Okay, time to finish this stupid DVD off so I can move on with my life. This is the second side, and you’re blessed to get another great MMA event on paper that will probably be edited to shit. Osborne again is announcing.
--------------------------------------------
1) BOBBY DIAZ vs. KEVIN BURKES: Never heard of either in my life. I’m not holding out much hope for this 185lb contest.
Less than impressive standup exchanges lead to grappling that is dominated by Diaz. Diaz ends up going for the rear naked choke a few times and can’t get it, but even with Burkes’ chin in, he taps in the first round to one. Diaz subsequently lost to the dorky Tamdan McCrory and mediocre Bobby McMasters. (0)
2) JOEL BLANTON vs. DAVID GARCIA: Garcia is listed as being “Freelance” so this will probably not be good.
Garcia has a humongous height advantage. Seriously, this looks like a classic UFC with no weight classes. He lands some decent strikes on Blanton, who just rushes in with his hands down over and over. Blanton takes a right hand to the face that chops up his left eye and then gets JUDOWNED to the mat. The ref stops it and has the doctor look for a minute or two, then we get back under way. Same exact thing happens, except instead of taking a minute to develop, it takes 15 seconds. Blanton is able to get up from the second throw and pushes Garcia into the corner while clinching with him, but he’s cut so badly the ref again pulls them apart and this time the doctor calls the fight. Garcia has since lost to Thomas Denny and Chris Wilson, and since the card with the Wilson fight is an FFC show that Sherdog sells, I will probably end up owning it. (0) It should be noted that it becomes obvious that Osborne is doing commentary in post production because the sound of the fight is totally on about a 3 second delay to the video, whereas he is on point.
3) LEO SYLVEST vs. EMYR BUSSADE: I’ve seen Sylvest fight a couple times and he sucks, to be honest. Bussade has fought in a number of shows no one has ever seen.
Sylvest and Bussade go to the clinch early and Sylvest pulls guard and locks in a guillotine. Bussade defends by staying standing and this lasts for awhile, with Sylvest smiling to the crowd. Its nowhere near in though, and eventually Bussade puts him down and pops his head out. Then a wonderful EDIT that brings us to later in round 1, where Bussade passes the guard and then gets an armbar from knee on belly that was set up and executed well. Still, totally a (0).
4) DAVION PETERSON vs. JAY THOMAS: I remember Davion Peterson from his Bodogfight appearance and loss to Nick Thompson. Seems like too nice of a guy to be a real fighter. No edge. Jay Thomas I’m not familiar with.
Jay Thomas is a fat fuck and Davion Peterson knocks him out super early with right hands thrown from within the clinch. It’s a bit difficult to call Peterson any sort of modern contender. (0)
5) KEITH WISNIEWSKI vs. NURI SHAKIR: This DVD leads off with video of the national anthem being sung inside the Avalon nightclub in Boston where this event is taking place. It is literally a club show, and yet they have a national anthem being sung. Oh, and that takes up time on a program recorded to be just under an hour long. If this goes more than two minutes, I’m sure I won’t get to see much more of it than that.
The brevity of the bout prevents me from ranting, which I’m sure will occur later. Wisniewski and Shakur meet at center ring very quickly, and Wisniewski gets the thai plumb almost without effort. A couple knees to the body soften up Shakir, and Wisniewski gets a takedown and half guard. Shakir is good enough to force himself out of that position and try and get it stood up, but he is stuck in a guillotine for his efforts and taps. Again, like Wisniewski’s prior bout in USMMA, neither man is really world class. However, Shakir has never risen to being involved with national/international promotions like Lee has. He’s never been on a show as big as the Playboy Mansion show or the Boardwalk Hall MFC show. He’s a regional fighter in the northeast and nothing more. This is a (0) as a result.
6) ANGELA WILSON vs. SHELBY WALKER: I know fuck all about women’s fighting. Shelby Walker I somewhat recognize from boxing exploits.
Walker throws a right hand and Wilson catches it with her face. She is hurt. Then this happens again. She falls down. Apparently it was the fastest KO in women’s MMA history. I also did my research on Walker afterwards and was reminded that she was the fiancee of Denis Kang and had died from a painkiller overdose. Strangely, knowing a couple people who have such addictions and looking at what has happened to Kang since, watching the fight seems very bizarre. I give it a (1). Realistically, it is a footnote in the history of the sport for a few reasons.
7) MARCUS AURELIO vs. DAVE GARDNER: Well, after that slightly depressing footnote, a match that is SURE to be edited down.
First, Marcus at this point is like a skinny kid. “Maximus” looks like he’s been training with TOM of Total-MMA rankings fame. Secondly, it is, as expected, edited. Heavily so. Basically, it looks like a Marcus Aurelio highlight reel because whenever Gardner does anything, that’s edited out and Osborne merely tells us the fight is close afterwards. Take the first round, where roughly half is shown, and then when Gardiner is able to shake off back control and get in top position in Aurelio’s guard, it cuts the entire rest of the round. Aurelio wins by a triangle armbar he spends forever setting up in round 3 of this USMMA lightweight title fight. Because of Aurelio’s place in the division, I give this a (1). He’s a top thirty fighter who’s been as high as the top 5 in the last 3 years. Again, though, there’s severe editing done here that causes what appears on the screen to be nothing like what is being announced. That is not good.
8) DENIS KANG vs. KEITH ROCKEL: Best fight on paper for the card.
Round 1 is edited, but that seems to not necessarily be the worst thing ever because Rockel just lays in Kang’s guard. Round 2 is not edited, miraculously. It’s a very different round, with Kang jumping in and taking down Rockel following a low kick. Rockel scrambles up but Kang goes around to his back and ends up slamming him to the mat. Rockel regains guard and Kang lays there for a good bit of time until the ref stands them up. Kang is happy about this and claps, whereas Rockel is slightly tired. Rockel walks forward straight into a Denis Kang right hand and he is unconscious before he hits the mat. I give this a (1) because Denis Kang has fallen off greatly in recent years, but it’s a mightily impressive KO that previews his performance in the Superbrawl one night tourney that was held merely a month or so later, and because the editing in round 1 removes a lot of video that could be valuable in reading Kang’s skills.
Still, watching this asks a lot of questions. They go out of their way to include fighter entrances, which are a total fucking joke when the camera crew consists of two guys with hand cams on the ring apron and the show is in a night club. Meanwhile, there's a fight that lasts 8 minutes and you absolutely need to trim 2 minutes off that? Fuck
9) JORGE RIVERA vs. SOLOMON HUTCHERSON: This is the only fight on the show I’ve previously seen.
This fight is a clusterfuck. Rivera is taken down at the very start as Hutcherson rushes in and slams him. Rivera gets up and gets slammed again. He maneuvers his way into an armbar, which he has, but the ref inexplicably breaks it up and restarts it standing. Rivera then spends much of the rest of the round exchanging punches with Rivera and the two pummeling in clinches. Rivera lands a right hand that knocks Hutcherson out hard and the fight is over in round 1. (2)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Kang/Rockel. Rockel controlled round 1 (I think) and then gets KOed super hard in round 2.
KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Kang/Rockel
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Aurelio/Gardner
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10: Again, the editing bug hits hard with the two best current fighters rankings wise on the show having heavy edits to their bouts. Its unacceptable. KOTC can release whole shows on two sided DVDs.
No comments:
Post a Comment