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)
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