1) Yka Leino vs. Alexi Vezelovzorov: Who?
FIGHT: Vezelovzorov TKO Rnd 1. And with this, I can tell it was the first meeting between these two on 2/15/2002. 8 years ago! Bizarre fight with Leino tapping to a heelhook, but it being missed by the ref, who then stands them up, and Leino is stopped with strikes and takes a ton of kicks to the head on the mat, which were supposedly illegal. (0)
Leino: Decent grappler who almost taps his opponent early on, but ends up eating a lot of nasty strikes. Wide open standing. Last fought in 2003.
Vezelovzorov: Wide open striker with some grappling skill. Threw sidekicks, which I adored. Absorbed a lot of shots. Last fought in 2008. Never moved into serious competition internationally. Lost to Denis Kang and Bristol Marunde.
2) Andrei Semenov vs. Renato Vieira: From 11/11/2001, prior to Semenov being in PRIDE or the UFC.
FIGHT: Semenov KO Rnd 1. No shock here. Vieira is a BJJ guy through and through and Semenov, always a tough kickboxer, just works over Vieira and drops him with a right hand. Vieira goes down and Semenov stands over him as the ref stops it. Easy fight for Semenov. (2)
3) Ronny Rivano vs. Danila Veselov: Another fight from 11/11/2001. Neither man has fought since 2005.
FIGHT: Rivano KO Rnd 1. Wild trading. Veselov gets the takedown and mounts his opponent, but the fight is stood up. Rivano lands a front kick to the mush and Veselov is out cold. Rivano retired at 13-13 according to Sherdog. Does the baby giraffe dance for awhile after too. (0)
4) Roman Zenstov vs. Chalid Arrib: What a strange and timely fight now that Arrib is in the UFC. Also from 11/11/2001.
FIGHT: Arrib KO Rnd 1. Arrib lands a ton of low kicks, drops Zenstov with a right hand, and then just smashes him for about 15 seconds straight with punches to the head as Zenstov doesn't defend. (2)
5) Amar Suloev vs. Julian Gonzales: What? Who is this dude fighting Suolev? From 11/15/2002.
FIGHT: Suolev Submission Rnd 1. Pointless contest as Suolev dominates standing, slams down Gonzales, and taps him with a rear naked choke as he controls all positions. (2)
6) Ben Rothwell vs. Ibragim Magomedov: Also from 11/15/2002. Rothwell looks better here than he does these days.
FIGHT: Magomedov TKO 1. Rothwell retires between rounds from exhaustion. Close and competitive fight as Rothwell controls the early going, but ends up getting tagged with a multitude of strikes halfway through the 10 minute round and from that point on, its all downhill. He takes a battering of shots as the first round ends and hugs until the bell. (2)
How do you even analyze something like this? Magomedov is an also ran these days. Rothwell morphed into a brawler with takedown defense and top control skills. Rothwell would be like a 5-1 favorite in a fight between them today. You can see in this fight that Rothwell is very tough to drop and take out, and that he was in better shape once.
7) Yuji Hisamatsu vs. Denis Komkin: Hisamatsu was fresh off a loss to Nate Marqhardt in Pancrase. That makes this fight on 12/5/2003.
FIGHT: Komkin KO Rnd 1. Over in 16 seconds. Neither guy amounted to anything. (0)
OVERALL FOR THE EPISODE: 3 out of 10. All of it is for the back and forth single round of Magomedov/Rothwell, which is such a strange fossil in MMA history to appear here on TV now.
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