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)
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