Titan Fighting Championships 17 (3/26/2011)

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)

KOTC 21: Invasion (2/21/2003)

I can't believe I didn't already have this! I was missing a couple KOTC commercial items, so, yeah, I bought them. This is an old event that features Eddie Bravo and the debut of Erik Apple on the mic. Hell, this was before Apple had even fought professionally. And man oh man, what a card! A Heavyweight tournament! Fernando Vasconcelos! Shonie Carter! SHOWTIME! JIMMY AMBRIZ! KOTC has a THIRTY POINT MUST SYSTEM. It never worked for Superbrawl and didn't work here and now, for those who don't remember these good ol' days, you can learn how it didn't work here either.

1) Jason Godsey vs. Chris Guillen: Godsey was one of the early guys to claim catch wrestling and was in every bad promotion of the period. Chris Guillen I know nothing about.

FIGHT: Godsey Submission Rnd 1. We get a weird RNC sorta choke from side control. Just a bulldog choke. Mr. 10th Planet thinks its a funny catch wrestling neck crank. (0)

2) Bobby Hoffman vs. Sam Sotelo: Sotelo somehow has a win over Buentello, but losses to Wellisch and uhh...OK. Let's not spoil this yet. Or maybe I did. Hoffman almost killed his wife.

FIGHT: Hoffman TKO Rnd 2. Competitive fight at first with Sotelo getting a takedown and landing some good shots. Hoffman makes a comeback and lands some brutal GNP at the end of the round, stealing the 10-9 for himself. Sotelo gets taken down off the bodylock and the resulting impact obliterates his right shoulder. He taps out and screams obscenities in pain. One of the more gruesome things in MMA history. (2)

3) Seth Petruzelli vs. Brian Hawkins: Hawkins is from Michigan, and Seth is at this point a guy with no name. His sister is all lumpy and shit and screaming for him. Man he looks young.

FIGHT: Petruzelli TKO Rnd 1. Impressive show from Seth who throws a ton of low kicks that Hawkins doesn't even try to block and then gets the takedown. The announcers didn't expect that. He ends up mounting Hawkins after a failed bodylock takedown by Hawkins and pounds him out. (2)

4) Joey Villasenor vs. Tony Galindo: Oh my god. Are you kidding? Joey Villasenor is like brand new in this fight. Galindo is from LIONS DEN, is obviously juiced up as a midget with tons of muscles, and has the record for shortest KOTC KO. Trebilcock joins the booth and gives some real insight on Villasenor being a serious prospect at the time in spite of being 7-3 and generally unknown.

FIGHT: Villasenor TKO Rnd 1. Galindo quits after round 1 saying that he injured his elbow. The fight itself consisted of Villasenor throwing a leg kick, Galindo looking scared, and then a monster double leg puts Galindo on his back the entire round. What is most interesting is the aftermath - Erik Apple and Eddie Bravo jokingly say, "Hey, another winner from New Mexico! California and Iowa, look out!" To wit, Trebilcock relates that Chris Cordiero had told him about the camp from which Villasenor came from and to run some non PPV shows in the area. Trebilcock did and stated that he was super impressed with the talent level. The camp? C'mon, you and I both know its Gaidojutsu and Greg Jackson. So consider this the show where Jackson's name entered the discussion. (2)

5) Shonie Carter vs. Fernando Vasconcelos: Carter was and is a cult figure that is beloved in the sport. Vasconcelos was a BJJ artist who went into RAW and was dominating Olympic wrestlers in the dojo and everyone believed that was going to dominate the future of the sport. Eddie Bravo also says that he hung out with Carter at the strip club the night before and that he has a "full stable and I respect that" but that he's rooting for Vasconcelos. And not only that, Eddie Bravo further details a story about how Carter has a feud with Manson Gibson in which they've fought in parking lots and shit. This show is more about outside the cage than in.

FIGHT: Carter TKO Rnd 2. Note: Carter looks to have Lance Gibson in his corner! I love this show! (2)

Vasconcelos: Well, he got the takedown and worked for submissions in the first as expected. He was all over Carter like a cheap suit and looked to have back control. And then it starts to go wrong. When Carter proves able to stand up, Vasconcelos loses his mental toughness. By round two, he starts to eat punches and even gets dropped to the mat with a double leg takedown. How does he react? Oh, he can talk to his corner, walks around a bit, and just quits. Wasn't made to fight in the cage, obviously.

Carter: A great effort by Carter - looking every bit the larger man, he pushes his opposition to the cage and puts weight on them to tire them out. He is by far the better man striking and ultimately his takedown defense and submission defense combine to be more than a match for what Vasconcelos can offer over the long run of the fight. Whereas average wrestlers might be surprised by the hip toss Vasconcelos tries in round 2, Carter, a former judoka, is well prepared. He is in his dancing prime too when Vasconcelos quits. Not a bad fight - Lee Casebolt told me to expect it to be terrible.

6) Jimmy Ambriz vs. Jonathan Ivey: Ivey is a fat dude who loves to roll for kneebars because guys don't train those and Ambriz is a product of the Ultimate Pro Wrestling gym. More relevant than Chris Modest! Yes, I went there. Apparently the guy teaching him most of his MMA stuff is Todd Medina. Wow.

FIGHT: Ambriz Submission Rnd 1. Ivey rushes Ambriz and gets taken down, and that's pretty much the entire fight. Ivey sorta goes for submissions but none of them are even close and Ambriz wins with a north/south choke. (1)

7) Javier Vazquez vs. Alberto Crane: A famous fight! Among the most in KOTC history. This is for the KOTC Lightweight title.

FIGHT: Crane Unanimous Decision. This fight is famous because it was, for a long time, Vazquez's last fight. He blows his ACL 20 seconds into the fight, and rather than scream and quit, he goes the entire 15 minutes. Crane ends up winning the first two round by getting Vazquez down on the mat and controlling Vazquez and escaping his submissions (much easier to avoid with the guard game being eliminated, so most of what is thrown at him are guillotines). Vazquez, amazingly, comes back in the 3rd round and gets the take down and dominates him with top control and continues to pursue guard passes and the like. This fight, BTW, is pretty darn good and the crowd is wild for it well afterwards. Vazquez is carried out of the ring by his manager. Dramatic stuff. (4)

8) Jason Godsey vs. Bobby Hoffman: Heavyweight title at stake in the tourney finals!

FIGHT: Hoffman TKO Rnd 1. Godsey gets taken down with a sort of trip takedown and does try to sneak around back with a rear naked only to get put on his own back and beaten silly. He tries to move to N/S and escape and just gets smashed out. Easy win for Hoffman, who the announcers state has been out for a year and a half while incarcerated. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Vazquez/Crane

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sotelo/Hoffman

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Ambriz/Ivey

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. There's a legitimately good fight on the card, and the mediocre stuff is at least not totally horrible. Freaks! Ex-Cons! Injuries! Star prospects being exposed! This has it all.

D&R Rating: 37.5% (15/40)

JUNGLE FIGHT 3 (10/23/2004)

Antonio Inoki and Wallid Ismael again welcome us to Jungle Fight here in Manaus at the Tropical Hotel Manaus Sports Complex. Inoki gets some sort of Jaguar statuette as a present for having been at each event. Missing the cut from this event: Bobby Hoffman/Leopoldo Montenegro as well as Tony DeSouza/Carlos Lima and a Bibano Fernandes fight. What does Samurai TV give us all instead?

1) Masahito Kakihara vs. Rocky Romero: Kakihara is from NJPW, Romero is also at this time a gaijin wrestler contracted to NJPW with a history with UPW, CMLL, ROH, etc. In short - this is almost certainly a thrown fight.

FIGHT: Kakihara Submission Rnd 1. Obviously the potential that this isn't a worked shoot under the context of legit MMA is low. There's a side headlock/cross armbar combination in this fight for crying out loud. Kakihara shows that he has no chance of beating a real opponent as he locks in Romero into a headlock and Romero gladly rolls back into guard rather than keep the back that's been given to him. Volk Han would be disappointed. Kakihara wins by knee bar. (1) for the freakshow wrassler factor.

2) Fredson Paixao vs. Fabio Mello: Okay, again, wasn't expecting his fight on here.

FIGHT: Paixao Unanimous Decision (3)

Paixao: You know, if there is one thing to say about Paixao, its that he isn't exciting. I don't think that's wrong to say as if it is criminal to admit that not all of these guys are wonderful to watch. But Paixao is, historically, not fun to watch. He's very basic in terms of approach - takedown, control, smother, take advantage of the opposition's mistakes. On the mat he's a counter fighter even when on top. You never see him taking too many risks - he'll throw leather when he sees an opening, but is willing to wait and toil a little to make the opening appear rather than just work as hard as others do to make it happen with body strikes or whatnot. Standing he's a robot and not at all good, but the fights consistently go to the mat with him. When Mello turns within Paixao's guard to face him and be on top most of the third, he is ineffective with anything. Paixao is just locking him up with relative ease.

Mello: Doesn't have the wrestling chops, the boxing chops, or the physical gifts to keep Paixao at a distance and so he loses. Could have won this fight had he gotten top position and just laid there though because Paixao isn't that great off his back. Nothing hugely impressive that he did all fight aside from avoid getting stopped.

3) Masayuke Naruse vs. Tony Williams: Who? Naruse is a RINGS vet.

FIGHT: Naruse Submission Rnd 1. Armbar from mount. Looked to be a potential thrown fight. Crowd booed it too. Williams kicking and "selling" a lot. (0)

4) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Boris Jonstomp: Ugh. Bad mismatch here.

FIGHT: Patino Submission Rnd 2. This fight feels like it never ends. Patino wins by arm triangle after dominating all but like 45 seconds by being on top in dominant position. Jonstomp gets taken down and simply doesn't have an answer to that, guard passes, punches, whatever. Patino has been fighting for 15 years and is a vet of UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, this, hell, everything. A good grappler with unspectacular striking and who is undersized for the upper weight classes he often participates in. Patino also has Jesus written across his ass, which is a reminder that we've come so far that club fighters have numerous sponsors written across their asses today in this sport a scant 6 years later. (1)

5) Assuerio Silva vs. Alessio Sakara: This seems like a ridiculous mismatch in retrospect, doesn't it? OK heavyweght fights a guy who is an OK middleweight. In the ring against one another, they seem about the same size.

FIGHT: Silva Unanimous Decision. Horror show of a fight. Silva fights to win and does by winning a battle of positioning. (3)

Sakara: Sakara is better on his feet, which you would expect since he had such a history as a boxer. On the mat he can lock up Silva a bit and defend submissions (or at least survive). He stays on top for most of the second actually landing shots thanks to some bad moves by Silva, but for most of the first and third he's on his back. I liked his one-two-body shot combo. Great three punches to throw together and he landed the body shot every time. Just not enough snap in it.

Silva: Muay thai that he has is thrown out the window in favor of submission grappling, double leg takedowns, and ultimately top control. Lots and lots of Silva in side control. He goes for an armbar, a kneebar, a choke, a few different things. Couple good kimura attempts too. Honestly, he should have finished this fight. He had the opportunities. But that's why Silva is a longtime journeyman and not a contender in any weight class.

6) Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons: This was a fight? Pele was a legendary welterweight, Sobral was most often a heavyweight at this point of his career. Even then, he had recently dropped to 205. Big staredown.

FIGHT: Babalu Unanimous Decision. Again, you look at the fight on paper and its like "OH WOW I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THAT" and then you see it and you go "oh hey that's why I have seen this before and don't remember a single thing". This may have been trimmed. Not 100% on that. (5)

One thing about Brazilian MMA compared to other nations - Holland loves standups when there's not much activity. They let them go in Brazil. I mean, they often really let them go. Even when its boring and not leading to anything.

Babalu: Babalu is landing hook kicks and axe kicks and man, it is really cool looking when he shows off and you wish he was the whole fight instead of laying on top of Pele in half guard or side control which is a lot, and I mean a LOT of the fight.

Pele: Pele is too small for this fight, no matter how much muscle it looks like he packed on. And that means he can't stop takedowns or do anything about them off his back. He also gasses out hard by the second round because Babalu is constantly on him. He does nothing in this fight other than make me want to fall asleep and get hit in the head with 4 inch hammer fists. I'm virtually 100% sure there were edits for this fight but I didn't care.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Jonstomp

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Jonstomp

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. This is miserable to watch. The names are big and man, that main event is a huge one in MMA history given who is involved and what heights both men achieved (even if they never won a major belt). But the fights are fucking terrible dominations or probable fake fights done by pro wrestlers. Sakara/Silva is among the most disappointing fights I can ever remember.

D&R Rating: 43% (13/30)

JUNGLE FIGHT 2 (5/15/2004)

Same city in Brazil as Jungle Fight 1, this time at the Studio 5 Convention Center. Again, this version of the show was recorded for Japanese TV. We start with Inoki entering through a Jaguar's Mouth ramp thing and he and Wallid talk some shit. Is Mario Sperry the ref tonight? Might be. Yet again, Fabricio Werdum's fight against a legitimate heavyweight (this time: Ebenezer Fontes Braga) doesn't make tape for the Japanese fans. Nor does Gabriel Gonzaga's fight on this show. Nor Travis Wiuff apparently slamming Leopoldo Montenegro to hell.

EDIT: Luckily, Werdum/Braga is on Youtube thanks to the Fight Network and will be reviewed as a bonus.

1) Carlos Barreto vs. Bobby Hoffman: Woah, this was a fight and I don't remember it? Barreto was memorably KOed by Yvel and Hoffman memorably KOed his woman.

FIGHT: Barreto TKO/Submission from strikes Rnd 2. This is a slow paced bout that, in all honesty, is not what I was hoping for. (2)

Hoffman: Goes for a takedown early and spends a lot of the round on the mat fighting off a head and arm choke. When he breaks out of that, he and Barreto roll a little bit with Barreto going for submissions and Hoffman being visibly gassed 3 minutes in and spitting out his mouthpiece. After nearly getting tapped in the first, Hoffman returns with another takedown off a low kick only to be swept and immediately mounted quickly. He's pounded out there.

Barreto: His standup is limited to leg kicks, which is stupid because he gets taken down immediately with both. On the mat he's the smaller but superior grappler and has all sorts of locks nearly put in on Hoffman. After nearly winning with a straight armbar and with a head and arm choke at the end of the first, he sweeps and punches out an exhausted Bobby Hoffman.

2) Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Victor Babkir: Victor Babkir? Who? He's listed here as "Victor Babkin" and is a kickboxer.

FIGHT: Souza TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special. Souza with a takedown, passes immediately, Babkir's legs are just all over the place and sloppy. Souza punches him out from mount. (3)

3) Assuerio Silva vs. Fabiano Scherner: UFC vets collide in an EXPLOSION. Silva was the Pancrase Heavyweight King of Pancrase once. Did you know that? Now you do. Also, this is a rematch from Meca Vale Tudo 9 in which Scherner couldn't continue after falling from the ring.

FIGHT: Silva Submission Rnd 2. (2)

Scherner: Gets a UFC deal after tbis fight because, hey, he's a BJJ black belt or something and he looks good for most of the first round against Assuerio, a legitimate talent. He gets on top early and is raining down punches from inside the guard for pretty much the whole first round. Scherner then is forced to stand up with only seconds left in the first, and takes a kick and a punch from Silva, then shoots. In doing so, he gets caught in a guillotine with less than ten seconds left and taps out.

Silva: Silva is dominated pretty much all of round 1, but has Scherner put his head where he shouldn't at just the right time.

4) Rani Yahya vs. Fredson Paixao: Didn't expect this on the disc, to be honest. WEC vet known for wild submissions against WEC vet known for wild submissions.

FIGHT: Paixao Unanimous Decision. (3)

Yahya: I go with him first because, hey, this is a guy known for being a wizard grappler. An entertaining, crazy exciting super submission expert who pulls kneebars out of thin air. Well, he doesn't do that here. His satandup is atrocious, and yet I think there's a real possibility he won the standing exchanges just pushing punches while walking forwards. On the mat though, he goes nowhere, does nothing, and instead eats a lot of punches from Paixao. The second is the worst for him. Among the worst full rounds of his career.

Paixao: Paixao gets dominant positions on Yahya and keeps them. And almost unchallenged lands blows from them. Lots of punches to the head and body and a billion elbows too. His takedowns look easy, he's often able in the 1st and 3rd rounds to just push Yayha to the corner or ropes and put weight on him and then land with dirty boxing, and basically in every way he dominates.

5) Daniel Acacio vs. Buck Greer: Acacio is a PRIDE vet I last saw being in a really good fight with Paul Daley. Greer's short career included a loss to Hallman and a win over Laverne Clark. This is at like middleweight but Acacio is way over a 83KG limit.

FIGHT: Acacio TKO Rnd 2. This fight features one of the all time great muay thai sweeps in MMA history during the first round with Acacio catching a body kick and hurling Greer to his back. (1)

Acacio: The fastest way between two points is a straight line, at least when you aren't flying across the globe or something. Acacio throws straighter shots than Greer, and so his generally land and Greer ends up getting tagged repeatedly. He also catches most of Greer's body kicks, making that turn into offense too. When he gets Greer against the ropes and forces him to run straight back, Greer runs into an overhand right he never sees coming and is in a heap in one of the corners.

Greer: Telegraphs everything, doesn't use angles, and that costs him the fight. It makes it impossible for him to get Acacio off his balance enough to get a takedown or land effectively with combinations on the occasions they're thrown.

6) Katsuyori Shibata vs. Webster "Iceman" Dauphiney: Dauphiney is apparently a Todd Medina charge and may also be involved in pro wrestling. Shibata is a pro wrestler with an amateur background for NJPW.

FIGHT: Shibata Submission Rnd 1. Shibata gets a couple takedowns, and wins with a head and arm choke that looks more like a head crank to be honest. Is Dauphiney that bad, or is this a work? (1)

BONUS FIGHT: Fabricio Werdum vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga: Man, another really interesting Werdum fight with a legitimate opponent. Braga does look appreciably smaller as they stand next to one another.

FIGHT: Werdum TKO Rnd 2

Werdum: The strategy is simple: Smother. He seems afraid of the exchanges with Braga, or at least feels that nullifying them is a better option than working that to get takedowns, so there's a lot of Werdum and Braga clinching and Werdum pushing him. Braga ends up being taken down at the end of the round and holding Werdum in half guard, but an attempted escape and scramble just leaves Werdum taking the back and putting in hooks. Time runs out before he can get a choke in and instead he peppers Braga with punches. Second round is a different story - they're still coming in and clinching early on but when there's separation, Werdum throws shots. He catches Braga dropping low to shoot with a right hand that he throws while coming forward and Braga is out cold on the mat. Braga had to ask what happened when he woke up. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Greer

KO OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Greer (Werdum/Braga if included)

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Silva/Scherner

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Man, no good fights. Paixao/Yahya even deeply disappoints. Everything is slow action wise or never really develops because the matchmaking is piss poor. The fights I want to see? Not on the show. Oh well. Thanks a lot, Samurai TV. With Braga/Werdum it rises to a 3 because at least you get a bitchin' KO even if the fight is terrible.

D&R Rating: 40% (12/30), w/bonus fight 45% (16/35)

JUNGLE FIGHT 1 (9/13/2003)

You know, I've reviewed a lot of stuff over the years this has been open, but none of it was Brazilian MMA. And that's a shame, because the Brazilians PUT IT DOWN. Time and time again the big shows down there show great talents in solid fights and I ignore it. And that changes now.

Jungle Fight 1 was taped in this instance for Japanese TV and is in Manuas, one of the cities along the Amazon in a convention center area. But outdoors. Inoki is there and so are so, so many serious big talents in the sport. Guns And Roses playing constantly, it seems like. I haven't seen these forever and for some reason I remember Inoki flying in a helicopter there or something. Instead its just tourism footage I guess. Maybe this is indoors? I have no idea anymore.

Interesting note: Gonzaga/Werdum I was on this show but not part of the Japanese broadcast. Booo. But its on Youtube because it was part of a version televised for the Fight Network in Canada. EDIT 11/28 - I went ahead and tacked it onto the end.

1) Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Rodrigo Gripp Da Souza: Paulo Filho is a referee. Braga is a PRIDE vet, Gripp's walkout shirt has been detailed specifically for him with the use of a magic marker. HW bout, basically.

FIGHT: Braga Submission Rnd 1. The Oilman shoots early and ends up in a guillotine right away. Braga goes to his back and lets the ref know its all over. (2)

2) Lee Young Gun vs. Kazunari Murakami: Murakami is one of the ANGRIEST wrestlers ever. EVER. But he's a pro wrestler still.

FIGHT: Murakami Submission Rnd 1. Murakami flies over Gun's head while going for a flying knee and then is mounted. Gun sucks though and gets bucked off and ends up inside Murakami's guard. He gets an armbar and won't let go even after the tap to be a dick. OK? (0)

3) Justin McCully vs. Dario Amorim: The CRAZY ONE looks like a normal dude here instead of having that terrible beard. Dario is like 100 years old with his ridiculous mustache like he's hawking 40s in 1978.

FIGHT: McCully Unanimous Decision. A McCully decision boring? You don't say. Really terrible fight with McCully boxing to the clinch and then pushing the opponent back to the ropes and the fight stays there. And that happens over and over and over. Amorim does nothing as far as movement or technique wise to dissuade this activity, so we're stuck watching it happen over and over. McCully doesn't have the skill to get the man down where he can control him either, so its just a fight of positioning - McCully lands punches that bloody Amorim's nose. Amorim occasionally has McCully let him use the thai clinch to land a knee to the body. Otherwise its dirty boxing against the ropes for 15 minutes. (1)

4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shane Eitner: Nakamura is a future IWGP champ and New Japan ace of some sort. Eitner is some dude for fought in the Valor promotion. Both wear shoes.

FIGHT: Nakamura Submission Rnd 1. This might not be a legitimate bout given the lack of really hard shots thrown by either man. The hardest blows thrown are with open palms. Nakamura is able to get down Eitner multiple times and passes the guard OK. He gets a keylock from half guard and he has his second pro MMA win. (1) for freakshow value.

And now we get Inoki coming to the ring surrounded by women in Carnival outfits. The NJPW people flown out are really stoked to see the Chin. Then Wallid Ismael gets in there, they give each other gifts, and Inoki takes his seat in the crowd. Must be indoors now that I think about it - the place has carpeting.

5) Lyoto Machida vs. Stephan Bonnar: Before there was TUF, before there was Machida's title run, there was this in the jungle. Bonnar enters to U2's Beautiful Day, Machida to Iron Maiden's Afraid of the Dark. Yes, this was a thing.

FIGHT: Machida TKO Rnd 1. (5)

Bonnar: Lack of athleticism is a big issue here. Machida learns to time him very quickly and the lack of setups or willingness to walk through hell to deliver his payload means that Bonnar is in trouble early in this one. He starts to get busted up early in the first - first a cut under the left eye, then the nose. He actually does a decent job of closing the distance in this fight and gets to the clinch, but can't do anything with it. Even has some success with his right hand and knees. But he's cut far worse by punches under the right eye and they have to stop it.

Machida: Good counter punching skills displayed as well as that money shot body kick. He doesn't really hurt Bonnar but the cuts he laces him up with are just as bad. Machida in a ring though is not the same as Machida in the octagon. So much easier in a 4 sided ring to force someone like that into a corner.

6) Mark Schultz vs. Leopoldo Montenegro: The last MMA fight for one of the great amateur wrestlers of the last 25 years.

FIGHT: Montenegro Submission Rnd 1. (1) for freakshow/historic nature.

Schultz: Mark had only one fight prior years before and it shows in his technique. He leads to shoot WITH FRONT KICKS, man. Schultz goes for a firemans carry and ends up getting a double, which is fine. But he's caught in a triangle almost immediately.

Montenegro: He's fighting a one tool fighter and he has a tool that is intended to nullify exactly what Schultz brings to the table. He really has nothing to worry about from Schultz given the man's bad knee and lack of training.

7) Ricardo Morais vs. Mestre Fumaca: Capioera vs. giant MMA fighter with no chin.

FIGHT: Morais TKO Rnd 1. Fumaca goes down really early from Morais' arm punching and Morais jumps on him. He ends it in mount popping Fumaca with shots until there's a stop. (1)

8) Lucas Lopes vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: When Santos was still a light heavyweight and still dangerous.

FIGHT: Santos TKO Rnd 2. Interesting note in the fight - during the first round, the light go out in the venue, forcing them to stop the fight until they come back on. Only in Brazil. (2)

Santos: Usual performance from Cyborg - he attacks straight ahead with punches in combination and swarms the guy in front of him. Lopes actually drops Cyborg in the first round during one of those wild exchanges, but that's about the most trouble Cyborg is ever actually in.

Lopes: Expends all he has in the first round trying to finish Cyborg when he hurts him and gasses out. He eventually falls victim to combination punching and low kicks from Cyborg and drops after a three punch combination ends with a low kick that sweeps him and brings in the ref.

Big Nog drops by to talk some.

9) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza: Journeyman fights BJJ legend and future Strikeforce middleweight champ.

FIGHT: Patino TKO Rnd 1. Patino is going for takedowns with the same panache as Souza surprising me big time since I didn't remember crap about this fight. After they nearly go out of the ring, we get a restart standing, and they're just scrapping. What a poor, poor plan for Jacare. He ends up eating right hands from the more MMA experienced Patino and eventually gets dropped around 3 and a half minutes in. He tries to get up and keep fighting after Filho has come in to protect him, then just does a baby giraffe dance. (4)

BONUS FIGHT: Fabricio Werdum vs. Gabriel Gonzaga: Not included on the original program I have but could be found on Youtube. How does it improve the show? Noticeably, in fact. One downer is that Round 2 is trimmed for Canadian TV.

FIGHT: Werdum TKO Rnd 3 (4)

Werdum: Man, what a replay of the second fight. Err. Okay, so the second fight was a replay of this. Well, anyways - Werdum has problems with Gonzaga's wrestling in the first. Hell, he's mounted. And in the second, we see highlights of another Gonzaga takedown. But Werdum survives both. He escapes the mount by bucking and turning - it looked like Gonzaga thought he might be rolling for a leg lock, but to me it appeared that Gonzaga could have had the back. Oh well. Gonzaga gasses about 8 minutes in and from then on its all Werdum with punching standing. Gonzaga was always touted as a strong muay thai practitioner, and he sure doesn't look it in any of the Werdum fights.

Werdum, for his many negatives as a fighter, came out blazing here with a leaping side kick in the first round and brought pressure standing constantly. In the third, a dented up Gonzaga is taken down, fights off a key lock, and then gets smashed out with punches from mount.

Gonzaga: The more things change with Gonzaga, it seems they stay the same. Aside from the leg kick heard round the world, Gonzaga is lousy at engaging in the standup fight when he's not in total control as a grappler. You see it here, you see it with Kevin Jordan, you see it with Brendan Schaub. His cardio is poor, which you see in the rematch and in the Couture fight and in the fight with Schaub. Sometimes a guy can overcome and make something happen with his talents, but you see the negatives straight away even here and by this point, most guys are only gonna take baby steps progressing.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Santos/Lopes (Werdum/Gonzaga when included)

KO OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Souza

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Braga/Souza

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. I have seen JF 1-5 before and aside from Machida cutting up Bonnar, I remember almost nothing about the fights. I still barely remember anything about from the fights and I just watched them. There are names here that people will recognize, but the fights they are in aren't that great. In fact, they generally suck and are barely watchable or are just flat out squashes. With Gonzaga/Werdum figured in, the rating actually jumps to a 5 out of 10 alone. At that point, its an average event to see with one really marquee interesting fight with an elite talent.

D&R Rating: 38% (17/45), w/the bonus: 42% (21/50)

SHOOTO (Disc 3): Professional Shooting 36 & 37: 9/26/95 & 11/7/95

Onward to disc three of Shooto: This is a pair of shows from 1995 featuring a mix of dudes important and not-so-important. Among them: Kazuo Sakurada (AKA Kendo Nagasaki of pro graz fame), Zane Frazier, Rumina Sato, and Erik Paulson. The english for this show is desperate: "BRUE COURNER" is listed for every fight. Really. This takes place at "Komazawa Arena", which I really think is Komazawa Gymnasium, home of volleyball in the 1964 Olympic games.

1) ISAMU OOSUGI vs. RUMINA SATO: Oosugi has thai shorts with an American Flag motif. Sato is awesome.

Oosugi catches a low kick and Sato goes for the leglock. As Oosugi attempts to defend, Sato goes for an inverted triangle. Oosugi stands and slams down Sato to try and escape, but Sato holds the triangle and sweeps over Oosugi. For the next minute or so he punches a lot to the body, even flexing his biceps, before Oosugi finally taps to the lock. Fantastic. (3)

2) KENDO NAGASAKI vs. ZANE FRAZIER: Oh dear. Old pro wrestler against bad kickboxer/MMA fighter.

Frazier starts throwing punches early and often, and Nagasaki doesn't like it. By "doesn't like it", I mean that he falls down. 6 count by the ref and they start again. It lasts maybe 2 seconds until a straight right pulverizes Nagasaki and he is down hard and not moving. Ref counts to 10 for no good reason; Nagasaki's back of his head hit the mat and bounced. He doesn't get up afterwards, needing to be stretchered out. Ugly. (1) for name value and viciousness.

3) LEONID ZASLAVASKY vs. KAZUHIRO SAKAMOTO: Zaslavasky didn't do that well last time I watched him fight. Here? Probably no better. Sakamoto is now a promoter in Japan, and this was his last bout.

Zaslavsky is shooting for takedowns even though he is landing the left hook. No idea why. The reasoning goes wrong early: Sakamoto sprawls to defend and spins to the back of Zaslavsky, puts in his hooks and a choke. (0)

4) YASUNORI OKUDA vs. ERIK PAULSON: Okuda I've never heard of, but he beat a young Akihiro Gono in 1994. Really!

Paulson slams him down from the clinch, goes to side control, works for a kimura, and Okuda taps. (3)

5) KUNIAKI KOBAYASHI vs. SATORU SAYAMA: Worked shoot time! I think. Well, they trade submissions harmlessly, and give up legs and stuff. Sayama forces a tapout by Kobayashi, and scores a point or something. Then he kicks Kobayashi in the face and he drops. And he's unconscious. And everyone is really surprised and Tiger Mask is almost crying. Yikes. Second stretcher of the night! No score.

6) YUKI NAKAI vs. JEAN JACQUES MACHADO: A BJJ match. Machado wins with an armbar. Who cares? Not me. No score.

7) ANTHONY LANGE vs. NOBORU ASAHI: Asahi is featherweight champ and Lange is the challenger, I think. He's another guy making a pro debut. 8 min rounds and 3 of them.

Asahi shoots for the takedown and its a "positioning battle" of dudes laying on each other. Lange reverses and gets caught in a triangle he has to slam out of. Asahi later goes for a guillotine, transitions to a triangle and then to a straight armbar to force Lange to tap. Impressive. (4) for being another title fight in the weight class.

-Afterwards, a backstage interview with Asahi, who wears dorky glasses and has a leopard print towel around his shoulders.

BUT WAIT! I didn't know this was a two-fer. Onward to Korakuen Hall and the future of November 1995.

8) ISAMU OOSUGI vs. TOMOAKI "SYNONAN" HAYAMA: No idea who they are. 3X3, 75KG limit.

Hayama keeps trying to pull guard and Oosugi won't let him. That is the story of round one and two. Eventually Oosugi can't fend them off anymore by holding up Hayama and has to tap. The end. (0)

9) KIMIHITO NONAKA vs. MASAHIRO "JACKAL" DOISHI: Who? The best part is that I saw Doishi fight in the K-1 Hero's 2007 Lithuania show and remember nothing.

Interesting grappling battle in the first and second, with Nonaka going for inverted triangle and armbars from all sorts of odd places as he's just trying to keep Doishi close to him and on the mat. He's generally open to pulling guard too. A turnbuckle breaks late in the first round. The highlight of the fight is a wild suplex Doishi pulls off from having overhooks in the clinch. I tried scoring it, but forgot Shooto has some insane 30 point system. Fight ends as a draw. (0)

10) TORU KOGA vs. KYUHEI UENO: Another Ueno appearance, this in a five rounder.

Insane head and arm suplex/tazplex by Koga, but like most pro wrestling moves, useless in MMA. Ueno keeps getting kicks caught and Koga is taking advantage. He might have a dorky bowl cut, but that was cool in '95. Maybe. And he's not a bad fighter. By the second round, Ueno has him figured out and should have gotten credit for two knockdowns. However, Koga dropped and looked like he was headed for a leg when he got hurt by the punches, letting him off the hook by the judges. Final round sees Koga and Ueno almost go out of the ring after some wild punching and clinch, but a body shot to Koga drops him. Ref calls it as a shot: Ueno takes the back and proceeds to beat him into giving up the RNC. Not too terrible, but not special either. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(s): Doishi/Nonaka

KO OF THE NIGHT(s): Nagasaki/Frazier

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(s): Sato/Oosugi

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT (s): 5 out of 10. Totally down the middle average with a couple great performances by the best names on the show.

D&R Rating: 24% (11/45)

Maximum Fighting Championship 21: 5/15/09

I know, this is late. There's a lot of late coming because I've been writing in my notebooks and not posting. But that will CHANGE, DOGG. Way more reviews to follow.

Like all MFC events, this is somewhere in Canada and features lots of TUF rejects and shit.

1) ARON LOFTON vs. MARVIN EASTMAN: This is at 185. Aron Lofton comes from Team Triton, home to some of the most hapless fighters I've ever seen.

Lofton's best blow; a low blow at the start. He does take down Eastman later in the bout but Eastman powers him over onto his back. Lofton seems like a decent wrestler when he's able to get himself up, but Eastman is a better wrestler and pushes him around. He slams Lofton near the end of the first round. Lofton jumps in with strikes and gets taken down at the start of the second, and its not much longer until elbows from inside the guard force the stoppage. Eastman wins and will undoubtedly return. (1)

2) RYAN JIMMO vs. MYCHAL CLARK: Jimmo lost to Antwain Britt in TUF prelims, who then got injured and left and then ended up losing to some nobody in DC or something. He's rebounded nicely though with 3 wins leading into this though, including one over Rick Roufus. Yes. That Rick Roufus (as if there were others!). Clark is a jobber.

Jimmo fights hella vertical: No wonder the UFC hasn't brought him back. Standup is boring too, since Clark is terrified. His best moments of the fight are a takedown which he is promptly swept from and Jimmo is into mount dropping bombs until the bell sounds. Round 2 features Clark giving up his neck for a guillotine, being taken down with a trip, getting his takedown attempts stuffed or reversed, and so on. Third round is more of the same, except that Clark goes for desperation submission attempts like the Saku Kimura and whatnot. Jimmo wins a UD and does the robot and I'm left thinking that there's a reason the UFC never bothered to call him back. (1)

3) JOHN ALESSIO vs. ANDREW BUCKLAND: Alessio is a somebody and Buckland is 8-3 against nondescript competition.

Buckland kicks a little. Alessio clinches, throws a knee to the head, and then goes for a guillotine. Buckland isn't remotely prepared for the mat with a guy like Alessio, and he ends up getting mounted, punched, and then RNCed. (1)

4) TRAVIS GALBRAITH vs. DAVID HEATH: Maybe the most pointless "major" 205 lb fight ever in any promotion.

Heath throws arm punches for combos. Does anyone wonder why he isn't in the UFC? In spite of this, the experienced Galbraith does not much other than throw some low kicks. Heath gets hit with the jab a bit but still causes Galbraith to swell up a little in spite of landing practically nothing. Heath's round in my book. Entering the second, its more of the same. Galbraith shows some flashy kicks he learned in Kempo classes that do nothing. Heath lands a combination and some jabs and they're the only effective strikes. Another round for Heath.

The final round arrives, and really it is close enough for anyone to take. They proceed to have a crap round with an eye poke and a low blow. Heath wins the round with his subpar standup and cleans up the fight in my mind. Naturally, Galbraith wins a UD. Huh? (1)

5) MIKE COOK vs. BOBBY LASHLEY: Cook comes out with a wrestling mask. You know the rest of this story.

Cook shoots on a amateur wrestler! He gets choked out! He makes sure to sell it by kicking his legs! (2)

6) TREVOR PRANGLEY vs. EMANUEL NEWTON: Newton was a guy who got a high ranking by some because he was a 205lb fighter outside the UFC. Prangley is a 185lb journeyman. WHAT WILL HAPPEN. Oh, Prangley wins.

Okay, so that's a but unfair to spoil it like that. But Newton wasn't conditioned for 5 hard rounds and it shows. Newton gets more takedowns and has better dirty boxing in the first, but from then on, its all Prangley. Prangley runs into trouble twice: he lands a low blow in the 3rd chat causes a 10-8 round, and Netwon does hurt Prangley with a punch in the 4th. Aside from that, Prangley is able to get himself out from under Newton when taken down and has superior kicks and punches to Newton's largely arm punch reliant defense. Prangley lands a high kick at the end that hurts Newton and breaks his foot simultaneously; a lucky break (oh the puns!). Prangley is your MFC light heavyweight champion. Will he ever defend? Does anyone give a fuck? (3)

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lofton/Eastman (not really a choice)

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Buckland/Alessio (ditto)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Prangley/Newton

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. This is a largely forgettable event featuring what looks to be a thrown fight as its most notable contribution to MMA. Prangley winning a world title of some sort might interest someone, but 205 ain't his best weight and honestly Newton ain't all that. To be fair, it was more competitive than not even when Prangley was racking up rounds

D&R Rating: 30% (9/30)