KOTC Eliminator (6/2/07)

I'm skipping around again. Oh well. This is from the Kiowa Casino Resort in Joplin, OK. I expect lots of Team Triton. Also, its an outdoor event with no canopy. On the upside, not a cloud in the sky.

1) HUNTER TUCKER vs. MARCOS LIRIANO: Weights are a mystery.

Tucker goes for the takedown immediately and there is no doubt what his plan is. There's a really nasty slam shortly after in the round where Liriano almost lands wrong and destroys his knee. Liriano's talent level makes it look like he trains James Thompson style.  He loses by strikes to the face while mounted. (0)

2) MIGUEL GUERRA vs. BENJI MORRIS: Heavyweights.

When was the last good heavyweight fight in this promotion? Buentello/Hoffman I in '03? This is ugly. Guerra looks like a juggalo with a mustache and a rash guard. He controls the more physically imposing opponent, taking him down and getting superior position. The last 30 seconds feature plenty of mean elbows from the half guard. Second round is pretty surprising: Guerra shoots in and gets caught in a guillotine that Morris actually flips him over onto his back with. Pretty slick. (0)

3) RED CLOUD vs. AARON YORK: What a name.

Cloud is pretty soft. He shoots in after some leg kicks, and York gets the guillotine. Short.(0)

4) LJ MIER vs. ALDIN HERBERT: Triton fighter! Mier is one and he looks pretty imposing.

Not the worst standup ever. Herbert looks better technically, to be honest, throwing better punches and landing some solid knees in the clinch. Herbert even gets a nice trip takedown. Mier decides not to continue? Bizarre. Another Triton Tragedy. (0)

5) CIPRION HANGAN vs. FILBERTO CLEMENTE: Another rashguard wearing fighter. 205?

Hangan gets a double early and spends a couple minutes bashing in Clemente's head with punches and hammerfists.

6) CHANCE HUDSPETH vs. JOSH BARNES: More heavyweights.

Barnes with a takedown, immediate mount, back, RNC. Awful. (0)

7) JASON JOHNSON vs. JAY B. WELLS: More heavyweights, I think.

Johnson and Wells do some sloppy grappling Tommy Hackett would love, then Johnson gets an arm while standing and Wells is on all fours and just turns him over into an armbar. (0)

8) BRANDON FARRAN vs. MELVIN JORDAN: Two black dudes, and I am happy to see someone of color finally on this event. 8 fights, not even 30 minutes into this show. Sadly they will not beat up some generic white man, but must be positioned against one another. Only in a slave state.

Farran is in a karate stance throwing sidekicks. Really. He doesn't know how to check low kicks or throw punches though. He's also wearing wrestling shoes. There's a clinch midway through and Farran is just pushing him all over the ring, but can't get him down. Farran gets hit with a knee in the groin but is able to recover after some time. I take this back, this is a kung fu stance. Farran throws a leaping side kick at the end of the round. This is delicious.

Farran is chambering punches. It is 2007. Both guys are really uncomfortable with each other's style. Jordan has some nice low kicks but is afraid to move forward. Really cool leaping kick from Farran lands and hits Jordan in the face. Jordan returns fire soon after with a high kick that lands with the foot. Farran throws a push kick at one point! Jordan is throwing some really mean kicks late in round two and they're all landing to the legs. Farran has a noticable limp.

Round three! This is worth it. The low kicks just keep landing square. Farran shoots from way outside and Jordan defends and lands a lot of punches to the body. Jordan wins 2 of the 3 rounds going away and the judges give it to him. (1) for the unique nature of this one.

9) PRESTON CAMPBELL vs. GENO RODERICK: Preston is a fat man name. Campbell lives up to it.

Geno Roderick just smashes Campbell on the ground with elbows in short order. The bell rings before the ref jumps in to stop it. Roderick is the guy Ryan McGivern beat up at Adrenaline MMA II. (0)

10) ALEX MCINTOSH vs. JASON HOBBS: 145lbs.

HUGE knee from Hobbs early as McIntosh tries to get away from the clinch. Punches on the ground make it official. Another late stop by the ref. (0)

11) BRANDON BRYANT vs. KASSIDY OWENS: Look like welters?

Bryant has wrestling shoes and Owens is the one who gets the takedown early. Not a good sign. Or not. Owens is in a guillotine early and has to tap. Maybe 20 seconds?

12) DARRELL RITTMAN vs. WILLIAM GREEN: Heavyweights. Green is a fat man with thai shorts.

Low blow 3 seconds in and Rittman is screaming obscenities. After he recovers, some sloppy striking and Green goes for some takedowns. He's almost KOed by a wild right hand and survives by putting Rittman on his back with an ankle pick. After a minute, Rittman is gassed. Rittman is hit in the back of the head during the lazy GnP and Rittman is claiming to be hurt. He is all wobbly and looks ridiculous with that fakery. When he decides to fight again, Green keeps shooting for this singles and Rittman just circles away and throws hammerfists to his head. This cycle repeats a few times until Rittman stops Green with backfists to the face. (0)

13) CASEY ULRICH vs. MATT JAGGERS: Jaggers! A respectable name!

Ulrich has a rat-tail? Jaggers with a big ol' slam and he's in side control. Jaggers is in full mount, lands punches, Ulrich sticks an arm out, and Jaggers takes itfor an attempted armbar. Ulrich does defend decently and gets out of it, now being on top for a few seconds until he's swept. Jaggers is passing the guard at will. Round ends? Or Ulrich tapped out due to strikes. Inman is "announcing" from a studio and is like "yeah, uh the angle of our booth, can't really see?" Jaggers is a journeyman supreme. (0)

14) NATE MURDOCH vs. JOHNNY FLORES: 155.

Murdoch can push Flores around, and Flores can land blows like knees and punches and stuff. Murdoch's size is valuable in that alone. Flores drops him with a pretty nice leg kick and starts landing punches effectively on the mat. The fight goes back to vertical at the end of the first for a few moments and Flores gets a double leg takedown.

Murdoch is still all about the Tim Sylvia "Push Till You Can't Push Anymore" strategy. In the clinch itself, the fight is about even, with really nothing other than knees to the body being thrown by either. Flores is clearly far superior on the mat. I mean, its not even close. All the sub attempts and sweeps are Flores. He gets a really tight triangle in towards the end of the second round and Murdoch is forced to tap. Flores had a losing record here. (0)

15)  LEVI AVERA vs. MATT WARNER: No idea what this weight is.

Lots of wasted action early. Both guys have crazy nerves. Levi gets a pretty excellent takedown early and slams down Warner. Awesome head and arm choke from the front. Can't say I've seen that in MMA. Avera has lost to Ron Faircloth since. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Farran/Jordan. An odd classic.

KO OF THE NIGHT: McIntosh/Hobbs

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Avera/Warner.

OVERALL FOR EVENT: 1.5 out of 10. Brevity helped here; 15 fights, one hour and six minutes. Not a single top 50 fighter. Among the more meaningless events I've ever watched.

D&R Rating: 1% (1/75)

KOTC: Epicenter (6/8/07)

Welcome back to Soboba! A number of journeyman are on this card, including Thomas Denny, Thomas Kenny, Sean Loeffler, and everyone's favorite racialist, Melvin Costa. Pinona and Inman are announcing.

1) TRAVIS HAVEN vs. ERIC HAKALA: Lightweights?

Haven with wrestling shoes on. Guess what he does? He's in mount before you know it and there's an RNC. (0)

2) GEORGI KARAKHANYAN vs. JUAN CARLOS HUERTA: More lightweights. Huerta is apparently a wrestler. Other dude is probably Armenian. This looks even on paper.

First round of this one is actually really good. Karakhanyan is a very capable grappler standing and off his back, and Huerta is a solid wrestler who is able to successfully defend a umber of good submission attempts. Lots of activity. No one really hurt though.

Wild punches from Karakhanyan, sweet takedowns by Huerta and Karkhanyan counters that with some excellent armbar attempts. A final standup with merely 15 seconds remaining and Karakhanyan gets not only the takedown but moves to mount and nearly stops Huerta with punches. Fight is declared a draw. Karakhanyan is 11-1-1 now. (2)

3) GUNNAR HINSON vs. CHRIS CULLY: Featherweights. Cully trains with Omar Luv and Hindson is from Wildman's camp.

Good action early on with Cully looking for standup and Hinson trying to take it to the mat. Cully's pretty decent on the ground as well and does a stout job defending both an armbar and a heel hook. Cully in fact goes for a gullotine and Hinson is in deep, but slams his way out. The best strike of the round standing is a elbow thrown by Hinson in the clinch, and after a failed superman punch, Cully gets a takedown. More trading of leg locks with Gunnar getting an inverted heel hook and forcing a tap. Good fight. Culley is 3-3 now, and Hinson is 2-0 as a pro and, oh yeah, he's not even 18. He was 15 years old here.(2)

4) NICK AVARADO vs. MATT WILBURN: Another 145 lb bout. Shad Smith is in Wilburn's corner.

Avarado has a tramp stamp and resembles a poor imitation of Clay Guida facially and stylistically. He is just going for wrestling and tries to thrash him with strikes on the mat. Wilburn is pretty decent and can survive these volleys. Avarado has this fantastic slam about midway through the round, but he doesn't do anything with it, and Wilburn ends up taking the mount and his back. However, Avarado can defend the RNC and survives till the end of the first shockingly interesting round.

Wild striking from both on the feet. Avarado gets a takedown and really pushes hard with the GnP. Wilburn scrambles to his feet not long after, and he's gassed. Even totally out of energy, he scores a takedown, but gets flipped over before he's able to create any damage. Both men are gassed as the round begins to finish up, and after some brief standup, another takedown by Avarado and he lands some shots to end the round. The decision goes to Avarado. Good fight. (1)

5) ANDY JEWETT vs. KACEY ROBERTS: Jewett trains at Team Wildman and is a mere 140. Kacey Roberts is training with Buckley Acosta, same weight.

Roberts comes out swinging, and Jewett gets a takedown. Roberts isn't inept, though, and can eventually scramble back up. After some standup that Jewitt also wins, there's another takedown and Jewett tools Roberts from the top. He gains the back and pounds him out with about 15 seconds left in the round. (0)

6) MELVIN COSTA vs. ROBERT DOUCET: Light Heavyweights. Costa is, yes, the Nazi dude. Doucet is a mexican. KOTC: Race War is on.

Wild brawl. Doucet is hit with everything and is a bloody mess, but Doucet gasses, is dragged to the floor and instantly mountet. Costa drops blows and gets a stop. Crazy fight. (1)

7) TIM HUMPHREY vs. PJ ROGOWOSKI: Welters. Rogowoski is a trainee of Todd Medina, who is compared to Pat Militech by the announcers.

Humphrey's got decent grappling but better boxing. Once he establishes that he controls the frame where the fight is going on, Rogowoski is in huge trouble. Combination punching ruins Rogowoski drops him and gets the stop. It wasn't the best striking ever, but it was adequate and decent for this level of the sport. His official pro record is 1-0, but he lost an amateur bout 2 months later and never came back. (0)

8) ANTHONY MENDEZ vs. DUANE HARRISON: Heavyweights. Mendez was seen fighting at KOTC Final Conflict, and I did not have high opinions of him at that point. He won a fight against a dude that Rampage thought looked like Bam Bam Bigelow. Harrison is from AKA? He, apparently, has really unorthodox standup.

For unorthodox standup, Harrison is in a classic boxing stance to start. Oh, he's wearing a shirt AND shoes. Oh, Soboba. Mendez gets a takedown and lands a bunch of shots on top. Easy win for Mendez. (0), as Mendez still went nowhere, but I'll admit that he looked a LOT better than he had in 2005.

9) RUBEN TAGLE vs. SEAN LOEFFLER: Middleweight bout. Tagle is HORRIBLE. I have seen him fight 4 times previously on KOTC cards and he was never good. Loeffler is actually a decent fighter. Maybe not world class, but just below that level.

Loeffler gets a bodylock takedown, Americana, snap crackle pop. (0)

10) CRYSTAL HARRIS vs. THRICIA POOVEY: WOMEN'S MMA~

Decent fight in the first. Harris goes for striking on the ground, and Poovey is constantly working for submissions, transitioning from one to another pretty well. However, when she goes for leg locks, it oftens ends badly. Harris has her best offense at that point, attaining mount or half guard and landing blows. Poovey is unable to continue after round one due to injury and Harris is the winner. (0)

11) DAVE CRYER vs. UBER GALLEGOS vs: Middleweights. Crier has a dude on bagpipes and a dude playing snare drum for his entrance during his pro debut. He's a blue belt in BJJ. Gallegos is apparently a former boxer, though nothing on boxrec about him.

Cryer stands and trades for not long, then goes to the clinch and tries to get him down. The fight is against the cage for awhile, with not much happening. Cryer does get the fight down eventuall and when there, he's clearly better. Lots of good armbar attempts, sweeping to mount with one. Gallegos isn't bad himself and forces the fight back standing by sweeping Cryer and standing out of the guard. When on the feet, Cryer lands some solid knees and Gallegos handles them.

Round 2 opens with some standup and Cryer lands way more knees in clinch and a right hand. Gallegos' standup isn't superior. Cryer gets a takedown and Gallegos is bloody. On the mat, its all Cryer, blasting with punches and forcing Gallegos to his back. RNC, Cryer wins against a decent fighter in his debut. Cryer is 6-1, his lone loss coming by KO in 9 seconds. (1)

12) CODY BOLLINGER vs. CHAD WALTERS: Featherweights. Bollinger is a second generation MMA fighter. Walters is 1-0 but has a win over Jewett, seen earlier in the show.

Walters is the wrestler but he's taken down really early. Bollinger spends virtually all 5 minutes on top of him throwing blows and trying to get a better position. All Bollinger in that round, but he's pretty tired at the end. Second starts the same way, with both cautious, circling, and then Bollinger jabs and shoots. More Bollinger domination, eventually Bollinger gets the back and a RNC. Apparently he trains with Joe Stevenson and it looks that way in his style. (1) He lost his next fight, but he was only 17 or so. He'll be an interesting lightweight prospect in a year or so.

13) DON SHEA vs. THOMAS DENNY: The Wildman needs no introduction. Shea is an "indepenent fighter" who the announcers say must be tough because he has a shirt that says both "Iowa" and "wrestling" on it.

Denny gets the back almost instantly and start pounding him. He's helpless as Denny looks for an armbar and then transitions out to stand. Shea just flops around and is KOed as Denny has the back again. (0) these days. Denny has fallen from fringe contender to basically nothing, sadly.

14) JAY DIAMOND vs. THOMAS KENNY: Kenny is known for having a name close to the guy who fought before him. Who is Diamond? Who knows? He is not Team Diamond, Malapeit, that I know for sure.

Kenny with a takedown immediately. He ends up rolling Diamond over into his own half guard and straightens out the arm. Tapout follows soon after. (0)

15) KYLE MCCLAUGHLIN vs. DANIEL GIBBONS: Featherweights wearing the SAME TRUNKS.

I can't even tell these guys apart. Two white dudes with bad tattoos and camo trunks. On guy takes the other one down and the guy who is taken down tries to reverse position with a side headlock and the guy who has the takedown instead goes for an armbar and then doesn't get it and they roll around some more. This is so bad. Daniel Gibbons is on the bottom and hammerfists the dude out of side control and into his guard. How does that even happen?

Gibbons is a guy with submissions but he can't really pull them off. McClaughlin just bullrushes. There's a stand up from full mount. This is such a waste of time. McClaughlin won the decision. (0)

16) AIKI CAVANAUGH vs. ANGELO MCELROY: Light heavyweights? Cavanaugh lost to Keith Berry in 4 seconds once at KOTC Mangler.

Cavanaugh is the kind of guy who runs backwards with his right hand all the way back like he's gonna throw a baseball. He is the better of the two technically. McElroy lands a left high kick right in the face and Cavanaugh goes down HARD. (0)

17) JAMES COLLINS vs. JOHN BROCK: Heavyweights.

Takedown early by Collins, but Brock is a lot better on the mat and ends up reversing position, punching him a lot, and taking his back. Collins has no idea what to do. Somehow he is not choked out and just keeps getting rolled on instead. Brock wins with a guillotine. (0)

18) SHANE HOUSER vs. VICTOR RODARTE: I didn't pay attention to weights.

Final fight of the night. Wild "striking" and there's a takedown. Rodarte is on top, mounts, punches, gets the back, tapout. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Karakhanyan/Huerta

KO OF THE NIGHT: McElroy/Cavanaugh

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Kenny/Diamond

OVERALL FOR EVENT: 4 out of 10: Some really fun fights on this one. Big negatives are too many bouts, mismatches with the big names, and length. Three hours long and maybe one good hour in the whole thing. On the other hand, eliminate 9 of those fights and I'd complain.

D&R Rating: 9% (8/90 )

KOTC: Damage Control (5/26/07)

This was held the same night as Eclipse, except this event was in Chicago at the Vic Auditorium. Steve Inman is doing PBP, usual low rent setup (couple of roaming DV cams).

1) BILLY RUTHERFORD vs. BRAD FONCK: Who are these guys? What weight class? Dunno. Don't care right now.

Rutherford is a wrestler, apparently, and Fonck is a BJJ sorta dude. 3 minute rounds, it would seem. Absolutely dull round with Rutherford getting a bunch of takedowns and some interesting slams while Fonck holds on for pseudosubmissions for the entire round. This happens against in the second, though Fonck gets to sweep his way on top for a brief period. The third again starts with Rutherford getting a double, picking up Fonck, and doing a Hughes impression. More boring grappling and we go to a decision. Rutherford with an easy win. It was one of 8 in 2007, but zero fights in 2008. (0)

2) MALIK ALLAH vs. JOSH PHILIPS: Allah has a helluva name.

Allah has thai shorts and no takedown defense. Philips has Sprawl shorts and can't strike. This is MMA, and so Allah is in trouble. Philips is eventually ground down with punches on the ground and when he's back on his feet, Philips is to his side throwing knees in the face until the ref jumps in.  (0)

3) KARL TUREK vs. KEVIN KNOP: They look a little bigger: 205, I think.

Turek gets a takedown and mount hella fast. He punches Knop a bunch and the fight is over. No one even cares. Turek is now 6-4. (0)

4) KRIS TACKETT vs. KEVIN KING: Moar mystery weights.

SLUGGIN'. Fun but pointless slugfest with King nearly stopping Tackett very early, gassing, and Tackett came back with a number of right hands to get the win by KO. Neither had fought in 2008. King is 0-5 professionally. (0)

5) BOB BRENTS vs. JEREMY GENIN: Heavyweights. Brents has karate pants on? And socks??

Genin is a fat dude and he gets a takedown very early. He blasts Brents with shots and this is over. (0)

6) JOSH MARTIN vs. DAVID SARVER: Martin is a little excited to be there. Just too antsy.

Martin blows through Sarver. Better strikes, big takedown, ridiculous guillotine where he's just throwing Sarver around like a ragdoll while he sinches it in. Martin I've seen before and he's not anything special. (0)

7) JASON PIERCE vs. CHRIS MCDANIEL: Biggerish dudes?

Jason Pierce almost gets caught with a guillotine early but can't finish it. Pierce gets his head out and is in mount not long after. Strikes end it in one. Pierce is 9-0 officially, 11-1 unofficially. (1)

8) CARVIN MAFATAU vs. MUHAMMED ABDUL RAHIM: Heavyweights.

Slow standup bout with Mafatau catching the obese black guy and stopping him with hammerfists. Like most heavyweight bouts, a waste of time. (0)

9) RYAN ANTLE vs. MIKE MARRELLO: Antle is known as a bit of a journeyman; I just reviewed him at Mainstream MMA VI. Light heavyweight division. Marrello I have seen! He trains with Cell at Team Curran. At that point, he gassed early and sucked standing.

This event claims to be 1:43 long and I'm like 35 minutes into it and already 9 fights. Marrello has a lot of tattoos and is white. That is the most interesting thin about the first round. Marrello had improved in the 4 months between the fights I've seen of his, but not by tons. After lots of feeling out, Marrello has a few moments to wail on Antle and he kinda doesn't do well. Antle makes it out of the first. 

Absolutely boring beginner striking, Antle ends up losing the second round, and then he tries shooting in desperation. Antle defends well and almost grabs a guillotine. He doesn't get it and things do not improve. Fans boo this fight and Marrello ends up hitting him a bunch. Antle goes for a takedown and fails, instead ending up on his back.

Marrello wins the decision. The crowd boos. (0) After a short run in TUF, he's out of the UFC and fighting in FL.

10) HECTOR URBINA vs. ADRIAN SERRANO: Urbina I've seen get KOed. Serrano has been fighting forever. 

Urbina gets thai clinch early and lands a bunch of knees that clearly hurt Serrano. A big looping right hurts Serrano and more punches force him to his back. Urbina forces him to be stood up and the striking continues. A few more knees and Serrano crumples. He's since retired. (1)

11) DERRICK KEASLEY vs. BRIAN GASSAWAY: Gassaway has been fighting FOREVER.

Dull first. Some poor striking exhibited by both. The venue is quiet for this and the ring is squeaking a ton. That, or someone is fucking lovelessly on an old bed nearby. "HOW ABOUT THAT" says Big Poppa Schnake. Has anyone tried to put themselves over harder than him? 

Round 2 starts and I note Keasley's shorts: They're Tapout shorts that appear to be similar to Alan Belcher's custom shorts with a single flowery leg cut in. Virtually no kicks or knees in this round, instead we're left with dull boxing and neither man is really landing. Gassaway is, to my eyes, winning. He's landing blows and making Keasley miss. Now, he might be running a little, but that's a different story. Keasley goes for a takedown late in the round.  Gassaway defends it well but Keasley lands a knee to the head inside the clinch. Gassaway is dropped and is pretty badly hurt, but he recovers soon enough and Keasley doesn't really follow up for the rest of the round. Keasley eats a few punches right before the bell. Unanimous decision after 2, Keasley wins. (0)

12) BUDDY CLINTON vs. CLAY FRENCH: Clinton's a well regarded submission expert and French is a decent grappler himself. This is a lightweight title fight of sorts. 

No real point with a PBP for this. Not the most entertaining bout in history, and perhaps decided by a bizarre call in which it was made apparent that upkicks are illegal in Illinois. Clinton tried to keep this standing and French wanted the fight in the clinch or at least on top. Neither man was super effective in striking mode, not really any solid sub attempts either. French wins a split decision. (1)

13) JOHN MAHLOW vs. JEFF CURRAN: Curran might be a future bantamweight contender. 

Curran gets kicked in the balls early. That is the most exciting thing. Mahlow gets a takedown and punches him some after Curran briefly stuns him with a right hand. Mahlow looks way bigger than Curran, for what that's worth. Its funny, we spend all that time with one of his trainees and they never talk about this fight. Curran has landed two good strikes standing as he tries to back away from the big wrestler guy, but Mahlow is doing a decent Mark Coleman impression on the mat.

Speaking of Coleman impressions, round two. Mahlow begins to gas and is single minded in looking for takedowns. Curran prefers to try and strike from distance with his hands way low throwing right hands from waaaay out there. Most of the fight is fought in the clinch with Mahlow not really being too successful with anything damaging. He tries to steal the round and might have been successful.

The third round is all Mahlow. He gets a takedown early and Curran comes nowhere near getting the guillotine. Mahlow controls almost the entire round until Curran gets a pretty impressive takedown that nearly spikes Mahlow. Mahlow reverses the position shortly afterwards and ends the round on top. If I was scoring, I would have given it to Mahlow 29-28. Curran wins the split decision in reality. (3)

Fight of The Night: Tackett/King

KO Of The Night: Urbina/Serrano

Submission Of The Night: Martin/Sarver

Overall for the Event: 3 out of 10. Generally inoffensive bouts with some questionable officiating. Lacked anything really amazing, however. 

D&R Rating: 9% (6/65)

UWC Invasion (4/26/08)

Bloody Elbow's bigger names all have jobs with this promotion, operating out of the DC area. John Lewis is apparently matchmaker for this, and they made sure to fly in Frank Trigg to work with Jay Adams on the taped coverage. Jason Von Flue vs. Pete Spratt is the main event. This, by the way, is a promotion that dreams of being on par with Strikeforce, whilst their bloggers on staff talk shit about HDNet cards with appreciably better fights. Ridiculously stupid spoken word intro. Also, a special 2 hour episode of Fightzone for this bad boy. I have a feeling they paid for that extra 30 minutes, along with the massive lighting rig and the telescoping camera.

1) RESHAD WOODS vs. RON STALLINGS : Fight is at 185. One of maybe 4 black dude vs. black dude fights in MMA history. Yeah, there might be some issues with diversity in this sport.

Woods is rocking purple thai shorts. He is also pretty good standing. He cuts Stallings with an elbow and takes him down. Stallings tries for an armbar and he gets picked up and slammed on his dome. Stallings is out cold. Ref stands there shocked. Woods lands a sickening punch to Stallings, who is already shaking and bleeding everywhere. Seriously, if I were an MMA organization, I'd have burned that footage. If I were a boxing promoter, that would be the first thing I played at a hearing with athletic commissions. I'm not one to talk about barbarism, but holy shit. (1)

2) JOSH FELDMAN vs. JOHNNY CURTIS: Two heavyweights that are old.

Brief fight with both men throwing single shots and holding. Feldman lands a decent combination and drops Curtis, and then follows up on the mat. Who cares. (0)

3) GERALD LOVATO vs. MIKE EASTON: Dudes who happen to train in muay thai and BJJ at the same time! How novel. 145. Easton is trying the Wanderlei wrist rolls and the Shonie shorts to look tough. Lovato has a bit of a beer belly.

What I learn in the opening minute? Jay Adams likes Cher. Trigg has to defend it by mentioning that they're both married. Oh, the fight. They are in a slow kickboxing bout for most of this. Easton is clearly faster with his strikes and it becomes merely a matter of time before Lovato gets tagged with a punch. One punch KO. (1)

4) THIAGO MINU vs. AARON RILEY: Riley is a perfectly acceptable fighter. Minu is some guy from Brazil who is probably hella good at teh grapplez. Faceoffs for every fight BTW. Hate when they do that.

Minu can't strike. Not shocked there. He gets a trip takedown though and he's on top for a little while but Riley has been around forever. He's way too good for that shit. He actually is able to reverse position and controls much of the round. Minu lands a shockingly good knee in the clinch but has no idea how to follow up and is taken down. Goes for a solid armbar attempt but Riley is calm and stacks up. Minu lets it go. They're trying to make this a close round on the commentary, but really, Riley controlled the round. 

Minu lands his 2nd best shot of the fight right after touching gloves. Riley survives and gets a takedown, allowing him to lay on top and pound Minu for almost 4 minutes. Riley gets in a nice hiptoss when Minu decides to go to his feet and scrap the desperate sub attempts to put him on his back again when he doesn't want to be. Minu's best strikes are upkicks; not a good thing. Minu gets his unsuccessful armbar attempt in the last 30 seconds.

Aaron gets cut by an elbow at some point but the entire round is basically spent on the mat with Aaron on top. He wins a unanimous decision. Best part: He accidentally kicks Minu in the face trying to put his leg over for an armbar. (2)

Intermission with lots of dudes from various places like Rampage and Franca. Nothing really funny is said by anyone. 

5) TENYAH DIXON vs. MARCUS FORAN: Foran comes out to SPIN DOCTORS. I can't make this up. 185, no one has a good record, honestly.

There's a clinch that starts at the 4:55 mark and goes for a long, long, long time. Shades of Sylvia/Vera.  After half the round goes by, they break from each other only to come together again. Marcus gets a takedown finally and....listen, this is not a good fight. This is like watching Dan Severn circa 2002. Dixon gives up his back with a minute left after being taken down and easily passed, but Foran doesn't finish.

Foran is a second rate Ryan Bader. Too bad Dixon is a second rate Professor X. Not only is this a boring fight, its not a competitive one either. There's a tapout by armbar with about :35 seconds left in the second round and it couldn't be sooner. Foran is going nowhere. (0)

6) ZACH LIGHT vs. THOMAS SCHULTE: Lightweight fight between west coast fighters. No offense to the UWC guys, but if I was gonna run a promotion, people like this wouldn't be flown in. Light is 7-5. 

They go at each other, kinda grab each other and do a bunch of stuff that goes nowhere, then Light ends up on the bottom. Not long after, he tries for a triangle and transitions to armbar. Schulte taps out. Oh, Light has a record of 4-8, according to Sherdog. I like it when promotions lie about records. (0)

7) JASON VON FLUE vs. PETE SPRATT: Von Flue got OLD. I always hear about Spratt not having grappled enough or something, as if what makes you a good striker makes you a great grappler. I've been hearing about Spratt working on his submissions for years. YEARS. Fact is he is a kickboxer by nature and not going to become a top wrestler literally ever.

Spratt clinches with Von Flue and throws him around a little. Von Flue absorbs some punches and doesn't react all that well. He's dropped by an uppercut that grazes, and Von Flue is looking to try and drag him to the mat and doesn't really do it too well. Von Flue gets ruined with a single uppercut as Von Flue shoots in and he freezes up in an uncomfortable position. Von Flue has been KOed in similar fashion numerous times. Joe Silva is in attendance and Pete Spratt is begging for a job again. Spratt, of course, has lost his last two. That's 3 of his last 4. Could be worse: Von Flue is 2-7 in his last 9, 1-5 in his last 6. (1)

Fight Of The Night: Woods/Stallings

KO Of The Night: Woods/Stallings

Submission of the Night: Light/Schulte

OVERALL FOR THE NIGHT: 3 out of 10. Some interesting names on the show, some minor prospects I expect will go nowhere big but at least to a UFN/WEC level, and that's about it. 

D&R Rating: 14% (5/35)

WFC IV: Cage Wars (7/13/07)

Another Fightzone TV special. Jay Adams and Benjamin Glossop are announcing.

1) DANIEL COSTELL vs. SEAN BARTLETT: Coming right out of a commercial break into this. No idea about weights.

Costell gets this down early off a botched head kick attempt and Bartlett is trying constantly for a triangle. Costell's defense is a Hammer House special (slam). Costell is bleeding from the nostrils and eventually gets tapped. I'm guessing this is not the ESPN writer. (0)

2) JOE WISSMAN vs. BRANDON COOLEY: Wissman was undefeated in another show I've seen him in, and this was before it.

Cooley gets a clinch and takedown even with a pathetically slow shot. Wissman goes for a triangle choke and throws some nice elbows too. Ref stops it as Cooley goes out. (0)

3) CHRIS NUCKOLLS vs. NICHOLAS TORTORA: From commercial right into it:

Fairly sloppy bout. Both are gassed after two minutes. Nuckolls then falls into controlling the fight thanks to his superior conditioning, size, and striking talent. Tortora takes a beating for over a minute and then somehow survives and gets a desperate takedown that brings him to mount. Nuckolls is stopped. Post fight, we learn this was at 205. Tortora is 2-0 with no fights in 15 months. (0)

4) JAMES WYNN vs. DIEGO LANDER: Another zero second setup for this.

Lander is the better grappler, as displayed with his takedowns and ability to pass. Well, I thought that until Wynn flipped him over. I learn its a 145lb match 2 minutes in. Standup after a couple minutes of boredom, and neither looks very good standing. Lander pulls guard and I am thinking about bedtime. Lander off his back is a guy who thinks he's better than he is. Lots of sub attempts, none of them are finished. He just takes forever to set things up.

After a commercial break, round 2. Wynn likes flashy shit but sucks at fundamentals. Somehow he gets Lander down without much, if any effort, mounts, and then punches and elbows come. Really high guard from Wynn. Lander gives up his back to defend and he's flattened out. You'd think this is not gonna last long, but Wynn goes for an armbar instead of working towards the RNC, and gives up the position. Lander gets a leg and Wynn obviously trains somewhere that thinks leg locks are "cheap", as he doesn't even really try to defend it. Lander has not fought since. (0)

5) TOM LAWLOR vs. ???? : Uhh, theres this fight and they don't tell you who it is. I think its Tom Lawlor? And some chubby dude?

Lawlor defends a takedown, is cut, and goes for a kneebar, but chubbs defends and gets up on his feet. There's some brief clinch fighting, and they separate for slow kickboxing. BRANDON SENE is apparently the Tom Lawlor lookalike, and he gets an armbar when it goes back to the mat on JASON BARLOG (the chubby guy). Sene went on TUF 7, lost to Dante Rivera, and then got stopped by punching bag Brent Beauparlant at an XMMA show. (1)

6) RYAN MURPHY vs. JEFF LA SANTA: 145, I think?

All over the place. Murphy gets a takedown and the back early. Pretty brutal RNC attempts fail, and La Santa is able to buck Murphy off him. Honestly, pretty amateurish. La Santa just sorta throws Murphy to the side and throws punches to the dome. He gets put on his back again and Murphy looks like he should have brutal jewfro GnP. It never really develops.

The announcers note with round 2 that the fighters are tired because they fought at such a crazy pace. Partially true. Of course, they fought like that because they aren't prepared to be pro fighters. Murph goes to sleep rather than tap when La Santa puts him in a rear naked.

7) TOM CZERWINSKI vs. DANNY RUIZ: A contract weight of some sort. Danny Ruiz I've seen plenty of.

Ruiz gets a takedown, is in mount within 45 seconds and there are elbows and punches. This is oddly similar to the fight between Ruiz and Antonio Grant. Czerwinski gets armbarred and its pretty awesome looking, to be honest. (0)

8) ADRON MORRISON vs. ERIC REYNOLDS: Reynolds I've seen before, and like Ruiz and Wissman before him on this show, he was undefeated going in then later in his career.

Huge right hand drops Morrison early and Reynolds follows it with plenty more punches on the ground. Pretty impressive KO. He calls out Allen Berube, because Monstah Lobstah is such a serious contender. Sadly, the fight has not come off. (1)

9) BENJAMIN JORDAN vs. DAVID VIEIRA: Black dude vs. Portuguese Last Name.

Vieira goes to pull guard and somehow ends up taking Jordan down and is in mount. Jordan sweeps for mere seconds and is returned to his back not long after. Easy transition for Vieira as Jordan gives up his back to put on an RNC. Vieira apparently doesn't like the position and basically flips Jordan on top of him to get a submission from his back. Smart move: Vieira with a triangle choke not more than 10 seconds after. (1)

Fight of the Night: Tough to say, but I go with Reynolds/Morrison. Had it all - lame cameo, very fast, cool knockout.

KO Of the Night: Morrison/Reynolds

Submission of the Night: Vieira/Jordan

Overall for the Event: 2.5 out of 10: Reynolds looks like a world beater here, but that's matchmaking for you. Vieira's win is credited to "David Silva" on Sherdog's fightfinder.

D&R Rating: 7% (3/45)

MAINSTREAM MMA VIII: COLD WAR (1/26/08)

A middleweight title fight between Ryan Thomas vs. Jesse Lennox headlines this card that eminated from the Veterans Coliseum in Cedar Rapids, IA. Jay Adams and Justin Brown are doing the PBP.

1) ERIC WISLEY vs. MICAH WASHINGTON: Did you know that Micah is a horrible name? Horrible. Lightweight bout, BTW.

First round shows two well matched young competitors operating decently on the mat and in standup. Washington ends up on top for most of the second half of the round but was getting tagged by the occasional punch standing. Wisely is even a pretty solid BJJ artist off his back in addition to being competent standing. Pretty even.

Washington is able to get a takedown early in the round and throws some solid blows. Wisley is able to force the fight to a standing position and ends up taking down Washington with a trip takedown and moves immediately to mount where he bashes his head in with elbows. I like both guys, actually. Rare you see two fighters of this competency fighting each other on the b-shows in 2008. Wisley lost his last fight, but I think he can rebound. (1)

2) TRAVIS NATH vs. MARSHALL BLEVINS: Nath is very young, Blevins is holding a couple hilarious looking titles.

Monster belly to back suplex turned into an urange from Blevins puts Nath on the mat and gives him Nath's back. Nath tries to bridge out of that (!) and gets slammed down very hard by Blevins. He tries to go for the knees, doesn't really connect, and Blevins lands within the clinch with punches and then a big knee of his own. Nath crumples and Blevins rides his back and hammerfists him into oblivion. (0), as neither is really very good or moving forward.

3) SAM JACKSON vs. ROD MONTOYA: Catchweight fight around 160?

Jackson is able to put himself on top early but is cut by an elbow. Montoya tries to go to a high guard and....oh. Jackson picks him up Rampage style but cradles him on the rise, and then drives him in very, very hard. Like a combo power bomb/spine buster. Montoya is stone cold out as the shoulder drives itself deep into Montoya's face. (1) for the slam. Jackson's problem? He is not very good. Apparently this was a rematch that Montoya won the first bout of. Jackson is 5-18 as a pro/amateur combined with losses to Sam Morgan, John Halverson, Jason Black, Joe Jordan, Brian Gassaway, and Chase Beebe, among others.

4) ERIC POLING vs. KEN MCCLELLAND: Another McClelland fight? Oh jeez.

A brief exposition of clubberin'. McClelland may be fatter and older, but he is tougher. Poling is dropped with some punches and McClelland hurls more shots on the ground to earn his stoppage. (0)

5) TED WORTHINGTON vs. TOM GRUBB: I know who's gonna win this. Worthington possesses similar awful belts to another guy earlier in card.

Pearson points out how awesome Worthington is as he spends the opening 15 seconds throwing various strikes. Grubb just moves backwards, waits till after a missed high kick and gets a trip takedown. Hah. Worthington is solid off his back and can at least put himself in positions to perhaps get a submission. Grubb, though, is on offense and is able to defend all the subs while punching his foe. Strange standup late in the round as both were active. Worthington throws a nice flying knee standing but Grubb gets a takedown off it. 

Grubb has another nice takedown at the start of this round and lands some pretty beastly punches. Worthington nearly picks up the armbar and Grubb just pulls out of it. A standup (again, early) follows not long after. Worthington with a near home run leg kick, but again he's taken down afterwards. Horrible standups in this event as a second one comes up. Worthington with a desperation combo seems to stun Grubb, and he pulls guard. Not ten seconds passes and another standup? Ridiculous. I see more mat work in San Shou. Grubb gets another takedown, lands some more shots, and Worthington is tired. 

Some strikes start coming from Worthington and Grubb, believe it or not, shoots in for a double. Grubb really wants to pass and Worthington does a great job maintaining the guard. Right after that stops, a standup. Solid right hand from Worthington, clinch, and, lemme guess, a takedown by Grubb? Well, Worthington pulls guard. Same end result. Pretty vicious ground and pound from Grubb, as if he stops for a second, he is gonna get stood up. Doesn't really bother to try and pass as a result. Fucking ridiculous standup as Worthington's guard is passed. Oh, hey, Grubb gets a takedown. You know how this fight would be over already? If Grubb was allowed to just pulverize Grubb on the mat. Oh!, another standup! Oh, another takedown! Worthington goes for an armbar with merely seconds remaining and nearly sinks it. (1) because Grubb is a solid

prospect and because the fight was actually entertaining and competitive. Would have been a (2) with decent reffing.

6) RYAN THOMAS vs. JESSE LENNOX: "He's a superstar!" says Adams re: Lennox. Uh huh.

Thomas tries to get a throw and Lennox doesn't budge and ends up in mount. Ouch. Apparently, it may have been a "signature throw" for Thomas to boot. 4 5 minute rounds with a potential 5th round. Interesting. Lennox moves to side control and lays there. Oddly, this does not merit a standup for about a minute. When it happens, there's a clinch, some dancing, and then Jesse Lennox with a single leg shot into the slam. Thomas is clearly the larger man but is unable to do anything to stop Lennox. Lennox puts the exclamation mark on the round with a nearly successful guillotine.

Lennox is blasting with low kicks early and Thomas goes for the takedown. Nearly has success, but Lennox sprawls out and ends up trying to stand back up. Thomas lands a knee while there's a point down, so the ref jumps in. Short pause in the action and we're back to it. Lennox shoots for a body lock and uses that for a takedown of his own. Most of the round is then spent on the mat, with Lennox throwing occasional shots and going for some exotic chokes. There's a standup with about 20 seconds left that doesn't really push the fight in any direction.

Thomas is very wild with his punches. He reminds me of a wild Rick Cheek, which is an absurd statement to make for a hundred reasons. The standups are coming much faster in this final round also, and they do little to change the complexion of the bout until the final minute. Thomas gets a single leg takedown and is in half guard looking to try and steal the round with strikes. Lennox regains guard and then locks the arm up for an armbar. The submission comes with less than 3o seconds on the clock.

I liked how Lennox looked here against a serious grappler. Still, I will need to rewatch Adrenaline II to see how his striking has progressed. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Grubb/Worthington

KO OF THE NIGHT: Jackson/Montoya

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Lennox/Thomas

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. When things should have been bad, they were shockingly interesting. The main event was a bit of a bummer in that so much of it was dominating top game/borderline lay and pray, but that's a small caveat. For what the show had, it was worth watching.

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

NAAFS Cage Fighting (6/7/08)

This is from Comcast Sportsnet Ohio. Two jabroni dudes announce.

1) RUSS HALSEY vs. CHUCK ELLISON: Middleweight fight (175?), amateurs I guess.

Halsey shoots early off a low kick (why do that with wrestlers?) and Chuck looks helpless. He does get his hips in position for an armbar eventually, but Halsey pulls right out of it. Ellison gets to his feet but just gets taken down again. Easy first round (3 minute rounds, btw).

Sloppy boxing in round 2. Halsey goes for a guillotine late in the round and Ellison easily gets out of it when Halsey tries to pull guard. Again, all Halsey with single strikes. More standup in round 3. Both look pretty gassed. Ellison lands a nice right hand but gets taken down afterwards by Ellison. Some punches beat the fight out of Ellison and Halsey sinks in a RNC as he gives up his back. (0)

2) NICK TURCO vs. STIPE MIOCIC: Heavyweight fight. Apparently these are really good amateur heavyweights. There's some amazing cut scenes by the way to hype each fight. Miocic loves the Cro-Cop shorts. Turco has a record of 16-4 (!). Even as an amateur, that's impressive.

Stipe stops Turco early with strikes. Decent boxer, though I think he may have unintentionally headbutted Turco and hurt him with that rather than legitimate strikes. He's a name worth watching. (1)

3) MIKE NESTO vs PAUL COMPTON: Lightweight fight between two NAAFS Amateur champions. Each is well under 155.

Nesto gets a takedown after some feeling-out standup, and absorbs some elbows as he tries dragging his opponent down. He goes for a leglock and Compton defends well and blasts him with more punches. Compton has gashed up Nesto badly with his shots and after falling into Nesto's guard he just makes it worse. Fight is restarted. Nesto gets desperate and tries to get out and grab a single/double but Compton defends. The ref starts because there's just way too much blood. (0) Compton's pro record doesn't scream "great future".

OVERALL: 4 out of 10. Short event, nothing spectacular, interesting heavyweight prospect.