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)
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