RUMBLE ON THE ROCK 6 (11/20/04)

Back to Hawaii, as I desperately try to get another boxed set out of the way. This time unlike ROTR 5 we get the opening sequence. This card? STACKKKKKED. More so than most UFNs, actually. A big opening ceremony with hula and conch shells ensues. Clearly they love their Japanese worship here. 

1) GILBERT MELENDEZ vs. KAYNAN KAKU: Kaku is a hot prospect. At this point, so is Melendez. 

Kaku's last fight saw him being all about take downs and this time Melendez is the better wrestler and submission artist. Not a good sign. Melendez with the shot and takedown, but Kaku keeps fighting to his feet until he is slammed pancake style, Melendez in the half guard. Kaku takes some shots but works his way back up and forces Melendez with strikes. Melendez gets this back down and Kaku is working for submissions in between the strikes on the mat. Good action.

Melendez comes in with right hands at the start of the round and Kaku is DOWN, but not hard. Melendez is throwing BOMBZ and passing, and then lands a mean knee to the dome. Kaku is getting raped here and you wonder what it would be like with unified rules. Kaku is constantly trying to improve his position but isn't able to do anything to stop the onslaught or provide offense of his own. Melendez eventually forces Landless to make the stop. Kaku went on to get beat up in Cage Force and Melendez is, well. (3)

2) DENNIS HALLMAN vs. ROSS EBANEZ: Both are journeymen, but on very different level.

Hallman ends up germaning Ross and locks in a RNC early. Kinda sucks that his last fight in the UFC was at middleweight to make Jorge Rivera look good. (2)

3) ANTONI HARDONK vs. WES SIMS: Oh man. SIMS. Kickboxer. This could be ugly.

Sims tries to stand up with Hardonk. Imagine how this goes. That's probably about right. Sims shoots in and he actually gets the fight down. I consider this a miracle. Even moves to half guard. Sims doesn't do that much and Hardonk sweeps him and mounts. Poor Wes Sims. Head and arm choke after a lot of punches. (2)

4) KRISTOF MIDOUX vs. MIKE MALONE: This I do not have the highest expectations for. What is with all these shitty heavyweights on this card?

Both men with FEARFUL STANDUP in the early going. Midoux is so outrageously fragile, so who knows what will happen. Big right hand after a low kick drops Malone. Sherdog has it at 34 seconds, its more like 2:00. Who cares though? (0)

5) AITOR CANUP vs. JUDA A'ALONA: Canup is from North Carolina, A'Alona is a fat Hawaiian sumo. This is listed as a light heavyweight fight and the Hawaiian is like 23o.

A'Alona tries to check a kick and gives up his back. Does that tell you what I'm watching here? A'Alona throws him off and does nothing with it. Canup starts landing knees standing and A'Alona can only sorta slap and push. He is tough and nothing else. Then there are uppercuts and then a guillotine and its over. (0)

6) SHUNGO OYAMA vs. SEAN O'HAIRE: Wow.

O'Haire obliterates Oyama with punches very quickly. Oustandingly pointless. (1)

7) YOSHIHIRO NAKAO vs. WESLEY CORREIRA: KISS VS. CABBAGE!

Nakao is looking for a takedown and Cabbage is is shoving him off early, only to suffer the indignity of a single leg takedown. I am horrified because I know this is going the distance. Nakao with some punches after a guard pass. Cabbage really isn't bothered apart from the cuts, which are multiple in number. Cabbage is taking a beating in round one by the superior Nakao: Knees are raining in and Cabbage somehow gets up. He's brought over to talk with the doctor, and the fight is restarted after he's cleaned up. Wouldn't want a riot. Nakao's mouth is open. Another single from Nakao and he drives down Cabbage. Nothing this time really and there's a standup. Nakao lands some looping right hands and Cabbage just laughs them off. Interesting tactic given that he has no offense in the entire round and both eyes are cut. 

Nakao with another takedown. Shock on my part. Not enough action for Landless and there's another standup. The corner for Nakao is pissed, and rightfully so, because he's throwing shots. Cabbage is throwing some bad leg kicks. Cabbage tries to throw punches and isn't landing anything. Nakao is actually the one landing shots. He shoots again, and Cabbage grabs the fence to stay up. He goes for a headlock and lands a knee. Another knee after a failed combination by Nakao. Nakao still throwing more punches and landing them. The crowd is going wild for Cabbage and he has only landed two knees the whole round. Everything else is bouncing off Nakao's arm. A couple punches and a knee right before the bell from Cabbage. Still, no way he won it.

Nakao shoots and Cabbage sprawls, but Nakao drives and gets it. Nakao passes to side control. The fight is stood up and we're back to what round 2 looked like: Nakao lands everything, throws almost everything, Cabbage throws one successful strike every 90 seconds and the crowd goes wild for it. Cabbage with a big knee and Nakao mocks him. Cabbage eats more right hands, his face is a mess, and you know where the scoring is going. Its a split decision, but surprising that Nakao wins for all the wrong reasons. (1)

8) KAZUYUKI MIYATA vs. ROYLER GRACIE: What a strange fight to have: Miyata is an Olympian, Royler is a legend. 

Royler with some cool leg kicks to start and then a head kick. Didn't expect that from Mr. Super Grappler. Miyata with a shot and, well, c'mon. Arm is locked by Royler, he starts moving for the triangle, and Miyata picks him up and slams him. Doesn't really escape though. Royler with an armbar attempt and another slam hurts Royler big time as he lands on his head. Royler survives and regains full guard. There's another short standup segment and then we're back to the mat as Miyata really only knows top control and Royler only really knows grappling. Another triangle attempt and Royler remembers to grab the leg to prevent the slam. Royler has the triangle in solidly by the horn sounds as he transitions into an armbar. 

Miyata tries to show off with some spinning back fist shit and eats a kick to the face. He shoots and every time it happens you laugh because you just know that sometime soon, he's gonna get caught. Finally there's a triangle and he makes sure to cheer for himself before actually releasing the hold. STAY CLASSY GRACIES. Watching stuff like this I really want to rewatch his shit getting caved in by Kid. (2)

9) TOM HOWARD vs. CARTER WILLIAMS: Williams was a K-1 fighter of some note and Howard is a pro wrestler. K-1 HERO'S USA? No, its Rumble On The Rock!

Howard goes for a takedown after Williams starts tooling him on the feet. Howard gets the takedown, mounts, and gets swept because he is crap. Williams starts landing 'dem bombs and Howard is all fucked up, groaning and shit. (1)

10) RODRIGO GRACIE vs. BJ PENN: A Gracie against fat BJ Penn. One of two such bouts to take place in Hawaii.

Clinch early and Gracie pins Penn against the cage. EXCITEMENT as the they throw knees and stuff. Gracie doing an epic job pinning Penn against the fence. Penn slips away. Rodrigo is terrible standing.  Another shot by Gracie and he is back to pushing him into the fence. Penn slips away again and throws some wild shots, but Rodrigo has the most effective blow of the right hand. Rodrigo gets tapped and pulls guard and Penn follows him down, landing some punches from half guard. Stupid move by Rodrigo that basically cancels out the round of domination with the Hawaiian judges. 

Gracie settles down a little and starts throwing a jab, but then goes for the desperate shot before pulling guard. Penn is not Oleg Taktarov and isn't KOed by followup upkicks. Right hand as Penn jumps in and he's in side control. Penn sure knows he has knees available to him: He made the rules! The camera pulls to the fights outside the cage. Gee, clearly this is more important than PENN/GRACIE IN THE CAGE. Penn pulls out of a submission attempt says the announcers and he stands and passes again. Another fight in the crowd! Still more important than the real fight! What the fuck is this? Announcers are still talking about the fight and there's apparently an amazing guard pass and WE DO NOT SEE IT. Fuck this shit.

Penn lands a short uppercut as Rodrigo shoots in and Penn is dominating with punches on the mat from dominant positions. Penn mocks him a bunch and even stands up as the round ends, taunting him to stand and trade before rushing him and trying a jumping stomp/pass. God bless BJ Penn. (5), even with the ridiculous fact that we only actually see half the second round. 

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Kaku/Melendez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Howard/Williams

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Miyata/Gracie

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10 - Crappy fights were generally short and the good fights were pretty long and telling. Lame camera work in the best bout. 

D&R Rating: 42.5% (17/40): This event is tied for the second highest ranking I've ever handed out, alongside the Strikeforce one night tournament event in 2007.

RUMBLE ON THE ROCK 5 (5/7/04)

Another fine cage based card from Hawaii from the onetime Strikeforce of Hawaii. Some lousy, some great, I'm sure. Mike Onozuka (?) and Ryan Bennett are announcing this night of fights. 

1) VINCE PU vs. ROYDEN DEMOTTA: Nobodies from the islands.

Demotta with a takedown early, some strikes, guard pass, more strikes, fight over. Worthless. (0)

2) JUSTIN MERCADO vs. HARRIS SARMIENTO: Sarmiento is a well known journeyman. Mercado isn't. Troy Mandaloniz is the ref.

Running story of this fight: Mercado takes a ton of punishment, especially knees in the clinch, and doesn't ever seem to be terribly hurt. Mercado goes for a bunch of half assed sub attempts (armbar from back in first, guillotine in second, RNC in third) and even with each coming increasingly close to actually finishing, in the end he didn't properly secure any of them and Sarmiento was able to escape and return to offense, winning all 3 rounds. (0)

3) SANTINO DEFRANCO vs. KAYNAN KAKU: Both guys were interesting prospects at this point in the lightweight division.

Kaku is all about takedowns, all the time. DeFranco is passable on his back and nullifies anything really damaging in the first round by utilizing the rubber guard, but he's not really getting any solid catches. As the fight rolls on, DeFranco finds himself unable to effectively take a dominant position and is pulling guard just to get the fight down in the hopes he can sweep his way there. Another unanimous decision, neither man getting to that next level. Kaku wins. (0)

BJ PENN INTERVIEW TIME: He is leaving for K-1 and he considers that a good career move. NEWS FLASH PEOPLE - BJ Penn fights for money first. Just keep that in mind.

4) MIKE ROGERS vs. JASON LAMBERT: Rogers was coming off his first two career losses to Vernon White and Alex Stiebling. Jason Lambert was not terribly known at this stage, having lost to Tim Sylvia in the Superbrawl heavyweight tournament as well as Cabbage later.

Lambert just shoving Rogers around and takes him down. After some pushing towards the fence, Rogers ends up on his back to escape punches, gives up the hooks, and punches are thrown till its over. (2)

5) KENDALL GROVE vs. JOE RIGGS: Good chance you've heard of both. 

Grove is too green and unprepared to stop a wrestler as big and strong as Riggs. Riggs gets him down and just reels back and throws some monster bombs. Grove's head rebounds off the canvas as he is knocked unconscious. Now Riggs is a cripple and Grove is a middle of the road challenger. Still, both had their moments, including Riggs' aborted welterweight title shot. (3)

MELVIN MURRAY vs. DANNY STEELE: Kickboxing match...IN THE CAGE~

Two aging kickboxers THROW DOWN. IT SHOULD END IN A KO says the ref, and it ends as a draw on the cards. Crap. Doesn't count.

6) RYAN SCHULTZ vs. RONALD JHUN: Schultz has no idea who Machine Gun Jhun is. I knew who Jhun was and I was watching 90% boxing, 10% MMA at this point in time. I also have a good idea how this goes.

Good scrappy first round that was primarily standup and Ryan Schultz actually lands a number of looping shots. Pretty good action. Second round and Jhun actually gets a trip takedown and and kinda shocked. Isn't Schultz the wrestler from Team Quest? Jhun is in half guard and trying to stay active and prevent a takedown while Schultz is hanging on for dear life. He then passes to mount and Landless steps in to stop the fight as he is blasting punches. That is....not what I was expecting. And thus great. (3)

7) TONY FRYKLUND vs. MATT LINDLAND: Fryklund is the dumbest man alive. Lindland is soulless but younger here.

Lindland with a clinch and takedown. Well, who could have expected that? Punches and elbows are thrown and Fryklund is cut. Fryklund gets this back up and Fryklund starts landing shots, which surprises me to some extent, but of course there are clinches and when that happens, he is miserable. Fryklund is looking better here than he did against Loiseau. Lindland's striking is miserable, and it never got better; no wonder he had so many troubles in Affliction. Fryklund lands some punches in the first. This is competitive. I am shocked. Fryklund with a takedown at the end of the round. Fryklund wins the first?

Second round has Fryklund try for the guillotine early and he fails and gets slammed. Fight is stopped for cuts to Lindland's face but its restarted with Lindland on top. Fryklund is cut really bad over the right eye now. Good lord, this second round lasts for a long time. Lindland clearly won it.

Lindland shoots, Fryklund stands, actually takes down Lindland, and then passes to half guard. Fryklund almost mounts him, actually. Lindland is just terrible on his back. The "lack of action" gets this fight stood up, and Fryklund is almost suplexed and holds onto the fence to stop it. Lindland takes him down again anyhow. There's a standup with only a few seconds left and Lindland again acquires the takedown. This is not Lindland's finest moment but he definitely deserved to win. (4)

8) JOHN MARSH vs. CABBAGE CORREIRA: Cabbage was in career freefall by this point. Marsh was the worst fighter I can think of outside Manny Yarborough that was both a UFC and PRIDE vet.

All standup in the first round. Cabbage is actually sorta gunshy. Marsh lands more jabs and right hands and his face is getting marked up. This is pathetic by Cabbage. The fight doesn't get better as the BJJ specialist is moving in and out and landing on Cabbage while Cabbage does nothing but mug to the crowd and let time slip away. Marsh shoots for the takedown in the second and Cabbage tries for a guillotine, but really doesn't have it in. Marsh easily breaks away and returns to what we've seen the entire fight, throwing low kicks and running. Third round is more of the same; Marsh with clunky but effective technically sound striking and Cabbage being a punching bag. A sad, shitty fight as Marsh plays Cory Spinks, and gets a shot in the UFC his next bout out. Today, Marsh lost to a modern day Oleg Taktarov. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Fryklund/Lindland

KO OF THE NIGHT: Riggs/Grove

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Some names on this card highlighted by a Lindland appearance, but really it is Riggs/Grove that sorta steals the event historically. Schultz/Jhun is such a shocker given how each man has progressed since. Lots of boring, mediocre fights.

D&R Rating: 32.5% (13/40)

SHOXC: 10/10/08

Another fine ShoXC card. Fight Professor and Fight Sexist TESTIFYYYYYY. We're at the Horseshoe in Indiana, over by Gary.

1) RAFAELLO OLIVEIRA vs. LYLE BEERBOHM: Beerbohm is undefeated. Olivera is too. AN O! It must go!

Beerbohm is clearly a good wrestler and he gets down Oliveira early. And he thus puts himself at risk almost immediately. Beerbohm loses the battle of positioning almost every time it becomes an issue but pulls off a super sweet fireman's carry. Then, as the round closes, a cut opens from an elbow and it is deeeeeeeep. Fight is over. Beerbohm wins by TKO. (1)

2) ALEXANDER SHLEMENKO vs. BUBBA MCDANIEL: Middleweights! I don't remember anything about either guy.

McDaniel knows that Shlemlenko is a striker primarily and so he takes him down early. Russian guy is trying to get the kimura from the bottom and he really doesn't have proper position. McDaniel is landing shots inside the half guard, and when he tries to roll McDaniel, he instead gives up his back. Not wise. McDaniel can't sink in hooks and Shlemenko gets himself turned around. McDaniel is showing no interest in trading, constantly seeking the takedown, and having minimal problems getting them. McDaniel completely controlled the round and as it closed, Shlemenko went for a home run knee. It landed right on the ribcage and detonated poor McDaniel's midsection. Epic. (2)

3) ANTHONY LAPSLEY vs. MIKE STUMPF: Lapsley I've seen before and I thought he was pretty good. 12 fights in '07 and claimed Hammer House. Lapsley came in 2 pounds over.

Lapsley with punches right away and Stumpf is in trouble. He's able to turn Lapsley around and then take him down. Not too shabby. Stumpf stands out of the guard and then dives back in, but Lapsley climbs the cage and lands some nice punches and nearly blasts Stumpf with a head kick. Lapsley is taken down and then defends a kimura, getting himself into top control. Ranallo says he just won the KOTC Welterweight Title: Very prestigious. Lapsley with BOMBZ and Stumpf is surviving. He bucks the hips up, goes for a triangle, and Lapsley just throws him off: He has some MEAN right hands. Lapsley transitions to arm/head triangle, but doesn't finish and stands. He dives back in with punches and elbows. Dominant first for Lapsley.

Lapsley doesn't want distance, this I can tell you very early on. Attempted takedown and scramble and Lapsley ends up in mount ever so briefly before standing again. Lapsley is wreckless with his rights and could break one hitting the mat. Standing kimura attempt from Stumpf fails and he's on his back in half guard. Lapsley isn't too active here and after some time its back to standing. Again, Lapsley closes fast and gets a single, and again, Stumpf wants the kimura. He doesn't pull it off (again) and Lapsley grinds out the rest of the round.

Lapsley is motoring on in this round and the fight continues to follow the same blueprint previously set: Lapsley jumps in, takes down Stumpf, Stumpf goes for submissions, doesn't come close to finishing any of them, Lapsley slows, standup. Lapsley wins the decision and you can't really question that. Well, except for the crazy judge who had it a draw. Still has that loss to Joker in a 5 rounder. (1)

4) MAMED KHALIDOV vs. JASON GUIDA: Khalidov is Polish. Guida is shitty.

Guida jumps on Khalidov and lands a right hand then pushes him into the cage. Khalidov counters with a rolling knee bar, and Guida tries to defend with his own leglock. Guida takes a couple hammerfists and we start scrambling. He ends up on top and Khalidov is decent at preventing anything from happening along with landing a really sweet upkick. Guida's round.

Second round and Guida sweeps the Polish fighter with a low kick. Some sweet spinning kicks in return from Khalidov. Guida is blown up. Khalidov is dominating him standing and so Guida pulls guard. Guida does nothing and Khalidov gets back to his feet. Punches start coming in and Guida shoots in desperation. Guida drops up the mouthpiece and he is hiding it. He obviously wants to quit but isn't smart enough to know how to. When the fight restarts, Guida takes his beating, and Guida hits the ref. What an awesome dude. (1)

5) KERRY SCHALL vs. DAVE HERMAN: MEAT TRUCK~ against a karate dude.

How did anyone buy into Herman again? Schall lands a big right hand and hurts Herman badly, but Herman recovers and fucks Schall's shit up. There's an argument that Schall is really felled by low blows, and the replay seems to establish that as being fact. Herman is still a fringe contender following his loss to everyone's favorite Korean greco roman wrestler. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Shlemlenko/McDaniel

KO OF THE NIGHT: Schall/Herman

OVERALL FOR THE NIGHT: 6 out of 10. Not a special show either, but fun to watch with some exciting finishes. Virtually every fight had some level of controversy involved.

D&R RATING: 24% (6/25)