SHOOTO DISC 8: JAPAN VALE TUDO 97 (STV Version) 11/29/1997

So there may be two versions of this that exist. There might be a commercial VHS version but I'm not totally sure. This version of the card is 90 minutes and hails from Samurai TV. The introduction is really really slick. The commentators are Kazuhiro Ishioka and Yuki Nakai, who I recognize from prior tapes and who I didn't know who the fuck they were. Now I do. The main event is Frank Shamrock vs. Enson Inoue which is just amazing.

1) Jutaro Nakao vs. Steve Nelson: Nakao is the #2 ranked Shooto middleweight. Hey, that's pretty good for a guy destined for gatekeeper status! Nelson was with USWF, that beloved and short lived pro wrestling style shoot organization that ran out of West Texas in the late 1990s. 80KG limit.

FIGHT: Nakao Submission Rnd 2. Nelson says in advance that he can't stand with Nakao and proves that right by pushing for the clinch and takedown constantly in this fight. In round 2, Nakao locks in a triangle and eventually forces a tapout. Heavily clipped. (0)

2) Marcelo Aguiar vs.Hayato "Mach" Sakurai: Luta Livre dude vs. future legend.

FIGHT: Draw. I guess these are old school rules where no one wins if it goes the distance. Sakurai basically controls what is shown, which could be a lie. But he almost gets an armbar and a heel hook for sure. (.5)

3) Jan Lomulder vs. Kenji Kawaguchi: Lomulder is a kickboxer and listed as being "freelance". Kawaguchi is a former Shooto champ recently deposed by Paulson.

FIGHT: Kawaguchi Submission Rnd 3. People are going WILD for this fight, which of course is clipped to hell. We see Lomulder escape a submission attempt in the first after joining the fight with Kawaguchi in mount, and then there is a pretty noneventful second, and then Kawaguchi gets a RNC in the third. (.5)

4) Joao Roque vs. Uchuu Tatsumi: Remember when Roque was a big deal? Little dude fight.

FIGHT: Draw. Again, why was this ever a thing? To allow for modern newspaper decisions? Roque takes down his opponent repeatedly and clearly controls the contest. Clipped. (.5)

5) Carlos Newton vs. Eric Paulson: I should be so excited for this, and yet I expect it to be cut to shreds. Shooto light heavyweight title up for grabs.

FIGHT: Newton Submission Rnd 1. 41 seconds as Newton gets the fight down, passes to mount, and then goes for an armbar. And gets it. Paulson is in shock and I sorta am too. (5)

6) Ed De Krajif vs. Tom Erikson: De Krajif is a longterm journeyman in the sport who started as a kickboxer. Erikson meanwhile was like the most dangerous dude ever at this point.

FIGHT: Erikson TKO Rnd 1. De Krajif dropped immediately with a right hand as Erikson shoots in and he has to stop and let the ref give a count. He takes down De Krajif again and beats the shit out of him in mount after a huge slam. Holy shit. And now it is totally clear why no one wanted to fuck with this dude. (2)

7) Rumina Sato vs. John Lewis: Lewis has a win over Sato from some time prior but Sato has basically gone on the roll to end all rolls at this point and is the P4P top fighter in the sport at this stage.

FIGHT: Sato Submission Rnd 2. Sato looks fantastic here, beating Lewis standing and on the mat. In this fight (shown in complete and unedited) Sato actually uses the rubber guard. That is UNHEARD OF circa 1997. You could hear the confusion from the announcers as he's doing it. If he were better versed, honestly, he had a gogoplata waiting for him. He eventually finishes with a straight armbar from the bottom. (4)

8) Frank Shamrock vs. Enson Inoue: The main event. Modern day legends of the sport. Pioneers. Is this fight big? Fool, are you serious?

FIGHT: Shamrock DSQ. Really, this is a TKO win. (5)

Shamrock: Frank survives a bullrush early in the fight from Inoue and immediately gets a takedown. He spends pretty much the entire first round on top in the open guard of Inoue, emerging late in the 8 minute period to throw some low kicks. In round two, we have a reversal of fortune - Inoue gets to the top position and even moves to the mount briefly, but can't really get a submission or threaten Shamrock with strikes. Shamrock eventually bridges and escapes, and we then get an all out slugfest of punches and kicks. Inoue eats a couple or punches, Shamrock grabs the thai plumb and drives a knee into Enson's face and he goes down in a heap. Frank looked to follow up with punches but Inoue's corner is in the ring and a near riot breaks out as someone shoves Frank, effectively spiking him on his head and then holding him. Maurice Smith is in there telling the dude that pushed Shamrock to let go of him. Man, I don't miss this aspect of Japanese MMA at all. In the US dudes everywhere would have rumbled over some shit like that instead of some ridiculous yakuza threats stopping guys getting what they deserve.

Enson: Can wrestle a little, got the mount, but wasn't at all active there. Was he looking to draw?

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Inoue/Shamrock

KO OF THE NIGHT: Erikson/De Krajif

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Newton/Paulson

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Lots of history, lots of clipping ruining our perspective of history. Two hugely important all time fights on this show that also happened to be not infinitely long or really great. But they meant a lot, trust me. Would be off the charts if it hadn't been for the clipped fights.

D&R Rating: 46% (18.5/40)

SHOOTO DISC 7: IV Reconquista 10/25/1997

It is as if I have taken off into a different universe with Disc 7. An ENORMOUS video intro brings us to a studio where some dude is talking to Noboru Asahi. Some big fucking fight is gonna happen with Inoue. That's all I can figure out.

1) Naoto Kojima vs. Takenori Ito: Ito I'm not familiar with, but Kojima I've seen and he's sorta plain.

FIGHT: Ito Majority Decision. Highlights are shown over what sounds to be Dio. Or maybe Loudness. Who knows. Kojuma is shown getting takedowns while Ito, a larger man, seems to be capable of hurting him standing. (0)

2) Caol Uno vs. Takuya Kuwabara: YESSSS

FIGHT: Draw. Again, highlights are shown. Uno is clearly the larger man in this fight. There's like, no footage really shown. Lots of dudes looking at each other and then some failed takedown attempts. Kuwabara is shown going for Uno's back after a shot in the first round but then he's shaken off and Uno is on top. nothing past that. (.5) because of clipping but that it is still sorta valuable footage.

Back to Asahi and some dude in the studio! This goes on for too long.

3) Todd Bjornethun vs. Kazuhiro Kusayanagi: OK. Not as stoked about this. Bjornethun comes in to gospel. The japanese fighter has a bowl cut.

FIGHT: Bjornethun TKO Rnd 2. Again, highlights shown of round 1. Round 2 we see in full. It consists of Kusayanagi shooting in with no setup or defense and getting hit coming in and easily shrugged off (and earning a 10 count early in the round). He's dropped with a right hand, doesn't get a count and Bjornethun punches him while he's on all fours and Kusayanagi is DONE. Nasty KO.

4) Akihiro Gono vs. Larry Papodopoulos: Gono is ridiculously young.

FIGHT: Papdopoulos Unanimous Decision. Highlights of Rounds 1 & 2 again are shown and they're basically meaningless; some trading of shots, Gono goes for a leglock. Round three sees lots of standup, Gono spending 2 minutes with Papodopoulos in the corner pushing him to no avail, and Gono kicking Papodopoulos in the balls. (1) since it is clipped.

5) Uchuu Tatsumi vs. Paul Coonin: I know nothing about Coonin.

FIGHT: Tatsumi Submission Rnd 1. Finally, a full fight! Too bad it is only 1:19. Tatsumi seems hurt by clubbing punches from Coonin early but gets to the clinch. Coonin with a takedown! Coonin postures up and tries to pass! Instead Coonin looks for leg locks and he gets a heel hook. (0)

6) Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Alex Cook: Cook was in Pancrase and hell if I remember him at all. Big size advantage.

FIGHT: Sakurai Submission Rnd 1. No real surprise here. Sakurai takes the back of Cook as he clinches very early and attempts to get the fight down. Sakurai grabs a RNC soon after and plays a lot to the crowd. (2)

7) Rumina Sato vs. Maurice Corty: Video is shown in advance of Sato's win against Alan Freed, which you basically don't see anywhere else otherwise. Corty was on the receiving end after this of the single worst assbeating in MMA history. Really.

FIGHT: Sato Submission Rnd 1. Corty has the worst standup in the history of MMA to this point, which is quite the statement to make. Sato wins by straight armbar after getting Corty down, passing to side control, and then wrenching the arm out straight for the low percentage submission. OK I guess. (2)

Asahi is in the studio again and we listen to him blather for awhile.

8) Joe Estes vs. Enson Inoue: Inoue lost a decision in a terrible fight the first time. Interesting note: You can see Yokohama Sea Paradise in the background of the interview Enson does prior to the video of the fight. He also has a really nice dog. Estes is shown with KIMO.

FIGHT: Enson TKO Rnd 1. Enson gets a takedown immediately and oh man, this is a wild affair. Estes gets on top, he gets swept in amazing fashion with Enson directly to mount punching down until the fight is stopped. And then Enson keeps throwing shots on Estes. What a dickbag. Now I'm glad Vovchanchin rocked his shit. Then they call out Frank Shamrock. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: ??? since I didn't really see anything in full that was worth a shit.

KO OF THE NIGHT: Bjornethun/Kusayanagi

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Sato/Corty

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. The coolest thing was the closing credits with Inoue playing with his dog. Otherwise: Clipped fights, shitty fights, noncompetitive fights, in that order and in combination.

D&R Rating: 19% (7.5/40)

SHOOTO DISC 6B: Vale Tudo Junction 2 (3/5/1996)

THE WAY OF MORDERN PANCRATION sez the title screen on this 7th installment on the infinitely long Shooto series I'll be doing until my 40th birthday.

1) Shinji Arano vs. Takuya Kuwabara: Kuwabara is the larger man in this bout and so I expect lots of him on top. Plus Arano is not all that good. 3X3.

FIGHT: Kuwabara Submission Rnd 2. Fun in the sort of way old RINGS or Pancrase is fun on the mat. Guys kinda know what is going on and just run off instinct more than anything. Here dudes ROLL. (0)

Arano: You know, for as lousy as his offensive grappling is, he rocks at submission defense sometimes. He pulls all sorts of escapes in round 1 on an armbar and various leg locks. Can't avoid the armbar in the second.

Kuwabara: As expected, lots of takedowns, not much trouble passing, but shows competency off his back and seems willing at least here to punch while the fight is on the mat. Could have had tighter stuff when doing stuff out of the mount.

2) Masanori Suda vs. Isamu Oosugi: Oosugi gets put through the ringer. First Sato taps him, now Suda is gonna bash him?

FIGHT: Suda Submission Rnd 2. (2)

Oosugi: Tries to throw Suda and Suda instead rolls through and mounts. This is like 20 seconds in and Oosugi is already screwed. You can smell the submission coming - it takes forever but Oosugi defends the RNC and eventually Suda chooses to take an arm and transition to a straight armbar instead. For some reason, the fight is then restarted, and Oosugi gets a takedown? OK. Round ends and Oosugi is shockingly still in this. He gets another takedown early in the second, but that's it for offense there. He eventually ends up being put on his back and is armbarred.

Suda: Really into judo sweeps. Not sure what the deal is with that, but I am OK with anyone who loves the judo. Better standing than Oosugi too, though it seems at times that there may be a gentleman's agreement to reduce the punching given that they almost immediately agree to clinch in Round 2. When the fight is on the mat, Suda is a million times superior. He gets a takedown, mounts Oosugi, and goes for another straight armbar. This time it forces the tap.

3) Yoshinori Haraigawa vs. Jin Akimoto: Akimoto is like the first bantamweight sorta name the sport saw. Haraigawa has shootboxing pants.

FIGHT: Akimoto Submission Rnd 1. Akimoto drops Haraigawa with a right hand super early and follows up by taking the back and hunting for the rear naked choke. He gets it too, finishing in under two minutes. (0)

4) Masahiro "Jackal" Doishi vs. Hisao Ikeda: Interesting fight. Ikeda is a top control grappler who can't strike or wrestle. Doishi does crazy suplexes. What next?

FIGHT: Draw (0)

Ikeda: Ikeda is what Mo Lawal calls a "positioning wrestler". He's all about wrestling technique, not about athleticism or explosive power. He can't beat you with the shot, just on riding you out and shit. His takedown defense is still abysmal, so if he wants to not be taken down, his best bet is to go on offense - clinch, hold, push. And that is what Ikeda offers us - clinches, hugging, pushing. Standing he lands a couple shots to Doishi but Jackal shrugs them off to get the fight down. He goes for a leglock attempt in the third and drags Doishi on top of him in a bad way.

Doishi: Doishi is wild striking and gets tagged. He also nearly gets caught in a couple submission attempts too. But he does what everyone who fights Ikeda should do: he takes him down. A lot of times its almost brute force with a body lock, but however its done, Ikeda is on his back. Getting pushed around and then getting tagged probably cost Doishi the fight with the judges.

5) Naoto Kojima vs. Jutaro Nakao: Nakao's second bout.

FIGHT: Nakao Submission Rnd 2. (0)

Nakao: Has crisp striking for a grappler in this era and when Kojima tries a throw, defends and takes his back.

Kojima: You gotta give Kojima some credit; he gets a takedown in round 1. Aside from that, he doesn't really do much. and is in fact knocked down twice during the opening round.

6) Mamoru Okochi vs. Anthony Lange: Who said Australian MMA is anything new? Lange is a 135lb fighter hailing from the Poseidon Gym.

FIGHT: Okochi Majority Decision. Holy hell, that was boring. Okochi wins by pulling guard and having wrist control for 2 of the 3 rounds as best I can tell. Miserably bad bout with next to no action and lots of "positional grappling" that involved people being tied up while sitting in closed guard for long periods of time. (0)

7) Toru Koga vs. Kazuhiro Kusayanagi: I liked the last time I saw Kusayanagi, so I have hopes for this after a couple lousy bouts. Koga also breaks out the SLAMS. 5X3 min.

FIGHT: Kusayanagi Submission Rnd 4. Oh god this was terrible to watch too. Glacial grappling and striking. Koga keeps getting his arm caught and slams out of it a couple times. In round 4 he is submitted. Kusayanagi's shootboxing trunks make me believe he can kick, and he does it on average two times per round. (0)

8) Egan Inoue vs. Gorden Dehdman: Dehdman has this insane afro thing. Its fucking ridiculous. Also, he's from Australia. This is the Inoue that isn't as good.

FIGHT: Inoue Submission Rnd 1. He shoots in, gets the double, knee on belly to mount, gets bucked, but immediately transitions into a triangle choke. He never really gets the arch under the back of the knee to truly lock it but Dehdman taps anyhow. (1)

9) Rumina Sato vs. Kyuhei Ueno: SATO TIME. We have prefight flowers.

FIGHT: Sato Submission Rnd 1. Sato drops Ueno with a punch early and lands a soccer kick, which he is not warned for. Legal? I don't remember anymore. After the ten count, he jumps on Ueno and this goes to the mat where Sato tries for an inverted triangle from reverse mount (?). Ueno rolls over and gives his back, and Sato gets the rear naked choke. Nothing too fancy in the end. (2)

10) Noboru Asahi vs. Leandro Lima de Azevedo: Luta Livre REPRESENT. this is a 65KG contracted weight fight with freestyle rules: 3 8 minute rounds and probably headstomps being OK or something.

FIGHT: Asahi Submission Rnd 1. Azebedo pulls guard, and Asahi then ends up just rolling back into a heel hook. Fight over in 1:04. (3) because Asahi is a former featherweight champ for the promotion (ie really little dudes) and this is a nontitle bout.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Arano/Kuwabara

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Kusayanagi/Koga

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Absolutely sleep inducing crapfest featuring a mildly entertaining set of squashes with future Shooto champs. Some of the fights that should have delivered on paper are beyond saving. Do you really need to see Masanori Suda beating dudes up like this though? Do you?

D&R Rating: 20% (8/40)

JUNGLE FIGHT 5 (11/26/2005)

So Jungle Fight never made it to Vegas. A shame, I know. Instead, we're back at the same venue that they ran 3 & 4 in. Lots of future stars on this card.

1) Luciano Azevedo vs. Jose Aldo: Aldo's first big fight, a fight at 155, oh, and the one loss of his career. Did I spoil this?

FIGHT: Azevedo Submission Rnd 1. (4)

Azevedo: Game plan is simple - go for takedowns, run straight at Aldo, if it fails, repeat. In the second round, Azevedo is finally successful with a double leg and drops Aldo on his ass. Aldo tries to escape, gives up the back, and after a restart Azevedo eventually sinches in the rear naked choke. Nothing too immense.

Aldo: As long as I've watched MMA, there has been a rush to deem little guys in this sport to be as good as the big guns. The talent levels have never been there and what you get are big fishes in small ponds, and that's one of the reasons I have never been as high on Aldo, Cruz, Brown, Mamoru, etc. That's not to say that they are bad fighters, but honestly Cruz gets away with making the sort of basic mistakes that guys at light heavyweight get torched on, and that's because he fights less talented opposition and smaller guys who honestly don't belong in his weight class.

Aldo at this point of his career shows nothing that makes you believe that he is special. Completely forgettable performance punctuated perhaps only by leg kicks that do nothing here but have become a trademark later on. His punches loop and his hand speed on tape looks worse than it is live. As a grappler he looks mediocre in this bout and while he defends the takedown successfully for perhaps 7 minutes, when he fails at 7:01 or there abouts, he's defeated not that long after. How many great fighters really come out looking this completely forgettable at any stage of their career in such an extended performance? This isn't Matt Hughes getting leglocked in 20 seconds.

2) Fredson Paixao vs. Milian Djusinovic: Really a lightweight performance for Paixao, who comes in around 159.

FIGHT: Paixao Submission Rnd 1. Paixao's opponent was never in it. Again, you see the contrast of Paixao standing (stiff, robotic) to Paixao on the mat (fluid, dynamic). He passes the guard and takes dominant positions like it was nothing on everyone, Djusinovic included. He then cuts the opponent with GNP and then forces him to turn over and give the back for an RNC. You look at this after the Aldo fight, and its hard to believe which one of these guys is just hanging onto a Zuffa contract and the other is being talked about as if he's P4P best in the sport. (2)

3) Alexandre Ferriera vs. Julio Cesar Miranda: Ferriera just ended up fighting and losing in the UFC to the guy who won in the main event of the last JFC card.

FIGHT: Ferriera Submission Rnd 1. This goes about as you might expect. Ferriera isn's significantly smaller in this fight and thus takes down Miranda easily and starts pounding on him before securing a guillotine and pulling back to guard. Tap comes in an under a minute. (1)

4) Edson "Draggo" Vieria vs. Helio Dipp: This is a legit contest at the time and makes Draggo a big prospect on the world scene. He is also one of the most obvious roiders EVER. Lots of mean mugging before the fight.

FIGHT: Draggo TKO Rnd 1. Monster KO. Dipp is straight up in the air and gets tagged and goes down. Draggo doesn't like him though personally and keeps punching and punching and then kneeing his downed foe as the ref and then cornermen try to drag him off. Near riot scene. Crowd is wild as he does his post fight interview, booing and whistling. He stands there without speaking for several seconds. Crowd cheers Dipp. Then after he leaves, they boo Draggo relentlessly. He says something that clearly doesn't help the situation and people keep jeering him. I can't remember anything like it in recent memory. His cornerman eventually pulls him aside and asks for him to leave before something bad happens. (1)

5) Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs. Michal Materla: Cyborg against a guy from Poland, then undefeated.

FIGHT: Cyborg TKO Rnd 2. Honestly, how do you break this down? Santos swings a lot of crazy punches and Materla goes down in round 1 and Santos hits him with punches and hammerfists for what seems like hours. In round 2 there's some sorta even trading and Santos drops Materla again, then soccer kicks his way to a yellow card. They restart, continue trading, and Materla goes down in a heap from a right hand. Santos punches him in the head for 20 seconds on the mat while looking at the ref before the fight is stopped. Not even the best Santos KO ever. (2)

6) Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons vs. Alexander Shlemenko: One of these Pele fights is gonna be good, right? Shlemenko won a tournament with Bellator and got to lose to Hector Lombard in a not exciting 5 rounder as a result.

FIGHT: Pele Unanimous Decision. Let us never speak of this fight again. Well, okay, just a little: Twice Pele sweeps Shlemenko and has side control and hits him. Sometimes he lands low kicks and right hands. For more than half the fight, Pele is completely gassed out, resting in the corner, laying on ropes, doubled over. Shlemenko does nothing about him in any of these instances and ends up losing the first and second, and therefore effectively loses the fight. Crowd boos this shitfest as well it should. The worst fight in Pele's career. Impossibly, a worse main event than the prior card. (3)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Materla/Cyborg

KO OF THE NIGHT: Draggo/Dipp

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Aldo/Azevedo

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Every one of these fights scored on the D&R Rating system. As far as averages go, its a more relevant event to watch than the TUF 12 Finale. You have legends, cult figures, solid journeymen, prospects both failed and still active, and a guy some people believe is among the best pound for pound talents in the sport today. But none of these fights is entertaining. None of them are enthralling. Draggo/Dipp is the absolute must see thing here and its maybe 20 seconds long? It's far more well known for the aftermath than the bout itself. As far as Cyborg brawls go, this isn't one of the better ones either. Most of it is spend on the mat with him drubbing some guy.

I don't know why I'm so shocked by all this, but man, my lack of memories for Jungle Fight is now clear. I was trying to forget.

D&R Rating: 43% (13/30)

JUNGLE FIGHT 4 (5/21/2005)

Yes folks, already at JUNGLE FIGHT 4. I'm just blazing through these. One thing that is apparent after 3 of them - my memories are hazy because my god, they are terrible to watch. This is from the Brazilian feed and while the quality is subpar, at least it is probably really close to being in full. PRIDE style prefight intros.

Interesting note about this: Inoki doesn't appear at the show and there are no NJPW guys on the card. He had announced in advance that Jungle Fight 5 would take place in Las Vegas and thus the winners here would be on that show. So much for Jungle Fight 4: Road to Las Vegas in the end.

1) Marcus Sursa vs. William Mattos: Oh, I remember this now. P.I.M.P plays between every video intro piece. Sursa is from Vegas, Mattos from Brazil. Heavyweight fight.

FIGHT: Sursa Submission Rnd 1. He takes down Mattos and lays into him with knees to the body and punches and finishes him in less than two minutes. A lot of that is with back control. Good win for Sursa, who's career features losses to a who's who of the sport. (0)

2) Helio Dipp vs. Brent Beauparlant: Dipp looked for a second to be a potential superstar in the making. I'm serious! This was one of his best performances before he ran into the wall named Draggo. Beauparlant was a bleeder and all purpose tough guy for the IFL.

FIGHT: Dipp/Beauparlant Dipp stands so tall and straight, that you wonder how it is that no one touched his chin. Well, Draggo did. Good leg kicks that he gets all of. Beauparlant can't get a handle on the size of Dipp and gets laid out cold with a knee. The ref drags his prone body back into the ring like this is a deathmatch or something. One of the all time knee KOs. (1)

3) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Carlos Baruch: Baruch is some guy and Patino is an old boring fighter. 85KG weight limit.

FIGHT: Patino TKO Rnd 2. Patino gets a yellow card in this fight because he is still totally boring to watch, as he has been much of his career. Baruch isn't any better, as he gets Patino down twice and does nothing with him. Doesn't pass, doesn't punch, nothing. Just ridiculous. Patino at least pushed the pace a little in the first round, and ultimately when he was on top he passed to mount and bashed his man out. Patino though didn't even pretend like he was gonna stand and trade. He would stand up in the ring like 10 feet away from his opponent and not move. It was like his legs were concrete and he was planted there. (1)

4) Kassim Annan vs. Marcos Valle: Annan was like 9-1 here with wins over Harry Duvien and Mostapha Al-Turk. Valle was debuting but got a huge reception. Basically a light heavyweight contest.

FIGHT: Annan Submission Rnd 2. You know, Valle goes for a leg lock in the first, and that's all he does on offense. Annan pulled straight out of it, BTW. Annan meanwhile punched the shit out of the guy on the mat. He almost got a kneebar in round one. He landed like 3 knees to the head of a shooting Valle on 3 different occasions all in round 2. Valle was flopping around and trying to go right to buttscoot by the middle of the 2nd round, making this an embarassing fight to have to watch. Annan finally gets to mount and forces Valle to give up the back for an RNC. (0)

5) Fredson Paixao vs. Jean Robert Monier: And another Paixao fight.

FIGHT: Paixao Submission Rnd 3. (2)

Paixao: Again, excellent grappling. Had a really solid looking triangle attempt in the first round that didn't finish, but had no problem controlling Monier the rest of the round (and the period prior) from both the top or bottom. Second round as all Monier as he passed guard with complete ease and Monier was left doing nothing but trying to survive. Third round sees Monier come forward, get taken down, punched, turn over, and get choked.

Monier: Poor punching + third tier grappling = something roughly equivalent to hard sparring for Paixao.

6) Shinzo Machida vs. Cristiano Rosa: Lyoto Machida's lookalike brother against some dude.

FIGHT: Machida TKO Rnd 1. Machida's stance is even more pronounced in its karateness than his brother. He drops Rosa as he comes in with a punch and then unloads on him with a soccer kick to the body and a lot of punches to the head. Also got penalized for a soccer kick to the head very early on. (1) for some MMA historical value.

7) Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons vs. Fabricio Monteiro: Pele is the name here obviously. Monterio is also fairly well known among hardcore circles having competed in Japan and Brazil at fairly high levels in both.

FIGHT: Pele TKO Rnd 2. (3)

Pele: Dominates the standup exchanges and the distance for much of the first. The second is a train wreck of terrible refereeing that breaks up a submission attempt by Pele for a leg lock near the ropes and forces a ton of time to be wasted, virtually all the way to the bell, trying to get a restart. Pele ends up on top in the second until a ref standup brings them to their feet. Pele then lands a looping left hand shot and Monteiro has a delayed reaction KO. Monteiro doesn't show a lot here except survival skils and submission defense.

8) Leopoldo Montenegro vs. Rodrigo Souza: Souza looks like a gameshow host with HGH gut or something.

FIGHT: Montenegro Submission Rnd 1. (1) for gnarly submission.

Montenegro: See Leopoldo punch. See him loop his shots. See him shoot for takedowns. See him have no problems. See him posture up then grab the foot. See him crank a toe hold. See Souza scream in pain while tapping.

9) Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Carlos Barreto: Wow! What an awesome main event! Can V-Mat get Barreto down and avoid the submissions? Can Carlos keep this standing? I already know the answer because this is the most memorable thing that happened in Jungle Fight 1-5.

FIGHT: Matyushenko TKO Rnd 1. Matyushenko and Barreto meet seconds in and Barreto throws a couple punches and two low kicks. One of those shots busts up V-Mat's nose. Barreto throws a high kick while V-Mat retreats. As they reset and look at each other, Barreto fires off a low kick, and his knee (already in a sports brace) basically erupts and his career ends. Horrible. Sad. (1) for career ending injury and nothing else.

After the right, Wallid Ismael says angry Portuguese things into the microphone, V-Mat apologizes to the fans because it ended so quickly and is willing to fight a rematch. Barreto's knee gets stabilized and he's stretchered out.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Pele/Monteiro

KO OF THE NIGHT: Dipp/Beauparlant

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Montenegro/Souza

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. There's some serious brutality here in some of the KO shots, but no exciting fights and the main event is among the biggest cock teases ever in terms of how awesome something should be versus how awesome it ultimately is.

D&R Rating: 22% (10/45)

JUNGLE FIGHT 3 (10/23/2004)

Antonio Inoki and Wallid Ismael again welcome us to Jungle Fight here in Manaus at the Tropical Hotel Manaus Sports Complex. Inoki gets some sort of Jaguar statuette as a present for having been at each event. Missing the cut from this event: Bobby Hoffman/Leopoldo Montenegro as well as Tony DeSouza/Carlos Lima and a Bibano Fernandes fight. What does Samurai TV give us all instead?

1) Masahito Kakihara vs. Rocky Romero: Kakihara is from NJPW, Romero is also at this time a gaijin wrestler contracted to NJPW with a history with UPW, CMLL, ROH, etc. In short - this is almost certainly a thrown fight.

FIGHT: Kakihara Submission Rnd 1. Obviously the potential that this isn't a worked shoot under the context of legit MMA is low. There's a side headlock/cross armbar combination in this fight for crying out loud. Kakihara shows that he has no chance of beating a real opponent as he locks in Romero into a headlock and Romero gladly rolls back into guard rather than keep the back that's been given to him. Volk Han would be disappointed. Kakihara wins by knee bar. (1) for the freakshow wrassler factor.

2) Fredson Paixao vs. Fabio Mello: Okay, again, wasn't expecting his fight on here.

FIGHT: Paixao Unanimous Decision (3)

Paixao: You know, if there is one thing to say about Paixao, its that he isn't exciting. I don't think that's wrong to say as if it is criminal to admit that not all of these guys are wonderful to watch. But Paixao is, historically, not fun to watch. He's very basic in terms of approach - takedown, control, smother, take advantage of the opposition's mistakes. On the mat he's a counter fighter even when on top. You never see him taking too many risks - he'll throw leather when he sees an opening, but is willing to wait and toil a little to make the opening appear rather than just work as hard as others do to make it happen with body strikes or whatnot. Standing he's a robot and not at all good, but the fights consistently go to the mat with him. When Mello turns within Paixao's guard to face him and be on top most of the third, he is ineffective with anything. Paixao is just locking him up with relative ease.

Mello: Doesn't have the wrestling chops, the boxing chops, or the physical gifts to keep Paixao at a distance and so he loses. Could have won this fight had he gotten top position and just laid there though because Paixao isn't that great off his back. Nothing hugely impressive that he did all fight aside from avoid getting stopped.

3) Masayuke Naruse vs. Tony Williams: Who? Naruse is a RINGS vet.

FIGHT: Naruse Submission Rnd 1. Armbar from mount. Looked to be a potential thrown fight. Crowd booed it too. Williams kicking and "selling" a lot. (0)

4) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Boris Jonstomp: Ugh. Bad mismatch here.

FIGHT: Patino Submission Rnd 2. This fight feels like it never ends. Patino wins by arm triangle after dominating all but like 45 seconds by being on top in dominant position. Jonstomp gets taken down and simply doesn't have an answer to that, guard passes, punches, whatever. Patino has been fighting for 15 years and is a vet of UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, this, hell, everything. A good grappler with unspectacular striking and who is undersized for the upper weight classes he often participates in. Patino also has Jesus written across his ass, which is a reminder that we've come so far that club fighters have numerous sponsors written across their asses today in this sport a scant 6 years later. (1)

5) Assuerio Silva vs. Alessio Sakara: This seems like a ridiculous mismatch in retrospect, doesn't it? OK heavyweght fights a guy who is an OK middleweight. In the ring against one another, they seem about the same size.

FIGHT: Silva Unanimous Decision. Horror show of a fight. Silva fights to win and does by winning a battle of positioning. (3)

Sakara: Sakara is better on his feet, which you would expect since he had such a history as a boxer. On the mat he can lock up Silva a bit and defend submissions (or at least survive). He stays on top for most of the second actually landing shots thanks to some bad moves by Silva, but for most of the first and third he's on his back. I liked his one-two-body shot combo. Great three punches to throw together and he landed the body shot every time. Just not enough snap in it.

Silva: Muay thai that he has is thrown out the window in favor of submission grappling, double leg takedowns, and ultimately top control. Lots and lots of Silva in side control. He goes for an armbar, a kneebar, a choke, a few different things. Couple good kimura attempts too. Honestly, he should have finished this fight. He had the opportunities. But that's why Silva is a longtime journeyman and not a contender in any weight class.

6) Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons: This was a fight? Pele was a legendary welterweight, Sobral was most often a heavyweight at this point of his career. Even then, he had recently dropped to 205. Big staredown.

FIGHT: Babalu Unanimous Decision. Again, you look at the fight on paper and its like "OH WOW I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THAT" and then you see it and you go "oh hey that's why I have seen this before and don't remember a single thing". This may have been trimmed. Not 100% on that. (5)

One thing about Brazilian MMA compared to other nations - Holland loves standups when there's not much activity. They let them go in Brazil. I mean, they often really let them go. Even when its boring and not leading to anything.

Babalu: Babalu is landing hook kicks and axe kicks and man, it is really cool looking when he shows off and you wish he was the whole fight instead of laying on top of Pele in half guard or side control which is a lot, and I mean a LOT of the fight.

Pele: Pele is too small for this fight, no matter how much muscle it looks like he packed on. And that means he can't stop takedowns or do anything about them off his back. He also gasses out hard by the second round because Babalu is constantly on him. He does nothing in this fight other than make me want to fall asleep and get hit in the head with 4 inch hammer fists. I'm virtually 100% sure there were edits for this fight but I didn't care.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Jonstomp

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Jonstomp

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. This is miserable to watch. The names are big and man, that main event is a huge one in MMA history given who is involved and what heights both men achieved (even if they never won a major belt). But the fights are fucking terrible dominations or probable fake fights done by pro wrestlers. Sakara/Silva is among the most disappointing fights I can ever remember.

D&R Rating: 43% (13/30)

JUNGLE FIGHT 2 (5/15/2004)

Same city in Brazil as Jungle Fight 1, this time at the Studio 5 Convention Center. Again, this version of the show was recorded for Japanese TV. We start with Inoki entering through a Jaguar's Mouth ramp thing and he and Wallid talk some shit. Is Mario Sperry the ref tonight? Might be. Yet again, Fabricio Werdum's fight against a legitimate heavyweight (this time: Ebenezer Fontes Braga) doesn't make tape for the Japanese fans. Nor does Gabriel Gonzaga's fight on this show. Nor Travis Wiuff apparently slamming Leopoldo Montenegro to hell.

EDIT: Luckily, Werdum/Braga is on Youtube thanks to the Fight Network and will be reviewed as a bonus.

1) Carlos Barreto vs. Bobby Hoffman: Woah, this was a fight and I don't remember it? Barreto was memorably KOed by Yvel and Hoffman memorably KOed his woman.

FIGHT: Barreto TKO/Submission from strikes Rnd 2. This is a slow paced bout that, in all honesty, is not what I was hoping for. (2)

Hoffman: Goes for a takedown early and spends a lot of the round on the mat fighting off a head and arm choke. When he breaks out of that, he and Barreto roll a little bit with Barreto going for submissions and Hoffman being visibly gassed 3 minutes in and spitting out his mouthpiece. After nearly getting tapped in the first, Hoffman returns with another takedown off a low kick only to be swept and immediately mounted quickly. He's pounded out there.

Barreto: His standup is limited to leg kicks, which is stupid because he gets taken down immediately with both. On the mat he's the smaller but superior grappler and has all sorts of locks nearly put in on Hoffman. After nearly winning with a straight armbar and with a head and arm choke at the end of the first, he sweeps and punches out an exhausted Bobby Hoffman.

2) Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Victor Babkir: Victor Babkir? Who? He's listed here as "Victor Babkin" and is a kickboxer.

FIGHT: Souza TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special. Souza with a takedown, passes immediately, Babkir's legs are just all over the place and sloppy. Souza punches him out from mount. (3)

3) Assuerio Silva vs. Fabiano Scherner: UFC vets collide in an EXPLOSION. Silva was the Pancrase Heavyweight King of Pancrase once. Did you know that? Now you do. Also, this is a rematch from Meca Vale Tudo 9 in which Scherner couldn't continue after falling from the ring.

FIGHT: Silva Submission Rnd 2. (2)

Scherner: Gets a UFC deal after tbis fight because, hey, he's a BJJ black belt or something and he looks good for most of the first round against Assuerio, a legitimate talent. He gets on top early and is raining down punches from inside the guard for pretty much the whole first round. Scherner then is forced to stand up with only seconds left in the first, and takes a kick and a punch from Silva, then shoots. In doing so, he gets caught in a guillotine with less than ten seconds left and taps out.

Silva: Silva is dominated pretty much all of round 1, but has Scherner put his head where he shouldn't at just the right time.

4) Rani Yahya vs. Fredson Paixao: Didn't expect this on the disc, to be honest. WEC vet known for wild submissions against WEC vet known for wild submissions.

FIGHT: Paixao Unanimous Decision. (3)

Yahya: I go with him first because, hey, this is a guy known for being a wizard grappler. An entertaining, crazy exciting super submission expert who pulls kneebars out of thin air. Well, he doesn't do that here. His satandup is atrocious, and yet I think there's a real possibility he won the standing exchanges just pushing punches while walking forwards. On the mat though, he goes nowhere, does nothing, and instead eats a lot of punches from Paixao. The second is the worst for him. Among the worst full rounds of his career.

Paixao: Paixao gets dominant positions on Yahya and keeps them. And almost unchallenged lands blows from them. Lots of punches to the head and body and a billion elbows too. His takedowns look easy, he's often able in the 1st and 3rd rounds to just push Yayha to the corner or ropes and put weight on him and then land with dirty boxing, and basically in every way he dominates.

5) Daniel Acacio vs. Buck Greer: Acacio is a PRIDE vet I last saw being in a really good fight with Paul Daley. Greer's short career included a loss to Hallman and a win over Laverne Clark. This is at like middleweight but Acacio is way over a 83KG limit.

FIGHT: Acacio TKO Rnd 2. This fight features one of the all time great muay thai sweeps in MMA history during the first round with Acacio catching a body kick and hurling Greer to his back. (1)

Acacio: The fastest way between two points is a straight line, at least when you aren't flying across the globe or something. Acacio throws straighter shots than Greer, and so his generally land and Greer ends up getting tagged repeatedly. He also catches most of Greer's body kicks, making that turn into offense too. When he gets Greer against the ropes and forces him to run straight back, Greer runs into an overhand right he never sees coming and is in a heap in one of the corners.

Greer: Telegraphs everything, doesn't use angles, and that costs him the fight. It makes it impossible for him to get Acacio off his balance enough to get a takedown or land effectively with combinations on the occasions they're thrown.

6) Katsuyori Shibata vs. Webster "Iceman" Dauphiney: Dauphiney is apparently a Todd Medina charge and may also be involved in pro wrestling. Shibata is a pro wrestler with an amateur background for NJPW.

FIGHT: Shibata Submission Rnd 1. Shibata gets a couple takedowns, and wins with a head and arm choke that looks more like a head crank to be honest. Is Dauphiney that bad, or is this a work? (1)

BONUS FIGHT: Fabricio Werdum vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga: Man, another really interesting Werdum fight with a legitimate opponent. Braga does look appreciably smaller as they stand next to one another.

FIGHT: Werdum TKO Rnd 2

Werdum: The strategy is simple: Smother. He seems afraid of the exchanges with Braga, or at least feels that nullifying them is a better option than working that to get takedowns, so there's a lot of Werdum and Braga clinching and Werdum pushing him. Braga ends up being taken down at the end of the round and holding Werdum in half guard, but an attempted escape and scramble just leaves Werdum taking the back and putting in hooks. Time runs out before he can get a choke in and instead he peppers Braga with punches. Second round is a different story - they're still coming in and clinching early on but when there's separation, Werdum throws shots. He catches Braga dropping low to shoot with a right hand that he throws while coming forward and Braga is out cold on the mat. Braga had to ask what happened when he woke up. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Greer

KO OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Greer (Werdum/Braga if included)

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Silva/Scherner

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Man, no good fights. Paixao/Yahya even deeply disappoints. Everything is slow action wise or never really develops because the matchmaking is piss poor. The fights I want to see? Not on the show. Oh well. Thanks a lot, Samurai TV. With Braga/Werdum it rises to a 3 because at least you get a bitchin' KO even if the fight is terrible.

D&R Rating: 40% (12/30), w/bonus fight 45% (16/35)

JUNGLE FIGHT 1 (9/13/2003)

You know, I've reviewed a lot of stuff over the years this has been open, but none of it was Brazilian MMA. And that's a shame, because the Brazilians PUT IT DOWN. Time and time again the big shows down there show great talents in solid fights and I ignore it. And that changes now.

Jungle Fight 1 was taped in this instance for Japanese TV and is in Manuas, one of the cities along the Amazon in a convention center area. But outdoors. Inoki is there and so are so, so many serious big talents in the sport. Guns And Roses playing constantly, it seems like. I haven't seen these forever and for some reason I remember Inoki flying in a helicopter there or something. Instead its just tourism footage I guess. Maybe this is indoors? I have no idea anymore.

Interesting note: Gonzaga/Werdum I was on this show but not part of the Japanese broadcast. Booo. But its on Youtube because it was part of a version televised for the Fight Network in Canada. EDIT 11/28 - I went ahead and tacked it onto the end.

1) Ebenezer Fontes Braga vs. Rodrigo Gripp Da Souza: Paulo Filho is a referee. Braga is a PRIDE vet, Gripp's walkout shirt has been detailed specifically for him with the use of a magic marker. HW bout, basically.

FIGHT: Braga Submission Rnd 1. The Oilman shoots early and ends up in a guillotine right away. Braga goes to his back and lets the ref know its all over. (2)

2) Lee Young Gun vs. Kazunari Murakami: Murakami is one of the ANGRIEST wrestlers ever. EVER. But he's a pro wrestler still.

FIGHT: Murakami Submission Rnd 1. Murakami flies over Gun's head while going for a flying knee and then is mounted. Gun sucks though and gets bucked off and ends up inside Murakami's guard. He gets an armbar and won't let go even after the tap to be a dick. OK? (0)

3) Justin McCully vs. Dario Amorim: The CRAZY ONE looks like a normal dude here instead of having that terrible beard. Dario is like 100 years old with his ridiculous mustache like he's hawking 40s in 1978.

FIGHT: McCully Unanimous Decision. A McCully decision boring? You don't say. Really terrible fight with McCully boxing to the clinch and then pushing the opponent back to the ropes and the fight stays there. And that happens over and over and over. Amorim does nothing as far as movement or technique wise to dissuade this activity, so we're stuck watching it happen over and over. McCully doesn't have the skill to get the man down where he can control him either, so its just a fight of positioning - McCully lands punches that bloody Amorim's nose. Amorim occasionally has McCully let him use the thai clinch to land a knee to the body. Otherwise its dirty boxing against the ropes for 15 minutes. (1)

4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shane Eitner: Nakamura is a future IWGP champ and New Japan ace of some sort. Eitner is some dude for fought in the Valor promotion. Both wear shoes.

FIGHT: Nakamura Submission Rnd 1. This might not be a legitimate bout given the lack of really hard shots thrown by either man. The hardest blows thrown are with open palms. Nakamura is able to get down Eitner multiple times and passes the guard OK. He gets a keylock from half guard and he has his second pro MMA win. (1) for freakshow value.

And now we get Inoki coming to the ring surrounded by women in Carnival outfits. The NJPW people flown out are really stoked to see the Chin. Then Wallid Ismael gets in there, they give each other gifts, and Inoki takes his seat in the crowd. Must be indoors now that I think about it - the place has carpeting.

5) Lyoto Machida vs. Stephan Bonnar: Before there was TUF, before there was Machida's title run, there was this in the jungle. Bonnar enters to U2's Beautiful Day, Machida to Iron Maiden's Afraid of the Dark. Yes, this was a thing.

FIGHT: Machida TKO Rnd 1. (5)

Bonnar: Lack of athleticism is a big issue here. Machida learns to time him very quickly and the lack of setups or willingness to walk through hell to deliver his payload means that Bonnar is in trouble early in this one. He starts to get busted up early in the first - first a cut under the left eye, then the nose. He actually does a decent job of closing the distance in this fight and gets to the clinch, but can't do anything with it. Even has some success with his right hand and knees. But he's cut far worse by punches under the right eye and they have to stop it.

Machida: Good counter punching skills displayed as well as that money shot body kick. He doesn't really hurt Bonnar but the cuts he laces him up with are just as bad. Machida in a ring though is not the same as Machida in the octagon. So much easier in a 4 sided ring to force someone like that into a corner.

6) Mark Schultz vs. Leopoldo Montenegro: The last MMA fight for one of the great amateur wrestlers of the last 25 years.

FIGHT: Montenegro Submission Rnd 1. (1) for freakshow/historic nature.

Schultz: Mark had only one fight prior years before and it shows in his technique. He leads to shoot WITH FRONT KICKS, man. Schultz goes for a firemans carry and ends up getting a double, which is fine. But he's caught in a triangle almost immediately.

Montenegro: He's fighting a one tool fighter and he has a tool that is intended to nullify exactly what Schultz brings to the table. He really has nothing to worry about from Schultz given the man's bad knee and lack of training.

7) Ricardo Morais vs. Mestre Fumaca: Capioera vs. giant MMA fighter with no chin.

FIGHT: Morais TKO Rnd 1. Fumaca goes down really early from Morais' arm punching and Morais jumps on him. He ends it in mount popping Fumaca with shots until there's a stop. (1)

8) Lucas Lopes vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: When Santos was still a light heavyweight and still dangerous.

FIGHT: Santos TKO Rnd 2. Interesting note in the fight - during the first round, the light go out in the venue, forcing them to stop the fight until they come back on. Only in Brazil. (2)

Santos: Usual performance from Cyborg - he attacks straight ahead with punches in combination and swarms the guy in front of him. Lopes actually drops Cyborg in the first round during one of those wild exchanges, but that's about the most trouble Cyborg is ever actually in.

Lopes: Expends all he has in the first round trying to finish Cyborg when he hurts him and gasses out. He eventually falls victim to combination punching and low kicks from Cyborg and drops after a three punch combination ends with a low kick that sweeps him and brings in the ref.

Big Nog drops by to talk some.

9) Jorge "Macaco" Patino vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza: Journeyman fights BJJ legend and future Strikeforce middleweight champ.

FIGHT: Patino TKO Rnd 1. Patino is going for takedowns with the same panache as Souza surprising me big time since I didn't remember crap about this fight. After they nearly go out of the ring, we get a restart standing, and they're just scrapping. What a poor, poor plan for Jacare. He ends up eating right hands from the more MMA experienced Patino and eventually gets dropped around 3 and a half minutes in. He tries to get up and keep fighting after Filho has come in to protect him, then just does a baby giraffe dance. (4)

BONUS FIGHT: Fabricio Werdum vs. Gabriel Gonzaga: Not included on the original program I have but could be found on Youtube. How does it improve the show? Noticeably, in fact. One downer is that Round 2 is trimmed for Canadian TV.

FIGHT: Werdum TKO Rnd 3 (4)

Werdum: Man, what a replay of the second fight. Err. Okay, so the second fight was a replay of this. Well, anyways - Werdum has problems with Gonzaga's wrestling in the first. Hell, he's mounted. And in the second, we see highlights of another Gonzaga takedown. But Werdum survives both. He escapes the mount by bucking and turning - it looked like Gonzaga thought he might be rolling for a leg lock, but to me it appeared that Gonzaga could have had the back. Oh well. Gonzaga gasses about 8 minutes in and from then on its all Werdum with punching standing. Gonzaga was always touted as a strong muay thai practitioner, and he sure doesn't look it in any of the Werdum fights.

Werdum, for his many negatives as a fighter, came out blazing here with a leaping side kick in the first round and brought pressure standing constantly. In the third, a dented up Gonzaga is taken down, fights off a key lock, and then gets smashed out with punches from mount.

Gonzaga: The more things change with Gonzaga, it seems they stay the same. Aside from the leg kick heard round the world, Gonzaga is lousy at engaging in the standup fight when he's not in total control as a grappler. You see it here, you see it with Kevin Jordan, you see it with Brendan Schaub. His cardio is poor, which you see in the rematch and in the Couture fight and in the fight with Schaub. Sometimes a guy can overcome and make something happen with his talents, but you see the negatives straight away even here and by this point, most guys are only gonna take baby steps progressing.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Santos/Lopes (Werdum/Gonzaga when included)

KO OF THE NIGHT: Patino/Souza

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Braga/Souza

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. I have seen JF 1-5 before and aside from Machida cutting up Bonnar, I remember almost nothing about the fights. I still barely remember anything about from the fights and I just watched them. There are names here that people will recognize, but the fights they are in aren't that great. In fact, they generally suck and are barely watchable or are just flat out squashes. With Gonzaga/Werdum figured in, the rating actually jumps to a 5 out of 10 alone. At that point, its an average event to see with one really marquee interesting fight with an elite talent.

D&R Rating: 38% (17/45), w/the bonus: 42% (21/50)

Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UK)13 (6/6/2010)

For the first time in awhile, its time to watch MMA from the UK! Yay! From the Tennis and Leisure Centre in Garon Park, Essex, we have this lineup of fights featuring people I have likely never heard of for my amusement. Ian Freeman is the ring announcer, which means that there are good odds that organized crime could be involved. Yay again! Josh Palmer and Pierre Guillett announcing. Lots of dudes from Storm Gym and Evolution Gym.

1) Andy Wilson vs. Chris Phillips: "Semi Pro MMA" is the billing for this with two four minute rounds at 77KG. Oh god. Apparently since this isn't a real pro fight, there are RINGS style rules.

FIGHT: Phillips Submission Rnd 1. Gets on top a couple times, eventually gets a sort of ugly mount position and has a head/arm choke against the cage that forces Wilson to tap. There was a bit of a weird standup in this fight by the ref as Phillips was in top control fresh out of looking for something from the mount. (0)

2) Will Butler vs. Sam Yinka Redin: Redin is 0-1 and Butler is 3-0. This is at least full blown "Pro MMA". Little guys.

FIGHT: Butler Submission Rnd 1. Technical submission as the ref stops it before Redin's arm explodes in a straight armbar. Butler had shot in and was stuffed, but then pulled guard and immediately went to the armbar, sweeping Redin over and getting full extension on it. (0)

3) Mathew Walker vs. Sean Childs: 73KG guys from schools I don't know in the UK. Childs has dyed red hair that is downright fluorescent.

FIGHT: Childs Submission Rnd 1. Clearly from the get go Childs is gonna dominate. He slams Walker twice, even holding him up, spinning 360 degrees, then dropping him at one point. Childs goes for a heel hook without thinking twice, because apparently its illegal in semi pro MMA here. Childs eventually locks a guillotine in standing on Walker and then like pulls guard and rolls backwards over into mount, which was pretty sweet. Fun domination. (1)

4) Tom Webb vs. Chris Stebbads: More semi pro action at 82KG. Webb is supposedly an ex boxer of some sort.

FIGHT: Stebbads Submission Rnd 2. Stebbads screws up an easy armbar from mount and transitions to a triangle at least to save face by winning soon afterwards. Webb keeps going for guillotines and ends up mounted after pulling guard for leverage. Horrible game plan. Nothing to be excited for here. (0)

5) Joe Boobyer vs. Iian Martel: Boobyer. Really. REALLY. 93KG semi pro bout. What the hell am I watching this for again?

FIGHT: Martel TKO Rnd 1. They throw out the semi pro rules as Martel drops Boobyer early in the fight as he lets him up from a takedown against the cage and then smashes him on the mat. Boobyer is like, "Hey, that's a DQ!" and no one cares. The announcer and the color guy both are from the same gym as Martel, so I'm guessing this isn't an even playing field. (0)

6) Murrey Fullerton vs. Jefferson George: Semi pro bout at 83KG. Jesus can I see someone that doesn't suck and is worthy of being paid?

FIGHT: Fullerton Submission Rnd 1. Fullerton rolls on George with the classic KOTC special and RNC finish. (0)

7) Stuart Davies vs. Dave Hardiman: 70KG fight in the PRO DIVISION. Phew. Thank god.

FIGHT: Hardiman Submission Rnd 2. Davies wears thai shorts but doesn't really kickbox. Instead dudes grapple. Davies has great position for an armbar in the first from the bottom but keeps crossing his feet and doesn't extend. He then goes to kick himself off the fence and he loses the grip and ends up having to roll for a desperation leg lock to try and save face. Hardiman gets the takedowns throughout the fight, fends off the submissions, and eventually moves to mount and gets an armbar in the second round. (0)

8) Matteo Piran vs. Alfie Slade: Pro MMA with 6-6 Italian vs. a debuting Brit.

FIGHT: Piran Submission Rnd 1. Basically a KOTC special with some uncomfortable standup, a belly to belly suplex, punching and a RNC finish. (0)

9) Panikos vs. Terry Montgomery: Yes, the dude is named "Panikos". Welterweights. Panikos has shaggy hair. He appears to use a separate conditioner. Or maybe Wen.

FIGHT: Montgomery Submission Rnd 1. You can tell moments in with Montgomery's tight standup and explosive speed that this is not going to go Panikos' way. Montgomery gets this to the mat early on when Panikos is knocked down (sorta) going backwards off balance. Montgomery goes for the mount and then ends up being sort of flipped while going for a kimura. He holds onto it and eventually forces a tap with Panikos inside his full guard. Montgomery is kinda interesting but I think he was using a lot of energy early on. (1)

10) Will Jackson vs. John Hales: 80KG fight, so middleweights I guess?

FIGHT: Hales Submission Rnd 1. Hales rolls this guy - it looks like your standard KOTC special with Hales taking the mount after a successful double leg thanks to Jackson trying to shrimp out and leaving the pass open to do so and then turning over, but Jackson does escape and gets back up. Too bad he is taken down immediately again. Hales is all over him like a wet blanket and Jackson can't even come close to getting this to half guard before a modified head and arm choke is applied. Doesn't even look like much of one - kinda like a head crank where one side of the carotid is closed off by the shoulder blade and the applying fighter's arm does the other side.

11) Tim Wise vs. Colin Macdairmaid: THE BATTLE OF SOUTHEND ON SEA - Revolution Gym vs. TSG Fight School.

FIGHT: Wise TKO Rnd 1. Man, this is ugly stuff. Dudes just throwing wild shots, eventually MacDairmaid (who is OLD) drops and Wise blasts him with punches dead in the face over and over and over again until the ref finally stops it. Just to clarify, MacDairmaid wasn't like "out cold" but more like "mouth agape and sucking wind like an asthmatic" after like 2:30. Not the sport's finest moment. (0)

12) Philly San vs. Shane Omer: San fought at Cage Rage 1. CAGE RAGE 1. But he like never fights and is listed as "independent".

FIGHT: Omer Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special. San is taken down, pounded, cut, turns over, RNC. Omer is still 5 and 0. (1)

13) Shane Kavanah vs. Andrew Tate: 84KG. These guys are debuting. Tate looks HUGE.

FIGHT: Tate TKO Rnd 1. Tate LOVES lead leg high kicks. Sure, they touch, but they do no damage. Tate gets a takedown and does nothing with it, and Kavanah gets out of it. Still, this is a pretty dominant performance. They clinch, Kavanah tries to get some separation and Tate prefers to stay in the pocket. He lands a hard right hand to Kavanah that causes him to fall to the mat and he drives another punch him to a Tate that is laid out on the mat. (0)

14) Ivan Serati vs. Shawn Lomas: Serati got in the UFC once because, hey, they needed someone to lose to Drwal. He beat Lee Hasdell in 2007 during his short lived comeback. Lomas has lost 7 fights in the last TWO MONTHS as of today. Only 2 wins in his last 13 fights and has fought 36 times in a career lasting all of about 17 months.

FIGHT: Serati Submission Rnd 1. Ends with a RNC after yet another KOTC special. Serati actually had the Gary Goodridge/Tatsu position with the wrist control behind the back and apparently decided to not kill Lomas, instead being inactive to the point where there was a standup. Didn't matter since Serati just got another double immediately. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Childs/Walker

KO OF THE NIGHT: Tate/Kavanah

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Montgomery/Panikos

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. So much filler. No really great fights. Nothing even too competitive. Lots of first round finishes. But some kinda interesting prospects very early into careers.

D&R Rating: 4% (3/70)

KOTC: Honor (5/14/2010)

In the "oops, I missed that pile" for a little while now. Trigg and The Voice announce for this show on HDNet.

1) Koa Ramos vs. Sam Oropeza: Welterweight contest with Ramos coming from Hawaii and Oropeza being from the Fight Factory.

FIGHT: Oropeza Submission Rnd 1. Ramos and Oropeza throw sloppy kicks, Ramos clinches, and ends up pulling guard and going for a guillotine that taps Ramos. Not much of a fight. (0)

2) Donald Sanchez vs. Angelo Sanchez: Rematch of a fight that Angelo had won previously. Title bout at 145!

FIGHT: Donald Sanchez Split Decision. Really competitive, really close, actually enthralling bout in spite of the fact that I knew who won. 48-47 for Donald Sanchez on my card with him winning 1,3, and 5. Yeah, less 5 round fights is a great idea. Thanks everyone in the sport. (2)

Donald: Take them to the deep water and drown 'em. Best I could tell that was the tactic in this fight in some ways. Donald Sanchez never was willing to trade with Angelo in the first 3, preferring instead to go to the clinch and then the mat. When it was there, Donald was very active off his back, moving the hips constantly and trying for submissions. He was also skillful at dodging the attempts of his opponent when on top, and also showed some ability to change position. I didn't like how quickly Angelo Sanchez brought him back to guard though, and it worried me that he took so long to let some submissions develop.

In round 4, we see a mostly standup based round with Donald on the end of low kicks from Angelo and light jabs. On the mat it is basically even and ends up on the feet soon enough. But by round 5, Angelo Sanchez is gassed, and Donald goes at him hard. He cuts Angelo with punches and causes a serious mouse to form as well. He starts landing combinations and also flying knees. Angelo initiates a clinch but ends up on his back when it hits the mat. At the end of the fight, fists are flying all the way to the bell and after.

Angelo: You gotta give him credit for heart - he gets taken down and controlled in the first but comes back to win the second in that manner. In the third he's back to being on his back, but is skilled enough to never be in serious trouble. And hell, he wins the fourth even as he's obviously sucking win. But he was sucking wind. And when you're gassed out totally, you can't fight the way you want. His vaunted punching power disappeared and he ended up getting pounded with punches and knees. As a striker he's tentative and seems very uncomfortable leading as he was forced to for much of the fight. He's better as a grappler in my estimation, though he has that unfortunate style of running straight at guys for takedowns.

3) Quinn Mulhern vs. Joey Gorczynski: Fun welterweight bout ahoy!

FIGHT: Mulhern Submission Rnd 3. (2)

Mulhern: I don't care how good you are on the mat. I don't care if you dominate every round because you are so good there. I don't care how solid the opposition you've faced is. I don't care if BE gives you a glowing assessment. If you cannot fight in such a way that it utilizes your biggest single asset, you are going to lose. Tall fighters should learn to fight tall. They should not fall in and clinch or go straight at opposition with their hands out wide. Tall fighters who that get knocked the fuck out, which is not so incidentally how Mulhern picked up his only loss. Gorczynski doesn't get an assessment because he's an undersized welterweight who didn't really do a whole lot in this fight but defend takedowns, get on top when Mulhern was overzealous coming in on him in round 1, and eventually get hurt with a telegraphed straight punch and then ended up choked out. Way past the point where this is something he needs to fix. And honestly, as much as I've liked about the guy in prior fights, I'm not seeing any sort of fix or change.

4) Joshua Montoya vs. Abel Cullum: 135lb title deliciousness.

FIGHT: Cullum Submission Rnd 1. Cullum is so active all the time no matter the situation or the fight. He gets Montoya down early after throwing a one-two to set up the shot, but Montoya works his way back to the feet. Cullum gets in tight again, goes for a single that gets down Montoya to his knees, and then he just runs around back while Montoya seems to be thinking about what to do from one knee down. Like water and that shit, Cullum locks up a RNC and forces the tap. (2)

5) Darrill Schoonover vs. Nick Gaston: Schoonover is shamefully fat. Those titties are now officially Ds. Gaston's afro is anything but shameful. It is awesome. Heavyweight action.

FIGHT: Gaston TKO Rnd 2 (1)

Schoonover: I start with him because he is terrible here. Honestly. This dude is 10-0? OK. Its because he fought cans and an overrated ex football player. That's it. He's woefully shaped as a fighter and should be performing at perhaps welterweight, not heavyweight. His shot was slow, his punches rarely connected (one did bloody the nose of Gaston), his kicks were meaningless, his defense nonexistent. After shooting and failing to do anything with a single leg he got pancaked on, he pulled to half guard and proceeded to have a vagina opened on his face by Gaston's elbow, causing a doctor stoppage.

Gaston: Gaston's kinda fun to watch and the afro is a cool thing for his image, but I worry about him fighting guys who can really punch back given that he seemed slightly shook by Schoonover's right hand that actually landed and I would have liked to see more aggression. Schoonover was asking to get worked over in round 1. It could have been ugly if he were in there with a guy who can kickbox and defend the shot with some ability. He was born to get beaten up mercilessly by Pat Berry or someone of that ilk. Honestly, he could be the Shad Smith side of a heavyweight beatdown similar to Shad Smith/Bang Ludwig.

6) Tony Lopez vs. Mike Kyle: People hate Kyle because he has fouled so many guys. Truth is that Kyle isn't such a bad dude in the ring these days and is actually a pretty damn good fighter who isn't properly respected because of his past. Lopez is a guy who is pretty much rated right: No one thinks he is great, no one really thinks he sucks. He's a tall guy and fights that way and has some good BJJ, but his wrestling isn't outstanding by any stretch of the imagination and he can get hit with looping shots over the top of his punches. BUT ANYWAYS. Light heavyweight title!

FIGHT: Kyle Split Decision. The faces tell the story - Kyle is basically clean with only a small abrasion. Lopez is cut over both eyes, under the right, and his nose and mouth are busted up. Yes, he somehow wins on a scorecard, but that's someone who doesn't understand striking. (3)

Kyle: Kyle wins because this becomes a battle of technique and his is miles better than Lopez. Lopez leaves the jab out there after throwing it making the right hand of Kyle a common counter punch, as I stated it might be in the preamble. The jab also lands regularly because Lopez is out of position. Kyle looks to be doing everything wrong in the first as he keeps moving into Lopez's power hand, but Lopez is uncomfortable with the orthodox style and switches to southpaw. With that, Kyle constantly keeps his lead foot on the outside of Lopez, and with Lopez so square, he's a sucker for punches. Kyle also seems to like the muay thai style takedowns that are employed in the first and third.

Lopez: Lopez takes center ring but doesn't establish control. Big problem in the middle rounds. He wins round 1 on activity and then wins round 4 after fending off a single from Kyle and in fact taking top position and landing some solid GnP during the last two minutes of the round, so I can't say that he wasn't in it. But when the fight was standing from about the 4th minute of the first onward, Kyle honestly was taking it to him. Lopez also got really sloppy as the rounds went on, just winging backfists and hook kicks with no real hope of anything landing.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Sanchez/Sanchez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Gaston/Schoonover

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cullum/Montoya

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 9 out of 10. My god, people would hate that rating so much if this was read widely. But you know, this is my kind of card. You have two 5 round fights, both with guys that show seriously tangible skill. I know that Kyle/Lopez isn't gonna be a lot of people's cup of tea, but there you have two guys fighting a standup "war" with some grappling mixed in and a lot of strategy and little things to look for that makes the fight so good. Kyle really pushes hard in the 5th too. And that Angelo Sanchez vs. Donald Sanchez is a great 5 round fight between two guys that aren't traditionally that sort of fighter, but you see all sorts of changes in strategy and you see stamina play a big role, and man, I just love it. Mulhern shows his chops on the mat, you see a chubby TUF fighter get torn wide open, Abel Cullum gets a really sweet submission victory, and there's a generally inoffensive squash to start it all off. One of my favorite all time B Shows. Can't say its perfect because it doesn't have a FOTYC type fight on it and the squashes do lack a certain level of violence that would get it to the land of a 10 out of 10, but yeah. I still enjoyed this immensely.

D&R Rating: 33% (10/30)

Ring of Combat XIX (5/9/2008)

More Ring of Combat on GoFightLive. Once more, we're denied one of the relevant fights as Nick Catone vs. Mitch Whitsel for some title strap isn't shown. Production is two dudes with DV cams and streaming ability standing on the same side of the ring (set on a stage?) and no announcers. The ring isn't miced even.

EDIT: Funny thing today - I also reviewed a NAAFS show I had already reviewed. A first! So if you think you saw something earlier, you did. And now it is gone and this is in it's place.

1) Eddie Fyvie vs. Anthony Morrison: Morrison was in the WEC very briefly. Fyvie never really made it that far.

FIGHT: Fyvie Submission Rnd 1. (1)

Fyvie: Fyvie goes to buttscoot the second Morrison gets even a little close to him. Morrison though falls for it and ends up inside the active guard of a decent BJJ artist. Fyvie nearly locks up a triangle with not much of a setup, and while Morrison shrugs it off and powers through once, a second attempt later in the round is successful at a tapout.

Morrison: Strong guy who's standup was way too dangerous for Fyvie to consider engaging with for even a split second, but was also nowhere near enough of a grappler to take advantage of what is traditionally a dominant position.

2) Bill Scott vs. Joe Diamond: Two guys at light heavyweight, but well under the 205lb weight.

FIGHT: Scott Submission Rnd 2. Both guys come at each other so crouched over, you can tell they expect to grapple and not trade at all. Seriously, one uppercut and this show is over. (0)

Diamond: Diamond is the bigger guy and gets takedowns and whatnot for the most part in this fight, and wins the first round pretty comprehensively. But he leaves his head and arm out pretty often and Scott takes advantage of that.

Scott: Scott is a smaller, not terribly skilled but competent BJJ artist and wrestler who is overpowered by a bigger man but makes up for it with better technique, forcing an armbar submission in the first round. He has a few other moments - briefly resisting a takedown of Diamond in the first and almost reversing position. There's also a near sweep with a triangle attempt in the second before the submission that ends the fight.

3) Anthony Vetro vs. Chris Schlesinger: Weight max here is 198lbs? Both are lumpy still.

FIGHT: Schlesinger Submission Rnd 2. (0)

Vetro: Pudgy. Can defend the takedown for a couple minutes against a smaller man.

Schlesinger: Master of the wild right hand lead/shot into clinch against the ropes. He spent most of the first round there. Maybe 3 minutes worth, come to think of it. And so it was the small victory of him going to a single while pushing the man in the corner, then dropping to trip the other ankle and get the man down that brought me joy. He then rolled very loosely for some submissions he didn't get like a RNC and an armbar and the round ended. In the second he shoots right away again, but gets a big takedown and Vetro turns and gives the neck in little time.

4) Mike Medrano vs. Anthony LaDonna: Welterweight division. LaDonna is a passable fighter.

FIGHT: Medrano TKO Rnd 2. (0)

Medrano: Medrano looks a lot like Matt Serra. A lot. And he hits like him too, as can be judged with LaDonna being out cold after a single right hand to the head. He's a strong fireplug of a guy with a propensity to fire hooks and move linearly. That's like, I dunno, a lot of guys. Not a real BJJ "artist" so to speak. If he is, he's barebones into control and high percentage stuff.

LaDonna: Made the mistake of trading with Medrano when it didn't really serve his purposes and gets laid out with a right hook. During the fight he generally ends up underneath the stronger Medrano but is skillful enough to avoid getting hit too hard or anything like that.

5) Dave Branch vs. Alexis Aquino: Interesting middleweight bout with guys who are real prospects. Well, Aquino was. He's soft around the belly in this fight.

FIGHT: Branch TKO Rnd 1. Lots of feeling out here that turns out to be more uncomfortable standup than anything else. Both guys want to grapple, and their skills are negating each other. Branch eventually ends up closing the distance, getting underhooks, elevating and slamming Aquino, then moves to full mount to pound him out. And pound him out he does. (1)

6) Dom Stanco vs. Marc Berrocal: 175 lbs?

FIGHT: Stanco TKO Rnd 2. Berrocal had previously been seen getting run over at ROC 18 and this isn't that much different. To save myself writing more than I need to, Berrocal has some iota of talent. He escapes a RNC and a straight armbar that most would have tapped too. But he is in those positions because he's not a particularly great grappler, he lacks the core strength against a solid, well built wrestler like Stanco to get him down, and on the occasions he defends something and gets on top afterwards, he either doesn't have time to make anything of it or gets swept. Stanco keeps him grounded to the mat and pounds him out with punches in the second. (0)

7) Douglas Gordon vs. Levon Maynard: Journeymen locking horns. Both dudes are ripped physically.

FIGHT: Gordon TKO Rnd 1. In the early part of the round, Gordon takes down Maynard after catching a body kick in what looks to be a primarily standup fight. And that suspicion is affirmed as Gordon doesn't really do a whole lot with the top position. Certainly he created the idea in Maynard's mind that the takedown was a real possibility once the fight was stood back to the feet, and that probably played on his mind as, later on, Maynard ducked down into a clinch with Gordon and instead ended up eating a right hand to the temple and another right hand uppercut after it that dropped him and ended the fight. (0)

8) Ricardo Romero vs. Constantinos Philippou: Interesting fight! Nontitle bout for Romero's light heavyweight title. Romero comes in looking soft.

FIGHT: Romero Split Decision. (2)

Romero: Honestly, I came into this fight with no expectations, and I guess I have to say that anyone who picked Philipou to win is an idiot. Romero consistently got positions and takedowns throughout the bout, even opened the fight up with a slam. I wasn't that impressed with his finishing technique, but I suppose he has won 6 subsequent fights inside the distance. Didn't seem to like the mount at all - really preferred and chased after side control.

Philippou: Wanted to box, didn't want to grapple so much. Unfortunately then for him, he spent most of the fight on his back trying to defend kimuras and the like. I'm willing to entertaing the largely kickboxing based first round to Philippou because he was outworking Romero. Romero does strike like he's Frankenstein after all. And also important is the fact that he's really a middleweight and settled at 185 later in his career. I guess you can ask what the loss in the TUF opening round for season 11 meant when he got tapped by Joseph Henle. I'm not sure I put a lot of stock in that being terrible for him. It was so early in his career.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Phillippou/Romero

KO OF THE NIGHT: Gordon/Maynard

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Fyvie/Morrison

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Quality issues that didn't bother me regarding production aside and the lack of the actual main event, this is a not so bad show in the great scheme of things. Finishes? Sure. Decision with quality fighters? Yes, actually. I liked not hearing terrible announcers and PBP men.

D&R Rating: 10% (4/40)

Ring of Combat XVII (11/30/07)

This was originally televised on HDNet and is somewhat notable for a fight of future UFC contenders. Interestingly, the event listing on GoFightLive is missing that fight. Great. Kenny Rice and none other than JEFF BLATNICK are on the mics. What sucks most about this show? The two good fights (Jim Miller/Chris Ligouri & Dan Miller/John Howard) aren't on GFL.

1) Nick Catone vs. Ben Knight: Catone was on TUF and still has a contract, so he can't be THAT bad.

FIGHT: Catone TKO Rnd 1. Catone rushes towards Knight to start with and doesn't even duck for a double. He eventually puts him on his back in side control with a brute force takedown and smashes him out with elbows. Sorta impressive? (1)

2) Marc Stevens vs. Alexis Aquino: Kinda interesting fight with a TUF fighter from season 12.

FIGHT: Aquino TKO Rnd 2. (1)

Aquino: Goes after a soft Stevens and wants the takedown. Stevens lands a nice knee in the clinch, but aside from that, Aquino is never really in any trouble. In the second round Aquino gets down Stevens, takes the back, flattens out Stevens, and pounds him out.

Stevens: Can sorta strike, which if you watched TUF you know. Can't grapple worth shit, which if you watched TUF, you know.

3) Richard Boine vs. Douglas Gordon: Don't know these dudes. Welterweights.

FIGHT: Gordon Submission Rnd 1. Gordon and Boine lock up early, Gordon gets a takedown, and then ends up dominating the fight there. He takes dominant position, forces Gordon to give up the back, and rides him for awhile throwing punches and eventually finishing by rear naked choke. (0)

4) Charlie Brenneman vs. Marc Berrocal: Welterweight tournament final thing for a belt.

FIGHT: Brenneman TKO Rnd 2. Just a beating. Brutal to watch, actually. Brenneman gets Berrocal down in both rounds from the very beginning and beats him down with GNP. Sure, it takes like 9 minutes to finally force a stoppage, and Berrocal does attempt to get up, shrimp, etc during the fight, but man he gets shellacked. Brenneman proves to be adequate with takedowns and punching people at his own pace. (2)

5) Lance Everson vs. Mark Massenzio: Middleweight tournament final and some sort of belt on the line. Massenzio got to the UFC.

FIGHT: Massenzio Submission Rnd 1. Massenzio asserts early his superior strength with a takedown and while Everson is able to fight his way up, his own takedown attempt falls way short and Massenzio ends up controlling the standup as well against a tenative opponent. Massenzio hurts Everson with a punch, forces the fight to a clinch, then gets a takedown. In the midst of that, Everson tries to escape and stand and ends up in a guillotine. Even with the arm in, Massenzio forces a tap. (1)

6) Gregor Gracie vs. Eric Henry: RANDOM GRACIE~

FIGHT: Gracie Submission Rnd 2. Henry is a karate guy with a funny stance and he's not a very good wrestler. Gracie shoots immediately and gets a takedown, and nearly gets an armbar in the first, but Henry breaks out. Still, Gracie runs pretty much the whole round even standing. In round two, Gracie is thrown to the side during a takedown attempt but gets it eventually and eventually moves to side control and wins with a kimura. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Gracie/Henry

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gracie/Henry

KO OF THE NIGHT: Catone/Knight

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Some prospects with easy wins but the fights I want to see aren't online and apparently no one is even selling a bootleg of this event. Awful.

D&R Rating: 17% (5/30)

Ring of Combat XIII (3/16/07)

Back to Ring of Combat as I continue that sort of retrospective series. Hey, its not the only one coming. Big issue with this show on Gofightlive? No sound. Looks like 4 minute rounds with IFL style rules.

1) George Sullivan vs. Dave Porter: Weight classes and stuff? Yeah, no idea.

FIGHT: Sullivan TKO Rnd 1. (0) Porter has a very karate influenced stance, but this fight goes to the ground early anyhow. He is on top, actually, but Sullivan sweeps him with a kimura attempt and ends up inside the guard. From there he just grabs the head, pushes down to create separation, and lands punches until Porter can't take it anymore.

2) Seth Tiringer vs. Anthony LaDonna: Who?

FIGHT: LaDonna Unanimous Decision. (0) Two men attempting to do very similar things, its just that one of the two does more and does more well. The big keys in this fight:

A: LaDonna has a guillotine attempt in the first round and Tiringer uses his strength to stand up and hold LaDonna while he does it. And he shakes LaDonna. Problem is that he resorted to small joint manipulation of the right thumb to do it. He loses a point. Basically doomed to a draw at best.

B: LaDonna shows an ability to both pass the guard and sweep from the bottom with an armbar attempt/omaplata transition. When Tiringer gets down there, he's tied up and a standup comes swiftly.

3) Marc Stevens vs. Landon Showalter: Middleweight semifinal fight as part of an ROC tournament. Stevens is on this season of TUF.

FIGHT: Stevens TKO Rnd 1. Stevens hurls Showalter to the mat to start and I have a sense of dread. He spends most of the round on top, and when they're separated to stand, he gets right back to business with a takedown and control. Showalter goes for an armbar very late in the round but Stevens escapes, lands some punches, and Showalter scrambles to his feet only to eat more punches and get stopped while getting ready to fall down in the corner. (1)

4) Jason House vs. Erick Tavares: Tavares is from Brazil, House from the US. Both aren't guys you are likely to recognize, but this was part of a middleweight tournament for ROC.

FIGHT: House TKO Rnd 2. Tavares is a terrible, terrible striker. He's an adequate wrestler who might be overly reliant on being a big middleweight, and he's swept and generally nullified on the mat even when on top. But standing, he doesn't even try to check any of House's kicks. He is getting chopped down from the start to the end. House drops Tavares' hands with all those leg kicks and eventually drops him with a series of punches, forcing a ref stop. (0)

5) Colin O'Rourke vs. Todd Moore: And now time for a welterweight tournament. These guys? don't know them at all.

FIGHT: Moore wins by stoppage. Doesn't matter because the video doesn't work.

6) Phillipe Nover vs. Jay Coleman: Coleman beat a young Mike Massenzio. Nover was supposed to be the next Anderson Silva and didn't really pan out. Now he is panning for change. He enters here with a samurai sword.

FIGHT: Nover Submission Rnd 1. If I had seen this before TUF, I would have bet everything on Escudero. Nover is a terrible wrestler here and now, and while he won with a kimura, it was from his back while Coleman was in half guard apparently dumbfounded as to how to not get submitted like he was Giant Silva. It was actually sorta embarrassing and sad. (1)

7) Ian Loveland vs. Richard Boine: Loveland is a Team Quest product I'm familiar with from Sportfight and IFL. Boine is a Tiger Schulman product I saw fight Joe Bentz in his debut. This, his third pro bout, is for the ROC Welterweight Title. DOIN IT RIGHT.

FIGHT: Loveland Submission Rnd 1. Boine rushes to clinch under a Loveland high kick at the start and gets put on his back for his trouble. He balls up and tries to go for a single, but this is a TQ guy. What is he thinking? He puts his neck into a guillotine and taps 1:22 in. (0)

8) Jay Estrada vs. James "Binky" Jones: Jones I saw on an EXC show years ago and will never forget the name of. Gofightlive couldn't tell the difference between Jay Estrada and Jason "Big Six" Estrada, the former US 2000 Olympian boxer. And actually, it seems that the video doesn't even work. So it doesn't matter. Jones won a decision, I guess?

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: The one with Nover

KO OF THE NIGHT: Pick one at random

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Loveland/Boine because I don't feel like searching

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1.5 out of 10. Its tough to separate this from what I was able to watch because, hey, I'm missing at least two fights and the commentary and sound. So, yeah. Do you need to see this? No. Do you want to see Nover flop around on the mat and Marc Stevens wrestle a little? No, but I guess if you want to you can. You might want to at some point, right? Whereas the rest of this is irrelevant.

D&R Rating: 5% (2/40) I'm rating it against what I should have seen, yeah. Too bad for them.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (11/15/2010)

No idea what the original airdate was. Was this it? Maybe. These fights were recorded on 12/5/2009 at NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS~.

1) Jason Butcher vs. Dane Bonningson: Butcher is a tattoo artist. Bonningson I had seen in his prior fight in this tournament. Since this is the finals of the light heavyweight amateur tournament, I am going to assume he wins.

FIGHT: Bonningson TKO Rnd 1. Bonningson lands a looping overhand right over the top of Butcher's low guard and drops him, forcing the stoppage like 10 seconds in. 14 seconds officially. (0)

2) Marie Colangelo vs. Jessica Eye: NATIONAL AMATEUR WOMENS CHAMPIONSHIP! yells the announcer. More Jessica Eye! Will I be sold this time?

FIGHT: Eye Unanimous Decision. Man, it is clear that these girls fighting Eye are just overpowered. All of them. Colangelo comes at her, clinches, then gets pushed into the cage and put in a guillotine attempt of sorts before eventually being pushed down and put in terrible positions. She survives the first and ends up immediately on the defensive practically running from Eye. She goes for a single in the second in desperation and just crumbles and ends up on the bottom. Same sort of domination continues in the third. (0)

3) Allan Weickert vs. Chris Lozano: Weickert beat Sean Salmon to win some sort of strap while Lozano was a generally unknown prospect here.

FIGHT: Lozano TKO Rnd 1. Lozano wins after throwing a lead left hook and following it up with a short inside uppercut that drops Weickert. Before that, Weickert tried to drag him down to the mat and do something there, but couldn't get it done. Standing, Lozano was far superior. (2)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 4 out of 10. So much of the show is taken up by the women's bout, which while not terrible is not that good either. Its basically a one sided fight. Lozano wins in an early part of his career, and he's a legitimate prospect. The other fight is a throwaway historically.

NAAFS Cage Fighting (10/31/2010)

Time to catch back up on NAAFS, isn't it? Argh. More fights from Eve of Destruction.

1) Lettia Suchevich vs. Shawna Browne: Lettia is 100lbs and has a ton of tats. Browne is 103. Am I really watching hayweight women's MMA?

FIGHT: Suchevich Unanimous Decision. "Not the most technical fight you'll ever see" say the announcers. That's an understatement. Suchevich has the only tangible ground work seen out of the two in round two, and otherwise its all bad standup. (0)

VIDEO PROMO~ for the following bout.

2) Jessica Eye vs. Marissa Caldwell: Main event of the evening. Eye demolished some random girl on an NAAFS fight card I saw in the past. OH! Super special guest on the mic - Tara LaRosa! Really!

FIGHT: Eye Unanimous Decision. Jessica isn't just the more physically more attractive fighter. She's the technically better fighter in every single way. While Caldwell's braids get opened up, her face bruised, and lip and nose bleeding, Jessica dominates the feet with her striking and also takes down Caldwell at will. I will say that Eye's kicks and punches are kinda slow, not much snap behind them. But this is women's MMA and so what. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3 out of 10. Not that great a show to watch. Eye might be a fighter to watch in the women's MMA scene but with the lack of talent there and the random nature of matchmaking, who knows?