1) Craig Turner vs. Calvin Bell: Bell looks old. Fight is at light heavyweight.
FIGHT: Bell Submission Rnd 1. Looks like this won't last long as Bell lands a big right hand almost immediately and Turner goes down. As Turner flails, he gives up a leg, Bell goes for a heel hook, and they roll around a little. Its a pretty amateurish attempt as Bell loses the hold, is mounted, and then just powers his way back into the full guard. When there, he again seeks the heel hook and they roll some. He wins with a straight ankle lock after the two men end up doing the foot lock equivalent of hand fighting. (0)
2) Cody Bollinger vs. Nick Trejo: Bollinger is like 16 here in this 145lb bout.
FIGHT: Bollinger Submission Rnd 2. Bollinger is still one of the best prospects in the 145lb universe. Trejo is a decent wrestler and not only defends Bollinger's suplex early on but uses it to get dominant position and rain down shots on Cody. Cody is resilient though and nearly locks in a d'arce while scrambling and then slowly works his way not only back into the fight but into controlling it. Bollinger dominates Trejo with his wrestling in the second round, closing the distance early, picking up Trejo in a guillotine, and lifting him off the ground and walking with him. Amazing strength for someone so young. He eventually mounts Trejo, hits him a few times, and Trejo gives up the back and the choke. He essentially retires after this. (1)
3) Ernie Calma vs. Gerry Noche: Noche has his name on his gi and looks old. Both dudes are making their debuts. Noche's apparently with De La O jiu-jitsu. Oh, and the announcers admit he's had fights before, just that they were on smokers.
FIGHT: Draw. (0) Sloppy fight between the two where each wins a round. Noche takes the first by outgrappling Calma. He holds him to the cage or takes him down off sweeps and trips, which seems to be his preferred method of takedown. Calma opens the second dropping Noche and pounding him and keeps after it the whole round, being dominant standing and on the mat as well, where he at least stays on top and well away from any submission attempts. Neither guy really turned out to be much in the end. (0)
4) John Cole vs. Frank Park: Another De La O fighter in Park. Cole has a dummy leg with him that he carries in. I wonder what kind of submissions he likes?
FIGHT: Park TKO Rnd 1. Park comes out with kicks, gets taken down, and Cole is controlling the fight. Park climbs the wall, we have separation, and Cole comes in wild with punches, then gets dropped with a counter left and Park follows with GNP until the ref stops it. (0)
5) Sean McCafferty vs. Lars Haven: Haven I've seen a few times prior and, hey, he's not all that good to be honest. This other guy? Probably worse.
FIGHT: Haven Submission Rnd 1. Haven pulls guard and spends his time working on an armbar. He gets it and OH GOD THAT IS UGLY. Lars breaks it and Don Wilson starts talking about how he'll probably pass out soon and go into shock. (0)
6) Tia Castillo vs. Thricia Poovey: Women's MMA bout between girls that aren't relevant.
FIGHT: Poovey Submission Rnd 1. Lots of flailing from Castillo with open palms at the start of the fight, and she takes down Poovey. Poovey starts working for submissions, sweeps Castillo with a triangle, and transitions to an armbar. After struggling for quite awhile, Castillo eventually taps. (0)
7) Victor Valenzuela vs. Albert Hill: Hill has a terrible record as a fighter and is obviously going to lose to Joe Boxer and probably brutally. Or he'll take a dive.
FIGHT: Valenzuela Submission Rnd 1. Joe Boxer lands a one two, drops Hill, Hill scrambles to avoid GNP and sorta falls into a triangle and that transitions to an armbar for the tap. Pointless. (0)
8) Sean Loeffler vs. Dan Axe: Loeffler was being groomed here to be a new star for KOTC, and it didn't work out. At all. He's not bad, he's just not that great. Shoes for Loeffler.
FIGHT: Loeffler Submission Rnd 1. Loeffler throws a superman punch to start, jumps around to Axe's back, gets a rear naked choke, and Axe is out cold in 20 seconds. Ridiculous fight. (0)
9) Angelo McLeroy vs. Kyle Kingsbury: Let's make this simple: Kingsbury was on TUF and has a UFC contract. The other guy no one cares about.
FIGHT: Kingsbury Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special. Distance closed, takedown, punching, takes back, RNC. Whatever. (2)
10) Randy Velarde vs. Toby Imada: Velarde first fought at KOTC 2 in 2000 and has a win over Rob Emerson. He actually was nearly killed in a stabbing. Imada had the inverted triangle seen round the world.
FIGHT: Imada Submission Rnd 2. You see the strengths and weaknesses of Imada here. On one hand, he's overpowered easily and gets taken down a couple times by Velarde. He also loses what seem to be sure thing submissions as Velarde just overpowers him. He's even slammed hard in the second. His takedowns are not explosive but almost more or less classic judo throws and takedowns using leverage. And that's cool to watch, don't get me wrong. I like seeing technique win as it did here. But its also why he's never been much more than a high level gatekeeper. (1)
11) Robert Martz vs. Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett: Martz's debut. His opponent is a living legend. Two "cops" escort Bennett to the ring in handcuffs. And he's got some hair man. Cornrows and shit.
FIGHT: Bennett TKO Rnd 1. Martz throws a wild shot and jumps in, then gets caught with a couple knees, drops, eats shots to the dome, and the fight is over. Bennett does backflips and dances and talks crazy and man its great. And then they give him a microphone. I should give that a 5 right there. (1)
12) Ed Newalu vs. Ryan Diaz: KOTC 135lb belt at stake.
FIGHT: Diaz Submission Rnd 1. This is the classic example of a fight that nothing really was changed by in spite of it being for a belt of some sort. Diaz locks up a triangle after a prolonged setup when Newalu dumps him on his back. There's not really any sort of striking or anything and both guys are totally ordinary, with Diaz being less ordinary. Neither has fought for a couple years now. (0)
13) Jerry Davis vs. Manny Rodriguez: Fat dudes. Who are they? I don't know.
FIGHT: Rodriguez TKO Rnd 1. Heavyweight title or something up for grabs and they throw wild shots and Rodriguez wins. Rodriguez never fights again. (0)
14) Aaron Witherspoon vs. Bryson Kamaka: Kamaka has a reputation for getting the hell beaten out of him in short order by decent fighter. Witherspoon is a decent fighter.
FIGHT: Witherspoon TKO Rnd 1. Left hook, right hand, GNP, over. 11 second KO. (0)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Bollinger/Trejo
KO OF THE NIGHT: Witherspoon/Kamaka
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: McCafferty/Haven
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. God, these sorts of shows are hard to watch. So many early stops. Just over and over with bad matchmaking and middling talent.
D&R Rating: 7% (5/70)
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