Superior Challenge 7: Rise of the Champions (

I actually have a half of a written report of Superior Challenge 2 from like 2 years ago that I never finished. Thanks to HDNet, I have this show to actually write about in full. Great production values for this show give that it is squarely a second tier event - Sweden's BAMMA, kinda.

1) Andreas Stahl vs. Johan Vanttinen: Swede vs. Finn. Both 3-0. I know nothing about them.

FIGHT: Stahl TKO Rnd 2. Man, this was a matter of time. Stahl stalks Vanttinen with punches and lands them seemingly at will when throwing because Vanttinen just moves straight back and doesn't tuck his chin. Stahl seems to be an OK grappler but nothing about his performance here jumps out at me. (0)

2) Lina Eklund vs. Kristina Talvosaite: Both are debuting as a pro and I think I'll go do the litter instead of paying sole attention to this. 60KG weight limit.

FIGHT: Eklund Submission Rnd 2. Terrible fight. Lots of clinching against the cage, lousy striking, ends when Eklund pulls the switch on Talvosaite after a failed shot by the Lithuanian fighter, takes the back and a choke. Whatever. (0)

3) James Doolan vs. Sirwan Kakai: Swede against Scottish fighter. Doolan has a record of 11-4-2, Kakai is 5-1. Not terrible.

FIGHT: Kakai Submission Rnd 2. Another second round stoppage - Kakai is super small for the bantamweight division but gets some decent takedowns and swings for the fences. Technically nothing spectacular that I saw, but he seems to be a decent athlete. He pulls a guillotine while Doolan was looking to scramble to his feet and forces the tapout. (0)

4) Mohsen Bahari vs. Farshad Farsiani: Lots of muslim immigrants to Scandic nations fighting for YOUR ENTERTAINMENT. Records are not spectacular.

FIGHT: Bahari TKO Rnd 2. Another fight that ends in the second, though this time it was due to Farsiani not making the bell for the start of the round. Bahari looks to land strikes and does so a lot. Farsiani looks to get the clinch and takedowns. He's not all that successful, instead at best stopping or slowing the assault of Bahari's wide punches and otherwise absorbing them while providing not much in terms of resistance. Not much I can take away from Bahari here other than he seems to be too square to be really mobile and stay away from having the clinch slow his attack. (0)

HELLBOY INTERVIEW~. Don't care at this point. 8 years to late to do so.

5) Bruno Carvalho vs. Kyacey Uscola: Holy shit, for real? MW contest.

FIGHT: Carvalho Submission Rnd 2. Uscola is the poor man's Sonnen and like the real thing, he's awful at defending subs. Here against a BJJ black belt, Uscola tries to keep distance and strike but doesn't do a whole lot of damage that way. When he gets near enough to Carvalho to grab, bad things happen. He's almost tapped in a matter of seconds at the end of the first and manages to stupidly shoot at Carvalho and get put on his back with that. While trying to scramble, he ends up giving his back and Carvalho transitions to an armbar and wrenches the shoulder out of the socket. Yikes. Lots of screaming in pain ensues. (1)

URIJAH FABER INTERVIEW~. Also don't give a shit here.

6) Robert Jocz vs. Tor Troeng: European biggish guys.

FIGHT: Troeng Unanimous Decision. Another fairly dull fight. Regional contenders in a "battle of positioning" where few meaningful strikes are thrown or landed, and there are some takedowns done by Troeng. Jocz goes for some halfassed submission attempts here and there and that's about it. The most forgettable MMA fight I can think of. (1)

7) Assan Njie vs. Beslan Isaev: Njie is supposed to be a prospect or something.

FIGHT: Njie Submission Rnd 1. We see Njie immediately shoot and get a monster double and then he works over Isaev some. I'm not really sold on his ability to escape the guard of his opponent, but he's got some healthy skill level on the mat, is never threatened with submissions, and eventually locks up a guillotine on Isaev that ends the fight as Isaev goes out. Njie needs to show that he can do this to legit wrestlers. (1)

8) Daniel Acacio vs. Diego Gonzalez: SC title belt on the line here in the welterweight division. Acacio is now named "The Viking Hunter". Oh, great.

FIGHT: Acacio Unanimous Decision. Thank god, this was only a three round fight, not five. Gonzalez is a chubby slugger guy and Acacio lands a billion leg kicks and punches on him, and also takes him down in every round of the fight and controls him on top after doing so. Acacio looks good here against limited competition, but then I think back as to how he hasn't won a meaningful fight in years. (1)

9) Reza Madadi vs. Rich Clementi: A Rich Clementi fight! Certainly, this will be a thing.

FIGHT: Madadi Unanimous Decision. The guy who isn't No Love wins a belt. Decent fight actually with Madadi winning by getting takedowns and being on top most of the fight, but Clementi made it a good show by pursuing a lot of submission attempts like knee bars and RNCs and the like, which Madadi skillfully avoided. Really cool rolling at points, like Madadi going for a double and Clementi trying to counter with an inverted triangle. (1)

10) Thales Leites vs. Jeremy Horn: Main event for the middleweight strap.

FIGHT: Leites Unanimous Decision. Basically, two guys jab at each other for 13 minutes, and Leites lands a few more jabs. Then he gets a takedown in the 3rd round and wins it by laying on Horn. Overall - do we learn anything new about either? No. Was it entertaining? No. Do either look like they have new wrinkles that change their career path away from "downward arc"? No. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Madadi/Clementi

KO OF THE NIGHT: Stahl/Vanttinen

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Carvalho/Uscola

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of ten. Some aging names alongside some no name = lousy, lousy show. Watch only the Uscola and Clementi fights if interested in anything here.

D&R Rating: 14% (7/50)

ULTIMATE GLORY Anniversary (10/17/09)

This is a mixed event held at Amsterdam's Central Rail station. How about that? I'll review only the MMA bouts.

1) HANS STRINGER vs. NILS VAN NOORT: At 205. Stringer is the more well known of the two, having been in the European circuit for awhile.

Van Noort goes for a takedown, ends up on the bottom, but does sweep. And then he is in a triangle. (0)

2) Krista Fleming/Titiana Van Polanen Petel: Women's kickboxing. Doesn't count. Went full 5 under MT rules and Petel clearly won. Fleming was more attractive going in; does that count?

3) JASON JONES vs. HRACHO DARPINYAN: Another light heavyweight bout. This features a guy I've seen an inordinate amount of in Jason Jones from his M-1 bouts.

Jones rushes in and Darpinyan wants a takedown in the clinch. Then there's a low blow to Jones, and we start over. Jones lands a left in that exchange and Darpinyan is DOWN~ and takes a lot of hammerfists, but no, this is not mercifully over. Instead, Darpinyan, while mounted, gets out of that bad spot momentarily, surviving only to be mounted again. He again escapes, and in doing so tries to kick Jones on the ground, hitting him in the head. More importantly, there's a toe in the eye, and chaos for awhile as Jones recovers. The inevitable restart of the longest first ever has Jones with the takedown.

Second round! Darpinyan goes for an Armenian Hiptoss (that is to say, a hiptoss performed by an Armenian) but ends up on the bottom, like Van Noort did in the prior MMA contest. Jones is on top pretty much the entire round, either in full or half guard, until we finally get Darpinyan to do something (a sweep) which leads to him getting beaned with some punches at the bell. Third is no better: Jones with the takedown, Jones with the mount, Jones there virtually the entire round. Darpinyan does nothing but survive. Jones with the UD. (1)

4) Halim Issaoui vs. Ali Gunyar: K-1 rules, 165lbs. Doesn't count. Good fight though. Lots of action. I and the judges gave it to Gunyar for superior kicking.

5) TOMMY DEPRET vs. VINCENT LATOEL: Nothing fight between nothing fighters at 155.

Trading shots early, though mostly single punches. Latouel is hurt, tries for a take down, ends up getting beat up a little. He scrambles up to his feet, and gets thrown down to the mat again for more beatings. Latoel gets back up and lands a couple punches at the end of the round, only to get taken down and almost KOed with a punch as the bell rings. Seconds seals it: Depret sprawls out on a takedown attempt and secures a guillotine. (0)

6) Anderson Silva (the OTHER one) vs. Stefan Leko: K-1 rules. Leko was good a long time ago, now his stomach hangs over his shorts with the saddest muffin top. Silva abuses him, eventually stopping him in the second. Anderson Braddock Silva looks interesting for sure.

7) NIKOLAI ONIKIENKO vs. VALENTIJN OVEREEM: Onikienko's first fight of the year, and its not incidental. How many Valentijn Overeem comebacks must the world endure?

Overeem comes in strong and takes down Onikienko. Too bad Onikienko lands a left hand as Valentijn comes in. That breaks his nose and forces an end to the fight as he quits for the billionth time. (1)

8) Errol Zimmerman vs. Wendell Roche: K-1 rules. Roche gave a good account of himself in this slugout that Zimmerman needed an overtime round to win.

9) RODNEY GLUNDER vs. DION STARING: Both ancient names in Euro MMA. One better than the other.

Staring with a takedown, pass to side control, Kimura. Sounds fast, actually took like 3 minutes. (0)

10) Hesdy Gerges vs. Ruslan Karaev: K-1 rules, infamous mismatch. Karaev is going to the K-1 World Grand Prix and ends up enduring incredible battery at the hands of Gerges, another guy who's lost to Anderson Braddock Silva. Leg kicks demolish Karaev, who somehow stays vertical even as his head bounces around the ring like a pinball off the flippers of Gerges' left and right hands.

11) ROBERT JOCZ vs. SIYAR BAHADURZADA: Jocz is a grappler and Bahadurzada is a kickboxer, really, with more experience too.

Jocz gets takedowns in the first and then its Bahadurzada getting them in the second and third. Little damage is done by anyone in any of these scenarios, and apart from a kimura in the first round by Jocz, no one even comes close to finishing. Bahadurzada wins a dull fight. (1)

12) ALISTAR OVEREEM vs. TONY SYLVESTER: A bizarre matchup. Sylvester is a vet of YAMMA. Overeem is, well.

Overeem just bombs the chunky white guy out with strikes and finishes with the guillotine. Was that the predetermined finish? (3)

13) Semmy Schilt vs. Alexey Ignashov: A K-1 rules bout that would have mattered more 3 years ago. Schilt in a shutout; classic control of distance from Semmy en route to what seems like his billionth win the last 4 years.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Issaoui/Gunyar

KO OF THE NIGHT: Silva/Leko

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Staring/Glunder

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. Waste of Overeem, but expected with the event. Kickboxing was better than the MMA by miles. As an MMA event, it does poorly.

D&R Rating: 17%