Real Fighting Championships 11 (2/23/08)

Allan Berube and Jay Adams are announcing. I have no idea who is on this card aside from the main event, which is headlined by CARL MALENKO. I mean CARL GRECO. I mean CARL OGNIBENE.

1) David Silva vs. Zach Barrios: Silva is undefeated and Barrios is a little soft.

FIGHT: Silva Submission Rnd 1. Total domination by Silva who gets the ref to stop the fight momentarily for a cut on Barrios' face, then finishes the job as Barrios tries to sweep out of half guard and ends up giving his back instead. RNC finish, Barrios claims he didn't tap, but who cares? Silva looked good but never fights again, instead choosing to run a school in Florida. (0)

2) Corey Swanson vs. Joe Robinson: Robinson is all sorts of shredded.

FIGHT: Robinson Submission Rnd 1. Another piece of domination. Swanson gets taken down a couple times, the second time he looks to scramble he gives up his back and gets choked out in about a minute. (0)

3) Dieulhomme Chera vs. Den Lyn: Featherweights. This is probably going to get a 0. Just a guess.

FIGHT: Lyn TKO Rnd 1. Completely wild - both guys went for flying knees at the same time from the clinch at one point. And this fight was under a minute. Ends as Chera goes for a leglock, Lyn breaks out, Chera tries to stand and he lands a wild looping right hook from way behind his body onto Chera's face. Never made it to his feet. (0)

4) Shawn Vaughn vs. Miguel Gonzalez: SUPER FAT HEAVYWEIGHTS.

FIGHT: Gonzalez TKO Rnd 1. Vaughn's cup starts falling down like 10 seconds in. They swing some. Vaughn looks like Bam Margera's dad. He gets dropped with uppercuts in the clinch. Embarassing shit. (0)

At this point, its Voodoo Child, there's fireworks, and yes, a Hulk Hogan appearance and interview. Like I care what he has to say. And then there's an interview with Yosmany Cabezas who won on an EXC show the week before.

5) James Austin vs. James Wynn: Both from the same camp and town. Huh.

FIGHT: Austin Submission Rnd 1. Want to see a thrown fight? Well, this is a candidate. Little striking in this bout, none effective, as a 4-0 fighter fights a 4-12 teammate. Lots of grappling as neither wants to hurt the either too badly. Lots of sub attempts though as they roll around - Wynn runs a fun sequence where he tries to lock in a triangle and Austin rolls around a little as he escapes. Austin gets full mount with little time left in the fight, throws nothing, goes for an armbar, transitions to a triangle and wins the fight. Up there with Charles/Belfort. (0)

Bunch more interviews, including one with Marcus Jones.

6) Ricky Bennett vs. Gilbert Burgos: 145lb bout.

FIGHT: Burgos Submission Rnd 1. I dunno if there's anything to say about Bennett. He got taken down early and worked on until he was choked out. Burgos is a pretty basic submission grappler best I can tell with some decent skills. Bennett took a year off and then lost. (0)

7) Gareth Joseph vs. Danny Babcock: Middleweights. Will this exit round 1? Magic 8 Ball says "Unlikely".

FIGHT: Joseph TKO Rnd 1. Monster KO as both men just trade for most of the fight. Joseph lands way more shots though, which shows Babcock's strategy to be particularly terrible. He's since gone onto lose in an unaired Strikeforce bout. Babcock lost to Trigg in that show that was run on a Daytona 500 weekend and then beat Ariel Gandulla recently. (0)

8) Tony Souza vs. Carl Malenko (or whatever): Somehow I am guessing that this dude is not meant to beat Malenko.

FIGHT: Malenko TKO Rnd 2. Souza was live for about 2 minutes, then gassed out. The ref probably could have stopped this in round one as Malenko traps the arm in a crucifix and started pounding on Souza. He takes down, mounts, and smashes out Souza in the second. (1)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Souza/Malenko

KO OF THE NIGHT: Babcock/Joseph

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Silva/Barrios

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1.5 out of 10: This isn't a 1 because you can see Carl Malenko fight a fat guy and there's an example of a likely thrown fight to view.

D&R Rating: 2.5% (1/40)

Real Fighting Championships 8 (2/23/07)

Another installment of RFC from Tampa. Guy Mezger and Jay Adams on the mics.

1) Mike Foster vs. Jorge Boechat: Welterweights I've not heard of I don't think. Foster is a lot bigger.

FIGHT: Foster TKO 2. Boechat pulled guard and later in the second goes for a toehold. Foster gets around to the back and throws punches that land on the shoulder and gloves, but Boechat doesn't really defend it or anything, so its stopped even though he's not the least bit hurt. Boring fight. (0)

Foster: Big. Avoids submissions. Not much else.

Boechat: No standup to speak of, not the most active off his back, but relies heavily on it anyways. His last fight was for EXC and he got tapped with a reverse triangle.

2) Josh Powell vs. Dieulhomme Chera (J Lee): 140lb bout. Powell is Team Punishment I think?

FIGHT: Chera Submission Rnd 1. Total ownage by J Lee, who nearly ends it in under 20 seconds with a guillotine. Then he transitions to a triangle after that when Powell's head pops out, and then to a straight armbar. That's it. Nothing really to review other than that Powell has an active guard but also a losing record now. (0)

3) Patrick Barrentine vs. Jon Schall: Heavyweights. Barrentine is from Jorge Gurgel's school and FAT. Schall got a easy KO his previous fight.

FIGHT: Barrentine Submission Rnd 1. Total domination from the 5'11'' 265 lb Barrentine. He gets Schall down on his back and Schall is useless there. In an attempt to push away Barrentine while Barrentine is looking to pass (he does the entire 4 minute fight), his leg is caught and he ends up tapping to a heel hook. (0) Neither has done anything.

4) Chris Oddo vs. Miguel Gonzalez: More heavyweights! Oh gee. Gonzalez is 290.

FIGHT: Ugly fight with dudes hugging, doing throws, getting incredibly dominant positions, and just losing them with complete ease. Gonzalez went from mount directly to standup without even his opponent bucking. Oddo had a rear naked given to him, misses, and then has his back taken in 5 seconds time. Sloppy grappling everywhere. Somehow they make it to the end of the first, and I am forced to see a second round. Oddo gets his eyesocket messed up in some clinch fighting and basically turns away and the ref is forced to step in. Gonzalez may be undefeated, but hasn't fought in 27 months. (0)

5) Courtney Martell vs. Liz Posener: This is the main event? Are you for real? 135. Neither of these girls are top anything right now in female fighting. Martell is way outsized.

FIGHT: Posener Submission Rnd 1. Martell gets her down to the mat and then promptly gives Posener her arm. After failing 3 times, Martell finally taps to an armbar. (0) Posener can sorta do submissions I guess and Martell should find a different hobby.

Oh, wait, it appears that this was the typical hour and a half program, but Sun Sports told me it was 1 hour. GREAT. So the real main events aren't even on here. If I ever watch this again, I'll update it.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Foster/Boechat

KO OF THE NIGHT: Oddo/Gonzalez

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Powell/Chera

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1 out of 10. Total waste of time.

D&R Rating: 0%

Real Fighting Championships 7 (11/4/06)

Fightzone TV went way back in time. This I think got screwed up by some sort of time issue too, because there's an educational program on to try and fit the quote. RFC has a fancy ramp. Jay Adams is your announcer, and the event itself is at Sun Dome in Tampa. Oh! Your color man is Stephan Bonnar.

EDIT 3/30/2011: Indeed there was a time issue! And so, I present to you the complete review now, finally. Original post date was 5/12/2010.

Show opens and we have a bunch of chicks from the local strip club and Jay Adams on the entrance ramp while a lot of pyro goes off and a third filled Sun Dome looks on. This show is already amazing.

1) Ralphy Garcia vs. Omar Chebali: Uhh, some lightweights.

FIGHT: Garcia Submissin Rnd 1. Couple guys trade wild punches and then try to trade leg locks. Garcia breaks out of that, moves to mount, and then goes for an armbar. He stretches it and gets it. This fight, honestly, was stupid. (0)

2) Kim Predmore vs. Elizabeth Posener: Posener has an almost 10 lb weight advantage.

FIGHT: Posener TKO Rnd1. Posener drops Predmore with a knee early, mounts, and rains down shots. Ugly. Stopped way too late and it was still only a minute long. (0)

Won't bother doing much more in describing. Neither is a factor. Suffice it to say that Predmore doesn't belong in MMA.

3) Josh Powell vs. Allen Berube: MONSTAH LOBSTAH. Jay Adams gets pushed by the pro wrestling inspired Berube.

FIGHT: Berube Submission Rnd 1. Berube runs at him and throws some bad punches, then grabs his head and drags him down for the guillotine. Powell did nothing. (1)

Berube: Wide punches, wild submission attempt - yeah, not surprised he didn't last in the UFC.

4) Chris Adams vs. Jon Schall: Heavyweights. 4 years later, I've heard of neither. Not a good sign. Adams is all sorts of chunky.

FIGHT: Schall TKO 1. Schall hurts Adams with a punch early and then drubs him. Adams is tapping for like 3 seconds before the ref jumps in to stop the fight. (0)

Schall: Was KOed in next fight, just wild and crazy for the 30 seconds this goes.

5) Chris Holder vs. Chris Manuel: 145lbers. Holder is apparently a top wrestler. Manuel is from ATT.

FIGHT: Manuel Submission Rnd 1. You could see it coming throughout the fight. Holder wanted it down but didn't know how to defend submissions when in top control. An Imes speed triangle attempt finishes the job. (1)

Holder: Holder is throwing around Manuel, and that's impressive, but he's leaving himself so wide open for submissions when he does it. Manuel gets back to his feet after almost armbarring Holder, and while Holder gets the takedown again, his work inside the guard bears no fruit. Manuel ends up taking him down and Holder has no guard.

Manuel: Manuel seemed to have decent work off his back but there was nothing to establish his ability standing. Mixed success since in international level competition.

6) Lew Polley vs. Chris Baten: Polly drops lots of weight to make the 205 limit. Baten doesn't.

FIGHT: Polley Submission Rnd 3. Such an ugly fight to watch. Polley is huge and muscle bound, and its lay and pray for 1 and a half rounds. But he gasses totally and when there's a standup in the second Baten throws a single high kick and lands it to the mush. Polley is a mess and loses the rest of the second round and is nearly finished with a rear naked choke. He almost eats another high kick in the third, but a desperate shot gets down Baten and he ends up with a kimura to finish. (1)

Polley: Strong guy, but technically not very good. At all. Really, he has strength and not much more. Don't want to see him fight ever again. Too bad the world will through the magic of Ultimate Fighter.

Baten: Not a particularly great fighter either. Had the chance to spin out and escape the kimura for about 20 seconds and didn't.

7) Mike Van Meer vs. Carl Greco (Malenko): 185lbs. Van Meer is a fat ass. Carl Malenko was in PRIDE, as you might remember, as well as Battlearts.

FIGHT: Greco Submission Rnd 1. Pathetic effort by Van Meer. (1)

Greco: takes down Van Meer with shocking difficulty, then screws up one armbar attempt only to get another. Terrible to watch.

Van Meer: An insult.

HIGHLIGHTS SHOWN: Briefly shown are victories for Joe Lane, Mike Ortiz, James Austin, Danny Ruiz, and Lucas Code. Also shown? Matt Brown beating Matt Arroyo. Yes, the most relevant fight on this card today wasn't shown. Oops.

8) Chris Mickle vs. James Edson Berto: Mickle actually made it to the WEC for a cup of coffee. Berto is the brother of a much better fighter, as you may know.

FIGHT: Berto Submission Rnd 1. Berto is bigger, gets taken down immediately after a leg kick, then Mickle goes for a leg lock. Berto counters with his own and forces the tapout. (1)

No real perspective I can give. Berto is a sucker for takedowns here and Mickle is still nothing more than a journeyman.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Manuel/Holder, though that says nothing

KO OF THE NIGHT: Schall/Adams, even if it might not really count

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Berto/Mickle

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Not worth going out of your way to see, even if it is short in fast forward.

D&R Rating 10% (4/40)