NAAFS: Cage Fighting Episode ??? (8/29/09)

Another episode of NAAFS. Kalikas and Hindman are still your crew announcing the fights. This is an outdoor event.

1) Jay Wadsworth vs. Eric Noel : Amateur lightweight bout. Wadsworth is much taller. Eric was a D2 wrestler.

FIGHT: Noel Submission Rnd 2. Good performance by Noel. RNC. (0)

Noel: Obviously a wrestler at heart, but solidly capable of defending submissions (getting out of an omaplata attempt by spinning the right way) and submitting men himself (taking Wadsworth's back and applying the choke). Nothing really learned about standup. His record of 7-5 as an amateur doesn't inspire.

Wadsworth: Sorta active off his back.

2) Huey Contreras vs. Reggie Parks: Welterweight amateur bout. Contreras is billed as 5-0.

FIGHT: Parks TKO 1. Nothing to really say about this fight. Contreras is supposedly the standup specialist, but the Jason Dent trained Parks lands a right hand as Contreras walks into punching range and its all over. (0)

3) Nick Sorg vs. Frank Carabello: Two middling pros for a lightweight title.

FIGHT: Carabello Submission Rnd 2. Okayish fight featuring lots of grappling that isn't all that exciting. Frank ends up landing some tough shots in the second round, and Sorg shoots to try and slow the fight down. Carabello locks him into an armbar after several submission attempts earlier failed, and he gets the tap. (0)

Carabello: Has a decently active guard and is willing to swing. This makes him like so many other guys though.

Sorg: Decent wrestling, nonfactor standing.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Some carnage that keeps it from being a total basement dweller of a show, but largely background noise when I was watching.

Action Fight League: Rock-N-Rumble 2 (3/5/2010)

Most confusing promotion in history. Jay Adams, Din Thomas, and Jennifer Boronico are announcing. This event is known for a post fight riot, so you know it is good.

1) Jessica Aguilar vs. Valerie Coolbaugh: 120lb catchweight. Aguilar is a highly ranked women's MMA fighter at this weight, but that doesn't mean much. Her opponent is 4-4 and 35.

FIGHT: Aguilar Submission Rnd 2. Much more competitive than expected. Coolbaugh is game and has solid submission defense. She fends off more than one RNC and a head and arm choke to land solid punches standing. In the end, she taps to a triangle choke. (2)

Aguilar: Really short, though maybe not for this weight specifically. Excellent grappling on the mat. Oh, she's wearing Aoki pants.

Coolbaugh: Throws straight punches, defends submissions fairly well, but more than anything is just tough.

2) Joe Ray vs. Yoandi Inchaustegui: Middleweight bout. Inchaustegui is listed as being Cuban.

FIGHT: Ray TKO/Submission from Strikes Rnd 2. One sided contest. Inchaustegui didn't do anything of value and was banged out from mount when he tapped. (0)

Ray: Not terrible at grappling I suppose. Against a guy with such limited talent, its tough to tell.

Inchaustegui: Brought Ray to the mat into mount more than once in the fight. Apart from bucking out of being mounted, he did nothing offensively or defensively that was effective.

3) Dahfir Harris vs. Cedric James: Heavyweights. Big boys too. Billed as "street fighter vs. street fighter".

FIGHT: Harris KO Rnd 1. Horrible showing. Just dudes swinging with some hugging action. Cedric James actually gets a takedown seemingly by accident. Standup by ref out of mount? Huh? Back to swinging and Jacobs is knocked out after having mounted Harris. Oh, let me mention that the ref for this is Frank Gentile. (0)

4) Alilton Barbosa vs. Keith Johnson: At a 170/175lb weight limit of some sort. Barbosa is claimed as a BJJ world champ and is 33.

FIGHT: Barbosa Submission Rnd 1. Barbosa is transitioning through tons of stuff at rapid fire pace from his back and taps Johnson with a triangle choke. (1)

5) Michael Bernhard vs. Ariel Gandulla: Gandulla has dropped to 185 for this but is still so old. No idea who Bernhard is. Apparently there is bad blood because Gandulla asked for money at ATT and didn't pay anyone back. OOOH.

FIGHT: Bernhard DQ. What a joke of a fight. Bernhard is poked in the eye repeatedly and hit with a knee to the groin, forcing a stoppage. He actually threw around the amateur star Gandulla in the fight and was on top, but nothing else could really be picked up with all the breaks. (0)

6) Oscar Encizo vs. Brian Fuery: Main event. Heavyweights. Fuery is huge and looks like a failed football player. Oh, he was! Former player for the U.

FIGHT: Fuery Submission Rnd 1. Fuery wins with a side headlock after holding it for about 90 seconds. Nothing to note here - Encizo landed a nice low kick, then got taken down, and that was the end of the fight. Fuery I'd seen getting beaten by David Yost, so its not like I think much about him anyhow. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Aguilar/Coolbaugh

KO OF THE NIGHT: James/Harris

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Fuery/Encizo (how often do you see a side headlock finish in MMA?)

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. I can't say this show is a total waste of time because the women's fight wasn't shabby and neither was Barbosa. Everything else should be skipped though.

D&R Rating: 10% (3/30)

hourlong MMA

The TV world has forced some strange things to exist. Among them include compilation shows and "weekly programming" from nobody promotions. As you'll see with some regularity in coming posts, I have a lot of these to watch from M-1's short lived syndicated US TV program (not M-1 Challenge, believe it or not) as well as Bodog and NAAFS.

To clarify, I will review the fights and programs, and since there are no episode numbers, I'm just gonna have to guess using dates of events and what "volume" something may be. In some cases, its pointless to do "fight of the night" when there are only 2 fights shown, and so I won't. I also won't do a "D&R Rating", since its too easy to get a monster number with a comp show.

And now on with another review.

NAAFS: Night of Champions Pt.??? (12/5/2009)

SPONSORED BY US ARMY, TIM LALLY CHEVROLET. Also, buy tickets for Caged Fury 9 on February 20th. No intro for this show. Cage, as always with NAAFS. Steve Hindman, Greg Kalikas, and former NFL player Bobby Jones announcing. Oh, and you can buy NAAFS Fight Music Vol. 1. God, why?

(this show falls under Hour Long MMA guidelines for the blog, as an aside)

1) Bill Fienberg vs. JP Jaranowski: Bantamweight national amateur title for NAAFS. Jaranowski is said to be 7-0 as an amateur , which might as well be a pro record given the state of MMA. 3 minute rounds.

FIGHT: Jaranowski Unanimous Decision. Not the most thrilling fight to watch by any stretch of the imagination. Jaranowski's record proves meaningless when you see him work off his back - there's nothing there. He just tries to hold on and get a standup. In round 1, that works even though Fienberg is in side control, and Jaranowski lands some solid strikes. Doesn't happen though in round 2 and 3 where he's largely laid on. Naturally, this means that Fienberg loses a UD including a 30-27 card. Uh, what? (0)

Fienberg: Does takedowns. Dominated the action. Lost? Admittedly does nothing but look for superior positions. No strikes to set them up.

Jaranowski: Lands a couple strikes in the first round that might have won that for him, goes for a guillotine in the third, throws some really shitty strikes from his back, and that's enough to win.

2) Daniel Straus vs. Joe Heiland: Pro series Lightweight division. Heiland is listed as 12-0. That is accurate: 5-0 as pro, and 7-0 as an amateur. Full 5 minutes here per round.

FIGHT: Straus Decision. This is considered a pretty major upset by the announcers, as Heiland has a pretty solid set of wrestling credentials and has such a monster record coming in. The first and third rounds were extremely close rounds I felt should have gone to Heiland given his more damaging strikes and/or two successful take downs in round 3, but I'm not a judge obviously. Straus does land some low kicks in the third and cuts Heiland in the first, and those things are probably what scores him the fight with the judges. Only the second was clearly in his favor (stuffing shots, landing blows). (2) for the two good prospects in the fight.

Straus: Counter puncher, doesn't shoot, but can defend the shot quite well. Calm in the ring. Ate a monster right hand, so he probably needs to keep his hands up and move his head. Subsequent wins over Gideon Ray and Travis Perzynski.

Heiland: Very strong wrestler, and in terms of style, picture Jon Fitch. But if you can't score takedowns, its tough to win as a wrestler. He was unable to for the first 12:30 of the fight, and that's a big problem in a 3 round fight.

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4.5 out of 10. You know, the fights were pretty boring, and yet because they're totally new people to me and I can see the full fight and the fighters are actually pretty good...I enjoyed it. You get the sense this matters, unlike most of the Cage Wars stuff I've watched of late.

Vendetta Fighting Championships 1 (9/5/09)

Oh man. 8 man tournament? Check. Strange location (Renaissance Resort, Aruba)? Check. Bas Rutten announcing? Check. You'd think its 2001, but no! Its Vendetta Fighting Championship and 2009 for this show. Your 8 man tourney is at 205, and features guys like Carmelo Marrero, Aaron Stark, Rodney Wallace, and Antwan Britt. Shock and surprise, they never ran another show.

1) Aaron Stark vs. Angelo Arajuo: Two light heavyweights I've not hear of. Stark is a southpaw.

FIGHT: Stark Unanimous Decision. Bout is pretty seriously clipped. Bouts are apparently 2 rounds with a "Sudden Death" round. By what is shown, Stark controlled the first two rounds, but we end up with a 3rd round anyways where he once more controls the fight. (0)

Stark: Good wrestler. We see nothing in the clips of him defending submissions or working on his feet. Maybe he did not?

Arajuo: Can't tell much from highlights. Looks like he was able to defend a little on the mat and took down Stark briefly in the final round, but that's not enough to make a judgement call on the guy.

2) Gregory Milliard vs. Rodney Wallace: No idea who Millard is. Wallace has been in M-1 and recently in the UFC. Short for this weight class.

FIGHT: Wallace Unanimous Decision. Horrible fight to watch. All positioning on the mat with Wallace getting takedowns, a big edit, and then another takedown into side control. Repeat. No damage done. (0)

Wallace: Has takedowns. Can't tell if he can punch or kick worth shit.

Milliard: Did zero. Best attribute is physical strength.

3) Carmelo Marrero vs. Antwan Britt: Strange to see this as a early bout in the tourney. Both guys are decent at least.

FIGHT: Britt Decision. Another seriously cut 3 round "sudden death" fight. This time it was all standup, but it was obviously boring. (0)

Britt: Britt throws some decent jabs and right hands, then defends the takedown well while not being able to get Marrero down himself. He basically controls where the fight happens and wins as a result.

Marrero: As best I can tell, does nothing in particular in the fight. Punching is not very good. Takedowns are from too far outside to mean anything. Again, this is from a 15 minute fight clipped to about 3-4 minutes. One thing is for certain; he's cut by a punch in the opening round.

4) Richard Hale vs. Evan Nedd: Last fight of the tourney's opening round. Nedd is from Aruba.

FIGHT: Hale Unanimous Decision. This fight is clipped also, but less so since things actually happen during it. Nedd gets cut over the left eye and then rocked by subsequent punches he can't see. He is also gassed real early in the first round and can barely get up after the first is over. Nedd starts making a comeback as he's a decent boxer. Hale remembers this is MMA and then takes down and immediately mounts Nedd. Pounds him out before the round is over. (0)

Hale: Horrible game plan as he trades with a former amateur boxer with legitimate skills, only to remember he can grapple at the very end. Easily hit by Nedd, even after Nedd gasses.

Nedd: Has solid boxing and nothing else. I mean, no other tangible skills for MMA. And yet, he nearly wins.

5) Sarah Maloy vs. Rosa Colombo: Women's bout @ 125.

FIGHT: Maloy Submission Rnd 1. Ugly technically, followed by awful reffing. Colombo reaches up to try and pull the arm down and Maloy wins as the ref claims it is a tapout. Craptacular call. Crappy fight. (0)

6) Aaron Stark vs. Rodney Wallace: Semifinal bout.

FIGHT: Wallace Submission Rnd 2. Another super heavily clipped bout. Wallace and Stark are in what appears to be a boring grappling bout when Wallace, on the bottom, secures a kimura from his back in half guard. Nothing to add with what is said above for both. (0)

7) Antwain Britt vs. Richard Hale: The other semi.

FIGHT: Britt Decision. Boring fight. Again.

Hale: Hands way down in this fight, was getting tagged with jabs left and right. If Britt was a good, world class guy, he'd have won with a straight right hand in the first round. Again, heavily trimmed, so (0).

Britt: See above.

8) Derrick Noble vs. Shonie Carter: Carter is a legend. Noble is some guy who beat Thiago Alves before becoming a full blown journeyman.

FIGHT: Noble Unanimous Decision. Noble has no problem getting takedowns, and on the feet, his strikes hurt Carter and not vice versa. He almost stops Carter in round 1 with a punch standing. No entrance shown or anything.

Noble: Solid workman effort. Looks a little soft, but I doubt he cares. OK all the way around.

Carter: Was finished 3-4 years ago, definitely not any better now. Needs to reconsider his career. Reacted badly to Noble's punches and was thrown to the mat with relative ease.

9) Rodney Wallace vs. Antwain Britt: Here's how Wallace got his contract.

FIGHT: Wallace Submission Rnd 1. This is a fairly boring fight up until Britt slips and falls defending a takedown. Wallace jumps on him and lands a billion punches to the back of the head while Britt tries for a takedown. Wallace grabs an arm and rolls with Britt into an armbar and forces the tap. Only fight shown in its entirety. (3)

Wallace: Threw a punch standing, eliciting the response from Kenny Rice that it was his first such attempt in the tournament. Zero standup from this guy. Does have submissions he powers through, but obviously that didn't help at the UFC level.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Wallace/Britt

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Wallace/Britt

Overall for the Event: 1.5 out of 10. Another unwatchable crapfest that's clipped too. Rodney Wallace got a contract out of this. THIS. Did they even watch it?

D&R Rating: 7% (3/45)

Action Fight League: Unconquered Begins/Rumble at the Rock ??? (9/25/09)

Jay Adams, Din Thomas, and AJ Benza announce this show from the Seminole Hard Rock that has the names of 3 promotions but is really only one. Cage and unified rules.

1) John Kelly vs. Nico Parella: Welterweights. Both guys are so shredded, you wonder what kind of synth is in the water in South Florida. Announcers don't say so much, maybe they can't tell the difference between the two bald white guys in the ring.

FIGHT: Kelly TKO 2. Strange fight. Early on it looks like its gonna be a standing slugout war. Then Kelly gets a takedown and spends pretty much the entire round in top control. Second round, Parella gets the takedown and is actually in crucifix position pounding on Kelly. Kelly bucks like he's trying to break out of mount and succeeds, and actually ends up in top position in half guard. He lands a single right hand on Parella from inside the full closed guard and its lights out. Kelly just lost in Bellator. (0)

Kelly: Very strong, seemingly a decent grappler, but I'm unsure of his takedowns or striking. Seemed a little robotic on his feet.

Parella: Also unnaturally strong for the weight class. Big dude, no bottom game. Zero.

2) Rodrigo "Baga" Ramos vs. Ben Merrell: Welterweights making their debuts. Din Thomas recognizes Ramos because he was supposed to fight him somewhere around 12-13 years ago.

FIGHT: Ramos Submission Rnd 1. Merrell lands a right hand very early, and Ramos ends up stepping way back and then countering as Merrell rushes in. Neither guy was that good standing. Ramos, meanwhile, was pretty solid on the mat, getting dominant position on Merrell. Merrell does escape and gets on top, but shortly thereafter, he's swept and tapped with an armbar. (0)

3) Jessica Pene vs. Angela Magana: Women's bout at 115. Both are top ten ranked at the weight.

FIGHT: Pene Submission Rnd 2. Magana was game and fought decently. But Pene's submission attempts and superior standup was too much. (2)

Pene: Good submissions, decent clinchwork, decent striking. In a weight class that is bereft of talent, she's not bad.

Magana: Looked smaller, but was strong enough to try to powerbomb out of an armbar attempt.

Michael Moorer appears in the ring, announces that he's once and truly retired, and working with ATT guys to train them. Kimbo shows up and Michael is asked if he'd fight Kimbo, responding with his demands of $5 million.

4) Steve Bruno vs. Clayton McKinney: Bruno was once in the UFC for 2-3 minutes. McKinney has a fun haircut. Apparently there is bad blood between these two dudes I don't really care about.

FIGHT: Bruno Submission Rnd 2. Looks like a d'arce choke that ends the fight. Bruno then talks in a cut up postfight interview about being a world champion and UFC vet and....that's all we get to see. (0)

Bruno: Top control grappler. Stocky. Not much on the feet and not really an incredible wrestler or anything. Better than your average dude on the street, but that's a meaningless statement when assessing someone's ability to compete on the world stage. He's what he is, and that's not a top 50 fighter.

McKinney: A striker who is outpowered the entire fight and eventually choked out while trying to get away and to his feet from the bruising Bruno. Decent kicks and I can't give him much else.

5) Bounmy Sonchai vs. Rene Martinez: Martinez is a street brawler hyped as a welterweight Kimbo. Sonchai is 0-2. Oh, they're building him like Kimbo. As previously review on Unconquered 1 from a couple months after this, Martinez was then undefeated. So, no surprise as to what happens here. (0)

FIGHT: Martinez Unanimous Decision

Martinez: Watching Martinez is like seeing later era Kimbo. He is taught to grapple and suddenly thinks he is good at it. Sonchai looks a full weight class smaller than Martinez and yet he never attempts to engage, though when he punches Sonchai just ends up running. Like, full sprint. Martinez goes for a guillotine and its sad - he doesn't seem to know how to extend Sonchai for leverage, he has the arm in, he's moving his legs all over the place...and of course he uses a lot of energy for an attempt that doesn't work. When given the back totally by a gassed fighter, Martinez can't get the hooks in and flatten him out...even when the guy flattened himself out. This is referred to as a "beatdown" and "good test" by the announcers.

Sonchai: Didn't do anything good. Had the Ken Shamrock 1996 stance. No bottom game. No top game. No striking. Never won. But he is "not a tomato can". Sure.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Pene/Magana

KO OF THE NIGHT: Kelly/Parella

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Bruno/McKinney

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3.5 out of 10. Aside from the women's fight, which I didn't really care about because, well, its women's MMA, the fights were pretty lousy. Lots of dudes laying on each other and not really rushing for positional changes/submissions/strikes/etc. The main event was particularly terrible. One of the worst main events for an MMA show I've ever seen, to be frank. The most important and best fight on the card were a couple women no one has ever heard of. Sometimes that's how it works.

D&R Rating: 8% (2/25)

THE FIGHT CLUB 10 (3/19/10)

This is from Canadian TV ported over to Comcast Sportsnet something or other. Dustin Nielson and Kris Labelle are announcing. Tim Hague is apparently on this show, as is Victor Valimaki. Unified rules are in order, and we've got a cage. Oddly, none of these bouts are on Sherdog or MMA.tv's fightfinders. Event was held in Edmonton, Alberta.

1) Brandon MacArthur vs. Mitch Clarke: Welterweights. Clarke is 5-0, his opponent 5-14. Oy vey. Oh, MacArthur is bald too.

FIGHT: Clarke Submission Rnd 2. Clarke dominant the entire fight. MacArthur was unable to do anything on the mat other than regain guard as far as defense goes, absorbed a lot of punches, and was taken down multiple times by Clarke. Eventually ends with RNC. (0)

Clarke: Looks uncomfortable standing, to be honest. Kinda reminiscent of Shields standing and striking in that lots of thought is done before anything happens. I don't buy into a guy with no appreciable wrestling background being a great prospect with that style.

MacArthur: Made Clarke work hard for the first takedown. Threw a hail mary spinning back elbow that almost landed. That's all.

2) Tim Smith vs. Sheldon Wescott: More local boys from Canada. Middleweight bout, Smith has the much more extensive pro record, but is clearly smaller.

FIGHT: Smith TKO 1. Kinda a lame stoppage. Wescott rushes Smith with nervous energy, takes down Smith, lands a lot of shots to the gloves, and the ref stops it after a short period of ground strikes. Not much to report on here other than that Wescott bumrushed his opponent and got an early stoppage by the refs that made his strategy look genius. (0)

3) Victor Bachmann vs. Markhaile Wedderburn: Unbelievable prefight video shows the immensely nerdy Bachmann getting verbally crapped on. Wedderburn dances a lot during the entrance. I can't take these dudes seriously if they can't fight. Both mediocre records.

FIGHT: Bachmann Submission Rnd 1. Simple deal; Wedderburn is a striker with no takedown defense and no submissions. He gets taken down twice in the fight, lands nothing beyond a low kick, and eventually just turns over and lets Bachmann try and put the arm under the chin. Looked like he basically quit after the second takedown. Bachmann did do one smart thing; he used the point of his elbow to sort of force Wedderburn to release his grip. (0)

Tim Hague appears, says he can't fight because his opponent pulled out a couple hours ago. His opponent was supposed to be Ed Carpenter, whoever the fuck that is. Okay, so this is the Japanese Wargodz, great.

4) Victor Valimaki vs. Martin Desilets: Valimaki has fought for KOTC, M-1, and UFC in the past. He's okay. Desilets was a TKO regular with a loss to Travis Galbraith. This is for some sort of title belt in the promotion.

FIGHT: Desilets TKO 1. Some of the worst announcing in the history of MMA as "Another low blow! What a great fight!" becomes an actual soundbyte. Dudes throwing leather and throwing a lot of illegal blows is the story here. There's actually a pair of low blows thrown at one point by Desilets and then a hammerfist rabbit punch as a combination. (1)

Desilets: Throws a lot of body shots when the ref is on the right side while pulling the head down with the right arm. When he isn't, he throws directly to the junk. Also threw headbutts. Also threw rabbit punches. Gilbert Yvel would be like "holy shit". This is a huge black mark on how Yves Lavigne does his job, as replays show some low blows being right in Lavigne's face.

Valimaki: Blames the low blows. Also didn't fight his fight at all, allowing Desilets to get right in his wheelhouse and throw wild shots. Ugly slugfest.

5) Jeff Ford vs. Tommy Speer: Yes, Tommy Speer is BACK from the farm. Why? I don't know. Jeff Ford is an old ass kickboxer seen on MFC shows in wars with Pete Spratt (a win) and a pair of losses to Pat Healy.

FIGHT: Ford Submission Rnd 1. Speer's biggest plus as a fighter is that he outsizes almost any welter. Ford is big enough to not get thrown around, and that's a big issue here for him. All his takedown attempts end with Ford on top, and that's not gonna end well for Speer. (2)

Speer: He goes for a leglock in the fight that makes me think that he's learned something appreciable. Later, he ends up defending a botched RNC attempt and gets side control. But that's the end of Speer; Elite Grappler. Ford eventually overpowers Speer and starts battering him. The battering turns into Speer flipping over and then tapping to a choke.

Ford: Losses to gatekeeper Healy still hurt him plenty, but beating a big wrestler like Speer is good for Ford to prove that he has something for grapplers at this stage of his career. I have to say; I was impressed to see him dispatch with Speer like that. Now, getting your leg trapped briefly for a heelhook attempt by Tommy Speer is not great, but he defended well. Crowd really happy.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Desilets/Valimaki

KO OF THE NIGHT: Desilets/Valimaki

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Ford/Speer

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Lots of fast-forwarding in this two hour broadcast with not a single fight making it to the 3rd. Ford/Speer makes Ford look like a potentially decent fighter at 170, so that's really the only positive on the show. But its a pretty good positive.

D&R Rating: 12% (3/25)