1) ANTONIO BANUELOS vs. YOBIE SONG: Banuelos was not particularly well known here, whereas Song was a local product whom even less was known about.
First round has the usual feel out process followed by Banuelos pummeling Song. Song is slammed to the mat, then german suplexed to the mat, and gets punched and elbowed a ton. Song has an armbar attempt and is able to scramble to his feet towards the end of the round, but otherwise this looks like a squash. Banuelos swings wildly at the bell for round 2 and slams Song again. More and more ground and pound from Banuelos is just ruining Song for the entirety of the round, with Song not even competent or athletic enough to do anything about it. Somehow, the fight is allowed to go to round three, where Song is taken down and elbowed until cuts that resemble a prison shivving end the bout. Banuelos got into the WEC and has been a decent competitor at 135 since. (1)
2) DESHAWN JOHNSON vs. SANTINO DEFRANCO: Johnson is a tall striker, Defranco a wrestler.
This is mostly a grappling based fight. Johnson fends off Defranco's attempts at getting the fight down, so Defranco pulls guard to force the matter. Johnson is able to stand out of it, and back to the feet. Defranco goes for a single as Johnson throws a right, and Johnson defends by just dropping his knee onto Defranco's face as pretty much all four points are down. Defranco turns over and taps out, but its overruled as a submission loss, give why he tapped. Johnson loses by DQ. There was never a rematch, and Defranco is at best a fringe contender. (0)
3) GABE CASTILLAS vs. ROSS EBANEZ: Ross has appeared on numerous EliteXC cosponsored events of late. Castillas had a short tenure in the IFL with an 0-2 record there.
Ross is cut early, assumed to be from a strike of some sort. Other than that, its mostly Ebanez on top with elbows and punches and stuff like that. A standup late in the round produced a knockdown of Castillas from a combination of punches that followed a pretty solid knee to the noggin of Castillas. In the second round, Ebanez gets the top position after Castillas falls from trying to throw a kick, and decides to try and wipe out Ebanez from that position with elbows and punches. There's some weird rule where the ref counts to 4 then stops the fight with unanswered strikes on the ground, and that's used as the justification for hometown fighter Ebanez to be given a TKO win as Castillas rolls for a kneebar. (1)
4) GILBERT MELENDEZ vs. STEPHEN PALLING: Palling was actually really good at this point. He had just drawn with Pequeno Noguiera and prior to that had wins over Mark Hominick and some guy named Norifumi Yamamoto. I guess he's a big deal or something.
Melendez, as everyone expected, sorta rushes out for the clinch. He even gets a double leg and slams Palling. Melendez rains a lot of shots and is looking really good in there, which catches the crowd and announcers off guard. Palling is able to force the fight standing and get a trip takedown of his own, but Melendez pushes him off. Palling goes for Melendez's back as he stands and Melendez counters with a single leg takedown that puts him back on top. He cuts Palling pretty nice with an elbow.
Next round begins as the last did, but Palling times Melendez and lands a hard uppercut. Melendez isn't stopped by this and continues to work for the double, and just like in round 1, is successful in his efforts. This is classic Gilbert Melendez, as he does nothing more than ground and pound Palling into hamburger. Melendez passes guard and Palling is desperate to change position, allowing north/south as he tries to stand. Melendez just shoves Palling back and mounts him. Eventually, the fight is stopped due to strikes. Melendez makes a huge splash with this fight, and Palling was retired a year later. (4)
5) SEAN TAYLOR vs. RONALD JHUN: Jhun has become a living testament to the way the sport has evolved. He's a vet of pretty much everything imaginable, but has been reduced to tomato can from "strong vet" in recent years. Taylor was 0-2-1. Not much expected.
Both men do not move any aspect of their body when punching, even their hips. Jhun is better with landing punches and gets the takedown. Jhun just hangs out in the guard or half guard of Taylor for the rest of round 1 and hits him a lot. Another poorly defended takedown for Jhun, more elbows, and the ref stops the fight at about the same time Taylor's corner throws in the towel. (0)
6) GIL CASTILLO vs. RENATO VERISSIMO: Castillo had a undulating record that shifted from day to day and week to week. He's officially listed on most fight finders as having had less than 10 pro wins, but he generally claimed between 16-20, depending on the day. Verissimo was a young gun here, Castillo already quite aged for an elite athlete at 36.
Castillo wants the clinch early, and that shocks no one that ever watched the man fight before. Verissimo shows he can prevent takedowns well though and throws some nice punches and knees while preventing the takedown. A lot of borderline low blows occuring during this inital period, too. Verissimo is eventually able to get distance, and Castillo lands a nice right hand which Verissimo answers with a high kick. Castillo has been cut somewhere along the way, though not heavily. Verissimo starts landing some right hands after a brief interruption for ref Larry Landless to stare at some of the cage padding and then decide not to fix it, and Castillo responds with (what else?) a takedown attempt. In getting it, he absorbs a punch that breaks his nose and turns the cage into a murder scene. Not nice. Close round goes to Verissimo, however.
Round 2 starts with Castillo complaining that vasoline is in his eye. Oh god. Maybe people would buy it if he hadn't pulled that stunt at UFC 40....but I digress. Landless decides to let him get it cleaned up, and we start the round, albeit about a minute late. Verissimo lands a lot of strikes, Castillo clinches, there's a knee somewhere around the groin area, and Castillo needs 5 minutes. Its kinda odd that he gets it, because Landless says he "didn't see it". News flash: If you are a ref, and someone turns to you complaining of a foul you did not see, you do not stop the fight.
So after a long ass delay, Castillo is willing to restart and jumps in with a hard right punch, his best strike of the bout. Verissimo absorbs it and continues on leading the striking overall. Castillo goes to squash Verissimo into the cage again, stalls, ref breaks it, repeat. Second time, Verissimo is all like "fuck this" and gets a trip takedown. He lands some decent shots but lets Castillo get up at the end of the round and even throw a punch. Castillo promptly quits between rounds. Blah. Still, its a fight between guys who fought for titles in the UFC, even if both are now irrelevant. (3)
7) PAUL BUENTELLO vs. ANDY MONTANA: I'm not really excited about this.
Montana is a kickboxer, and like Carter Williams 4 years later, he decides to be a wrestler. Buentello brushes off his shitty wrestling and ends up kicking him in the head. This is the coolest thing Buentello ever did. (2)
INTERMISSION! There is an uncomfortable Falaniko Vitale/Phil Baroni hype thing here for a fight they would never have at UFC 45 or ever, in fact.
8) DENNIS HALLMAN vs. RAY COOPER: I am giddy about Dennis Hallman fights in the same way I assume millions are giddy to get back positive STD testing.
Cooper goes for a takedown immediately and Hallman secures a guillotine. It is over! So much earlier and better than I could have hoped. Hallman calls Frank Trigg a "fairy" and Hughes a "pussy". (2)
9) TAKANORI GOMI vs. BJ PENN: Oh yeah, this is the main event. You may recognize Penn and Gomi as being the best lightweights in the world. Probably the best lightweights ever, actually. Penn had failed to get the 155lb UFC title twice by this bout and Gomi had just lost the Shooto championship, so while they were both top 5, neither was really "the man", so to speak. Well, at least at this point.
BJ takes down Gomi right away and gets the mount and back control. Gomi does a lot to try and shake BJ for the first two minutes and finally succeeds to get in BJ's guard, which is still not the best place in the world to be. Gomi decides to stand instead and BJ just takes him down again, again getting the back, again with a body triangle, again throwing strikes. All BJ in round one.
Different story with the beginning of round two. BJ decides to stand with Gomi a little and actually gets the better of the Fireball Kid. Gomi is hurt by a three punch combo and Penn again tries for a judo throw. Gomi actually defends it and gets on top, but as in the prior round, is ineffective against Penn's rubber guard and defense. Gomi's nose has also been broken and his right eye has a mouse under it. Penn stalls enough to force the standup, and again controls Gomi there. Gomi does lands some jabs every once inawhile, but its nothing nearly as damaging as Penn holding his head and going to town hockey goon style. BJ starts pushing to get a takedown in the final 30 seconds and pulls one off just moments before the bell.
Round 3 starts and both are exhaused. Penn grabs a single and Gomi actually tries to submit Penn with a guillotine. Not smart. Penn gets out very quickly and in the process of mounting, Gomi again gives up the back. Gomi's mouthpiece falls out as he desperately tries to get in air, but Penn is all over him in the worst position possible. The inevitable occurs: BJ Penn gets the arm under Gomi's chin and Gomi goes out. Post fight interviews are nothing special: BJ Penn doesn't talk much and he knows it, Gomi just wants people to say "hi" to him the next day. (5)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Gomi/Penn
KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Buentello/Montana
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Hallman/Cooper
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. This is a two fight card, really, though at the time it was much, much more. Still, as impressive as any North American outlet in years has ever done.
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