M-1 Challenge XXVI (7/8/11)

(Written in 2010, never published.Why not now? Seems as good a time as any. No ratings.)

M1! SHOWTIME! FIGHTS! Militech and Ranallo on the mics.

1) Eddie Arizmendi vs. Jason Norwood: Middleweight contest. Norwood is a wrestler and ex Army dude.

FIGHT: Arizmendi TKO Rnd 2. Not the most exciting contest ever. Norwood goes for takedowns and nothing but. Lousy striker. Arizmendi is not a great wrestler and a much better striker - he still gets the back of Norwood briefly in the first and hurts Norwood almost every time he lands. With seconds left in the first, Norwood gets hit with a right hand lead and a left hook and Norwood goes out cold.

2) Beau Baker vs. Daniel Weichel: GERMANY VS. BAKER. Oh man.

FIGHT: Weichel Unanimous Decision. Pretty clear, easy fight to score and watch. Weichel basically throws the 1-2 and lands it every time because Baker's head is straight up and he doesn't learn to give Weichel any sort of different look standing. Baker just going with wild looping bombs as the 3rd round continues on.

3) Josh Bacallao vs. Maribek Taisumov: Taisumov is a wrestler, so I am told on the TV. Bacallao is some nobody. Taisumov KOed Yuri Ivlev, who is a journeyman of some repute.

FIGHT: Taisumov TKO Rnd 1. Bacallao gets an early takedown but ends up in a scramble and loses the position. Back on the feet, Taisumov lands a straight right hand with a little feint and Bacallao goes down and then takes a blasting forearm to the face on the mat.

4) Tyson Jeffries vs. Arthur Guseinov: Guseinov apparently likes headkicks and is the Russian Phil Baroni. Both guys have losses to the middle of the road contenders - Guseinov lost to Luigi Fiorvanti and Jeffries to Sultanmagomedov. Or whatever that guy's name is.

FIGHT: Guseinov TKO Rnd 1. Huge KO with these dudes just going wild with strikes and scrambles. Guseinov ends up landing a spinning backfist and knocks out Jeffries cold. Just ice cold. Ranallo is flipping the fuck out. Guseinov is flipping the fuck out. Jeffries is like "...."

5) Kenny Garner vs. Pat Bennett: Can't believe that Showtime paid anything for this show with this being the main event. Heavyweight fight.

FIGHT: Garner TKO Rnd 2. Garner wins this fight in a rematch of a fight he won the first time. Bennett supposedly has big wrestling credentials but barely uses them, and Garner pushes him all around the ring and punches him to the body and legs just to stay busy. Bennett is totally gassed, ends up eating punches moving straight back and goes down. Fight over.

Shark Fights 17 (7/15/2011)

(Its been almost a year since my last review. Why? I stopped watching shows like this. Luckily, no one read this blog and it was just something I did for my own note taking, so no one cared. But in case you run across this, there's the explanation. Anyhow, I reviewed this show almost entirely but couldn't figure out how to give a proper number score for it or anything, and now that its a year later and clear none of these guys are likely to show up in the UFC again, it doesn't matter anyways. So here it is.)

We're back in Amarillo...wait, no, Frisco, TX (?) for more Shark Fights action. Trigg and Schiavello are announcing. Main event if Jake Rosholt and Matt Horwich.

1) Alan Jouban vs. Andrew Goldthwaithe: Welterweight opener. 1-1 vs. 1-0. 3 minute rounds. Goldthwaithe is HUGE. like 6'4''.

FIGHT: Joubain TKO Rnd 3. Joubain trains at a big time gym in Legends MMA and he fights competently, for sure. Lots of takedowns and control on the mat, nearly ends this in the first with a triangle, and ends up pulling a huge KO in the 3rd round by doing EXACTLY WHAT YOU SHOULD DO - THROW COMBINATIONS. Just kept throwing and just kept landing on a 4 punch combo that followed a body kick that dropped the hands of his opponent. Joubain has a ways to go before being more referenced, but this was a good start. (1)

2) Erik Perez vs. Doug Frey: Down to featherweights for this one. Perez is from Jackson's gym, has a serious kickboxing record from down in Mexico, where that sort of thing actually matters. No, seriously. They watch kickboxing there. It is on TV and shit.

FIGHT: Perez Unanimous Decision. Perez is the more well rounded fighter - he gets many more takedowns compared to Frey (who only gets one in the early portion of the second) and he's the more technically adept striker, so he lands more. Still, Perez's striking doesn't seem to be too fearsome in terms of power. His wrestling is so so.

3) Emanuel Newton vs. Ilir Latifi: Light heavyweight contest. Newton I've seen approximately a million times. Latifi is a young buck looking to make his name. Apparently Newton's favorite band is Strife. Go figure.

FIGHT: Ilir Latifi Unanimous Decision: Terrible, terrible decision. Latifi lost every single round of the bout doing absolutely nothing on offense. Wait, OK, Newton actually won and they couldn't read the cards correctly. OK, that's better. Ridiculous. Newton uses his wrestling to totally block any attempts at shots from Latifi, and by the end of the first round, Latifi is basically just running from Newton's jabs and low kicks.

4) Ricco Rodriguez vs Doug Williams: Super late replacement to fight Rodriguez, who had a pretty nonimpressive opponent before who showed up 30lbs over the catchweight, apparently having thought it was just a heavyweight fight.

FIGHT: Rodriguez Submission Rnd 1. RNC after a KOTC special. I still think Rodriguez looks slow of foot in the ring and his hands are glacial too. I just can't see him having a big impact at this point of his career.

5) Jake Rosholt vs. Matt Horwich: This is actually a rematch of a fight Horwich won. Horwich is still lovably crazy that represents a different, dying era of the sport when it was filled with rejects of society. Rosholt is just sorta another meathead.

FIGHT: Rosholt Unanimous Decision. Boring fight, to be honest. Horwich has his grinding style of unorthodox punishment absorbing, but it doesn't work well as long as the opposition is willing to fight in spots, take what Rosholt gives him, and leave few openings. That was the case here, with Rosholt sorta jabbing and low kicking and punishing Horwich as he came forward. Horwich basically was begging for Rosholt to go to the mat with him and he never complied. Smart guy - good enough to know when he should put the wrestling in the defense column too. Horwich is too past it to be a real contender and Rosholt may be growing again as a fighter, but its a slow march back to the top.