BShow ASSAULT: MMA Review and Anaylsis

Blackeye Promotions: Rise of the Champions

2011-07-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

Okay, another one from Fightzone TV. We've got Jay Adams and Greg Flowers calling this night of fights and I know nothing about it except it looks like it's in a really scummy locale. Okay, so its North Carolina. Greg Flowers just told me so.

1) Wesley Evans vs. Vinny Alberico: Amateur welterweights.

FIGHT: Alberico TKO Rnd 1. Super fast fight. Evans is out from a short right that he walks into and gets pounded out along the cage. Sorta shameful. Looked like he was almost hit with a jab.

2) Matt Tran vs. Shane Tyner: Pro debuts for both at 135. Tran is 5'10''.

FIGHT: Tran Unanimous Decision. Not much of a fight - Tyner gets put on his back over and over, his wrestling being largely ineffective. When it does work in the second, he's still doing nothing but trying to escape kimuras and triangles. Tran's wrestling isn't bad but its not great either. Sorta a decent BJJ guy but not much beyond that. (0)

3) Chris Cain vs. Justin Marks: Bantamweight pro bout. Cain is a guy they want to push, it would seem.

FIGHT: Marks Unanimous Decision. Rashad basically says at the start that he thinks Marks is better than his 4-3 record - he's right. Marks is a submission guy all the way and he's tying up Marks in pretzels. He's not finishing, sure, but he's constantly in dominant positions and putting him in danger. Not much of a wrestler, no striking, Marks is straight BJJ all the way and admits it afterwards; "If that was a jiujitsu tournament, I don't even know how many points that was...if he didn't respect it before, he does now." (0)

4) Dustin Center vs. Jacob Allman: Dudes. Undefeated dudes. Lightweight dudes.

FIGHT: Allman Submission Rnd 1. Allman is a wrestler and that makes him good at guillotines. That's what Joe Rogan told me. Center just gave up the neck in the saddest fashion while inside the guard of Allman after catching a kick and pushing him down. (0)

5) Frank Waszut vs. Johnny Buck: 175lb catchweight main event. Waszut is the GINGER SAMURAI.

FIGHT: Buck TKO Rnd 3. Every round, its the same thing - clinch, Waszut gets taken down/thrown, Buck takes dominant position and punches the shit out of him. This continues until about 2:15 is left in the third and the ref stops it. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Cain/Marks

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Allman/Center

KO OF THE NIGHT: Alberico/Evans

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Should be renamed "Rise of the Journeymen". Completely skippable.

D&R Rating: 0%

NAAFS Cage Fighting (6/12/2011)

2011-07-01T08:14:00.002-04:00

Skipping a couple episodes to come back to eventually.

1) Chandra Engle vs. Rachel Dovidio:Women's Amateur 135lb fight. Engle is from the dutch enclave of East Grand Rapids, MI. Dovidio is from North Carolina. Pretty amazing that NAAFS is attracting lots of out of state fighters for amateur bouts. Apparently Rachel is also a Marine.

FIGHT: Dovidio . Not a bad showing. Again, with the low amount of talent here in women's MMA, Dovidio kinda runs over Engle and forces her on the defensive at all times. You see better women's fighters (Jessica Eye or Rhonda Rousey, who may be announcing here on color) basically pulling KOTC specials on this level of card. Dovidio can't finish, gets flipped, and even gets taken down in the second. She's better in every way but doesn't show a clear difference in physical talents. Maybe Engle is just a tough, seasoned amateur MMA fighter who's gone through the fires of Michigan nightclub fights. But I feel like this is a fight Dovidio should have dominated. (0)

2) Bill Algeo vs. Aaron Bartow: Lightweight bout. Ammy fight.

FIGHT: Algeo Submission Rnd 1. Just ran over Bartow. Lands looping right hands over the lazy striking of Bartow, gets him down, beats him up, KOTC special with the RNC finish. (0)

3) Chris Lozano vs. Gerric Hayes: Bounce back fight for Lozano. Seems to be a catchweight around 175.

FIGHT: Lozano TKO Rnd 1. Still not a great showing from Lozano, who at one point gives his back and has his belly down on the mat defending a RNC about 30 seconds in. But he keeps himself out of big problems, gets on top, gets the fight stood up, hurts Hayes with a rabbit punch (unintentional) caused by Hayes bending over, and as Hayes tries to duck and stumble away he eats a high kick to the head and is out cold. (1)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 4 out of 10. Bounce fight for a mid level guy and some prospect amateur fights that aren't offensively bad. Flat out comical horror response from the Algeo win when the crowd obviously was behind the other guy and went silent.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (5/22/2011)

2011-06-23T23:10:00.000-04:00

Missed a couple episodes I think. Oh well. No great loss. Tonight's show is from the 4/16/2011 NAAFS Caged Vengeance 9 card in Cleveland and is headlined by Nick Duell vs. Kevin Knabjian.

1) Curt Lemmon vs. Mark Garcher: Garcher looks all stoked and muscular and Lemmon has fancy trunks with a sorta Spiderman pattern thing going on. Amateur fight among middleweights.

FIGHT: Lemmon TKO Rnd 2. Competitive bout with Garcher being a predictable face forward bruiser and Lemmon being more of a defensive BJJ guy with straighter punches, less of a mean streak, and some cool leg sweeps in the clinch. Garcher's physical strength and gorilla style determination keep him in the fight longer than it probably should have, while Lemmon eventually lands a left hook early on in the second and then follows Garcher to the mat, landing punches until we get a stoppage. Nothing spectacular. (0)

2) Brandon Saling vs. John Fields: Fields is a big lanky black guy and Saling is doing a Chuck Liddell impression in every way imaginable. Middleweight pro bout.

FIGHT: Saling TKO Rnd 1. Both guys suffer eye pokes and there's some sloppy grappling along with lots of power punching. Saling's stuff has more behind it, I would venture to say, and Fields drops like 5 times in this fight from right hands, left hooks, and lots of short uppercuts. He just crumbles time and time again. Eventually he gives his back after one of these crumblings and the RNC is applied with just 2 seconds left. Saling is doing his alpha male thing here and that's OK. Unfortunately he has a lot of defensive liabilities to make it very far in the sport. Fields, who has a .500 record pro and amateur mixed, is clearly going nowhere fast. (0)

3) Nick Duell vs. Kevin Knabjian: Knabjian almost got on TUF. Duell was never invited. Now we have this welterweight attraction.

FIGHT: Duell TKO Rnd 2. Monster KO from a high kick in the second round as Duell times the robotic wrestleboxer Knabjian coming in with a lead right hand. Duell looks much more fluid and competent as a striker - he's going to the body, the head, throwing liver kicks, all that stuff. But he does still pull straight back too often, his chin can be left high, he doesn't have the best balance, and I'm not sure he has anything on his punches. Is he closing his fists fully or just throwing stuff out there to have the handspeed advantage? He didn't dent Knabjian with anything until the kick landed. But land it did. There's a lot of guys I'd like to see Duell in with and some of them are reasonable picks. Meanwhile, there's Knabjian, who is going to be a journeyman or retire. (1)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 6 out of 10. No great fights, but there's some entertainment here, particularly with the main event and some of the sloppy openers.

Fight Time 4 (4/1/2011)

2011-06-23T11:23:00.000-04:00

Okay, time for the fourth in of the promotion's events. Main event is Tony Lopez vs. Jeff Monson, which is a pretty good ass fight. Alex Donno and Din Thomas announcing.

1) Harry Holton vs. Jeremie Wilson: Some dudes I know nothing about.

FIGHT: Wilson TKO Rnd 1. Holton gets taken down, laid on in side control, and then gets pounded out with short elbows. Shitty fight. (0)

2) Bruce Bellochi vs. Jesus Rodriguez: Heavyweight bout. Not excited about this either. Rodriguez is an ex-boxer or something with no Boxrec profile.

FIGHT: Bellochi TKO Rnd 1. Early stop I think intended to protect Bellochi, who has some sort of connection to the promoter. He was badly hurt earlier in the first during what was basically a toughman fight. Crap. (0)

3) Jay Ellis vs. Rafael Dias: Dias is a prospect of sorts that I've seen a few times now.

FIGHT: Dias Submission Rnd 1. Another easy, meaningless fight for Dias. He rushes Ellis, slams him, takes the back immediately, and gets a RNC inside of 30 seconds. (1)

4) Roy Bradshaw vs. Mike Bruno: Bradshaw at least has the nickname of "Precious". Sifl N Olly inspired?

FIGHT: Bruno Submission Rnd 1. Headlock or bulldog choke? Who can tell? Point is that it was another non-competitive fight in a fight promotion with lots of them historically. Bruno gets a takedown almost immediately and works to side control. Bradshaw tries to get out and gets grabbed by the head its torqued. (1)

5) Danceton Holcomb vs. Joe Watson: Watson is from ATT. This is really an ATT promotion, so....

FIGHT: Watson TKO Rnd 1. Holcomb throws wild shots and gets countered constantly by the straighter blows of Watson. (1)

6) Jeff Monson vs. Tony Lopez: YOUR MAIN EVENT. A 5 round ISKA MMA title bout. Am I excited to see this? Not really TBH.

FIGHT: Monson Unanimous Decision. Not much to break down in the fight because it was a consistent replay every round of the same thing; Monson shoots, takes down Lopez, gets dominant positions, can't finish, doesn't strike much to set up anything, Lopez breaks loose or changes the position with seconds remaining in the round, bell. The biggest difference was Lopez stopping a shot from Monson in the final couple minutes of the 5th and pancaking him, landing blows while on top of Monson. Did it win him the fight? No. (3)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Holcomb/Watson

KO OF THE NIGHT: Bellochi/Rodriguez

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Dias/Ellis

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Lots of meaningless squashes punctuated by a terrifically dull main event. Skippable in its entirety. Show was so bad it was a month to the day that I started this review that I finished it.

Ultimate Glory: 2010-2011 World Series Finals (/2011

2011-06-18T10:14:00.000-04:00

Oh man - true story. Did you know that this tape came back with Mike Miller in his checked bag? Its true. I'm posting that story because no one ever reads this blog in spite of it being practically out in the open, and so its worth noting. More about that in a second. This show features the finals of the United Glory welterweight MMA tourney and then SO MUCH MORE. And by so much more, I mean kickboxing. The version on HDNet has Schiavello and Trigg with overdubbed commentary.

1) Igor Jurkovic vs. Pavel Zhuravlev: Heavyweight kickboxing madness. I'm sure it'll suck but whatever.

FIGHT: Jurkovic KO Rnd 2. Not a very action packed round but Zhuravlev seems to be looking to take a seat on the canvas. Jurkovic helps him by popping him hard early in the second and breaking both his nose and will to fight. Well, not that it even existed early on.

2) Denis Stojnic vs. Mlanden Kujundzic: Stojnic kinda sucks and looks like a roided up European guy. Probably because he is. The other guy is some random Croatian coming in on 2 days notice. Who is? I have no idea.

FIGHT: Stojnic Submission Rnd 1. Ugly grappling fight with both guys pursuing takedowns, no one really getting one except for Stojnic early in the round, and otherwise its all about Stojnic stopping Kujundzic's lousy singles, getting on top, and going for things. There's attempts for heel hooks and chokes and stuff and eventually he uses a head crank to get a RNC sinched in and forces a tap. (1)

3) Errol Zimmerman vs. Mourad Bouzidi: Bouzidi is a aging journeyman who is well skilled and Zimmerman is a lazy but talented kickboxer who should be a lot more than what he is.

FIGHT: Zimmerman Unanimous Decision. Lazy fight from Zimmerman who drops Bouzidi twice with hooks as Bouzidi comes forward, but Zimmerman puts in no serious attempt at ending this fight or even throwing punches most of the time. He looks a bit soft - apparently not training much and fucking Thai chicks is his routine these days. Good for him and shit, but man, he could be so much more.

4) Mark Miller vs. Nicolaj Falin: A little bird who told me the story about Miller bringing the show back in his luggage also was the one who booked him for this show. I guess I won't name him in case anyone actually does see this, but you can probably guess who that is. Anyhow, apparently Golden Glory cheap out on airfare, so Miller ended up taking a wild number of connections to get to Moscow and had a bunch of flights cancel on him. Yikes. But he got there and his luggage arrived with him (along with Mighty Mo) - I guess that would be extra important since he needed the bag to bring back footage for airing in the US. Oh, and another BTW: Get on Golden Glory's case about visas that way you don't have to call Brazilian Godfathers up to help make things happen.

FIGHT: Miller TKO Rnd 1. Most everyone knows about this already because it was a big news story in the MMA blogs. Miller came back from heart surgery and won in about 8 seconds landing a overhand right over a lazy right from Falin that he landed with his eyes closed. Can't do that buddy.

5) Mighty Mo vs. Sergei Kharitonov: Sergei had the big win in the SF tourney, but this bout is a kickboxing fight. Why? I have no idea. Would be better as a MMA fight. Less risk. But then I'm not managing these guys careers, am I? Mo is super fat. Sergei is soft too.

FIGHT: Kharitonov TKO Rnd 1. Man, this was sorta shameful. Kharitonov was hit a couple of times, but that's not really the story. The story is that Sergei did a terrible job using his height advantage, kept going inside with the smaller man and nullifying that advantage, and then won with an uppercut that laid Mo out.

6) Zabid Samedov vs. Ali Cenik: Kickboxing bout with Samedov being a guy notorious for being boring.

FIGHT: Draw. Boring as expected. Samedov probably deserved the decision and this would have gone to a sudden death round in K-1. Oh well. Both guys are small heavyweights and threw a lot of leg kicks. Samedov also ran a lot. The end.

7) Jason Jones vs. Shamil Abdulmuslimov: Jones I'm familiar with from a number of fights over the years. He was a favorite of M-1 for a time, actually. Abdulmuslimov probably fought there too but I can't remember him. Similar W-L records in terms of success.

FIGHT: Jones TKO Rnd 3. Not the most exciting fight. Some back and forth positioning battle BS with Jones often getting takedowns and then getting swept or turned over, and on the bottom he doesn't do a whole lot. Then again, Abdulmuslimov doesn't do much from the top position either. This pattern continues on and on until a standup due to inactivity in Round 3 - Abdulmuslimov shoots for the legs and eats a knee in the face from Jones. He's out cold. (0)

8) Nieky Holzken vs. Artur Kyshenko: This is a really good kickboxing fight among people in K-1 Max classes.

FIGHT: Kyshenko Unanimous Decision. Kyshenko outworks Holzken, lands a good mix of techniques, puffs up Holzken's eye, and so on.

9) Tommy Depret vs. Siyar Bahadurzada: And the finals of the welterweight tourney are at hand. AK-47 looks so old. He probably is!

FIGHT: Bahadurzada KO Rnd 2. Honestly, Bahadurzada looked not that great here. He got on top a couple times and actually pounded Depret out on the mat in the second after dropping him, but his mouth was open early in the second and he was getting landed on a bunch from Depret, who's a lousy striker. Doesn't look at that big as a welterweight either. Depret looked better than he often does, giving Siyar a serious run for his money before gassing out entirely. (2)

10) Gohkan Saki vs. Brice Guidon: Finals of the GG Heavyweight tourney in kickboxing. Saki's a legit talent of course.

FIGHT: Saki Unanimous Decision. He outworks Guidon, who still arm punches his way through fights with no real gumption or effort to win. Saki just cruises, drops Guidon early too.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bahadurzada/Depret

KO OF THE NIGHT: Jones/Abdulmuslimov

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: As an MMA event, 3 out of 10. Just a couple bad fights. Siyar should have punched his ticket to a big show, but he won't last there.

D&R Rating: 20% (3/15) for the MMA portion.

Superior Challenge 7: Rise of the Champions (

2011-06-16T10:57:00.001-04:00

I actually have a half of a written report of Superior Challenge 2 from like 2 years ago that I never finished. Thanks to HDNet, I have this show to actually write about in full. Great production values for this show give that it is squarely a second tier event - Sweden's BAMMA, kinda.

1) Andreas Stahl vs. Johan Vanttinen: Swede vs. Finn. Both 3-0. I know nothing about them.

FIGHT: Stahl TKO Rnd 2. Man, this was a matter of time. Stahl stalks Vanttinen with punches and lands them seemingly at will when throwing because Vanttinen just moves straight back and doesn't tuck his chin. Stahl seems to be an OK grappler but nothing about his performance here jumps out at me. (0)

2) Lina Eklund vs. Kristina Talvosaite: Both are debuting as a pro and I think I'll go do the litter instead of paying sole attention to this. 60KG weight limit.

FIGHT: Eklund Submission Rnd 2. Terrible fight. Lots of clinching against the cage, lousy striking, ends when Eklund pulls the switch on Talvosaite after a failed shot by the Lithuanian fighter, takes the back and a choke. Whatever. (0)

3) James Doolan vs. Sirwan Kakai: Swede against Scottish fighter. Doolan has a record of 11-4-2, Kakai is 5-1. Not terrible.

FIGHT: Kakai Submission Rnd 2. Another second round stoppage - Kakai is super small for the bantamweight division but gets some decent takedowns and swings for the fences. Technically nothing spectacular that I saw, but he seems to be a decent athlete. He pulls a guillotine while Doolan was looking to scramble to his feet and forces the tapout. (0)

4) Mohsen Bahari vs. Farshad Farsiani: Lots of muslim immigrants to Scandic nations fighting for YOUR ENTERTAINMENT. Records are not spectacular.

FIGHT: Bahari TKO Rnd 2. Another fight that ends in the second, though this time it was due to Farsiani not making the bell for the start of the round. Bahari looks to land strikes and does so a lot. Farsiani looks to get the clinch and takedowns. He's not all that successful, instead at best stopping or slowing the assault of Bahari's wide punches and otherwise absorbing them while providing not much in terms of resistance. Not much I can take away from Bahari here other than he seems to be too square to be really mobile and stay away from having the clinch slow his attack. (0)

HELLBOY INTERVIEW~. Don't care at this point. 8 years to late to do so.

5) Bruno Carvalho vs. Kyacey Uscola: Holy shit, for real? MW contest.

FIGHT: Carvalho Submission Rnd 2. Uscola is the poor man's Sonnen and like the real thing, he's awful at defending subs. Here against a BJJ black belt, Uscola tries to keep distance and strike but doesn't do a whole lot of damage that way. When he gets near enough to Carvalho to grab, bad things happen. He's almost tapped in a matter of seconds at the end of the first and manages to stupidly shoot at Carvalho and get put on his back with that. While trying to scramble, he ends up giving his back and Carvalho transitions to an armbar and wrenches the shoulder out of the socket. Yikes. Lots of screaming in pain ensues. (1)

URIJAH FABER INTERVIEW~. Also don't give a shit here.

6) Robert Jocz vs. Tor Troeng: European biggish guys.

FIGHT: Troeng Unanimous Decision. Another fairly dull fight. Regional contenders in a "battle of positioning" where few meaningful strikes are thrown or landed, and there are some takedowns done by Troeng. Jocz goes for some halfassed submission attempts here and there and that's about it. The most forgettable MMA fight I can think of. (1)

7) Assan Njie vs. Beslan Isaev: Njie is supposed to be a prospect or something.

FIGHT: Njie Submission Rnd 1. We see Njie immediately shoot and get a monster double and then he works over Isaev some. I'm not really sold on his ability to escape the guard of his opponent, but he's got some healthy skill level on the mat, is never threatened with submissions, and eventually locks up a guillotine on Isaev that ends the fight as Isaev goes out. Njie needs to show that he can do this to legit wrestlers. (1)

8) Daniel Acacio vs. Diego Gonzalez: SC title belt on the line here in the welterweight division. Acacio is now named "The Viking Hunter". Oh, great.

FIGHT: Acacio Unanimous Decision. Thank god, this was only a three round fight, not five. Gonzalez is a chubby slugger guy and Acacio lands a billion leg kicks and punches on him, and also takes him down in every round of the fight and controls him on top after doing so. Acacio looks good here against limited competition, but then I think back as to how he hasn't won a meaningful fight in years. (1)

9) Reza Madadi vs. Rich Clementi: A Rich Clementi fight! Certainly, this will be a thing.

FIGHT: Madadi Unanimous Decision. The guy who isn't No Love wins a belt. Decent fight actually with Madadi winning by getting takedowns and being on top most of the fight, but Clementi made it a good show by pursuing a lot of submission attempts like knee bars and RNCs and the like, which Madadi skillfully avoided. Really cool rolling at points, like Madadi going for a double and Clementi trying to counter with an inverted triangle. (1)

10) Thales Leites vs. Jeremy Horn: Main event for the middleweight strap.

FIGHT: Leites Unanimous Decision. Basically, two guys jab at each other for 13 minutes, and Leites lands a few more jabs. Then he gets a takedown in the 3rd round and wins it by laying on Horn. Overall - do we learn anything new about either? No. Was it entertaining? No. Do either look like they have new wrinkles that change their career path away from "downward arc"? No. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Madadi/Clementi

KO OF THE NIGHT: Stahl/Vanttinen

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Carvalho/Uscola

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of ten. Some aging names alongside some no name = lousy, lousy show. Watch only the Uscola and Clementi fights if interested in anything here.

D&R Rating: 14% (7/50)

Titan Fighting Championships 18 (3/26/2011)

2011-06-10T12:38:00.000-04:00

More Titan FC from Kansas City. Watching this made me realize I forgot to watch the last DREAM show. Ooops! Been busy for months.

1) Sean Wilson vs. Deryck Ripley: Battle of irrelevant fighters with bad records: Wilson is 27-15. Ripley 11-19.

FIGHT: Wilson Submission Rnd 1. Kinda goes like you might expect. Wilson gets taken down early but sweeps and starts looking for various locks. He drops for a toe hold and rolls into the lock getting the submission. (0)

2) Joe Wilk vs. Jesse Zeugin: Wilk comes out to the Degeneration X theme.

FIGHT: Wilk Submission Rnd 1. Grinds on Zeugin, gets him down, beats him up, takes the D'arce when Zeugin gives him the head and neck and finishes it. Not much to really say about this. Crowd is all hyped up. Wilk seems to be a decent wrestler. Can't say anything about his stand up. I don't think he's big for the weight class, which could be a problem. (0)

3) Nick Budig vs. Bobby Cooper: Bobby Cooper I have some familiarity with from prior shows. Budig is 5-1 and I know nothing about him.

FIGHT: Cooper Unanimous Decision. Okay, so Cooper beats the hell out of Budig, who has a lot of heart and is much smaller (this is a 175lb catchweight fight, so I can guess who is coming up). But Budig is very wild coming in, doesn't set stuff up, just throws wild right leads or looping left hooks, and ends up taking a lot of punches and kicks as a result. By round 2, he has an eye closed and he's limping in the 3rd. To Budig's credit, he has guts and keeps on coming. He does land on Cooper too, who doesn't move that well in the early going and only seems to pick up lateral movement as Budig slows. Cooper's hands are slow though, and he holds them low, so I think he probably gets trashed when he moves up another level in talent. (0)

4) Jared Rosholt vs. Kirk Grinlinton: Jared Rosholt is a heavyweight and a big ass wrestler who is young in his MMA career. And he's as good a wrestler as his brother. Grinlinton is 2-2. Both look a little "soft" but that's really a way of saying "natural". Also - he's sponsored by U-Haul! I love it.

FIGHT: Rosholt TKO Rnd 1. Seems like Rosholt takes his time and lets Grinlinton get a moment to test his standup ability. Then he shoots the double, gets the takedown, and beats the hell out of his opponent. Just work and experience. Grinlinton didn't keep his distance or commit to shots and got taken down off a left hook. (1)

5) Darryl Cobb vs. Rudy Bears: Rudy Bears I've seen getting drubbed in second tier shows for a long time. Cobb I don't have familiarity with. He did beat Gary Tapusoa who I know.

FIGHT: Bears Submission Rnd 1. Bears and Cobb stand and trade a little - Both guys have their chin up so its a question of who gets cracked first - Cobb does and he drops from a right hand. Bears almost locks in a RNC from a weird side position, but Cobb wriggles out. He's still buzzed, Bears actually gets the back control again, and gets it with a second attempt. (0)

6) Jake Rosholt vs. John Ott: Ott got this fight because he survived a fight with Bobby Lashley. Rosholt was in the UFC or WEC or something and got dropped because he got his ass beat. Oh well.

FIGHT: Ott DQ Rnd 3. What a joke. Ott is beaten senseless for 14 minutes in a fight that should have been stopped for brutal, brutal cuts all over his face that he clearly could not see through and threatened his career. Rosholt actually lets off the gas after that, but Ott finds his way into a knee when he's got a point down and, oh, big surprise, he can't continue. Rosholt loses by DQ and Ott probably should be seriously looked at before getting licensed again. Rosholt didn't really set up the takedowns at all and in the first, Ott actually put his head down and inside, apparently forgetting that he was about to get dragged down and mounted. Mediocrity all around. (1)

7) Brian Davidson vs. Jens Pulver: Jens against a guy with an above .500 record. I know how this story goes.

FIGHT: Davidson Submission Rnd 1. So the internet will argue that Pulver only got submitted. If you didn't watch the fight, that is your take. He gave up the neck because he was turtling from punches to the face, and he spent most of the short fight on wobbly legs or getting hit. He got a nice takedown early but can't pull the trigger on ANYTHING on the mat. Davidson looks good beating a shot wrestler, but its still a shot wrestler. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Cobb/Bears

KO OF THE NIGHT: Rosholt/Grinlinton

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Wilk/Zeugin

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Lots of scrubby fighting, but at least it was short thanks to the stoppages. I feel like there's another Josh Hendricks type heavyweight that made his TV debut here, a failed prospect, and a sad old shot fighter. Not much beyond that.

D&R Rating 11% (4/35)

BIG SHOW PREVIEW FOR UFC 130

2011-05-27T10:12:00.002-04:00

I've missed the last couple Bellator cards, so no reviews there. Maybe when I get this spate of travelling and OT working done, it'll happen.

So UFC 130 is happening - the question about the main event is "Can Rampage be motivated enough to win?" That is the only interesting thing. I think 60% of Rampage demolishes 110% of Hammil. Rampage wins by TKO in a fight where the only drama is in the minds of a few hardcore fans like me.

Rick Story is super strong, but Alves is too. Considering that Story has had tough fights with less, I think he gets beaten up here. Safe pick with long time top 5 welter Alves.

Roy Nelson KOs the shit out of Frank Mir. Everyone thinks Nelson is an elite heavyweight afterwards except people who watched Nelson fights prior to TUF.

Browne KOs Struve inside a round.

Santiago KOs Stann. I know Stann hits hard and Santiago's chin is questionable, but c'mon. Santiago is a skilled fighter who's faced better.

Has anyone noticed that Demetrious Johnson got his ranking beating a guy who hadn't had a meaningful win in like 3 years? And by beating Damacio Page, who's fame comes from an episode of the unwatchable shitfest that was Tapout? Miguel Torres is winning a decision and brings the exciting back because he's easily hittable.

Kendall Grove beats the shit out of the Viking Boetsch. Guys moving down like this who were never that good at their original weight rarely work. He'll probably lose a lot of his strength and get KOed.

Tibau and Tractor are both top control guys. Who wins? The guy who is stronger. That's Tibau. Tibau wins.

Other fights I know not enough about both competitors to make a prediction.

Fight Time 3 (2/18/2011)

2011-05-18T23:55:00.000-04:00

I wish I could have brought a review of Fight Time 2, but it was not to be. And they want like $1o on Gofightlive. This, meanwhile was on Sun Sports. How nice of them! Alex Donno is announcing along with Din Thomas on color. I also reviewed this whole thing and then Blogger lost it in its outage. Piece of shit.

1) Caleb Archer vs. Aaron Cerda: Rhadi Ferguson is the guest commentator for this bout.

FIGHT: Caleb Archer Unanimous Decision. Not a terrible fight at all. (1)

Archer: Has wild hair and thai boxing shorts, so I know what is gonna happen. He's sorta robotic and slow with his stuff, his thai plumb is pretty good, and he gets hit a ton by Cerda in the first round. To be honest, Archer nearly gets stopped that round and takes a beating that only ends and reverses when a very nervous and overactive Cerda gasses out totally. When that happens, Archer keeps coming forward and grinding on Archer. The more effective blows are thrown by Archer from the second round on, and when someone needs a takedown to enforce their lead in the fight, that man is Archer. I don't think Archer's traditional style of muay thai mixed with some grappling prowess will win him a lot of fights as he moves up the ladder, but he might be in some more fun scraps as time goes on.

Cerda: Karate background as a striker is nice I guess when it works. This is a guy for whom strikes are very fluid. He throws and throws and throws and moves and moves and then, oh, wait, he did too much without doing enough damage and the tank is empty early on. You can't jump around if you aren't setting stuff up or moving to get position. Jumping to jump is a bad idea. Being technically superior and better minded to fight doesn't matter if you don't have the energy to work. Archer survives the first 3 minutes and then starts grinding away.

2) Bruce Bellochi vs. Sid Carlton: Fat heavyweights.

FIGHT: Bruce Bellochi TKO Rnd 1. Fat dudes swinging. One of them wins. Both are gassed. (0)

3) Rafael Dias vs. Chris Ensley: Dias is a prospect, Ensley is not.

FIGHT: Dias Submisson Rnd 1. Mugging as Dias comes right at his man throwing bombs, gets taken down with a headlock into a throw, but reverses position soon enough, gets the mount, and gets an armbar while Ensley tries to escape/gives up. (1)

4) Marcio Armeli vs. Doug Rossi: Dudes.

FIGHT: Armeli TKO Rnd 1. Rossi goes the Carlson Gracie route of flailing and clinching for a takedown. He's flipped straight out of side control and gets kimura'ed in like a grand total of 30 seconds. (1)

5) Hansel Calderon vs. Robb Chadwick: More dudes I don't know.

FIGHT: Calderon TKO Rnd 1. Another mugging with Calderon getting the stop by TKO in 22 seconds after throwing around Chadwick like a rag doll and rushing him. (1)

6) Mike Bruno vs. Avery McPhatter: Some guy against a former noted prospect. I have expectations here, gotta admit.

FIGHT: Bruno Unanimous Decision. I dunno, Bruno gets a lot of takedowns, gets tired, and McPhatter basically gets dominated in top position. He has some success in the third round as Bruno tires out but even then, he's still on the bottom pretty much that whole round too. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Archer/Cerda

KO OF THE NIGHT: Calderon/Chadwick

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Dias/Ensley

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of ten. Some squashes, fat man fight, and a mediocre, boring decision in the main event against irrelevant guys. There's some prospects in bad fights here so that sorta matters but so much of this doesn't.

D&R Rating: 13% (4/30)

RETRO REVIEW: KOTC Redemption On The River (2/17/2006)

2011-05-18T22:21:00.001-04:00

#7
Redemption On The River (2/17/06)

After another stinker, back to a PPV card. This time it eminates from the Mark Of The Quad Cities in Moline, where the IFL has run twice and is in a pretty serious MMA lovin' area. Lots of stupendous talent on this card to get excited for also and some realy intruiging matchups. Announcers are Eric Apple and JENS. Oh, and Terry Treblecock. Rounds are 3 minutes because we're in Illinois and it is February 2006.

1) BILLY AYASH vs. DENNIS REED: Ayash has a couple bullshit belts and trains with Franklin. Dennis Reed is cited as "growing all sorts of stuff in the background."

Reed gets the takedown and Pulver and Treblecock note that he's really good at getting takedowns and then gassing out after 45 seconds. This is exactly what happens. As he gasses, Ayash is able to get out from underneath, and as they scramble, Reed is plunked out with a right hand to the jaw.

2) MATT JAGGERS vs. JUSTIN ROBBINS: Robbins is 5-0 but naturally the smaller man in this 145lb bout to Jaggers, who is making his pro debut and looks about 12.

This is another short but glorious bout. Jaggers gets the take down and gets in side control. His attempt to move to mount is easily nullified and Robbins gets guard. Not long after comes a triangle attempt, and Jaggers fully elevates Robbins for a power bomb escape. It breaks the hold momentarily but he's so far in it Robbins is able to reapply the triangle before Jaggers can reassess his position and escape.

3) WAYNE WEEMS vs. BART PALASZEWSKI: Its hard to believe that of the two, Weems is the dude who was in UFC. Bartimus will eventually. Or the UFC will collapse like a house of cards. Who knows?

Weems lands a single right hand that breaks Palaszewski's nose. After that, Bartimus turns it up, takes down Weems and beats the living shit out of him as Weems gives up his back and does nothing to defend himself. Short, but its something.

4) JASON REINHARDT vs. MIKE LINDQUIST: Reinhardt was tooled badly in his UFC debut recently and is pretty old. Lindquist is said to be 10-4 coming in.

Reinhardt throws a knee to the nuts early in the fight and is pissed that Lindquist complained and got time, so he takes him down, beats on him a little, and then gets the choke out. Reinhardt is an intense competitor but ridiculously limited strategically. Lindquist has gone 2-11-1 since this fight.

5) CLAY GUIDA vs. TRISTEN YUNKER: Yunker is huge at 6'3'' and Guida is a dude you should damn well know already. Yunker has had a mixed bag of success since being on one of the IFO's shows (though I don't remember his bout with Rob Kimmons) and recently on HDNet Fights losing to Pete Spratt.

Another short fight, but not at all as expected for me, having not looked up the results ahead of time. Yunker goes for the single leg and gets it, picking up Guida and slamming him (though Guida almost pushes off the cage to get a reversal tornado DDT style). Yunker quickly gets the back and both hooks, and though Guida struggles with him for a few seconds, Yunker eventually gets under the chin and wins the fight. Wow.

6) JOHN STRAWN vs. JOE JORDAN: Both men have fought basically all over the place. They don't usually win when they're far from their hometowns though in the midwest.

Mediocre fight for the first two round with Jordan dominant in top position. Round three is a significant change of pace as Jordan decides, for whatever reason, not to engage Strawn for takedowns and control but rather in a Dana White favorite: the pier six standup brawl. Jordan eventually gets the win with a highlight reel KO via looping overhand right. Decent fight though, automatically FOTN thus far because it went past 1 minute.

7) JOEY CLARK vs. BRIAN GASSAWAY: Clark is a pretty experienced local fighter and Brian Gassaway has been in MMA since the dawn of time, initally appearing on awful IFC shows and shit like that.

First round is short but interesting with Joey Clark getting a Sashimi Ippon Mothra (or something) early on and then tries to get a north/south choke. Failing that, he lets it back up to the feet where they clinch up. Gassaway tries to suplex him but doesn't have enough strength and Clark lands back in side control. He holds on there until Gassaway somehow pulls around him and nearly gets a rear naked choke. Round ends pretty soon after.

Rounds 2 and 3 fall into a pattern in which Clark gets the takedown, gets mount, gets bucked off or moves to side control, and then back to mount, and then cycles again. Dull stuff. The crowd boos the end of the fight and Clark gets a unanimous decision. Andrei Arlovski is in the crowd.

8) GIDEON RAY vs. BRENDAN SEGUIN: Ray’s been in pretty much all the big shows and Seguin is making another appearance on these reviews.

First round sees Seguin get the takedown and take top position with Ray against the cage. Not a lot of offense gets put in by Seguin in the dominant position, and with the round winding down, Ray scissors the leg of Seguin and rolls for a kneebar. Seguin defends and Ray does it again, this time going for a heel hook and succeeding.

9) TREVOR BARRETT vs. TERRY MARTIN: Barrett is a career loser and Martin worships Mike Tyson in copying his nickname, towel, and black trunks.

Martin wins by KO in the first round. I’m shocked. He also does get a nice takedown/slam in also.

10) VICTOR MORENO vs. LAVERNE CLARK: Victor Moreno is a mediocre fighter and Laverne Clark is a name those watching for eons should know from the olden days of UFC as a “professional boxer” turned MMA fighter. FUN NOTE: Clark faced 5 future or past world champions as a boxer. He lost to all of them. In fact, he never went the distance with any.

This is actually a pretty fun fight that Clark largely controls. The first round is almost all standup but subsequent ground fighting is primarily consistent with Clark in control on top and Moreno largely ineffective with the guard. Clark also lands some wild shots at times. No worse than most of the UFC’s recent major fights, as Clark wins a 3 round decision.

11) CHARLES “CRAZY HORSE” BENNETT vs. JEFF CURRAN: Intros not necessary.

Short but immensely entertaining. Some decent standup with Bennett throwing body punches that surprised Curran and the two trading slams early with Bennett throwing a SHOOT BACKDROP DRIVER~! No real shock that Bennett gets tapped with an armbar in the first round but it was great while it lasted.

12) SHONIE CARTER vs. JASON BLACK: Another fight where no real introduction is necessary. That always rules.

Another short but unsatisfying fight. Carter and Black tussle in the clinch early, and Carter gets the takedown. In doing so, Black is injured and Carter gets a W. I have to admit in thinking about it that I’m shocked Carter isn’t in the UFC still. He could provide decent tests for young 170lb fighters and he’s someone the crowd can get into.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bennett/Curran - Fun fight, though short. Lots of great action throughout.

KO OF THE NIGHT: Jordan/Strawn - Brutal KO.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Ray/Seguin - I'm a sucker for leg locks when they actually happen.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. Probably the high water mark for these shows. Unfortunately there's 18 to go. Fuuuuuuuck.

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 5/7

2011-05-17T12:35:00.002-04:00

So this didn't get posted because Blogger was down for like two days. Oh well.

ULTIMATE FIGHTER 13:

Chuck O'Neil wins with a d'arce against Torres, who doesn't do anything but try and wall and stall in fights. Torres just doesn't belong in the top tiers of the sport. Can't check leg kicks, can't throw good punches. O'Neil is no superman either - he's throwing hooks and leaning back while he does it. But he's a better grappler and won. Dominated in top control in the second.

BELLATOR 43:

Rich Bouphanouvong had strong takedowns and nothing else. Not all that effective in GnP, leaves limbs and the head out there. Watch out for that triangle from David Rickles! Oh. Too late.

Vince Lucero was fat and out of shape, ends up on his back and then gets a kimura. Classic strong man submission from Ron Sparks.

Jose Vega shoots on the wrestler Chase Beebe, gets guillotined. Not like Chase didn't go for that 3-4 times in the fight beforehand. Oh. He did. Beebe has now won 6 of his last 7, but hasn't beaten a single meaningful opponent in years. Closest to it was Mike Easton in a lousy decision he lost, but Mike Easton kinda sucks.

Joe Riggs is washed up. What will we tell the papers? Oh, he's still a UFC vet and DANGEROUS. Well, a danger to himself, sure. Baker clobbered him at distance while Riggs could only windmill forwards.

In the welterweight tournament fighter, there were two grapplers tenatively stiking and one wins because he threw about 5 more shots. Rick Hawn landed the best punch of the fight in the second and did so little else in the bout that he ended up losing a split decision that even he admitted he lost. Jay Hieron, meanwhile, is the poor man's GSP. I still think he's fighting hurt. No takedown attempts at all. Only some odd spinning kicks along with the jab for offense. Didn't move very well.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (3/27/2011)

2011-05-05T09:57:00.003-04:00

This show is edited from Caged Fury 14, held on 2/26/2011. Decent main event.

1) Bill Algeo vs. Victor Crenshaw: There's a new team Titan in PA. Wonder if they have decent fighters, unlike the other one in OK. Lightweight amateur bout.

FIGHT: Algeo TKO Rnd 2. Sorta an ugly fight. Crenshaw was landing some really good shots and spinning Algeo's head around along with having top control when the fight was on the mat, until a punch partially lands right on Crenshaw's eye. The fight is stopped, doctors check Crenshaw, and they restart. Crenshaw is blinking a ton though, and Algeo gets close, clinches, and takes down Crenshaw, leading to a GnP finish. (0)

2) Tyler Saltsman vs. Isiah Chapman: "The fight we've been waiting for". Who is we? Another bout with a Team Titan guy (Saltsman).

FIGHT: Chapman Unanimous Decision. Close, competitive fight with Saltsman going for takedowns, occasionally getting them, but never being on top long in the first or second. Chapman lands some decent strikes in the standup and that basically wins him the fight. The third is all Saltsman, who gets on top early after being busy to start and picks up the round by controlling the rest of the 3 minute round. Chapman needs to work on his wrestling BIG TIME. (0)

3) Dan Spohn vs. Josh Hendricks: Hendricks was a heavyweight gatekeeper, solid wrestler, and UFC vet. Spahn has a few decent wins in NAAFS' weak 205lb weight class. Kinda interesting fight.

FIGHT: Spohn TKO Rnd 1. Spohn lands some solid blows early in the round and Hendricks is forced to shoot. Spohn ends up on his back, and gets tagged with a elbow or two that opens a bad cut over the left eye, and Spohn wins the fight as a result. Hendricks even seems to have a knee problem as he limps around. (1)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 5 out of 10. Decent amateur fights with some skilled guys not embarrassing themselves, and a let down of a main event that still matters.

WEC 5: Halloween Havoc (10/18/2002)

2011-05-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

At Tachi Palace in the desert. Jeff Weller (IFC dude and ring announcer for early WECs) is dressed like Gene Simmons. Jesus, old people. This show is 45 minutes long and was included on Bad Breed TV 2.

1) Gabe Ruediger vs. Sam Wells: CAKE.

FIGHT: Wells TKO Rnd 1. Surprised by the outcome, to be honest. Ruediger got an outside trip takedown to start and I was thinking he was gonna walk this. Instead, Wells escapes out the back, slams down Ruediger during a guillotine attempt, and controls him on top. Then after they go back to the standup, Wells lands a few straight punches and Ruediger goes down. (1)

2) Chris Moody vs. Diallo Baza: Baza is from AKA. Fight is at 185.

FIGHT: Baza TKO Rnd 2. Moody rushes Baza at the start and shows his wrestling prowess by getting the fight down (and nearly toppling the cage when he pushes Baza into it). They trade takedowns and position pretty much the entire first round. Moody is completely out of gas after 5 minutes and ends up getting taken down right at the start of the second, and Baza gets to his back. After the RNC doesn't come for a minute and a half, Baza transitions to mount and punches Moody until the ref stops it. Neither guy has really gone anywhere since. (0)

3) Tim Kennedy vs. Mack Brewer: Kennedy at this point was training at The Pit. He also has a black eye. Brewer looks like a schlub and the announcers state he was drinking beer at the weigh in.

FIGHT: Kennedy TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special with Kennedy getting a nice slam off the single at the start and he pounds out Brewer after getting to mount and forcing Brewer to roll to his stomach. (1)

4) Rich Crunkilton vs. Victor Estrada: Crunkilton comes in dressed like Hannibal Lector and no one bothers to keep the camera on him, instead focusing on the scummy ring girls. Estrada is apparently a WEC and IFC vet. Josh Thomson in the corner of Crunkilton.

FIGHT: Crunkilton TKO Rnd 1. Estrada drops Crunkilton early and then goes for a guillotine. Crunkilton slams and later pulls his head out, but Estrada goes for an armbar. Nearly got it too. Crunkilton pulls out from it and then when they are both standing, we have a body lock and Crunkilton does a belly to belly. Estrada lands awkwardly and hurts his ankle, turtles up immediately, and the ref stops it after a couple of shots. Crunkilton shows that his chin is touchable and that he's not that good at preventing subs from the bottom. That came to be important later on in his career. (1)

5) Jeff Bedard vs. Antonio Banuelos: 135lb fight. Banuelos was a big draw in California for a little while. Bedard comes from Colorado and got to fight with the WEC many years later on Versus.

FIGHT: Bedard Submission Rnd 1. Man, Bedard runs over Banuelos. He gets the takedown immediately is in half guard, and then postures up. Banuelos puts his head in for the guillotine and gets tapped in like 30 seconds. (1)

6) Cole Escovedo vs. Philip Perez: Main event time. Escovedo was nearly crippled at one point and made a strong enougn comeback that he fought in Japan's big leagues, incredibly.

FIGHT: Escovedo Submission Rnd 1. Perez gets knocked down with a jab very early, but still goes for the takedown. Clearly, he's a grappler who looks for positional control, but Escovedo is better than that. Cole's not the superior wrestler per se, but he sweeps Perez once and catches him with a triangle later in the round to end it. In between, Escovedo gets back to his feet and lands with the foot when throwing a high kick against Perez. Not that great a fight or anything. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Moody/Baza

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wells/Ruediger

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Escovedo/Perez

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Nonessential fights with prospects who occasionally did things in MMA.

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

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 5/2

2011-05-02T22:56:00.007-04:00

UFC 129:

Pablo Garza looks to be in an entirely different weight class than Yves Jabouin. Pencil legs or not, it seems like this should be a walk in the park. Garza can't check kicks at all though. It doesn't matter here because he pulls into a flying triangle and eventually locks that in to win by submission, but against a bigger, stronger guy, it will be relevant and it will matter.

Makdessi was on a season of TUF that I should have recapped and didn't and now I don't remember anything about it. Oops. So here he fights Kyle Watson and basically dismantles him. Joe Rogan in this fight (along with the Rory MacDonald fight) did a very good job breaking down not only what Makdessi was doing well but why it was working well on Watson, who's chin was vertical and head unmoving. Even dropped Bill Superfoot Wallace's name. Makdessi does very impressive looking kicks, no doubt about it, but he still has a tendency to shuffle straight back when someone comes forward at him, no doubt something that is ingrained from years of point karate. He's also a small guy. No reason to lie about that. People who are that undersized have a tough time competing in a sport filled with powerful, skilled wrestlers.

Daniel Roberts is a top control grappler who throws a lot of arm punches or shots across his body. Against Claude Patrick, he was in deep against a guy who is as skilled a takedown artist, a better striker, and better at submissions. End results: Roberts loses a decision, gets hit in the face a few times, is on his back more than on top, and eats low kicks. Patrick is a skilled all around fighter who doesn't give a star vibe but has consistently strung together wins, sometimes struggling, but still getting Ws against largely an equivalent level of competition. When does he step up?

Ellenberger/Pierson went not entirely as expected. I expected Pierson to be good enough to hang with Ellenberger for a little while. Instead he walked into left hook twice, the second time causing his body to shut off and he sorta topples to the mat.

Menjivar/Valencia was possibly the fight I was most excited for off the main card. Hell, even among fights on the main card I was most excited for it. Instead, it had a cool finish but not much else. Menjivar and Valencia were in the clinch and Menjivar cracks him with a tight thai elbow that blows up Valencia's face. Nothing super fancy, nothing innovative. All effective. All technique.

When we get to Nate Diaz's fight against Rory McDonald, man, how have I ignored that Diaz has a sub .667 record all this time? Seems like he has been more successful given the fight with Gray Maynard and stuff like that. In this fight, I thought McDonald would have a significant disadvantage with Diaz's wild boxing style and grappling. Bzzz. Wrong. What Rory did was nullify Nate's attack by closing the distance and clinching (forcing Diaz to rely on very poor wrestling) any time the bout got to boxing range. Otherwise, it was low kicks, low kicks, low kicks. By the third, Nate had been ground down enough that McDonald, the stronger of the two men, started throwing him around like a rag doll and was on top without fear of submission. Very smart plan. To Nate Diaz's credit, he got some separation and landed blows in the second round, but McDonald stayed composed and would immediately clinch after being hit.

What was Ryan Jensen's gameplan with Jason MacDonald? I have no idea after seeing that. Looks like he thought he'd just bomb him out with wide looping shots. Instead MacDonald shoots, takes him down, and runs a clinic on him en route to an easy triangle win. Jensen needs to get a pink slip. That simple.

Randy Couture: Please stay away from the Octagon. Its not a thing of hatred. You just don't have it anymore. And against Machida, you probably never would have had "it" to begin with. The athleticism is gone and now guys have much superior technique too. Couture was treated like a moving punching bag. All the talk about the brilliant Randy gameplan flew in the face of flatfooted, following Randy Couture of the last two Liddell fights. That's who we got here.

Want to see two overrated lightweights fight one another? Ben Henderson's win against Mark Bocek is your fight. I guess that's not fair because no one that meant anything ranked Bocek, but you have a couple guys with OK wrestling kickboxing and occasionally pummelling and sometimes being on the mat. Henderson's a better athlete with better standup and even though his takedown defense is so-so, that's enough of a combination to prevent Bocek being on top for more than two minutes in the fight. In the interim, Henderson lands better shots and wins rounds or forces the fight down with his strength to having top position. I dunno, I'm not sold on Henderson and until he frequently beats top guys, I never will be.

Jose Aldo's performance in defending his title is not easy to sum up in a single sentence. Was it disappointing? I guess. Its what I expected though. He got hit a lot more in this fight after fighting super busy and fast in the first, and gassed out, even losing the 5th round to the Elephant Man. But my expectations are naturally a low lower than most, who see Aldo as top 3 pound for pound. Aldo got takedowns and had dominant positions on the mat against a guy who has repeatedly been exposed as being lousy off his back or defending submissions. Aldo should have tapped him in the first. Instead, he went for GnP and not even to really pass. Hominick is a known quantity, and beating him for four rounds and then losing the fifth is OK and whatever else, but you gotta take him out to show that you're world class, and he didn't do that. The right hands he landed were fine and hurt Hominick; OK. The elbow caused what should have been a fight ending hematoma. Alright. I don't care. Aldo should have won by armbar 4 minutes in after his takedown midway through the round. He didn't. He even lost the final round and got beat up in doing so. Exposed.

Finally, we arrive at the main event. George St. Pierre's gameplan I understand. Makes sense. Meant that he was so far ahead after 3 that he could coast (as he had to) and win the fight with only one eye against the guy who was argurably the best contender for a world title in two weight classes. But still, I'm bothered that he didn't show another gear and start stringing together combinations and demolishing Shields. Jake never would have had the chance to poke him like that in the 3rd if Shields had taken him out in the second, and it wouldn't have taken much more than throwing a second jab followed by a straight right or uppercut and working the body to drop Shields' hands. Jake did nothing round after round and smiled because, presumably, he won a round and did better therefor than most everyone else GSP has fought since the first Serra fight. I dunno, whatever. No one is gonna care 20 years from now that Shields did incrementally better than Dan Hardy or Thiago Alves.

INSERT NUMETAL INTRO HERE TUF 13

Lew Polley goes home, some jobbers got hurt, and WOW. Who cares.

Tony Ferguson and Justin Edwards kick it off and they went at it. Ferguson throws some solid punches - tighter stuff, good hooks and uppercuts. Edwards wants takedowns and Ferguson keeps busy on his back and gets up. But when Edwards stands out of the guard and looks to try and pass, and he's hit with a heel upkick and Edwards is out. Dana is so stoked at a 4 minute fight. OK, I guess? Ferguson has some of the best creds on the show.

Zach Davis fights Chuck O'Neil in the second fight of the episode. Another fight Dana loved for reasons I cannot ascertain. Davis gets a takedown early and lands some okay shots, gets up to pass, does so, gets swept while going for a kimura, and then locks in a triangle. Apparently Chuck O'Neil is some sort of warrior because he's a grappling warrior. I dunno. He gets picked along with Torres for the wildcard. Hoofuckingray.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS:

Last week: 7-3

Overall for 2011: 32-15

Bellator 43:

Rick Hawn shouldn't beat Jay Hieron. I've said it before. He might though given how mediocre Hieron looked in his last fight. I think Hieron has a bad wheel but even with an injury that he's keeping quiet, he should still have good enough striking to outland Hawn on the feet and good enough grappling to keep the fight from going down in any fashion other than Hieron on top.

Joe Riggs is fighting Bryan Baker? Seriously? Baker has lost twice - once was to Chael Sonnen in Magic Juice Sonnen phase. The other is to Alexander Shlemenko, who is a worthy adversary and a long time vet. He's beaten a lot of other solid fighters though - Jeremy Horn, Art Santore, Matt Horwich, Rory Singer, Eric Schambari, Sean Loeffler, Reggie Orr, Jesse Forbes. Some of those guys were never weres, some were pretty OK fighters, but most were well past their best. I can say that confidently about at least 5 of those names. Joe Riggs is a guy past his best. He was stopped on punches in January in a show no one has seen against a guy no one has heard of, and Louis Taylor aside, he hasn't had a win of any real profile since beating Phil Baroni 2 years ago. He hasn't beaten a contending fighter since 2006. Bryan Baker is KOing Riggs back to the little leagues.

Neil Grove should KO Zak Jensen. Much bigger, Jensen can't wrestle, and they'll bang. And it could be terrible.

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 4/25

2011-04-29T00:02:00.000-04:00

BELLATOR 42:

The world has another Noguiera, except this one is a Luta Livre guy. Luiz Alberto Noguiera's win over Jerod Spoon was a watchable affair, certainly, but not an enthralling one either. Spoon was generally dominated standing because he stayed too far away and didn't move the way he needed to in order to line up Noguiera for his big right. Standup for him was sorta Dan Henderson like, though I suppose Spoon has a better jab and not nearly as good a right hand. Noguiera, meanwhile, sorta pitter pats and didn't do any real damage in the fight, instead cleaning up points with his low kicks and punches.

Christian M'Pumbu was the slight underdog going into this - nearly even odds, actually. He walked this fight against Tim Carpenter instead. Carpenter, at least in my mind, was going to immediately close the distance on the smaller M'Pumbu, clinch, put him on the mat, and grind on him. Instead, he showed zero standup skill by following M'Pumbu around the cage and getting hit with punches until being stopped with a 1-2 combination to the head and an uppercut as Carpenter was falling.

Ronnie Mann's fight against Josh Arocho was basically a waste of time. Already you can see how Mann is outsized here in the US and while he overpowers Arocho with sweeps or takedown defense and murders him with strikes inside the guard, you can't really expect that sort of performance against better fighters. Arocho is a jouneyman at best.

Richard Hale is a much bigger man than DJ Linderman. That I knew. What else did I learn about Richard Hale? Well, he looks a whole lot like Vitali Klitschko and even holds his hands about as high. That means he doesn't. OK, so more info that means something to me - uh, Hale moves straight back with his hands down and has nice kicks. Does this guy have a karate background? He doesn't really keep distance that well and as far as being a grappler is concerned, I feel like he's not a top control sorta guy. He never seems to really overpower people, and he didn't look at any point to purposely get Linderman to the mat. In fact, he's taken down in the second round off a single against a guy who supposedly didn't wrestle at any collegiate level. Possibly not even high school. Linderman is the same brawler sorta guy he's always been but didn't have a guy in front of him who ran out of gas in part because he never really pushed the fight the right way to make it happen. Linderman wins on the color guy's card and not the official judges because, to be honest, the judges did a good job and scored leg kicks for a change instead of jabs and wide right hands that seemed to have very little effect. Linderman spent about 3 minute of the final round on his belly defending the RNC too. Why didn't Hale transition to the armbar? The world shall never know.

BLAHHH ULTIMATE BRAZILIAN FIGHTER THING 13 ICHIBAN

So some stuff happened in the house and I went past all of it because, really, that shit sucks. Mick Bowman and Clay Harvison fought this episode. Harvison I knew nothing about and Bowman will probably win because they wouldn't put a British guy with zero talent on this show. So anyways, the fight: It kinda sucked. Sloppy standup bout in which the ultimate winner (Harvison) gassed out 7 minutes in and yet still won with a largely inactive striking attack. You know how? By fighting a guy who was juking more than jabbing and who wouldn't throw straight punches even when he could land them. Bowman just has no power in his fists and while he's clearly a good grappler on his back, sucks at wrestling and is the sort of guy who probably had success pulling guard against less technically skilled or athletically gifted fighters and tapped them. Internet even says he has three of 7 wins by submission. Maybe that's true? Boxing wise he's not much worse than Harvison if not technically superior, but he lacks mental toughness. But he does, he cries afterwards, and Harvison moves on to the next round.

There's only a couple more fights left for the first round before they do the wild card bout, and Harvison may, thanks to the pure shittiness of the fighters on, get a slot. He can't beat Javier Torres with a gun and probably loses to Len Bentley too based on what I saw here.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

Last week: 0-2

Overall for the year: 25-12

UFC 129:

My heart says Jake Shields. And hey, he is a much bigger guy than a lot of GSP's opposition, and an excellent collegiate wrestler, and a fantastic top control guy willing to stink it out. Doesn't that sound like Jon Fitch? Look how that went. I have to pick GSP like everyone else in the world to take down Shields and grind him out. Or jab him up. Or whatever GSP wants. The big fear for me in GSP losing is that its something like a guillotine that he is caught in shooting.

Speaking of what my heart says - I'll take the bait people have left and say Aldo beats Hominick in spite of me thinking that Aldo's athleticism is hopelessly overrated and that Hominick has the kryptonite to make this interesting in the stand up. Aldo can shoot in and take down Hominick and the fight is over just like that. When you have someone so deficient in an area that you have to hope that the other guy fights stupid, you can't take him unless that person has a long standing history of fighting dumb.

Brilz is younger than V-Mat and wins. Strong wrestling cancels each other out and we get a standup fight that Brilz is unlikely to lose.

Speaking of unlikely to win, Couture isn't winning. Last good counter puncher he faced was Liddell. Sure went well, huh?

Ben Henderson is the guy UFC brass wants to win against Bocek. You can feel it. Why make that fight unless they were looking to build Henderson back up in the UFC over a long period? Size wise, no big advantage for either guy with reach or height. Submission grappling is the big difference here, and Bocek is the best guy Henderson has ever faced. I mean, its him or Saravia, right? I think Bocek loses and it takes the shine off the WEC guys big time.

Nate Diaz/Rory McDonald is a really interesting fight - I feel like McDonald is less skilled but a bigger guy naturally, and size matters. Plus, he went to war with Condit...but Condit does kinda fight to the level of his opposition. So, Diaz by submission.

Can Sean Pierson last long enough against Jake Ellenberger to take advantage of him and win the fight? Answer: No. Ellenberger 29-28. Loses round 3.

Really fast with no descriptions really given: Jason McDonald has been fighting like shit for awhile so he loses to Ryan Jensen and his 7 minute gas tank. Daniel Roberts is in way over his head against Claude Patrick, who they'll get some rub off onto with a stoppage win in front of a Canadian crowd and 7 people watching on Facebook.

RETRO REVIEW: KOTC Outlaws (1/21/2006)

2011-04-27T01:45:00.003-04:00

Another new one.

------------------

We have moved closer to the future and into the wild and crazy world of 2006(!!!). Unfortunately for me, this is one of those 10,000,000 fights on one card deals and I must battle through, knowing that at the end of this disc, I will arrive at the promised land of Kyacey Uscola and Edwin Dewees beating up shitty fighters. It eminates from a casino in Arizona and Erik Apple is announcing.

1) BRYAN PARDOE vs. RYAN PRAY: Oh shit. This is gonna be bad. Pray is an lumpy independent fighter making his debut, and he sports some racist ink that some of the National Socialist sympathizers that gave that one Aryan Nations dude that fought in KOTC props would adore. Pardoe fought Frank Shamrock. He sucks, but not this bad. KOTC: getting the incredible mismatches started RIGHT AWAY.

The beating is swift. A trading of punches not unlike a junior high fist fight starts it off, and big shock, Pardoe causes Pray to be unsteady. Pardoe takes him down straight into mount, tries a weird toe hold, and eventually pounds him out. Maybe this would have been of value had a public service message been brought with it.

2) DAVID CARRASCO vs. KEITH DIXON: Carrasco is some lumpy looking kid that's like a 170lb version of Paul Buentello. Dixon knows he's not in a commission area so he has a rash guard AND shoes.

This is one of the first fights among no names that really interested me. Carrasco is able to grab takedowns twice off a single leg and an ankle pick and navigates Dixon's guard pretty well. Dixon at one point is able to scramble to his feet after an attempted slam and Carrasco gets the belly to belly and ends up in side control. He eventually takes the mount and rains down elbows until a missed swing actually gets him back in half guard. However, in the shift back, Dixon essentially gives up his right arm and Carrasco transitions into a kimura for the tap out win. He looks like a kid with some potential.

3) JOE CASTILLO vs. LEROY FORNOFF: Castillo supposedly had a previous MMA fight....in 1996, sez Mr. Apple. Fornof looks all of 17, but has apparently fought before. In fact, I've apparently seen him fight before. Damn.

Castillo's Kempo Karate hoodie doesn't fully express what he is. He's really more of a wrestler and goes for multiple takedowns on Fornoff. Fornoff responds with a multitude of submission attempts, all of which he just misses on (he slides off the side with hooks in on an RNC, Castillo pushes the legs off in a triangle choke, so on). Round 2 starts with more prodigious striking from Fornoff that leads to Castillo going down, Fornof getting on top in mount and raining down blows to win. Fornoff is a young kid who's clearly learning all the aspects at once, which is somewhat refreshing, but has come nowhere near close to mastering any of them.

4) JESSE MORENG vs. VICTOR HERNANDEZ: Hernandez' record is a joke. Moreng is a dude that's been on a bunch of KOTC cards.

Moreng basically beats him up, takes his back and chokes him out. Pretty pointless stuff.

5) TRAVIS HOOKE vs. JUSTIN SCOTT: Hooke is really fat and this is his debut. Justin Scott has two first names and thus can never be trusted.

Ghetto Fights level shit. Two totally untrained, untalented dudes throwing punches wildly and then stuff happens. Hooke wins via submission, in fact, with something approximating a rear naked choke. If I could give star ratings to legit contests, -***** here.

6) LUKE HODGES vs. JACOB CHAGOLLA: I think I heard of Hodges before, but who knows. Both guys come into the bout in good shape and that's always a positive thing. Perhaps an interesting bout is about to occur?

One thing I've not really needed to mention until here is the refereeing. Some dude with a slicked back cut is playing referee and he's abyssmal. The first round of this fight was great. Chagolla is a strong wrestler looking for GNP. Hodges is a good thai boxer with surprising submission skills. Chagolla gets a takedown right at the start and is nearly triangled. Lots of transitions and action in the fight, and with about 30 seconds left, Hodges secures an armbar from guard. Chagolla is in the midst of defending it when the referee inexplicably separates them for a standup. I was aghast. Chagolla is tired out now but had he prevented the armbar, he could have gotten Hodges back. Instead, Hodges takes his head and begins bashing knees into it up until the round ends.

The second round is marred by more horrible calls. Hodges again acquires the thai clinch and unloads shots, but in getting close is taken down by Chagolla. Chagolla ends up on top, Hodges against the cage, elevating himself and arm up to punch and then pass to side mount, when the ref again steps in to separate and stand the fighters up. Chagolla should have erased this dude's face with a right hand and gone out in infamy but instead he and Hodges continue to have a bout in which Hodges can ride his back for a minute and accomplish nothing but he gets on top and has about 5 seconds to throw a billion shots or be stood up. Hodges wins the decision in a fight that pissed me off in spite of actual skill being exhibited. I've wished harm in the form of decades of wheelchair bound gruel eating to many competitors in combat sports, however horrible that might be, and I think I've found a new candidate for such strong dislike.

7) GILBERT VELEZ vs. DANIEL MADRID: Dudes making their debut. I think Madrid is still fighting.

Fairly lame fight with Madrid constantly getting takedowns because he's way better on the ground and both guys are worthless standing. Madrid ultimately wins by RNC.

8) ESTEVEZ JONES vs. RYAN POTTER: Jones is some sort of standup fighter dude with a style that, uh, looks straight out of the SAFTA handbook. Potter is a wrestler who trains with Joe Riggs.

Imagine my surprise with this fight, which spent the first 7 minutes or so being an affront to everything I enjoy about MMA. Potter constantly takes down Jones, who is pretty chubby and not at all very good. Oddly, Jones will throw a strike once in awhile that catches the offguard Potter. Potter slams him hard, and Jones somehow hangs on through a ton of punches to get back to his feet and be slammed again. This repeats for the entire first round and most of the second. Until, miraculously, Jones bucks Potter off and stands up, landing a right hand as he does. Potter is badly dazed and a couple punches later, Jones somehow wins.

9) JON KESSLER vs. TONY ROYBAL: Kessler comes out with a black gi and Roybal is backed by David Carrasco.

Short fight. Bad standup at first, Kessler then grabs and gets a takedown, and from there he controls the rest of the fight. Eventually this leads to him getting mount and an armbar to win early in round 1.

10) CHANCE WILLIAMS vs. RON RUMPF: Rumpf is tomato can personified. Williams is the guy tomato cans beat so that they can keep getting fights.

The power of lard causes Williams to land looping shots on Rump and drop him for an early win. Somewhat surprising. At least it was brief.

11) EMANUEL NEWTON vs. JOHN LANSING: Newton has moved on to bigger and better things and Lansing is some dude you've likely not heard of.

Newton and Lansing clinch and Newton picks him up like a ragdoll and throws him to the mat. Lansing, who is clearly a naturally smaller fighter, is rolled on, eventually being stopped by strikes on the ground.

12) JONATHAN WESSON vs. PAUL O'KEEFE: Both men are making their debut. I have no idea on backgrounds of either, but Wesson is a teammate of Estevez Jones so I bet he sucks.

I was right. O'Keefe picks him up and slams the dude, then pounds him. Wesson eventually rolls a little and starts to stand up, but O'Keefe causes him to tap with what looked more like the Million Dollar Dream than an actual RNC. No hooks and both standing. Sad.

13) MATT DELL vs. SEAN CANOVA: Dell is ANOTHER pro debut. Canova is a conditioning coach from SoCal who works with Todd Medina. This bout is so important, the grave nature of the outcome demands it be the 155 POUND SUPERFIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD.

First round is dominated by Canova on the ground. Dell tried defending the takedowns well but Canova was just too good for him. Odd choice by Herb Dean, who is now the ref, to stand the fighters up while Canova had two hooks in on Dell. Canova is slightly winded (Apple talks about breathing problems he's had) and Dell is unable to capitalize because his standup is way behind technically. Second round has Dell shoot early, grab the take down, and he stays there. Eventually Herb Dean comes in to stand them up, but Canova is too tired to stand and the fight ends. Lame.

14) DEL HAWKINS vs. GABE BROCKMIER: Apple is even shocked that he's saying that a guy making his pro debut gets to fight Hawkins for the Gladiator Challenge Super Lightweight title. Yeah, MMA doesn't have a belt problem....

Hawkins laced him up with kicks to start, then picks Brockmier up, hoists around the ring, slams him, gets mount, beats him up. Brockmier is KTFO with elbows to the head from side mount.

15) KYACEY USCOLA vs. ROBERT SARKOZI: Ice Cold, a Bodogfight vet, takes on the relative of the French prime minister? Okay, maybe not. More interesting tag line though, right? Sarkozi's actually from Hungary and has been around awhile and lost to guys people have heard of like Phil Baroni. He also beat Uscola prior to this at a Gladiator Challenge show. REVENGE?

First round is almost all Uscola. Both guys are well rounded guys but Uscola is clearly the better wrestler in pedigree and in the ring and proves it by taking down Sarkozi twice and being almost unshakeable in mount. Second round is a reversal of fortune with a tired Uscola getting taken down, mounted, and beaten on until an unthinkable standup from Herb Dean breaks the action. Sarkozi responds by knocking down Uscola hard with a series of knees that nearly finishes the fight. The second round is all Sarkozi until about 20 seconds remain, when Uscola is able to hip throw Sarkozi and cuts him with an elbow just before the end of the fight. Judges decision goes to Uscola other than the obvious draw that it should have been. Blah.

16) EDWIN DEWEES vs. BUCKLEY ACOSTA: Dewees is a TUF alumni now, which is sorta weird to say. He also bled more than anyone ever on that show, probably. Acosta's bout that got him here with Aaron Brink is reviewed in detail just a couple posts ago in the look at Final Conflict (Show #4).

Acosta rocks Dewees early and drops him against the cage. Dewees is mutifaceted though and locks up an arm. Acosta is able to get out of the armbar attempt by spiking Dewees on his head, but then promptly runs into another submission attempts. This time, Dewees locks up the triangle choke and Acosta taps before the first minute is over.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Hodges/Chagolla - It was marred by awful an awful ref, but so was everything else. Good fight though.

KO OF THE NIGHT: Hawkins/Brockmier - Expected in such a mismatch, but really brutal stuff.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Dewees/Acosta - Really slick armbar attempt gets beaten with a slam, so he follows it with the triangle choke and goes home a winner.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4.5 out ot 10. The fights were all covered in shitty reffing and there was so much crap I barely remember the good.

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POSTSCRIPT:

Kyacey Uscola made his way to TUF, got his dick bit by a pitbull, and lost his last two in nothing promotions.

David Carrasco hasn't fought since 2006.

Edwin Dewees has fought sporadically and won 2 of his last 6 in a span of 4 years.

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 4/18

2011-04-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

Man, so little to review and yet it took me until 12:30AM Friday morning to see anything.

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE DUN DUN DUN DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN #13 EPISODE 4 OR 5 OR SOMETHING

Ramsey Nijem and Charlie Rader are fighting and hey, its the best fight the season has produced thus far on paper! Brock and Co. note that Rader is a state champ wrestler. Hey, that's nice. Nijen wrestled in college with real dudes and ends up dominating the fight. He comes at Rader with wild shots Rader isn't prepared to counter or defend, gets the clinch, gets takedowns, works dirty boxing, and submits him. The editing makes Rader out to be a quitter for the purpose of drama and who cares. Len Bentley leaves because, shit, he did fight his ass off.

BELLATOR 41:

We open with Daniel Straus taking on Kenny Foster - Good win for Straus. Shows solid grappling with some decent shots, good leg kicks, nice judo throws, and gets a guillotine late in the third round. He kept the pace up and wore out Foster against he cage and on the mat, eventually leading to Foster being unable to compete with Straus in the scrambles and leaving his neck out for the submission. Straus looks really good all around. One caveat though - his striking often leaves him super open and Foster got tagged a couple times.

Chad Robichaux is in a superfight! Who? Against Zach Makovsky? Who is a champ? Or something? Both guys with glitzy records at bantam. Who deserves his? Well, Makovsky. Robichaux seems a decent fighter who is hopelessly outsized here and needs to hope for a 125lb weight class to come into existence. Makovsky repeatedly gets takedowns and dominant positions. Sure, Robichaux gets out of some subs, but he gets smashed out with punches. Is that really much better?

Patricio Pitbull Friere and Wilson Reis rematch and we get a pretty interesting fight as a result. Reis and Friere end up in a sort of standup battle most of the time with Friere landing the more effective blows in rounds one and two when the fight would be at a distance. When on the mat, Reis was the technically superior grappler (as expected) and Friere was the physically stronger man (as expected) - what's nice about Friere is that he knows his strengths and works to them. Against a great grappler like Reis, he looks to control the upper body and holds at the waist rather than try to fish for singles and doubles against the cage. Control and wearing down your man is a better option than trying for takedowns you can't get. Thanks to that smart gameplan, Reis ends up eating punches late in the fight and ends up getting highlight reel KOed with a combination against the cage forcing the stoppage. Very good performance from Friere.

Marcos Galvao and Joe Warren end the night in a three round fight. If you haven't heard, this was supposedly a terrible decision that Warren didn't for a second deserve. So let's talk about what I saw in this fight: Both rounds one and two were generally won by Galvao, but were close rounds in which while he appeared to land the more effective shots, Warren was able to force him to the cage repeatedly during takedown attempts and also was able to land straight right hands thanks to Galvao's unchanged interest in moving straight back in the cage with his hands down. That in turn led to takedowns at the end of both rounds, to which Warren was unable to do anything particularly effective. So what do you score these rounds on?

Well, both guys honestly landed a similar number of shots - Unfortunately there are no fightmetric reports, but I do have Compustrike to base what I saw on: In round 1, it was 14-13 landed in favor of Galvao for standing strikes. In round 2, it was 20-15 in favor of Galvao. We're talking tight numbers here. Warren landed the only strikes on the mat in round two (one of which was a clean and effective right hand to the jaw through the guard of Galvao), but in round one, clearly the more effective shots came in the first 30 seconds on the mat as Galvao had Warren turtling up while he wailed away. So who cleanly wins the round? Does Galvao win for having defended takedown attempts over and over or does he lose them for getting tagged with right hands standing while being pushed around and taken down in spots?

I would probably have scored this fight like everyone else - 29-28 Galvao. When I think back to the moments of the fight where someone did the most damage or really hit the highlight reel, I think of Warren diving into 3 flying knees in the second round and Galvao beating the tar out of him in the first minute of the round. Its the highlight reel stuff where everyone goes "oooh" and its not like Warren then went to so comprehensively win the remainder of those rounds that he bounces back in my eyes. If anything, the rest of the round is generally even with only his takedowns to go on. But this was not an easy fight to score, and I can see just about any score in this fight but 30-27 Galvao given Warren's comprehensive top control in the final stanza.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS:

Last Week: 2-0

Overall for the Year: 25-10

BELLATOR 42:

Hale is, as I've said in the past, a very big dude. But he's a big dude I know nothing about. He's got submission skills judging from the Fekete fight, but how real are they? Was it a fluke? He's gonna tower over Lindermann, who is a tough guy and is very good at wearing bigger men out. I'm going to predict DJ Linderman by second round KO, being the feel good story of the Bellator tourneys. Hale just isn't going to be more effective with submissions than past Linderman opposition and being so big and cutting so much, he too will tire and feel the pain of looping punches raining on him.

Carpenter is a strong grappler and M'Pumbu is, well, not a great wrestler to be frank. If you can't wrestle, you can't win at a certain level, and this is that level for M'Pumbu. In spite of his cool record and the fact that he looks scary, I have to pick against M'Pumbu and treat this like a heavyweight boxing contest: robotic European can't beat a more dynamic American!

Ronnie Mann is fighting a 6-9 fighter to fill up space on the card. I could say "Hey, I predicted a fight right!" and pick Mann, but that is stupid. Of course Mann is going to win. Like fishing with dynamite.

Raging Wolf 11 (12/30/2010)

2011-04-21T23:55:00.001-04:00

Dan Funes (who once sent me a critical email!) and Jen Boronico are announcing this MMA event from Western NY. Main event - Nuri Shakir vs. Tom Egan. Really? Oh, and did I mention its a title fight?

1) Antonio Smith vs. Frank Scalzo: Amateur bout at 145. Scalzo looks like he has a karate background?

FIGHT: Smith Unanimous Decision. Here's the fight in a nutshell; two guys clinch, one goes for an arm in guillotine, doesn't get it, gets controlled on the bottom, loses the round. This is rounds one and two. In rounds three, two guys clinch, the one with the crazy stance drops levels and gets a takedown. Very little happens. They stand, they clinch some more, the fight ends. Scalzo is the one who got the takedown in the 3rd and was on top most of the 2nd, but loses the decision. Why? How? I have no idea. (0)

Ben Saunders and Jonathan Brookins have been paid appearance fees for this event and come into the ring to waive and shit. I read not long ago that Mark Coleman was charging $2K per appearance, so I'm guessing these guys got something similar. Maybe not as good.

2) Chris Robinson vs. TJ Sumler: I feel like I've seen Sumler's name in the past. Survey says: I have! He lost to Allen Arzeno in a amateur title fight. Welterweight bout that has 3 minute rounds - still amateurs?

FIGHT: Sumler TKO Rnd 1. Sumler drops Robinson rushing in with a right hand and gets folded. So Robinson then gets hit square in the back of the head with an illegal shot, stumbles up and gets highlight KOed with a right hand. Ref jumps in and he complains. Sumler moves on. So do I. (0)

3) Luigi Fioravanti vs. Mike Guerin: Luigi is extra fat. Guerin is 10-1 and clearly more built.

FIGHT: Fioravanti Unanimous Decision. (2)

Fioravanti: There's not a lot to be said here about Fioravanti - his hands seemed to be faster, and while he's wide, he can still hit a non-moving target like Guerin's chin. Also, he's still good enough on the mat to stop Guerin from being able to do much in top control aside from throw headbutts. He's calmer in the ring and that helps him have better stamina. I dunno, he's a veteran with some skills but who physically doesn't look the part of a world class fighter and who lacks the results too, this win aside.

Guerin: What I know about Guerin is that he lacks commitment standing, throws straight shots with not a ton of force, has a decent takedown but really can't set it up, and leaves his chin out while he bends over and gives up his height. Uhhh, yeah. I just can't see much long term potential in a middleweight Jonathan Brookins, minus the lateral drop.

4) Nuri Shakir vs. Thomas Egan: YOUR MAIN EVENT for the RW Welterweight title. One guy has a career losing record who won the title against a 3-2 no name. Now he fights s 4-2 fringe name to defend.

FIGHT: Shakir TKO Rnd 3. Egan never answers the bell for the 3rd, stating that the weight cut of 16lbs was so severe, he can't continue. Even Dan Funes is shaking his head. Shakir is still a blown up featherweight who gets multiple takedowns on Egan and controls him by consistently getting the clinch and forcing the fight to the cage rather than exchange with Egan, which is Egan's lone strength. This was a chance for Egan to show that he was ready for the next level, and he's not even close. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Shakir/Egan

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sumler/Robinson

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Sumler has a wicked KO, some boring decisions, a boring decision is cut short by one of the participants having laughably bad cardio.

Cage Wars 9: Staredown (3/9/2008)

2011-04-19T23:15:00.004-04:00

Unbelievably, this show that somehow had not seen the light of day before finally makes TV. And what a show it is: Dan Severn is in the main event fighting Colin Robinson. Along with him, other Cage Wars vets like Lee McKibben, Daniel Abrol, and several others.

1) Daniel Abrol vs. Danny Van Bergen: Van Bergen is a european journeyman I'm familiar with from watching M-1. Abrol I've seen fight repeatedly in Cage Wars, and he's almost never very good.

FIGHT: Van Bergen Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special as VB closes distance, gets a big takedown, and works for a kimura. (0)

2) Tom Ahrens vs. Peter Duncan: Duncan sucks but at least puts on a good show. Ahrens defines journeyman and is from the US.

FIGHT: Duncan Unanimous Decision. I feel truly bad trying to give any sort of reasonable breakdown because I didn't pay a ton of attention to this, perhaps the most irrelevant of fights. But it wasn't too bad from what I saw - Ahrens won the first with takedowns and control, but gassed out in the second, was swept by Duncan, and basically Duncan ran shit from there. He bashed up Ahrens with some punches and knees in the third round while also nullifying any sort of offense when stuck on his back, and so he wins the fight. Like I said before about Duncan; not very good, but you like to watch him anyways. (0)

4) Tim Estes vs. Chris Stringer: Estes looks so ridiculously young.

FIGHT: Stringer Unanimous Decision. Again, another fight I tried to pay attention to and couldn't. Estes gets taken down repeatedly and beaten up on the feet, loses every round, and drops a decision. Estes does nothing to threaten Stringer from his back, so the fight is kinda a wash. (0)

5) Lee McKibbin vs. James Head: McKibbin is a guy who does a lot of things not too special, and Head is a guy from the US that looks a lot bigger.

FIGHT: Head Submission Rnd 2. Head gets down McKibbin in the first and does a decent amount of work there. Standing, both guys are hella wild. Second round sees Head being buzzed with a punch, being on his back, and he works for a triangle that he sorta sets up and takes his time with. He gets it though, and that's all that matters. (0)

6) Jimmy Mills vs. Michael Nichol: Mills has a decent overall record and hails from the US. Nichols I know has some sort of grappling background.

FIGHT: Mills Submission Rnd 1. North/South choke ends this after he takes down Nichol very early in the fight and lands a few shots. Its called an anaconda choke, but its clearly not. (0)

7) Colin Robinson vs. Dan Severn: Severn is, at this point, 49 I believe. Robinson had a chance in the UFC that did not go well.

FIGHT: Dan Severn Unanimous Decision. Horrible Dan Severn fight as they all are - he shoots in on Robinson who can't stop the double and can't do anything off his back. Meanwhile, Severn sits in half guard and does nothing round after round. Robinson may have actually won the first landing some punches standing and having Severn in trouble but gave up the second and third. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ahrens/Duncan

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Mills/Nichol

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. Another lousy Cage Wars show. At leat I can say I've seen more than half of them.

D&R Rating: 6% (2/35)

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 4/11

2011-04-15T00:21:00.000-04:00

Bellator 40:

Ben Askren got a nice W over the now "retired" Nick Thompson. Lots of people complain that Askren doesn't finish. What he does is the equivalent of a low power pressure fighter in boxing. You know these guys - Phillip Holiday, Juan Diaz, Raul Balbi, Leonard Dorin. You know the type. Well, okay, maybe you do. They come and come and come and come. They don't stop trying to knock you out or hurt you, they just can't. Sometimes they learn to sit on their punches more and they land those kind of big shots and end fights. Juan Diaz did for a little while. And sometimes they don't. Its a tough style to do but it makes for good bouts. Askren is fighting guys who don't have the ability to really do anything to him in terms of stuffing takedowns or making him work for the shot, so it might wear on people. Against Hieron, it would be different I think. At least more entertaining.

I said after seeing Chandler win his last fight that he would only be able to beat Woodard of the three potential opponents in his next fight. That's who he fought, and he won going away. Took him down over and over and over and over. Chandler is a one dimensional wrestler who has wrestling chokes. Typically, this is a good thing against Brazilian strikers like Patricky Friere, but I think Friere's immense size for the weight combined with a BJJ background could dismantle Chandler. Honestly, I'm not as sure now as I was a couple weeks ago.

Jay Hieron's decision win against Weedman is a classic example of the judges giveth, the judges taketh away. Hieron probably landed the more effective punches in the second but did eat some leg kicks, and totally lost the third round. Could he have lost the fight? Sure. But Weedman pushed with his shots and basically walked Hieron down. Hieron seemed to have a hellacious time getting this to the mat and had a couple shots stuffed in the second. Its like he couldn't change levels or something, which is weird for him, because its his blast double that's his bread and butter. I think he's fighting hurt and that its a knee or something similar. He shouldn't lose to Rick Hawn, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

As for the heavyweight clash of Prindle/Burns - less said, the better. Ends on a cut. Neither guy jabs or kicks. Both throw lead left hooks and right hands. Neither can throw a combination. Both were gassed very early and both look like the members of WCW tag team High Voltage. Gassed up and nowhere to go. One thing I can tell you: Prindle is goddamned huge.

Strikeforce Diaz/Daley:

Aoki made Beerbohm look stupid. Well, Beerbohm shot in and ends up getting tripped (sorta like a single - really nifty takedown), taken down, gives up the back, and loses by a neck crank of sorts. Aoki wins the battle of fancy pants.

Mousasi beat the hell out of Keith Jardine and somehow gets a draw. I'm like everyone else - how does that happen? He won every round on my card. All of them. Sure, it was 9-9 for the first, but still. That's 29-27, Mousasi. Someone scored it a draw. Yes, Jardine gets some takedowns in the first and the second, and even has some time on the top in the 3rd. But he's never there long and does nothing with it. Meanwhile, Mousasi has Jardine bleeding from almost every facial orifice as a result of the straight punches that land over and over.

Melendez was throwing that right hand as if he were Dan Henderson. Of course, Kawajiri moved straight back into it. He looked like he was in panic mode from the get go after getting tagged with a right hand as he shot in, and the Matt Hughes like 1-2 and shot never got going. Instead, Crusher took a beatin' with knees, punches, and elbows. the actual ending was pretty stunning - Kawajiri shoots desperately from outside, gets sprawled on, pulls guard, and then gets blasted with elbows until the fight ends.

What is there to say about Nick Diaz's KO win over Paul Daley that has not already been said elsewhere? It was a slam bang pow fight between guys at a certain level in the division and made for good TV. Daley could barely make it back to his stool, which means in retrospect that it was probably the right call as far as a stoppage is concerned. Meanwhile, man, Diaz got in some nice body shots again, didn't he? He just chewed up Daley with those. I dunno, its possibly the best win in Nick Diaz's career and yet its one he shares with the likes of Nick Thompson. Consider that aspect of it carefully.

ULTIMATE FIGHTER + BLAHHHHHHH

This week we are gifted a bout between Len Bentley and Ryan McGillivray. Bentley was the top dog on Lesnar's team and McGillivray is some guy. As I pointed out in my very short preview of the season, McGillivray has fought good fighters and lost to them, but at least fought them. Bentley's big step up was a lost to Cody McKenzie and a failout of the M-1 selection process. Anyhow, this is a competitive and entertaining, albiet low level fight between a couple guys who's chins get in the way of right hands and don't really seek proper takedowns. Bentley goes for an armbar in the first round that he gets stacked out of and they trade knockdowns in the first as well. In the second, McGillivray really does a better job of staying at distance and landing blows, clearly winning the round in my book. Honestly, he did a better job in the first, and while I would have been tempted to 10-10 it, I would have scored it the way two judges did. Best fight of this short season right now. Neither guy will win.

MFC 29 was reviewed separately.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

Last week: 2-3

Overall for the year: 23-10

First really bad week where I go below .500 thanks in large part to the Mousasi/Jardine decision. Still have my head scratching. So this year, I've been reminded of two things while reviewing:

-Don't pick against a guy because you don't like his physicality and his entertainment value in past fights. I did this with DJ Linderman and I looked like a fool.

-If someone seems washed up, they probably are. I did this with picking Terry Martin to be in any way competitive, much less beat Lima, and I looked like a fool.

They are emotional things, and emotions are tough when watching fights. This week though: Short week. Just one promotion to worry about.

BELLATOR 41:

Joe Warren vs. Marcos Galvao at a 137lb catchweight: Man, Galvao is a top control grappler to the max and no chin. Warren is a great wrestler and a decent banger too. Warren is the star. Galvao is the after thought. The star is intended to win and shall, likely by decision. Normally one would be worried about Galvao winning by decision given Warren's predisposition to leaving his arms in bad places, but Galvao has never won by sub in his 13 fight career.

Patricio Freiere vs. Wilson Reis: Nothing changes in the rematch of these two fighters. Pitbull wins by controlling distance and preventing takedowns, and this time he stops Reis.

I'll skip on predicting Foster/Straus, though my feeling is that Straus wins. Foster is too unknown and Straus too untested to make any sort of safe statement here.

MFC 29 (4/10/2011)

2011-04-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

We've got the debut of MFC in a proper round cage and also their debut in Ontario as they ran a show at the Caesars Windsor Ballroom. We've got Terry Martin, Hermes Franca, Ryan Jimmo, Pete Spratt, and Marcus Davis. Yes indeedy, this is gonna be a quality second rate show. I hope. Or not.

1) Andreas Spang vs. Ali Mokdad: Mokdad is a local boy from Windsor, Spang is Swedish but training in Vegas. No idea who either is.

FIGHT: Mokdad Submission Rnd 1. Mokdad gets the clinch, the takedown, takes the back when Spang tries to stand, and we have a KOTC special. (0)

2) Demi Deeds vs. Pete Spratt: Spratt is a legend who has never been in a bad fight. Ever. It should be noted that Spratt is now 40 years old. Both men are coming in on two loss slides.

FIGHT: Spratt Submission Rnd 2. Tough fight to break down. In effect, you have a very dull first round in which Spratt establishes the distance as well as the ability to get up from Deeds' takedowns and/or defend the shot. Deeds comes straight in, offers no angles, and doesn't really set anything up well and gets raked with punches at the end of the round for his trouble, along with low kicks. The theme continues in round 2, Spratt hurts him badly with a right hand and has to go chasing Deeds around the cage until he falls down. Spratt continues the battering there and then moves to an armbar from side control to force the tap. This is at least the second time that I can remember Frank Trigg being all wowed that Spratt does have submissions. Too bad they only work against crappy fighters. Spratt notes that he's getting old in the post fight interview. (2)

3) Robert Washington vs. Hermes Franca: Washington was on MFC 28 which I neglected to do a review of (but will soon). Franca has been on a tail spin in recent years. Now 36 (officially), he's won only one fight in his last 5, with one of the bouts being a "should be a win" sort of result against Ferrid Kheder.

FIGHT: Franca TKO Rnd 2. Horrible first round where both guys stand at distance and feel each other out. Washington tries to move his body around and throw jabs and stuff to set up his punches, but doesn't really do a good job of it. Its pretty predictable that he throws one jab and then the right hand and when he's going to close the distance. Franca times him jumping in with a looping right and Washington drops and takes a few more shots before the fight is stopped. Nothing to get excited about for anyone involved. (2)

4) Marcus Davis vs. Curtis DeMarce: Davis has fallen so, so far. From welterweight top 15 fighter in the UFC to a guy scrapping with generic lightweights on small casino shows in the course of about 36 months.

FIGHT: Davis Split Decision (2)

DeMarce: Not going to do a lot of breaking down on him because, hey, does he really matter? Some attempts at takedowns, not very good standing compared to Davis (as expected), but more often than not taken down himself or would lose position. He does damage Davis with what is said to be an elbow on the mat from the bottom, but honestly I thought it was a butt. Whatever. No biggie. You want to hear about Davis, right?

Davis: Davis fought this bout like a man trying to reinvent himself for the long run. Problem #1: That should have happened 5-6 years ago when he was in his physical prime. Problem #2: He's not that effective in doing it here against a nobody. Davis fights rounds 1 and the first half of roun 2 as a top control grappler who lies in half guard or guard and lands shots. That is astonishing to see from a guy who used to chase $50K/60K bonuses instead of wins like they were 6 figure paydays. In round 1, he clearly succeeds. In round 2, the cut that forms early on leads to a standup, and as a result of that, DeMarce comes forward and gets his own takedown. This is part of the problem of being a top control grappler - if you aren't the better wrestler, it doesn't really work as a long term plan. Yes, Davis sorta helps the matter by going for a guillotine, and yes, Davis then proceeds to shrimp and turn over and take top control on DeMarce. But this happens again and again as Davis continues to go for low kicks and knees and other strikes that are stupid to throw against a guy who is trying to wrestle you down. Especially when your hands are a million times better than the other guy's and landing at will.

My takeaways from the fight regarding Davis are this: His legs are shot. You can see it in his lack of real bounce in the ring. It looks like they're not really under him anymore and that everything he does has fragility. If you are a striker primarily and your legs are shot, your career is kaput-ski. Obviously Davis has tried to then transition to a different game, but its not really his game. And he did it far, far too late. He's not getting back to the big show and if he does, its on the basis of a Phil Baroni because he's broke and its the UFC's way of giving alms to the poor old fighters that broke down fighting for them to give them not much money in an attempt to be George Foremans and Randy Coutures.

5) Ryan Jimmo vs. Zak Cummings: Cummings is a balding grappler who is fighting above his best weight against a guy who is much, much bigger than him. Cummings also is a lousy striker, which makes the task even more difficult. Meanwhile, the MFC and HDNet continue to prop up Jimmo, one of the most boring fighters in the game. They note his 14 wins in a row coming in and compare it to guys like Jake Shields and Anderson Silva, who have beaten live bodies. 5 rounder for the MFC LHW title.

FIGHT: Jimmo Unanimous Decision. Impossible to reasonably breakdown on the basis of the fighters. (2)

Cummings comes forward with chopping right hand leads and shots and Jimmo defends them by going backwards and leaning on the cage. Sometimes Jimmo throws body kicks or low kicks. He throws about 3 right hands the whole fight. Both men are bleeding - Jimmo from a headbutt that occurs inside the first 30 seconds, Cummings from a punch to the face. Jimmo wins by inflicting actual damage on his opponent, particularly when he reverses position and ends up on top in the 3rd and 4th round landing blows and seeking kimuras.

This gets to a bigger point to make here and its about Jimmo. Boxing fans know who Jameel McCline is. He was a converted football player turned heavyweight boxer who nearly won the IBF heavyweight title in a fight against best friend Chris Byrd and came to prominence with an early KO of Michael Grant way, way back (2002? 2003?). Anyhow, I remember a poster on rec.sport.boxing saying that he hated Grant because in spite of being a huge beast of a man and being so athletic, he fought like a pussy. He never sat on his punches, leading to an abnormally low KO rate for a man his size. Here was a giant of a man who slap boxed guys he should have walked through.

Jimmo has similarities. He is this huge hulking dude who still has trouble being controlled by wrestlers much smaller than him, or at least in terms of them nullifying his offense. That's problematic. More problematic is his style. Again, huge dude, has power, what does he do? He sits on the outside and throws leg kicks. He still can't time dudes coming in to land shots, his lateral movement still isn't very good, and when dudes shoot in, he can't force them down to the mat himself and beat the shit out of them. I mean, if you can control how the grappling exchanges go, you win fights. Instead, he is a victim of wall and stall time and time again. And he sucks at avoiding punches. He leaves his chin out. 15 wins in a row is great, but man, who does he beat at 205 in the UFC? I'm clueless. I hate to say it, but give him Eliot Marshall in his next MFC fight and go from there.

6) Douglas Lima vs. Terry Martin: YOUR MAIN EVENT. MFC welterweight title is on the line.

FIGHT: Lima TKO Rnd 1. I'm shocked immediately by the size differential. Lima is two weight classes larger than Martin, who himself was actually a light heavyweight at one time. I know at that point that I had made the oh-so-wrong pick when predicting this fight. Lima catches Martin coming forward with a right hand, he drops to a knee, takes a couple more punches, and its waived off. Martin is washed up to the max. He looks like he needs to seriously consider 155 or retiring. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Davis/Demarce

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lima/Martin

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Spratt/Deeds

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 5 out of 10. There's some terrifically bad, some kinda interesting, some utterly lousy and soul crushing. This is minor league MMA defined; lots of ex UFC contenders who got somewhere short of the top fighting in a casino ballroom for scraps against no-names. None of them come out looking much better for it.

D&R Rating: 33% (10/30)

NAAFS Cage Fighting (3/20/2011)

2011-04-13T02:04:00.000-04:00

Yet another show from NAAFS graces my screen. Tonight's main event for TV - John Hawk vs. Josh Watson at 205.

1) Tony Hodges vs. Tommy Deroia: Deroia looks like he aspires to be James Irvin.

FIGHT: Deroia Submission Rnd 1. Fast stuff as he jumps in with a push kick and punch and clinches, and Jesus, was that out of the Royce Gracie textbook? He gets this to the mat and gets the back very quickly and the choke. Not even really under the chin and hooks not really in, but still impressive as he goes to 5-0 as an amateur. No striking prowess really displayed. (0)

2) Ronda Gale vs. Holly Powell: 15 year age difference in favor of the 20 year old Powell. 115lb bout.

FIGHT: Ronda Gale. Ridiculous scoring has Gale winning 30-27 on one card and losing 29-28 on another. Solid who cares sorta fight between amateur women going nowhere fast. Powell just looks to close distance and get the clinch and stay there the entire time. Snore. The video had some choppiness to it, probably due to weather in the area. (0)

3) Josh Watson vs. John Hawk: Ridiculous hair as Watson is wearing the Roadkill/Amish beard and Hawk has a pink mohawk. I've seen Watson before elsewhere.

FIGHT: Hawk TKO Rnd 1. Again, I had some lousy video here but what I did see was an ass beating on Watson. Watson dropped his hands constantly. On defense, on offense, whenever. As soon as he'd move his hands, they would drop dramatically almost to waist level. Hawk comes out looking as sleek as he'll ever be at this weight and lands with his generic boxing, pushes Watson up against the cage, and delivers an elbow that actually fells the big goofy looking fella. A lot of GNP later and the ref steps in, way late, to call a halt to this bout. (1)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3.5 out of 10. I liked the John Hawk fight - not often I've said that statement in the last year or two. Deroia playing a hyper athletic version of undersized, nonathletic Gracie family member was interesting, but I don't think its a wise career path. The women's fight I've already forgotten.

RETRO REVIEW: KOTC Raging Bull (12/26/2005)

2011-04-11T23:18:00.003-04:00

Yet another MMA event from the archive.

#5
Raging Bull (12/16/2005)

I started this last night and fell asleep during the second round of the Sean Salmon fight. Oops.

Production values go WAY downhill here with a two camera Handicam shoot in a nightclub. Erik Apple is announcing via overdub, the lighting sucks, Pappa Schanke or whatever that annoying dude's name is does ring announcing (GEE THANKS I NEED THE TWO MINUTES TO GO SIGN) and shit. Your refs are Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes.

1) LEREMY JOHNSON vs. ROB KERWIN: Not listed on the insert card. No background about the fighters given. No weightclass given. 4 minute rounds because we are in the Ohio of many moons ago, in fact in the Agora Ballroom, which is like where Motorhead would play in Cleveland.

Decent back and forth action as Johnson gets the takedown, Kerwin reverses it and gets in his guard, then Johnson locks up a triangle and holds on through a few attempted power bombs out of it to get the chokeout.

2) JOSH SHOCKMAN vs. KEITH MCINTOSH: This isn't listed either. No history on either. McIntosh is a fat kid and Shockman has a bad haircut.

As is a general standard for MMA, the white dude with the worst hair wins. McIntosh absorbs a ton of well placed wide arcing, unorthodox shots from what must be a top level kickboxer (with a Naseem Hamed fetish) in the midwest in about 20 seconds and falls down. Shockman ended up in the UFC not long after and lost to Jake O'Brien. Interestingly, I've heard nothing really about either one since. Does it matter?

3) LOREN BRADLEY vs. DOMINIC QURAZZO: Another super special bonus fight not listed! Bradley has a lame tribal tattoo across his shoulder blades. Not to be outdone, Qurazzo has a bootleg Punisher skull on his back and American flag trunks. I bet he drives a pickup truck.

This goes two rounds, is primarily standup, and what happens there is with all the grace of Rosier/Frazier. Eventually the sloppy punching downs Bradley and Dominic wins for AMERICA.

4) JOSH MARTIN vs. SESSHOURMARU TAMASHII: That is an outstanding name for that one dude. I bet he loses though.

Martin gets a clinch, lands a knee, and then a bunch of elbows and bunches and the fight is done within 20 seconds. Perhaps it was "OCTAGON SHOCK" or something.

5) SEAN SALMON vs. JERRY SPIEGEL: Salmon is now the losing part of two classic MMA knockouts. Spiegel isn't any good. He's 1-10-1 in his previous 12 coming in.

If you had shown me this prior to Salmon/Rashad and told me you thought he was gonna have a legit chance to win, as many here did, I would have laughed a lot. Salmon gets his takedowns and some decent ground and pound, but shows no ability whatsoever to take advantage of what is essentially a willing loser right in front of him. Two attempts to set up the armbar and kimura go wasted in side control. He can't finish twice having Spiegel's back. In all this, he even lets Spiegel gain confidence, sweep him, and take his back with both hooks in and so they go to round 2.

Round 2 is more of the same. Salmon gets the takedown from the start, gets mount almost immediately, doesn't throw much leather from the top position because he's already gassed, switches to side mount and spends a minute and a half going for a kimura and not even coming close. Then he gets back on top, rides Spiegel till he gets his back, and Spiegel defends the RNC until time runs out. Round 3 is 4 minutes more of Salmon in side control trying to hook up the kimura and failing. Salmon wins by decision and its way less than impressive.

6) TERRY MARTIN vs. RON FIELDS: Martin is now a UFC vet, but he's actually in better shape here than he was with Irvan. Fields is a journeyman who's fought a bunch of dudes and lost to pretty much all the good ones. Apparently its a rematch too.

Fields needs distance to strike with Martin and never gets it because he doesn't know how to move in the ring. Martin forces him back, throws right hands in close when he's smothered Fields' range, takes him down, punishes him, and so on. Not a particularly incredible fight but you can see some talent in Martin here. Martin ends up getting thai clinch and then instead of throwing knees is able to get Fields in a guillotine.

7) MIKE RUSSO vs. JIMMY BOYD: I was hoping this would be a misprint and really be Mike Russow, because then it would be sorta meaningful, what with Russow just beating a top 50 heavyweight a couple weeks back. It is not. Decent fight on the ground with Russo almost getting an armbar from the bottom on Boyd, and Boyd elevating him and somehow holding him in the air for about 10 seconds until Russo was forced to let go. Boyd was eventually able to get him against the cage following that and put enough strikes on his dome to end it in round 1 via GnP.

8) TREVOR GARRETT vs. BRENDAN SEGUIN: I've seen Seguin many times over the years, and this is my first exposure to Garrett, who is essentially a nobody. Garrett is wearing thai boxing shorts, which kinda telegraphs his background.

Seguin rushes in and gets the clinch immediately, and much of the round is spent there against the fence, with a couple takedowns by Seguin that Garrett is able to worm his way back to his feet following. A third takedown proves more difficult, and the final minute is pretty much Seguin laying in side control doing a whole lot of nothing. The second round falls into the same path, with Seguin shooting immediately and getting Garrett against the cage. Garrett is able to spin him and back him up, but falls into a guillotine attempt. He survives that, then gets swept. Somewhere in this, Seguin is cut. He continues to control the fight, but Hughes has the doctor take a look at it. When the fight is restarted, Seguin gets a double leg takedown and is in top control once more. In fact, this time he's punishing Garrett with strikes against the cage. Hughes decides that as Seguin is clearly in control and perhaps a minute from a stoppage win to end the fight due to the cut, and Garrett goes from being pounded to winning instantly. Either Hughes was on the take or is enormously inept. Your choice here.

9) DERECK KEASLEY vs. JEFF COX: Cox is wearing Aoki style pants and Keasley is some dude.

They trade sloppy punching early and Keasley falls down. Cox follows him there and ends up in a triangle choke. Thing is, Keasley can't quite lock it up and so this position stays the same for about 3 and a half minutes until Cox finally pulls his head up enough that Keasley can get his foot slotted behind his knee and complete it.

10) DAN BOBISH vs. JOEY SMITH: Bobish's second career in MMA will never cease to amaze me. Smith is some dude who sucks. Fight has Smith throwing punches, falling down on his belly for no real reason, and Bobish throwing strikes until its stopped 20 seconds in. The DVD then states: "Winner: Emerson Bobish". THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Terry Martin/Ron Fields: Pretty damn one sided because of Fields' various liabilites as a fighter, but as competitive as anything on the card and displayed some real skill

KO OF THE NIGHT: Shockman/McIntosh, I guess? No KO was really astounding or unexpected.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Leremy Johnson/Rob Kerwin - Easily wins. The only submission that went down that didn't seem to take an hour to materialize and which had serious resistance.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 Horrible camera work, lots of ghosting on the long shot from the poor digital handcam being used, but some name fighters and it was thankfully short at 1:30. Brevity sometimes trumps sheer volume.

--------------------------

POSTSCRIPT:

Laverne Clark and Jake Ellenberger fought at this show, sayith the intarwebz, and it wasn't on here.

Dan Bobish is fat.

Terry Martin has no chin. Neither does S

Josh Shockman lost to Cale Yarborough at a Strikeforce show.

Josh Martin was with Bellator. then you blinked, and he wasn't any more.

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 4/4

2011-04-08T23:37:00.001-04:00

RECAP:

Strikeforce Challengers got it's own review. Check that here.

Bellator 39:

I don't do biz talk, but Bellator is spending about $1-2 per fan watching at home on TV per show. And this isn't pay cable where the network is getting $5-7 from that fan to get the channel. The network gets about .10-.2o per subscription (if that, may be free) plus ads. Odd that no one has mentioned this.

-I called Imada getting laid out. Terrible fight for that guy. Freire is now on everyone's mind as being a top independent and being a serious challenger for Alvarez. Note: Alvarez is a whole different hill of beans than is Imada. I'm not at all convinced he's a real challenge for him.

-I called Good beating Hawn. Just one problem - the judges didn't see it that way. The takedown at the end of the third probably won Hawn the fight, as everyone knows. The fight itself was nothing special - Good was very aware and afraid of Hawn's clinch and takedowns and yet Hawn was hardly all that successful with them. Instead he pushed Good to the cage and held him there trying to pummel while Good threw pitty pat punches. The fight as abjectly terrible. What was with Good's wild combination that he got taken down off of in round 2? Why didn't he jab more? He should have recognized the situation early on and skipped out on the leg kicks, pumped the jab, and stayed as far away as possible, making sure to continuously move to Hawn's left. Instead, he generally stayed in front of Hawn and his squared up figure made it easy to be grabbed onto for the body lock.

-Ben Saunders beating up Matt Lee isn't a bad thing. He did what he needed to and cut the hell out of Lee and stopped him. But Saunders looked tired after the first and he left legs out there for a much, much smaller man to grab and pick up. Everyone talks about his clinch fighting - Why is a 6'3'' welterweight specializing in the clinch? And that is why he's never going to amount to a real contender, people.

-I only ended up seeing Alvarez/Curran for about the first two rounds thanks to the show going long and me having a couple programs to record at the same time at 11PM. Oh well. Curran hangs on to survive and wasn't trying to win. Supposedly he may have taken the 5th round. I'll tell you one of these days if I get another chance to watch it.

ULTIMATE FIGHTER WITH BLAHHHHHHH:

Uhhh, fight shown this week was a somewhat interesting battle of positioning between Chris Cope and Javier Torres. Torres was claimed to be perhaps the most or second most talented guy on Team Dos Santos, which makes me very worried for the rest of the year. Chris Cope is a mildly talented brawler in the mold of TUF 9 star Frank Lester. He's a part time fighter who has a little bit of wrestling from probably high school and his time at Team Quest as well as some brawlriffic striking. Torres is obviously a BJJ guy with some kickboxing. For the record, I think Torres clearly won rounds one and two by pushing the fight where he wanted it (against the cage) and landing the better blows in the standup exchanges and in the clinch. Feeling bad or something for Cope, instead he was given the second by a couple judges and we were off to sudden death. There, Torres, dead tired, continued his same sort of wall and stall strategy only to keep losing position in the pummel and even get his back taken briefly. He was just outworked that round, and lost the fight. Torres has zero wrestling. Zero.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS:

Last Week: 3-1

Overall for the year: 21-7

MFC 29:

-Douglas Lima against Terry Martin is almost a cruel joke of a fight. Martin epitomizes wasted potential. Lima is just mildly interesting as far as potential goes. Martin has zero chin, but Lima is no great striker. In fact, having watched Lima before, I still have no idea if he can strike. At all. Martin is a decent wrestler, but he is terrible at game plans. Alternately, he's never been submitted. Jesus. I hate fights like this. I gotta go with Martin. Bigger guy, stronger guy, better wrestler, should be able to control where the fight is, and clearly a better striker based on the evidence that exists.

Strikeforce:

-Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley is an interesting matchup for a great number of reasons. Diaz has largely owned guys standing for sometime, but Daley is not a brawler who relies entirely on pressure. He's a solid technical guy. Daley has suspect takedown defense - he seems to know what he's doing against Jake Shields at times, then gets taken down by Jorge Masvidal other times. Diaz is, frankly, not a great wrestler, and that's gonna be a problem for him. At least, it would be if I had any expectation that this fight was going there. Truth be told, Nick Diaz loses to fighters of Paul Daley's level, and I think that's precisely what happens here. With five rounds and Daley being a punching monster, I think Diaz gets the lights turned out on him here. I can see Diaz winning by submission should he get dropped and Daley follow him to the mat, but if I'm gonna suggest a winner, I'm picking Paul Daley around round 3.

-Mousasi and Jardine is an interesting fight for a great many reasons, but not the least of which is the fact that Mousasi admits to not training in a cage for this bout. All but admits he's anticipating standing and banging. And with Jardine, that is a legitimate possibility. Mousasi is probably a strong enough grappler to fight off Jardine's clinch and takedown attempts, should he bother with them, and as far as them trading punches and kicks goes - would you want to pick Jardine to win a standup fight in light of losing to an old middleweight wrestler from South Africa? I thought not. Mousasi looks good here and rebounds in his career. Jardine continues the spiral into irrelevance.

-Lyle Beerbohm was lucky to get a decision win over Vitor Riberio, who stylistically is very similar to Shinya Aoki but not as good from the bottom. Aoki is a better overall grappler and even if he sucks standing, Beerbohm is no killer. Clear difference in skills, Aoki wins by submission, possibly a leg lock.

-I want to analyze Melendez/Kawajiri, but I don't have the time to do it properly. I think Melendez wins because even though he is a naturally smaller man, he's gotten better technique wise, grown more as a fighter, and the general momentum is on his side.

Strikeforce Challengers 15 (4/1/2011)

2011-04-07T10:29:00.000-04:00

April Fools! I'm watching this show because, uhhh, yeah. I was gonna watch it for the Big Show Review and decided instead that it deserved its own entry instead of going back 2-3 years from now and watching it again. This was at the Stockton Arena in, you guessed it, Stockton CA. Headlining the show is ex prospect Rodrigo Damm and Justin Wilcox.

1) Damion Douglas vs. Wayne Phillips: David "Tarzan" Douglas' brother against some guy who is apparently a stablemate of Wilcox.

FIGHT: Douglas Split Decision. I'm not doing a serious breakdown here because this was low level stuff. Douglas was blown up 3 minutes in and still got a W on the cards. I can't say it was entirely undeserved. He won the first 4 minutes of round 1- where the problem was there was that he lost the 5th minute by nearly getting choked out in an RNC as the bell rings. He lost the second in my book (Phillips controlled standing and on the mat) and won the third by outlanding a seemingly catatonic Phillips. But so what? Hands were at his waste and he was flat on with Phillips early. Phillips has no takedowns and Douglas' singles and doubles were barely present. Neither guy could effectively control position on the mat. This was Douglas' first fight in 30 months and it looked it. (0)

2) James Terry vs. Josh Thornburg: 165lb catchweight.

FIGHT: Terry TKO Rnd 1. Whole round is about Terry setting up the right hand. He keeps throwing it and throwing it and Thornburg really isn't doing a good job at all in mitigating it or neutralizing the striking attack. Thornburg eventually eats a low kick and he drops the hand. That happens, Terry throws the right hand, and its all over instantly. (1)

3) Lorenz Larkin vs. Scott Lighty: Once upon a time, Lighty was in K1. He was actually a lot better than the midget heavyweight the UFC has, but hell if you'll get anyone to admit that. Larkin is an undefeated prospect who replaced Satoshi Ishii. Ishii apparently lost his visa or forgot to apply or something. He's a moron. Larkin is not so dumb.

FIGHT: Larkin TKO Rnd 2. Good performance from Larkin who comes in late against a guy brought in to be a can. What can you take from that? Good question I suppose. Larkin demolished Lighty standing, where he should have had the clear advantage. That's a positive. Larkin often followed around Lighty in the ring and threw hooks and kicks, even a flying side kick. Speed wise, it wasn't competitive. Larkin was a much better athlete and fought very well. I'd like to see him fight a bunch more, of course. One thing that I thought was funny was that Larkin would start to dance and move around on the balls of his feet, and do nothing then. And eventually he'd stop and go back to being flatfooted and stalk his man. (1)

4) David Douglas vs. Caros Fodor: Tarzan is one of the best bad fighters ever. Who is Fodor? Uhhhh, no idea.

FIGHT: Fodor TKO Rnd 3. Douglas and Fodor re-enact the opening round of Damion Douglas' fight earlier in the night as Douglas forces it down, takes Fodor's back, Fodor gets out, and ends up controlling the fight standing and then on the mat over the last 2 minutes. From that point though, unlike Damion Douglas, David never starts to stick and move. Never lands the harder shots. Fodor is at least decent standing and pretty OK on the mat, and so he ends up getting takedowns and landing hard shots in the clinch and on the occasions that they are at range. Douglas is blown up early (like his brother) and ends up against the cage getting hit with knees and punches as the ref calls it off in the early part of the third. (1)

5) Rodrigo Damm vs. Justin Wilcox: This is a good fight. Wilcox was a teammate of Koscheck in college I'm told by the announcers. Damm is a solid grappler, but not in the same league as Wilcox's last win (Vitor Riberio). Wilcox is still a small lightweight...kinda like a second tier Sean Sherk.

FIGHT: Wilcox TKO Rnd 1. Wilcox basically follows around Damm, who is running for him, eventually catching him with a leaping right hand that drops Damm and cuts him badly. The rest of the round is GNP and Damm can't get off his stool in th first. Wilcox is a strong guy, no doubt about it, but he's not a big guy like I said. I still think he's too small to make big noise in MMA at lightweight. Featherweight might be a different deal, but he may not want to cut. Besides, there's nothing in Strikeforce to do at 145. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lighty/Larkin

KO OF THE NIGHT: Thornburg/Terry

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. Not the worst show, not the best. Some prospects that are sorta interesting but who are super embryonic and may end up being nothing.

D&R Rating: 20% (5/25)

Ultimate Glory 13: 2010-2011 World Series Second Round (3/19/2011)

2011-04-06T23:28:00.001-04:00

1) Hidouche Lahoucine vs. Allan Gozdizky: Kickboxing bout. Very evenly matched fight with both guys doing some wild stuff (Lahoucine throws a leaping spinning roundhouse in the first!) though it gets real sloppy in the third and Gozdizky gets a yellow card for rough play and gets kneed in the balls shortly thereafter. The yellow card is the deciding factor in the close fight.

2) Nicky Covin vs. Uriel Albamonte: Dudes. Covin is the crowd favorite.

FIGHT: Albamonte Submission Rnd 1. Not much to tell about this fight - Covin comes out swinging, grabs Albamonte, and slams him down. When there, Albamonte has full guard, closes it, and goes for a guillotine. Covin taps, and the fight is over in 45 seconds. (0)

3) Filip Verlinden vs. Frederic Sinistra: Kickboxing bout at heavyweight. Filip Verlinden outworks Sinistra and actually does a decent job keeping distance. Sinistra comes out with the heavy punching style that you expect from a Samoan in K-1 style competition and basically never even attempts to check kicks. Instead, he moves his head and comes forward looking to catch Verlinden moving straight back with punches. Even when Verlinden gets against the ropes, he never allows the big punch to land.

4) Omar Samb vs. Kriss Larcin: Another MMA bout. Both guys are local.

FIGHT: Larcin TKO Rnd 1. Basic KOTC special with Larcin beating the hell out of Samb in the mount until he turns over and gives up the RNC. (0)

5) David Kyrya vs. Robin Van Roosmalen: Kickboxing bout I sorta paid some attention to. Roosmalen wins a decision and basically works over Kyrya with combinations and such, though none of the blows were really devastating. Just decent surgical kickboxing. Kyrya wasn't that bad either.

6) Nicolaj Falin vs. Nathan an't Hoft: More kickboxers. Falin wins a decision and basically beat the hell out of Hoft. Not a bad fight or anything. Just not great.

7) Danny Covyn vs. Sebastian Thirion: MMA bout! Yay!

FIGHT: Thirion Submission Rnd 1. Covyn jumps for a guillotine after about 6 seconds if standup action. He doesn't get it, Thirion gets out of the full guard, and works with strikes to get separation. Once he does, he goes for a leg lock and switches from a heel hook to knee bar to get the tap. (0)

8) Errol Zimmerman vs. Zinedine Hameur Lain: Kickboxing contest. Zimmerman breaks Lain with a high kick that he tries to check with the arm, and Lain just lays across the top rope and waits for the ref to stop it. Beatdown. Not even competitive.

9) Frederic Hainni vs. Bob Van Boxmeer: More kickboxing. Hainni wins a kickboxing contest that was kinda awkward with both guys pushing a lot and that ends with a decision following a headbutt.

10) Nicky Holzen vs. Carlos Tavares: Kickboxing match. Holzen works head and body, and Tavares ends up leaving his hands low and gets KOed hard.

11) Brice Guidon vs. Mourad Bouzidi: Semi finals of the heavyweight kickboxing tournament. Bouzidi is a gatekeeper of a lower level than Guidon. Decent matchup on paper that favors the larger Guidon and he delivers with a surprising show of power from a guy known for arm punching and decisions. He lands a strong right hand to a overly aggressive Bouzidi and drops, leading to the end of the fight in the second.

12) John Alessio vs. Siyar Bahadurzada: Welterweight tournament in MMA, round 2. Bas Rutten and mystery announcer make note of a serious difference in size.

FIGHT: Bahadurzada TKO Rnd 1. Alessio never really shoots the whole fight, getting tagged by Siyar behind the ear about a minute in and being on retreat from that point forwards. He takes a lot of knees to the head and arms but never thinks to take a knee or a point down just to get out of it. Poor guy. Bahadurzada is in tears and misses his recently deceased coach. (2)

13) Tommy Depret vs. Roan Carniero: Depret and Carniero should be on different levels, but Depret is the company boy. What happens here?

FIGHT: Depret Submission Rnd 1. Carniero has no respect for Depret's guard and pays with a straight armbar. There's not a lot to it aside from that. Carniero wants the ground, gets it, and loses. Oops. Depret some how makes it to the finals in spite of being the worst fighter on paper in the entire tournament. Well, aside from the last minute replacement of Derrick Noble. (2)

14) Wendell Roche vs. Gokhan Saki: MAIN EVENT. Also a HW semifinal.

FIGHT: Saki Unanimous Decision. Basically, Saki lands a ton of stuff on Roche, who plays the part of sparring partner. Excitement comes very late when something (what precisely, is not discovered) causes Saki's right eye to swell shut in about 5 seconds. Roche responds by not doing anything, especially not throwing left hand punches that might win him the fight. Did I mention above that this event was held in Belgium because Dutch authorities don't like the ties with organized crime the promotion may have? So yeah.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lahoucine/Gozdizky

KO OF THE NIGHT: Bahadurzada/Alessio

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Depret/Carniero

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. If you are really hyped about kickboxing, you may get something out of this show. Its not the most important kickboxing show ever, but....uhh...okay, its not the most important kickboxing show ever. As far as MMA is concerned, not really any can't miss fights. Bahadurzada got most of the coverage afterwards and that was deserved, but as far as MMA action goes, yeah, you can do better elsewhere.

D&R Rating (MMA bouts only): 16% (4/25)

RETRO REVIEW: KOTC Final Conflict (12/2/2005)

2011-04-06T00:08:00.004-04:00

While I work on other reviews and finish them up, another review from the KOTC OF THE DAY series.

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Final Conflict (12/2/05)

Usual KOTC stuff here. We’re back to the beloved Soboba. Should be full of the usual KOTC formula bouts: either untalented dude gets tooled on the ground (Formula A) or the fight ends 15 seconds in by KO (Formula B). Erik Apple is rocking the mic along with John Alessio.

1) PAT WHITE vs. LAWRENCE GANT: Dudes that fight. Each weighs about 170. Gant rocks the rashguard.

Pat White sucks. He is taken down immediately and mounted before 5 seconds pass. He hugs Gant for awhile, then Gant punches him a couple times. White turns over and then gets submitted with an RNC.

2) KEN CADOY vs. MIKE GUYMON: Cadoy is from 808 making his debut, Guymon is from somewhere, I wasn’t paying attention. He calls himself “The Joker” and hangs out with Tapout Crew. Guess who I want to win?

Guymon rushes the shot, gets him down, Cadoy tries to get up, and Cadoy gets caught in a guillotine. Fight over. I read later that Guymon was in the IFL for a cup of coffee. Go fig.

3) BUCKLEY ACOSTA vs. DICK DELAWARE: Aaron Brink lives the life many of DVDVR’s lesser posters dream of. Acosta is some dude who is making his pro debut.

Fight lasts 10 seconds. Brink walks forward, throws a couple punches, Acosta throws him down, they scramble up, Brink walks into a right hand, its over. Acosta beats a dude who people know well in his debut.

4) RUBIN TAGLE vs. BRIAN WARREN: No idea who these guys are.

Warren wins via Formula A. GNP stoppage after a couple takedowns and Tagle gets mounted in Rnd 1. Cecil Peoples waits until Tagle as begged for a good 10 seconds to stop it. Maybe there were no verbal submissions in those karate styled kickboxing events in the 70s?

5) SHAWN BIAS vs. THOMAS KENNY: This isn’t a bad fight on paper, really. Kenny is clearly the much larger man. He also wears a shirt.

This is a shockingly good fight. Shawn Bias and Thomas Kenny slug it out through the early part of the second and then roll a plenty for the second half of the round. Round two opens with Bias almost knocking Kenny out with a right hand, but falls into Kenny’s half guard and somehow, Kenny gets a head and arm choke to win the fight. Bias taps and Herb just looks at it. And then he taps against and Herb seems confused and goes over to look. Eventually he goes out and its kinda ugly from there.

6) ALEX ZUNNER vs. MIKE BOURKE: Holy shit. Mike Bourke sighting! What else would he fight but some fat ass? I cheated and looked ahead and I will be able to share lots of moments for Alex Zunner moments with you.

Bourke and Zunner kinda swing at each other, hug, Zunner gets a takedown and side control, Bourke rolls him over, and then chokes him out Smith/Cikatic style. Wow.

7) FERNANDO ARREOLA vs. CUB SWANSON: Hahahahahahaha.

Arreola puts up some attempts at something and fails at all of it. He ends up being dropped by a right hand and then a series of kicks to the legs follow and Cecil runs in for a verbal submission a little over 3 minutes in. Swanson was way past this guy in skill and he must have known in early on.

8) GABE RIVAS vs. ROB MCCULLOUGH: Everyone and their mom has seen a hundred Gabe Rivas fights. Rob McCullough is another future WEC talent, champion in fact, who is in a fairly interesting match here on this disc.

You know, what made KOTC 7 unique is that it was the only MMA event in the wet ever done. Not intentionally, mind you, its just that they apparently ran an open air show without thinking it was a possibility. So, years later, here I am watching a KOTC show from late in ’05 and, whaddya know, it starts raining. The fight was controlled by McCullough standing and on the ground, but in Round 2 the rain starts coming down and Rivas is tripping all over himself, taking a leg kick that knocks him to the ground because he has no traction. When Rivas is knocked down for the last time, was it the right hand that did it or the fact that he was falling everywhere on a wet wrestling mat? How fucking bush league do you have to be to have rain and then not think about preventing it as an issue in the future?

9) MANNY TAPIA vs. ED NEWALU: Krazy Horse is on the mic! YES. Too bad he doesn’t really care that he’s here or supposed to entertain me, the viewer. Tapia is their 145lb champion and now is in the WEC. He’s really quite good. Newalu I’ve seen fight Ryan Diaz awhile back. They fought before in KOTC but no mention of it is ever made.

Fight goes the distance (first in a long time) and while decent is hardly the best thing ever. Some decent standup, Newalu looks capable on the ground, Tapia is good all the way around with his wrestling and standup, Newalu guarantees a loss in Round 2 by losing a point throwing a four point knee, and Tapia retains. I started to nod off during this and had to really work hard to stay conscious, honestly.

10) THOMAS DENNY vs. JAMES FANSHIER: I first mentioned Fanshier on the first show covered, and Thomas Denny is a dude who has fought on every B show there is, and thus not really needing an introduction. There’s a little highlight package that screams “XPW” and has Fanshier in the cage talking a ton of shit.

Round 1 sees Denny channel Tim Sylvia and push Fanshier into the cage. That’s pretty much all 5 minutes. Second round Denny lands a big right hand, Fanshier goes down, Denny follows with strikes, fight over.

11) KEVIN “Q-TIP” DONNELLY vs. NAM PHAN: Donnelly is listed as being from the “streets of Hisperia, California” instead of a school. He’s a white kid making his debut and he’s dyed his hair blonde. Nam Pham is a dude who has lost to all the good fighters he’s faced and beaten all the shitty fighters he’s been in with. Since many are like Donnelly, there’s a lot more Ws than Ls.

Donnelly shoots in, Phan takes guard, he gets the armbar, Donnelly taps out. 12 seconds officially. Maybe 6 in reality. They don’t even do any play by play for this.

12) BETTO CORNITA vs. BILLY BEARMAN: Cornita is coming from martial arts academy and this is his debut. Its also Bearman’s. Its also the only fight either will ever have in their careers. Obviously we’re into swing bouts here, and I’m debating why I should even watch it. Like, this is as unimportant as any match ever held. There’s episodes of I Love Lucy that are lost to time and shit like that, but this will be committed to tape forever and ever.

Then, this is all saved. Bearman wears a rashguard and Cornita is chubby, the fight ends by triangle choke for Bearman in round 1, and it doesn’t matter because Rampage has replaced Apple to do announcing. “I told you he was going to sleep. He ‘gon dream about training.”

13) AARON WETHERSPOON vs. VAL LEEDY: Aaron Wetherspoon is a bad dude and you know who he is. Leedy is a kickboxer, and Rampage says he fought him once and said he kicks hard and shit. I think I’ve seen this fight before, actually.

Fight is short and all clinch. Wetherspoon gets in close and gets underhooks, but isn’t able to take down Leedy. After a separation because of low blows, they clinch up again and a knee to the head drops Leedy a just short of 1:30 of round 1.

14) KEITH BERRY vs. JOHNNY VASQUES: Rampage almost leaves, and then apparently decides to stay, which is good, because without him, this shit becomes totally unwatchable. This is at 205. Vasques wears a shirt. Berry is a white dude who looks like someone I went to high school with.

Retardedly low level stuff with Berry winning by KO after some standup clubberin’ in short order. Rampage talks some shit about some unnamed shitty fight, and then gets a cell phone call and has to leave. You can hear him momentarily on the phone, in fact.

15) JOEY ALVARADO vs. JASON WHEAT: Alvarado comes out, and he has a shaved head and bad tattoos on his arms. SHOCKAH. CRAZY HORSE joins the crew. Alvarado wins by armbar and I'm barely paying attention.

16) LUCAS TABER vs. ROBERT DRIMI: Drimi looks way dorky. Taber looks like a high school JV football player. Drimi throws some lame sidekicks and Taber scissors the leg and gets an ankle lock. Crazy Horse and Rampage are commentating and there’s no way I can communicate how good it is.

17) ROBERT ZUNNER vs. ANTHONY MENDEZ: This fight is so awesome, its not even listed on the match list included with the DVD. Rampage regarding Zunner: “He so big, his weight isn’t even listed. He look like Bam Bam Bigelow!…If people gonna be wearing rashguards, he shoulda been one of them. He so fat, he got stretchmarks on his nipples!” Mendez wins by KO in a fight in which no talent is shown. Rampage and Crazy Horse continue talking shit about how fat Zunner is.

After the match, they continue to talk for like 3 minutes and its all gold. They’re still talking when the screen fades out and goes to credits. Rampage: “Join us next time at King Of The Cage. You get like, 20-30 fights, and from that, like, 18 good ones.”

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Rivas/McCullough - Decent midlevel stuff here with a developing McCullough and a vet in Rivas, plus weird circumstances and displays of skill from both.

KO OF THE NIGHT: Acosta/Brink - Sudden and surprising. I was taken aback.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Zunner/Bourke - You don't see "forearm to throat" everyday.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: pre Rampage/Bennett announcing: 6, during Rampage/Bennett announcing: 10. If I were a money mark running an MMA show, my crew is now lined up.

---------------------------------------------

POSTSCRIPT:

Nam Pham has somehow found his way to the UFC. For now, at least.

Keith Berry lost a setup fight on ShoXC and has been in collapse since then.

Rob McCullough was brought into Bellator...and promptly took a beating.

Thomas Denny got ripped off at the last Mark Pavelich promoted event.

Mike Bourke beat Ken Shamrock. Yes.

Mike Guymon went to the UFC, got a bunch of undeserved chances, and finally retired.

BIG SHOW REVIEW WEEK OF 3/28

2011-04-01T00:57:00.001-04:00

For M-1 and Titan FC, see the individual reviews.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 24:

-Noguiera defended the takedown! What a job Mark Munoz did in camp for him! I mean, Rodrigo Noguiera did previously beat another strong wrestler in Matyushenko, but I considered him possibly washed up at that time. Still, Noguiera didn't win the fight. After stuffing the doubles in the first, Davis eventually starts working for single and gets those and controls the second and third rounds. His striking is still a bit shaky and robotic. The high kicks are especially uncomfortable looking coming from him. The shot is not super fast - maybe he works on it more now, but a pure power wrestler in the vein of V-Mat, Bader, or Tito isn't gonna get the job done to beat Jon Jones. Not no way, not no how. Noguiera meanwhile regresses to gatekeeper status again. Another fight with Shogun makes sense, as does a Tito fight, a rematch with Bader, a rematch with Brilz, and hell, lots of other fights. He's a good all purpose dude to have around.

-Dan Hardy can't stop the double. That is the story of the fight with Anthony Johnson, who remembered that he was a wrestler first. Joe Rogan specifically points to the grazing high kick in round 1 and resulting top control for Johnson as when he thinks the lightbulb went off in Johnson's head. Do I agree? I dunno. Probably not. Johnson doesn't even set up the shot with strikes - Hardy comes forward, Johnson is bouncing around on his toes, and then he just shoots and gets deep penetration with the shot. Hardy comes away looking just as one dimensional as everyone supposed he was coming in. Anthony Johnson, meanwhile, is like the black Mike Swick. Too small to be an effective middleweight at an elite level, not talented enough to really run with top welterweights but more effective at 170 so long as he can make weight by overpowering lesser guys. Where does he go now? A Koscheck rematch?

-Amir Sadollah is the MMA version of a pressure fighter in boxing. Pressure fighters come forward, throwing combinations, never hurt guys with one shot, and just break you down with the assault. Sadollah was helped in this by Damarques Johnson's poor ability to control the action on the mat when on top. Seriously, Johnson's attempts to pass guard were some of the most poorly suggested ever imaginable. He could have laid in half guard and ground down some of Amir's energy and landed some shots. Instead he lost dominant position twice looking to try and improve on it. Foolish. Amir can't break eggs with his shots, but they do accumulate, and if your opponent isn't that well conditioned, he will fold. Amir also has another problem - he can't wrestle. Still. Don't think he ever will at this point. UFC is giving him good development fights right now but how long will they be willing to keep this up when almost no one remembers Sadollah or what season he's from? I don't remember what season he's from.

-Korean Zombie lands a twister against a guy who's grappling is...uhh....questionable. Oh who cares. Neither one will make a mark in the elite tiers. This was for fun and Jung proved to have changed his approach.

-I tried to watch Hathaway/McCray but got bored and my mind would drift. Hathaway still can't wrestle and McCray is just too generic and mediocre to take advantage of dominant positions or to bang out Hathaway standing (where he was superior to Hathaway). Hathaway gets a couple trips and some sweeps and wins a competitive fight. Problem here is that McCray isn't really a competitive guy at 170 and frankly, Hathaway sorta isn't either. The momentum of the Sanchez fight is long gone now. What we have in the welterweight division is the UFC attempting to manufacture another contender out of the morass of second tier fighters by not matching these guys against one another, and instead putting them in with weaker gatekeeper style fighters. This has led to Anthony Johnson and Carlos Condit sticking their heads up above the rest of the group for right now, wrong or right. IMO wrong and Kampmann is better than either. But who cares about my opinion when most MMA fans are blithering idiots who can't see actual star potential or look at pro fighters rationally as to what they offer? Condit makes for exciting fights against not so good fighters and so he is deserving of skipping over all the guys who actually have beaten people at his level or above, and that's too bad for people like me, who want to see fights that aren't a wash. Oh well. More Koscheck style jab fests, ahoy! At least these guys who will get the shit kicked out of them are white and speak english, so the UFC won't waffle about booking the fights.

I know it sounds like complaining, but really, the UFC should and does know better than this. Maybe its all they can think of doing with the pool of guys from #7-#27?

ULTIMATE FIGHTER:

-Did I really see this shit correctly? This is the list of fighters? Shamar Bailey is who I'm most familiar with and he won the opening bout of the show by laying on German kickboxer Nordin Asrih for two rounds in side control or half guard. His shots were basically uncontested and this was an easy, easy fight. Bailey lost to the son of legendary dirt track racer Steve Kinser and Justin Wilcox in the cage. To be blunt, he's a strong guy and a good wrestler but not much else. Certainly no one to get excited about in the UFC. The rest of the cast, as best I can give opinions on:

Ramsey Nijem: DII/DIII wrestler for Utah Valley, beat a legitimate fighter in Scott Casey.

Len Bentley: Southern fighter. Lost to a McKenzietine. Made it to the M1 Selection Finals and lost.

Charlie Rader: 14-4 Pro record features no meaningful wins. Oddly, he has a meaningful win listed as an amateur bout against Josh Rafferty in Bellator from 2009. Did as well with Adrien Miles as did Dave Menne.

Anthony Ferguson: Win over David Gardner by what appears to be GNP, as well as a W against James Fanshier. Also has lost to Karen Darabedyan.

Ryan McGillvray: Lots of experience against good fighters, unfortunately he's lost to most all of them. Still, experience counts when so many guys totally lack it. BTW, he's serving a suspension from the NSAC. So, yeah. He probably doesn't win.

Mick Bowman: British.

Keon Caldwell: Southern fighter who suffered a submission loss to one of the Lima brothers. Notable in that there's not a lot of BJJ masters on this show.

Clay Harvison, Chris Cope, Chuck O'Neil, Javier Torres, Zack Davis: No notable things to be said at this moment.

Its a crap shoot as far as who wins. Gun to my head, I pick Bailey, I guess. I think Nijem and Rader are the most interesting to see otherwise. I feel like Bowman wouldn't be here if he couldn't fight a little bit, so he should be interesting to see. Cope and O'Neil come from good schools and that may make them better prepared.

BELLATOR:

-M'Pumbu got exposed terribly last year and here in the states it can be expected to happen against. Chris Davis, his opposition for his first US fight, was basically unknown and had suffered losses to modern Jeremy Horn and Vinny Magahales. He got some decent GNP in the first round but as the fight dragged, M'Pumbu was able to generally go for decent submission attempts and totally controlled the third round. He got down Davis after landing some punches, and then beat him up from riding the back landing punch after punch until Davis slumps from a shot to the temple, forcing a stoppage. He's got some decent striking (though his chin is often up while he throws) and his submission grappling is good. However, he is a lousy wrestler.

-Fekete and Hale - I know neither. But man, Hale is a big, big dude. Fekete is a serious wrestler and he's skilled, gets down Hale and looks to take him down again and slam him during a scramble from side control. What does Hale do? An inverted triangle. An inverted triangle. Holy crap. Fekete doesn't even tap, he goes out cold.

-DJ Linderman looks totally different as a light heavyweight. Smaller man as he was at heavyweight, but with the weight down, his cardio is up even more. Against Davis, who is the better wrestler, he again wears him down as he did against the much larger Mario Rinaldo and gets takedowns and lands strong punches at range. Davis is mouth open and gassed, leaning back into shots, and has to shoot in desperation after a particularly hard left hand shot in the second. Linderman still shows that like against Rinaldi, his ability to defend the shot and hold onto position isn't that great, but when the opposition is so tired as it is here, he can hang on. Linderman ultimately wins by TKO after landing lots of punches, takes Davis, throws him to the ground from Thai plumb, and crushes him with a right hand while Davis is on all 4's. Linderman is a sprawl and brawl guy from the days of 2003 and I admit being very surprised that he was successful here. I wouldn't rush to bet against him elsewhere in the tourney.

-Tim Carpenter's win over Daniel Gracie should be a surprise but I didn't really feel that way. Gracie never really adapted to MMA well and Carpenter, a BJJ black belt himself, actually controlled the grappling action and actively went for dominant positions and submissions. He had the mount and two armbar attempts in round 1 alone. On the feet, he tagged Daniel Gracie with punches and rocked him in the second and third. It wasn't a perfect fight, because honestly, he should have tapped him with all the positions he had. But it was solid. And he showed a gas tank that will be key in beating future opponents.

STUFF I MISSED AND CAUGHT UP ON:

Fight for the Troops 2!

Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman: Cole Miller is a BJJ guy at heart and walks forward punching like one in this fight. The downside of doing that is Wiman counters him as he closes the distance, Miller sucks at infighting, and he gets taken down repeatedly. Wiman takes round after round after round as a result. You can't say that Wiman looks noticeably different in his approach - its just a terrible gameplan for Miller that negates his positives that leads him down the road to a big L.

Joey Beltran vs. Pat Barry: The most overrated striker in the recent history of heavyweight MMA fighting some brawler dude. How does it go? As you'd expect. What I found interesting about this fight was the complete absence of a game plan from Beltran. Apparently his idea was to stand at range from Barry and get kicked? Great idea, dude. He repeatedly finds success pushing Barry to the cage and beating him up with dirty boxing. So does he keep after it? No, because it won't get him a fight of the night bonus and will have him released if he does lose. Instead, he fights stupid and takes a billion leg kicks. Somehow he hangs on to the end of the fight, winning one round on some cards (likely the first) and then dropping the second and third. Barry still can't wrestle, is still small, and still depends on other guys being mediocre to beat up on them.

Joker Guymon vs. Damarques Johnson: Guys who got a UFC contract off of merchandising deals? Joker, of course. Oh, he has some OK wins too, but he didn't get the chance because of his skills. So what happens? Johnson takes him down, gets on top, and eventually transitions to back control. Then Joker taps out to a body triangle after getting straightened out. Joke is on me for watching!

Cody McKenzie vs. Yves Edwards: Still astounded this fight happened. Cody is really a featherweight and should drop. He still is a terrible athlete and is a one trick pony, but who knows. Featherweight sucks. Cody does the usual job of a Gracie BJJ guy and rushes with strikes to get a clinch. Yves is kinda good standing and so this begins to look like it will be a terrible beating. And that's basically what happens. If you are looking for positives from McKenzie, its that he is very tough and can take a hellified beating. He pulls down Yves Edwards and actually has back control for a significant period in the second. But he's not that strong, Yves is too crafty a grappler himself, and after being forced to keep scrambling for position, Edwards eventually reverses position and gets his own RNC. Fighter meets gatekeeper, doesn't pass.

George Roop vs. Mark Hominck: Another sure to be beatdown. Roop stands and bangs and he's fighting a guy who is a lot, lot better than him at that. And that's what we get. Roop doesn't know how to use height, leaves his chin up, and gets demolished. Right hands, left hooks, whatever. They land with impunity because Roop moves straight back, doesn't jab, doesn't throw front kicks, doesn't clinch.

Mike Brown vs. Rani Yahya: Brown is on the wrong side of his career fighting in a division seeing an influx of new talent from a weight class he got bounced out of. Yahya, a last minute replacement who was better suited for 135 than 145, should be a guy he walks through and dominates throughly by taking and holding down. Or by banging out standing where Yahya sucks. So what really happens? Brown lands a strong overhand right over the wild strikes of Yahya, and that's how its looking to go. But Yahya just keeps running and moving, throwing off Brown. That's not good. Then Yahya shoots a single. Brown defends it initially, but keeps getting dragged down and can't get separation. In the second, Brown again goes to strike with Yahya, but then does the astonishing and initiates the clinch. Why do that? Why put yourself at risk instead of strike? Brown is on top and does nothing there after nearly being guillotined. After the standup by the ref, same thing happens. Who is making Brown's gameplans for him? Is he just not capable of executing? Is he that ingrained to wrestle? With Yayha's decision to go to flail and shoot at the start, Brown is again on the defensive and now too tired to do anything about it. He gets taken down and slowly gives up position from full to half guard, then gives up the back, is flattened, and gets Brown beat the hell up with punches. Yamasaki gives Brown a reprieve due to shots to the mohawk area and again its another flail and shoot and Brown can't fight it off.

Hague was a good opponent for Mitrione and his development, wasn't he? Stand and bang guy who is smaller than Mitrione and less of an athlete. Mitrione's southpaw stance is something no one talks about. Hague never threw the straight right to counter and instead ate left hands over and over that he didn't see coming. Joe Silva is hella small too. I keep forgetting about that. And his hair! But back to Mitrione. This is a fairly soft touch intended to build up his record and confidence. Not much past that. He's not at the level that Schaub is but hey, that's expected. He has a long time in the game to get better.

Evan Dunham had no answers for Melvin Guillard's one-two. Never changed the speed up on his closing with Melvin, never came behind his own jab, never set the distance, didn't keep his chin down or use lateral movement. Got caught flat footed and was put out as a result. Melvin needs more wins against this level of competition before anyone can reasonably start to believe in him.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

RESULTS: 3-3

OVERALL FOR THE YEAR: 18-6

STRIKEFORCE:

Weird card with what looks like a Bodog headliner in Rodrigo Damm vs. Justin Wilcox. Damm has never been a great grappler from the bottom, and Wilcox is a pretty darn good one from the top. Put that together with Wilcox's superior wrestling and Damm's losses in 3 of his last 4 and its pretty clear that Wilcox is getting another W. Does he stop Damm? Nah. I don't think so. So he will in 2 rounds.

BELLATOR:

Is it really a newsflash that Pat Curran won't beat Eddie Alvarez? He's not a good enough BJJ guy to do it, and while I think Alvarez is actually getting wilder and more hittable in the standup now than he was 3 years ago, I don't think Curran is the guy to expose him. Alvarez by TKO, crowd goes wild.

Tournament Fights: Lyman Good may have not been able to stop the takedowns of Ben Askren, a potentially undersized grappler, but Askren was a great wrestler who is a ball of kinetic energy being unleashed in the cage and who seeks dominant positions and punches. Rick Hawn is an undersized welterweight who hasn't shown explosive shots and active grappling, but instead shows the game of a flat footed wrestleboxer. Can't bet against Good in this fight. I just can't do it. Good probably would be wise to go to the clinch early and test what precisely Hawn offers for throws and physical strength. See where his technique is or if he plans on overpowering him. If its the latter, then beat him mercilessly.

Toby Imada is everyone's favorite journeyman. Unfortunately, journeymen are journeymen for a reason: They aren't good enough to stay in one place and establish themselves as contenders. Patricky Friere is a lot like Thiago Alves to me. Maybe not as good - somewhere between Thiago Tavares and Thiago Alves in terms of doing similar things with grappling and being willing to look for KOs. Now, Toby Imada got robbed against Pat Curran, but otherwise since 2007 in MMA aside from the KO to Eddie Alvarez hasn't lost. I will agree to this, for whatever that statement means. He has even beaten a guy who I still think is a better fighter in him in Jorge Masvidal. Proof is on youtube! if Friere is willing to take down Imada, he deserves to get submitted, swept, or otherwise lose the fight. But if he plays the smart game and stands at a distance and beats him up, he should stop Imada. And that's a big win for the guy. Way better than Rob McCullough.

Titan Fighting Championships 17 (3/26/2011)

2011-03-29T23:52:00.000-04:00

We're back at Memorial Hall in Kansas City for this event featuring a bunch of crappy names and like, no good fighters. Basically. Mike Schiavello and Frank Trigg are announcing this event headlined by Bobby Lashley and John Ott. Ott is a middleweight who is blown up to heavyweight.

1) Jon Hollis vs. Anthony Gutierrez: Nondescript local lightweights. As amateurs, Gutierrez beat Hollis. As pros, will it be different? Noteworthy fact: Hollis has his own name tramp stamped on him.

FIGHT: Gutierrez Submission Rnd 1. Hollis is a decent wrestler, but not much else. With Gutierrez having a height advantage, Hollis decides to take down Gutierrez repeatedly and take his chances. Hollis leaves his head or arm in over and over and over again and submission attempts just keep coming from Gutierrez. With 40 seconds left in the round, a triangle choke forces a tapout for Hollis. (0)

Here is a hype piece for Phil Baroni after the opener so we can all hear about how Phil Baroni, late in his physical prime, is about to make a comeback after fighting like shit for years.

2) Nathan Schut vs. James Krause: Schut is 13-4 against non-names but is a lifetime wrestler. Krause lost in Bellator and WEC and bounced from both. He is a lot taller and younger.

FIGHT: Krause TKO Rnd 1. Schut doesn't prepare at all for strikes and was thinking takedown when he gets hit with a headkick he didn't see at all. Fight is done and its 30 seconds in. (0)

3) Alonzo Martinez vs. Aaron Derrow: Derrow was getting the hell beat out of him when he beat Rich Clementi by miracle sub. Martinez is some guy who I saw in the last TFC show. Honestly, this is an irrelevant bout, but you know what? It is well matched.

FIGHT: Martinez Majority Decision. The first time I tried watching this, I was drunk. I felt that was a bad way to go. So I watched again later sober. Man, this is a good fight! (2)

Derrow: Derrow is the kind of un-athletic BJJ guy that works from the bottom all the time. You know that guy. He's tall, gangly,throws terrible punches as he rushes forward to get the clinch, but has to pull guard or get taken down to do anything. To win regularly as such a guy, you have to be insane tough and incredible from the bottom. Derrow is tough. He is just OK from the bottom. He's just not gonna be that kind of guy in the Noguiera/Maia/Diaz vein. His punches coming forward are really bad, but you expect to see a guy like this push shots and wander forward looking to clinch.

If you take the tact that he's never going to really concentrate on striking or MMA as a career, that's fine. Pushing punches and coming forward at least gives you the chance of backing someone straight up and landing as they keep going backwards. He actually gets Martinez with a few shots this way at the end of the first. But counter shots and the like - that is where champions are made. He hurts Martinez so badly in the 3rd that he gets like two solid minutes of beatdown out of it with a single right hand counter as Martinez comes in wild. If that had happened in the first round, he'd have won. Instead. he gets a 10-8 on one card to get a draw and 10-9 on the other two, earning him a defeat.

Martinez: Undersized compared to Darrow, he's just OK at most everything, has decent submission defense, better takedowns than his opponent, and his striking is more consistent, albeit still wild by any reasonable discussion. He's a good gatekeeper type for guys looking to get to the D level in the sport.

4) William DeSouza vs. Eric Marriott: 150 lb catchweight? I think? I dunno. Who cares.

FIGHT: Marriott Unanimous Decision. Very difficult fight to break down. DeSouza is a guy who has some degree of grappling skill but wasn't close to having enough strength or technique to take down Marriott. This was a major issue, because skillwise he was getting beat up standing and on the bottom, while there were a couple attempts at leg locks, there weren't any real scares to keep Marriott honest on top. In effect, you saw in the very first round that DeSouza could not win. Marriott is hardly unbeatable - he's strong, yes. But he's flat footed and keeps his hands very low. He doesn't really have an explosive shot either.

In my weekly discussions with Lee Casebolt, he mentioned to me that he hadn't seen a fighter like DeSouza in a major MMA show such as this one since 1997. As he put it, who comes into a cage today with nothing other than brown belt level BJJ? (0)

5) Nick Nolte vs. Phil Baroni: Finally, we reach the main card. Before the fight, viewers are treated to a sort of Baroni promo shot at AKA in which Baroni shows off his incredible digs that he shares with Justin Wilcox upstairs, above the gym. Apparently he is now cohabitating in a 300 square foot room with Nolte, sleeping in a twin bed, and eating meals Wilcox cooks up on a camping stove while still spending money on fake tans and shit. Wasn't this guy married again? I know he got foreclosed on, but really now.

FIGHT: Baroni Unanimous Decision. Nolte isn't the story here. He fights a good gameplan that keeps him in the fight and takes Baroni deep where Phil is always, always terrible. Humorously, he throws a pair of spinning heel kicks in the third, one of which lands to the mush. Baroni's gameplan is that of top control wrestler, and wrestling was never really his strongest point. He was a sprawl and brawl wrestler at his best. As a top control wrestler, he doesn't have the cardio nor the GNP to dent guys. An argument can be made for Nolte to win this fight, since he pushed Baroni into the cage and landed some dirty boxing for the majority of the first before being taken down and controlled, and in round 3 he landed a ton of bad ass strikes that hurt Baroni and nearly finished a gassed Phil before gassing totally himself and being taken down and held down for 2 minutes. Baroni arguably then has lost every fight since his 2008 Icon Sport bout in which he KOed Ron Verdadero. (2)

6) Aaron Rosa vs. Abe Wagner: Rosa has grown horizontally into a middle of the road heavyweight. Wagner has been one for awhile now too. Fairly competitive bout, right?

FIGHT: Rosa Submission Rnd 2. Not really that competitive. Wagner's chin up, hands down striking style and poor wrestling means he loses here. He gets dropped in the second coming forwards and ends up having his back taken as a result and choked out. In the first he is beaten in the exchanges, pushed around by the chubby Rosa, and taken down off a single and held there for a good chunk of time. Abe's a decent athlete but he's not a great wrestler, and Rosa isn't one either but he's at least competent. Rosa establishes himself with this win as a guy like Devin Cole who operates well outside the top 25/30/maybe even 40 and plays gatekeeper with more talented athletes. (2)

7) Bobby Lashley vs. John Ott: Main event for the night, and preceded with a feature on Lashley that showed him in ice baths and hot saunas to recover for his merciless training sessions. Ott was a middleweight and not a very good one either, making him a seemingly easy foil for Lashley.

FIGHT: Lashley Unanimous Decision. This is the kind of fight that someone wins and still gets completely exposed on. It was one thing for Lashley to have such a tough time years ago with Jason Guida. He was young and inexperienced then and also a part time fighter still pro wrestling. Today, 2 years later, he should be past it. He's not. What Lashley had then he still has. He has a lot of muscles and an OK blast double that puts Ott down on the mat in every round. What he also has is a poor gas tank, no submission skills whatsoever, and a poor IQ as far as positional control is concerned. What was Lashley doing rocking forward with his feet off the mat inside of Ott's guard? Pushing down using gravity? Ott has guts and taunted a completely gassed out Bobby Lashley in the early going of round 3 while doing nothing to win. He came forward with wild strikes and got taken down, losing the round. Whatever. Ott says afterwards that he wanted to win and Lashley asks for a step up. Rosa/Lashley is a decent fight I suppose but has

the potential of unbridled suckage. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Derrow/Martinez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Schut/Krause

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gutierrez/Hollis

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. The fights with names were absolutely dreadful and yet entertaining in being so bad. The rest was forgettable with one entertaining but meaningless contest. Actually, the DeSouza/Marriott fight could also be slotted as "so bad it was good".

D&R Rating: 22% (8/35)

M-1 Challenge 23 (3/26/2011)

2011-03-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

M-1 got 4 shows on Showtime thanks to Fedor being, uhh, Fedor, and this is the first of those. Ranallo and Milietch are announcing this show for Showtime and we've got a bunch of fights between dudes I have barely ever seen.

1) Alexander Saranavskiy vs. Beau Baker: 155 lb bout. Baker has wins over Tom Speer and Mario Stapel, so he is not totally bad. Saranavskiy is 12-0 against nondescript competition.

FIGHT: Saranavskiy Submission Rnd 2. Story of the fight is such - Baker wants takedowns, doesn't really set up the shot, just sorta tries to walk through shots. Saranavskiy defends the attempts and lands a million arm shots. Unfortunately, Saranavskiy should have ended this in the first with all the punches and knees landed, but like I said; they had nothing behind them. Pure arm shots. More of this happens in the second, and after one particularly bad attempted takedown attempt, Baker tries to back out and turns around to run away and Saranavskiy jumps on his back and takes him to the mat. There's a body triangle and a RNC soon after. (1)

2) Jason Norwood vs. Mojo Horne: 185 lb bout. Norwood is a top level wrestler, and Horne isn't. Oh, and he's like 7 years younger too.

FIGHT: Norwood Unanimous Decision. What I can tell you about Horne is that which I could have told you before - he's not a great wrestler. He's not even a very good submission guy from the bottom. He's basically a striker and he gets taken down over and over and over again. Norwood, meanwhile, is a great wrestler. He's not a good striker, and so he doesn't even try to trade. He goes for singles or doubles or singles or doubles. And that's it. Horne has some offense early in the second round as he tries to fight off Norwood's attempts at a takedown and lands a couple punches and knees, but Norwood just keeps pushing and pushing. Norwood on top doesn't do a lot either. He's sorta a human blanket who prefers to hold his man down from the half guard rather than land blows in the full guard or rear up in mount to get leverage. (1)

3) Vinny Magalhaes vs. Jake Doerr: 205. Vinny loves to pull guard and that's been his career downfall from TUF to the present. Jake hasn't fought in two years and is a "judo specialist" moving up from middleweight who also happens to be shorter and older.

FIGHT: Magalhaes TKO Rnd 1. Magalhaes drops Doerr immediately with a left hand and we are headed to KOTC Special Land. The fight ends with Magalhaes on top with a body triangle on and having the back of Doerr landing blow after blow to the head. (1)

4) Tyson Jeffries vs. Magomed Sultanakhmedov: Middleweight title up for grabs.

FIGHT: Sultanakhmedov TKO Rnd 2. In the first round, Jeffries is trying to do things right and keep his foot on the outside of Magomed's lead foot and throw the right hand. But he throws slowly, he doesn't jab, and most importantly, he can't check kicks at all. Sultanakhmedov lands low kicks over and over and over and then throws body kicks over and over and over and man, it looks bad on Jeffries. There's a takedown for Sultanakhmedov too and he ends up in side control, and yet he prefers to stand out of a dominant position to go back to striking.

As the second goes on, Jeffries actually gets a trip takedown after absorbing more low kicks. Even though he has mount, he never postures up, never goes for anything, and gets bucked when he finally seems to consider it. Back to the standup and Sultanakhmedov throws more kicks up and down, and this fight starts to get ugly. The last 30 seconds was me yelling at the TV demanding a referee stoppage as punches kept landing, kicks kept landing, and knees kept landing while Jeffries wasn't intelligently defending himself or coming back with anything that could change the outcome of the fight. Horrible stoppage. So, so late. Sultanakhmedov wins a vacant title. Problem for Sultanakhmedov as he fights better opposition: He's too small to be a successful middleweight at 5'9'' and with his body type. (1)

5) Artiom Damkovsky vs. Jose Figueroa: Lightweight title bout. Damkovsky is defending his title. Figueroa has lost to every good fighter he's faced, but he is from ATT.

FIGHT: Figueroa TKO Rnd 2. Beatdown again. Damkovsky is basically a striker and not a very good one. Figueroa lands the superior shots standing and gets trip takedowns any time he's close enough to have the clinch. Damkovsky's nose breaks after going face first into that mat during the 1st round. Figueroa from that point just smashes the hell out of Damkovsky, keeps getting takedowns, and eventually pounds out Damkovsky from the mount. Am I going to pretend that Figueroa is a real prospect now? No. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Figueroa/Damkovsky

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sultanakhmedov/Jeffries

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Saranavskiy/Baker

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Uhhh, so nothing here was really good and some dudes got destroyed and that was it. Skill level is like any other lousy MMA show except that you have Russians.

D&R Rating: 20% (4/20)

WEC 4: Rumble Under The Sun (8/31/2002)

2011-03-25T10:30:00.000-04:00

EAST COAST VS. WEST COAST. Ryan Bennett and Jeff Cole (???) are the announcers for this event, coming straight from the Mohegan Sun Hotel/Casino in Uncasville, CT. Main event - Jeremy Horn vs. Aaron Brink. Pretty amazing! Production is...amazingly bad. Like, you hear lots of dudes at the desk talking to the truck and a lot of dead air. And this is the first 10 minutes! Place is just dead - barely anyone there. Takes like almost 15 minutes for anything appreciable to happen. Lots of pyro and Kid Rock: What a different era.

Tons of legit fighters appear at the booth - Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Jens Pulver, Pat Militech, among others.

1) Bao Quach vs. Jeff Curran: Wow, now that is an opener! Both guys were at featherweight here and have risen and dropped since. Curran fought in WEC at 135, and Quach was at 140 with EXC and may be a bantamweight now. Both regularly fought at LW.

FIGHT: Curran Decision. Its not stated that its a unanimous or split decision, so, uhh, "decision". Good competitive fight. By the time the bout is over, 45 minutes has passed from the start of the show to that point.

Quach: Quach is really flat footed here and quite the boxing robot. His grappling though is very strong. He repeatedly gets Curran down with his shot from the outside, but does very little with the position. Curran's active guard prevents him from doing any real damage, and Curran lands better and more stuff while standing. He also gets dominated a bit in the clinch should Curran be able to defend takedowns or initiate it. I think its fair to say that Quach is smaller than Curran also.

Curran: Big Frog is a decent fighter and looks somewhat put together here. He's a master of nothing, but skilled at most everything to some degree, which in 2002 was very rare at any weight class. He gets a thunderous slam on Quach in the second that's pretty impressive and also goes for several submission and sweeps him in a move that probably earns him the victory all the way back in the middle of round 1. (3)

2) Mike Swick vs. James Gabert: Middleweight contest featuring a future welterweight contender and some guy.

FIGHT: Swick Unanimous Decision. You see one of Swick's long time flaws here - reaching with punches. Gabert doesn't go down for anything. Seriously, Swick beats him upside the head forever and he doesn't go down once. He does cut Gabert on the skull with a high kick in the second but that's about the worst it gets. Gabert, for his credit, may be the much shorter man, but he comes forward constantly, does get inside some of the punches, and lands his own right hands on occasion. He also forces Swick against the cage, though when they clinch, often Swick is able to turn him and start throwing knees. Decent performance early in Swick's career. (2)

3) Jason Jones vs. Randall "Randy" Rowe: This Jason Jones isn't black and dutch; rather, he's bald and fights with Rico Chipparelli. Rowe is from the "Dog Pound" and hails from Middletown, CT, an old mill town that has very little going for it except a nice Tibetan restaurant. Oh, and that college that Hillary Clinton went to.

FIGHT: Rowe DQ. Rowe actually gets a takedown on a much larger, much better (on paper) wrestler and stays there the whole first round. Jones at the end of the first has a triangle choke on and he damn near finishes the fight when the bell rings. The ref breaks them and Rowe is laying down looking basically out. Jones stands over him and waits for him to sit up well after the round is over, then throws a punch. Why? No idea. Just stupid shit. Jones never won a professional MMA bout according to Sherdog, losing 7 times in the seminal Utah promotion Ultimate Combat Experience.

4) Eric Mainiai vs. John Rallo: Mainiai's pro debut against some guy.

FIGHT: Rallo TKO Rnd 1. Fun fight for how long it lasted. Rallo rocks Mainiai, who has a terrible stance for striking, then slams him to the mat with a huge bodyslam. He loses top position going for an armbar but gets the fight back to standing after rolling out when Mainiai goes to north/south and shows the world he has no idea really what he's doing. Standing, more right hands come in from Rallo and a couple knees, and Mainiai turns and runs and the ref stops it. He then complains because, hey, he was gonna mount some real offense and defense from that position! (0)

5) Christian Wellisch vs. Jay White: Man, two journeymen of today locking horns when they were young bucks of yesterday.

FIGHT: Wellisch TKO Rnd 3. This is the sort of fight Dana White loves - cheap, mildly skilled guys throwing leather on top of leather for 3 rounds, landing punches squarely and rocking each other. Both guys are grapplers who robobox and that's fine, particularly in 2002. Wellisch is the better wrestler and White is the better guy in terms of getting submissions on the bottom, so we see Wellisch get the majority of the takedowns and spend the majority of the time on the mat in top control dodging submission attempts and landing shots. Standing though is where most of the fighting takes place, and there they have hands down and wing bombs for the better part of 3 rounds.

Two key events take place - in the first round White drops Wellisch with a punch, and Wellisch curls into fetal and gets hit in the back of the head, as its the only thing he offers as a target. It initally looks like this will be a TKO in the first for White, but after a couple minutes of discussion, its decided to restart the bout and penalize White for the rabbit punch. Absolutely absurd. The second key moment is the final takedown in the third round. Wellisch seems to hang back in the round reserving what energy he has left for a double from way outside, and he gets White down. He stacks White up when there's an attempt at a heel hook, and Wellisch ends up in mount raining bombs and White verbally quits due to strikes. White is carried out on a stretcher. (1)

In between fights, we are joined by CHUCK LIDDELL, who says he is trying to stay busy.

6) Zack Light vs. Tony Fryklund: Light is with Team Punishment and moving up to 185 against the long time MFS product.

FIGHT: Fryklund Submission Rnd 1. Another epic ref fuckup - Light gets repeated takedowns on Fryklund and at one point looks for the heel hook. Then after having taken top control inside the guard, Light ends up in a kimura from the bottom and Fryklund cranks the arm. Then, for reasons we can only guess at, the ref stops the bout. He claims he heard a verbal tap, but the fighter immediately disagrees and its a whole mess with the crowd chanting "You Suck" to the ref. This is like the 4th botched fight in 6 on this card. (2)

FRANK SHAMROCK does an interview in the ring, states that he was hoping to fight Ricardo Almedia and broke his leg. States he will be fighting again soon or never again. Not sure. States he will fight in Mohegan Sun in January/February of 2002.

7) Kurt Pellegrino vs. Mac Danzig: Oh, the good old days! When high level prospects fought other high level prospects at a very early stage of their careers!

FIGHT: The second round was good MMA - guys going for submissions, changing positions, striking, everything. The first and the third rounds; Well, it represented an imposition of Pellegrino's will, essentially. You see him work for takedowns early in both, get them, and get to half guard and do not much. The ref occasionally stands it up, but its lather, rinse, repeat. The second changes this as Pellegrino rushes in with strikes and Danzig counters with his own successful double and he operates out of the full guard of Kurt for awhile. All the chains of attempted submissions and strikes come out of that. Easy decision for Batman Pellegrino, as he shows his strengths and not much more. Both guys are clearly very green. (3)

8) Richard Crunkilton vs. Luciano Oliveira: Crunkilton is seen these days trying out for TUF like, every season. Oliveira no one knows about.

FIGHT: Crunkilton Submission Rnd 1. Crunkilton gets stuck in the clinch early by Oliveira, and instead gets tossed down, goes for a triangle choke out of the mount, and then rolls over and forces the submission. Takes like 10 minutes to do the post fight interview for the new WEC lightweight champion as the mic barely works. Crunkilton looks like he's 19 here. (1)

9) Jeremy Horn vs. Aaron Brink: Brink has gone on to fame as a porn star and drug addict. Jeremy Horn has gone between three weight classes (here as a heavyweight) and fought about 1,000,000 times.

FIGHT: Horn Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special - Horn with the single, immediately takes the back, RNC. Like 1 minute in length. OK, internet says 54 seconds. Horn gets a title belt and says nice things. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Quach/Curran

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wellisch/White

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Crunkilton/Oliveira

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5.5 out of 10. There's some clunkers on the show but some good prospect vs. prospect fights that now look pretty interesting to the average Joe. Like the WEF and the WFA, these were times when high profile prospects and aging stars could find themselves on cards of this caliber. Today, the only elite fighters on similar shows weigh 125 lbs, regardless of their sex.

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/21 Pt. 2

2011-03-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

UFC REVIEW CONTINUED:

-Jim Miller made Shalorus look as ordinary as I expected. He's better striking, he's faster, more technical, much better at submissions, etc. When Shalorus shot in the second, it led to him getting his back immediately taken and rode for two minutes. He couldn't even recognize the foot lock Miller openly gave him by crossing his feet. Miller started seeing Shalorus ducking his head and began in the third round by ending combinations with uppercuts. He wiffs a few times then catches him, hurting Shalorus and leading to the ending knee and punching spree. Fights like this honestly don't do anything for Miller but build confidence, and that's really not the worst thing in the world. He needs a fight with Clay Guida before making the step up to a title contest, but he's being brought along nicely IMO. Just needs that experience of a wrestleboxer with straight, fast punches. Miller never led the exchanges and never needed to either. Shalorus was that predictable and slow.

-Forgot to reference Assunciao getting laid out by Koch. This is another example of guys dropping down to 145 when its viable and destroying the mainstays of the division. Koch timed the hook beautifully and was generally doing a very good job setting the traps and counters beforehand. In that talent wasteland, who knows what he can do?

-Brendan Schaub didn't make a fan out of me beating the shell of Cro-Cop. Yes, the takedowns looked good. Almost like tackles. But Cro-Cop's takedown D has been tested and failed on numerous occasions in the last couple years. Plus - the top of the division are guys with All American awards as wrestlers. Some of the guys beneath them are in the same boat. Schaub is athletic and changes levels well, but his striking is slow to develop. So much one punch at a time stuff that a better guy is going to take advantage of fast. A rematch with Roy Nelson would be interesting, I suppose. Meanwhile, Cro-Cop is finished and has been for a long time. You'd be insane to have denied it even two years ago.

-Eddie Wineland, a guy who by all accounts is a lousy wrestler, forced Faber to work very hard for takedowns in round 1. That is the big takeaway from the fight with Faber and Wineland. Faber is still short for a bantamweight, he still holds his hands too low, and he's still very fast and tough to time. He had a tough time really bothering Wineland with his slapping punches until later in round 3, but I think it was clear that Faber was landing the better stuff in round 1 and won all three stanzas. But the takedowns - you know, there was this beauty in round 2 where Faber gives a feint and then sorta floats his way straight into the wheelhouse of Wineland, scoops up the lead leg, and then trips the back one. It was marvelous. But against Cruz, I have a feeling it doesn't work now. Cruz moves and movers need to have the ring cut off and you need to shoot for center mass punching them. Faber doesn't do that. He relies entirely on his athleticism. Maybe I'm going about this all wrong and Cruz really isn't any faster than Wineland, but I don't believe that to be true and so I don't see Faber having an easy time putting Cruz on his back or beating him.

-Dan Miller isn't a very good middleweight. What else is new? Marqhardt is bigger, throws harder, gets better position, and can fight his way back up from takedowns like nobody's business. Miller just throws crappy punches and tries to get takedowns off Marqhardt's more spectacular leaping kicks and punches. Speaking of Marqhardt leaping: What the fuck was that technique he was using? He keeps his distance then jumps in and then throws punches? Uhhh, dude. You are not Roy Jones. You are not fast enough to move in and out linearly like that and not get timed by much better fighters. Or even just OK fighters, which is how you lost to gatekeepers like Okami and Sonnen.

-Gleison Tibau vs. Kurt Pellegrino can best be described as "a fucking mess". Both men are firmly entrenched in the position of "journeymen" and in turn, this should be a sort of crossroads fight where one is demoted out of the UFC and the other keeps their place. Instead, what we get is a tepid, nigh unwatchable affair with neither man trying to win the 3rd and final round, and only one round comprehensively won by either man (Pellegrino wins the second off the strength of his striking, a solid right hand on Tibau, and a takedown). Tibau probably wins the 3rd round off the strength of his own takedown with 45 seconds left along with his more orthodox but robotic and slow boxing. Pellegrino pushes what little action occurs in the first round but neither guy lands anything. Its a split decision and I would have been fine with a draw.

-Njoukani and Barboza put on the FOTN as the folks running the show thought, and I guess I agree. It was a decent, skilled standup battle that while it wasn't a fever pitched exchange of winging punches was pretty fun to watch. Barboza really believes strongly in the kicks. That's fine. Just one issue; MMA is ruled by wrestlers. Wrestlers live to catch guys throwing kicks. If Anthony Njoukani can take you down, you will be planted on your back for an entire fight against Clay Guida. Barboza's wild spinning kicks are also just begging for double leg takedowns to counter them. And to be entirely honest, I can see why people would feel like Njoukani was robbed here. It was a close fight in which Njoukani outworked Barboza in both rounds 2 and 3 but lost the last 45 seconds in such decisive manner that it probably altered the judges' perception of the entire 5 minute period. Its nice to outland your opponent, but if they can wobble you once in a round where you do little more than jab then, judges will remember that. If they take you down too? You better get busy.

-The less said about Catone/Phillipou, the better. Constantinos still can't stop the shot and still can't do anything from the bottom. If he wasn't on his back, he was against the fence and unable to do anything. Catone can wrestle and even if Philipou can strike well, it doesn't matter if he keeps being taken down and mauled. Might as well cut him after this.

I didn't see the other two fights, so yeah. Well, OK. I saw a little of Benevidez/Loveland. Man, Benevidez had a helluva time getting him down, didn't he? That's the problem with being too small for your division sometimes. Already you're seeing scrub 145lb fighters move down and make noise or at least be competitive with the top of the class.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

Titan Fighting Championship: I could easily run my record up predicting two of the fights, but that's not fun. Instead, the co-main event is Abe Wagner, TUF alum, against ShoXC alumni Aaron Rosa. Aaron Rosa fought in a stinker against Devin Cole that he didn't deserve to win, and lost to some light heavyweights that aren't really at the next level or anything. On the other hand, Abe Wagner is a tough guy to explain. He KOed a former UFC champion, sure. He was also KOed in 8 seconds by Travis Browne and went to a split decision with Sherman Pendergarst. Don't even ask about TUF. In short, while Devin Cole is a strong wrestler with some striking ability and also the willingness to have whatever it is that assault in the fourth degree tied up with sexual harrassment means, he is markedly different from Abe Wagner, who has no wrestling background but instead played football at Michigan Tech.

Rosa may look soft, but he's skilled in ways Wagner isn't, and he doesn't typically wade into wide shots. He'll beat Wagner down and possibly KO him in the early stages.

Bellator 38: Again, only one fight I'm willing to predict - Raphael Davis and DJ Linderman is a fight between a foreign born product with some wins over legit opposition where, as best I've seen, he was dominant. On the other side, you have Linderman, who has heart, isn't as good a grappler, and as the "bigger man" was effectively just fat. Davis, meanwhile was plenty soft as well. But again; this is about who is more skilled, right? Davis is more skilled. He does more things well. Linderman might hang on for a decision but it seems like I get the winner right and the pick of how wrong. Since my inclination is a decision win for Davis, I'll say Davis wins by second round submission.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 24:

Phil Davis/Antonio Rogerio Noguiera is one of those fights you can only do when you really don't care who wins and you feel like it doesn't matter. Everyone is focused on Davis' wrestling, and Noguiera, like his twin, has problems with dominant wrestlers. He's also not as good as his brother from the bottom, though he certainly is skilled. Davis hasn't faced an equally skilled submission wrestler or striker to Noguiera, and he may be less willing to seek the takedown knowing that he could fall into Noguiera's traps on the mat. Standing, Noguiera won a bronze at the Pan Ams. I know more about it than anyone else because I watched the entire tournament. No matter how its framed, yes, it is impressive. So anyways, a pick: I think Noguiera wins, beating the young prospect probably by decision. There you go with that.

The undercard is interesting to me for a few fights - Dan Hardy and Anthony Johnson are fringe welterweight contenders, but Hardy does nothing well and isn't the kind of athletic and physical specimen that Johnson is. Nor is he as big. Hardy can hit plenty hard and Johnson's chin might be there to get hit, but I would be surprised if he lands real leather. Johnson is a big favorite for a reason, and I think he stops Hardy.

There's a lot of mediocre TUF guys on the undercard I can't be bothered to type about, but there's some other stuff I can get up for. Jon Madsen is a high level amateur wrestler and still undefeated as a pro. Mike Russow is also a high level amateur wrestler - not undefeated as a pro. On the other hand, Russow has face by far the better level of competition. Madsen will be a legitimate prospect in the division if he beats Russow...I'd think he's even better than one compared to Schaub. But talking about beating Russow and beating Russow are different things. In the end, experience matters and Russow has it along with talent. He beats Madsen and maybe even stops him with a keylock.

Also, finally: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung: It was Krazy Horse/Syraipai for a new generation the first time. Rarely are wild brawls like that in the rematch. If you ask me who looked the worse for wear, or hell, asked anyone with eyes, they'd say the Korean Zombie doesn't look the same. I agree. Garcia by deserved decision.

Tuff-N-Uff Fights: Future Stars of MMA 3 (1/7/2011)

2011-03-24T10:32:00.000-04:00

John Morgan and Dave Farra are announcing this event from the Orleans' Mardi Gras Ballroom. All bouts are amateur fights. 2 minute rounds all around and judging by the referee's shirt, sanctioning comes through the ISKA.

1) Casey Picard vs. Cody Hamm: Uhhhh. Some people. They aren't even of drinking age, these two. 160lb bout.

FIGHT: Picard TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special, basically. Hamm complains about the stoppage, but whatever. Picard is picking off Hamm's wild shots and then slams him down out of a bodylock, immediately taking side control. He mounts Hamm and punches him until the ref stops it. (0)

2) Joshua Morgan vs. Tyler Jeppsen: Again: More guys I don't know. Morgan is 29. 185lbs.

FIGHT: Jeppsen TKO Rnd 1. Wild grappling from both early on and Morgan cuts himself from what looks to me to be either A) contact his face makes with the canvas less than 30 seconds in or B) an accidental headbutt when the two clinch. Nothing is learned about either aside from that Morgan's stance for striking reminds me of Dan Severn in 1997. (0)

3) Raul Sandoval vs. Jesse Romero: Romero is from Couture's gym.

FIGHT: Romero Unanimous Decision. Sandoval is the better fighter standing and trading, but that's not all MMA is, right? Romero takes down Sandoval over and over again, attains dominant positions, and lands OK GnP, particularly in round 1 (where he mounts Romero). In rounds 2 and 3 he spends almost the entire round on top. (0)

4) Jessamyn Duke vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith: Evans-Smith is the "local" favorite having sold a few tickets to friends and being from California. Duke is from KY. Why did she come all the way to Vegas to fight for no money? Hmmmm.....

FIGHT: Evans-Smith Unanimous Decision. Duke is a kickboxer sorta. I say sorta because she can kick and that's about the only evidence of skill. Zero takedown defense. I mean, she gets taken down off an armdrag. Duke is "active" from the guard but so loose, she comes nowhere near actually locking anything up. Later in the fight, Evans-Smith is landing punches repeatedly and doesn't even have to do anything but walk forward to get to the range she wants with Duke. Evans-Smith is a top control grappler, but compare her to like Jessica Eye (who is only recently a pro) and I'm not horribly impressed yet. Still, she is young. (0)

5) Lee Henry Lilly vs. Joey Angelo: These guys each have 5-6 ammy fights - welterweights.

FIGHT: Lilly Unanimous Decision. Angelo and Lilly threw wild stuff at each other that didn't connect, but Lilly had takedowns in every round. When the rounds are 2 minutes, being on top for 1 minute pretty much guarantees you won. Angelo has good size but I don't think much of his technique or athleticism. Lilly seems to be a wrestleboxer type but that's not a bad thing. No idea what his credentials are. (0)

6) David Tompkins vs. Troy Remer: 10th Planet vs. Xtreme Couture in this one.

FIGHT: Remer Unanimous Decision. Competitive fight. Tompkins is much taller and should be working from long range on Remer. Unfortunately, he keeps on kicking against the wrestler, and when he does that, Remer closes the distance and gets to the clinch. The fight is fought in the clinch or the mat probably 75% of the time, with Remer getting the takedown in every round. Based on his control of Tompkins by pushing him around the ring or taking him down, Remer wins the first and second, but then loses the third when Tompkins immedately sweeps him and lands a number of blows in the closing seconds. (0)

7) Jon Gorton vs. Jonathon Rodeffer: Rodeffer is a Team Tompkins disciple. LW bout.

FIGHT: Gorton Unanimous Decision. First round is an exhibition of wild striking, but the second and third are all about takedowns from Gorton. Rodeffer is a dirty fighter - he grabs almost every rope at the same time to prevent a takedown, and also claims to be hit in the groin when he's taken down with a double. (0)

8) Cesar Campos vs. Josh Grevas: LA Boxing vs. Xtreme Couture. Campos has an appreciable height advantage. Grevas has been off from fighting for 3 years.

FIGHT: Campos Unanimous Decision. Grevas goes for takedowns and gets them on occasion, but has trouble dealing with the submissions thrown back at him by Campos. Standing, its not even close. Grevas throws wide punches from the outside and gets tagged coming in. Grevas kinda stinks the fight out with his style, unfortunately. (0)

9) Ronda Rousey vs. Taylor Stratford: Women's bout. Both are undefeated. Rousey is a Olympian judoka.

FIGHT: Rousey Submission Rnd 1. So, here we have the most impressive performance of the show. Rousey and Stratford end up close enough for the clinch early and Rousey gets an outside trip and then starts going for submission after submission and submission. She gets a straight armbar and its all over. (1)

10) Giovani Zavala vs. Gabriel Garzon: Heavyweights - in shape ones! Zavala is 31, however.

FIGHT: Zavala TKO Rnd 1. Garzon and Zavala swing and swing and then they clinch. Zavala gets pushed to the corner and after a lack of action, they work to separate themselves. Garzon does it all wrong, leaving straight out and with his hands down and head up. He gets clocked behind the ear with a punch and goes down hard.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

KO OF THE NIGHT: Garzon/Zavala

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Man, aside from Rousey's fight, nothing to get excited about here. The only potential pro prospects I really saw from this show based on where they are now are Casey Picard, Lee Henry Lilly (as a lightweight), and Jon Gorton. None of those I feel too strongly about. They could be the random 6-5 guys fighting on any generic club card in this country just as well as they could develop into UFC level gatekeepers and FOTN chasers.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/60)

IFL: ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 (9/20/2007

2011-03-23T09:45:00.001-04:00

This is a little strange because, hey - its not really a review of a fight card as much as it is the one IFL commercial DVD. It opens up with a bunch of commercials for stuff like the USO, Muscle Milk, Headblade, and a bunch of other junk. There's only 7 fights on the DVD, but they are pretty nifty ones, I gotta admit. This show generally emanates from the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL, but there's some bonus fights from god knows where. Kenny Rice and Bas are your announcing crew. This is Pitbulls vs. the Silverbacks (Renzo vs. Miletich for coaches).

For those who've forgotten: IFL rules are unified rules with some changes - no elbows at all, 4 minute rounds, and yes; a ring.

1) Delson Heleno vs. Jake Ellenberger: First bout of the night and we've got a couple really high level guys. Ellenberger is actually a substitute for Rory Markham.

FIGHT: Heleno Submission Rnd 2. Not much of a breakdown to offer here - Heleno and Ellenberger are in the clinch from the very start of the fight and Heleno keeps working and working and working for trips and body lock takedowns. Ellenberger's a good wrestler and fights most of them off throughout the first , getting put on his back only briefly a couple times. In the second, the trip comes early in the round and the entire rest of the fight is fought on the mat. Heleno is great on top, getting to mount and flattening Ellenberger out, though doing little damage. Ellenberger bucks him into the full guard, only to get swept himself and armbar'ed late in the round. (3)

2) Bart Palaszewski vs. Devidas Taurosevicius: Two guys who ended up in the WEC and went no further.

FIGHT: Taursevicius Submission Rnd 2. Kinda surprising in retrospect that Taurosevicius went from looking like a future star in this bout dominating Palaszewski and then flamed out so dramatically at both 155 and 145. Bartimus was taken down in the first after tentative striking and absorbed a lot of punches to the face for the majority of the round while Devidas was almost kept on the mat with a rape choke. Second round, we see a body lock and Palaszewski gets the takedown and gets on top. Hey, that's good! Then Taurosevicius gets a high guard, grabs the left leg to give the appearance that he's going for a leg lock, but transitions into an armbar. Palaszewski thinks to try and pull the arm out and it breaks instead. Ugly. (3)

3) Ricco Rodriguez vs. Ben Rothwell: I remember wanting to see this fight so bad and when it hit TV, it was as highlights of round 3 only. Ricco, of course, is a former UFC champion. Rothwell is now in the UFC and had been on a huge run at this point.

FIGHT: Rothwell Unanimous Decision. Again, not a big breakdown to do here because what was done was so simple in some ways. Ben Rothwell is the better man standing by an appreciable amount. Rodriguez, meanwhile, does little offensively aside from some low kicks and going for two guillotines, neither of which was very deep. Every time Rothwell gets put in the guillotine, he pulls his head out and starts punching, earning him (IMO) every round. This really isn't the easiest fight to watch though. Lots of pushing and hugging. (4)

4) Ryan McGivern vs. Fabio Leopoldo: Middleweight contest. Neither guy is really special - McGivern actually won the IFL Middleweight title when they moved to individual belts later on in the dying days of the promotion. Leopoldo should lost his prior two fights coming into this having been given a gift against a young Gerald Harris.

FIGHT: McGivern TKO Rnd 2. Beatdown city. Leopoldo does nothing effective in this fight, isn't able to get takedowns, isn't competitive on the feet. McGivern takes advantage of Leopoldo's wide guard and the fact that he drops his head every time McGivern comes forward with strikes and throws uppercuts over and over and over again. He drops Leopoldo three times with uppercuts and the last one puts Leopoldo down and out for awhile. Heckuva TKO. McGivern only fought twice after the IFL went under and seems to have retired following a loss in Bellator in 2010. (2)

5) Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. Andre Gusmao: Both guys got to the UFC and did very little when they made it there. This fight will also decide who is the IFL Team Champion for 2007. Its a rematch for a fight that Gusmao won in 2007.

FIGHT: Gusmao TKO Rnd 1. Ciesnolevicz comes forward not really setting up the shot and eats a high kick. He stumbles and goes down and Gusmao follows up with punches before the fight gets back to the feet ever so briefly and a knee finishes the bout. Really, the high kick was a grazing shot - if it was flush Ciesnolevicz may never have woken up. (2)

Show is over, Pitbulls are the champs.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

BONUS#1: Daniel Gracie vs. Wes Sims: Jens Pulver is joining the crew for this bout at the Trump Taj Mahal. Its actually a rematch from the Gracie Fighting Championships. Ricco is in the corner for Wes Sims. Also, no Bas and instead we have Steven Quadros! Weird. Fight is from 6/3/2006.

FIGHT: Gracie Submission Rnd 1. Wes Sims gets taken down off an inside trip very early in the bout and is in the half guard, and at that point, the fight is basically over. Gracie moves to mount, Sims gives the back up and stands, and Gracie holds on the whole time. Sims tries to dump him over the top rope but the Herb Dean kinda keeps the rope up holding it and Sims ends up passing out from the choke and collapsing with Sims on his back. Gracie's people rush the ring and are like landing on top of an unconscious Sims. Daniel Gracie goes on to be KOed by Allan Goes and disappears for 5 years before returning at the one and only Israel Fighting Championships Show ever held to date. But let's not be unfair here - he is returning soon to fight with Bellator. (1)

BONUS #2: Shad Lierley vs. Chris Horodecki: Man, another version of "what the hell happened?" Horodecki just wasn't willing to make the sacrifices to cut to 145 where he was better physically suited and now he's outside of the big promotions looking in after being a can't miss prospect once.

FIGHT: Horodecki Unanimous Decision. This is the fight that is popularly considered the greatest in the history of the International Fight League. (4)

Horodecki: Once a young phenom, Horodecki is largely seen as being washed up these days. He just had a lot of big beatings when he lost and this war also didn't do any good for his neurological health. Horodecki had the rep of being a big bopper in TKO and had some nice wins early in his IFL career, but since 2007, Horodecki's career has more than doubled in experience, he's dropped 3 fights, and he hasn't gotten a single win by TKO. Maybe Lierley was the proof that his punching power was totally overrated, because lawd almighty, he hit him with everything about a hundred times each. Horodecki also shows that he's not particularly good at stopping takedowns and isn't any sort of overpowering grappler from his back.

Lierley: Its not often that you can say about a guy that it was a terrible thing to be in a notable fight of the year contender 3 fights into his career. But that is what happened here to Shad - he gave Horodecki everything he could handle in a losing effort and absorbed a lot of stuff in doing so. He's a great tough pug, but the final analysis of this fight and his career isn't positive. You get hit a lot like this, it can ruin you. On top of that, being so competitive with a guy so highly regarded as Horodecki meant that he skipped a few levels of development and ended up in with fighters who were well above his skill level. He dropped to 145 in 2008 for his next fight with Wagnney Fabiano and literally made that guy's hype train before the WEC. Then he goes to Bellator in 2009 and goes 1-1 there beating journeyman Nate Murdock and then losing to a similar sort of shooting star phenom in Wilson Reis.

As a fighter though: Lierley is a wrestleboxer with a wide boxing guard and poor movement. He has a tremendous chin and his takedowns are OK, but nothing stands out about his skill level. In top control against Horodecki he is not that active. He also doesn't have the same level of cardio and is pretty well past it in the 3rd round. But he can see the punches coming from Horodecki and stays in the fight as a result. Wild stuff when he throws but it occasionally sets up the shot.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT/DVD: Lierley/Horodecki

KO OF THE NIGHT/DVD: McGivern/Leopoldo

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT/DVD: Gracie/Sims

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW/DVD: 7 out of 10. This is a pretty entertaining (in general) set of bouts with a cult classic included, a couple wild submissions, some beatdown KOs, and one sorta lousy but important fight.

D&R Rating: 54% (19/35) Highest rating attained thus far. If you score it solely as the 5 fights from the night in question alone, its a 56% instead.

Shogun Fights 3 (11/13/2010)

2011-03-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

This is the third show from promotion Shogun Fights, with Show #2 getting the BShow treatment previously. Once again, its a one hour program taped at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore. Why does every promotion have nu-metal intros? These guys do too. Announcers have the same sort of pairing here as the UFC: A color guy that announces everything and a PBP guy thad does nothing.

1) Tony Galeano vs. Dan Root: Dudes! Galeano is from Vegas. Middleweight. That's as much as I know.

FIGHT: Root Submission Rnd 1. Root is almost KOed immediately after slowing going for a single, but Galeano follows him to the mat, goes for a guillotine, and basically gets rolled onto his back and dooms himself. Root sits in the half guard forever, punches a bunch, passes and gets a head and arm choke to end it. I have no idea what Root can really do right now even after seeing that. (0)

2) Tim Wade vs. Ryan Macklin: Featherweights - Wade has good size for the division at 5'10''.

FIGHT: Macklin Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special with a bulldog choke after 1:30 or so. Trip takedown looks like Macklin just overpowered him more than beat him on technique. (0)

3) Russ Shiflett vs. Gemiyale Atkins: Shifflett is a club boxer turned MMA fighter. Atkins looks fat for the weight and small.

FIGHT: Atkins Unanimous Decision. This is hard to watch. Shifflett is terrified of the takedown, and also he's old. On top of that, Shifflett is clearly not a great boxer; hands are slow, punches are wide. As a result, he ends up absorbing the bigger shots in every round. When Atkins wants takedowns, he gets them, even if he can't hold the guy down. He also isn't particularly good on top - no real attempts to pass or go for subs or even throw solid shots. (0)

4) Frank Lester vs. Kevin Killian: Frank Lester was a guy on TUF 9 who kinda sucked but went down in history as a tough dude.

FIGHT: Lester TKO Rnd 1. Lester lands punches at will, drops Killian with a knee, and the fight is over. Killian does absolutely nothing right in a short and complete domination by Lester. (1)

5) Bobby Favors vs. Ryan McGowan: McGowan is big. 300lbs big. Love his muscles. Favors is "350" and looks closer to 400lbs. This fight even gets a big intro piece, and it features a ham beast. This sport. This fucking sport.

FIGHT: McGowan TKO Rnd 1. Favors is demolished with knees and punches. This fight is fucking terrible. I'm not sure what the deal with Ryan McGowan is and why they're so high on him, but whatever. He beat the shit out of a fat man. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lester/Killian

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lester/Killian

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Root/Galeano

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Some carnage makes this not the worst thing ever, but its darn close to it. There's time spent talking about how this show is "just below the UFC". Yeah. Right.

D&R Rating: 4% (1/25)

SHOOTO DISC 11: Shooto Gig 1st 4/10/98

2011-03-21T09:39:00.005-04:00

This event comes from Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and features a number of new faces - Saburo Kawakatsu, Isao Tanimura, Mitsuo Matsumoto, Kazumichi Takada, and Yuki Sasaki are all mentioned in a prefight promo piece. Of these, only really one would go on to anything bordering on stardom.

1) Isao Tanimura vs. Saburo Kawakatsu: Tanimura is already 30 at this point making his debut. Kawakatsu is some guy also debuting.

FIGHT: Kawakatsu Unanimous Decision. This is deserved - Kawakatsu got repeated takedowns and was on top in dominant positions most of the fight. He also came closest to finishing with going from side cotnrol with a straight armbar as well, though Tanimura fought his way out. (0)

2) Mitsuo Matsumoto vs. Masakazu Kuramochi: Matsumoto is a NEW FACE.

FIGHT: Kuramochi Unanimous Decision. This shown is shown as highlights - Matsumoto is taken down over and over, nearly taps due to a RNC on the chin, eats a high kick, and gets generally dominated in what is shown. (0)

3) Satoshi Fujisaki vs. Kazumichi Takada: Who? No idea on weight. Fujisaki with Shootboxing trunks.

FIGHT: Takada Unanimous Decision. Highlights only again. Lots of flying submission attempts in this bout. Takada does more of them, so he wins I guess? He can't strike at all. Fujisaki gets him in the thai plumb and while he lands a knee, he should have gone to town. Instead, we get a flying armbar attempt. (0)

4) Yuki Sasaki vs. Yasushi Warita: Warita is terrible, Sasaki still gets relevant bouts.

FIGHT: Sasaki Submission Rnd 1. Easy fight - he takes down Warita instantly, goes from half guard to taking the far leg and turning a heel hook. Warita rolls and taps. That there is a debut! (1)

5) Yoshiyuki Takayama vs. Katsuhisa Akasaki: 62KG! Little dudes!

FIGHT: Takayama Submission Rnd 1. Rear naked finishes this contest - Akasaki is way smaller and when he drops to try and get down Takayama following a clinch started by a Takayama body kick, he's pancaked and gets his back taken. The choke slowly works its way in and he's flattened out. Standing Takayama almost seemed to be playing with him given the way he was juking and feinting. (0)

6) Takuya Kuwabara vs. Takenori Ito: Kuwabara is Mr. Takedowns. Ito, from what little I know, is chiefly a top control grappler and not an active one, either.

FIGHT: Kuwabara Majority Decision. Atrocious decision. (0)

Kuwabara: Kuwabara shoots IMMEDIATELY. I'm shocked. And he keeps on shooting, too. But he's shooting from too far outside. And he isn't doing anything to set up the shot and get closer. Put all that together with the disadvantage he has in size and he is getting stuffed over and over again. And his left leg is getting red from being kicked so much. Its a bad first. The second is a big improvement though - he pushes hard with his first shot and gets down Ito and handles him on the mat the majority of the round. Then he starts taking the stance of a counter puncher and lands some hard right hands when Ito takes the lead foot. This continues into the third round after Kuwabara is forced to trade with Ito - since Ito throws one thing at a time, he tries to time kicks off the back foot with his right hand. Lead foot kicks he has trouble with - eats them at worst, blocks them partially with his forearms at best. He gets very deep penetration looking for a double off a back leg body kick from Ito and takes him down with 15 seconds remaining. Apparently that was enough for a majority decision? Horrible.

Ito: Ito looks to be as much as 6 inches taller than Kuwabara. If only I had taken notes on that! And he just looks much physically larger. Kinda like watching what would have happened if Florian fought Gamburyan. Ito has a bad second round where he loses his mojo and gets taken down and controlled and even hit a few times standing, but gets back to work in the third - he is apparently convinced he can throw leg kicks and not get taken down, and starts throwing them again. And he actually does stop the takedown this time and forces Kuwabara down face first, cutting him. The fight is restarted standing and Ito again has a huge gap between him and his short opponent. Its so big, Ito starts throwing headkicks because Kuwabara can't close the gap. Ito does eventually get a takedown late in the round off a kick, but the decision is obvious. Ito does have a big flaw standing - never throws combinations. Not even two strikes in a row. Should have won this easily under Unifed Rules scoring. In Shooto? Who the fuck knows.

After the show is over, we get a video promo about Rumina Sato showing the loss to Joel Gerson and what I think is Korakuen Hall along with the message "THE GREATEST COMMON MEASURE RULES IN GRAPPLING EQUALS TO COMBAT WRESTLING" for what seems to be a grappling competition for Shooto, Judo, Sambo, etc. Then we see a package of highlights from said grappling competition held on 3/15 of that year. Among the finals matches shown in highlights unless otherwise noted:

58KG: Shoji Masada vs. Masaru Kokita - Kokita wins

63KG: Hiroyuki Abe vs. Kazuhiro Inoue - Abe wins

69KG: Kazuya Abe vs. Takeshi Yamazaki - Note: Caol Uno was participating but didn't get to the semis. Abe wins a decision.

76KG: Yasushi Miyake vs. Rumina Sato - This is shown in full, actually. Sato loses a decision on points.

85KG: Takeuchi Izuru vs. Sunao Terada: Izuru wins by heelhook or something

85+KG: Sadaaki Sugiura vs. Keizo Sakakibara: Sugiura wins decision on points. And its by a shit load (11-0!). Dude is kinda fat.

Women: Yoko Gokita vs. Michiko Takeda: Takeda wins with a choke. She's like, a lot bigger.

After the highlights are shown, so are medal ceremonies and THAT'S ALL FOLKS.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ito/Kuwabara

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Sasaki/Warita

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4.5 out of 10. I can't lie. I kinda enjoyed Ito/Kuwabara and Yuki Sasaki's debut. There were only 4 full fights shown, and if you ignore the grappling tourney, its like an hour long episode of NAAFS from back in the day.

D&R Rating: 3% (1/30)

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/21 Pt. 1

2011-03-20T15:01:00.002-04:00

I'll split this up for opinions I'll have as they're freshest:

-No idea what really happened in United Glory but I was 1-1 in picks.

-James Irvin showed up about 9 lbs over and gets beaten in seconds. Shocker.

-I had a nice conversation with Lee Casebolt on Friday about the UFC show. I told him then that Jon Jones not winning the title would rock the foundation of my worldview. I considered it that impossible that he would lose. I was right. Shogun had no gameplan, was gassed one round into the fight, and was overwhelmed by Jones physically from the get go. Forget the talk about knee injuries and what not. He was never a skilled enough fighter to challenge Jones ever. What was he gonna do, take Jones down? Rush him with punches and risk being in the clinch?

One thing Lee and I discussed that I now agree with - the best matchups are not Rampage but Machida and Evans. Rampage is, as Lee reminded me, too easily manhandled in the clinch. Maybe not easy to take down, but Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson were able to keep him against the fence when needed. Jones comes in wild, and when you are that wild, someone with great speed and movement can counter you and make you look foolish. Machida is very possibly such an individual. I would pay money for that fight. Evans will be tougher because of the gulf in size, but he does have an appreciable advantage in hand speed and technique. Horrendous game plan from Marshall. If he retires, well, OK. You weren't getting any further anyhow.

On Eliot Marshall/Luis Cane: That was my one wrong pick for the UFC card. Marshall looked terrified in there and Cane mugged him. He did nothing to set up takedowns and stayed square and against the fence almost the entire period of the fight until being KOed in the first. Luis Cane isn't back yet. Won't be official for awhile if ever.

Watched all of Bellator:

-Lee told me Eric Larkin was a beast. Well, he's a beast that can't set up the shot in MMA, got sprawled on, ate a knee that busted up his face, and he got choked out with a guillotine trying to press for the takedown.

-Daniel Straus looked good at 145 beating Malegarie. Its his best win in terms of performance and guy he beat. Didn't look good getting rode in the first round, but he outlasted the Argentine fighter, showed some grappling prowess, and clearly was much better on the feet (which was expected). With Larkin out, I think his one of his biggest worries in the tournament went with him.

-Wilson Reis looks like a star running over Zac George, dropping him, taking a dominant position, and then submitting him. But then again, how many times has Reis looked like a star, then disappointed? I've seen the story too many times. He needs to be at 135.

-Patricio Freire KOed Karakhanyan in the third with a big hook and followup GNP. He was a lot bigger physically and like his brother, you see him setting up punches and takedowns by timing them based on the opponent's movement and predictability. At 15-1, he is indisputably the best featherweight in Bellator outside of Joe Warren, based on the people beaten and skills shown. But that inability to wrestle with Warren is not something that will go away overnight.

Predictions for this weekend: 8-2

Predictions for 2011: 15-3

KOTC: Stand Off (2/22/2008) & Combat Collection Vol. 2 Final Review

2011-03-20T14:53:00.000-04:00

Alright, FINAL disc of the Combat Collection Vol. 2, which seems at this moment to be the last KOTC box set ever produced for sale and distribution. This show is coming at you from Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant. Inman and Cordiero are announcing this show.

1) Brian Karmolinski vs. Joel Paquette: Lightweight amateurs.

FIGHT: Paquette Submission Rnd 1. Karmolinski gets deep and has the hands locked around both legs of Karmolinski and still can't get him down. He keeps pushing for the double and then the single on the outside leg and Paquette comes around to his back and chokes him out. (0)

At this point, in enters Pappa Schnake. Insert FUUUUUUUUUU jpeg here.

2) Jeremy Joles vs. Mike Sixel: More amateur lightweights. This is actually part of a one night 4 man tournament. Sixel is not new to my eyes having fought on a show I've reviewed before of KOTC that happened one month prior in Wisconsin. He also trains part time at Team Quest.

FIGHT: Sixel Unanimous Decision. Wow, this was horrible. They clinch and clinch and clinch and Joles gets pushed to the cage and he gets hit with about 10 punches during the fight that bloody Joles' nose. Crowd mostly boos after the fight when Schnake demands they make noise. Schnake also makes sure to mention the sponsors of the fighter before they're announced still. I hate hate hate that. (0)

3) Chris Henderson vs. Justin Jaynes: The other lightweight tournament bout. Jaynes I've seen before fighting as a welterweight.

FIGHT: Henderson Submission Rnd 2. Scrappy bout between a couple guys who aren't that talented or skilled right now. Henderson is a decent physical specimen and does a good job preventing Jaynes from staying in top position for very long ever in the fight. He's also got some semblance of a bottom game as is clear by him having submitted Jaynes with a triangle choke when Jaynes tried to enter the full guard in the second. (0)

4) Tyrone Holmes vs. Rodney Sleepers: Schnake takes like 30 minutes to introduce Holmes and sings part of Oh Canada doing it. Is it wrong to wish Big Papa to kill himself? That is perhaps a bit strong. Sleepers has when I've seen him, been totally boring. Middleweight division.

FIGHT: Sleepers Submission Rnd 2. Another Rodney Sleepers signature performance - flails coming in for the clinch, gets the takedown a couple times, generally works to getting the back, has enough time in round 2 to pull the choke off. He is cut when flailing coming forward in round one with a right hand. Both takedowns also didn't come off doubles or singles, but rather suplexes. Not big ones, just tight belly to bellys. (0)

5) Jordan Sullivan vs. Ben Lagman: More middleweights. This is yet another amateur tournament.

FIGHT: Lagman Submission Rnd 1. Lagman overpowers Sullivan in the ring, walking through his punches, getting the takedown, and taking the back. RNC finishes the glorified KOTC special. (0)

6) Tim Farr vs. Jorge Sarat: Couple more local boys I know nothing about.

FIGHT: Sarat Submission Rnd 1. Man, this goes bad for Farr immediately. He walks forward with his chin up punching and eats a right hand that fells him. He mounts him, punches him, and gets a bulldog choke/RNC from the side to finish it. (0)

7) Nick Turco vs. Josh Barnes: Turco once took a beating at the hands of Stipe Miocic that you can read all about here. Josh Barnes epitomizes the modern heavyweight journeyman. This bout is for the KOTC Amateur Heavyweight Title. Tyson Johnson also comes out and starts announcing again and I am so happy.

FIGHT: Barnes Unanimous Decision. Man, terrible fight. Turco tries a couple takedowns and gets stuffed huge. Otherwise the fight is all standup and Barnes lands the occasional arm punch or jab and that keeps Turco from doing much of anything en route to a decision win. (1)

8) Chad Herrick vs. Bryan Harper: Harper has come out from Temecula, CA. Herrick is the local boy.

FIGHT: Harper TKO Rnd 3. Sorta slow fight in the second that at least had some back and forth in the first. Honestly, I wasn't paying 100% attention to this because I don't care about the fighters, an the fight wasn't that important or good. Harper gets some decent takedowns and is in control outside of being rocked by what looked like a potential rabbit punch in the first. He lands a knee while Herrick windmills punches and Harper like flies backwards and lands on his back out cold. Harper has lost three straight, some of which were overseas. Herrick is just irrelevant at 7-6 on a regional level. (0)

9) Jerome Beal vs. Brad Burrick: Chad Burrick's brother was reviewed fighting on this show from 2010. Beal has two prior pro fights - one in 2000, one in 2005.

FIGHT: Burrick TKO Rnd 1. Beal is knocked out with a jab while throwing a front kick. Fight up to that was a mix of sloppy kicks and clinch work that did nothing to endear either man. (0)

10) Mike Sixel vs. Chris Henderson: FINALS! Who will win the lightweight tourney crown? Does anyone care?

FIGHT: Henderson TKO Rnd 2. Man, beatdown city. Sixel goes for the takedown and gets it in round one. Henderson though hangs on and forces a standup. Followup attempts don't go so well, Sixel gasses, and Sixel rushes Henderson at the start of round for the clinch and instead ends up thrown down, mounted, and pounded out with strikes. Henderson never fought again, Sixel made no real noise. (0)

11) Ben Lagman vs. Jorge Sarat: Finals of the middleweight tourney.

FIGHT: Sarat Unanimous Decision. Moderately interesting standup fight with Sarat throwing a lot of wild kicks - side kicks, spinning heel kicks, and the like. Lagman is much more orthodox but he gets freaked out a little and ends up standing at a distance and gets outworked. Its not like he doesn't have a plan - he's bigger and gets a big takedown in the first round. But then nothing happens with it. Lagman gets to be on Bully Beatdown. (0)

12) Joe Voisin vs. Matt Jaggers: KOTC is filling their vacant 145lb champion spot in this bout. Voisin is supposedly the big favorite here and is wearing wrestling shoes. Fight is for 5 3 minute rounds.

FIGHT: Jaggers Unanimous Decision. Jaggers is better standing, with takedowns, and on the mat. Voisin doesn't win a round outside of the 5th (thanks to a hard shot and takedown he gets), and otherwise Jaggers is stumbling Voisin almost every round by straight right hands. Voisin is simply very limited in terms of what he can do. He's a strong wrestler, but against someone stronger and better, how can he implement his gameplan? His boxing isn't good enough to terminate someone's timing or rhythm either. Jaggers rolls here and gets a call from Sengoku not that long afterwards where he does nothing. Most notable about this fight - Jaggers forces Voisin to tap out due to strikes before the bell sounds for round 3, but after the fight is stopped, it is miraculously determined that Voisin, who is the local fighter in the contest, had tapped out after the bell, in spite of it being very clear that it occurred before hand when watching. The fight is then restarted for round 4. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lagman/Sarat

KO OF THE NIGHT: Harper/Herrick

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Henderson/Jaynes

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Crap everywhere. Fighters that don't matter. Fights that aren't good. The main event features flat out corruption. Bad, bad, bad.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/60)

Combat Collection Vol. 2:

Stand Off: 2 out of 10 (2%)

Arch Rivals: 4.5 out of 10 (17.5%)

Collision Course: 5 out of 10 (11%)

Sinister: 3 out of 10 (5%)

Caged Chaos: 2 out of 10 (7%)

AVG: 3.3 (8.5%)

To compare:

Underground Soldiers: 2.55 (5.1%)

Underground Enforcers: 2.78 (8.2%)

Underground Worldwide: 2.7

Underground Warriors: 3.55

Combat Collection: 5.9

Back almost precisely 2 years ago, I stated that I was done watching KOTC shows on DVD. It was, at that point, a waste of time to me. The shows were bad, the fights awful, and they weren't getting better. Look at that comparison of the first Combat Collection to the second. There's a huge dropoff of the rating per fight. In fact, the average card on the Combat Collection Vol 1 is better than the best show the second set offers for pure entertainment value. For actual importance, its not even comparable. The sets are certainly consistent, but they are consistently bad. Its a shame, because there are good KOTC events. I've seen 'em! My favorite B-show of 2010 was a KOTC event. But these? Not so good.

MECA World Vale Tudo IX (8/1/2003)

2011-03-18T10:44:00.000-04:00

Why not another timely review prior to a UFC card? This event, held at the Gymnasium Pedrao in Teresopolis, which is a municipality within Rio. Its a commercially available DVD in the US that Ed Soares helped find distro for. The program is edited from the original airing under the "Premiere Combate" label that you see the Jungle Fight shows and FuryFC events being televised under. Rules and rounds seem to be based on PRIDE.

1) Peterson Mello vs. Marcelo Santos: I know nothing about either guy.

FIGHT: Mello Submission Rnd 1. We get a clinch almost immediately and Mello pushes around Santos. After a lot of hugging, he throws Santos to the ground with, uhhh, some sort of brute force leg trip looking thing. After moving to mount, he hits him for awhile, Santos flips over and over and over and eventually this ends with a head and arm choke. (0)

2) Alessio Sakara vs. Rafael Tatu: One of these guys is notable. The other - not so much.

FIGHT: Sakara TKO Rnd 2. Not the most exciting fight.

Tatu: Tatu, for a guy who's career record officially stands at 0-4, puts up a helluva fight. He actually gets on top for the majority of the first round, he lands some decent shots in exchanges, and he defends the takedown at the start of the first and lands soccer kicks as a counter. He's not just a speed bump, he's competitive. But Sakara is physically stronger and better conditioned, and that's a big thing.

Sakara: Sakara is known to most MMA fans as being a striker. In reality, Sakara's fighting style is often most effective as a ground and pound artist. He's not a terrific wrestler or anything, just strong. But strong counts. With his striking background, Sakara generally doesn't get guys thinking double or single and he more easily gets the fight to the mat where he can pound out his opposition. In essence, he is the poor man's Vitor Belfort. In this fight, his technique is often not enough to get the takedown (though he spends significant time on top in rounds 1 and 2), but he does get the fight down and busts open Tatu in the second round with short shots. The cut is bad enough to force a stoppage. Sakara points at a tattoo of Jesus after the fight. (2)

3) Roan Carniero vs. Adriano Verdelli: Carniero is a reasonably good fighter who will be in the Golden Glory tournament this weekend.

FIGHT: Carniero Submission Rnd 1. Anaconda choke! Before Noguiera! Easy fight for Carniero who gets a takedown early and then, as Verdelli scrambles and tries to reverse the position, locks in the anaconda choke. (2)

4) Ivan Jorge vs. Rafael "Capioera" Freitas: People of varying quality.

FIGHT: Jorge Split Decision. Ridiculously terrible fight that went the full 20 minute distance. Jorge has a takedown and a lot of stuffed takedown attempts along with lots of pushing of Freitas in the clinch to the corner. In return, Freitas throws bad strikes and the occasional headkick that he gets taken down over or at least completely loses position as a result of. Very little happens over the course of those sad, sad 20 minutes. If you want to say anything about them, neither can punch or kick, though Freitas is perhaps incrementally better, and Jorge's grappling is a small sliver better than Freitas'. Neither looks like a world beater. (1)

5) Daniel Acacio vs. Delson Heleno: Heleno looked decent in the IFL, Acacio went to PRIDE.

FIGHT: Acacio TKO Rnd 2. Now looking at it, this would be a good rematch. (3)

Acacio: Outgrappled comprehensively in the first, he has a better gas tank than the muscled up Heleno and outlasts him in the second round. He actually lands shots as Heleno comes forward for the clinch and prevents him from doing anything really offensive aside from a couple sweeps or takedowns in the second. This was not a great Acacio performance.

Heleno: When the second round ends, Heleno is slow to get out of Acacio's guard and is shaking his head and seemingly verbally quitting between rounds. Up till then, Heleno was the better takedown artist, spent far more time on top, and had generally avoided monster shots landing on the feet. When Acacio tried to get to a scramble position, Heleno would end up on top again even if Acacio was briefly successful.

6) Marcelo "Grilo" Alfaya vs. Luiz Claudio Das Dores: Don't know either.

FIGHT: Grilo TKO Rnd 2. Nothing is worse watching bad MMA than watching a bad fight between fighters that don't matter. Alfaya has losses to the likes of Luis Cane and Alexey Oleinik amd Dos Dores hasn't really even gotten to that level of competition. Alfaya shoots off of wide overhand rights over and over again and gets the takedown anyhow, then holds down Dos Dores virtually the entire fight. After the second ref standup of the second round, they clinch and Alfaya drops a tired Das Dores with punches and the fight is stopped. Glacial action. Terrible to watch. (0)

7) Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Branden Lee Hinkle: A meaningful sort of fight! Gonzaga is headed back into MMA and Lee Hinkle is still bouncing around out there and has a oddly smashable sister. Gonzaga is a lot smaller in this fight. In fact, he's smaller than Hinkle, who later went down to 205 in his UFC career.

FIGHT: Gonzaga Submission Rnd 1. This one got the crowd going. Wild dirty boxing to kick it off with both men throwing and landing hard shots, but Gonzaga's took much more effect. Hinkle has his nose bloodied and retaliates by shooting and actually getting the back of Gonzaga briefly. Being from Hammer House, he's not entirely sure what to then do, and Gonzaga flips over, gets the guard, and hooks up a triangle to force the tap out. Kinda one sided but at least it was interesting. (3)

8) Assuerio Silva vs. Fabiano Scherner: At the time, this was the heavyweight contest on the card to watch. Now look.

FIGHT: No contest. Typical boring, horrible Assuerio Silva fight involving lots of pushing early on. Scherner goes to butt scoot and takes a couple kicks to the legs. Man, this is looking dreadful. then Scherner is allowed to stand and goes for a shot. Silva and him tumble through the ropes and Scherner basically gets DDTed on the timekeepers table and has to be boarded out and given oxygen. Silva slides back into the ring almost immediately after and raises his arms. Thankfully, no rematch was ever held. Still gets a (3) because hey, it ends in wild, must see fashion.

9) Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: This is such a weird fight. Cyborg, I thought, was also Chute Boxe. Your ref for this contest is PEDRO RIZZO.

FIGHT: Shogun TKO Rnd 1. Some things don't change with time. Cyborg still doesn't have good cardio. Shogun's chin is still shaky. You see those things here in this bout early in Shogun's career - he comes in wild and gets tagged by Cyborg, who lands a counter and we're wild swinging. Shogun goes for takedowns, and he does get them. Cyborg on the bottom then quickly runs out of steam and they're going loose and fast for submissions on both sides. Rua tries for a heel hook, a knee bar, a triangle, a straight armbar out of mount, a head and arm choke - he can't lock in any of these in spite of having the position. Part of it is Cyborg's strength. Just think about how a guy now campaigning at welterweight was powering out of Rua's joint locks and how Jon Jones might do Saturday night at UFC 128. The fight ends with Shogun taking mount and landing punches until there's a stoppage late in the first round. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Shogun/Cyborg

KO OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Heleno

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Carniero/Verdelli

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. There's some OK stuff, some relevant stuff, some not so relevant stuff, some terribly boring stuff. I almost dread watching Brazilian MMA shows because the talent is often so bent on sitting in half guard and the refs so willing to let it be like that, I start daydreaming about random things.

D&R Rating: 40% (18/45)

NAAFS Cage Fighting (3/13/2011)

2011-03-16T22:57:00.004-04:00

After three weeks of repeat shows, a new show for NAAFS. Kalikas is still with John Strmac. This is from Caged Fury 14 held on 2/26/11. NAAFS has upgraded to a blue vinyl mat surface that they seem to admit they lifted from another promotion who "didn't need it anymore".

1) Cameron Ross vs. Josh Kallai: Interesting note is the sponsorship of each corner to a specific company. Amateur bout.

FIGHT: Kallai Unanimous Decision. Not a terrible showing from Kallai in winning. He gets takedowns over and over and does a solid job getting getting to dominant positions on the mat. Ross goes for some ill advised submission attempts in the bout (why pull guard to go for the guillotine if you can't win on the bottom?) and throws some really wild shots when he walks forward that Kallai counters. (0)

2) Victor Guarriello vs. Cody Garbrandt: Two 19 year old amateurs at 135. Guarriello has a weight of 129 on the scales.

FIGHT: Garbrandt TKO Rnd 1. Guarriello is so much smaller its ridiculous. Garbrandt comes in and stumbles himwith a right uppercut counter. He keeps throwing shots until the ref jumps in as Guarriello starts slumping down against the cage. Very short bout. (0)

3) John Myers vs. Bryon McCroskey: Lightweights. Both are 31 years old. In other words, probably not real prospects.

FIGHT: McCroskey TKO Rnd 1. Myers gives a good effort getting a takedown at one point and wading through some offense by McCroskey, but he gasses out and McCroskey's better conditioning takes over. He hurts Myers with punches on the mat and then follows it up with more standing. While Myers sees the bell, he's so beat up he needs to be carried out of the ring. Looks like he has some sort of leg injury. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3.5 out of 10. I can't say it was totally bad because Kallai looked good and is a young buck with a lot of time to grow. But the rest is probably something you can skip.

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/14

2011-03-15T23:45:00.002-04:00

Recapping:

BELLATOR 35:

-You know why I don't pick fights with guys I haven't seen? Because of shit like McCullough/Friere. Everyone assumes that Bellator slotted him with someone who couldn't beat him and Friere turns out to be a much larger man who knocks his block off and controls him on the mat. McCullough had a good second round and was looking like he might win a decision in the third when he threw a leg kick and got timed with the right hand over it. He was done as soon as it landed. Friere is such a strong kid. Reminds me of Thiago Alves. I don't think he's that crisp, but he's definitely strong and his stuff hauls ass when he goes to land. Not really a plodder. Punches are, OK, not good defensively but all things considered, I wouldn't be worried about it.

Not to knock leg kicks either, but there's a time for them and a time not to bother. Friere didn't check them, sure. But then again, he was looking to walk through them and land on the back end of an ill advised low kick from McCullough. Razor Rob never really got to dictate the distance of the fight, which I suppose isn't surprising since he's not a slick striker and was smaller.

-Imada breaks some poor guy's arm (Shockey) in a 90 second fight. Shockey was better served standing with Imada, who got to the finals of a Shootboxing tourney last year with his grappling alone, but apparently he didn't get that memo. He tried to pass to side control, and Imada just regained full guard and then rolled up the arm. Shockey's attempt to slam out of it was ill advised. The whole situation was.

-Lloyd Woodard's win over Carey Vanier didn't inspire. He caught a guy moving straight back with his hands down. He nearly did it about 3 times in the first round but Vanier would be able to grab him and hold on for awhile. Even got a takedown. Woodard seems like he can scramble decently and he hits pretty hard, but technically he's nothing exciting. Friere smashes him so bad.

-Michael Chandler was another guy who won and just looked OK. Held gave a couple reasonable submission attempts for his offense but got choked out with a head and arm choke by the wrestler. If Chandler fights Imada next, he gets wrecked. Same with Friere. Woodard? He wins and gets to the finals.

SHARK FIGHTS:

See the review from earlier in the week.

Predictions for 2011: 7-1. Only picked two contests last week and got 'em both.

CORRECT: Villefort/Horwich, LaRosa/Damm

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

UFC 128:

Shogun vs. Jon Jones: Man, is this a situation of too much too soon for Jones? Shogun's problems come against big guys who grapple. This is true if they are top guys like Forrest Griffin or old guys who may be a couple years from heart failure like Mark Coleman. Jon Jones is a really big guy who grapples. Bad, bad style matchup for Shogun. Now, its true that Shogun may be able to come forward and bring heat to Jones, but when has Shogun consistently brought pressure in an MMA fight since PRIDE's demise? He's a better submission artist than the guys Jones has fought; again true. But Shogun's last big performance rolling on the mat was what again; Kevin Randleman?

End result is this: Jones wins the title by stoppage in round 2. I don't know that Jones can beat Rampage Jackson, who I think is the biggest threat style wise to him in the division. But I'd like to see the fight.

Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland: Eddie is not old by any stretch of the imagination, but he's fought top guys before and lost. He can be outwrestled, and Faber can do that to him. Faber's a better athlete than Wineland and almost too fast to time, so that's probably outside of what is reasonably possible for Wineland to do. This should be another impressive showcase for Faber before a title fight later this year. I expect Faber to win by stoppage in the second.

Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus: Can Miller stop the takedown? Does it matter? Miller is a well rounded fighter with a good BJJ background. Shalorus is a wrestler with bad punches. Kamal's best bet is to swing and hope that Miller forgets the fundamentals and leaves a big enough opening to get hit. You don't bet on that happening. Miller wins a decision.

Nate Marqhardt vs. Dan Miller: Waste of time caused by Akiyama cancelling. Miller can't beat Nate anywhere. Only fear is that Nate the Great turns into a lay and pray machine.

Cro-Cop vs. Brendan Schaub: Smells like a setup fight for Schaub given how lousy Mirko has been for, gosh, 5 years? Schaub by decision in a tepid affair.

Luis Cane vs. Eliot Marshall: Tough fight to pick. Eliot is such a strong wrestler though that I have to imagine that Cane, who hasn't faced anyone similar ever, is going to have fits. Marshall by decision. Could be hotly debated after because of Cane's activity in certain parts of the early going.

Ricardo Almedia vs. Mike Pyle: How sad to see the Big Dog doing this. Pyle is, to be brutally honest, the better fighter at this point in time after Almedia took so many years off. Pyle is inconsistent, but as a wrestler he's still darn good, he's not easy to submit from the bottom, and he's a better striker than Almedia. Patrick Cote outwrestled the Big Dog - why expect Pyle not to? Pyle by stoppage late.

KSW 15:

Mamed Khalidov vs. James Irvin: What a sad fight. Khalidov will knock off Irvin's block. Dude is a mess on drugs and has no other options in life right now but to keep fighting. Almost tragic that it can happen.

United Glory Round 2:

Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Alessio: Alessio is the best wrestler Bahadurzada has ever faced. I was stunned to discover that, but its totally true. On paper, Alessio runs over Siyar in under 3 minutes with a submission. The thing about this show is that the house promoter manages Siyar, so I can't be sure what sort of trickery may happen here. I stand by Alessio in 3 minutes by submission, but if he doesn't shoot, the fix is in.

Roan Carniero vs. Tommy Depret: Again, one guy here is the promoter's boy (Depret) against a more skilled outsider. Against the similarly sized and not as skilled Sergio Moraes, Depret was manhandled and finished in a round. Carniero may have activity issues, but he's fought top guys regularly and been competitive with them. He's a better grappler and he's a halfway decent striker too. He won't stand with Depret but that won't matter on my card. My card is the issue. I don't score officially. Some guys Golden Glory are paying will be. And they'll score a 3 round fight for Depret to my dismay.

KOTC: Arch Rivals (10/27/2007)

2011-03-15T22:32:00.002-04:00

Show #4 from Combat Collection Vol. 2. This is gonna be a short one - they literally throw on two previously aired fights with name fighters onto this show in order to make it more worth your time. What is here is pretty amazing.

Classic fights that start the PPV presentation (Inman and Cal Worsham are announcing):

Jorge Santiago vs. Diego Sanchez: First of the two classic bouts. Never reviewed it, but will skip doing so until I decide to go back to that specific show (KOTC 36, Unfinished Business)

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Sean Gray: Another classic. This was from KOTC 13 Revolution.

1) Tim Bradley vs. Aaron Buck: Guys for a weight class I didn't pay attention to.

FIGHT: Buck Submission Rnd 1. Bradley goes for the takedown and gets it. Thing is, Buck is apparently cool with working off his back and ends up working the hips most of the round until locking the arm and extending an armbar to force the tap. Buck has no subsequent pro fights that I am aware of. (0)

2) Jack Montgomery vs. Adam Torres: Welterweights Don't know either.

FIGHT: Montgomery Submission Rnd 2. Reasonably competitive fight between a couple guys who really aren't that relevant. Both guys had some good throws and takedowns and did decent ground work, but Montgomery ends up with the last takedown of the fight getting a leg sweep off a body lock, passes to mount, and then punches Torres until he gives up his back and the choke. Torres had some decent throws himself and did a solid job up till then nullifying Montgomery's offensive grappling, but it was for naught. Torres retired afterwards. (0)

3) Hunter Worsham vs. Shannone Callos: Cal Worsham's kid against some BJJ fighter. Welterweight contest.

FIGHT: Callos Submission Rnd 1. Wild contest with Worsham rushing Callos with flailing strikes and they trade takedowns. Worsham eventually uses the cage to flip the two of them on the mat and get on top, but leaves his head in there for a triangle that he eventually taps to. Cal is asking for Hunter to slam his way out, which really isn't the best strategy if you aren't named Rampage Jackson or Ron Waterman or something. (0)

4) Brad Imes vs. Bo Cantrell: Its hard to believe that Brad Imes was a finalist on TUF 2, isn't it? I mean, that was before the series had total crap on it. Bo Cantrell infamously lost to Kimbo and Dave Huckaba in record time.

FIGHT: Imes Submission Rnd 1. Imes brings the gogoplata, which he won an inordinate number of times by. Cantrell actually drops Imes in the early going and they scramble afterwards. Cantrell is on top in the full guard once some leg lock attempts come to an end and Imes works for the gogo. The next fight for Cantrell was indeed the Kimbo Slice bout. (2)

5) Robert McDaniel vs. Dan Molina: McDaniel got a couple fights with EXC later. Molina had been in the IFL and collected losses there to Brian Foster and Ryan McGivern.

FIGHT: Molina Submission Rnd 1. Man, didn't expect that. McDaniel lets Molina get him down by getting real low and pulling the heel out while shooting the double, and Molina starts getting active inside the guard to set something up. That something is a heel hook given to him by McDaniels' flailing open guard. McDaniel tries to fight it off for awhile and then ends up getting himself hurt by not tapping in time. (1)

6) Tony Lopez vs. Frank Appah: Appah is making his second pro fight and states that he has a TKD background. Jesus.

FIGHT: Lopez TKO Rnd 1. Not the greatest Lopez performance. Appah is squared up and strong, sure, but after the first minute or so, the fight slows down tremendously and Appah basically is stuck at the end of Tony Lopez's kicks. I'll say this about Lopez - I was thinking he had Guy Mezger power in those kicks, but then one lands clean to the head with the shin and Appah slowly slumps and takes shots and the fight is stopped. The announcers basically try to cover for Appah having been looking for a way out of the fight by saying that he was looking for a way out of the fight, but, hey, Mazzagatti stopped it early! (1)

7) Bao Quach vs. Chris David: Prefight video for David shows him smashing something. What? Why? I don't know. Lightweight bout. I like Bao Quach fights.

FIGHT: Quach Unanimous Decision.

Quach: I often think of Quach as a gatekeeper with serious grappling skills. I suppose that's true here, even though the fight is about Quach keeping it standing and using his advantage in technique. He's such a smaller guy that it makes his ability to repeatedly fight off the takedowns of David very impressive, and to then counter it with crisp punching and low kicks is huge. He never has David in trouble, but he makes his shots count and he wins through sheer technique over athleticism or physicality.

David: Wants the clinch, wants takedowns. Never gets them. He pushes with his punches rather than snaps them, which means that he can't really hurt Quach and he's slow getting the shots off. He can't check a kick to save his life. David's not an entirely bad fighter. Clearly he has qualities that don't come to light because he can't institute his gameplan, but if you want to be elite or something imitating it, you need to be able to beat midlevel fighters who's best success came at 140. He's not really a guy with a blast double - more of a swim to the clinch and then he tries to overpower. (1)

8) Anthony Lapsley vs. Jaime Jara: Lapsley debuted and did not so well in Bellator. Jara also debuted and did a little better in Bellator. Well, at least he made it a more competitive fight.

FIGHT: Lapsley Submission Rnd 2. Kinda. Officially this is a no contest because Lapsley tested positive for THC.

Lapsley: Elite wrestler? No. Not really. He gets Jara down a couple times but he never really powers the guy down or shows some sort of wild technique with his wrestling. What's wild is that he starts the fight with a spinning heel kick that opens a cut on Jara. They trade submissions in the first and in the second, a tired Jara gets taken down and KOTC Specialed with the RNC. Interesting attempt at an inverted triangle looking thing in the first is worth noting.

Jara: Tough guy who didn't show the gas tank I expected. Decent submission attempts though - he nearly had Lapsley in a heel hook and had Lapsley's back too. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Jara/Lapsley

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lopez/Appah

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cantrell/Imes

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 4.5 out of 10. Substandard show with a couple decent main events (one of which basically doesn't mean anything at all officially) that's bolstered with fights that don't belong.

D&R Rating: 17.5% (7/40)

SHOOTO DISC 10: Las Grandes Viajes 2 (3/1/1998)

2011-03-14T22:20:00.004-04:00

Back to SHOOTO! Its been awhile, but I'm now planning on watching at least one a week. Maybe more when I'm in a groove. I have two dates on this show - March 10th from the list I have which was created from the master list of Shooto created by Jeff Lynch, and another of March 1st from Sherdog. I went with Sherdog's date. Show opens with Enson Inoue talking about something. We are at Korakuen Hall.

1) Hiroki Kotani vs. Katenori Ito: Don't know either guy.

FIGHT: Ito Unanimous Decision. Only round 2 is seen in full. From what is seen, Ito is a top control grappler and not all that active inside the guard. Kotani keeps his guard closed almost the entire 5 minutes. We see Kotani catch a kick and get a takedown in the first, but it doesn't last long. (0)

2) Hiroyuki Kojima vs. Takaharu Murahama: Kojima is a Shootboxing guy. I think. Well, I don't know. I didn't pay enough attention.

FIGHT: Murahama KO Rnd 1. Huge KO. The fight starts with Murahama leaping with a flying knee that Kojima ducks under and promptly gets on top inside the guard during the resulting scramble. Murahama just sorta powers his way out from under the bottom - it wasn't like a technical sweep or anything. After doing so, they stand up and Kojima trades. Murahama lands a left hook flush to the chin and lays out Kojima hard. The ref starts a count but the doctor intercedes and its obvious he's not moving, much less getting up at the count of 10. Impressive KO. (0)

3) Masahiro Oishi vs. Yoshihiro Fujita: I've seen Oishi previously named Doishi and he threw an awesome suplex.

FIGHT: Oishi Submission Rnd 1. Technical submission, really. Fujita clearly is not well versed at submissions and possibly even grappling, and Oishi gets a judo takedown and passes half guard easily, locking in a kimura and cranking it until the ref is forced to call a halt. (0)

4) Caol Uno vs. Yuji Fujita: This is a good career fight for Uno at this point. Fujita is not any great fighter, but he's a decent grappler who might give Uno some issues.

FIGHT: Uno Unanimous Decision. First is seen only in highlights, and that is a tragedy. It looks positively riveting. Uno is getting some cool takedowns and Fujita is locking the armbar up and Uno escapes and man, it is good stuff. Lots of that. Uno springs off the ropes for a shot at one point. Second is nowhere near as good. (3)

Uno: Lots of good positives about the young Uno. He's got decent hands even here and his wrestling is a strong point. He leaves the arms in, but since its not that dangerous a guy he's fighting, he gets away with it. He times the shot well but you can see that someone who might feint him could throw off that timing.

Fujita: He is such a active bottom player that its a shame he can't finish or wrestle guys down. There's a lot of raw talent to build on but he never progressed in other facets and that's probably this would turn out to be his last fight.

5) Hisao Ikeda vs. Omar Salvosa: Ikeda is a poor grappler and Salvosa is here with Carlos Newton, so he might be better. Salvosa says he is happy to be here to display his skills in an arena where you can show your abilities regardless of where they lie in martial arts. Now MMA is barely about the martial arts. Crazy, huh?

FIGHT: Ikeda Submission Rnd 1. Salvosa takes down Ikeda immediately. There's not even the pretense of takedown defense from Ikeda. Its not clear what his gameplan is until about 3 and a half minutes of Salvosa as blanket has passed. He postures up from the half guard to throw shots and Ikeda starts to try and push for some separation. He gets it with a sort of butterfly guard and then grabs the leg. Ikeda submits Salvosa with an achilles hook and man, it is so beginner to go down like that. Ikeda in his post fight interview looks like a total nerd. (0)

6) Masanori Suda vs. Kenji Kawaguchi: Big time fight. Kawaguchi is a former champion that Paulson chased and defeated. Suda is a future champ.

FIGHT: Suda Submission Rnd 3. The stop actually comes with 28 seconds gone in the round, not 1:08.

Suda: You know, I expected Suda to dominate this fight. Won't lie. I didn't think Kawaguchi would win two round of the 3 that this went. But that is precisely what happened. Suda looked poor on his feet, being knocked down for a ten count in the second round's early parts. Grappling wasn't much better - Kawaguchi threw him a couple times and escaped his submissions in the first two stanzas. Suda learned from this, closed the distance instantly and powered Kawaguchi down out of the body lock, taking his back and transitioning to an armbar that forced the early tap.

Kawaguchi: Got a throw in the early stages of round one and never budged from top position on Suda. In round two, an early exchange ended with Suda on his back getting counted to 8. While Suda took another throw attempt to go for a heel hook, Kawaguchi skillfully maneuvered out of the hold and punched Suda a lot, then got dominant position. Round 3 was different. (3)

7) Carlos Newton vs. Kasuhiro Kusayanagi: Kusayanagi is the much smaller of the two men, and frankly he's not that great a fighter to watch. Newton comes in at 85KG? (187lbs)

FIGHT: Newton Submission Rnd 1. It looked like Newton tried for a belly to belly but Kusayangi ends up on top at the start. Doesn't matter since Newton gets back up. When they clinch again, we see a legtrip takedown from Newton and he's looking to pass guard in a weird way. Kusayangi goes for a straight armbar from the bottom and Newton just uses the bad positioning to pass through the open, pseudobutterfly guard, turn over the top of Kusayanagi, and get an armbar. Cool stuff as expected by Newton. Newton says in the post fight interview that he was able to overcome the newaza of Kusayanagi and that personally, he lacked "the fire" to punch hard. (3)

8) Rumina Sato vs. Joel Gerson: Gerson is another fighter from the camp Newton was then with (Survival Jiu-Jitsu). The Moon Wolf is his opposition for the night in this main event. Gerson claims that "anyone can punch" and that winning by submission is the ultimate. Gerson comes out to O Fortuna.

FIGHT: Gerson Submission Rnd 1. Really surprising result for a lot of reasons. Interesting contest for as long as it lasted with Gerson dodging Sato's wild submission attempts (including a flying armbar) and then being chased around with punches by Sato before taking him down into side control. As Sato flailed, he gave up the arm and Gerson knew exactly what to do. He grabbed it and extended into a straight armbar. The ref gave plenty of time for a tapout and instead was forced to make it a technical submission to keep Sato from being a cripple. Sato is clearly upset and in some level of disbelief. Gerson admits that he is surprised that Sato hit him as hard as he does. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Suda/Kawaguchi

KO OF THE NIGHT: Kojima/Murahama

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gerson/Sato

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. You see a Sato loss, early wins for Uno and Suda, and some filler. But for the elite stuff that's there, hey, I'm not about to complain. Its a decent sorta stop gap show.

D&R Rating: 32% (13/40)

KOTC: Collision Course (8/5/2007)

2011-03-13T22:27:00.005-04:00

We're back in Soboba for show #3 of 5 from Combat Collection Vol.2. Steve Inman welcomes us and talks about stuff.

1) Sal Fernettie vs. Issac Newman-Gomez: Fat heavyweights.

FIGHT: Newman-Gomez TKO Rnd 1. Fernettie shows no real talent in the ring except that he's tough, but still manages to take down Newman-Gomez at one point. Newman-Gomez has very rudimentary striking and basically no grappling. Fight ends after Newman-Gomez just kinda rolls himself from being on his back to being in the mount on top of Fernettie and beats the dude out. (0)

2) Josh Miller vs. Tony Cruz: Welterweight fighter. Miller is pretty tall.

FIGHT: Cruz Submission Rnd 1. KOTC Special in progress until Miller just powers his way out of back control and into being on top inside the full guard. Unfortunately, he does nothing with the position and gets stood up. When that happens, the ownage continues. Cruz lands a body kick and knees and then takes down Miller, eventually setting up and getting the submission by RNC. (0)

3) Melvin Costa vs. Sean McCafferty: Costa is a white supremacist with a penchant for prison time. McCafferty is looking mean and has the fans, but is small.

FIGHT: Costa TKO Rnd 1. (0)

Costa: Costa is strong and has heart. And he has some cardio. I can't deny any of that. Talentwise, he is lacking. But against bad fighters, that's all you need.

McCafferty: The guy has something resembling takedown ability and better technical striking, but he is gassed two minutes into the fight and his grappling is basically nothing but control without any real attempt at finishing. He takes a big knee in the second as he tries to shoot in and eats some punches too as he's out.

4) Travis Havens vs. Tim Humphrey: Uhh, I don't know these guys. Welterweights.

FIGHT: Havens Submission Rnd 1. KOTC Special ending in RNC in like, 25 seconds. (0)

5) Chon Stinson vs. Dave Cryer: Cryer had a bunch of wins over non-names and is now not very active, having fought once in about 18 months. Cryer enters to bagpipes.

FIGHT: Cryer TKO Rnd 1. Assbeating. Lands some tight hooks as Stinson runs forward at him over and over. Stinson eats a knee and just turns and runs. Cryer catches him and hits him with a right hand and he drops and turtles up taking shots until the fight is stopped. (0)

6) William Syriapai vs. Soky Aguilar: Really excited to see this. Syriapai is one of my favorite gatekeeper fighters in the sport.

FIGHT: Syriapai TKO Rnd 1. Syriapai shows off his great kickboxing on a moving heavybag. All time, top 10 ass kicking. Aguilar is just retarded hurt by low kicks, and then a high kick that grazes his head causes him to slowly stumble and fall as the towel from his corner comes in. (1)

7) Jesse Beede vs. Ernie Peria: Peria is a cop who fought in the Cop vs. Con fight that was a feature attraction on KOTC Booyaa.

FIGHT: Peria TKO Rnd 1. Beede gets a takedown, Peria sweeps him with a kimura from the bottom, ends up in mount, and punches him out. (0)

8) Junior Kling vs. Cody Bollinger: Really excited to see this kid (Bollinger) again go after some sort of amateur belt.

FIGHT: Kling Unanimous Decision (1)

Kling: Good wrestler who decides to let Bollinger try and take the front foot and its a smart move. He stuffs Cody over and over and over again, gets dominant position, rolls him from north/south on his power, and also lands much better strikes. Kling has fought once in 3 years, unfortunately. He might still be a decent prospect if he puts his mind to it.

Bollinger: Cody totally disappointed me here. He relies on athleticism to try and do anything, basically never setting up the takedown. With no setups, Kling has wrestling skills that are capable of stopping the shot. When that happens, Bollinger's game literally falls apart. He has few moments of success from there in. Hey, at least he's young. Learning experience. You see him learning to throw punches before shooting from way outside late in the bout but it is way too much too late.

9) Edgar Cruz vs. John Brock: Heavyweights. Cruz is so fat, but they give him credit for having taken a fight with Buckley Acosta on a couple minutes notice. Raul Peralta (one of the worst in the game) is reffing now.

FIGHT: Brock Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special, sorta. Modified, if you will. Cruz gets taken down, is mounted, takes shots, and Brock decides to give up the position trying for an armbar, but when that goes wrong he transitions to triangle. Neither is relevant. (0)

10) Dave Rivas vs. Shad Smith: Oh man! This isn't Gabe Rivas vs. Shad Smith but will do. Both dudes are complete journeymen. Did you know that Shad Smith is a decorated street fighter? Did you know Shad Smith been to prison? Did you know Shad Smith is gay? Did you know that Shad Smith is believed to have raped dudes in prison? He himself experienced prison rape in the single greatest beatdown in MMA ever against Duane Ludwig. They even reference how incredible the beating was that Duane gave him. But seriously, Shad Smith is awesome for being so honest now about who he is. I didn't remember he had Tapout tattooed on his body either.

FIGHT: Draw. (0)

Rivas: Gabe controls the first round against the right hand happy Shad Smith by taking him down and controlling the action on the mat with a pair of shots. And it looks like this is, at least initially, going to be easy. Then in the second, Shad throws two punches and shoots. Gabe never expected it and gets taken down on a double leg takedown and ends up being totally controlled the vast majority of the round. With a minute left he is generally nullified from landing anything big while inside the guard of Shad. He doesn't get separation until there's ten seconds left and its 50 seconds too late.

Smith: Smith gets taken down repeatedly in the first but does a good job tying up Rivas and preventing real damage from being done. In the second, he gets the takedown himself. Hey, he was a street brawler, now he's just a not very good MMA fighter. But that's better than being outright bad. He has guts.

11) Reggie Orr vs. Brian Baker: The first really meaningful bout of the night. Baker got to the WEC, Orr to TUF.

FIGHT: Baker TKO Rnd 1. Man, wild, wild brawl. It looks like it'll be over early with a right hand by Orr and Baker comes storming back. On the feet its just tight, hard, bad ass punching that Dana White loves. Seriously, no joke; These dudes threw thunder. As hard as I've seen in a long time. Baker hurts Orr with a combination and then throws knees to the body as he curls up on the mat to force the stop. Fun! (2)

12) Buddy Clinton vs. Clay French: TITLE ON THE LINE. I remember nothing about the first and wrote about that much having seen it years ago now.

FIGHT: French TKO Cuts Rnd 3. (2)

Clinton: Clinton was always a guy who was a BJJ player first. And if you are going to be on your back early in a fight, you need to be great throwing the hips around. Clinton is good, but not great. And that leads to his downfall. French is a good top control grappler who separates wheat from chaff, and Clinton doesn't turn out to be wheat. The fight ends off a really terrible cut somewhere around the mouth that is pouring blood.

French: Strong, small wrestler who might be better suited to 145. Hell, if Mike Brown could win a title and be the top featherweight in the world, why couldn't French have? He just didn't get the opportunity. Or wasn't willing. I don't know which. He's not an elite fighter but no one who isn't good will beat him.

13) John Cole vs. Thomas Denny: Cole drops from 185 to meet a guy at 170 who is really a lightweight. Incredible prefight video pacakge from Denny as the "Mild Man".

FIGHT: Denny Submission Rnd 1. Easy win for the Wildman, actually. Standing, Cole is apparently the shorter man and throws a lot of single power shots. Denny is decent at jabbing the guy up. He takes down Cole, moves to side control, and it turns into a long KOTC special. RNC finish and the crowd is happy. (1)

14) Keith Berry vs. Sean Loeffler: Loeffler was previously seen losing to a lumpy guy making his pro debut. Berry went to ShoXC.

FIGHT: Berry Submission Rnd 1. They rush at each other like sumo to start, and Loeffler is in full mount 8 seconds in. Naturally he does nothing with it and Berry bucks him and gets to his feet. Loeffler rushes him for another takedown and basically does nothing while Berry sets up a slow motion triangle choke and gets the tap. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Orr/Baker

KO OF THE NIGHT: Syriapai/Aguilar

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cruz/Brock

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Nothing stupendous or even really worth chasing down aside from MAYBE the asskicking handed out by Syriapai but this was a generally entertaining show where the low point action wise came in, of all things, a Shad Smith fight.

D&R Rating: 11% (8/70)

King of the Cage: Sinister (4/27/2007)

2011-03-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

Another show from the Combat Collection Vol. 2 Boxed set. The show comes from Soboba Casino and we have Kenoda and Inman announcing. Bad sign - "Lots of newcomers on tonight". Oh god. Main event features Laverne Clark. Yes.

1) Aljalon Pace vs. Alex Rickards: Dudes. Rickards has wrestling shoes on.

FIGHT: Rickards Unanimous Decision. Not very good MMA. Rickards controls the pace showing a so-so single and should have had Pace pounded out early on, but there's a standup for no good reason and instead the viewer is forced to suffer through more of this. When they stand and trade its all one shot at a time. Rickards is tuckered out after that opening salvo and so when he gets on top later on, he's nowhere near as effective. Pace has heart but is short on talent and technique. (0)

2) Andy Balmore vs. Nicholas Gallegos: Balmore is from De La O Jiu-Jitsu. The other guy I know nothing about.

FIGHT: Balmore Submission Rnd 1. Balmore is also given a different last name by the ring announcer Tyson Johnson. Why? I dunno. Easy fight with Gallegos being wild as a striker, going to take down Balmore, and Balmore sprawls, pulls the switch, flattens him out, and gets a RNC. Nothing shown from either aside from Balmore having good instincts. (0)

3) Joe Calavitta vs. Ty Gilstrap: Calavitta is a Wildman trainee.

FIGHT: Calavitta Submission Rnd 1. Decently competitive fight with Gilstrap coming out swinging and being a decent little grappler. Calavitta is better though - he almost gets a d'arce but is slammed out and then eventually ends up taking the back of Gilstrap and getting the RNC. (0)

4) Adrian Perez vs. Keith Berry: Adrian Perez is known because he has tons of tattoos on his face. Berry made it to ShoXC.

FIGHT: Berry TKO Rnd 1. 12 seconds after the bell rings, the fight is over and so is Perez's career. Berry knocks him out with a knee and then follows up with punches and Perez needs help to get out of the ring when he finally comes to. (0)

5) Ben Beebe vs. Duane Harrison: Harrison is wearing a plain white t-shirt. Heavyweight "action".

FIGHT: Beebe TKO Rnd 2. Duane was actually doing well standing with Beebe but runs out of gas, ends up getting taken down and gets mounted in the second. This is just ugly looking stuff. Beebe is no longer fighting for whatever reason and Harrison is gone too. (0)

6) Sean Loeffler vs. Uber Gallegos: Gallegos is debuting against a top prospect. What great matchmaking. Loeffler is wearing wrestling shoes and black socks, so he looks like an old Portuguese man.

FIGHT: Gallegos Majority Decision. (0)

Gallegos: Uber might be a newb, but he has heart and good instincts. When Loeffler comes in chin up and hands down, Gallegos throws counter shots that connect. When the fight hits the mat in the second, its the lumpy Gallegos taking down the muscular Loeffler and controlling the position. Gallegos gives the neck up for guillotines repeatedly and Loeffler never takes advantage.

Loeffler: His ground game isn't bad - he gets to mount in the first. But he's not active with ground and pound or setting up submissions. He's more of a blanket. A strong blanket, but a blanket. Stand up in this fight was robotic and telegraphed.

7) Dave Roberts vs. Reggie Orr: Orr was sorta on TUF 7.

FIGHT: Orr TKO Rnd 2. A beat down from bell to bell. Orr hits Roberts with a ton of stuff in the clinch and at distance, utilizing every thing from his muay thai bag of tricks. He even drops levels and takes down Roberts with a double. Just a beatdown. Not even remotely competitive. (1)

8) Lucas Taber vs. Calvin Bell: Light heavyweight fight. Bell is merely 5'9'', Taber is from Team Wildman.

FIGHT: Taber Submission Rnd 1. Bell gets the clinch and a belly to belly, and I'm like, "Hey! Its Proto-Rodney Wallace!" And then Taber rolls and gets a heel hook and Bell taps immediately. (0)

9) Ben Fuimaono vs. Josh Griggs: Fuimaono is claimed to be a boxer or something. Griggs is some guy.

FIGHT: Griggs Unanimous Decision. Fuimaono lives up to his billing in so much as he has no ability to defend the takedown whatsoever. He is repeatedly taken down by Griggs and punished with punches and elbows. His only display of grappling comes with a minute left when he sweeps Griggs from half guard and ends up in north south on top. Fuimaono gives some distance and Griggs scrambles and gets back on top. Whatever. Neither guy has progressed. (0)

10) Jon Murphy vs. Chase Gormley: Gormley got trashed in the UFC and recently lost to a super huge version of Mike Whitehead. Murphy has lost to less.

FIGHT: Gormley Unanimous Decision. Pretty simple fight to understand. Gormley may be new to the sport in this, but he knows to go at Murphy, close the distance, and take him down. He does this over and over and over. The punches he lands busts up Murphy's nose and cause him to gas even faster than he generally does. Murphy does have a couple moments in between standups by the ref - for instance, he lands with the foot throwing a high kick, but it only bothers Gormley a little bit. Since then, both have fallen by the wayside of contenderdom and are now solidly B show fighters for life. (1)

At this point in the show, 2003 Playmate Kitana Baker starts doing interviews.

11) Matt Dell vs. Charlie Kohler: Kohler was once a decent fighter and somewhat well regarded. That was years ago.

FIGHT: Kohler TKO Rnd 1. Easy fight for Kohler, particularly since it seems that Dell has an asthma attack after getting hit with a couple uppercuts against the cage. Dell doesn't even make the takedown too much of an issue with Kohler. Oh well. (0)

12) LaVerne Clark vs. Aaron Witherspoon: Laverne Clark looks old old old. Hard to believe he was still fighting a year later against Jeff Ford.

FIGHT: Witherspoon Submission Rnd 1. Slam gets a slam to start the fight. Shock! I think his attempts early on for guillotines and armbars weren't strong - the first two times he went for the armbar he didn't have it in properly. Clark got caught the third time though and the tapout was forced. The submission "proved" that Witherspoon was well rounded, but that proof disappeared soon. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Gormley/Murphy

KO OF THE NIGHT: Perez/Berry

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Taber/Bell

OVERALL FOR THE SHOT: 3 out of 10. Fairly substance-less event with mediocre fighters doing battle. Pretty sad LaVerne Clark bout.

D&R Rating: 5% (3/60)

RETRO REVIEW: KOTC Execution Day (10/29/05)

2011-03-13T01:03:00.002-05:00

Again, another one from the KOTC of the Day thread of yore.

1) STEPHEN THAMES vs. AARON JAMESON: Two dudes I have no familiarty with whatsoever. Jameson beats the dude up pretty bad and wins with a guillotine easily.

2) ADAM TORRES vs. PAT HEALY: Torres is some dude from a Gracie JJ dojo. Healy, of course, went on to some measure of fame being on Ken Shamrock’s Nevada Lions where he did okay. Serious ass staredown too. Healy is way taller.

Healy’s size advantage is a big factor. He slams Torres a couple times easily and uses it to gain dominant position. He eventually gets the armbar and surprises the announcers, ending before the first round passes.

3) PHIL GARCIA vs. DAN MOLINA: This is a heavyweight fight, and I’m kinda worried. Garcia is a Kerry Schall victim. Molina is from Lions Den and looks way blown up here. Like, the Baldwin brother on Celebrity Rehab blown up. Ken Shamrock is cornering him, and I’m sure this would already be Clown’s favorite bout.

Molina shoots in, Garcia is on the ground, but still sorta defending it, though he’s on his ass. Molina rolls him over, and in doing so, opens some space, enough to grab the left foot of Garcia. Garcia rolls back, essentially in a kneeling/sitting position, and when he does that, he traps his own leg in a toehold. Lions Den fighter by leglock. Sorta. Hey, a fitting tribute.

4) JOE COTA vs. JAMIE JARA: Jara is from CAL WORSHAM’S TEAM. WHAT. I didn’t know that. Worsham was a cop, right? Jara looks like a MS-13 member. How does that work? Joe Cota is a dude of a nondescript nature. This is a 185lb fight, BTW.

Good first round, really, Jara gets a takedown and a leg and gets to work submissions on it for a good minute, but never figures out what to do. Go figure that the trainer with a heavy background in TKD isn’t good teaching kneebars. Cota eventually gets his leg free and ends up in top position for awhile, though he’s not particularly effective with anything. Jara is able to force the fight to the feet and when it gets there, they throw down with a lot of looping bombs. Both men are poorly conditioned and with about :30 left in the round, they are breathing really heavy.

Second round is equally fun. Standup is brief and Jara ends up getting the takedown and controls Cota, beating him pretty heavily, attaining mount, and then getting Cota’s back. Cota, nearly being choked out, responds to the camera and perhaps Jara’s camp by giving the middle finger. Chin tucked in, Cota survives, is able to turn into Jara’s guard, and unleashes some shots of his own. Cota eventually leaves Jara’s open guard and stands up, forcing both men to their feet and a slow dance for the rest of the round as they stare at each other, both super winded. Third round is almost sleep inducing though. Cota’s all done and operating off just heart, and Jara has just fumes in the tank, but that’s more than Cota, and thus he wins a primarily slow standup final 5 and takes the decision. And now Jara has fought MMA on national television. What a world. Of course, so has Ray Steinbeiss, so it doesn’t really mean anything.

THIS IS THE MAIN CARD. A BIG VIDEO PACKAGE TELLS ME SO. The ring girls get introduced and shit and I just fast forward past it. Like I give a fuck about whatever local strippers they’re paying $300 to for the show.

5) TAKEFUMI HANAI vs. BUDDY CLINTON: Clinton shares his name with a dead ex-presidential dog, whereas Hanai fought in everyone’s favorite MMA organization with techno music and weird rules about closed guard.

Hanai attempts to channel Genki Sudo and does a weird sideways stance. Clinton takes a few seconds to analyze it, throws a solid leg kick, then takes down Hanai and beats him up. In fact, he’s pretty much totally dominant in the round. Hanai ends up on his feet and does nothing with it, at one point throwing a koppo kick looking thing.

Round 2 has Hanai faking the leaping Mongolian Chop on a standing Clinton and absorbing a right to the face. He clinches up and goes for a ride, with Clinton slamming him hard. Hanai locks up Clinton and gets the fight stood up. While there, he lands a hard right hand that so bothers Clinton that he backs up most of the rest of the round, even as Hanai turns away from him and expresses his discontent with the lack of action to the crowd. Towards the end of the round, Clinton shoots in and Hanai tries a guillotine. It doesn’t work though, and Clinton lays on him till the bell sounds.

Round 3 doesn’t last long. Takefumi lands a hard right hand and drops Clinton, and following punches cause Mazagatti as close to early as he’s ever been.

6) JASON WEISS vs. WARPATH: Warpath is the Gladiator Challenge Native American Champion of the World. Only in the world of combat sports, man. Jason Weiss is a pro boxer as well as MMA fighter, and was picked among Joe Mesi’s early comeback opponents when he got braindamaged. He’s also been knocked out by modern day Bigfoot Martin, sub .500 fighter Demetrice King.

Weiss pops the jab a little, shoots in for some reason, Warpath holds him in a front head lock and hits his back for about 2 minutes. Eventually Warpath gets him down and wins by GNP. Exciting stuff. Not really.

7) SHAWN BIAS vs. URIJAH FABER: There’s prefight segments with both men interviewed, so you know this one is extra important or something. Faber is then the KOTC Featherweight Champ.

Fight is a single round in length, chiefly controlled by (SHOCK) Faber. Bias does throw a kick right at the onset and uses it to get Faber down and take his back, but doesn’t get his hooks in and Faber ends up in his guard. From there, Bias never again puts forth any serious offense, nearly getting caught in a triangle in a weird sideways attempt by Faber and eventually submitting to a guillotine. Faber is now the WEC’s headline star and for good reason.

9) AARON BRINK vs. RICHARD MONTOYA: Montoya is some kid from Lion’s Den. Brink is a full time fighter, part time porn star who isn’t actively horrible, while one would expect Montoya to perhaps be given the place of Lion’s Den in the overall scene of MMA in 2007. Lots of prefight interview stuff for both.

Nothing fight. Montoya shoots at the very onset, gets Brink against the cage and eventually down. Brink is able to get back up but finds himself in a guillotine. Apparently unaware as to how to defend against it, he ends up tripping Montoya, putting himself in Montoya’s guard and has to tap.

10) MAC DANZIG vs. TAKUMI NAKAYAMA: Danzig is the Gladiator Challenge Lightweight champ, Nakayama the KOTC title holder. Nakayama is a fairly mediocre fighter from Japan who is an okay benchmark. Some more prefight interview blather.

I’ve seen this fight before and thus I wasn’t as intruiged by it as others. Nakayama is generally dominated by Danzig from the early going, as Danzig’s wrestling and strength is way too much for Nakayama. As the bout labors on, Danzig gets busy with a flurry on the feet, causes a massive gash on Nakayama with some knees from the thai clinch, and Herb is forced to stop it. Just another stop on the Mac Danzig Express.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Jara/Cota in a landslide. Two dudes showing a modicum of skill in the cage against each other rather than against far inferior competition. Best matchmaking of all.

KO OF THE NIGHT: Warpath/Jason Weiss: Weiss is ruined by the assault on the ground, and while its not unexpected, the violent nature of it should create some sort of visceral "oh fuck" response.

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Molina/Garcia. Toe hold FOREVER.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6.5 out of 10: Not a bad show per se, with nothing outwardly offensive in it and some guys who are decent names in the sport competing in bouts that helped develop their reputation and career. Decent production quality and nothing outlandishly dumb being said in commentary helps out. Honestly, Apple/Williams isn't any worse than a team involving Ranallo and a pro wrestler.

-----------------

POSTSCRIPT:

Jamie Jara can now be seen in Bellator.

Pat Healy beat the crap out of Lyle Beerbohm in the headlining position on a Strikeforce Challengers card.

Takefumi Hanai lost to future Shooto 167lb champ Katsuya Inoue and then to Keita Nakamura. He lost a third time in a row to a nondescript opponent in Pancrase then retired in 2008.

Warpath Villareal was last seen nearly beating Brett Rogers in the Canadian Maritime provinces.

Urijah Faber is Urijah Faber.

Shawn Bias has a face tattoo and last fought in 2009.

Takumi Nakayama last fought in December 2010 having transitioned to full bore gatekeeper status in Japan.

Aaron Brink is now well known for appearing on a TLC show about drug addiction.

Mac Danzig is still with the UFC after winning TUF 6.

Shark Fights 14 (3/11/2010)

2011-03-12T00:49:00.000-05:00

Exactly 7 months after their last show, Shark Fights returns with new management/ownership and a TV deal. Really important women's bout on the card along with an entertaining middleweight contest. Same generic music being used for the walkouts as KOTC. The poster looks like a KOTC poster. Imitation, flattery, you know the drill.

1) Joseph Sandoval vs. Sean Shakour: Some prospects at bantam.

FIGHT: Sandoval Unanimous Decision. (0)

Sandoval: So the positives first - he's not bad when the fight hits the mat. He can get sweeps and survive bad positions. He also has a good gas tank - he basically outlasts Shakour here. The problem is just that though. Sandoval is taken down repeatedly with takedowns from way, way outside in the first two rounds. I mean, we're talking 6-7 feet out. Sure, he stops a takedown in the third and beats up Shakour as a result, but that's only because he was better conditioned. A superior top control grappler may wear him out and take an easy decision.

Shakour: Good shot. Striking doesn't really exist. Doesn't have a game off his back, like a lot of newer wrestlers. His finishing ability is not that good - he has Sandoval's back twice and can't make anything happen. So green. So, so green.

2) Layne Hernandez vs. Gabe Vasquez: 3 minute rounds.

FIGHT: Vasquez Submission Rnd 3. (0)

Vasquez: Dude likes crazy kicks. He lands one in the second round. Most of the time though, he gets taken down as a result of them. He has to fight for submissions here and there and has little luck until catching Hernandez with an arm-in guillotine in the third round after being taken down. This is why he's 3-2.

Hernandez: Can shoot. Has no standup. Decent at top control and wins the first two rounds by laying on his opponent. He's forced to stand up a couple times though due to inactivity, and it seems like every time it happened, he was seriously afraid.

3) Alex Cisne vs. Eric Davila: Davila beat Pete Spratt in a stunning upset after an (unintentional?) headbutt hurt Spratt.

FIGHT: Davila TKO Rnd 3 (1)

Cisne: Its really simple - yeah, he has a decent base of skills. Yeah, he is entertaining to watch. But you look at him physically next to the lumpy Davila - his chest is smaller, his shoulders aren't as wide, his torso as a whole is smaller, his legs are smaller. He's small for the weight class, and when you are like that, you gotta work hard to push guys around in the clinch or to stay on top of them. He does that and is running on fumes halfway through the second. By the third, his mouth is open, his hands are down, and he's squared up. You can practically feel his arms being tired out and feeling like limp noodles. Either he moves down, bulks up, or hopes for a new weight class to be made for him.

Davila: "Big Head" wins because he is comfortable fighting and because he can mitigate damage done to him. Technically he is nothing special, but the mental game is so important you can't ignore it. When you have the confidence that you can take the best the opponent can offer and come back with twice as much punishment, and you have the technical ability to make it happen, you're gonna be a challenge for fighters.

4) Lucas Lopes vs. Mike Bronzoulis: Lopes I've seen only once in a fight at Jungle Fight 1. There is a t-shirt with a LOU SAVARESE quote. How do I know? IT SAYS LOU SAVARESE SAID IT.

FIGHT: Bronzoulis Unanimous Decision. Close fight. (0)

Lopes: Honestly, Lopes looked great in the first. Well, great for being Lopes. He's a lot bigger of a guy. Very tall. But he ran out of gas in the first and ends up eating right hands and knees throughout the second and third en route to losing the decision. He was a better grappler than Bronzoulis as well.

Bronzoulis: The Greek doesn't really do anything to throw off Lopes' timing. No movement, he runs straight back when Lopes comes forward, etc etc etc. Bronzoulis admits he has middling talent and technique and comes to scrap. Why sit here and argue with the guy?

5) Tara LaRosa vs. Carina Damm: LaRosa is maybe the best women's fighter ever. Ever! Damm is good, but on a losing stretch.

FIGHT: LaRosa Submission Rnd 2. Damm is scared to engage standing and is happy to get the clinch in this fight because she can get the takedown and work. But as soon as she's in mount, she's bucked off, and LaRosa spends over 3 minutes in top control. In the second, she comes straight at Damm and Damm folds and drops to her butt looking for a desperation leg lock. LaRosa isn't being extended or figure four'd, so she does it to Damm instead and locks in an inverted heel hook. (4)

6) Matt Horwich vs. Danillo Villefort: Main event, but not for a title, sadly.

FIGHT: Villefort Unanimous Decision (2)

Villefort: Good win. He didn't wilt under the pressure of Horwich (who was there all night) and that was important. As was expected, he's a far mroe dynamic striker than Horwich and as far as grappling goes, he's at least as good or better. He had some great throws. If you want to complain, there's are some things to look at. His lateral movement stopped after the first round. Did he get tired? Maybe. But he stopped moving and giving angles and Horwich closed the distance. Against Horwich, that is something that can be forgiven. Against a big wrestler like, I dunno, Chael Sonnen, its not an option.

Horwich: He fights like a robotic Matt Lindland, except now with 100% more submission skill. Of course he isn't as good a wrestler as Lindland, but he sure has a better chin, and that's almost as important.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Hernandez/Vasquez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Davila/Cisne

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Hernandez/Vasquez

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. This was not mindblowing bad but it wasn't very good either. Highlight is most definitely the women's bout.

D&R Rating: 23% (7/30)

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/7

2011-03-11T01:05:00.001-05:00

Fist, let's recap:

STRIKEFORCE -

-How about that Dan Henderson? Still relevant after all these years. I hate how he loads up with the right hand, but people don't give him enough looks to take his timing away and instead he blast through them after they throw lazy jabs and shots. In a division that is strong on talent, I gotta say I think Dan is in the top 10 still. Maybe #9 or #10, but he's there. I think he's done at least as much as Thiago Silva to belong, and most consider him to belong there.

The one thing I see coming up is this - if Mousasi wins and gets the next title shot with Hendo, Hendo's not the same sort of wrestler that King Mo is. Yeah, he's an Olympian, but he's a Greco wrestler with a slow shot, and not even necessarily great takedown defense. Mousasi isn't likely to leave his hands down and be lazy punching or kicking as Feijao was.

-Coenen wins by submission in Round 4 after being dominated and marked up. Score another one for 5 rounders being better. She got taken down repeatedly and didn't even look better standing, getting banged up by a shorter slugger.

-Jorge Masvidal has gotten better by being less exciting. We can't blame Greg Jackson for that either. But man, classic stick and jab performance in MMA. Doesn't get easier than that.

-Tim Kennedy takes down Manhoef and submits him easily. I AM SHOCKED.

BELLATOR:

-Chris Lozano had beaten the right kind of opponents to prepare him for a bout like this against Good, but just not enough of them. He needed seasoning - lots of it - and it showed. Good was the smaller man, yet dictated the distance, pressed Lozano into the cage, and wore him down. Takedowns were all Good, and when he was able to control the place the fight took place, Lozano fought scared.

-Anthony Lapsley was pretty well dominated even though he wasn't actually getting choked out when the ref jumped in. He got deep with a shot but I think if it wasn't for Hieron pulling back into the guillotine, he never would have been on top. He was quickly swept and dumped on his own back before being mounted, forced to roll over, and the end came shortly thereafter (even if premature). Hieron, meanwhile, proves he has ability off his back in addition to being such a strong wrestler.

-Most people would have said looking at Weedman/Hornbuckle that it was an easy pick. Fighters like Weedman are why I don't pick against people I haven't seen. Lots of complaints about the decision and I think they're fair, but look; if you spend almost the whole round on top, and you end up nearly having an arm outstretched for the submission at the end of the round, you're going to win even if you spend most of it dodging triangles. Weedman's unorthodox striking is not merely unorthodox, it isn't that good. Big wide openings often times that Hornbuckle took advantage of.

Going back to Hornbuckle; the reason why he isn't elite is that he gets situations that are meant for him to win and he takes too long to process. He sweeps Weedman off his feet and there's about two seconds of Weedman on his ass looking confused before Hornbuckle chases him down and takes his back. A faster reaction to something so obvious would have gotten him the win. Instead? He is out of the tourney.

-Rick Hawn is tiny for welterweight and as a wrestleboxer, he's merely OK. I don't think he has any power in his shots at all. Lots of arm punches. His judo (his whole base) seemed absent here. I get that it was another judoka he was facing, but he couldn't do anything really to get him down? We had to have this instead?

Predictions for 2011: 5-1. Somehow the full review on Hawn/Wallhead didn't save but I was going to pick Hawn because of his team. That's alright.

CORRECT: Masvidal/Evangelista, Kennedy/Manhoef, Coenen/Carmouche, Good/Lozano, Lapsley/Hieron

WRONG: Henderson/Cavalcante

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

Bellator:

Toby Imada vs. Ferrid Kheder: This is the only fight where I've seen multiple fights of both men and feel safe in doing anything close to a prediction. The popular pick online is Imada because Kheder typically never looks that good in big steps up in competition. Right or wrong, people are going to pick against him because he looked bad in robbing Hermes Franca blind. But he is a strong guy, a stout guy, and he's very dangerous. And with people loving Imada, Toby really is not a great finisher, isn't that strong, and while he goes for a lot of stuff, its often low percentage and leaves him open for counters of all sorts. As a result, yes, I will pick Kheder to win.

NEWS FLASH 3/11 - Kheder misses weight by a truck load. This isn't necessarily shocking news because he's done it before. He paid a bunch for having missed weight by 10 lbs against Nakamura at M-1's Kansas City event a couple years ago. This time he was told he wasn't needed and Imada now has Josh Shockley tabbed as his opponent.

Shark Fights 14:

Matt Horwich vs. Danillo Villefort: Villefort is a more consistent and skilled fighter. Horwich will come on strong in round 3, but he's the MMA version of a 15 round fighter. This is just a 3 round sprint, and that favors Villefort who is better at more things though perhaps not as singularly driven as Horwich.

Tara LaRosa vs. Carina Damm: Damm can roid up if she wants. LaRosa, skillwise, is possibly the best women's fighter ever. This isn't at a bad weight for her either. I think Damm will look for takedowns and to go to top control but end up meeting sweeps, scrambles and knees as a result. LaRosa by decision.

THATS ALL FOLKS. ENJOY THE FIGHTS!

NAAFS Cage Fighting (2/13/2011)

2011-03-09T23:54:00.004-05:00

More from the 12/4/2010 Night of Champions show. Stipe Miocic headlines.

1) Bob Rech vs. Chase Owens: NAAFS Amateur Middleweight belt on the line.

FIGHT: Owens Unanimous Decision. Good decision. Honestly, Rech isn't that bad a fighter, but his ability to stay on top is not that great and his striking is nonexistent. He's got a decent shot and he's a solid athlete. Owens isn't much of a striker other, throwing haymakers with the right, but his ability to scramble and control the clinch is really impressive. He's out of breath after the fight (which is merely 9 minutes) so he probably needs to work on his cardio, but that's something to discuss for the future. He's not even pro yet. I was pretty impressed. Both guys have raw physical talents. They just need the right training. (1)

2) Mike King vs. Jeff Hughes: NAAFS Light heavyweight amateur title.

FIGHT: King TKO Rnd 1. King and Hughes box badly and clinch and there's a knee to the balls of Hughes. The fight starts again and they box badly some more until King eats a couple right hands on the end of 1-2 combos and he's on queer street. He takes a bunch more shots until the ref jumps in. So, Hughes has a good chin that won't last long taking those punches. (0)

3) Greg Maynard vs. Stipe Miocic: Maynard is said to be a Bellator vet. Like, so? Miocic is a guy that NAAFS has been hyping FOREVER.

FIGHT: Miocic TKO Rnd 2. Not much to discuss here. Maynard is much shorter and is tubby. Miocic lands a billion leg kicks and jabs and this is basically a sparring session in which the bag gets tired and drops after a right hand and a knee. One thing the announcers note, and I'll agree, is that Miocic is moving away from being more or less just a boxer/slugger type fighter and is now throwing leg kicks and looking like a more dynamic striker. He's young enough that this is still a reasonable thing to do as far as his career goes. He's only 4-0 as a pro, and those are the fights that really matter. (2)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 5 out of 10. Opener was pretty fun to watch and it went downhill from there. Miocic is a good fighter but stuff like this where he basically practices stuff on a barely responding opponent isn't must see TV.

King of the Cage: Caged Chaos (3/10/2007)

2011-03-09T01:17:00.000-05:00

Almost 4 years ago to the date and I'm reviewing this show. Among the notables on the card - Joe Boxer, Cody Bollinger, Kyle Kingsbury, Toby Imada, Bryson Kamaka, Ed Newalu, Aaron "Slam" Witherspoon, Sean Loeffler, and yes, KRAZY HORSE. This show is emanating from the AVI Casino in Laughlin, AKA the other Reno. Steve Inman, Sean Kenoba, and DON WILSON are on the mics. Tyson Johnson is still announcing for them.

1) Craig Turner vs. Calvin Bell: Bell looks old. Fight is at light heavyweight.

FIGHT: Bell Submission Rnd 1. Looks like this won't last long as Bell lands a big right hand almost immediately and Turner goes down. As Turner flails, he gives up a leg, Bell goes for a heel hook, and they roll around a little. Its a pretty amateurish attempt as Bell loses the hold, is mounted, and then just powers his way back into the full guard. When there, he again seeks the heel hook and they roll some. He wins with a straight ankle lock after the two men end up doing the foot lock equivalent of hand fighting. (0)

2) Cody Bollinger vs. Nick Trejo: Bollinger is like 16 here in this 145lb bout.

FIGHT: Bollinger Submission Rnd 2. Bollinger is still one of the best prospects in the 145lb universe. Trejo is a decent wrestler and not only defends Bollinger's suplex early on but uses it to get dominant position and rain down shots on Cody. Cody is resilient though and nearly locks in a d'arce while scrambling and then slowly works his way not only back into the fight but into controlling it. Bollinger dominates Trejo with his wrestling in the second round, closing the distance early, picking up Trejo in a guillotine, and lifting him off the ground and walking with him. Amazing strength for someone so young. He eventually mounts Trejo, hits him a few times, and Trejo gives up the back and the choke. He essentially retires after this. (1)

3) Ernie Calma vs. Gerry Noche: Noche has his name on his gi and looks old. Both dudes are making their debuts. Noche's apparently with De La O jiu-jitsu. Oh, and the announcers admit he's had fights before, just that they were on smokers.

FIGHT: Draw. (0) Sloppy fight between the two where each wins a round. Noche takes the first by outgrappling Calma. He holds him to the cage or takes him down off sweeps and trips, which seems to be his preferred method of takedown. Calma opens the second dropping Noche and pounding him and keeps after it the whole round, being dominant standing and on the mat as well, where he at least stays on top and well away from any submission attempts. Neither guy really turned out to be much in the end. (0)

4) John Cole vs. Frank Park: Another De La O fighter in Park. Cole has a dummy leg with him that he carries in. I wonder what kind of submissions he likes?

FIGHT: Park TKO Rnd 1. Park comes out with kicks, gets taken down, and Cole is controlling the fight. Park climbs the wall, we have separation, and Cole comes in wild with punches, then gets dropped with a counter left and Park follows with GNP until the ref stops it. (0)

5) Sean McCafferty vs. Lars Haven: Haven I've seen a few times prior and, hey, he's not all that good to be honest. This other guy? Probably worse.

FIGHT: Haven Submission Rnd 1. Haven pulls guard and spends his time working on an armbar. He gets it and OH GOD THAT IS UGLY. Lars breaks it and Don Wilson starts talking about how he'll probably pass out soon and go into shock. (0)

6) Tia Castillo vs. Thricia Poovey: Women's MMA bout between girls that aren't relevant.

FIGHT: Poovey Submission Rnd 1. Lots of flailing from Castillo with open palms at the start of the fight, and she takes down Poovey. Poovey starts working for submissions, sweeps Castillo with a triangle, and transitions to an armbar. After struggling for quite awhile, Castillo eventually taps. (0)

7) Victor Valenzuela vs. Albert Hill: Hill has a terrible record as a fighter and is obviously going to lose to Joe Boxer and probably brutally. Or he'll take a dive.

FIGHT: Valenzuela Submission Rnd 1. Joe Boxer lands a one two, drops Hill, Hill scrambles to avoid GNP and sorta falls into a triangle and that transitions to an armbar for the tap. Pointless. (0)

8) Sean Loeffler vs. Dan Axe: Loeffler was being groomed here to be a new star for KOTC, and it didn't work out. At all. He's not bad, he's just not that great. Shoes for Loeffler.

FIGHT: Loeffler Submission Rnd 1. Loeffler throws a superman punch to start, jumps around to Axe's back, gets a rear naked choke, and Axe is out cold in 20 seconds. Ridiculous fight. (0)

9) Angelo McLeroy vs. Kyle Kingsbury: Let's make this simple: Kingsbury was on TUF and has a UFC contract. The other guy no one cares about.

FIGHT: Kingsbury Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special. Distance closed, takedown, punching, takes back, RNC. Whatever. (2)

10) Randy Velarde vs. Toby Imada: Velarde first fought at KOTC 2 in 2000 and has a win over Rob Emerson. He actually was nearly killed in a stabbing. Imada had the inverted triangle seen round the world.

FIGHT: Imada Submission Rnd 2. You see the strengths and weaknesses of Imada here. On one hand, he's overpowered easily and gets taken down a couple times by Velarde. He also loses what seem to be sure thing submissions as Velarde just overpowers him. He's even slammed hard in the second. His takedowns are not explosive but almost more or less classic judo throws and takedowns using leverage. And that's cool to watch, don't get me wrong. I like seeing technique win as it did here. But its also why he's never been much more than a high level gatekeeper. (1)

11) Robert Martz vs. Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett: Martz's debut. His opponent is a living legend. Two "cops" escort Bennett to the ring in handcuffs. And he's got some hair man. Cornrows and shit.

FIGHT: Bennett TKO Rnd 1. Martz throws a wild shot and jumps in, then gets caught with a couple knees, drops, eats shots to the dome, and the fight is over. Bennett does backflips and dances and talks crazy and man its great. And then they give him a microphone. I should give that a 5 right there. (1)

12) Ed Newalu vs. Ryan Diaz: KOTC 135lb belt at stake.

FIGHT: Diaz Submission Rnd 1. This is the classic example of a fight that nothing really was changed by in spite of it being for a belt of some sort. Diaz locks up a triangle after a prolonged setup when Newalu dumps him on his back. There's not really any sort of striking or anything and both guys are totally ordinary, with Diaz being less ordinary. Neither has fought for a couple years now. (0)

13) Jerry Davis vs. Manny Rodriguez: Fat dudes. Who are they? I don't know.

FIGHT: Rodriguez TKO Rnd 1. Heavyweight title or something up for grabs and they throw wild shots and Rodriguez wins. Rodriguez never fights again. (0)

14) Aaron Witherspoon vs. Bryson Kamaka: Kamaka has a reputation for getting the hell beaten out of him in short order by decent fighter. Witherspoon is a decent fighter.

FIGHT: Witherspoon TKO Rnd 1. Left hook, right hand, GNP, over. 11 second KO. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bollinger/Trejo

KO OF THE NIGHT: Witherspoon/Kamaka

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: McCafferty/Haven

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. God, these sorts of shows are hard to watch. So many early stops. Just over and over with bad matchmaking and middling talent.

D&R Rating: 7% (5/70)

KOTC: Prime Time (8/5/2005)

2011-03-07T01:21:00.001-05:00

This was an event held at Soboba, and we've got Erik Apple and Michael Westbrook on the mics.

1) Fernando Gonzalez vs. Aaron Torres: I know very little about Torres. And the announcers say very little as well. In fact, they're like working out mic issues or something during the intro to the fight.

FIGHT: Gonzalez TKO Rnd 1. Gonzalez lands a ton of left hands over the top of Torres and that hurts him over and over. He ends up face down on the mat taking shots and verbally submits. A verbal submission in boxing is called a TKO. So there you have it. Torres is all sorts of wild and its no surprise that he doesn't have much of a future in the sport. (0)

2) Jeremy Jones vs. Rob McCullough: Jones is trained by Cal Worsham. Razor Rob, of course, is the only known lightweight quantity that was ever in the WEC and thus the guy who all the rankings and hype is ultimately built on. Did I mention he's now back fighting in Tachi Palace Fights? Once a BShow fighter...

FIGHT: McCullough TKO Rnd 1. Bad mismatch. Jones has a sort of karate/boxing stance going on and likes side kicks. He ends up meeting a right hand after throwing one and he drops and is done. Short, short fight. (2)

3) Shawn Bias vs. John De La O: Bias is one of those beloved scrappy guys in MMA history at the smaller weights. I think his cornerman is 14 and wearing a Maiden shirt. Bias also got fucked up by some dickhead cops and was in a coma. There's a story about the comeback he's made here. De La O was running his own BJJ school in Orange County.

FIGHT: Bias Submission Rnd 1. Bias is better on the feet, but then goes for a takedown. Seems like a bad strategy, but he makes it work by passing guard and then to the mount. De La O did regain full closed guard and got slammed into near unconsciousness. Bias does a great job in this fight and actually secures a guillotine during a scramble that forces the black belt to submit. (0)

4) Buddy Clinton vs. John Paulson: I never noticed this, but I think Clinton plucks his eyebrows. John Paulson is some dude intended to basically lose here and collect $500.

FIGHT: Clinton Submission Rnd 1. Paulson comes to fight and actually drops Clinton at the very beginning with a left hook. But once its in the mat, Clinton twists him up. There's leg lock attempts, he takes top control, eventually this works to a triangle that transitions to an armbar, and its over. (0)

5) Paulo Dantes vs. Jay Valencia: Dantes is a ATT guy who I think is mostly a trainer there these days in kickboxing. Valencia is 2-2 and from Joe Camacho's school.

FIGHT: Dantes KO Rnd 1. Flying knee from way outside goes straight up the middle and lays out Valencia and this one is over. Ref is late in stopping it too and he lands two punches to the unconscious opposition. (0)

6) Shannon Ritch vs. John Alessio: Kind of interesting. I mean, you know who is going to lose here. But still.

FIGHT: Alessio TKO Rnd 1. Alessio corners Ritch from the start and lands a bunch of shots that aren't totally clean, but Ritch drops anyways and turtles up, earning the stoppage loss. (2)

7) Ray Perales vs. Mike Guymon: This card is filled with prospects fighting dudes to get eradicated. Another example is here.

FIGHT: Guymon Submission Rnd 1. Guymon with a single gets Perales down early, and it stays there. He passes guard, lands shots in mount, gets bucked and has to work off his back. He pulls a triangle and forces the tapout. (1)

8) Cub Swanson vs. Mondo Sanchez: The silence for Mondo is amazing. No one reacts.

FIGHT: Swanson TKO Rnd 1. Swanson is the superior grappler by a lot and it shows. He gets the fight down, gets to mount, and just smashes and smashes and forces the stop. Not anything to write home about. (2)

9) Chris Peak vs. James Lee: Another "dude vs. Prospect" fight. Lee is wearing shoes. Rampage comes up and starts doing commentary. They discuss a Tim Persey fight that isn't on the DVD and I am upset.

FIGHT: Lee Submission Rnd 1. He ends up going for an inside heel hook after getting a takedown and posturing up in guard. Peak should have tapped earlier and ends up hurt. (1)

10) Joe Frainee vs. Nam Phan: Phan is suddenly relevant again in the UFC. Didn't expect that, to be entirely honest. Frainee is a dude who doesn't fight anymore.

FIGHT: Phan Submission Rnd 1. Kinda interesting fight. Fight has a long delay due to an early knee to the balls that Phan throws, and when the fight restarts, they trade and Frainee actually hurts him with some left hands and a knee. Frainee actually looks to be in charge, gets a takedown out of the clinch with a trip, and then ends up getting caught in an armbar. Fun. (2)

11) Emanuel Newton vs. Hector Ramirez: This is kinda a good fight!

FIGHT: Majority Draw. (3)

I won't bother to break them down individually, especially with Ramirez being effectively retired. Newton and Ramirez put on a show though, with both men swinging for the fences when punching and doing a solid job of grappling. The only takedown of the fight that was really effective came from the smaller Newton, who got a nice trip on Ramirez. Ramirez won the first round, in my mind, by pushing the action and forcing Newton into the cage and to defend his swarming bombs. By the end of the round, Newton looked like a fresher fighter. In the second, reverse happened with Newton basically pushing around Ramirez and landing better shots and being more likely to throw something resembling a combination. Only being two rounds though was a shame, because it caused what was possibly a unanimous draw. Newton reeled off 9 straight wins after this fight until losing to Trevor Prangley in a pretty horrible fight at MFC 21.

12) Frank Kirmse vs. Thomas Denny: The prefight video package features Denny wearing a mask in a graveyard and beating up a grappling dummy next to a dumpster that says "Victorville Garbage" while wearing facepaint that looks like he stole the design of from pro wrestler Raven.

FIGHT: Denny Submission Rnd 1. Easy fight for the Wildman, who stuffs Kirmse's shot early, lands knees and punches, and goes for a GNP finish. Kirmse shows some gusto and hangs in there, even trying for a poorly executed guillotine at one point, but eventually he ends up being put on his stomach by Denny and choked out with a RNC. Denny wins the 170lb superfight championship. (1)

13) Wes Combs vs. Brian Sesma: Combs got a reputation for having one of the most blown up records ever prior to being in the UFC. Tapout sends a dude with a snare drum to follow him, as he looks like some character from Apocalypse Now with his USMC uniform and tats. Brian Sesma is ridiculously ripped and probably on steroids. He is also known for having no chin whatsoever.

FIGHT: Combs TKO Rnd 1. Sloppy kickboxing fight and Combs hurts Sesma with a right hand and then chases him straight back with more arm punches until one drops him that he never sees coming while running backwards with his face down. Combs really likes leg kicks to the point where it makes no sense for someone that slow to be tossing them. Meanwhile, Sesma fights the complete wrong way for his attributes and pays for it. (1)

14) Gregory Vivian vs. Manny Tapia: 130lb title up for grabs in this fight. Vivian was making his pro debut.

FIGHT: Tapia Submission Rnd 1. (2) Complete beatdown. Tapia gets the takedown early and pounds and pounds and pounds and then passes the guard and gets a side choke. Vivian didn't belong in this fight at any point.

15) Joey Villasenor vs. Jorge Santiago: Oddly important fight. Jorge is with ATT even here, but they haven't really become as vital a camp as they are now. Villasenor is at Jackson, and yeah. Same situation.

FIGHT: Villasenor Unanimous Decision. (4)

Santiago: Jorge is the guy who is more highly ranked in 2011 and for good reason. You see in this fight his achilles heel - that lousy chin of his. He gets his bell rung in every single round. You also see that Jorge's striking was crapola then. The addition of Thomas Davis Jr. to ATT along with their excellent muay thai coaches have turned Santiago into a guy who can throw combinations, unlike here. In this bout, Santiago was very often reliant on single overhand rights and lots of wild kicks. He goes for the shot in the first two rounds and gets stuffed and hurt while being stuffed. He almost knocks himself out in the second. On the mat, Jorge's submission skills looked pretty unimpressive.

Villasenor: Villasenor was better at putting shots together, he stuffed the takedowns, and dominated the clinch game in this fight. One thing that was surprising - every time he had Jorge hurt, he closed in and clinched. Was he afraid of Jorge's power? It sure seemed that way, and that was rather odd given that Joey was clearly taking it better than Jorge. The striking was pretty rudimentary but it got the job done here.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ramirez/Newton

KO OF THE NIGHT: Dantes/Valencia

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Bias/De La O

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Lots of interesting and actually relevant or skilled fighters against one another in decently matched bouts, along with a ton of prospects beating the living hell out of random tomato cans. Makes for a lot of carnage and a couple really interesting fights. Overall, not the worst show in the world to watch, and one that probably belongs on the shelf.

D&R Rating: 28% (21/75)

Raging Wolf 10 (11/6/2010)

2011-03-06T02:25:00.000-05:00

Raging Wolf 10 offers us Luigi Fiorvanti and Jay Adams announcing from the WOLFTAGON. Fuck me. Really? 3 pro fights as RAGING WOLF IS GROWING. When I think growing, I think booking shitty Irish fighters, Tonya Evinger, and having almost no pro bouts. More of these shows look like pro boxing shows set up for TV, even when they aren't.

1) Eddie Weiser vs. Kevin Ayers: Amateur middleweights.

FIGHT: Weiser TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special. Weiser just walks straight through Ayers to get the single and slam and then bashes him out with strikes. Meaningless looking. (0)

2) Matt Dimarcantonio vs. Kevin Cummings: More amateurs at lightweight.

FIGHT: Dimarcantonio Unanimous Decision. Dimarcantonio is a wrestler who takes guys down. Its a good thing these are amateur fights because he's deeply flawed in terms of leaving limbs and his neck out there. He had his head positioned for Cummings to lock up the guillotine in round 2 and Cummings didn't see it. In the third round, Dimarcantonio survived a triangle attempt and a knee bar that weren't really solidly locked in. (0)

3) Eric Attard vs. Thomas Egan: Why spend money on this fight? Honestly. Egan was torn to shreds by John Hathaway and has apparently moved to Massachusetts since to train, which is wise and makes him cheap. Attard is merely 2-0.

FIGHT: Egan TKO Rnd 2. Attard really wasn't all that competitive here. The best he could do was drive for a single for about a minute straight and that went nowhere. Egan was able to tool him on the mat so far as positioning went and also owned the standing exchanges. After Egan gets the fight to the mat in the second, he ends up riding Attard's back for awhile throwing punches until the ref is forced to step in. Winner here (Egan) supposedly gets a title shot with Nuri Shakur, which was the bout originally scheduled until derailed by a hand injury. (1)

4) Matt McCook vs. John Franchi: Featherweights. I think one of these guys is a WEC vet?

FIGHT: Franchi Unanimous Decision. Man, the announcers talk this up as the fight of the night, which tells you how lame the fight was. McCook's best strikes were all hammerfists from his back. I mean, really, that's what they were. He spent almost the entire fight on his back and aside from a triangle attempt that went nowhere, he was basically being controlled almost the entire time. There was a 30-27 card and that wasn't absurd at all. Franchi has some good throws and trips but he's not an explosive wrestler in a sport where the grapplers who are successful shoot generally shoot blast doubles (Edgar, Evans, GSP, Penn) or are overpowering strength wise (Lesnar, Sonnen, Hughes, Okami, Maynard). Top control grapplers who are finesse guys rarely make it to the top. (0)

5) Tonya Evinger vs. Alexis Davis: This is a rematch of a bout Davis won the first time after having shown up overweight. This time, both are on weight and so we have a title fight.

FIGHT: Davis Submission Rnd 1. Evinger's standup is bizarre, and so it doesn't surprise me that Davis gets to the clinch without much action. She trips Evinger, gets to the back, body triangle, rear naked choke. Davis would be a good gatekeeper in Strikeforce if they had a need for such a fighter. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: McCook/Franchi

KO OF THE NIGHT: Weiser/Ayers

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Davis/Evinger

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Honestly, this show sucks. Second tier women's bout at 135 headlines and lasts one mediocre minute along with some crap fights featuring garbage fighters. Strong suggestion to avoid.

D&R Rating: 12% (3/25)