Tuff-N-Uff Fights: Future Stars of MMA 3 (1/7/2011)

John Morgan and Dave Farra are announcing this event from the Orleans' Mardi Gras Ballroom. All bouts are amateur fights. 2 minute rounds all around and judging by the referee's shirt, sanctioning comes through the ISKA.

1) Casey Picard vs. Cody Hamm: Uhhhh. Some people. They aren't even of drinking age, these two. 160lb bout.

FIGHT: Picard TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special, basically. Hamm complains about the stoppage, but whatever. Picard is picking off Hamm's wild shots and then slams him down out of a bodylock, immediately taking side control. He mounts Hamm and punches him until the ref stops it. (0)

2) Joshua Morgan vs. Tyler Jeppsen: Again: More guys I don't know. Morgan is 29. 185lbs.

FIGHT: Jeppsen TKO Rnd 1. Wild grappling from both early on and Morgan cuts himself from what looks to me to be either A) contact his face makes with the canvas less than 30 seconds in or B) an accidental headbutt when the two clinch. Nothing is learned about either aside from that Morgan's stance for striking reminds me of Dan Severn in 1997. (0)

3) Raul Sandoval vs. Jesse Romero: Romero is from Couture's gym.

FIGHT: Romero Unanimous Decision. Sandoval is the better fighter standing and trading, but that's not all MMA is, right? Romero takes down Sandoval over and over again, attains dominant positions, and lands OK GnP, particularly in round 1 (where he mounts Romero). In rounds 2 and 3 he spends almost the entire round on top. (0)

4) Jessamyn Duke vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith: Evans-Smith is the "local" favorite having sold a few tickets to friends and being from California. Duke is from KY. Why did she come all the way to Vegas to fight for no money? Hmmmm.....

FIGHT: Evans-Smith Unanimous Decision. Duke is a kickboxer sorta. I say sorta because she can kick and that's about the only evidence of skill. Zero takedown defense. I mean, she gets taken down off an armdrag. Duke is "active" from the guard but so loose, she comes nowhere near actually locking anything up. Later in the fight, Evans-Smith is landing punches repeatedly and doesn't even have to do anything but walk forward to get to the range she wants with Duke. Evans-Smith is a top control grappler, but compare her to like Jessica Eye (who is only recently a pro) and I'm not horribly impressed yet. Still, she is young. (0)

5) Lee Henry Lilly vs. Joey Angelo: These guys each have 5-6 ammy fights - welterweights.

FIGHT: Lilly Unanimous Decision. Angelo and Lilly threw wild stuff at each other that didn't connect, but Lilly had takedowns in every round. When the rounds are 2 minutes, being on top for 1 minute pretty much guarantees you won. Angelo has good size but I don't think much of his technique or athleticism. Lilly seems to be a wrestleboxer type but that's not a bad thing. No idea what his credentials are. (0)

6) David Tompkins vs. Troy Remer: 10th Planet vs. Xtreme Couture in this one.

FIGHT: Remer Unanimous Decision. Competitive fight. Tompkins is much taller and should be working from long range on Remer. Unfortunately, he keeps on kicking against the wrestler, and when he does that, Remer closes the distance and gets to the clinch. The fight is fought in the clinch or the mat probably 75% of the time, with Remer getting the takedown in every round. Based on his control of Tompkins by pushing him around the ring or taking him down, Remer wins the first and second, but then loses the third when Tompkins immedately sweeps him and lands a number of blows in the closing seconds. (0)

7) Jon Gorton vs. Jonathon Rodeffer: Rodeffer is a Team Tompkins disciple. LW bout.

FIGHT: Gorton Unanimous Decision. First round is an exhibition of wild striking, but the second and third are all about takedowns from Gorton. Rodeffer is a dirty fighter - he grabs almost every rope at the same time to prevent a takedown, and also claims to be hit in the groin when he's taken down with a double. (0)

8) Cesar Campos vs. Josh Grevas: LA Boxing vs. Xtreme Couture. Campos has an appreciable height advantage. Grevas has been off from fighting for 3 years.

FIGHT: Campos Unanimous Decision. Grevas goes for takedowns and gets them on occasion, but has trouble dealing with the submissions thrown back at him by Campos. Standing, its not even close. Grevas throws wide punches from the outside and gets tagged coming in. Grevas kinda stinks the fight out with his style, unfortunately. (0)

9) Ronda Rousey vs. Taylor Stratford: Women's bout. Both are undefeated. Rousey is a Olympian judoka.

FIGHT: Rousey Submission Rnd 1. So, here we have the most impressive performance of the show. Rousey and Stratford end up close enough for the clinch early and Rousey gets an outside trip and then starts going for submission after submission and submission. She gets a straight armbar and its all over. (1)

10) Giovani Zavala vs. Gabriel Garzon: Heavyweights - in shape ones! Zavala is 31, however.

FIGHT: Zavala TKO Rnd 1. Garzon and Zavala swing and swing and then they clinch. Zavala gets pushed to the corner and after a lack of action, they work to separate themselves. Garzon does it all wrong, leaving straight out and with his hands down and head up. He gets clocked behind the ear with a punch and goes down hard.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

KO OF THE NIGHT: Garzon/Zavala

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Man, aside from Rousey's fight, nothing to get excited about here. The only potential pro prospects I really saw from this show based on where they are now are Casey Picard, Lee Henry Lilly (as a lightweight), and Jon Gorton. None of those I feel too strongly about. They could be the random 6-5 guys fighting on any generic club card in this country just as well as they could develop into UFC level gatekeepers and FOTN chasers.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/60)

Tuff-N-Uff Fights: Rags Stags (5/30/2010)

Dave Farra and John Morgan are announcing for this night of action from the Orleans Hotel Casino just off the Vegas Strip. Its basically an amateur card.

1) Justin Bonner vs. Damian Jackson: 170lbers. Jackson making his pro debut. 2 minute rounds in Nevada.

FIGHT: Jackson TKO Rnd 2. Furious pace to start and Bonner eats a front kick to the balls. After a break, back to wild swinging. In the second, Bonner ends up eating a high kick and he goes down. Jackson follows up and forces the stoppage.

2) Ashley Cummins vs. Gabriella Lakoczky: If Lakoczky is any good she's gonna be some sort of sex symbol in MMA with her mohawk and Swedish background. From Gothenburg, no less. She's also 12 years older than her opponent but trains with Wanderlei. She is like some merger of Wendy O Williams and Dimitry Wanderlei. 3X3 because its for a championship.

FIGHT: Cummins Unanimous Decision. No doubt whatsoever on the cards. Cummins takes down Lakoczky in every round and threatens with submissions from the mount, then retakes mount, and screws up again and retakes mount. Etc etc. On and on.

3) Alex Brooks vs. Kalino Yap: .500 guys. Lightweights.

FIGHT: Yap Unanimous Decision. Brooks is incredibly rangy - long, lean, but muscular. a 6' 155lb fighter generally is those things. Yap is amart enough to realize that trading with such an individual puts him at great disadvantage, so he consistently looks for takedowns. Brooks is a sucker for them too but does a good job of reversing position and punching. It doesn't matter though - while Brooks clearly wins the 3rd, the takedowns and top control from Yap wins the fight.

4) Rene Flores vs. Jace Crawford: Flores is really soft. Still like 145 or something like that.

FIGHT: Crawford TKO Rnd 1. Crawford uncomfortably stands with Flores, cuts him with a headbutt as they go to clinch, and then ends up taking him down and smashing him. Afterwards he paces around looking very hard. Whatever. You beat a guy who was probably 3 inches shorter than you and chubby at MMA tinyweight. You aren't some calculating killer. Hate dudes like that.

5) Tommy Gavin vs. Lee Henry Lilly: Slightly bigger dudes. 185?

FIGHT: Gavin TKO Rnd 1. BOMBZ AWAY. Lilly ends up getting dropped and taken out.

6) Autumn Richardson vs. Emily Peters-Kagen: 1-0 MMA amateur women fighter, forget the weight, don't care.

FIGHT: Peters-Kagen TKO Rnd 1. She lands a right hand that busts Richardson's nose and wins the fight in like 23 seconds as the ref separates them, sends over her opponent to the corner and they won't let it go on.

7) Barry Prevost vs. Zack Grossman: 1-0 lightweights.

FIGHT: Prevost TKO Rnd 1. Prevost with a leaping front kick and Grossman goes down straight backwards, Prevost leaps on him. Grossman tries to fight his way out. I dunno, this is the amateurs. You get clipped and dropped with a headkick, don't be shocked if the ref comes to save you.

8) Chris Simmons vs. Kevin Absher: Fat heavyweights. Absher is 40.

FIGHT: Absher TKO Rnd 1. Clubberin' fat man kickboxing. Zane Frazier fighting the white dude at UFC 1 was like this but better because there were headstomps and no stalling. That was like two dudes fighting for their lives. This was bad MMA. Very different on the sleeze scale. Absher wins with a right uppercut. Absher did go for a takedown, which was kinda cool of him.

Oh hey, that's actually the whole show. Only runs one hour, then they tack on a MMA 30 episode at the first UFC Fan Expo.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Absher/Simmons

KO OF THE NIGHT: Gavin/Lilly

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. You might have noticed that I didn't give D&R scores. I decided not to type any in because none of these fights mattered. All zeros. There was carnage and that is about all I can say that is good.

D&R Rating: 0%