Real Fighting Championships 7 (11/4/06)

Fightzone TV went way back in time. This I think got screwed up by some sort of time issue too, because there's an educational program on to try and fit the quote. RFC has a fancy ramp. Jay Adams is your announcer, and the event itself is at Sun Dome in Tampa. Oh! Your color man is Stephan Bonnar.

EDIT 3/30/2011: Indeed there was a time issue! And so, I present to you the complete review now, finally. Original post date was 5/12/2010.

Show opens and we have a bunch of chicks from the local strip club and Jay Adams on the entrance ramp while a lot of pyro goes off and a third filled Sun Dome looks on. This show is already amazing.

1) Ralphy Garcia vs. Omar Chebali: Uhh, some lightweights.

FIGHT: Garcia Submissin Rnd 1. Couple guys trade wild punches and then try to trade leg locks. Garcia breaks out of that, moves to mount, and then goes for an armbar. He stretches it and gets it. This fight, honestly, was stupid. (0)

2) Kim Predmore vs. Elizabeth Posener: Posener has an almost 10 lb weight advantage.

FIGHT: Posener TKO Rnd1. Posener drops Predmore with a knee early, mounts, and rains down shots. Ugly. Stopped way too late and it was still only a minute long. (0)

Won't bother doing much more in describing. Neither is a factor. Suffice it to say that Predmore doesn't belong in MMA.

3) Josh Powell vs. Allen Berube: MONSTAH LOBSTAH. Jay Adams gets pushed by the pro wrestling inspired Berube.

FIGHT: Berube Submission Rnd 1. Berube runs at him and throws some bad punches, then grabs his head and drags him down for the guillotine. Powell did nothing. (1)

Berube: Wide punches, wild submission attempt - yeah, not surprised he didn't last in the UFC.

4) Chris Adams vs. Jon Schall: Heavyweights. 4 years later, I've heard of neither. Not a good sign. Adams is all sorts of chunky.

FIGHT: Schall TKO 1. Schall hurts Adams with a punch early and then drubs him. Adams is tapping for like 3 seconds before the ref jumps in to stop the fight. (0)

Schall: Was KOed in next fight, just wild and crazy for the 30 seconds this goes.

5) Chris Holder vs. Chris Manuel: 145lbers. Holder is apparently a top wrestler. Manuel is from ATT.

FIGHT: Manuel Submission Rnd 1. You could see it coming throughout the fight. Holder wanted it down but didn't know how to defend submissions when in top control. An Imes speed triangle attempt finishes the job. (1)

Holder: Holder is throwing around Manuel, and that's impressive, but he's leaving himself so wide open for submissions when he does it. Manuel gets back to his feet after almost armbarring Holder, and while Holder gets the takedown again, his work inside the guard bears no fruit. Manuel ends up taking him down and Holder has no guard.

Manuel: Manuel seemed to have decent work off his back but there was nothing to establish his ability standing. Mixed success since in international level competition.

6) Lew Polley vs. Chris Baten: Polly drops lots of weight to make the 205 limit. Baten doesn't.

FIGHT: Polley Submission Rnd 3. Such an ugly fight to watch. Polley is huge and muscle bound, and its lay and pray for 1 and a half rounds. But he gasses totally and when there's a standup in the second Baten throws a single high kick and lands it to the mush. Polley is a mess and loses the rest of the second round and is nearly finished with a rear naked choke. He almost eats another high kick in the third, but a desperate shot gets down Baten and he ends up with a kimura to finish. (1)

Polley: Strong guy, but technically not very good. At all. Really, he has strength and not much more. Don't want to see him fight ever again. Too bad the world will through the magic of Ultimate Fighter.

Baten: Not a particularly great fighter either. Had the chance to spin out and escape the kimura for about 20 seconds and didn't.

7) Mike Van Meer vs. Carl Greco (Malenko): 185lbs. Van Meer is a fat ass. Carl Malenko was in PRIDE, as you might remember, as well as Battlearts.

FIGHT: Greco Submission Rnd 1. Pathetic effort by Van Meer. (1)

Greco: takes down Van Meer with shocking difficulty, then screws up one armbar attempt only to get another. Terrible to watch.

Van Meer: An insult.

HIGHLIGHTS SHOWN: Briefly shown are victories for Joe Lane, Mike Ortiz, James Austin, Danny Ruiz, and Lucas Code. Also shown? Matt Brown beating Matt Arroyo. Yes, the most relevant fight on this card today wasn't shown. Oops.

8) Chris Mickle vs. James Edson Berto: Mickle actually made it to the WEC for a cup of coffee. Berto is the brother of a much better fighter, as you may know.

FIGHT: Berto Submission Rnd 1. Berto is bigger, gets taken down immediately after a leg kick, then Mickle goes for a leg lock. Berto counters with his own and forces the tapout. (1)

No real perspective I can give. Berto is a sucker for takedowns here and Mickle is still nothing more than a journeyman.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Manuel/Holder, though that says nothing

KO OF THE NIGHT: Schall/Adams, even if it might not really count

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Berto/Mickle

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Not worth going out of your way to see, even if it is short in fast forward.

D&R Rating 10% (4/40)

ART OF FIGHTING 5: 10/23/09

Another show from Florida brought by Fightzone TV. Chris Bateman is being hyped in the main event. Oh boy. Some dude I didn't catch the name of and Seth Petruzelli are announcing. Cage and unified rules in effect.

1) MATT KERSSE vs. JOSH PATCHELL: Lightweights, white guys with shaved heads.

Kersse with a takedown and...this is elemental stuff. Patchell is working a closed guard most of the time and doesn't really do a lot from the bottom, but occasionally goes for some fancy stuff. Patchell does his best to break the closed guard and throw shots or pass. Lousy dirty boxing when Patchell gets this back up and standing. Patchell keeps trying to do weird stuff to get position instead of basic moves, and ends up getting his back taken standing and then rode down. Kersse goes for an armbar without the arm after Patchell turns into mount, and as a result, Patchell survives to the second.

Clinch early and Kersse eventually throws Patchell and goes to side control. Patchell then sweeps Kersse and makes him look stupid for having lost that position. I have to admit - I've waited on watching fights like these because they are terrible. Kersse goes for a kimura from the bottom in guard and sorta sweeps Patchell with it. This forces them back to standing, where Patchell goes for a kimura standing and just gets manhandled down.

Third round kicks off and we're back to the clinch almost instantly. Neither of these guys want to strike. Ugly, boring. The announcers note that Patchell will not win a "grinder". True. It might have been more impressive to hear this 2 minutes into the fight rather than with 2 minutes left. Kersse ends up bulldog choking Patchell and drags him down by the head. He wins. I see nothing in either guy to be excited about. (0)

2) CHRISTIANO SOUZA vs. PEDRO GONZALEZ RUBIO: Rubio is a mercenary. Really. Souza is making his pro debut and from ATT.

Souza has crazy muscle definition. I wonder if ATT guys eat horsemeat? Lots of Thiago Silva esque bouncing around. Same stance too. Dudes trading hooks for entertainment value until Rubio eats a headkick to the back of the skull. He's down and out! But not totally, so Souza keeps battering him until he is limp. I guess a (1) because he's a roided up Brazilian who throws kicks. Those are always popular.

3) RYAN HODGE vs. MARK SERKEZ: Two dudes, one with a mohawk.

Some trading with wild punches and kicks. Really, neither guy is even thinking defense when throwing. Its like they've never been told its possible to get hit while you try to strike. Hodge shoots and takes down Serkez, basically pushes him down, lands shots and goes for the choke. Announcers are all about Serkez defending stuff rather than what he does wrong. They stand up and its bombz throwin' time. Serkez with incredibly wild hooks that don't drop Hodge immediately, so they trade some more. Dana White would love this. It goes on and on and on and Hodge is stopped because of a cut. Maybe in 6-7 years one of these guys can develop into something. (0)

4) RORY SHALLCROSS vs. RAUL AMAYA:

I'm not even paying attention to this anymore. Amaya ends up on top most of the time while Shallcross works rubber guard poorly. Basics! Basics people! Listen to BJ Penn when he tells you to work the basics! Shallcross eventually gets stopped when Amaya mounts him and punches him lots in the 3rd round. After the ref jumps in, Shallcross shows the most amount of energy he's shown all fight. Blah stuff. Amaya is a generic wrestler type I can't be less excited about. (0)

5) SAL FARNETTIEL vs. IMANI LEE: Fat dudes.

With all the grace of watching continents collide, these two men swing. I mean, not even close to being in shape. Sal Farnettiel's knee blows out fro a low kick because he is fat. They try to play this off as a low blow to keep it going, but, wah wah wah. Over in the first. (0)

6) NICOLAE CURY vs. DANNY MCWILLIAMS: This is the co-main event - 4-9 vs. 2-1. Really.

Gives back to the Brazilian right away, but spins into the guard. Then he gets caught in a triangle. (1) I guess for the Brazilian.

7) CHRIS BATEN vs. ROBERT CT TURNER: Some dudes at light heavy.

Baten gets taken down and is mounted early, but is able to fish his way out of hit thanks to the mount being up on his shoulders. Turner still controls the rest of the round by being on top of him and occasionally doing something or other to keep it there. This ends up being the entire fight. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Hodge/Serkez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Hodge/Serkez, I guess?

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cury/McWilliams

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Didn't see anyone really excited about here. Basically a KOTC level show with Souza being the only future star of the bunch.

D&R Rating: 5% (2/35)

Southern Fight League: G-Vegas (3/29/2009)

The sports pack is back on my TV and with it, strange MMA. This is from "Brawl Call With Jay Adams", a 30 minute show that runs on Sun Sports and sometimes on FSN's Southeastern Channel. The event takes place in Greenville, NC and no one you've heard of is on the show. Ben Glaussen (?) and TOMMY TRAUMA SAUER are on the call with Adams. Its an amateur show, so be weary.

1) CASEY JOHNSON vs. JASON RAMOS: Nondescript 170lb fighters. Neither looks physically impressive.

Johnson moves around the ring a lot and throws leg kicks. Ramos follows, cuts off the ring, clinches with Johnson. Johnson then basically puts Ramos in a headlock, throws him, and punches him while in a side headlock. Not very impressive work for either. (0)

2) KEVIN GARCIA vs. BRANDON COBLE: Bantams.

Coble has stiff robot standup. Garcia, the announcers say, is an adept grappler. Then he pulls off a flying armbar for a tapout. Well, holy shit. (1) for the obviously awesome submission. Garcia is 3-0 as an amateur, still not a pro.

3) AMOS COLLINS vs. BLAYNE WRIGHT: Lightweights.

Both have really sloppy groundwork; all sorts of submissions and positions are just powered out of as this hits the mat early. After a stalemate, there's wild striking and Collins gets the takedown. He had previously mounted Wright and been bucked off with stunning ease, but here he works his way from full guard to full mount in short fashion and then forces Wright to turn over and give his neck. (0)

4) JOHN BRYANT vs. SHANE STAPP: Some sort of ridiculous amateur welterweight promotion title is up for grabs. Seriously, fuck this bullshit in MMA. I'm sick of it. Boxing isn't remotely this bad with title belts.

Stapp gets waaaay low; I imagine this is to prevent the shot and takedown? Apparently lowering his center of balance virtually to the floor only meant that it was a shorter distance between his shoulders and the mat when Bryant inevitably places him there. The story of this fight is simple: Stapp goes for the guillotine. When he doesn't get it, he is slammed or punched very hard repeatedly. When he does get it, Bryant taps out. Bryant taps out in round one from the third guillotine attempt. This is fine and dandy, but not a prescription for a title run. He's listed as not having fought since April, which is probably because he's doing smoker shows or something. (0)

5) Antoine Marcel/Zed Mitchell: A 185 lb contest. Mitchell is a big black dude and Marcel is fat.

Mitchell wins in a matter of seconds. He just throws around his opponent in the clinch and KOs him with punches. Embarassing. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bryant/Stapp

KO OF THE NIGHT: Marcel/Mitchell

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Garcia/Coble

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Fastforwarding through the commercials, I can basically watch it during a lunch break with time to make myself food too.

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

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 3 (Middleweights)

This was also a tough pick to see who made the #3 spot.

1) LUCIO LINHARES (2-0, 1 KO, 1 Sub): If you need to know the quality of fighters in the M-1 Challenge, consider Linhares, already 0-1 in the UFC.

VS. KAMIL UYGUN (Benelux), 2/21/09: Linhares takes down Uygun and its a KOTC special of passing, beating up, and submission. In this case, armbar as Uguyn tries to turn to his stomach.

VS. VALDIR ARAUJO (USA East) 6/5/2009: Both strike wildly, Araujo shoots and its defended by Linhares. Right hand lands by Linhares, and a left hook KOs Araujo. Just no real game plan from the American.

2) CHRISTOPHE DAFREVILLE (3-0, 3 Subs): Dafreville was a mere 2-2 when the season started, and after an undefeated campaign, the judoka's stock rose quite a bit.

VS. RAYCO SILVA KAKIN (Spain), 4/29/09: Dafreville shoots in with the double and ends up on top, but the ref stands them up after a very short period of time. Again, another takedown by Dafreville, and he passes to side control, then north/south. A few strikes set up an anaconda choke against the unknown opponent.

VS. MATT THORPE (England), 6/5/2009: Clinch to start, and Dafreville throws Thorpe. Dafreville throws good shots in close, but Thorpe tries for an omoplata. The attempt fails, as one might expect with such a low percentage move, but he does get on top, sweeping Dafreville. Heavy shots come down from Thorpe, and it looks like he's taking control, when Dafreville sweeps Thorpe. Now in the mount, Dafreville goes for an arm triangle - Thorpe tries to roll him to no avail. Dafreville forces the sub with a triangle choke.

VS. YUSUKE MASUDA (Japan), 8/15/2009: Matsuda gets the takedown, but when on the mat, Daffreville looks for submissions off his back while Masuda just sorta tries not to get caught. Eventually Daffreville gets the arm, sweeps him, and forces the tap via armbar.

3) ANSAR CHALANGOV (2-0, 2 Subs): Chalangov washed out of the UFC very fast, then took a beating at the hands of Nick Thompson. As part of M-1's team, he went up in weight and picked up two seemingly easy wins in 2009.

VS. MATT THORPE (England), 9/26/2009: Chalangov is rocking shoes for this fight. He throws some lame strikes and shoots in on Thorpe, slamming him to the mat. When there, Thorpe leaves his guard open and Chalangov drops for a heel hook. He taps out, but Chalangov doesn't really let go immediately (and the ref is late jumping in), and Thorpe looks like he's hurt a little. Less than 30 seconds.

VS. DANILO PERIERA (USA West), 12/3/2009: Chalangov looks small, again with wrestling shoes. He clinches and looks for the takedown, earning it and getting to side control. Periera tries to turn into a leg lock, but gets caught in the ropes. Chalangov falls back for his own heel hook and for the second consecutive fight, forces the tap and wins the 2009 M-1 Challenge for Russia Legion.

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 2 (Welterweights)

The welterweight list was appreciably tougher to do than the Lightweight list. For one, there were 5 guys with 2 or more wins; only one suffered a defeat (Fabio Negao). Unfortunately, there were no real fights among these talents, and so its difficult to really pick out a clear top guy among a number of fighters who spent the year toppling cans. My best efforts for his:

1) DELSON HELENO (1-0): A 1-0 fighter takes the crown for the best M-1 welterweight of the year? Yes. Simple reason; one marquee win beats a bunch of middling wins against poor competition. Heleno snagged the biggest scalp in all the brackets as far as experienced fighters go with a win over Fabio Negao.

VS. FABIO NEGAO, USA East (9/26/09): Round 1 is highlights only: Heleno apparently pushed the fight and may have won, say the announcers.

Heleno's attempts at grappling initially seem to end badly; Negao is in side control after defending a takedown and gettin down Heleno on his own after a subsequent clinch. Heleno escapes and throws wild punches before ending up in the clinch again. He throws the uppercut inside the drops for the takedown. Heleno defends with the guillotine but Heleno pops out and nearly gets Negao's back. he flips over, regains half guard, is able to turn over and stand, and gets slammed down again. Again he rises, again Negao is taken down. The ref does stand them up a short time later, but the round ends with Heleno on top in half guard after another takedown. He wins a majority decision.

2) EDUARDO PAMPLONA (3-0, 1 KO): Pamplona's wins were not necessarily ground breaking, nor did they look stunning to view, more often than not. Do Hyung Kim, Erik Oganov, and Dylan Clay may not represent the best MMA has to offer, but they're still decent journeymen with lots of experience against mid-level opposition in winning efforts. That is more than can be said about many wins of the guys who didn't make this list.

VS. DYLAN CLAY, USA West (2/21/09): Only round 3 is shown in complete. Round 1 is a close round that is complicated by a yellow card to Pamplona. The second round sees Pamplona clearly win, but thanks to the deduction in the first, we end up in this, a third and final round. We get sloppy standup with Clay landing a number of blows and a takedown (however briefly). Pamplona is a tough dude though; he nearly throws Clay, but when Clay blocks it, he simply transitions to the back. Clay flips over and gives up side control, but doesn't last long. The ref saves him after Pamplona traps the arm and throws right hands.

VS. ERIK OGANOV, Russia Imperial (5/9/09): Oganov gets a takedown and controls Pamplona in the first round, so we are told. Pamplona throws arm punches as the majority of his offense while shrugging off Oganov's take down attempts. Pamplona is hurt by a left hook and drops; Oganov lands ground and pound for a big, and really pushes hard for the finish. Pamplona is able to sweep Oganov from full guard and get the mount, though he's bucked off. Pamplona lands a short right standing, pushes Oganov down, and mounts him again. Pamplona lands shots until the end of the round. The decision goes to Pamplona on a majority basis.

VS. DO-HYUNG KIM (7/4/2009): First round is shown in highlights: Kim is cut by Pamplona, but Kim seems more accurate with his shots, say the good people calling this here event. Into round two: A Francisco Damiani reference by the crew! Kim is taken down and hurt by a solid shot by Pamplona, and he moves to half guard. More absorbing of shots by Kim until the ref stands them up; Pamplona walks through offense to land his own shots. That's acceptable with these guys - won't work at the next level. Kim gets the takedown, but the standup is shortly thereafter. Very little ground work is allowed in this fight. Standing again, we have an unintentional headbutt, and this is a wrap. Pamplona wins the decision.

3) MAGOMED SHIKSHABEKOV (5-0, 2 KOs, 3 Subs): Shikshabekov had the most viscerally impressive run in M-1 during the entire year, but in spite of that, I didn't make him my #1. Why? He beat NO ONE that was good. Only the 8-3 Simon Phillips had a winning record, and while Phillips hit big with a KO win against Hidehiko Hasegawa, he dropped his next fight in M-1 prior to even getting Shikshabekov. Like Tulirinta, there's a high ceiling right now. No idea if we'll see him hit it though for a bit.

VS. JASON PONET, World Team (3/28/09): Shikshabekov is a house afire with punches, takes down Ponet, mounts him, and gets the triangle from the top as Ponet tries to posture up.

VS. SVEN HEISING, Germany (5/9/09): Shikshabekov takes down Heising and tries for a farside armbar, but the ropes get in the way. After a restart on the feet, a right hand/takedown combo puts Heising back on the mat. Punches set up a leglock attempt that Heising escapes. After another standup, Heising is tackled down coming into to throw, and gets bounced out with ground and pound.

VS. FATIH DOGAN, Turkey (8/16/09): Shikshabekov catches a kick, drops Dogan with a punch. The ref actually jumps in to stop it but is thrown down, and this continues. Shikshabekov is in mount and just drops bombs until another attempt by the ref is successful. Weird.

VS. SIMON PHILLIPS, Great Britain (9/26/09): Shikshabekov scissors the leg at the start and gets a flying heel hook. The end.

VS. GERSON DOS SANTOS, USA East (12/3/09): Shikshabekov jumps in with the left hook and clinches. Both seemed nervious at the opening, and a lot of energy is expelled. Dos Santos throws down the Russian and tries to pass to the full mount. Shikshabekov keeps him in full guard, and then moves the hips around for the triangle. Dos Santos tries to posture up and out, and Shikshabekov just takes the arm instead for the tap out.

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 1 (Lightweights)

Okay, this is a tough one to do. Do I review all 130 fights? No. Impossible. Most are clipped anyways. Instead, I've chosen a different route - The top 3 fighters per weight class that fought in M-1, plus a look back at their performances in the M-1 ring for 2009.

LIGHTWEIGHTS:

1. RENATO MIGLIACCIO (2-0, 2 Submissions) - A BJJ practitioner from the USA East squad, he competed twice as a lightweight on the squad. Both guys who weren't him weren't so successful. Interesting note: You can easily argue that he beat better fighters than either Jansen or Ivlev.

VS. YANKO YANEV (3/28/09) - A very dominant fight for Migliaccio: He takes down Yanev seemingly at will and prevents getting hit with anything big in the standup game. When on the mat, he generally controls Yanev and is able to work for position and submissions. He finishes him late in the first round with a armbar out of the mount.

VS. NIKO PUHAKKA (6/5/09) - Puhakka, a veteran, also happens to be significantly larger than Migliaccio. In spite of this, he is taken down by the smaller American and gives up his back early. Migliaccio doesn't really get in the hooks, and Puhakka snakes out. Standing, Migliaccio coems forward right to the clinch and a throw, then as Puhakka escapes that, a double leg takedown. Migliaccio runs a clinic on Puhakka, working both arms before picking one to extend into a armbar. Bell is rung, but Puhakka claims he didn't tap. Watching again, he was just yelling in pain - that'll generally be a technical submission anywhere on a fully executed armbar.

2. YURA IVLEV (4-0, 2 KOs, 1 Sub)

This was a competitive battle for the #2 position. What sealed it was an event that occurred after the end of the season: Jansen's loss in a recent WEC show proved that this was about his ceiling for talent. Rather than the theoretical, you go with the practical. With the same sort of opposition, Ivlev had more impressive results.

Vs. ROMANO DE LAS REYES, World Team (3/28/09) - Second round was shown in full. First round clips show Ivlev with some nice throws and De Las Reyes trying to mix it up on the feet. Announcers gave it to Ivlev. Second round: RDLR throws down Ivlev out of the thai plumb, but was nullified on the mat. Ivlev sweeps him and is in half guard, stands out, and tries to jump-pass with punches. He gets to side control and goes for an armbar, but Las Reyes defends and is on top in half guard. The ref stands them up late in the round, but Ivlev is the winner.

VS. FRANCO DE LEONARDIS, Spain (5/9/09) - Both rounds shown. De Leonardis has some skills from his back but never really capitalizes on his submission attempts, such as a pair of triangles in the first round. Ivlev is almost always in top control; De Leonardis has to pull guard to force it down. In the second, De Leonardis changes nothing about his MO, and Ivlev is able to expect it. He hurts De Leonardis while in the north/south position after defending a takedown, and the resulting desperate scramble ends with De Leonardis on his stomach taking blows until tapping out.

VS. SCOTT HEWITT, Great Britain (9/26/09) - Ivlev throws Hewitt with a judo hiptoss, and then KOs him as Hewitt tries to scramble up.

VS. IVAN JORGE, USA East (12/3/09) - Jorge is the more comfortable one standing by appearances; well, until a robot right hand lands from Ivlev. Ivlev throws Jorge after than and lands blows for almost a full minute. Jorge actually survives this and shoots. Ivlev gets taken down and actually gives up the back to Jorge. He barely gets out of the first.

Jorge shoots in and Ivlev ends up getting his back taken again. After a long period of back control. Ivlev spins out. He's almost armtriangled in the escape, but breaks free and stands. He drops Jorge with punches standing and forces the referee stoppage. Good come from behind win.

3. DAVID JANSEN (3-0, 1 sub): A strong wrestler, Jansen won three fights against middling competition with M-1 before graduating to the WEC. He won his first there, but lost his second fight in 2010 for that promotion. Still, he's a strong enough prospect to keep an eye on as he develops.

VS. FLAVIO ALVARO, Brazil (2/21/09) - First wasn't shown, but its mentioned that Jansen seemed to win with his wrestling. Second round sees Jansen having to escape a few submission attempts by Alvaro, but he cuts Alvaro and puts a solid beating on him while inside the guard. Unanimous decision for Jansen.

VS. YUI CHUL NAM, South Korea (4/29/09) - First not shown; What we know? Looks like Jansen was on top and punching. Second round is no different. Jansen shoots from too far away to work with most, but the fourth level guys like this will get taken down. That's how the fight ends: Jansen on top to the decision, controlling and throwing shots.

VS. AMIRKHAN MAZIKHOV (7/4/2009) - Mazikhov shoots after getting hit with a right hand and is caught in a peruvian necktie. Easy W.

SHOOTO (Disc 4): Vale Tudo Junction 3 (5/7/1996)

We shoot ahead in the Shooto timeline to 1996 and Professional Shooting 40. This is an interesting card headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Erik Paulson and Kenji Kawaguchi. It should be noted that this is basically "light heavyweight" using the boxing definition, with Paulson being about 175lbs. Keep this in mind.

1) SHINJI ARANO vs. KIMIHITO NONAKA: 65KG bout, 3x3, who are these guys?

Good two round fight. Arano is not all that good - he tries to go for a guillotine while he's mounted. Nonaka, meanwhile, is throwing all sorts of submissions from top control, when he's in buttscoot, etc. Arano is caught in a triangle in the second and tries to stomp his way out; that's not allowed. He instead is swept, and Nonaka is late to let go and lands some extracurricular blows after the bell before yelling at the prone Arano. I'm guessing he wasn't appreciative of that triangle defense. (0)

2) YUJI FUJITA vs. TOMAKI "SYONAN" HAYAMA: Middleweight contest (167), 3X3, who are these guys?

Hayama pulls guard real early and keeps it closed even as Fujita tries to stand out. Okay, we know this guy's deal right away. He goes for a couple submissions in the round as Fujita lands pitter patter shots during the first. In the second, we get dudes trading wildly and Fujita eventually remembers his skill set, trying to drag this down. In round 2 though, the story is Hayama as a ground expert; He takes down Fujita, mounts him, and while he's bucked off, does eventually use an elevator sweep to regain top position and full mount. Fujita gives his back and is choked out. (0)

3) MITSUHIRO SAKAMOTO vs. JIN AKIMOTO: Featherweights. Akimoto is a guy who has been fighting right along up to 2009. I think he finally gave up the ghost though.

Sakamoto is wearing boxing trunks, but nothing shows up on Boxrec. Awww. He uses a muay thai stance for this fight, and Akimoto is not interested in trading with him. He takes down Sakamoto and basically tries to pass guard and throw punches. Not much of a first round. Second isn't that much different, however Sakamoto rolls Akimoto at the end of the round and nearly locks in a kimura. Sakamoto finds himself on his back all through the third round and throws those Bas Rutten heel strikes. Somehow, that is enough to justify a draw. Shooto scoring; how we love you! (2) Sakamoto ends up being a semi-important figure later.

4) MAZAKAZU KURAMOCHI vs. TAKUYA KUWABARA: Welterweight bout with 3x3 minute rounds.

Kuwabara is much smaller; he pulls guard frequently rather than trade in the first and basically pisses away the round to Kuramochi and does much the same in the first half of the second. As the round goes on, he does get a legitimate takedown, albeit to no effect, and tries for a guillotine late in the round when Kuramochi shoots. In the third, Kuwabara's untrained looking punches start to tag his opponent, but he gets taken down before much else happens. After another standup and guard pull, we go to the cards and...Kuwabara by unanimous decision. I have no idea how that happened. (0)

5) HISAO IKEDA vs. UCHUU TATSUMI: Tatsumi fought on disc 1, which is now like 2 years in the past both in terms of when I reviewed it and when these fights took place. At the time, he couldn't finish from top control. Here?

Ikeda is standing straight up and asking to be hit or taken down. Its the former; he's dropped by straight punches three times in the first and its over early. Third knockdown was really harsh. (0)

6) TORU KOGA vs. YASHUSH WARITA: Koga broke out crazy slams the first time I saw him How about in this 5 round fight?

Koga is slamming this dude all over the place: Two backdrop drivers, a single into a big slam, a backbody drop sorta thing; This guy is up there with Rampage and Aaron Witherspoon. Warita has only one escape, and its from mount; think sunset flip, except without the flip part. He does this in the first and second to get out of bad positions, and carry on to the third. Warita looks terrible and like he has no hope until he times Koga shooting at the start of the third with a high kick. Game over. Really cool fight. (2)

7) AKIHIRO GONO vs. TODD BJORNETHUN: Gono is still going hard. Bjornethun; not so much.

Standup fighting for a good portion of the first round, and they're even. Bjornethun is more aggressive, Gono seems technically better. Gono hits a sweet hiptoss and transitions into a leg lock attempt, and the round ends with both guys trying for toeholds and heel hooks. Gono shoots to start the second, and while its defended, he's done enough to get Bjornethun's hands down. A right hand lands and Bjornethun is dropped for a 6 count. The American is forced to shoot desperately to stay in the fight. Gono lands a ton more on him, but eventually Bjorethun is able to get the fight down. He's swept, absorbs more punishment, but gets a standup. When there, he rocks Gono with a desperate shot and takes him down. In the final round, there's slobberknockerin' early. Bjornethun drags down Gono, and Gono is tired. Bjornethun passes to full mount, takes an arm, and gets the submission via armbar. Great fight. (3)

8) ENSON INOUE vs. JOE ESTES: Estes is a footnote at best. Rules are 3 8 minute rounds.

Horrid fight that is clipped for our viewing pleasure. Estes gets takedowns and lays there on top of Inoue. That is the fight. Inoue somehow gets a draw on one of the Japanese cards, but the decision still goes to Estes. Apocalyptically bad. (2)

9) ERIK PAULSON vs. KENJI KAWAGUCHI: A world title fight for Shooto's light heavyweight crown. Before the fight, we get hype videos with Paulson demanding a fight as soon as possible. Interesting note: Paulson's trainer is also a Shooto judge IN THIS FIGHT.

Paulson is throwing a lot of kicks, particularly the front kick. Kawaguchi has a terrible stance to deal with this onslaught of strikes - just straight up in the air. Kawaguchi is dropped late in the round with a right hand and takes the 8 count. In the second, Kawaguchi closes the distance with some wild punches and then hiptosses Paulson to the mat. Didn't see that coming. Paulson goes for an armbar and he then switches to a leg lock as Kawaguchi defends. Paulson is also too good on the mat; he ends up in the mount after this scrambling. He fails to sinch up an armbar after Kawaguchi gives his back, and the champ stands and tries to trade. He's now bleeding from the nose; not going well at all. In the final round, Kawaguchi starts to absorb more and more punishment. He spits out his mouthpiece to breathe from the broken nose and goes for a flying armbar. Paulson defends by slamming out and then punches the hell out of Kawaguchi. He sees the leg available and goes for an ankle lock; fight is over as Kawaguchi taps. He's been savaged. Paulson is at the top of his game. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Gono/Bjornethun

KO OF THE NIGHT: Koga/Warita

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gono/Bjornethun

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. Some wildly entertaining stuff, even in the meaningless fights. Would be higher if not for the painful Inoue/Estes encounter that was shown.

D&R rating: 28% (14/45)