World Combat Championship 1: 10/171995

The one and only show from WCC occured in North Carolina. Sherdog says Charlotte, I thought they said Raleigh Durham, in the end, does it matter? This is a phenomenal promotion as far as MMA goes: Boom Boom Mancini is their chairman, some dude named Christopher Peters is their figurehead president guy/money mark, none of the announcers are recognizable, and the fighters are quite the assortment. We've got Ben Spijkers, Renzo Gracie, Erik Paulson (w/long hair), James Warring, Bart Vale, Jerry Flynn, and so many more. There's these hilarious video intro pieces for everyone, which show Bart Vale punching bags and shit like that.

Also, we've got two sets of rules. Grapplers division features Renzo and Bart Vale, and they have a 22 minute single round with a 10 minute time limit on the mat. Strikers have a 2 minute ground limit and you cannot win by joint lock or choke.

1) BEN SPIJKERS vs. RENZO GRACIE: You might know this fight already. Spijkers is rocking a gi and is a judoka from the Netherlands. Gracie is Renzo.

Spijkers gets a gnarly slam early on and is inside the full guard of Gracie. Renzo sweeps him though and gets it standing. Gracie gets the takedown this time, and Spijkers tries to counter on the ground with a gi choke. Gracie pushes him into the cage and moves to side control. Spijkers tries to get up by flipping over onto his stomach and Gracie retaliates with some elbows to the base of the skull. Oh, the irony. Gracie then chokes him out, holds on a little long, and then in his celebration of getting the tap out, decides to cross the ring by stepping on the back of Spijkers neck. Renzo ended up coming across as a super nice guy years later on 60 Minutes. How times have changed. (2) for the outrageous finish.

2) SEAN MCCULLY vs. ERIK PAULSON: McCully is supposedly a boxer. Paulson is in the striker's division for some ungodly reason.

Clinch early, and McCully gets a takedown. Paulson is constantly trying for submissions but he can't do them without getting DQed, making this a bizarre bout of Paulson fighting his best instincts. McCully, on the other hand, is actually doing some decent GnP and cuts Paulson before the fight is stood up at the end of the 2 minute mark. They clinch again and Paulson lands some nice knees before taking down McCully. Paulson is in mount and just blasts McCully with punches until the ref stops it. (1)

3) MIKE BITONIO vs. BART VALE: Vale is everyone's favorite shootfighting redneck, even if he was rarely ever in shootfights. Bitonio is a teammate to John Matua.

Bitonio gets a takedown to start but is sweeped fast. Vale just headbutts the shit out of Bitonio, busting his face up. Vale is beating Bitonio silly and the announcers are wondering why the fight isn't being stopped. Vale tries for a kimura in the mount and Bitonio sweeps using the cage. Vale is on the bottom but gets a side choke from there and Bitonio is finally done. Brutal 7 minutes of Bitonio having brain damage inflicted on him. (1)

4) JAMES WARRING vs. JEROME TURCAN: Turcan was the favorite of the strikers division, being a well known muay thai and savate talent. Warring was himself a kickboxing champion in the late 80s/early 90s and also won the IBF Cruiserweight title.

All standup, kinda tenative given the distance and what not. Turcan threw a lot of kicks and Warring some weak punches. Suddenly, Warring lands a monster rabbit shot to the back of Turcan's skull. Turcan drops and Warring follows it with a stomp and several punches. Cecil Peoples was the ref, and like now, he ended it late. (1)

Bart Vale is apparently injured and unable to continue, so let's watch the alternate bout from earlier!

5) JERRY BELL vs. PHIL BENEDICT: Benedict is a big muscled up wrestler guy and Bell is a boxer who boxrec shows as having stopped fighting in 1998 with a 9-0(9KO) record.

Benedict charges straight at Bell, takes him down, but ends up with Bell on top by accident. Benedict knows to sweep and ends up winning early with a RNC. (0)

6) PHIL BENEDICT vs. RENZO GRACIE:

Benedict tries to keep the fight standing, recognizing that his strength is a benefit for throwing strikes. He is able to defend one takedown but fails with the second attempt and Gracie quickly attains mount. Lots of nasty elbows and punches and Benedict taps. (1)

7) ERIK PAULSON vs. JAMES WARRING: This is the only time a former world champion/titlist in boxing faced a champion (Paulson was a Shooto champ) in MMA history. The rules help out Warring a huge deal though.

This was a close contest almost entirely standing, mostly in the clinch against the cage. Warring realized about midway through that holding Paulson's long hair could be a key and used it to control Paulson's movement. Warring has a better gas tank than Paulson and uses his weight to push him around and tire him. Eventually, Warring lands an uppercut in the 17th minute and Paulson is dropped hard. Warring stomps him until the towel is thrown in. (2) for historical importance.

Another prelim fight!

8) JERRY FLYNN vs. FRED FLOYD: Floyd is a fat black man that was once decimated by Igor Vovchanchin after this in that Russian IFC event that the mob tried to take the tapes of. Flynn was a wrestler in WCW.

Flynn is dropped early with a right hand and Floyd gets on top. Flynn is semicompetent and sweeps him and is in side control, and tries to get a kimura. Flynn decides to give up the arm and goes for a leg and toe hold, but Floyd rolls him and tries to stand. Flynn goes for a heel trip and Floyd defends it, spins to north/south, and gets a front choke that forces a submission. (0)

9) RENZO GRACIE vs. JAMES WARRING: This is with grappler's rules.

Gracie with a single, goes to half guard, then mount. Gracie wins with a neck crank. Nothing special. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): McCully/Paulson

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Warring/Paulson

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Renzo/Spijkers

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10 - What a fun ass show. The rules were frustrating with the strikers, but it was a talent filled event. The only sad part is that there was a very real chance of Gracie having to fight Spijkers, Vale, and then Paulson in one night. That would have been the toughest overall draw of any one night tourney during the time frame.

D&R RATING: 11%(5/45)

RING OF COMBAT~! 18 (3/7/08)

Another HDNet exclusive featuring guys that don't matter in large part in bouts that often were not good. Kenny Rice and Frank Trigg are announcing from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in front of about 5 people. Rules are effectively IFL rules but with 5 minute rounds.

1) RANDY DURANT vs. RICARDO ROMERO: No idea about these guys. Romero is 3-0 coming in, Durant 2-3.

Short bout. Romero lands a left hook and drops Durant. He pounds him out in side control. Romero is now 5-0, so (1).

2) MIKE MEDRANO vs. RICH ASHKAR: Another fight where I have heard of neither participant. Ashkar is 3-0, Medrano 0-1.

Medrano lands a right hand under 20 seconds in and Ashkar just falls to the floor face first. (0)

INTERVIEW TIME WITH RENZO GRACIE. Nothing is learned. He will fight again. Hopefully this time he does not bitch out.

3) AL BUCK vs. JAMES "BINKY" JONES: Binky just fought on the undercard of the Elite XC Primetime show. Buck has done a good job losing to guys that are mediocre at best.

Buck goes for a guillotine standing very early on, but Jones pulls guard and get out of that. Buck tries to throw punches, Binky goes for an armbar which he transitions into a kimura and rolls him with. Buck tries to roll his way out of it and just gets deeper. Tap out early in round 1. (0)

4) IGOR GRACIE vs. TOM GALLICCHIO: A new Gracie! He is making his pro debut. Gallicchio is a solid 7-3 with his best win coming against IFL "vet" Nate Lamotte, who I reviewed fighting Chris Horodecki not long ago.

Round 1 was an impressive showing of the ol' Gracie zhoo-zhit-su but Gallicchio is skilled enough to escape everything and even ends up on top at the end of the round. Gracie is never the same, having gassed himself out going for fancy chokes and stuff. Gallicchio wins a very dull Round 2 by laying on Gracie in the guard for virtually the entire round. Round 3 copies that except with a short standup portion in which Gracie is nearly KOed. Gallicchio wins on every single card and picks up a surprising decision. (0), simply because the fight was not enjoyable to watch and I don't know that I see Gallicchio making inroads anywhere.

5) MIKE GEURIN vs. DAN MILLER: Miller is a WORLD CHAMPION now. Amazing. Geurin is a nobody still. Go figure. How did this titanic struggle go?

Some standup, Guerin and Miller's heads collide, ref stops the fight, NC. (0)

FRANKIE EDGAR INTERVIEW. Not that informative.

6) JOSE RODRIGUEZ vs. JOHN "DOOMSDAY" HOWARD: Howard was robbed at ROC 17 against Dan Miller. Even Sherdog called it a bullshit decision! His trainer told me so. Oddly, nothing on the ol' Fightfinder about "BS decision". Rodriguez is a 5-3 fighter from who knows where.

Howard is shit on by the announcers early on here as being a guy who is a lay and pray fighter. Ouch. After all, he's all decisions and submissions, no KOs, and that's not really worthy of the nickname "Doomsday", which the announcers also refuse to call him. Trigg says something about it not being as catchy as "Babalu". Early on, their remarks make sense. Howard with a takedown, some control, some more control, then he takes the back and nearly sinks in a choke. Rodriguez spins into it and then stands out of the guard, taking this back to the place Howard apparently hates or something. Then Howard throws a combination of shots and Rodriguez is hella unconscious and then the announcers are like "nah dogg we was playing that's a good nickname." Rodriguez goes out on a backboard, Miller/Howard for the IFL title now doesn't happen. (1)

7) ALEXIS AQUINO vs. LYMAN GOOD: There are some serious ass expectations with a name like "Good". Plus he has a perfect record and beat Mike Dolce. Aquino's loss is to Dante Rivera, who Trigg notes he trains with and is on Ultimate Fighter. Somewhere, Zach Arnold is totally upset because HDNet isn't protecting DA BRAND.

Another fight that was conceptually interesting but lacked in actuality. The fight begins really with a high kick by Good that nearly KOs Aquino, and that's really it for interesting offense. Good and Aquino mostly stand, and when they do Aquino has the idea that by throwing a hundred spinning back kicks, he is sure to land one fight ender. No such thing happens. When they "box" each other, its pretty sloppy most of the time with Good getting in more shots because of his hand speed advantage. Aquino is a gamer though and refuses to lay down for any shots in this fight. Seeing as he was KOed in his next fight in under one round, probably not a good sign of future things for Good. Most interesting moment: Aquino shoots in and both men nearly tumble out to the floor. The ring has its pluses for the fans, but not for the competitors. Good by UD. (1)

8) DOUG GORDON vs. GREGOR GRACIE: Gracie is 2-0 and Gordon is a paltry 6-4.

Gracie immediately goes for a take down and ends up in mount as soon as he succeeds. Oh, great, another Gracie exhibition. The world didn't have enough of these in 1994. Gracie in and out of mount, goes for a guillotine that Gordon reverses and stands up out of, but he gets taken down again. The bell for the second rings, and you can guess what happens. Gracie takedown, on top, however he's not nearly as active. Just like the other family member on the card, Gracie sucks at cardio. Gordon at least put in road work and is able to fight his way back into this, even if from the bottom. Still lost round 2. Third and final stanza begins, Gordon walks out, throws a right high kick, and Gregor is immediately KOed. So this is why the Gracies never get calls to the UFC anymore. (0)

9) KRYSTOF SOSZYNSKI vs. ALEX ANDRADE: Andrade returned for three fights with his ol' Lions Den buddy's promotion Art of War, and now he's here in NJ to take on the ex-IFL heavyweight "contender". Soszynski lost so much weight he looks like he got AIDS.

This fight is absolute trash. Totally unwatchable. Amazingly, a lower moment in Andrade's career than even being DQed that one time in the UFC for ignoring the "no kicking with shoes" rule they had back when you could wear shoes. Andrade rushes forward, they clinch, that's it. It is Yasuda/Saatake USA, but with only one consolation: Andrade's strikes all land dead in the cup. Every fucking time he throws a low kick or knee, straight in the balls. After 4 stoppages for low blows, he is DQed. (0)

10) CHRIS LIGOURI vs. JIM MILLER: When I realized this was the main event, there was some horror to note how much the last IFL show ever was like a Ring of Combat event. I guess then that its spirit will live forever in NJ. Miller's only loss is to Frankie Edgar, and he's beaten Muhsin Corbbrey, Nuri Shakir, Chris Ligouri previously (by cut) and a month later was victorious over Bart Palaszewski. Ligouri I've seen fight for MFC thanks to Bodog (against Erik Oganov) and has a whole bunch of losses to good fighters like Pete Sell and also Pete Sell. Apparently rematches against guys that beat you is no big thing for him. He's even a UFC vet, fighting at UFC 45! He lost to Keith Rockel, so I guess he had octagon shock.

Not an awful first round with some back and forth action. Miller gets a takedown early but Ligouri is able to stand out of that and lands some straight right hands against his southpaw foe. Miller gets desperate and keeps trying for takedowns, all of which get stopped. He just gives up on that and pulls guard to get the fight off the feet, and when Ligouri tries to stand out, he goes for a single. Finally, he finds success and gets on top. Ligouri seems to have some BJJ skills and is scooting the legs up when the round ends.

Round two kicks off with lots of takedown attempts, lots of Ligouri defending, lots of Ligouri forgetting what worked in round one and what should obviously work and gets lulled into fighting Miller's fight. They trade low kicks and it forces Ligouri into the corner. That powerful left of Miller lands dead on his chin and a hurt Ligouri goes to try and take down Miller. The single puts his head right into a guillotine attempt. A couple taps later, fight's over, Miller wins. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Ligouri/Miller. The best on a not very good show.

KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Gordon/Gracie

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Jones/Buck

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10: If you like to see the Gracie family get shitted on, this is your show. Otherwise, so many boring fights. So many nothing fighters.

D&R RATING: 10% (5/50)