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%)
1 comment:
That's actually Phil Stroffolino. His greatest contribution to MMA was the Fighter's Prayer to Satan, which I have printed out and sitting in a box somewhere from college. I should really dig that up.
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