I've been super busy recently and unable to finish any reviews. So in order to still have something up and slowly move the reviews I have DVDVR off of it, here's the first one I did for the KOTC of the Day series from January 2008. I'll be posting them all in time.
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1)TAMA TE HUNA vs. MAL FOKI: I have no idea who Te Huna is and Sherdog's Fight Finder says he hasn't fought in almost 3 years. He is pretty cut up though. Mal Foki of course fought in PRIDE and sucked ass. FUN MAL FOKI FACT: He had two professional boxing matches according to Boxrec, in which he went 0-1-1. His draw came to a fighter in his pro debut, and his loss to a 6-24-1 boxer who had lost to Biko Botowamungu. Biko was a Congolese boxer popular among German promoters as a tomato can in the late 90s/early 00s and lost to a young Wladimir Klitschko in 5. So he's like 3 steps from the best heavyweight boxer in the world, and of course just a couple links from Fedor. Interesting.
Anyhow, fight isn't as interesting as that. Foki throws a low kick and Te Huna comes over the top with a punch. Foki doesn't like it, circles out in retreat, Te Huna follows, and then blows him out with punches :16 in. Te Huna is the whitest looking dude with an islander name ever.
2) BRANDON BELL vs. JAMES FANSHEAR: I don't know who these dudes are. Fanshear is apparently from the US, lost to some names like Leben, Metcalf, and Villasenor, beat some names like Ritch, split series with Denny, and has flown under my radar. I've probably seen him before and will see him again. Bell is from Australia, I guess.
The fight is mildly interesting for a few seconds. Bell and Fanshear show off some kicks early on, then Bell gets thai clinch and those some decent knees inside. The problem is that he's clearly not well versed in any grappling, and Fanshear is able to get underhooks and belly to belly suplex the poor australian with the board shorts on his skullcap. Clearly having a tough time recovering, perhaps not knowing what to do, or a combination of both, Fanshear quickly gets the back, pounds him a little, flattens him out, then choke.
3) ANDREW GORTON vs. KYM ROBINSON: They are all foriegn and shit and I don't know who they are. I bet they stand and trade or one of them takes the other down and I go make some tea in the middle of it.
I was kinda right. This was actually really interesting. Gorton wasn't too skilled anything, and Robinson seemed like a guy training in a multitude of things and putting a lot of it almost altogether. He was standing like a euro amateur, throwing kicks like he was out of a Shotokan gym, rotating his hips and attempting submissions like he'd gone to BJJ classes for about 6 months, and had solid thai clinch skills. Gorton spent the first round trying to get a takedown but was beat up for his trouble. He got on the ground, but ended up in Robinson's mount and was on the recieving end of a botched armbar that almost finished him. Second round saw Gorton getting on top in Robinson's guard and escaping a pair of armbars (one that nearly swept him out and had Robinson on top) and a triangle choke to push Robinson to the cage wall for the last 20 seconds. It wasn't enough and Robinson won the decision.
4) MATT KNIGHT vs. JAMES TE HUNA: I'm gonna wager a guess and say that "Te Huna" is not the Samoan equivalent of "Smith". Te Huna almost ended up in PRIDE. Matt Knight is some dude.
This is really odd, given that everyone has it as a win for Knight by DQ. Te Huna overpowers Knight from the get go and though Knight has a moment of glory when he rolls for a leglock, Te Huna stacks and beats the shit out of his lumpy foe. Te Huna slaps Knight on the ass in a fashion that looks almost like a tapout, then KOs him with strikes while obviously holding the fence. Oh well. The lights also go on in the venue and it looks like a convention center without any elevated seating.
5) NATHAN WHITE vs. WARPATH: YESSSSSSS. Also, out of nowhere, we suddenly have a boom camera and a higher up stationary cam, both with way better video quality (4:3?). What the fuck? There's tables all around ringside, giving it the feel of a good ol' fashioned club venue. I figure it out later: The reason is that this side of the DVD is a combination of two shows run over a week, and I guess would be a "best of", if that can be believed. This is from "Gunfather" on 2/10.
The fight kinda sucks. White is fat and a wrestler and Warpath is Warpath, leading to them clinching against the cage a lot. White's lard reminds me of those McDonald's Playdoh sets where you'd shove in lots of the dough and make "fries" or something through a mold when he's pushed into the chainlink. Eventually Warpath throws an uppercut and White goes down. Warpath is confused and just looks at him a moment, as if to say, "you fall down after 4 of those, dumbass!" and then waits a few more before diving into the halfguard and finishing the fight with some halfassed hammer strikes. We all know Warpath would never be involved with a dive, no sir....
6) GORDON GRAFF vs. DYLAN SMITH: No idea who these dudes are.
They throw a lot of shots at one another and it goes the time limit. Both are squat, short guys who gassed early. In the end, Dylan Smith wins because he didn’t gas as bad as Graff, who had his hands by his sides and was doubled over breathing hard two minutes in.
7) “BIG” JIM YORK vs. BRAD MORRIS: York is some guy that I had seen on TOM’s lists for a long time, and Matt Morris is a guy with a surprisingly good record, featuring a win over Kristof Midoux.
The fight really tells me a ton about York. He’s all standup all the time, decent takedown defense against a guy who clearly doesn’t have the athleticism to change levels and bother him, slow hands, decent technique with the jab but never follows it, backs straight up, leaves his left low. In spite of the obvious flaws, he prevented being taken down and when Morris won the second off his overhand rights and clinch work, he was able to fire a uppercut while dirty boxing that dropped Morris and won him the fight in the third and tiebreaking round. He’s no worse than Eddie Sanchez.
8) JAMES TE HUNA vs. JAMES LEE: Lee is the one I’m interested most on this DVD by, particularly given that I’ve already seen Bonello fight (who comes up later, so it says). Lee’s from my future inescapable home state of Michigan and appeared on PRIDE’s second US show (beating Travis Wiuff), and I’ve already seen him before against Lister and White, though they weren’t memorable enough for me to remember particulars any of those fights. I just saw Te Huna like, a couple minutes ago.
Lee is way smaller but shoots in, gets underhooks, suplexes Te Huna, gets the back, wins by rear naked. Made Te Huna look foolish.
9) HARLEY CARILLO vs. MIKE JOHNSON: You know shit is tough when a fight doesn’t even show up in FCFightFinder or Sherdog’s database.
Johnson shoots in against Carillo, who telegraphs his capabilities with the Thai shorts. He pushes him into the cage, gets underhooks, throws him down, Carillo gets up, gives his back, Johnson pulls him back and chokes him out. Maybe 20 seconds. Maybe.
10) TAMA TE HUNA vs. JOE BRIGGS: Briggs is some dude who doesn’t show up on many databases and isn’t any good anyhow.
The fight is all sorts of trimmed for going two rounds. Te Huna throws wild punches, gets Briggs down, and then almost gets swept with the worst attempt I’ve ever seen. Te Huna gets off the ground, looks to throw some kicks to Briggs (who is in butt scoot), then attempts a somersault senton. He naturally misses this totally and Briggs is able to get top control, which he was probably in for 3 minutes that you did not see. Second round is fairly short with Te Huna throwing lousy punches, Briggs falling down, and then Te Huna throwing more lousy punches until the ref steps in.
11) BRAD MORRIS vs. HIRIWA TURANGI: MOAR MORRIS. On Sherdog, this is listed as part of Kumite 1 on 7/2/05. Also, some facts on Turangi: He’s a kickboxer and pro boxer. As a pro boxer, he’s ranked 9th in New Zealand at heavyweight, and sports an 0-10 pro record. He has two losses to Shane Cameron, a loss to THE FARKEN Bob Mirovic, David Izon’s brother Roger, one time Mike Tyson exhibition opponent candidate Lawrence Tauasa, and brother of top 10 light heavyweight Paul Briggs, Nathan.
This fight is a slaughter. Turangi gets taken down fast, Morris beats him up, he gets a head and arm choke from the full mount, game over.
12) JAMES TE HUNA vs. ADRIAN LEATUA: Another James Te Huna fight, again from 7/2/05.
This fight is all sorts of clipped up. Leatua taps out in the first round after the bell from a guillotine, Te Huna controls the action for most of the bout that’s seen, and at the end of the third (???) round, the horn goes, Eric Apple says, “that’s it!” and the show’s over folks. You don’t even know how it ends (Sherdog sez:: Te Huna by TKO???). Tony Bonello/Edwin Aguilar is advertised on the insert, and its not even on the disc. LOL.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Robinson/Gorton wasn’t too badly clipped up and what was shown was actually pretty cool. Of all the dudes here, I want to see Kym Robinson the most again.
KO OF THE NIGHT(S): James Tehuna against Matt Knight, since it apparently never happened. Also, Mal Foki getting Koed is always cool.
SUBMISSTION OF THE NIGHT(S): Mike Johnson/Harley Carillo. High school shit, so it must be rewarded.
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10: This works on some level, like as a Warpath Career Set gap filler. The fights are all cut more than your typical Shooto TV program, and Mal Foki gets knocked out. The camera work is better than the video from some of the handcams Bad Breed TV would use, but you do lack the awesomeness of having like, 3 Kerry Schall fights on one disc.
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POSTSCRIPT:
James Lee has long since retired.
James Fanshear is still fighting on the local level.
James Te Huna somehow has a UFC contract, and Brad Morris got one for a second too.
Kym Robinson has losses to Perosh and James Te Huna.
Hiriwa Te Rangi lost 3 more pro boxing bouts.
Jim York went 1-3 in Sengoku, losing to Dave Herman, Bigfoot Silva, and Kiss Nakao. Since then he has defeated Brandon Cash and Peter Graham in local Aussie shows.
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