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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment