Fight Time 1 (8/21/2010)

As readers know, I have my favorites out there in terms of great B-Show fighters. One of them is Jeff Monson, and here he headlines against another classic B-Show fighter, Jason Guida. This event was held in Club Cinema on Pompano Beach in South Florida, and is the first effort of Elite Promotions...or Fight Time Promotions. Announcing is Alex Donno as PBP and Din Thomas is the color man. The promotion is an offshoot of ATT through Howard Davis Jr., who is a co promoter here. Jeff Gibson is the other promoter here and he's a former kickboxing champ and "hormone replacement" guy. Uhhhh.

1) Josh Mercado vs. Abraham Estacio: Missed the weight class but it looks like 155. THIS FIGHT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BRUS SPORTS BAR.

FIGHT: Mercado Submission Rnd 1. Mercado throws some cool looking kicks and is kinda wild but drops back for a guillotine. Not too much effort expended to win his pro debut. (1)

2) Jimmy Chaikong vs. Mike Benken: Chaikong is 1-5. ONE WIN FIVE LOSSES. Benken is debuting. Solid Gold Dental and Lamborghini Palm Beach are presenting this one.

FIGHT: Chaikong Submission Rnd 1. Incredible start as Chaikong goes into karate forms to start and then breaks from kata to shoot and take down Benken. Never seen anything like it. Chaikong passes to mount, goes for an armbar, and doesn't really do it right. Had bad position and crossed his feet, but Benken probably ends up getting hurt since Chaikong just pulled on the fucking thing till he forced a tap. (0)

3) Patrick Williams vs. Shaughn Koukos: Featherweight fight between a 1-0 guy and a debuting talent.

FIGHT: Williams TKO Rnd 1. Just a beat down. Williams gets a takedown and then just lays in with GNP. He celebrates after his 2:30 long fight with a standing backflip. Athletic dude with wrestling and punching with his wrestling. That's something, right? (1)

4) Dalton Hicks vs. John Chavez: Chavez trained in Thailand for awhile, the announcers say, and is touted by Wilson Gouviea. Sorta a welterweight fight?

FIGHT: Chavez TKO Rnd 2. Horrible mismatch talentwise. Chavez smashes the crap out of Hicks and should have submitted him in the first. He had full extension going for an armbar out of the mount and the arm controlled and isolated and couldn't get the thing straight. Ref should have stopped it before the bell. Instead, he lets Hicks take a ton of shots and then pulls him to his feet after stopping the fight almost immediately. (0)

5) Jerry Blackman vs. Chris Holcomb: Dudes who are big. Not sure how big though. Missed that.

FIGHT: Blackman Unanimous Decision. Blackman is much bigger, from a much bigger camp, and tosses around Holcomb early on. He cuts him over his eyes, he punches him, he goes for submissions, he gets a nice belly to belly to put him on the mat. And then in the second round, he gasses out and Holcomb tries to make a comeback while dodging triangle attempts and the like. Even then, Blackman wins the round by getting himself back on top in the final stages. The third is awful stuff, with two fully expended neophyte fighters staring at each other for the most part. The staring ends with Holcomb shooting for the takedown, pulling guard, and actually sweeping Blackman and being in side control for awhile. Not much happens though. Neither guy looked that good coming out of this. (0)

6) Boumny Somchey vs. Lazar Stojadinovic: Lazar I've seen before and he's really little. And not that great.

FIGHT: Stojadinovic Submission Rnd 1. Lazar drops him with the first punch of the fight, is all over him on the mat, forces him to roll over, and we get an RNC finish inside a minute. (0)

7) Dennis Hernandez vs. Stephen Jenetis: Yeah, no idea.

FIGHT: Hernandez TKO Rnd 1. Jenetis clinches to start, then gets taken down and mounted almost immediately. Just a wild grappling fest for a moment or two, then Hernandez gets the fight down again. Its not long till he gets the crucifix, and then he starts throwing punches and elbows. At some point, Jenetis goes out and then takes a few more elbows a la Orlando Weit. (1)

At this point, there's an intermission, some fat chicks are in the ring, Kimbo stops by and says hello.

8) Jason Guida vs. Jeff Monson: Main event time. Strange undercard for this, TBH.

FIGHT: Monson Submission Rnd 2. Man, this is sorta sad and disheartening. Monson shoots but is so slow at first that Guida actually defends it and takes top position, landing blows. Monson eventually sorta balls up and is able to force his way on top by taking a single on Guida. From then on, its generally all Monson. But he's really slow in this fight and Guida has some moments where he regains top position. Monson is big on leading with his head for the clinch and punching, which I think is probably as much why Guida gets cut as is the strikes he throws. Eventually he has a weird side back control on Guida and goes for a sort of crossface on him that Guida taps to. In the postscript Monson plugs his radio show that goes on back west. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Guida/Monson

KO OF THE NIGHT: Hernandez/Jenetis

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Chaikong/Benken

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. Monson looks muscular but age is definitely a factor now. He's very slow, not that he was ever super fast. Rest of the card features a lot of promising young talents, mostly from ATT, though they face really underwhelming opposition. The card is short and a bit of a throwaway, but its note totally terrible.

D&R Rating: 12.5% (5/40)

NAAFS Cage Fighting (10/23/2010)

Looks like these fights are from Eve of Destruction, the NAAFS' first all women's show. Fun notes: NAAFS got some new graphics for this show, and in addition, I noticed that Intimidation Fight Wear (who are the same company as MMA promoter ICF, recently reviewed) are running commercials here.

1) Andria Caplan vs. Jenelle Bloom: 155lb amateur MMA women's bout.

FIGHT: Caplan TKO Rnd 1. The worst fight I've seen in years. Just lousy punching. Bloom was pushing her hand out and throwing behind it with these pushed punches and...god. It was so bad. So. Bad. (0)

2) Summer Artherton vs. Jordan McDonald: 115 lb bout.

FIGHT: McDonald Submission Rnd 1. Submission comes at the end of the round just as the bell rings. McDonald was on the bottom, goes for an armbar, pulls her down and straightens it. Standup wise there's nothing to speak of here, Artherton also just got suckered in and the way she got swept into the armbar was...unfortunate. (0)

3) Tera Carper vs. Tamikka Brents: 155 lb fight. Brents is listed as undefeated still so...yeah. No idea. She lost like a month prior.

FIGHT: Brents TKO Rnd 1. Brents drags her down and beats her with punches until the ref stops. Just that simple. Absolute mugging. (0)

4) Amanda Wilcoxen vs. Jessica Zomcik: Seen Zomcik before. Apparently this was her only loss. Fight's at 155.

FIGHT: Zomcik Unanimous Decision. Basically two rounds of Zomcik jabbing every 30 seconds, and occasionally landing a right hand. In the third she shoots and takes down Wilcoxen, operating in her guard for about a minute and a half until the bell rings. Not an entertaining fight. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 1 out of 10. I'll be the first to tell people that I don't really like women's MMA. This show was terrible stuff. One competitive fight and it was painfully boring and inactive.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (10/17/2010)

Another NAAFS episode from Rock N Rumble.

1) Manuel Villanueva vs. Bhrandon Poindexter: Amateur lightweight bout. Matt Brown is joining on commentary. Poindexter is related to boxing trainer Lorenzo Scott, I hear.

FIGHT: Poindexter Submission Rnd 3. Man, not much of a fight from Villanueva. He's not very good standing, he shoots from way outside and never is successful, and Poindexter stuffs him and hits him a lot. Poindexter pulls a switch in round 3 and chokes out Villanueva with an RNC.

(0)

2) Brandon Inskeep vs. Doug Kulbis: Pro featherweight fight. We get Dan Hornbuckle as the guest here.

FIGHT: Kulbis Submission Rnd 2. Kind of a sad fight to watch with Inskeep being game but totally overmatched by Kulbis, who takes him down, smashes him, nearly triangles him at the bell, then takes him down again and smashes then chokes him out with an RNC. Inskeep was active off his back but put himself in worse positions - side control not bad enough? OK. North-south, here we come! (0)

3) Jeremy Holm vs. Stipe Miocic: Miocic is being hyped by the crew as training by Ray Austin now in boxing. Who would say his name if it wasn't true? Holm is 1-0 as a pro, but 9-0 including ammy bouts. Who doesn't at this level of MMA?

FIGHT: Miocic Round 1. I've been sitting back watching the guy, waiting to be impressed with something he's done instead of just hearing about him getting love from his promoter. Miocic here comes out collected, calm, throws a clean uppercut that misses but looked great, and just blows Holm away with a beautiful straight right. Miocic has beaten everyone good in his region. I would agree with anyone who thinks he's about 3-4 fights away from the big time. I mean, what is the rush? At 28, he can wait another year before he gets to the top. (2)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3 out of 10. Another show with some beatings handed out, and then a really big beating handed out. None of the fights were competitive, but there's some points there for Stipe Miocic's big win.

KOTC: No Mercy (9/17/2010)

King of the Cage hails from the MGM Grand (ITS FOXWOODS, PSSSS) in Connecticut. We've got Schiavello & Mezger. Mercer was supposed to fight Ron Sparks in the main event, but was discovered by the commission's doctor squad that he had some issues medically. Turns out that his C-Spine, which had surgery back in the 1990s, had some issues. The officials weren't really OK with him going in and fighting given the way his discs looked after CT and MRI scans and Mercer refuses to even go on air and address what happened. That's no good.

For this show, KOTC is employing a round cage.

1) Sean Wilmot vs. Noah Weisman: Lightweight. Wilmot has been around forever and ever and ever and ever. Weisman is a prospect with 3 wins.

FIGHT: Weisman Unanimous Decision. Not the most enthralling fight. Wilmot hadn't fought in 4 years in a pro bout, and it showed as he basically does nothing other than give Weisman rounds and go for a heel hook in the second round. Weisman hurts Wilmot a couple times with grazing head and body shots and Wilmot goes immediately into survival mode. (0)

2) Chip Moraza-Pollard vs. Jesus Martinez: Welterweights. Both are New England guys.

FIGHT: Moraza-Pollard Unanimous Decision (1)

Martinez: Looks more comfortable on his feet early, then gets tired as he is taken down. Also absorbs punches (as in the first where he's dropped) as he moves straight backwards with the hands down.

Moraza-Pollard: Decent striker with better kicks than punches. Likes to take a picture after his shots, for the most part. OK takedowns, does a nice wrestling switch in the third. No idea if he can pull subs. Not overpowering though on the mat. Looks like he'd be disrupted if you threw a jab twice though.

3) Pat McGreal vs. Donald Sanchez: Bantamweight title bout, but this being KOTC, that means 145. McGreal was a track and field guy and is undefeated in 6-0, but only has trained for 15 months. Sanchez is a journeyman type guy who has some wins over people its unlikely you would have heard of unless you read this blog (example: Joe Boxer).

FIGHT: Sanchez Submission Rnd 1. Pretty easy fight, as McGreal and Sanchez end up on the mat, Sanchez gets the switch and takes the back, eventually winning by RNC. McGreal tries to stop the sub by standing up with Sanchez on his back, but it is to no avail. Sanchez wants a guy in the top 10. (1)

4) Myles Jury vs. Sam Oropeza: Welterweights. Both are undefeated. Jury has a bunch of early stops.

FIGHT: Jury Submission Rnd 1. Jury was apparently a huge underdog we're told after, but at this stage, you can't take that stuff too seriously unless its a Cain Velasquez squash early in his career. Jury and Oropeza are close standing, but Jury gets a takedown in the first. He then takes the back after affecting Oropeza with a strike. Like the last fight, the opponent elevates to try and relieve themselves of the man on their back. And also like last time, it fails. Jury holds the body triangle and tries for the RNC, and sorta wins by that - he never sinks it but basically smothers Oropeza's mouth and nose with it. (1)

5) Jimmie Rivera vs. Abel Cullum: Flyweight title bout. Rivera is an undefeated fighter, Cullum a DREAM and EXC vet.

FIGHT: Rivera Split Decision. FOTYC. (3) Another example of why 5 rounders are great. The scoring on this is 49-46 for Rivera from two judges and 48-47 for Cullum by one. Honestly, its a tough fight to score. Cullum can be argued to have been controlling the bout by consistently pushing the pace, either with takedown attempts or with striking as he did in the 4th. He even had a reasonable submission attempt in round 5. However, Rivera generally pushed around Cullum after the clinch was initiated and landed more strikes in Round 1-3. More on all this in the analysis below.

Cullum: Cullum comes out in the first 3 rounds looking to overwhelm Rivera with activity, pushing the pace, looking for takedowns and punishing with punching. Cullum isn't a big 135lb fighter though, and whatever technical advantages he imagined coming in never come to fruition. In fact, its not until round 3 that he scores any sort of takedown on Rivera, and even that is potentially nullified in scoring by a takedown by Rivera near the end of the round. In round 4, Cullum decides to go full bore into kickboxing mode, again pushing the pace and seeking to outwork Rivera. He does in fact out throw Rivera by a healthy margin in the last couple of stanzas, but as Compustrike displays, the connection rate is so much higher for Rivera that they basically land an even number of punches and kicks. His best chance at finishing comes in round 5, as Rivera takes his back standing after Rivera shoots for a takedown attempt and there's a resulting scramble. Cullum locks in a straight armbar from the position, but can't get Rivera to release his grip on his left arm, preventing him from pushing it away and then rolling to the mat with Rivera in tow. When Rivera escapes, it leads to a knee that in many ways punctuates the fight for him.

Rivera: Rivera comes in looking like the larger man and he fights that way too. When Cullum comes forward to take him down, Rivera is often able to get underhooks and then push around Cullum. Not only does he prevent the takedowns in this way, he also gives the impression (because, well, he is) that he is controlling the clinch. Rivera also lands over and over and over with the left hook. The fact that Cullum basically never sees it coming and yet isn't rocked by it is due to Rivera never really turning his hips into the shots. They're arm punches, and more important than that, he's landing often times with the finger side of the gloves. That kind of slapping gets missed a lot in camps because when you hit with big ass 16 oz ammy gloves on pads, hey, the white zone stretches far.

As the fight progresses, Rivera continues to land the hooks, straight rights, and even a jab at incredible rates. He has leg kicks too, though he doesn't concentrate on these too much, fearing a loss of balance and a resultant takedown. He himself shoots on Cullum in round 3 and round 5, getting takedowns, however brief, on both occasions. Rivera escapes an Saku style armbar attempt after one of the attempts (round 5) ends in a scramble with what would seem to be dominant position. He has some bruising on the face when this is over from Cullum's intense forward assault, but its not any worse than how Cullum looks. A very good effort by Rivera, who looks like a legitimate prospect capable of some impressive things in the sport. Can't say yet that he's a title contending sort of guy, but 135 is thin and he's not tiny for the weight.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Rivera/Cullum

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Oropeza/Jury

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6.5 out of 10. The quick stop fights aren't anything mindblowing and are often between guys that don't really ring anyone's chimes in the sport. However, the main event is a great affair - yeah, it'll be lost to the two great UFC fights of the year (Sonnen/Silva and Carwin/Lesnar) but it is still a great, great contest.

D&R Rating: 20% (6/30)

ICF: Breakout (4/11/2009)

The internet is an amazing place. With all the DVDs I have and all the TV shows I record, I've actually churned through pretty much the entire DVD and what I've recorded, leaving only a scant two programs left to watch for the 'ol blog here. I do have lots and lots of Shooto, but I've decided to try something else for a changeup, just to see how it works. www.gofightlive.tv has been around for a little while and is known for streaming, at a price, lots of mid and lower tier boxing events, but also MMA shows as well. They also happen to archive all the streams, and an enormous number of them are free. That means shows like this happen to be easy for me to access. And so, a review of an Intimidation Cage Fighting show.

This show, from about 18 months ago, features a double main event of ex-UFC talent. In the heavyweight division, Marcio Cruz takes on Dan Christiansen, and in the welterweight division, we've got Forrest Petz fighting Victor O'Donnell. Really, those are pretty interesting fights on paper. Curtis Gunner and some other dude are announcing I guess. Event is held at US Bank Area in Cinci. 7 sided cage with a few different cameras. After this event, they never held a show with the kind of talent they had here again, and were shut down for almost a year following a show they held in Octover of 2009. They recently reopened under "new management".

1) Justin Hunt vs. Alex Suhonsonov: Welterweights. Hunt is 3-1, the guy with the slavic last name is debuting. Oh, but MMA.tv says something totally different. Like that Hunt is 3-3. Oh. He's also now 4-10.

FIGHT: Suhonsonov TKO Rnd 1. Not much of a fight TBH. Guys just swing wildly when striking and Alex rushes him at the very start. He eventually gets a takedown into half guard and pounds on Hunt with elbows to the body that open up a ground and pound attack to the head. (0)

2) Matt Egner vs. Steve Muldrow: Lightweight bout. Egner is shown as 4-0. Apparently this is an amateur bout too,

FIGHT: Muldrow Unanimous Decision. (0)

Egner: Seemed to want to stand up but never got the opportunity, because Muldrow wanted the takedown all the time. He had guillotine attempts that really didn't go anywhere in the first and second and then had a triangle/armbar attempt in the third. None really came that close to finishing Muldrow - he always had space left around Muldrow, arms in with the guillotine, etc.

Muldrow: Good takedowns, not the best submission defense on this planet. Aside from that, not much to write home about here.

3) Taylor Ruschin vs. Chris Curtis: Ruschin is a Gurgel fighter, and Rich Franklin comes to visit his boy. Curtis enters to Living La Vida Loca. This is an amateur fight.

FIGHT: Ruschin Unanimous Decision. (1)

Curtis: Obviously a standup fighter based on the reputation of being exciting and the fact that he had no takedown defense at all.

Ruschin: Looks like a mini Franklin at first. Body kicks look exactly the same, stance is the same, even wears copies of Franklin's trunks. But where the difference lies is wrestling. Franklin prefers to stand and bang but can throw his hips around if he needs to and can sprawl. Ruschin pursues the double leg with frequency and gets it, as well as shows that he can transition to more dominant positions. He's not terrifying with GNP but looks like a threat to submit guys with armbars out of mount and RNCs. Kinda a merger of that old school Cesar Gracie style BJJ with more modern striking and wrestling. I like him quite a bit. Also, he slams down Curtis in the first round with a huge, huge spinebuster style slam.

4) Marcus Finch vs. Tyler Johnson: ICF Middleweight title fight. Amateur bout though.

FIGHT: Finch Unanimous Decision. Well matched bout. Hilarious fact - they cut during the between rounds corner action to show some random 12 year olds with INTIMIDATION FIGHT GEAR. This sport, I swear. (0)

Finch: Finch loses the first round in my book because he gets taken down and pounded on with punches, but Finch defends a kneebar well and ends up drilling Johnson with a few shots of his own. In round 2, he gets down Johnson and is on top, but nearly loses the round as Johnson comes back with strikes. Round 3 see Finch throwing a healthy number of strikes and landing a lot of them. One thing I didn't like? His footwork. Lead leg is square and too far out there not to get kicked. Johnson doesn't recognize it until late in round 3 but when he does land, Finch was bothered.

Johnson: Decent grappler, not much of a wrestler to be honest, not much athletically (no real explosive speed or anything like that), and his striking leaves a lot to be desired. If he had properly secured a figure four before dropping back on Finch for a kneebar attempt in round one, he would have one. Same with recognizing Finch's lead leg. Same with just keeping after the strikes rather than trying to look flashy with a leglock. Lot went wrong for the guy. Just looks...okay. Not a terrible fighter or anything, but he's just a guy who will be .500 on a regional level and probably never get the call up.

5) Tiffany Johnson vs. Jami Miller: 125lb womens fight. Both are 0-0 says the ICF. Tiffany, says MMA.tv, trains at the Western Hills Kungfu Center. TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS ARE FOREVER.

FIGHT: Miller Submission Rnd 1. The amazing thing about this fight is that MMA.tv has this totally wrong. Apparently all black people look the same to the Ohio Athletic Commission. Miller with a KOTC Special of takedown/pass/RNC. Johnson tried to scramble up and gave up her back, so its a little different than the old formula, but not by much. (0)

6) Rob Galloway vs. Ron Mitchell: ICF Heavyweight World Amateur title. Yeah. Galloway comes in to the Hurt cover done by Johnny Cash. Mitchell looks old.

FIGHT: Mitchell TKO Rnd 1. Galloway is spent after 20 seconds in this fight as he rushes Mitchell and tries to put weight on him. Mitchell turns him, eventually they separate and Mitchell lands a knee and some big right hands. It takes 4-5 but Galloway is asleep before the end of the round, well inside the distance. (0)

7) Kevin Barton vs. Thomas "T.J." Ball: Light heavyweights. Looks to be an amateur fight by the length of rounds. Ball is all sorts of ripped.

FIGHT: Kevin Barton Split Decision. Enormous, questionably cut up striker faces not so immense grappler. Ball is able to stop the takedown attempts with his raw strength late in the fight but is taken down repeatedly in the first and second round. Apparently one judge gave him what must have been round 2 based on a few seconds of missed arm punches prior to a Barton double leg. Ball is a smaller and less interesting Dave Yost, while Barton is some guy. (0)

8) Luke Zachrich vs. Robert Thompson: This was a pain in the ass to watch because the video kept timing out and and buffering and dying. Odd. But I watched pretty much the whole thing anyways.

FIGHT: Zachrich Submission Rnd 3. This was after Zachrich had been on TUF and was basically the lamest fighter in the house for the seventh season. Thompson really offers nothing aside from a jab/right hand combination the entire fight, blocking low kicks with his thigh and being forced to change stances, getting a busted nose in round 1 and gasping the rest of the way, and having no real apparent wrestling ability. Zachrich however is slow to do anything. He's thinking way too much - the old Teddy Atlas saying of "he takes a picture when he lands" is completely true. Combos aren't even forced out of him. He just doesn't do them. When he sweeps Thompson down in the third, he easily passes the half guard to side control and crucifixes him before getting a kimura that was waiting for him for a good 15 seconds. Fight didn't need to leave the first. Zachrich didn't really step up the comp again after the Cramer fight until he was signed by Bellator, losing in the first to Eric Schambari earlier this year. (1)

9) Carson Gainey vs. Jeremy Pender: Gainey is rocking dreds and coming out to Marley. This dude is awesome. Looks like a MMA bantamweight Howard Eastman. Pender's promo pic sees him wearing an Oscar The Grouch cap.

FIGHT: Pender Submission Rnd 2. It becomes very apparent very quickly who is going to win when both men stand next to each other, because Gainey looks like he can make 115. Gainey has no apparent wrestling ability and can't strike with anything other than looping haymakers that he slaps with. He seems to have some defensive grappling ability and gets out of back control from Pender, but that's the bright spot. Pender is better at everything though you can't tell if he's really good at anything. Gainey hurts himself taking down Pender as he basically falls backwards with Pender on top of him into mount and slams his head into the mat. Pender punches him a bunch while he tries to weakly cover and gets choked out in the second. Not much of a fight. (0)

10) Daniel Straus vs. Mike Baskis: Straus is a pretty legit prospect.

FIGHT: Straus Unanimous Decision. Straus shows some good takedowns in the fight, as well as a willingness to roll with punches rather than just jump straight back. The one thing I don't like is that while he makes Baskis miss sometimes, he also gets tagged when he starts to drop his hands thinking that Baskis has stopped throwing punches. Baskis is tough and comes forward but he doesn't have a lot in his punching repetoire or as a grappler - he goes for an armbar in round 1 but that's pretty much it, and Straus is able to defend and escape that with not a ton of difficulty. (1)

11) Marcio Cruz vs. Dan Christison: Interesting heavyweight bout. Christison is big and not a lot else. Cruz is a great grappler on the mat, but not much to talk about in terms of his takedowns or striking.

FIGHT: Cruz Unanimous Decision. Both guys are baked pies - nothing can be added. You can put a scoop of ice cream on the side I guess, but that's not really changing the pie, you know? Christison stops the slow shots of Cruz early on, but gets suckered to get on top and then finds himself getting swept and his energy sapped. As the second and third go on, Cruz shoots from far away and eventually gets the takedown he desires by sucking up Christison, even if he gets full extension on his sprawl. Cruz has no reason to stop pushing. What is Dan going to do about it? He throws some weak punches and high kicks and that goes nowhere. (2)

12) Forrest Petz vs. Victor O'Donnell: Interesting prospect vs. gatekeeper showdown.

FIGHT: O'Donnell Submission Rnd 2. They're pretty even standing, but its on the mat where O'Donnell takes over. He's just a better all around grappler than Petz, scoring takedowns and also getting sweeps on the occasions that Petz ends up on top. He pops the nose of Petz and that leads to panic even with Petz being a veteran. O'Donnell secures a rear naked choke as Petz turns over and gives the back. Its his signature win right now. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Finch/Johnson

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Petz/O'Donnell

KO OF THE NIGHT: Mitchell/Galloway

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Announcing was bad, production so-so, but really, this is about fights. The fights? Not so good. Petz/O'Donnell wasn't bad and neither was Finch/Johnson, but neither means much.

D&R Rating: 10% (6/60)

World Extreme Fighting 47 (7/10/10)

Ben Glossop, Jay Adams, and some guy are announcing this event from the one time hellarelevant MMA promotion from the south. This is a two parter as televised, with the match listing being totally jumbled when televised.

1) James Brasco vs. Elijah Harshbarger: This is a welterweight contest said to be between two really good wrestlers. Harshbarger wants to fight GSP. So would I if that was my chosen profession. Both in their mid 30s. Harshbarger, says the internet, lost in an unaired Shogun Fights 2 contest. An unaired SHOGUN FIGHTS 2 CONTEST.

FIGHT: Harshbarger TKO Rnd 3. The announcers compare the early going trading of body shots in the clinch to Don Frye/Yoshihiro Takayama. Yeah, and Hopkins and Gatti were stylistically similar boxers. (0)

Brasco: Lots of heart, but his hands are so low that he begs to get punched. It happens too, dropping him in round 2 and he probably would have been stopped if it was anyone else. He's gassed by the mid point of the round, and so from that point forward it is 100% all Harshbarger.

Harshbarger: Top control grappler with decent power but little technique standing that theoretically should improve. He has some trouble getting the fight down early, and that's probably tied to an issue he has with one of his feet apparently in his stance and walking around. He even comes in with a welt under his eye that's troubling him. Just a collections of problems. And yet he still takes over the fight and dominates. Had some issues with stopping some less than orthodox takedown attempts.

2) Mark Serkez vs. Mitch Whitsel: This is shown after the Harshbarger/Brasco fight, and yet its this fight which the announcers keep referring to. I never noticed until today that Serkez has this tattoo on his back that looks like a giant smile. Except its like words. Or his name.

FIGHT: Whitsel Unanimous Decision. Deserved loss for Serkez who was outstruck standing pretty comprehensively. He did nothing but throw looping overhand rights while suffering being on the wrong end of leg kicks. The kicks so got to him, he was forced to change stances in round 2 and become even less effective. Yikes. His bright spot in the fight came in the 3rd when Whitsel slipped throwing a high knee out of the clinch and Serkez had dominant position for about 2-3 seconds. After that, the fight went back to being in the clinch, then at distance. Whitsel looked tired after round 2, FWIW. (0)

3) Erik Kovarik vs. Josh Bacallao: 150lb catchweight. Kovarik is listed as 1-4, Bacallao 5-1. Huh? Really?

FIGHT: Bacallao TKO Rnd 3. Just not a fun fight to watch - Bacallao dominates a wholly unprepared and underskilled and undersized and undereverythinged opponent that really only has heart on his side. Bacallao proves to be a mediocre finisher who can't beat a guy Alex Cacares subbed in round one no matter how many shots he lands or no matter how many kimuras or armbars he goes for. (0)

4) Jason Carapelluci vs. Ron Jacobs: Featherweights. Both are local guys with nonspectacular records and are practically novices at the pro level.

FIGHT: Carapelluci Unanimous Decision (0)

Carapelluci: He's a solid wrestler out of ATT. Aside from that? I'm not sure what to really suggest he is good at. He passes position rarely. He basically grinds out the clock with some punches and occasional elbows from minute one. I saw nothing of his standup here. Jacobs was able to reverse position on occasion, which made the announcers criticize the fans for not seeing the great positional battle in lieu of a fight with any actual contact or submission attempts.

Jacobs: A survivor. Has some submission skills maybe. Loses pretty much every minute of every round.

5) Brian Van Hoven vs. Vinnie Samero: Orlando vs. Fairfax, VA in a lightweight contest. Din Thomas joins to announce.

FIGHT: Van Hoven TKO Rnd 1. Dudes just feel each other out, and Samero keeps switching stances. Right after going from southpaw to orthodox, he drops his right hand and Van Hoven charges in with a Holyfieldesque left hook. Well, there's the crown of the head coming in to, and the combination knocks out Samero. More the punch than anything. (0)

6) Robert Turner vs. David Baggett: Florida locals fighting at a catchweight of 195. Two guys with .500 or lower records coming in.

FIGHT: Turner Submission Rnd 1. Baggett got the takedown early and nearly had the RNC, but his mediocrity kicked in. Turner escaped, turned over, and ended up catching Baggett in a guillotine. (0)

There is some sort of ceremony where Robert Turner wins a $250 prize and a trophy for some sort of performance of the night award given by the guy that invented MetRX. Can't make this shit up.

7) Justin Moore vs. Mike Lee: Co-main event. Mike Lee is the HOMETOWN HERO.

FIGHT: Lee TKO Rnd 1. Lee and Moore clinch a little early, they separate, and then Lee lands a right high kick as Moore comes in to punch. He is unconscious before he hits the floor. (0)

8) Harris Norwood vs. Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett: Bennett is "piss poor and broke". Norwood is 6-16-1. This is Bennett in the Kid Khaos Era.

FIGHT: Bennett Submission Rnd 2. (1)

Bennett: Bennett isn't going crazy. There's no wild slams. Instead, he's fighting slowly, composed, and...boring. He mounts Norwood early in the fight but does precious little with it before Norwood escapes. Later in the fight Norwood starts landing on the feet and Bennett basically doesn't respond. The second is more about Bennett controlling the fight by getting the take down and laying on Norwood. When the ref stands them up late in the round, Bennett ends up grabbing a guillotine and forces the tap late.

Norwood: Journeyman kickboxer with no grappling skill of any appreciable value. Beat Blake Bowman, which is like saying he beat me.

After the fight, Bennett does a backflip. His interview? Still incredible. Made no sense. I think he might have been high. He sends a shout out to his lawyer and his sister.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Brasco/Harshbarger

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lee/Moore

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Turner/Baggett

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. There's some decent back and forth on this card, actually, but it is mixed with a lot of bad fights and the least exciting Charles Bennett fight in history. What a shame.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/40)

NAAFS Cage Fighting (9/27/2010)

Is this a reairing? I have no idea. Usually these are on Sundays at 11PM, but this is on at 3:30AM on a Monday. This is from Rock N Rumble held on 8/28/2010.

1) Niko Boscarino vs. Kevin Zalac: Pro middleweight fight. Zalac is listed by NAAFS as 8-0-1, but who knows what he is as a pro. They mix pro and amateur bouts together for records.

FIGHT: Zalac TKO Rnd 1. This is a semicompetitive fight with Boscarino coming at Zalac and landing a lot of stuff in the clinch. However, Zalac can get the fight down with an armbar attempt and once it is on the mat, he's got the advantages. He eventually takes Boscarino's back and pounds him out to ref stop. Boscarino landed a lot though on a guy who isn't that great. Cut him too. (0)

2) Dan Spohn vs. John Hawk: Light heavyweight fight with NAAFS' beloved heavyweight turned light heavyweight.

FIGHT: Spohn Unanimous Decision. Ugh, this was terrible to watch. I don't even want to break down both men. As usual, Hawk ends up looking like a light heavyweight Tim Sylvia and fights that way too. They end up against the cage the majority of the time with Spohn landing by far the more telling blows within the clinch and even at distance. Spohn is terribly sloppy - he was landing arm shots with a foot in the air moving backwards and banging up Hawk - imagine if his feet were planted right! Hawk does persevere and get a takedown late in the fight but does basically nothing with it. Spohn is the best 205lb prospect in the NAAFS and I think Razak Al-Hassan fucks him up bad. Given that he's beaten everyone of value that promotion promotes, I'd like to see it. Why the hell not? (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 2.5 out of 10. Again, a long bad fight after a short but semi exciting one featuring guys no one will remember ever having been MMA fighters except themselves and a couple family members in 10 years.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (8/22/2010)

This was recorded on it original airing on 8/22/10. Long delay as they started replaying a lot of stuff from Fight Night At the Flats VI. Frankly, this was also part of that same event, so it too is probably a replay. Whatever.

1) Frankie Perez vs. Kenney Jackson: Amateur MMA bout among lightweights. Perez is a fighter from the stable of Ricardo Almedia himself.

FIGHT: Perez Unanimous Decision. Perez is a legitimate prospect, and you see why watching this. Most of the fight is spent wit Perez having hooks or a body triangle on Jackson while holding onto his back. This is part and parcel of an issue with training - Jackson doesn't get the same level of help as does Perez. Clearly he's not any less explosive or athletic. I can see that. But one of these guys is from Ohio and the other is from New York, and the guy from the richer, more important city is unsurprisingly better. Not only is he better as an MMA fighter right now, he completely dominates Jackson the entire fight. Jackson wins maybe, and I mean, MAYBE 20 seconds of the bout, and even that leads to Perez taking the back (Jackson goes for a guillotine after a shot by Perez, picks up Perez, ends up having Perez go around the side and to the back).

Perez, meanwhile, is only a purple belt and pretty new at this MMA thing. Still not a pro. That's something. The announcers are struck dumb trying to say something about this fight that doesn't demolish their homegrown guy. (1)

2) Chuck Ellison vs. Gerric Hayes: Pro welterweight fight. Both guys well under 170.

FIGHT: Hayes Submission Rnd 1. Another fight where the announcers spend a long time talking about their hometown fighter only to see him get rolled. Hayes gets a takedown ASAP, Ellison does try to slip out the back and, oh, oops, he gets caught with a kneebar and it gets blown up. Hayes apparently didn't earn a second time up to Ohio for smashing their amateur star and lost at a Gameness Fighting Championships event. (0)

3) Dane Bonnigson vs. Josh Stansbury: Dane apparently wrestled D-1 for Western Michigan and was undefeated as an amateur. Supposedly cuts from 240 down to 205. Josh Stansbury is some dude I don't know much about and thought was Kyle Kingsbury for a first. Pro series light heavyweight fight, in case I didn't make it clear.

FIGHT: Stansbury Submission Rnd 1. Bonningson looked like an even more robotic Dan Henderson, gets sorta touched by a high kick or something (not even sure he was), gets thrown as he shoots in, and ends up caught in a guillotine that he gave up way too easily while trying to get back to his feet. Never even really recognized the problems he had either. Bonningson is so jacked muscularly that I wonder if NAAFS has to test. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 5 out of 10. There was a really real prospect on the show tonight, along with dudes who were claimed to be real prospects getting embarassed. Makes for not bad TV. Only problem is that it is awash in ads for shit like NAAFS: The Music Vol. 2.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (7/18/2010)

More fights from Fight Night At The Flats VI on 6/5/2010.

1) Mike Putnam vs. Clint Musser: Musser is from Penn State, Putnam might be but they aren't sure, so he almost certainly isn't. Its also Putnam's first fight in a nonsmoker in over 2 years. Putnam is from a hellasmall town called Bellefonte in Pennsylvania that has a bitchin' German restaurant. Pro tip in case you are near Altoona.

FIGHT: Musser Submission Rnd 1. Musser looks to set up the takedown, gets it, and Putnam tries to scramble right into a guillotine. Its with the arm in but Putnam still forces the tap as he rolls into full guard. (0)

2) Tamikka Brents vs. Jessica Zomcik: Women's MMA bout. Zomchik has won some women's BJJ tournaments....no idea what belt level, don't know if it was for novices or U-19s or anything like that, just only the weight for this fight is known (155). Further investigation tells me she won a NAGA title of some sort in 2009 in a no-gi division. What belt level? Pfff. No clue, yo.

FIGHT: Zomcik Split Decision. Close fight in which Zomcik proved more than capable opposition to Zomcik. She gassed out a little in the third but was a match standing and in the clinch. Honestly, the fight was completely forgettable stuff and I was reading about the American Le Mans Series race at Road America instead of completely paying attention. Tamikka threw a lot of single shots and Zomcik threw a lot of arm punch combinations. (0)

3) Zac Gobel vs. Milan Wesley: Gobel admits to only having trained for 3-4 weeks, which means he's really only trained about 2. Maybe. Wesley celebrated his last win, I am told, with the "Chocolate Thunder Dance", which upset a rural crowd. What is that supposed to mean? A bunch of drunk crackers screaming the N-word? Middleweight contest with both men well under the limit.

FIGHT: Gobel Submission Rnd 1. Pretty big upset they say. Gobel gets cut shooting for the takedown: actually, looks like he must have been cut as he took him down and his head hit the canvas. He promptly locks in a RNC from a sort of side position, a la Militech/Newton, but then gets in some hooks and pulls him back for the win. Fast stuff. (0)

4) Jason Jones vs. Brian Rogers: Jones is from Team Bloody Buddy, and no, its not the black dude from Holland. Rogers has some awesome dreds. Still reminds me of Jermaine Andre with that hair.

FIGHT: Rogers TKO Rnd 1. He gets kneed in the balls early on, needs to recover, then comes back hard and angry. Eventually he lands a really nice body kick and Jones is just like "I'm done". He ends up turtling up and Rogers lets him up, then levels him as he rises with an uppercut. Nice win, even if its not anything to major. (0)

FIGHT OF THE SHOW: Brents/Zomcik

OVERALL FOR THE PROGRAM: 4 out of 10. I don't think I've actively enjoyed a NAAFS program. Like, been yelling at the scream stoked. Ever. This just kinda follows along with that. Maybe Rogers becomes something beyond being a 4-2 fighter with a couple fun KOs, but he needs like several more wins at this level to show consistency, and then some wins against bigger names, and THEN maybe he can go up and fight a real name. I'd like to come back to him when he's something like 12-2. That's a year and a half or two years away.

Moosin: God of Martial Arts (5/21/2010)

A classic event. The version I'm watching is the Polsat Sport one with Polish commentary. The show is only two hours long. Round cage - borrowed from ProElite?

1) Lukasz Jurkowski vs. Kim Ho Jin: Light heavyweight contest.

FIGHT: Jukowski TKO Rnd 1. Not a lot to say about this fight. Both men were kinda sloppy going for throws in the clinch and Jin was a much smaller man. Jurkowski eventually nicked Jin with a knee that bothered him a little and followed it with a hard elbow to the head he didn't expect that dropped him. Some punches on the mat followed and ended it. (0)

2) Tara LaRosa vs. Roxanne Modafferi: LaRosa looks old now, jesus. Roxie looks like an ugly nerd.

FIGHT: Modafferi Split Decision. If this were a men's fight, this would be a five. Its the women though, and so I give it a (4).

Modafferi: Starting with the winner - she actually hurts LaRosa standing pretty badly in round one after the two had basically spent the round against the cage in an embrace. In rounds two and three though, its Modafferi getting stunned by punches. While she really doesn't do anything in round 2 to justify giving her the round, in round 3 though its a different story. She's dropped and LaRosa rushes into her guard. But when she gets there, Modafferi throws up a couple solid triangle attempts. While LaRosa escapes both and has a couple hammerfists of little value, the submission attempts are basically enough to get her a win on two cards.

LaRosa: Her age is catching up to her, as might be the cut down to 130. Why was she so easily caught in triangle attempts? Don't know. She did manage to escape but the close calls she endured in round 3 cost her the fight when she should have been able to keep it standing and manage the fight and decision on the feet.

3) Yves Edwards vs. Mike Campbell: Lightweight fight between the aging journeyman and a pseudo prospect who already bounced out of the WEC.

FIGHT: Campbell Unanimous Decision. Incredibly close fight. I'll be honest - I think Yves Edwards has some reason to be upset here. (3)

Campbell: Just a guy who is good at a few things - standard issue wrestleboxer with some level of athleticism. He rocks Edwards with some punches in the second round but actually spends a surprising amount of time on the back foot and on his back. Even gives up his back to Edwards a couple times. I'll be honest - I don't see how he won the fight. He got cut, he got thrown around with a couple impressive tosses (Edwards nearly gave him a cradle piledriver in the third) - did they consider the parts that Edwards wasn't dominating "control" on Campbell's part?

Edwards: He's still fun to watch and he still brought it - nearly laid out Campbell with a headkick in the first round as well as a knee that was oh-so-close in the first round, but did cut him with punches. He was pretty even with Campbell until he dropped his hands and took some punches in the second, elevating Campbell from a body lock on the backside to throw him down and be in side control. In the third he landed better (I thought) with Campbell occasionally coming forward and clinching or going for the legs only to get take hammerfists, get shrugged off, or get thrown. Oh well.

4) Rafael Natal vs. Travis Lutter: Natal was tearing up ROC for a little bit. Lutter has been taking a long fall in his MMA career. He just looks tired and worn out standing around the ring. Might not even care.

FIGHT: Natal TKO Rnd 1. Simply put, this is a case of a guy who looks like he aged all at once. He had zero for Natal standing, would constantly fail to get the takedown, and went down to a grazing left hand and got pounded out on the mat. Natal gets a UFC contract afterwards. (3)

5) Travis Wiuff vs. Josh Barnes: Wiuff has been reviewed stunningly few times for all the fights he's had. Barnes was a sort of a prospect who came in 1-3 for his last 4 coming into this.

FIGHT: Wiuff TKO Rnd 1. Barnes and Wiuff trade and Barnes isn't Mike Kyle or Tim Hague or whatever. Stuns Barnes with a left hook and then levels him with the followup. Fight is 34 seconds. (2)

6) Tim Sylvia vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski: Freakshow of epic proportions that people actually thought Pudz might win. No good reasoning behind it, just that Sylvia lost to Mercer and somehow, being muscular makes for being the same as a former top heavyweight boxing contender.

FIGHT: Sylvia TKO Rnd 2. Generally dominated by Sylvia who absorbs little actual punishment from the diesel Pudz. Mariusz just thunders forward with bad low kicks and punches, tries to clinch and get takedowns, and finds a resisting opponent is tougher to toss around than a 800lb stone ball. Sylvia hits him with kicks and punches while looking pretty chubs at the moment, and early in the second Mariusz basically flops and allows Sylvia to get on top of him and hit him until the ref stops it. Clearly Pudz can't fight more than 3 minutes and can't fight at a high level for the 3 minutes he can go. The bouts scores highly for being one of those Cro-Cop/Dos Caras Jr. style fights that simply can't be missed. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Edwards/Campbell

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wiuff/Barnes

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7.5 out of 10. There's some good fights on this card - no wars or crazy FOTY candidates, but good fights with decent fighters. The women's fight could be considered one of the maybe 15-20 most important fights the weight class has ever seen. Heavyweight freaskshow fight is historically valuable to MMA in Poland and to an extend internationally.

D&R Rating: 53% (16/30)

NAAFS Cage Fighting (7/11/2010)

Another episode of Fight Night at the Flats VI fights headlined by a female pro bout.

1) Corey Ruthsatz vs. Craig Wilson: Two .500 fighters. Ruthsatz reps Sandusky. HOLLA AT ME SANDUSKY.

FIGHT: Ruthsatz Submission Rnd 1. Really nice takedown early for Corey, and while he ends up losing the top position, he quickly makes up for it by getting an armbar as soon as Wilson postures up to do anything. Ruthsatz is a amateur and this is a good win, but he already returned to a .500 record after his next fight. The guy that beat him? In the next fight. (0)

2) Ben Quigley vs. RJ Buck: Buck comes in with a really nice ammy record.

FIGHT: Buck Unanimous Decision. Its very simple - Buck can take down Quigley and Quigley can only try to submit him. And he can't lock anything up to take the win. There's attempts at a triangle but Buck stacks and lands punches in the first, then weak guillotines and the like in the second and third. (0)

3) Amanda LaVoy vs. Jessica Eye: Both women have good amateur records. This is at 125. What does it mean? I have no idea.

FIGHT: Eye TKO Rnd 2. Uhh, whatever. Low level of skill that is not unexpected since this is women's MMA at a novice pro level. LaVoy was just run over. I mean, there wasn't anything competitive to see here. Eye just takes down her opponent early off a trip and bashes her head in. In the second round LaBoy lands a sweet looking front kick that doesn't phase Eye and gets beat up some more. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3 out of 10. No really competitive fights, and the prospects that were on the show didn't excite me at all.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (7/4/2010)

Recorded on STO back on its inital airing, Independence Day 2010. This is a show of fights from Fight Night At the Flats 6 from 6/6.

1) Joey Holt vs. Bryon McCroskey: Amateur lightweight fight. McCroskey is hyped as a soon to be pro who has a bright future.

FIGHT: Holt Split Decision. Lousy fight to watch - Holt gets a couple big takedowns in this fight, but doesn't really do much with them. Most of the fight is fought against the cage with one of the two pushing the other, but Holt leading in the pushing against cage control time probably 70-30. (0)

2) Brandon Ezzo vs. AJ Aeschlimann: Pro middleweight vacant title fight thing or something. AJ is noted as being a TKD practitioner. Oh man oh man.

FIGHT: Aeschlimann Submission Rnd 2. Just total domination by Aeschlimann, who proves to be an adept wrestler who understands the basics of MMA by getting his opponent down, moving to dominant position (mount), forcing his opponent to give up an even worse position with a methodical attack of strikes while not sacrificing position, and then winning by RNC. Now, honestly, it would have been nice to see him show less respect for Ezzo and start smashing him in the first, but we take what we get. This is just the start, right? (1)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3.5 out of 10. Aeschlimann looks like a prospect of value, but at this point, who can tell? He has a win over Chris Lozano as an amateur but unfortunately those fights don't count on a pro record. Still, its impressive considering that Lozano just beat the hell out of Yoshiyuki Yoshida, the one time Cage Force Tourney Champ, on a Bellator show two weeks ago.

Shark Fights 13 (9/11/2010)

The night after SHINE's ridiculous LW tourney, another B Show of epic proportion. We've got Bas Rutten, we've got Don Frye, and we've got Ron Kruck. Don Frye is wearing a US Flag button down denim shirt and a cowboy hat. This is amazing and it hasn't even started yet. A brief note about Shark Fights; people love to talk about what a great promotion they are. They did 10,000 people this one time outdoors when they gave away tickets. They never went to TV or even DVD before this. So, here's a supposedly classy, great, incredible promotion NO ONE HAS SEEN. Frye describes the undercard (aired on Sherdog, and of course something I didn't review) as being like "prison sex" in a positive manner. We are also forced to watch the national anthem ceremony.

This is a strange review because the first four fights were televised on Sherdog. Luckily, they are still there for me to watch and review, so I will. A number of the videos have fucked up sound, so I don't bother to listen to the play by play. That's a shame. Since its kinda the same but not really part of the PPV show, I'll separate them out and even give a trio of D&R Ratings.

1) Eric Davila vs. Pete Spratt: This is the opener. Pete Spratt headlines MFC shows. How did they afford this card? Did they? Davila showed up over 6 lbs overweight.

FIGHT: Davila Submission Rnd 2. (1)

Spratt: Spratt was pretty well controlling the standup exchanges and the pacing of the fight. However, in the second round, there's a clash of heads and his bell is rung. They rush him to restart and Spratt clearly isn't all there, making some gestures to clear his head and touching his head. He eats a knee from Davila, gets dropped hard, and then ends up in a guillotine trying to get back up. Up to that point its not like he looked stupendous either. I mean, he was kinda slow and clearly in no rush to engage Davila.

Davila: Shocked to see that he won this fight. Basically getting controlled for most of the fight up till the accidental butt. As best I could see, that was his strategy - jump straight in, lead with the head, hope it or a punch lands, capitalize. Aside from that, there was a single takedown at the end of the first round.

2) Daniel Straus vs. Karen Darabedyan: Darabedyan was a WEC contracted fighter who didn't do much. Straus I saw in his defeat of Joe Heiland in the NAAFS and thought he was pretty good. The fight is preceeded by a message imploring me to support the troops.

FIGHT: Straus Unanimous Decision. Nothing against Straus, but honestly? If I'm scoring the fight? Darabedyan 30-27. So much of this fight was spent at great distance in what amounted to point fighting, and I can actually see Straus winning that by the slightest of margins. But Darabedyan had numerous big submission attempts and takedowns in this fight. When Straus was winning the fight, either he won big for about 10 seconds a round (1st and 3rd) or was barely eeking it out in a slow standup contest. Darabedyan would then come in for about a minute or so per round or more and just totally dominate the flow of action and be the one seeking the finish. (1)

Straus: Striking isn't that bad nor is his wrestling. I gotta say that seeing him get taken down the way he did in the 3rd round was sorta disheartening, because its like he didn't prepare for it at all or see the shot so obviously coming and was caught flatfooted and wide open. He had a couple solid takedowns of his own and quickly passed to mount twice, but he never made anything of it other than landing a few quick punches that didn't seem to have any lasting effect. On the mat he nearly got submitted with a leg lock attempt. I liked the way he controlled Darabedyan's leg/foot in the third round as he tried to figure four the leg and roll for a heel hook. Showed good presence of mind. Still some ways to go.

Darabedyan: He had a golden, GOLDEN opportunity to finish this fight in the first round with a rolling leglock attempt, but he was too close to the cage to pull it off and get the extension. Straus basically was stacked and defending by default because there wasn't enough room for him to fall down. His takedowns and positional dominance were more impressive in my mind than what Straus was doing, so I think he got jobbed. Really, his stand up isn't at the level it needs to be to compete far beyond this level. Needs to move his head to get inside. Left his hands down. Could have thrown a straight right and blown out Straus in theory...if he knew how to do it.

3) Aaron Rosa vs. Devin Cole: Heavyweight contest, with Rosa being an ex light heavyweight who put on pounds. Would have liked to hear the commentary, but had to mute it because the sound was off by like three minutes. Oh well.

FIGHT: Rosa Unanimous Decision. This was a hellacious fight to watch on mute. Stunk on ice. (1)

Rosa: Why did Rosa win? Because, frankly, he is from Texas and it was probably to give the fans a "hometown" winner even if the hometown was hours away. Rosa gets squashed against the cage by the smaller man (Cole), and absorbs shots from him. He wins the second round of inactivity with a really cool throw and an eyepoke, but Cole wins one and three in my book cleanly having gotten takedowns and landing more effective shots. The real losers were the fans though, who had to watch this. Rosa could have ended this early with leg kicks, but only threw 2-3 the whole time.

Cole: Cole lost a lot of his career for a couple charges of sexual assault and shit like that, so he is suspect in my mind as a person. As a fighter he was never that great either. Here he is smaller than Rosa (in spite of Rosa being a light heavyweight with a penchant for twinkies) but still manages to push him into the fence for, I dunno, 12 of the 15 minutes. Standing he shuffles forward slowly and puts nothing together in spite of having a basically frozen opponent in front of him that can barely amble backwards. Because of that he loses. I lose too for watching. Exchanges with these guys looked like a flailing of limbs, like an octopus slap fight. Abysmal.

4) Ronnie Mann vs. Doug Evans: For the SHARK FIGHTS FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD. And this isn't on the PPV, why? Mann was in Sengoku's Featherweight tournament and Evans was in the UFC for a little while and got his shit pushed in by Bao Quach in EXC.

FIGHT: Mann Split Decision. Crowd boos the shit out of this when it ends. Absolutely dull fight where the counter puncher (Evans) basically is comprehensively outworked by the aggressive fighter (Mann) but happens to score a couple takedowns that lead to nothing, but score with the judges. The 48-47 card for Evans is nearly criminal IMO - I had this 50-45 for Mann, could have seen 49-46 for Mann if you gave Mann Round 2. (2)

Evans: How does Evans try to win this fight? I'm not really sure. He really only shoots a couple times, and his deepest takedowns come off of getting down Mann from flying knee attempts. His punching is pretty weak and his wrestling is just sorta OK. Didn't kick at all.

Mann: Basically follows around Evans, never cuts the ring off, goes for Superman punches and flying knees rather than cornering him and delivering combinations. This means that occasionally Evans grabs him and takes him down when one of those hail mary attempts doesn't do actual damage. This fight is basically terrible because Evans doesn't engage and Mann isn't good enough to force it, nor chase the fight down to the mat. Also, he had opportunities and landed clean punches, but had nothing behind them.

5) Paul Bradley vs. Johnny Rees: Bradley has a no contest on his ledger BECAUSE OF RAIN. Rees was in the UFC and I already forgot him.

FIGHT: Bradley Submission Rnd 1. Pretty dominating fight for Bradley. Shoots early, grabs the takedown, and then starts looking for position changes. He moves to half guard then to side mount, then to north south (with a choke attempt that goes nowhere), back to half guard, then Rees scrambles to his feet. Or he tries to, because Bradley jumps on the back and chokes him out. (2)

Another thank you to the armed forces video thing because hey, what better way to pay tribute to the US Colonial forces than with CAGE FIGHTING~

6) Tarec Saffiedine vs. Brock Larson: There was a time where people on the internet thought that Larson was a monster because he was muscular and beat up people in the WEC. Then he went back to the UFC. Saffiedine is a proud prospect out of the Team Quest camp.

FIGHT: Saffiedine Unanimous Decision. 30-27 on all cards. (3)

Larson: Frye says that Larson looks "sick" coming in, like he's tired or whatever. Possibly true? Don't know? Who cares. Larson does nothing the whole fight other than shoot for takedowns he doesn't get. Also gets hit in the face standing and on the mat.

Saffiedine: Complete domination stuffing takedowns, hitting Larson standing and on the mat. Never really had Larson in trouble aside from forcing him to shoot in round three after landing a combination to the body and head.

7) Danillo Villefort vs. Joey Villasenor: Most interesting part about this fight is that we get Don Frye essentially admitting he beats his wife during the walk-ins. Villefort was a last minute replacement for Drew McFedries.

FIGHT: Villefort Unanimous Decision (2)

Villefort: Takedowns, low kicks, occasional punches. On the mat he controlled but rarely had any sort of serious submission attempt being set up, much less executed. Villasenor was custom made.

Villasenor: Smokin' Joe is a good slugger, but man, he doesn't have much of a ground game and never has. That was his undoing here. Even when he went for a takedown and was successful in the 3rd, he was swept and put on his back again. Real shame for the fans that Villefort, a guy who is the opposite of Drew McFedries stylistically, was the guy brought in as a last minute replacement.

8) Jorge Masvidal vs. Paul Daley: Daley is a good fighter and that's it. Masvidal is a guy who is willing to fight pretty much anyone anytime. He's Nick Diaz with less press.

FIGHT: Daley Unanimous Decision (3)

Daley: Lackluster performance at best. He was taken down repeatedly with single legs but neutralized Masvidal off his back. Standing Daley was open to the jab but landed plenty of leg kicks and even a couple body shots. At the end of the third, Daley wraps the round and fight up by stuffing a single leg and then beating on Masvidal for the last 53 seconds of the bout standing and on the mat.

Masvidal: So much smaller than Daley, he still came close to winning before gassing out (perhaps by using so much energy for the takedowns). His big problem was the standup, where he only landed the occasional counter shot while moving straight back. Just wasn't active enough to get a decision over Daley. He showed he's a good fighter though, for sure.

9) Houston Alexander vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: Two dudes who came to prominence with fast KOs over big names, then suffered a ton of brutal defeats.

FIGHT: Alexander TKO Rnd 2 (2)

Sokoudjou: So Alexander is rocked badly in the first round and Sokoudjou capitalizes and lands a ton of blows while Houston is holding onto the leg to survive. And survive he does - while Sokoudjou tosses him over with a judo throw, he's basically blown himself up and from there, Alexander begins to slowly impose his will. When the second starts, Sokoudjou basically throws some terrible arm punches and then is dropped and KOed.

Alexander: Still not that good, but has lead fists and can KO guys even late in the fight. After nearly being stopped early, he actually ends the first round on top and then blasts him out in the second round. No growth, not gonna grow, this is what he is.

10) Keith Jardine vs. Trevor Prangley: Prangley is straight in the opponent role here - you might remember what I said about Jason Dent about a month ago becoming a gatekeeper type who was entering professional loserville. Prangley should be going there in this fight with the ex-UFC star. Should. Also, did I mention that this is a nontitle fight with the champion being in the bout? Amazing.

FIGHT: Prangley Unanimous Decision (3)

Jardine: Jardine's style of counter punching works well against men willing to come forward. His arms cover his body and his hands cover his chin fairly effectively. But when someone isn't willing to engage him, Jardine has problems. Actually, he has problems when guys rush him and he's cold. Or when he's tired. So basically, Jardine is a gatekeeper fighter. He is hurt in round one with a knee that cuts him, and in round 2, he's dropped and hurt badly with a punch. But in round three, Jardine comes forward and is actually effective in doing so. He hurts Prangley and really puts the rush on him for the last two minutes. But he doesn't do enough to stop Prangley or justify a 10-8 round, so Prangley wins.

Prangley: Slow and methodical, Prangley was pretty tired by the third round in spite of doing so little in the bout. His connection rate must have been like 40%-50% because he threw so little but landed when he did. His wrestling wasn't really enough to beat Jardine in and of itself - when on the mat he was nearly armbar'ed in the first round, though he defended it successfully. His striking and boxing wasn't that fantastic, but has it ever been? Frankly, if this was a 5 round fight, Prangley would have lost his belt. After the fight Frye talks about how he needs a cigarette and shot of tequila because it was like "rough, hard sex".

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Sokoudjou/Alexander

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sokoudjou/Alexander

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Bradley/Rees

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10 for the PPV, 2.5 out of 10 including prelims. Man, any way I cut this, I can't give it a great review. The reason I separate out the D&R number about how relevant a card is and this number that I personally prescribe it is based on how entertaining the card is. This was not an entertaining card, first and foremost. Complaints about matchmaking or Shark Fights business model aside, the most interesting aspect of the show was hearing Don Frye and Bas Rutten talk shop for hours and say absurd things. And with the prelims being as bad as they were (and frankly, they were lousy), watching the PPV by itself is a case of addition through subtraction. Rosa/Cole is a contender for worst fight of the year alongside Mir/Cro-Cop. With prelims, you're talking about an investment of something like 4:30 watching fights that, for the most part, aren't competitive or if they are, end up being competitive due to a lack of competition from the competitors.

By comparison though, the Shark Fights card is currently the most important and relevant MMA card that I've reviewed to the present day. I suppose that isn't too crazy given that it was a month ago, but I've reviewed plenty of recent shows only to see them end up getting tragically bad numbers. So as a hardcore fan, is it important that you watch this? Perhaps, at least as long as you plan on betting on these guys or winning prediction leagues. But from a "will I enjoy it stand point", you're talking about a show with YAMMA levels of production, about equal levels of entertaining color commentary, and fights that are only moderately better. Sokoudjou/Alexander is sorta like an upscaled Pat Smith/Butterbean. Either way, they're not gonna be a cornerstone of what is great about MMA. Maybe you'll get a smile out of those though.

D&R Ratings:

Prelims - 20%(5/20)

PPV - 50% (15/30)

Both together - 40% (20/50)

Raging Wolf 9 (8/28/10)

Luigi Fioravanti, Jarrod Card, and Jay Adams are announcing again. Main event? Alexis Davis vs. Elaina Maxwell. Oh, great. This is from the RAGING WOLF EVENTS CENTER. Dear god. Yeah, its an ECW Arena situation where they just rename the Seneca Allegany Events Center when they book it.

1) Jason Bauman vs. Mark Carrow: Amateurs, 155lbs.

FIGHT: Bauman TKO Rnd. Carrow looks for a takedown early and gets nowhere. The announcers both say that if Bauman walks forward, he's getting laid out, and sure enough it happens maybe 10 seconds later. His chin was way too high up. (0)

2) Kevin Ayers vs. Patrick Gorman Jr.: Forrest Petz is reffing. 185lb ammys.

FIGHT: Ayers TKO Rnd 1. Gorman looked like he gassed out 30 seconds in after going wild with strikes. Ayers gets on top briefly but does nothing. When its stood back up, Gorman Jr. absorbs some punches and stuff and falls down. The end. Very blah. (0)

3) Jay Wadsworth vs. Jason Trzewieczynski: Jason T, as he will be known from here, is a 3-3 fighter, Wadsworth is 6-4. Lightweights. Pros. Do I care? Not entirely.

FIGHT: Jason T Submission Rnd 1. Wadsworth says in the prefight video package that he knows that Jason T has good submissions. What does he do? Takes it to the ground, then give up the arm inside a minute. Armbar from guard and sweeps Wadsworth over. (0)

4) Taylor Solomon vs. Sam Pascuzzi: Pascuzzi is a late replacement says a video package, and at a 180lb catchweight.

FIGHT: Solomon Submission Rnd 1. Solomon is from the Niagara Falls Gracie Baha school and shows that he has legit BJJ by moving to 3-0 and submitting Pascuzzi. Again, like the last shown fight - a situation of someone having a terrible gameplan with Pascuzzi getting the takedown and giving up the arm. Solomon though transitioned into it much faster, and while he was a little sloppy, Pascuzzi couldn't rotate out. (1) Solomon gets a point because he's the only interesting prospect.

5) Daniel Dwyer vs. Erik Herbert: 190lb catchweight here.

FIGHT: Dwyer Submission Rnd 2. Easy fight for Herbert. The only meaningful strike in the fight was in the start of round 2 from Dwyer as Herbert waltzed in hands down. The rest of the fight is basically either Dwyer pushing Herbert into the cage or Dwyer laying on top of Herbert. This does shift in the last two minutes or so as Herbert rolls over and gives his back in an attempt to get out of half guard. Eventually Herbert sinks in the choke. (0)

6) Alexis Davis vs. Elaina Maxwell: 135lb title fight, I think. Except that Maxwell came in over by 2.5 lbs. So it actually isn't. Davis is champion, like it matters.

FIGHT: Maxwell Unanimous Decision. A terrible, terrible fight. Among the worst I've EVER seen. Davis and Maxwell clinch up, Davis pushes trying to get throws, doesn't do anything, gets like two submission attempts, Maxwell kinda pushes her off and shit and man, this is terrible. Maybe 4 strikes landed the whole fight? Just abysmal to watch. The crowd leaves as the fight goes on. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bauman/Carrow

KO OF THE NIGHT: Bauman/Carrow

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Solomon/Pascuzzi

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. The promotion blew all their money for the night paying Royce Gracie's appearance fee to do signatures. Seriously. I can see it in the matchmaking and the people they booked. Maxwell hadn't fought for two fucking years before this fight. The card gets a 2 out of 10 only because I can see Solomon going somewhere in the sport with his BJJ. Maybe a TUF appearance or something?

D&R Rating: 3% (1/30)

SHINE Fights: Lightweight Grand Prix (9/10/10)

Beau Taylor and BRUCE BECK are the announcing team for this event, which was a total mess. Originally scheduled to occur in Florida, the one night 8 man tournament format was rejected at the last minute and moved to an Oklahoma indian casino. Who's in the tournament? Carlos Prater, Drew Fickett, and Krazy Horse. And other guys. And it gets better - the fights were voted on by the fans! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The fights? The quarters and semis are 2 5 minute rounds with a 3 minute OT round in case there is a draw. No elbows are allowed in those fights. In the final, its 3 5 minute rounds with elbows being allowed.

The setup here is tiny. Are there 500 people in the crowd? Entrance to the ring is maybe 6 feet?

1) Charles "Kid Khaos" Bennett vs. Drew Fickett: Voted on by most of the fans. A train wreck of personalities.

FIGHT: Fickett Submission Rnd 1. This is about what you would expect. Fickett takes this to the mat and consistently works for submissions, which Bennett is wide open for. Bennett slams his way out of an armbar and pulls out of a armbar, but Fickett is eventually successful jumping to a guillotine standing. Bennett tries some sort of Canadian Destroyer sort of flip slam and ends up on his back getting choked out cold. Some dude from Young Indiana Jones is doing the in ring interviews. LOL (2)

2) Dennis Bermudez vs. Shannon Gugerty: Strange, strange fight to be watching IMO. Bermudez is undefeated and a last second replacement, Gugerty is a UFC reject.

FIGHT: Bermudez Unanimous Decision. The magic of a ring - at the end of the first, Bermudez goes for a trip takedown and both men tumble out of the ring. Gugerty's head lands on a chair and he needs a little time to recover. (1)

Bermudez: He's a good fighter. No lie. Very acceptable striking in terms of being an MMA fighter - pushes his shots a little, but tries to keep his hands up and really uses it more to set up the shot than anything. He's a good athlete. Has some decent takedowns too. Strong. There's a problem though - he's too small for 155. He needs to go down to 145.

Gugerty: Set on the back foot from the start, he only manages to slow down takedowns and absorb jabs. This in spite of huge advances in size and experience. He really couldn't do anything off his back either except to escape and return to his feet, where he was outdone by Bermudez's superior hand and foot speed.

BEN HENDERSON INTERVIEW~

3) Kyle Baker vs. James Warfield: Who? Baker hasn't fought in 11 months. Warfield has fought in every club show ever say the announcers. Wow, that means a lot.

FIGHT: Baker Split Decision. Another fight where the ring plays a big part - Warfield goes for a flying knee in the second and goes clean over the top rope, landing on a table outside and hurting his ribs. After a break to let him recover, its back on. We also get an overtime round! Yellow cards appear for Baker? What the hell? (1)

Baker: The first round he found himself totally controlled by Warfield, who was using very unorthodox techniques to draw Warfield's hands down or keep him off guard. Baker also sustained a nasty gash over his left eye from a punch of Warfield's. That theme continued into the second round with Warfield throwing strange bolo punches and pulling cool feints and keeping Baker offguard. Then Warfield flew over the top rope and seemed to hurt his right side of his abdomen. From that point on, Baker took over, closing the distance, getting the fight on the mat with trips, and nearly choking out Warfield in the second. Somehow he loses the third on a judges score card in spite of me not understanding how. He controlled the whole round. Maybe because of the yellow card?

Warfield: A decent enough striker early on with wild shots that would probably be countered well by a skilled athletic fighter of a higher caliber. After going out of the ring, he never truly recovers. It takes a lot out of him speed and agility wise. Baker then keeps the fight close and never relents with his own offensive attack. Warfield's wrestling is not all that and a bag of chips either. That is something he could have relied on and simply didn't have in his bag.

At this point, we have a nice long pause to re-tighten the ropes. They note that Baker might not even be able to continue, but mention that there is an alternate bout that happened which we didn't even hear about.

4) Rich Crunkilton vs. Carlo Prater: Another strange fight of guys who were jettisoned from the big boy promotions. They're good fighters, but who is really excited to see this?

FIGHT: Crunkilton Split Decision. Another Overtime round, plus a pause in between the first and second for "technical difficulties". Clearly, Crunkilton won the second and Prater the first. The third though was contested between two very gassed out men and ended up super competitive. I thought Prater only landed one really decent shot and got hit a couple times himself and was taken down and should have lost, so I'm OK with the decision. (1)

5) Dennis Bermudez vs. Drew Fickett: The ting walks start almost immediately after the last quarterfinal.

FIGHT: Fickett Submission Rnd 1. Again, Fickett just dominates a smaller man. This time, Bermudez is simply less seasoned and prepared to deal with a guy who is a legit threat as a submission wrestler and gets taken down to the mat, sees his guard passed, and gives up the back trying to get away. A RNC follows in short order. (1)

6) Carlo Prater vs. Charles Brown: And the next fight is a hot mess. With both of the winners of the latter fights being out of the tournament, Prater has come back and Charlie Brown, the winner of the alternate fight against Brian Van Hoven, are in. Again in Prater's case. Also, Prater takes like ten minutes to get into the ring because he needs his gloves re-taped.

FIGHT: Prater Majority Decision. This time Prater didn't need to go to OT, and while I had it 29-29, I knew hearing the scorecards who won. The first was unbelievably close, as Brown and Prater spent most of the round at great distance throwing leg kicks and jabs. Prater actually got shook up by a Brown punch but came back to clinch and throw Brown before the end of the round. In the second, it was all Prater. He took down Brown multiple times and held dominant position. Not a great fight by any means. (1)

At this point, we get some native american drumming. Amazing.

7) Carlo Prater vs. Drew Fickett: Your SHINE GP finals. Was the winner even paid? Who knows. This is a rematch of a fight Fickett won. Of course, for that fight, Prater hadn't been in the ring for 23 minutes prior to getting in to fight him.

FIGHT: Fickett Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special - Fickett with a shot immediately, passes the guard, punches, forces Pickett into giving his back, and chokes out Prater to win the Grand Prix. BTW, fun fact - Sherdog lists the amount of time for this second RNC in a row as being the same about as the semifinal win over Bermudez. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bennett/Fickett

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Fickett/Bennett

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. In the tradition of modern day one night tournaments, the show feels roughshod. In fact, the repeated technical problems lead me to believe that someone had to go to the truck and convince the people in it to keep running.

OK, you say - production wise it was worse than YAMMA. But then this is a website that will watch anything. Shit with no production values gets reviewed. What about the fights? Well, the fights. They are fights. Part of the problem in watching them is that you have guys drilled into being sparring partner types fighting one another because technically they are good and SHINE wanted technically good fighters. I'm not saying everyone was like that. Bermudez didn't fight like a sparring partner. Bennett and Fickett threw down. So did, to a lesser extent, Baker and Warfield. So there were better fights than YAMMA. Even the mediocre fights were at least technically interesting and competitive.

Is this a bad show? From the perspective of whether or not I feel compelled to suggest it to anyone, I suppose it is. Aside from the Fickett fights, what is there to point to and be excited about? With all respect to Shannon Gugerty, he doesn't have the cache that Murilo Bustamante or Thales Leites in my mind as far as being a great fighter is concerned. Or, for that matter, as far as potential is concerned. So I know that those bouts perhaps mean about as much as Gugerty in this tournament did - an argument I admit can be made - but hardcore fans will watch Murilo Bustamante fight anyone so long as it isn't a MARS show and it isn't Tom Erikson in the opposing corner. Who is demanding Shannon Gugerty fights? Is anyone hoping to see a glimpse of the man that beat Dale Hartt? I find that hard to believe. I know I am not such a man, nor have I met a person who is either electronically via internet forum or in real life.

So what you are left with is a mess of a fight card that is poorly put on, feels incredibly minor league (makes the Gracie Fighting Championship feel like the NFL by comparison), and features a lot of fighters who've gotten their shot, never did a whole lot of memorable stuff with it, and haven't proven that they deserve another. Will SHINE run another event? Who knows.

D&R Rating: 23% (8/35)

Impact FC 2 (7/18/2010) (& 1 sorta)

From the failed Aussie promotion that shorted everyone involved, we have this almost instant classic MMA show. Andy Hammond and Elvis Sinosic are announcing this insanity that is headlined by Ken Shamrock/Pedro Rizzo. The show though is a complete mess, as interspersed with live fights are bouts that were taped during the first Impact FC event a week earlier. Since these are the only events the company ever held and they're already totally bankrupt, its unlikely we'll see a DVD release officially stateside or anywhere ever. So for those fights when relevant, the actual date is 7/10/2010. But the PPV counts as a PPV. OK? OK.

1) Murilo Bustamante vs. Jesse Taylor: This is the fight starting the card. I repeat - THE FIGHT STARTING THE SHOW.

FIGHT: Taylor TKO Rnd 2 (3)

Bustamante: Murilo comes out looking strong - he actually gets some near submissions in the fight in the first round and has dominant positions (sweeps Taylor and mounts him!). However, he starts looking gassed by the end of the first after failing to win. Taylor gets a takedown early in the second and just rides on Bustamante, landing small shots until there's a standup. When it happens, Murilo stands briefly, the waives his hand and quits, collapsing.

Taylor: Better job of defending submissions, as there were real dangerous attempts in this fight against him. He just kept grinding and eventually forced Bustamante to quit.

NEXT - A fight from the IMPACT FC fight collection. That means the other show.

2) Josh Barnett vs. Geronimo Dos Santos: Josh Barnett looks to make up for his lame performance against a fat and lazy Mighty Mo.

FIGHT: Barnett TKO Rnd 1. Not much of a fight. Dos Santos was actually able to pummel with Barnett without going down immediately but totally smothered his own offense jumping into Barnett's clinch. He got out from under Barnett's mount once when Barnett seemed to be looking to float into an armbar, but got taken down with a trip again later and was pounded out from mount in the first. (3)

3) Jeremy May vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua: May was on Season 7 of TUF. Remember him? I don't. Ninja is Shogun's less successful brother. But he did really beat Rampage that one time.

FIGHT: Ninja Submission Rnd 1. You see a fight like this and you think, "Wow, how uncompetitive is that?" And then it turns out to be a short war. May just wings the wildest punches ever at Ninja and he lands because Ninja's reflexes are dulled by multiple bad KOs. He nearly finishes Ninja with a bulldog choke, but Rua gets up and fights it off, then takes down May with a double leg. May actually just flips out of that like its pro wrestling or something and takes Rua's back briefly before Rua gets out of it. Back on the feet May comes charging at Ninja again and ends up getting choked out with a guillotine. Ninja had some dominance on top briefly but the fact that he was nearly stopped by May was shocking and sad. Rua needs to retire, but he probably can't. (2)

4) Denis Kang vs. Paulo Filho: A dream fight for PRIDE's 183lb weight class in 2005. Since then, both men have encountered huge personal demons. Now here they are in Australia fighting in front of a mostly empty building. I even forgot this fight happened.

FIGHT: Draw. I am a guy who hates 10-10 rounds. I would have given round 3 as 10-10. And I would have had this fight 29-29. In a sense, this was a perfect example of a fight that was a draw. No man really went after it and was successful in imposing their will. Filho would get half guard and land some hammerfists but then have to fight off a kimura. Same in reverse. (3)

Kang: Kang came out and dominated the entire first round of the fight. I mean, he gets on top and just hits Filho a lot. It is clear at this point that it is Kang's fight to lose. So what happens? He abandons his superior striking game against Filho having dominated the position and ends up on the bottom for most of round 2 and much of 3. He didn't lose the fight because in round 3, he was able to get up and effectively do some work of his own, but he ended up not winning either. And that's as big a crime.

Filho: Slow, lethargic, solely capable of grappling. These are traits of the modern Paulo Filho, now the poor man's Ricardo Arona. Its hard to believe looking at Filho's record that he has tumbled clear out of the top ten in the middleweight division, in fact dropping all the way to being nearly out of the top 20. This in spite of never technically losing as a middleweight, and only dropping one fight. Hell, he has a win over the guy that is still consensus ranked top 5 at this moment post roid positive (Sonnen). But it is deserved. He has pissed away what talent he had and fallen into disrepair mentally. Watching him lay on his back most of the first round smiling as he does nothing but keep a closed guard is a stunning indictment of Filho as a top caliber fighter. He shows he can still grapple competently in this fight, but we knew that as he was forced to rely on it to beat Chael Sonnen and Joe Doerkson in US fights of yore.

I can't think of anyone in MMA that has had a similar career curve while not losing. Because he has only one loss still. He doesn't deserve to be elevated off of this performance either, because Kang is clearly not a guy who is competing at the elite level any more. It all feels a bit sad.

5) Carlos Newton vs. Brian Ebersole: What a strange fight. Ebersole's a journeyman from Australia and therefore is a legend there, while everywhere in the world, Newton is the legend. Well, a legend with a journeyman record. So perhaps this is really evenly matched? This was also from the Impact FC 1 show.

FIGHT: Ebersole Unanimous Decision (2)

Newton: The saddest performance of Newton's career. Carlos doesn't even shoot for a takedown in this fight and ends up just eating jabs and right hands pretty much the whole fight. He tries to counter punch a little and in terms of grappling, Ebersole actually is the one pushing to try and get takedowns.

Ebersole: Some strange hammerfists to the thigh is what is most notable here. Aside from that, he is very ordinary as a striker and even more ordinary as a wrestler trying to get a takedown.

6) Brad Morris vs. Soa Palelei: What a weird regional contest. Two heavyweights of some note who have competed with regularity in Australia.

FIGHT: Palelei Submission Rnd 1. Not much of a fight, to be honest. Morris goes push Palelei up against the cage like he's going to take him down, doesn't, they end up lying there for awhile with Palelei tapping him, then turning the tables and pushing Morris into the cage. He gets down Morris and quickly moves to a kimura that forces Morris to tap out. If only Palelei was willing to get under 265 and fight real fighters. And could beat them. Since he can't. (1)

7) Paul Daley vs. Daniel Acacio: Acacio was a big name when he was in PRIDE for three seconds. Daley had been cut two months prior for the attempted sucker punch with Josh Koscheck in the UFC.

FIGHT: Daley TKO Rnd 3 (3)

Daley: Its tough to fault a guy too much when he wins by KO. However, Daley shows why he was one of the most overrated guys in the sport the last 3-4 years. In rounds 1 and 2 Daley ends up on the bottom because he's overzealous in his offense, and he barely escapes a heel hook attempt in round number 1. He basically just pulls his leg free. That's great that he can do it with Acacio, who isn't physically strong. Try doing that with a much stronger man and see how well it goes. He lands some good leg kicks but gets taken down off one. He does show that as in the Shields fight, his submission defense is not bad at all these days.

Acacio: Quits when he is gashed open with an elbow on the bottom in the third round. Its hard to believe he was a middleweight when in this welterweight contest, he is clearly much smaller than Daley. His strange post-PRIDE career made him a journeyman, and as a welterweight he has a lot to offer in that regard. He showed he has a decent chin weathering the shots of Daley early on. His striking is still uncomfortable and robotic, but that's not uncommon in the sport. Really, there's a lot of worst P4P fighters in the UFC than him.

8) Pedro Rizzo vs. Ken Shamrock: What an incredible and incredibly sad fight.

FIGHT: Rizzo TKO Rnd 1. Was there any doubt how this would end? Pedro Rizzo rarely gets to use his patented leg kicks but they were on display for all the world to see here, as he lands a ton of them to Ken Shamrock. Ken doesn't bother to shoot in, instead trading leg kicks and the occasional jab with Rizzo. Eventually he's chopped down and Big John McCarthy lets Rizzo hit him a couple more times on the ground as Ken just covers up. A sad fight. Ken's nose looks worse than Jerome LeBanner's. Amazingly. Ken states he wants to fight big names except when he fights in small towns for fans. The crowd hopes for more Ken Shamrock. That is a thing. As long as the fans still want to see him, Ken admits jokingly (but really, this is for real) that he will keep getting beat up. (2)

This concludes the PPV broadcast, but here's an EXCLUSIVE BSHOWASSAULT REVIEW~. The points here won't count to the show above though. From Impact FC 1:

(thanks to the dude who posted this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPT_5EM0ckA)

BONUS)Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Joaquim Ferreria: Terrible quality from a point and shoot far away, but whatever. Soccerjew fell on hard times. Really hard times. Here he fights off TV against the man that defeated Junior Dos Santos, a brazilian midget top control grappler. Sounds familiar.

FIGHT: Sokoudjou TKO Rnd 1. Amazingly the whole thing is clearly visible. Sokoudjou comes out swinging with a low kick and punches and Ferreria does the expected. He clinches and tries to stop the onslaught. Problem though - Sokoudjou was a judoka and didn't suck at it. He throws Ferreria in a really cool fashion and begins to pound him out. Ferreria briefly gets this fight back up but basically is muscled back down and punished with punches to the dome till the stop is forced. All he ever did was look for a single. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Daley

KO OF THE NIGHT: Rizzo/Shamrock (even if it was like hitting a heavy bag in terms of difficulty)

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Ninja/May

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. The problem with shows packed with guys like this is matchmaking. Honestly, most promoters who do it make fights with no thought given as to the sorts of bouts they'll be making, instead hoping to generate revenue off the names of the guys in the ring. That's not to say that better matchmaking was gonna save Impact FC, because it wasn't. It couldn't. Nothing could have except if Impact FC were called something totally different and operated in a totally different manner.

What I'm getting at is that here you have a bunch of fights that are actually sorta relevant or interesting to hardcore fans - IE people like me. But in terms of matching guys in ways that produce exciting or even contests, man, they came up way short. Aside from Daley's perennial act as underachiever against Daniel Acacio (a name no one has uttered as a serious contender in half a decade), what on this card is really arguarably as both indispensable and entertaining viewing? What do you come away from seeing, saying, "Wow, that was great MMA"? Viewing the competitive draw between Filho and Kang, its clear that neither belongs at the top of the MMA ladder anymore. They don't have the heart. They don't have the will. They fight not to lose instead of fighting to win. Mentally both men are shot and their souls taken.

Is it a worthless fight in the MMA pantheon? Of course not. Filho still has more potential in his pinky than Court McGee and Ryan Jensen have in their whole bodies combined. And they're in the UFC. Court McGee won TUF. Same goes for Kang. And they'll likely beat fighters at that level in the near and distant future. Hell, they may beat Court McGee himself on whatever the 2013 version of Battlecade is. But I can see why Joe Silva doesn't want them, and why they'll be sorta hopelessly searching for a position in this sport.

D&R Rating: 47.5% (19/40)