedy's career, he taps to Cobb's RNC. (1), all for Cobb.

6) JEREMIAH METCALF vs. JAMIE JARA: Change in announcers as Mauro and Quadros take the mics. This is a Gladiator Challenge Middleweight title bout. Jara is a late replacement for Aaron Witherspoon, who was supposed to unify the GC and KOTC welterweight belts against GC champ Metcalf. Jara is instead putting up his title.

Mostly striking, which surprises everyone. That is to Jara's advantage, and yet Metcalf finds a consistent home for his straight right. Jara is naturally a much larger man, having competed as high as heavyweight, and when he lands cleanly on Metcalf, the difference is noticeable. Metcalf is KOed with a single left hand from Jara in an entertaining slugfest. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Metcalf/Jara

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Beondo/Neal

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Cobb/Reedy

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10: Not abyssmal, some okayish fighters, nice and short at 1:06 for everything.

D&R RATING: 20% (6/30)

RING OF COMBAT~! 18 (3/7/08)

Another HDNet exclusive featuring guys that don't matter in large part in bouts that often were not good. Kenny Rice and Frank Trigg are announcing from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in front of about 5 people. Rules are effectively IFL rules but with 5 minute rounds.

1) RANDY DURANT vs. RICARDO ROMERO: No idea about these guys. Romero is 3-0 coming in, Durant 2-3.

Short bout. Romero lands a left hook and drops Durant. He pounds him out in side control. Romero is now 5-0, so (1).

2) MIKE MEDRANO vs. RICH ASHKAR: Another fight where I have heard of neither participant. Ashkar is 3-0, Medrano 0-1.

Medrano lands a right hand under 20 seconds in and Ashkar just falls to the floor face first. (0)

INTERVIEW TIME WITH RENZO GRACIE. Nothing is learned. He will fight again. Hopefully this time he does not bitch out.

3) AL BUCK vs. JAMES "BINKY" JONES: Binky just fought on the undercard of the Elite XC Primetime show. Buck has done a good job losing to guys that are mediocre at best.

Buck goes for a guillotine standing very early on, but Jones pulls guard and get out of that. Buck tries to throw punches, Binky goes for an armbar which he transitions into a kimura and rolls him with. Buck tries to roll his way out of it and just gets deeper. Tap out early in round 1. (0)

4) IGOR GRACIE vs. TOM GALLICCHIO: A new Gracie! He is making his pro debut. Gallicchio is a solid 7-3 with his best win coming against IFL "vet" Nate Lamotte, who I reviewed fighting Chris Horodecki not long ago.

Round 1 was an impressive showing of the ol' Gracie zhoo-zhit-su but Gallicchio is skilled enough to escape everything and even ends up on top at the end of the round. Gracie is never the same, having gassed himself out going for fancy chokes and stuff. Gallicchio wins a very dull Round 2 by laying on Gracie in the guard for virtually the entire round. Round 3 copies that except with a short standup portion in which Gracie is nearly KOed. Gallicchio wins on every single card and picks up a surprising decision. (0), simply because the fight was not enjoyable to watch and I don't know that I see Gallicchio making inroads anywhere.

5) MIKE GEURIN vs. DAN MILLER: Miller is a WORLD CHAMPION now. Amazing. Geurin is a nobody still. Go figure. How did this titanic struggle go?

Some standup, Guerin and Miller's heads collide, ref stops the fight, NC. (0)

FRANKIE EDGAR INTERVIEW. Not that informative.

6) JOSE RODRIGUEZ vs. JOHN "DOOMSDAY" HOWARD: Howard was robbed at ROC 17 against Dan Miller. Even Sherdog called it a bullshit decision! His trainer told me so. Oddly, nothing on the ol' Fightfinder about "BS decision". Rodriguez is a 5-3 fighter from who knows where.

Howard is shit on by the announcers early on here as being a guy who is a lay and pray fighter. Ouch. After all, he's all decisions and submissions, no KOs, and that's not really worthy of the nickname "Doomsday", which the announcers also refuse to call him. Trigg says something about it not being as catchy as "Babalu". Early on, their remarks make sense. Howard with a takedown, some control, some more control, then he takes the back and nearly sinks in a choke. Rodriguez spins into it and then stands out of the guard, taking this back to the place Howard apparently hates or something. Then Howard throws a combination of shots and Rodriguez is hella unconscious and then the announcers are like "nah dogg we was playing that's a good nickname." Rodriguez goes out on a backboard, Miller/Howard for the IFL title now doesn't happen. (1)

7) ALEXIS AQUINO vs. LYMAN GOOD: There are some serious ass expectations with a name like "Good". Plus he has a perfect record and beat Mike Dolce. Aquino's loss is to Dante Rivera, who Trigg notes he trains with and is on Ultimate Fighter. Somewhere, Zach Arnold is totally upset because HDNet isn't protecting DA BRAND.

Another fight that was conceptually interesting but lacked in actuality. The fight begins really with a high kick by Good that nearly KOs Aquino, and that's really it for interesting offense. Good and Aquino mostly stand, and when they do Aquino has the idea that by throwing a hundred spinning back kicks, he is sure to land one fight ender. No such thing happens. When they "box" each other, its pretty sloppy most of the time with Good getting in more shots because of his hand speed advantage. Aquino is a gamer though and refuses to lay down for any shots in this fight. Seeing as he was KOed in his next fight in under one round, probably not a good sign of future things for Good. Most interesting moment: Aquino shoots in and both men nearly tumble out to the floor. The ring has its pluses for the fans, but not for the competitors. Good by UD. (1)

8) DOUG GORDON vs. GREGOR GRACIE: Gracie is 2-0 and Gordon is a paltry 6-4.

Gracie immediately goes for a take down and ends up in mount as soon as he succeeds. Oh, great, another Gracie exhibition. The world didn't have enough of these in 1994. Gracie in and out of mount, goes for a guillotine that Gordon reverses and stands up out of, but he gets taken down again. The bell for the second rings, and you can guess what happens. Gracie takedown, on top, however he's not nearly as active. Just like the other family member on the card, Gracie sucks at cardio. Gordon at least put in road work and is able to fight his way back into this, even if from the bottom. Still lost round 2. Third and final stanza begins, Gordon walks out, throws a right high kick, and Gregor is immediately KOed. So this is why the Gracies never get calls to the UFC anymore. (0)

9) KRYSTOF SOSZYNSKI vs. ALEX ANDRADE: Andrade returned for three fights with his ol' Lions Den buddy's promotion Art of War, and now he's here in NJ to take on the ex-IFL heavyweight "contender". Soszynski lost so much weight he looks like he got AIDS.

This fight is absolute trash. Totally unwatchable. Amazingly, a lower moment in Andrade's career than even being DQed that one time in the UFC for ignoring the "no kicking with shoes" rule they had back when you could wear shoes. Andrade rushes forward, they clinch, that's it. It is Yasuda/Saatake USA, but with only one consolation: Andrade's strikes all land dead in the cup. Every fucking time he throws a low kick or knee, straight in the balls. After 4 stoppages for low blows, he is DQed. (0)

10) CHRIS LIGOURI vs. JIM MILLER: When I realized this was the main event, there was some horror to note how much the last IFL show ever was like a Ring of Combat event. I guess then that its spirit will live forever in NJ. Miller's only loss is to Frankie Edgar, and he's beaten Muhsin Corbbrey, Nuri Shakir, Chris Ligouri previously (by cut) and a month later was victorious over Bart Palaszewski. Ligouri I've seen fight for MFC thanks to Bodog (against Erik Oganov) and has a whole bunch of losses to good fighters like Pete Sell and also Pete Sell. Apparently rematches against guys that beat you is no big thing for him. He's even a UFC vet, fighting at UFC 45! He lost to Keith Rockel, so I guess he had octagon shock.

Not an awful first round with some back and forth action. Miller gets a takedown early but Ligouri is able to stand out of that and lands some straight right hands against his southpaw foe. Miller gets desperate and keeps trying for takedowns, all of which get stopped. He just gives up on that and pulls guard to get the fight off the feet, and when Ligouri tries to stand out, he goes for a single. Finally, he finds success and gets on top. Ligouri seems to have some BJJ skills and is scooting the legs up when the round ends.

Round two kicks off with lots of takedown attempts, lots of Ligouri defending, lots of Ligouri forgetting what worked in round one and what should obviously work and gets lulled into fighting Miller's fight. They trade low kicks and it forces Ligouri into the corner. That powerful left of Miller lands dead on his chin and a hurt Ligouri goes to try and take down Miller. The single puts his head right into a guillotine attempt. A couple taps later, fight's over, Miller wins. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Ligouri/Miller. The best on a not very good show.

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Gordon/Gracie

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Jones/Buck

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10: If you like to see the Gracie family get shitted on, this is your show. Otherwise, so many boring fights. So many nothing fighters.

D&R RATING: 10% (5/50)