Tuesday, August 26, 2008

King Of The Cage: Eclipse (5/26/07)

I found a review I did of a KOTC show from a couple weeks back, so, hoorah, here it is. The event comes to us from the Apache Gold Casino and we're "blessed" to have a Super Heavyweight Title fight on the bill.

1) KEVIN HICKENBOTHAM vs. ANDREW HERRERA: Hickenbotham is an independant fighter. You know what that means.

Herrera rushes and grabs Herrera, drags him to the ground with a headlock and gets a rear naked choke. Blah. (0)

2) DAVE MEYERS vs. BRYAN PARDOE: Pardoe still looks ripped after all these years. This is Meyers' debut.

Pardoe throws some punches, takes down Meyers with the double. He tries to take the back of Meyers right away, Meyers is able to roll back into half guard. Pardoe then applies some sort of odd neck crank thing and gets a tap out. Interesting submission, but not really interesting as a bout. (0)

3) TRAVIS HOOKE vs. KEVIN FRAZE: Hooke has a shirt on, so its heavyweight time.

Sub-toughman level striking from both. Fraze is a big guy but has no idea how to use his advantages, and gets obliterated by Hooke's wild punching. (0)

4) SAMUEL KOZIE vs. JACOB COLLINS: Sorta a middleweight fight with Kozie at 175.

Some weak striking to start, Kozie gets a take down. Collins tries to scale the fence to stand up, but can't. Kozie is inside the guard of Collins and isn't that active. Like a bull to a red cape, Cecil Peoples' springs into action to stand the men up. Collins lands a couple of knees that hurt Kozie, takes his back, and gets a rear naked choke. (0)

5) ANDREW BELVADO vs. STEVE KEELE: This is at welterweight, and we are blessed to have Sean Caroba (?) start working as color.

First round was pretty solid. Keele tried to sneak a right hand in right after the touch of gloves and Belvado shot in. Keele stopped the takedown, and there was a short scramble period that ended with Keele in side control. Decent grappling. Belvado turns to give up his back, blocks an armbar, and ends up inside the guard of Keele. Fight eventually gets stood up, and Belvado lands a nice belly to belly suplex and is on top in guard. Keele isn't all that great off his back and just ties up Belvado. Another stand up near the end and Belvado shoots for a double. Keele sprawls initally but then gives it up and pulls guard. Round ends.

Second round starts and Keele just gets pushed down by Belvado, who is pretty tired. Belvado is swept and mounted and gives up rather than take punishment. Okay fight, not really important, not any sort of war. (0)

6) KEITH DIXON vs. ROBERT SIMMONS: This is being contested at lightweight. Dixon is wearing wrestling shoes.

A bunch of wild activity in the early part of round 1. Dixon grabbed a guillotine and tried to pull guard to sinch it in, but Simmons has an arm in and pops out. Some GNP from Simmons busts up Dixon, but Dixon gets the fight standing in a scramble. Wild, wild punching in the standup, and Simmons goes for a takedown. Dixon defends, but Simmons is able to get himself into the clinch and starts up the 'ol dirty boxing. Dixon's nose is broken by the punches and he taps out. (0)

7) LEROY FORNOFF vs. LARS HAVEN: Fornoff I've watched more of than any man rightfully should. Have no idea who Haven is.

Fornoff goes for the takedown right away, and Haven lands some hard punches and knees in defense. Fornoff does eventually succeed, mounts, and Haven gives up his back. Fornoff wins by tapout and apparently its an upset. (0)

8) LEWIS MCINTOSH vs. LEVI COMPTON: McIntosh has a rash guard, so I think I know what he's good at.

McIntosh consistently goes for takedowns. He gets a single and moves immediately into mount, changes to side control, back to mount, and then ends up in full guard. Some ground and pound follows, and Compton gives up his back only to go out the back door and stand. McIntosh again with takedown attempts and Compton tries to fight it off with punching. McIntosh constantly in superior positions, but doesn't seem to understand how to finish. He has some horrible armbar and triangle attempts. First round ends and Compton is just getting rolled on.

Second round starts, McIntosh goes for the double, Compton defends, punches him in the face, and KOs McIntosh. Didn't expect that. (0)

9) MARVIN GAINES vs. PAUL O'KEEFE: Heavyweights. O'Keefe is an army guy I've seen Bobby Hoffman crap on.

Clubberin' at the onset and Gaines gets a takedown. Unlike Hoffman, he is talentless and doesn't do anything. Fight is stood up, lots of wild punches and knees from O'Keefe and Gaines taps out from strikes. (0)

10) BUCKLEY ACOSTA vs. CHRISTIAN GROSINSKY: Acosta I've seen a bunch of times and he isn't bad. Beat Aaron Brink to start his career. Grosinsky is a guy I am much less familiar with.

Opening round and Grosinsky is a kickin'. Acosta isn't interested in striking and gets the clinch and takedown, and once down, he throws some decent shots to Grosinsky's body and head. Acosta passes to half guard, and pushes Grosinsky to the cage. After some time, the fight is stood up due to inactivity. Acosta with a right hand and he ends up taking the back of Grosinsky. Grosinsky works his way up the cage and lands a few low kicks once they are separated. Acosta with another single, but Grosinsky defends. As the ref breaks them against the cage for inactivity, Grosinsky lands a knee to the stomach of Acosta that drops him. Acosta claims its a nut shot and the ref decides to err on the side of caution. Grosinsky is not amused. When Acosta recovers, he gets a belly to belly and the round ends.

We enter round 2 and Acosta lands some hard rights and gets the clinch. Takedown, into half guard, and not much activity after from Acosta. Fight is stood up and both throw wild shots. another clinch from Acosta, single leg takedown. Grosinsky tries to get a guillotine, but that doesn't work. Acosta pushes him to the cage and the fight is stood up. Acosta is whipping his punches and Grosinsky is a mess. Grosinsky spits out his mouthpiece and Acosta refuses to hit him until the ref puts his mouthpiece in. So the ref then disqualifies Acosta and Grosinsky, who was being beaten down, wins his only MMA fight in the most bizarre of fashions. Remember kids, if you want to win at KOTC, just spit out your mouthpiece and hope someone takes mercy on you. (1) for Refereeing Gone Wrong.

11) MAURICE JACKSON vs. KYLE KINGSBURY: Kingsbury is on the upcoming season of TUF! How exciting. He also comes in with a Ric Flair like purple robe.

Jackson throws a sidekick to start. Kingsbury blocks a couple more kicks, clinches with Jackson, and then throws an accidental low blow. Jackson is a big pussy and can't continue. (0) for a NC.

12) ALBERT HILL vs. DEL HAWKINS: Hill is a police officer who fought in a cop vs. criminal bout for KOTC about a year before this. Hawkins is a very experienced bantam/featherweight fighter.

Hill opens with punches and Hawkins gets the clinch, pushing Hill into the cage. Hill with knees in the clinch, but gets taken down. Hawkins then knocks out Hill cold with a single left hook on the ground. (0)

13) ADAM PADILLA vs. CHANCE WILLIAMS: Fat dudes fighting for a belt.

YAMMA like ground work from the black belts in Beached Whale Jiu-Jitsu and toughman like boxing. It goes a full round and Chance Williams nearly has a heart attack afterwards, so Adam Padilla wins the title. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Belvado/Keele

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Hill/Hawkins

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Fornoff/Haven

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1 out of 10. This is truly low level MMA. Really low level MMA.

D&R RATING: 1.5% (1/65)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

HookNShoot Absolute Fighting Championships 1 (4/5/97)

A good fellow sent me some DVDs recently and this was in that batch. I have a KOTC and a Shooto review on paper that I've lost, but I'm going to start working with dedicated notebooks for this sort of thing to prevent that in the future.

This has no commentary whatsoever and has been marketed under the name "Bare Knuckle Beatdown" rather than its proper name. It is being held at the Bam Bam Gym in Evansville, IN, and there is no ring or cage. Rather, the fighting surface are the grappling pads of the dojo. Two of the sides are just walls with outlets and posters hanging on them and the other two sides are tape on the floor indicating where it is safe to grapple and not fall on the crowd. Jeff Osborne has dorky glasses, long hair, and looks like a holdover from the late days of thrash metal. In fact, watching this (clearly recorded on Super 8 with two camcorders) you'd swear up and down it was put together in the early 90s. Not only that, in classic Jeff Osborne fashion, he tells you what happened to dudes after the fights. This was a feature of the US IVC DVDs in case you ever bought those.

The centerpiece of the show is a one night tournament with 8 men. Those were popular back then, dontcha know.

1) DAVE BARNEY vs. LANCE TRAMMELL: Sherdog actually shows an 11th fight that was not taped, probably because the lens caps were on. Oh well. This is a reserve fight for the tournament. Barney is listed as a freestyle kickboxer (whatever that means) and Trammell as vale tudo.

Trammell comes out swinging, hurts Barney, gets a big takedown and starts throwing hammer fists in side control. Barney gives up after :35. (0)

2) DAVE MENNE vs. TIM WILLS: Menne won the lightweight HNS crown the day before, not that I have any idea what the weight limit for that was back 11 years ago. And yet he fights again, here against some guy listed as being a "jiu jitsu" practicioner.

Menne with the takedown, pushes Wills into a wall, passes the guard, and then grapevines the arm Hughes style. Wills taps out immediately rather than get hit. Wills would lose 15 more fights according to Sherdog and never won in his four year career, finishing 0-17. (2)

3) BRETT AL-AZAWI vs. GEZA KALMAN JR.: Kalman was a UFC vet. Okay, so he was an alternate. And Carlos Barreto and Kevin Randleman both fucked him up in Brazil.

Kalman is a "catch wrestler" and goes for the takedown. He punches some inside the guard, and Al-Azawi sweeps him and ends up in mount. He lands some shots of his own and goes for an armbar. Kalman prevents the submission and ends up passing the guard of Al-Azawi. He lands a bunch of strikes and forces a tapout. No stellar futures here. This also was a special attraction or something.(0)

4) PAUL STROFFOLINO vs. CHAD BARTLETT: If you've heard of neither, that's okay. Neither have I. Stroffolino is a pretty smallish dude and Bartlett is a "freestyle fighter".

Stroffolino shoots in, Bartlett yells, and he almost tumbles into the crowd as he's taken down. Stroffolino is in side control, and because the fight is practically in the seats, its stopped and restarted in the same position. Stroffolino tries to take the mount but is bucked off. As Bartlett kicks him off, Strofffolino goes for an armbar and then transitions into a leglock. The last of the sequence is used to sweep Bartlett and Stroffolino instead decides to hold onto knee on belly rather than mount. A lot of hard punches force a tapout. Its kinda disturbing to watch this in the format presented. Its a step away from snuff. Bartlett isn't the kind of guy to DISAPPEAR FOREVER in the postscript of the fight, rather, he is to be on a MMA reality show in 2005. So much for that. (0)

5) SAM WELLS vs. JOE CANALS: Wells is a JKD fighter and Canals is a wrestling/kickboxing hybrid dude.

Canals is on offense early. He gets a single leg takedown that holds down Wells for about 5 seconds, hurts him with punches standing, then takes him down again with a double. Wells is trying a few different things off his back but Canals and his corner have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Well, sorta. Canals cornerman is loud as hell and he asks someone in the crowd what the time limit is. When he's informed that there isn't one, he tells Canals to relax. After all, he has all the time in the world. Canals responds by laying on top of Wells for a really long time and doing nothing. Somehow, there is a sudden burst of action that leads to Canals getting armbarred almost instantly in the middle of the nothing. Hooray for Wells. For Canals, that was a career. (0)

6) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. BILL CIOCI: Amalfitano is wearing a gi and Cioci a t-shirt. Amalfitano is also hella fat.

The fat guy goes for a single immediately and pounds on Cioci. Somehow Cioci gets up, gets his shirt torn off bar room style, and then a judo styled throw that I don't know the name of but is really common happens with Cioci taking a ride. Amalfitano goes for that arm across the throat choke in half guard, but Cioci proves somewhat capable and actually defends and gets up. Amalfitano goes for a guillotine standing while leaning on the wall and Cioci jumps into it, again shocking everyone by knowing defenses to submissions. They're tearing posters down and all sorts of shit, and you can see why there was a call to ban the sport early on. Amalfitano grabs Cioci with a body lock, belly to belly suplex, and Cioci is screaming in pain. Fight over and done. Cioci actually fought a couple more times in spite of being one of the worst fighters in history. Sub Harry Moskowitz. (0)

7) MARK NELSON vs. JOHN RENKEN: Renken I've seen before! Its almost a miracle to see a fighter I know on this show, though Renken is hardly a god. Nelson is a submission fighter, whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean.

Renken is rocking the thai shorts and starts with low kicks. They clinch, and Renken gets a nice throw. He is in mount almost immediately, but Nelson bucks him off and is in Renken's guard. Renken grabs and arm and gets a nice straight armbar. Nelson taps, but his arm is broken in two places. (0)

8) PAUL STROFFOLINO vs. SAM WELLS:

Semifinal action. Wells refuses to do anything to start, fearing any sort of defense from Stroffolino. Stroffolino charges him, arms flailing, screaming, clinches, and gets a guillotine. He pulls guard just to get Wells down and locks up a triangle. In doing so, he sweeps Wells with it and ends up with a mounted triangle choke with Wells in the crowd. Wells taps out. Astounding. (0)

9) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. JOHN RENKEN:

Renken is infinitely more talented but way outsized. Amalfitano pushes him into the wall and just tries to splatter him with his weight, spinning him off the wall into a takedown. Amalfitano is so big, Renken can't close the guard. He does try to sweep Renken, and Amalfitano just responds by shoving him back into the wall. After awhile there doing nothing, the fight is moved to the center in the same position. Renken does get a sweep this time and actually attains north south. He is kneeing the shit out of Amalfitano when he goes for an illtimed RNC. Amalfitano uses his bulk to muscle out of the attempt and Renken is rolled into the crowd.

Fight is restarted standing, as Osborne is making up rules as we go. Amalfitano gets another throw, but Renken gets the back again. Being too close to the crowd, the fight is stopped, moved to the center, and restarted. Amalfitano takes control on the ground and eventually scissors up Renken's arm. Renken taps rather than letting himself get punched. The move allowed him to continue a long career as a mediocre journeyman and trainer for the US Army. (0)

10) FRANK AMALFITANO vs. PAUL STROFFOLINO:

Huge disparity in weight. Probably 100 lbs. Fight starts with Amalfitano getting a suplex and once again, his opponent can't close guard around him. Amalfitano doesn't do much either and stands up. He tries for a throw but Stroffolino defends it to some degree, but still ends up on his back. Amalfitano tries the forearm choke and it is the wrong dude he tries it against. Stroffolino sweeps him, takes the back, gets both hooks, and gets the rear naked choke to be the first Absolute Fighting Champion of Hook N Shoot. Viewers are told that Stroffolino's win "is still talked about to this day," though there's nothing really discussing it out there. Amalfitano was a Detroit cop apparently questioned about excessive force a few times, but innocent always. Stroffolino is a super genius who programs retrogame shit and real video games. You can blame him for Pit Fighter. Then there is a ceremony where Osborne's kids (or kids of his girlfriend) give out some trophies and Stroffolino gets a belt and the 100 people in attendance clap politely. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Amalfitano/Renken

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Amalfitano/Cioci

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Stroffolino/Amalfitano

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10: Outstandingly bizarre show from the olden days of yore. No memorable names other than Menne, but entertaining nonetheless. The rawest fight video imaginable.

D&R RATING: 2/50 (4%)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

King Of The Cage(or NOT): Crackdown (5/11/07)

Another King of the Cage classic. Maybe. I did review a Shooto event from 1995 but the paperwork is still in my storage stuff so until I find it, some KOTCs I've watched recently and committed to a lawyer's notepad left behind by the professor who lived in this home prior to me.

First, a big secret! This is not actually a KOTC show. No sir, its a Gladiator Challenge show in a KOTC boxset. What cheats! But it is okay. Its about as good as most KOTC shows if not better. We are in Tahoe, so that means real unified rules. And given that there are two title fights, well, that's a big deal. The poster shows that Shawn Bias/Josh Rabedeaux and Emanuel Newton/Buckley Acosta were supposed to happen, but never did. Inman and Sean Kanoda (???) announcing.

1) JOSHUA TURNER vs. DANIEL SCHMITT: Turner is a Gracie trainee.

Round 1 has Turner seeking and getting the takedown, laying on top, throwing occasional shots, not doing anything else. That is the entire round. Round 2? More of the same. Josh Rosenthal does stand the fight up this time, and Turner throws some bad punches and gets another TD. There is another ref standup near the end of the round, but it is meaningless. Turner wins by UD. Neither man has fought again. (0)

2) CHRIS DAVID vs. WALTER PATTERSON: Patterson is a trainee with Faber.

David goes for a TD right away, Patterson sprawls, spins, and takes side control. David turns, gives his back, Patterson goes for a RNC but only gets one hook in, allowing David to escape out the backdoor and get into Patterson's guard. David gets in some GnP, Patterson pushes off with his legs, gets the fight to the standing position, and David again clinches immediately. David has a big slam here putting him immediately into side control, but opts to go inside the guard again and throw elbows and punches. Good first round.

Second round see David throwing some low kicks early on before the inevitable shot. Patterson defends by leaning on the cage, but David eventually gets a double and is inside the guard of Patterson most of the round in a somewhat inactive fashion. Another late standup by Rosenthal to give Patterson one last chance, but David drops in for a double. Patterson defends, but its still pretty simple to figure out who wins here. David by unanimous decision. (1) - Neither man is particularly great, but this was an entertaining fight.

3) NASSOR LEWIS vs. JUSTIN SAMPSON: Sampson is a Gracie guy but he lurves his karate.

Sampson with some fast side and high kicks, Lewis takes him down for the trouble. Sampson is good enough to get full guard but gets pushed into the cage and worked over. Sampson tries to stand up and fails, as Lewis gets his back and wins by rear naked choke. (0)

4) TOMAS ROSSER vs. RICK CHEEK: Cheek has a claimed boxing background. Rosser is a claimed 3-1, but Sherdog shows him as 0-0 coming in.

Cheek eats a bunch of jabs, tries to rush in for a clinch, and Cheek pushes off. Left hooks landed cleanly for Cheek, and he drops Rosser with a 1-2 and hammerfists him into oblivion. Ehhh. Cheek looked impressive but against a nobody and has gone nowhere special since. (0)

5) JOSH RABEDEAUX vs. GIGO JARA: Gigo is the brother of Jamie Jara, but not as good.

Rabedeaux goes for a double and Gigo defends. Josh tries to throw him, Gigo defends that too, takes his back, and pounds him a little. Rabedeaux turns over, tries for the triangle, Jara just pulls himself out of it and pounds out Rabedeaux. (0)

6) BRYSON KAMAKA vs. JAMIE JARA: This is for the GC middleweight title. Jara is also the LHW champ of GC at the same time. P4P candidate! Kamaka is a dude who has been beaten up in prior reviews.

Kamaka throws a not too shabby one-two, clinches, and Jara pushes him off. Same thing happens again. Jara clinches and third time and gets a trip TD into half guard. Jara easily passes on the hapless hawaiian, and gets some really bizarre can opener from side control and turns Kamaka onto his shoulders, making him totally helpless. Tapout from Kamaka and Jara with a submission of the year candidate. (2)

7) RONALD JHUN vs. JEREMIAH METCALF: I have no problem with Strikeforce, but who thought it would be a good idea to take a guy who was GC champ to fight the "Michael Jordan of the WCL"? Metcalf is perfectly adequate as far as fighters go. Here he defends against Jhun, who is an old school legend.

Metcalf opens the fight by going to clinch immediately, and Jhun fires punches back. Nothing hits solid. Clinch fighting for most of the round ensues, and Metcalf is getting the better of it. Eventually both push off and we are back to standup at distance. Jhun lands a nice body kick and Metcalf catches it and drops Jhun. Metcalf spends the final minute on top inside of the guard.

Second round sees Jhun stuck in the clinch again after an early punching exchange and lots of dirty boxing. Jhun does get separation momentarily and lands a nice right hand, but is back in the clinch and on the mat by the end of the round. Metcalf changes strategy for the opening of round three, throwing low kicks and using them to set up a combination of punches before scoring a takedown. The fight stays on the mat with Jhun controlling Metcalf to some degree inside the guard, and is able to force a scramble that gets it back to the standing position. Metcalf does score another takedown, however.

We enter round 4 of this, a welterweight title fight, and Jhun starts off well with some decent strikes. Metcalf with another takedown, but Jhun tries for a kneebar. Metcalf is too good to get caught like that, stacks up, and drops shots on Jhun. Metcalf takes a mount position, Jhun is exhausted and gives up the back, and the ending is fundamental. (2) for a solid midlevel title fight.

8) DAVID HUCKABA vs. BO CANTRELL: Oh man. This is for the GC Heavyweight title Cantrell holds. Huckaba is a dead ringer for Mick Foley and was in a joke of a fight on a ShoXC card last year. Cantrell? Well.

Huckaba punches as Cantrell charges, and then gets a takedown. Cantrell quits for no reason. We've seen that before, haven't we? What's amazing is that there was a rematch and Huckaba won in 5 seconds. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): David/Patterson. Jhun/Metcalf wasn't bad and I liked the length, but David and Patterson fighting had more action throughout.

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Rosser/Cheek

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Jara/Kamaka

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. Inoffensive, had a decent title fight between two guys who aren't bad. The bouts that were meaningless were either fun to watch or over fast.

D&R RATING: 12.5% (5/40)