Outdoors at Soboba. Brian Warren is apparently back after retiring for not very long. Inman and someone else (Aram?) are doing the announcing The reason for the name of this event is that its the last event on some contract they have with Soboba that had started with their very first event years prior. To add to the comedy of this boxed set, the event has been split into two sides of the disc and then is promoted as two different shows on the box. I am not so foolish: This is one 23 fight show, and so I'll review it as such.
Peralta all about takedowns in the early part of the fight. Webb fires some punches after stopping the shots and lands square on the head, but doesn't drop Peralta. Peralta throws some hard shots then goes for the shot again, and big surprise, when you set it up, you can get the takedown. The fight goes the whole distance, with Peralta being more and more successful as time goes on. No surprise when he gets the decision. (0)
2) SEAN MCCAFFERTY vs. PATRICK DOTY: McCafferty lost to Melvin Costa. Not a good sign. Doty is from LA Boxing.
McCafferty and Doty go back and forth with sloppy everything. Eventually Doty begins to start wearing his man down. There are some uppercuts in the clinch by Doty and McCafferty can't take them in the second. He finally goes down and absorbs more blows on the mat. (0)
3) DAVID AGUIRRE vs. RUBIN DURAN: As these fighters walk in, we're told Brian Sesma will fight someone other than Mike Bourke, who has decided not to fight at the last minute.
Really good first round. Both men are active on the mat looking to pass or submissions, and when standing, there's a variety of techniques other than looping punches. Aguirre throws some really cool submissions from his back and Duran does a good job striking and slamming his way out of them. He gets slashed by an elbow though and it changes the second round drastically: Duran ends up on his back the majority of the final round and his brief moments of success with submission attempts and punching don't make up for Aguirre's control. The fight ends up a draw. (1) I think Duran has more upside, personally.
4) JASON JONES vs. MELVIN COSTA: I can't begin to assess how excited I am for this. Jason Jones is straight out of Amsterdam from MIKE'S GYM. He, a black man is to fight "racialist" Melvin Costa.
Jones goes for an armbar early on in the fight from mount and somehow, Costa gets out of it. The fight is briefly stopped for a cut over Costa's eye and when they stand up and get separation, but this is argurably a worse place for him. Costa gets a takedown and mounts/takes the back of Jason Jones, proving he has some skill, but Jones is able to buck him off and be on top inside the guard. Jones starts throwing 'bows (NA NA-NA NAH) and Costa is hella gassed. Jones again goes for the armbar and this time is successful. Costa shoves him after tapping and Jones talks some shit back before raising his arm to the crowd. Why? Because Jones decided not to let go. LOL. Awesome stuff. (1)
5) CHRIS CULLEY vs. KACEY ROBERTS: Culley I've seen before and he's not too bad for being a .500 fighter. Roberts? Not so good.
Cheap shot by Cully with the knee to the face instead of touching gloves. Takedown by Cully and he's got the back almost instantly. RNC. (0)
6) AJ PACE vs. JESUS MORALES: Welters. Pace is an INDEPENDENT FIGHTER~ and Morales is from Millennia Jiu Jitsu.
Oh boy, 'ol Thunderfoot is the ref. Morales chases down Pace and hurts him. Pace basically turns and runs, ends up in the corner, and Morales knocks his block off with some combinations. (0)
7) ANTHONY GUERRA vs. GREG GUZMAN: Bantamweights, so automatically, both guys may end up in the WEC. Trebilcock apparently said something between fights that the announcers are reacting to and that we as fans don't see.
Cecil Peoples is still in the cage refereeing. Awful. Guerra with a big takedown early and Guzman is working off his back. Goes for an armbar but gets slammed out of that, so he transitioned into a triangle and back to the armbar. Guerra taps. (1) Guzman is 5-2 now.
8) NAPOLEON LECHUGA vs. RICK LEGERE: Lechuga is from Todd Medina's school. Legere has done a release body slam in MMA.
Legere with a big ass slam and then mount. Then he lets him up and slams him again and gets mount. Punch punch punch, eventually an armbar. (0)
9) ILLIUMS GOGLIA vs. REGGIE ORR: Orr is a TUF reject. Goglia looks like an extra chubby Parisyan.
The first couple minutes are painfully dull. Orr pushes Goglia into the cage and lands the occasional short punch or knee and actually busts up Goglia's nose with one of those weak shots. In fact, during the clinch, Goglia ends up separating himself some to try and reverse position and finds himself eating knees and elbows. Orr finally decides to stop sitting there on the fence and start beating up Orr with strikes from distance. Maybe he should have done that 2 minutes earlier? Goglia shoots again at the start of the second, and he's not able to keep Orr on the mat. Orr holds the fence and gets a point taken away, but he gets to stand and have distance. Goglia sucks: His shot is a bullrush with his hands nowhere near defending himself, he is terrible in the clinch striking, and his conditioning isn't very good either. Goglia has a single leg takedown near the end of the round and Orr goes for a triangle. Goglia with a pass and he ends up losing position and, in fact, stands. Orr throws a single right hand then clinches, immediately ending his advantage. Why? No idea. Orr wins the decision. (0)
10) TIM HUMPHREY vs. TONY CRUZ: 175lb fight.
Cruz and Humphrey are in a boring grappling battle for the first round and then in the second round Humphrey takes down Cruz and ends up in an armbar. Blah. (0)
11) PAUL ARRAS vs. BRIAN WARREN: MR. UNBREAKABLE!
Arras with a shot and head kick attempt. Warren is clinching and trying to get a takedown. Arras is all about wasted motion, throwing slapping punches in the clinch, and is taken down. Warren actually throws a headbutt but the ref misses it. Warren tries for a fake kneebar to sweep. Arras spins out himself and gets to his feet. Warren then is stunned by a left hook and Warren drops in sad fashion. Arras drops back for a heelhook and then, when he feels like he can't lock it, goes back and returns to the inside of Warren's guard. Clearly, he's not very afraid of the longtime gatekeeper's BJJ. Arras sweeps to half guard and then bashes poor Warren with some elbows. Warren gets up and he's dropped with punches again. Warren looked like shit. (0)
12) ALAN ZUNNER vs. BRIAN SESMA: Its not often you start a DVD with a world title fight, but here we go. Zunner and Sesma are brawler types, neither has a good chin, and this is for the KOTC super heavyweight title.
Zunner shoots in and the sumo fight is on. Sesma gets this down and is in half guard and Zunner is blown up. He quits after like 6 hammerfists. Embarassing. (0)
13) OMAR LUV vs. KEITH BERRY: Actually kind of an interesting fight. Luv is a long rangy guy and Berry is just, well, sorta there and not too bad. This is another title fight. Remember: there are 10 fights to come.
Wild and crazy standup to start from both. Luv takes this one down to the mat first. Berry is cut by an elbow on the ground on the corner of Berry's right eye. Luv gets to side contron and is raking him over with stuff but Herb Dean stands them up. Luv ends up getting caught with a right hand and is getting chased all over the ring, but he goes for a single leg. Luv pulls back a little inside the guard and gets an upkick to the chest. It looks like its over but Luv's knee is on the mat, and Herb Dean misses the call. The fight continues and Luv isn't given the proper 5 minutes rest based on what Herb thinks the foul was. Luv barely makes it out of one.
Luv starts the second the way he started the first: Takedown, elbows, pass to side control, standup, Berry hurts Luv standing. Omar gets stuck in a reverse triangle after getting shook up by some punches and Luv looks like he is in trouble. Berry with punches and Luv taps. Unfortunately, neither man has done very much in the last 18 months worth writing home about. (0)
14) JOHN LOBER vs. RUBIN TAGLE: Legends! Well, not really. Lober is a running joke in MMA two decades in the making. Tagle is some guy.
Tagle lands a right hand to Lober as he jumps in and Lober goes straight into the mat. LOL. (0)
15) NOUFEL AMELLOUK vs. DAVE CRYER: I like Dave Cryer plenty. Amellouk is from Mike's Gym.
Amellouk finds a home for the right hand early and often, but Cryer drags him down and passes to side control. Amellouk isn't too bad though and gets back to his feet only to be slammed back down into the same position. In fact, that is what happens for virtually the entire fight. Cryer wins the decision. (1)
16) JOHN BROCK vs. TYRONE CRANE: Heavyweights!
Brock gets a takedown and is in side control shortly. Brock gets back control and lands a ton of shots and the ref just bulls him over with a shoulder block, kneeing the downed fighter. Nice. Brock has since lost to Tony Lopez. (0)
17) ANDY BALMORE vs. MIGUEL ESPARZA: Featherweight bout.
Both guys look like they just started kickboxing. Andy gets a takedown after deciding that his Royce Gracie circa 1994 style stance wasn't gonna work. Balmore is a quantum leap ahead on the mat compared to Esparza. Esparza is game but he's basically impotent in that realm aside from throwing punches. Balmore is in danger of drawing in this one because he spent way too long trying for an armbar from his back in the second and got punched a few times. Fears were unfounded: Balmore with the decision. (0)
18) MIKE SIMMS vs. NEIL COOKE: Heavyweights.
Cook with a takedown and he throws bombs that stop Simms. Blah. (0)
19) HUGO SANDOVAL vs. BRANDON BENDER: 155lbers.
Bender with a nice leg kick and then a takedown. Triangle from the top and he wins by tapout. Impressive, but nothing since. (0)
20) DOMINIC VERDUGO vs. DAN PRIBLE: A welterweight fight of sorts.
Wild striking at the start, and Verdugo ends up countering Prible's takedown attempt with a guillotine. Prible ends up going to sleep. (0)
21) ADAM WOODS vs. WILL RICHEY: Light heavyweight fighters. Adam Woods looks like a total nerd and reps Hammer House. Richey is from Millennia Jiu Jitsu and wears a mask to the ring.
Woods throws punches, Richey goes for the takedown. What happened to the Hammer House I knew and loved? Oh, wait, Woods reverses position and then slams Richey, and then Richey reverses position and slams Woods, and this time Woods is in real trouble, having given his back. Richey gets his win. He is now 3-0 with a win over Severn in Canada. (1)
22) DANIEL GIBBONS vs. FABIAN DIAZ: Diaz looks like a retarded hipster.
Okay, maybe Diaz ain't so bad. Gibbons is holding onto headlocks and that's not wise against someone who actually knows how to do submission holds. He's taken down over and over and over. Decision goes to Diaz. (0)
23) NICK ALVARADO vs. VICTOR SALCEDO: The final fight of the night.
Alvarado with a takedown and lots of punches to the sides of Salcedo. Salcedo is game and lands some slapping blows standing due to Alvarado's low hands, but that's about it in terms of offense. Overall, its mostly Alvarado with knees and punches standing and lots of ground and pound on the mat. (0)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Luv/Berry
KO OF THE NIGHT: Lober/Tagle
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Jones/Costa
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. For like two events in one, there's so much filler its hard to watch. Over four hours when you combine both halves of the DVD.
D&R Rating: 3% (5/115)
KOTC UNDERGROUND SOLDIERS:
Final Chapter: 3 out of 10 (3%)
Damage Inc.: 3.5 out of 10 (2%)
Subzero: 1 out of 10 (0%)
Hierarchy: 4.5 out of 10 (18%)
Point of No Return: 2 out of 10 (6%)
Brimstone: 1.5 out of 10 (3%)
Jawbreaker: 2 out of 10 (4%)
River Rage: 3 out of 10 (7%)
Unstoppable: 2.5 out of 10 (3%)
AVG: 2.55 out of 10 (5.1%)
To compare:
Underground Enforcers: 2.78 (8.2%)
Underground Worldwide: 2.7
Underground Warriors: 3.55
Combat Collection: 5.9
At some point, you just have to admit a promotion is beyond saving. KOTC is in that place right now. This is a strong regional, smaller show, and god almighty, its not worth watching anymore. The talent is completely gone and its actually shameful at this stage to keep on trying on my part. I inevitably will for reasons I cannot fully grasp, but I do have the exceptional luck of having DVRed ShoXC events to document on this here blog in the next week or so. This is the quickest I've torn through a KOTC boxset since the first one, and I can't say it was for the same reasons.
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