Noah Southworth

The earlier PRIDE shows definitely have an air of nostalgia about them. And an air of something else as well with several worked fights taking place. But some of them were a necessary evil and to the credit of Quadros and Rutten, especially in Takada’s fights against Sturgeon and Coleman, they don’t outright say the fights are worked, but their commentary is different enough that you can tell they know what they’re seeing.

They did taped commentary for some of the first PRIDE shows and this lead to a funny moment at PRIDE 4, during the famous, at least in Japan, Alexander Otsuka fight against Marco Ruas. Bas Rutten is doing commentary and is acting stunned and surprised when Otsuka wins. Yet who is front and centre in Ruas’s corner? Bas Rutten.

 

I'll believe Sonnen and Silva are fighting when they're actually in the cage. My money is on Silva finding a way, either intentionally or otherwise, to get out of the fight again.

Bruce said the two main reasons they didn't get Belfort were 1) the language barrier and 2) Belfort and his people had no interest in doing "that fake stuff" or something.

 

Has to be more of the latter, doesn't it? The language barrier can't be the reason because Belfort always spoke English. Granted he's never been the most entertaining speaker but his English was fluent even back then.

 

The Gracie’s, especially at that time, hated pro wrestling. They never wanted any part of it. It was only a few years earlier that UWF-I had tried to set up a match between Takada and Royce Gracie, which not only fell apart once UWF-I explained to Gracie what they wanted in return for paying him a big bunch of money, but led to the notorious incident involving Yoji Anjo and Rickson Gracie. What likely exasperated the bad feeling was that in September the previous year, Pedro Otavio had become the first Brazilian fighter in the modern (post-UFC/Pancrase) MMA era to ‘sell out’ and ‘take a dive’, in this case doing a submission job in a worked match to Keiji Muto. Otavio got tons of heat in Brazil for being seen to have sold out. Even today, the Gracie’s generally don’t like pro wrestling. When Daniel and Rolles Gracie worked in New Japan in 2014, most of the Gracie’s hated them for it. They saw it as selling out.

 

With that said, you have to take what Prichard says with a huge grain of salt. Whilst it is possible that feelers were sent out to the Gracie’s, it was never going to get to the point for Vitor’s limited English to become an issue. Given their vehement hatred of pro wrestling, especially at that time, the Gracie’s would have turned the WWF down right away and told them they’re not interested and not to even bother. The Gracie’s aspirations for Vitor didn’t involve pro wrestling.

Hamill pulled out of the fight claiming an illness. A fighter called Teddy Holder was pulled from his fight to take on Silva instead. And then things really got interesting...

 

I guess the question to ask is should a scream of pain count as a verbal submission. I don’t think it should and I think it’s quite ridiculous that screaming in pain, often an involuntary act, counts as wilfully giving up. I think you should be able to scream in pain as much as you want to and that submitting should be kept to physically tapping out or verbally saying that you tap.

It didn't help that the US housing crisis, which had started in 2005, was picking up a lot of steam by the time 2007 rolled around and it was only going to get worse. With his income dependent on the value of real estate, Awesome was no doubt very worried about how he’d support himself and his family.

Invicta 11

 

Ana Carolina Vidal (125.7lbs, 0-0) vs. Aspen Ladd (125.lbs, 0-0) kicked things off in the prelims. It was a decent fight, both women looking good for debuting fighters. Vidal looked great early with a beautiful throw and she generally controlled the fight. The end came when Ladd got the back of Vidal and she began pounding Vidal with elbows to the side of the head and the referee stepped in to stop the fight. It looked early but Vidal was just holding her hands around her head and not actively defending herself and everyone knows that referees are looking for the fighters to actively defend themselves or they will stop the fight.

 

Christine Stanley (125.5lbs, 3-1) vs. Laura Salazar (129lbs, 3-0) was short and pretty much one-sided. Stanley nailed Salazar with a standing knee and then dropped her with punches. Salazar tried to fight back but she didn’t really have anything for Stanley.

 

Brianna Van Buren (115.5lbs, 3-1) vs. Amy Montenegro (115.6lbs, 5-1) was a competitive fight but not the most exciting because much of it involved either woman simply pressing the other against the cage. Van Buren looked the better in the first round, especially with her striking, but Montenegro got more into the fight as it went on and she was in control for almost the entire final round. Montenegro got the nod with scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

 

Jamie Moyle (115.5lbs, 1-0) vs. JJ Aldrich (115.7lbs, 1-0) rounded out the prelims. This was short, with Aldrich slipping early on and Moyle grabbing hold of Aldrich before she could get back up and Moyle controlled Aldrich, able to get behind her and take her back, sinking in a neck crank and then a rear naked choke and Aldrich was choked out in 2:20.

 

Irena Aldana (135lbs, 4-1) vs. Colleen Schneider (135.3lbs, 6-5) kicked off the main card. It lasted barely more than a minute with Schneider stumbling and leaving herself open to strikes, Aldana then quickly taking her back and getting a rear naked choke and the tap out in just 1:05.

 

Deanna Bennett (116lbs, 6-0) vs. Norma Center (116lbs, 3-1) had a few nice moments; Bennett wobbled Center early on with a solid punch. For the most part, however, the action, whilst fine enough, wasn’t really enthralling. It went the distance with Bennett getting the unanimous decision win with scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

 

Alexa Grasso (115lbs, 6-0) vs. Mizuki Inoue (115.25lbs, 8-3) was the co-main event of the evening. This was a fairly good all-action fight. Grasso dominated the first two rounds with punches and kicks, generally being too quick for Inoue. Grasso also pulled out an inverted triangle choke at one point. Inoue came back in the third and had Grasso in trouble before Grasso fought back and managed to once again get the inverted triangle choke on. Grasso won with scores of 30-26, 29-28 and 29-28. Grasso should have won though I don’t think that first round was a 10-8.

 

Christine Justino © (144.5lbs, 12-1) vs. Charmaine Tweet (144.8lbs, 6-4) was the main event for the Invicta FC Featherweight title. Justino rocked and dropped Tweet almost right away, followed up with punches that appeared to break Tweet’s nose; Tweet somehow was able to get up but Justino swarmed her with punches and we got the not-so rare anymore standing TKO in just 46-seconds.

 

Bellator 134

 

Curtis Millende (170lbs, 7-0) vs. Brennan Ward (171lbs, 9-3) opened up the main card. It was short, fairly fun, and after not looking too good, Ward rocked and dropped Millende; Ward then quickly took his back an after minimal trouble, Ward sank in the rear naked choke to get the tap.

 

Sokoudjou (205lbs, 16-12) vs. Linton Vassell (205lbs, 14-4) saw Vassell rebound from his unsuccessful challenge for the light heavyweight title with a commanding but unexciting domination of Sokoudjobber. Not much else to say about a rather dry and dull fight, other than Vassell won via TKO due to strikes in the second.

 

Andre Santos (171lbs, 37-9) vs. Paul Daley (171lbs, 35-13-2) was a decent brawl, fairly competitive for the most part, with Daley taking a while to get going. Daley started to land more as the fight went on but he took some good shots as well, even getting momentarily wobbled late in the second round and then backing off as he sought to recover. The third round opened up with Daley dropping Santos after a couple of left hooks but he couldn’t finish him off with the follow up. Just before the half-way mark, Daley dropped Santos from the clinch with a knee to the head and Santos was also busted open. Santos was somehow able to get back to his feet and keep coming and with about thirty seconds left, Santos was finally able to get Daley down and get top position; Santos unloaded with punches, trying to get a stoppage, but Daley was able to fight back to his feet, though Santos took him back down as the round and fight ended. Daley got the nod with scores of 29-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

 

King Mo (217lbs, 14-4) vs. Cheick Kongo (239lbs, 22-9-2) saw the featherweights, at least according to Bellator’s own graphics, in action, with King Mo moving up to heavyweight to take on Cheick Kongo. This was an excruciatingly dull fight with nothing of note happening. Mo was repeatedly able to get Kongo down and control him against the ground, doing just enough to stop from being stood up but not really advancing his positioning or being particularly aggressive. This fight blew chunks. The scores were 30-27 for Mo, 29-28 for Kongo (an inexcusable score), and 29-28 for Mo. The right fighter won but how on earth did Kongo win a round?

 

Emanuel Newton © (204.5lbs, 25-7-1) vs. Liam McGeary (204lbs, 9-0) was the main event with McGeary looking to become the first British fighter to win a major MMA title. McGeary had a great first round, having Newton in trouble with at least three triangles, a couple of armbars, and able to escape or counter submission whenever Newton was able to get on offense. An easy 10-9 round for McGeary. Not too much happened in the second; Newton was able to somewhat control McGeary from top position and McGeary wasn’t able to get anything done from the bottom. That was until, with 20-seconds to go, he finally got Newton in the triangle again and managed to land some nice elbows, but Newton got free as the round ended. Not much happened in the third round as the pace noticeably slowed. Newton slipped at one point but still wound up able to get top position and again McGeary threatened with the triangle but Newton defended against it this time. Right at the end of the round, McGeary finally got the triangle and Newton ended up on his back and was eating punches as the round ended. A few more seconds and McGeary likely would have won via TKO. He didn’t but it should have been enough for him to win a round where nothing really happened. The fourth round was another slow affair that picked up somewhat late on with Newton taking McGeary down with just under two-minutes to go. Newton couldn’t do much, although he did a decent job of controlling McGeary who kept going for the triangle. Newton won the round and it’s the first round he clearly won, although it wasn’t a dominating showing. I have McGeary up 39-37 heading into the fifth but that second round was close enough, despite the finish, that it could be tied. Newton took McGeary down almost right away; McGeary not an armbar from the bottom but Newton slammed his way free. Newton remained in top position until the round and fight ended. Nothing happened, really, but Newton edges it because he was in control, though I still have McGeary winning 48-47; will the judges agree? Or will this be a fight where the guy who did more damage and more to win ends up losing? It all comes down to that second round, I think. The scores are 48-46, 48-47 and 48-47 for the winner and…NEW Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion, Liam McGeary. It looks like two of the judges saw it my way and the third seems to have given McGeary the first round 10-8. Not sure I would agree with that but the right man won. McGeary looked good for the most part; he obviously needs to work on some things but he could really be something, especially with how he can work off his back, using his legs for a variety of submissions.

 

Overall, Invicta was the better show but it didn’t have a fight that matched Newton/McGeary; Newton/McGeary was good, but what made it was the drama because the way that second round played out meant that you didn’t know for sure who was going to win. Conversely, Invicta also didn’t have a fight anywhere near as bad as Mo/Kongo. Both sides have a few production holes to shore up; Invicta opened up their show with a shot of a large and very empty section of seating, whilst Bellator kept using the same clip over and over whenever they ‘panned the crowd’ between fights, bringing back memories of WCW’s production on Worldwide during the 90s when they always showed the same crowd shot over and over again to edit out violence.

 

All those quibbles aside, Invicta had a good overall show but no real standout fights, whilst Bellator had a really good main event but with not much to support it Justino obviously wants the Rousey fight but it’s all on her and her ability to cut to 135lbs. If she can’t or won’t do it, the fight isn’t going to happen, and it’s nobody’s fault but hers. A lot of the women on the Invicta show will inevitably wind up in the UFC, either to make up the numbers or because they’re good enough for the major leagues, and for the most part it should be because of the latter. Over in Bellator, Paul Daley was pitching for a title shot ahead of his fight, feeling he’d prove he deserved it with his performance, but he neither helped nor hurt his chances with his performance. King Mo wants Ortiz which would at least be a new fight. Kongo’s stock took a hit with how Mo pretty much handled him with ease and he couldn’t do anything about it. Lots of possible directions for people to go in after Friday night; we’ll see how they all pan out.

When 5* edited out the entire segment announcing the fights for this upcoming Bellator show from the Ortiz/Bonnar show, I figured it meant they had no firm plans to air it. It made no sense otherwise for them to edit the segment out when it revolved around British fighters. In any event, it speaks volumes as to 5*’s commitment to Bellator when they won’t even air a show that sees a British fighter in the main event, fighting for a title.

 

I like Liam McGeary’s chances against Emanuel Newton. It’s no secret I think Newton is average at best. That and his tendency to start going for the spinning back fist over and over again make McGeary, I think, a good shot for winning. McGeary’s striking is good and it’s more fluid and varied than Newton’s. We know he can fight off his back. I don’t know if McGeary can finish Newton because he’s fairly resilient but I think he has a great chance at taking the title.

 

I’ll be watching the Invicta show as well. They rarely have a bad night and even though they have a lot of very green fighters on their roster since most of the experienced ones were signed away by the UFC, they always seem to pick the green fighters who look very polished despite their inexperience.

What a revolting development this is. Page is almost always delivering an entertaining fight.

Is it just me or is there something instantly unlikeable about Eddie Hearn? Everytime I see the fuckers face it does my head in, always looks like a right smug bastard. 

 

It's not just you. He comes off like the ultimate in untrustworthy wide boys.

You can afford to be creative against Manhoef because as long as you're able to move back quickly, the odds are very good you'll get at least a glancing blow in and that's all you need to put Manhoef down these days. It's sad in some ways because you know that Manhoef has been knocked out more than enough times to where each subsequent time is doing even more long-term damage and he just will not hang it up. He won't hang it up and he doesn't care about the damage he's doing to himself. On some level, you almost feel bad for guys who keep getting knocked out and don't know enough to walk away because you know the damage they're doing, but with Manhoef, it's impossible to care because not only does he know what he’s doing, he doesn’t care about the damage he’s doing to himself, and if someone is that stupid, they deserve everything they get.

Noah, for a guy who belittles "hardcore" MMA fans, you don't half seem like one with these obscure reports. You'd surely get brownie points for posting that over on Sherdog?

I just point out their lack of understanding the business side of MMA. If you consider that ‘belittling’ and feel the need to jump to their support, then I suggest that says more about you than anything else. 

Ring of Combat 50

 

Jenna Serio (118lbs, 1-0) vs. Calie Cutler (120lbs, 1-0) opened up the prelims in a fight scheduled for three four-minute rounds. For two inexperienced fighters, this wasn’t too bad; both fighters showed poise and whilst they were obviously green, neither woman looked too sloppy. That said, Cutler was the more polished of the two, with better footwork and movement, and she showed some nice kicks as well. Given more experienced, I think Cutler should do really well, especially if she can bring he kicks along. Serio has potential, too, but I see her likely ending up in the middle of the pack. Cutler got the win at 1:43 in the third via TKO from ground and pound from the full mount.

 

Lashawn Alcocks (155lbs) vs. Eddie Lenoci (154lbs) rounded out the prelims, again scheduled for three four-minute rounds, with Lenoci being out of the Serra-Long camp, the same camp that houses current UFC Middleweight Champion, Chris Weidman. Alcocks dropped Lenoci midway through the first round and tried to finish him off but Lenoci survived and scrambled free. As the round ended, Lenoci almost had Alocks trapped in a couple of submissions but Alcocks was able to escape. The second round was decidedly in favour of Lenoci, who again had Alcocks in trouble with submissions, and also ground control, and it was pretty clear that Lenoci was the more skilled when the fight was on the mat. In the third, Lenoci again was dominant and he was able to get Alcocks to the ground; Lenoci fired off some ground and pound from the mount but Alocks stayed in the fight by firing off some wild punches of own. Alocks tried to scramble free but ended up in a rear naked choke; Alocks used the cage to get back standing, with Lenoci still on his back; Alocks then tried to flip free but Lenoci stayed on Alcocks so Alocks ended up flipping over. Somehow, Lenoci couldn’t finish Alocks, having to transition into an armbar as the round and fight came to an end. This was a very decent fight and Lenoci, if he can shore some things up, may find himself in the UFC someday. And just to show that inept judging is not confined to the major leagues, Lenoci won via split decision; the only round Alcocks could conceivably have won is the first, as the second and third rounds were clearly won by Alocks.

 

Leonard Simpson (157lbs, 3-2) vs. Max Bohanan (154.5lbs, 2-0) opened up the main card with another bout scheduled for three four-minute rounds. This fight quickly hit the mat with Bohanan dragging Simpson down to the ground; a tangle of legs ensued and in the process, Bohanan snared the left leg of Simpson and trapped him in a calf crusher and Simpson tapped out in just 1:02. Bohnanan is a Ricardo Almeida student and looked impressive on the ground so keep an eye out for this kid in the future.

 

Justin Stewart (154.5lbs, 0-0) vs. Gregor Gillespie (154lbs, 3-0) was next with Stewart taking on a former NCAA Div I Champion in Gillespie; again, three four-minute rounds. Gillespie got Stewart down very quickly, got Stewart face down, and Gillespie bombarded Stewart with punches and the referee stopped the fight at 2:51. Gillespie obviously has good wrestling but it was hard to get a read on his overall level of skill due to the one-sided nature of the fight.

 

Mike Santiago (147lbs, 12-9) vs. Kenny Foster (146lbs, 11-8) was for the vacant RoC East Coast Featherweight title, over three five-minute rounds. About a minute into the fight, they were scrambling up off the mat and Santiago grabbed Foster in a guillotine and as he forced Foster against the cage, Foster tapped out of nowhere and Santiago earned himself championship gold in just 1:33. Like with the previous fight, this one was too short to get a good read on either fighter.

 

Matt Rizzo © (126lbs, 7-2) vs. Corey Simmons (126lbs, 5-6) was for the RoC National Championship in the Flyweight Division. The fight went all three rounds and consisted almost entirely of Rizzo keeping Simmons grounded and controlling him against the cage. The only exception was the last minute when Simmons had Rizzo against the cage, but he could do nothing with it. This fight was boring and uneventful with absolutely nothing of note happening.

 

Devon Morris (185lbs, 1-3) vs. Oluwale Bamgbose (185lbs, 3-0) was for the vacant RoC National Middleweight Championship. This was short and explosive, with Bamgbose swarming Morris early and just beating him up, ending the fight with a head kick in 3:18. With some seasoning and the right training, Bamgbose could be a very explosive middleweight and he’s another name to keep an eye on.

 

Randy Brown (170lbs, 2-0) vs. Mike Winters (170lbs, 7-4) was for the vacant RoC National Welterweight title. The first round saw Brown very dominant, having Winters in a triangle early on and keeping control, even though Winters eventually managed to escape, with Brown having several submissions on. Winters stayed in there and somewhat came back late on, but the first round was clearly for Brown. Winters was doing much better in the second but as he rushed in, Brown caught him with a right, and Winters was dropped and Brown quickly followed up with hammerfists and the referee stopped the fight at 1:11 of round two. You can add Randy Brown to the list of fighters tonight who show some very good potential.

 

Phillipe Nover (152lbs, 9-5) vs. Dan Cion (153lbs, 4-1) was for the vacant RoC East Coast Championship with a 152lbs weight limit. After taking Cion down early on, Nover spent the majority of the round just wailing away on him and the only reason it wasn’t stopped, it looked like, was because Cion was making just enough movement; not that it should have counted, though, because Cion was just taking punch after punch for two or three minutes, and not properly defending himself at all. A definite 10-8 round for Nover. Almost right away in the second, Cion wiffed on a kick and fell down, and Nover pounced, took his back and grabbed a rear naked choke and Cion tapped out in 1:10 of the second round. Nover looked good but anyone would against a guy who was out of action for three years and offered absolutely nothing.

 

Julio Arce © (136lbs, 6-0) vs. Thomas Vasquez (134lbs, 6-2) was the co-main event of the evening for the RoC National Bantamweight Championship. This was two-and-a-half rounds of Arce walking Vasquez down and peppering him with methodical strikes, the finish coming at 3:46 of round three with strikes on the ground. Again, this was a fight where you can’t properly judge the winner because the loser offered nothing at all.

 

Jeff Lentz (155lbs, 9-4) vs. George Sheppard (155lbs, 15-9) was the main event of the evening and was for the vacant RoC Lightweight Championship. This was another methodical and somewhat pedestrian fight, with Lentz walking Sheppard down, landing enough strikes to dominate but not really impressing or standing out. Part way through the third, Lentz, perhaps looking to play safe, tried to take Sheppard down, but Sheppard kept things standing and the fight stayed upright until the time expired and Lentz took the unanimous decision.

 

Production was amateurish all through the night; the graphics looked third-rate, the tale-of-the-tape frequently had the wrong weight displayed, the wrong fighter’s name was put up at one point, etc. I know the RoC budget isn’t UFC-level, but the production was embarrassingly bad; how do you keep screwing up the weights on the tale-of-the-tape? The fights themselves ran the gamut from boring to decent and a number of the fighters showed some real potential. Overall, it was a fine enough night of action, and I think we’ll be seeing a couple of fighters in the big leagues at some point, but if production values are your thing, or you like minor league production values to look at least somewhat professional, you might get a headache before the night is over.

 

Fighters to watch out for: Calie Cutler, Eddie Lenoci, Max Bohanan, Oluwale Bamgbose and Randy Brown.

 

 

 

The UFC actually did what you moan about them not doing on Sunday night though, when Conor McGregor talked about his past opponents he looked directly into the camera and spoke rather than looking off to the side addressing an interviewer.

I didn't realize putting forth a thought out viewpoint constituted 'moaning'.

Bellator 132

 

Marius Zaromskis (169.4lbs, 20-8) vs. Fernando Gonzales (171lbs, 22-13) opened up the main card with a total slugfest. It started off with an exciting first round but tapered off after that due to the pace, though it was still an above average scrap, with Gonzales taking the unanimous decision victory with 30-27s across the board

 

Before the next fight, you had some comments from both Alexander and Zwicker, and this is the style of presentation I was talking about wanting to see in the UFC, with both guys talking directly into the camera. I could have done without the cheesy ending from Alexander, but both still came across a lot meatier, something real, and less bland than the normal talking head stuff. Cheese aside, it wasn’t ‘cutting a promo’ or anything else that was nothing like what I had originally stated I wanted to see but people n insisted must be what I actually meant; it was two fighters expressing their real feelings and emotions and doing so directly into the camera. Little things like that can make a big difference because real feelings and emotions can create a connection and it’s that connection that makes stars.

 

Houston Alexander (203.4lbs, 16-10-1) vs. Virgil Zwicker (206lbs, 12-4-1) the fight itself, a rematch of a fight that ended in a majority draw due to Alexander being deducted a point due to two illegal headbutts, was a low-rent version of the opener; a slugfest, but with less skill. Alexander doesn’t have the best of chins anymore and his punching power is not what it used to be, whilst Zwicker isn’t any great shakes himself. It went the distance with Zwicker getting the nod via split decision with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30 in his favour.

 

Georgi Karakhanyan (145,8lbs, 23-4-1) vs. Bubba Jenkins (145.9lbs, 8-1) was the co-main event and did not lost long; Karakhanyan got a guillotine almost right away and held it for almost a minute before Jenkins finally escaped after much effort. Jenkins went in for a takedown and Karakhanyan again got the guillotine choke and this time, Jenkins could not escape and was rendered unconscious in just 1:49. There was a delay on Herb Dean stopping the fight, even though Karakhanyan was telling him Jenkins was out, but, to their credit, the announcers immediately explained why that was; Jenkins’ arm was stiff and it looked like he was pushing out, hence the delay between Jenkins passing out and the fight being stopped.

 

In the post-fight interview, was told he was getting the next shot at the winner of the main event featherweight title fight.

 

Patricio Pitbull © (144.3lbs, 22-2) vs. Daniel Strauss (143.4lbs, 22-5) was the main event for Bellator’s featherweight title. The first round was very competitive but definitely one for Strauss, who showed very good striking, and it was definitely something to see Strauss not only meeting Pitbull in the stand up battle but doing very well in it. The second round revolved around Strauss delivering two low-blows and then an eye poke, accidentally, in short order; the fans were not happy, and neither was Pitbull, and Strauss ended up getting a point deducted after the eye poke, but John McCarthy said it was for the low blow, which is strange because he had let both low blows slide. It was a close round but Pitbull edged it near the end and takes it 10-8 because of the point deduction. The third round was close again but Strauss, I felt, did enough in the latter stages of the round to take it, and these two are very evenly matched. The fourth round was being more of the same until Pitbull delivered an inadvertent low blow, and when McCarthy stepped in, Pitbull initially thought the fight was being called off. The fight resumed and by now, Pitbull’s right eye was covered in blood from mouse’s above and below it busting open. Late in the round, Pitbull took Strauss down and managed to get his back, with Pitbull then defending against a kimura before sinking in a rear naked choke and getting the tap out in 4:49 of the fourth. Pitbull retains his title after something of a dirty war and Pitbull pulled this out on in the clutch because Strauss was on his way to taking the fourth round and it wasn’t looking good for Pitbull. Next up for the champion is Georgi Karakhanyan and based on tonight, I’d say a title change is a distinct possibility.

 

Overall, a fairly decent show, and at least the main event was good and you know the next featherweight title fight.

 

World Series of Fighting 17

 

Danny Davis. Jr (170lbs, 10-8-1) vs. Adam Cella (171.6lbs, 6-2) kicked things off with a decent enough one-sided affair with Davis dominating Cella throughout. The highlight was Steve Mazagatti actually getting a call right; Davis landed a soccer kick to Cella’s head as Cella was getting up, and it at least warranted a point being deducted and Mazagatti indeed deducted a point. I was amazed. I would have seriously considered disqualifying Davis outright because it was such a flagrant and intentional breaking of a major rule that it was close to being worthy of an immediate disqualification.

 

Bryson Hansen (135,2lbs, 7-2) vs. Rudy Morales (135lbs, 3-1) was next. Hansen took Morales down early and landed elbows and Morales ended up getting busted open and was bleeding heavily. The cut was checked but Morales was allowed to continue with Hansen maintaining his dominance for the rest of the round. That was as exciting as the fight got as Hansen was content to fight a methodical but not engaging style, grinding out a low-risk and low-excitement decision victory.

 

Krasimir Mladenov (185.8lbs, 11-0) vs. Brendan Kornberger (185lbs, 5-0) was a rather dour affair with Mladenov using his wrestling to control Kornberger pretty much from beginning to end. This wasn’t a bad fight per se, but there was absolutely nothing about it that stood out or was memorable.

 

Johnny Nunez (155.6bs, 5-0) vs. Joe Condon (156lbs, 11-7) was the co-main event, with Condon, originally slated to compete on the undercard, moving up as a late replacement on less than 48-hours’ notice. This was another solid but unengaging fight that was fine but just not memorable at all, outside of the finish. Nunez was dominant throughout but didn’t really stand out and like everything else about this fight and this card as a whole so far, his performance was solid but forgettable, but it would be Condon who would pull out the win from almost nowhere with less than a minute to go with Nunez going for a takedown and Condon countering with a modified guillotine, and just as Bas Rutten, who is tremendously overrated as a commentator, was confidently downplaying the chances of Condon getting the win, Nunez tapped out and in the half-second it took the referee to break them up, Nunez was unconscious.

 

Jake Shields (170lbs, 30-7-1, 1 NC) vs. Brian Foster (169.8lbs, 27-6) was the main event with the winner getting a shot at Rousimar Palhares and the WSOF welterweight title. Shields walked through Foster in 2:51, taking him down twice in short order, getting into position for an head-arm triangle, and when Foster tried to escape, Shields took his back and got a rear naked choke for the tap out victory.

 

Before we signed off, we got undercard highlights and the undercard looked infinitely better than the main card.

 

Not a bad night of action, but not that good, either, and instantly forgettable.

Does anyone remember a song from around 1997 where the video for it featured a woman wrestler with black hair doing all kinds of moves to someone who I presume was the lead singer for the band? I’m pretty sure the wrestler and band were British but I can’t remember the name of the band or the song. The band or song might have the name Molly or Holly in their title. It’s not a lot to go on, I know, but memories are vague after so long, and it’s been bugging me for forever.

You’ll probably be getting a main event that will be good to great but the rest of the card doesn’t look too good, either from a quality standpoint or name value standpoint. Bellator shows are greatly helped by the announcing, though, as Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith are very good together and they haven’t gone into cruise control like Goldberg and Rogan have done for the most part.

UFC Dublin and UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Brandao are the same show.

You think Crocop was one someone who probably spent the majority of his Japanese career on the gas?

 

I remember all the theories popping up when the Pride guys pretty much all bombed when they first entered the UFC, few of them looked the same. Over time guys adjusted but Crocop (despite a few good wins) never really looked the same in the UFC. I know most people put it down to the Gonzaga defeat, but is there a chance that he simply wasnt the same guy from the start? I know he won his debut, but lets be honest, Eddie Sanchez was petrified.

Considering PRIDE didn’t test for steroids or almost anything at all, it’s a fair bet that most if not all the PRIDE guys were on something. Why shouldn’t they have been where there was nothing to stop them and the odds were good that the guy across the ring was going to be taking something as well? The only PRIDE guy who didn’t look like a completely different fighter, both cosmetically and otherwise, upon competing in a drug tested environment was Quinton Jackson, and that alone is a good indication of just how much drug use was rampant in PRIDE and what kind of difference it made.

He underwent surgery but I don’t remember the extent of it. Regardless, he came back too soon, which couldn’t have helped.

I think what killed Cro Cop’s head kicks was the Gonzaga fight. Not the loss itself but how badly his right ankle twisted at the end; that was a nasty looking thing. The injury, and also the tentativeness when coming back, took everything out of those kicks. Cro Cop was never the same after his biggest weapons were effectively taken away from him. Not to mention the move to a drug test environment, which greatly affected a lot of PRIDE fighters.

I really wanted to see Ishii in the UFC but if you're losing to Cro Crop, then staying away is for the best.

Best Fighter

 

Ronda Rousey

Donald Cerrone

Anthony Johnson

 

Best Event

 

UFC 180

UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping

UFC Fight Night: McGregor v Brandao

 

Best Fight

 

Michelle Waterson vs. Herica Tiburcio - Invicta 10

Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes – UFC 179

Chris Weidman vs Lyoto Machida - UFC 175

But the X Factor is great

It's certainly a kracker.

Then there must be a lot of ‘nonsense talkers’; there was almost nobody defending Palhares for that incident with Pierce. And it was not the first time Palhares has pulled that sort of stunt. But I guess that was all just nonsense talk as well, right?

 

 

 

Road FC 20

 

Dae-Hwan Kim (176lbs, 4-1) vs. Douglas Kobayashi (176lbs, 4-2) kicked things off. It seemed to be a decent enough scrap and might have turned into a good one but Kim landed a cracker of a right hand at 1:57 that dropped Kobayashi and sent him into unconsciousness. It was definitely a KO that deserves consideration for KO of the Year.

Five Word Review: It had a great finish

 

Kim Min-Woo (135lbs, 5-0)vs. Moon Jea-Hoon(135lbs, 6-6) was a nice enough fight but not really engaging. Neither fighter looked bad but they didn’t stand out, either, although they looked to be decent fighters.

Five Word Review: Decent but not must-see.

 

Park Hyung-Geun (135lbs, 1-0) vs. Han Yi-Moon (136lbs, 6-2) had a pretty exciting first round, mainly due to both men fighting very aggressively and making little attempt to defend. It was a very even round; Park had Han in trouble with a liver kick, but Han later came back with a nice looking triangle. The second started out nicely until Park landed a short overhand right that dropped Han like a ton of bricks, with Park following up with punches as the referee jumped in to call it off. This was fun to watch.

Five Word Review: A fun fight to watch.

 

Song Ga-Yeoun (105lbs, 1-0) vs. Satomi Takano (105lbs, 3-5) was totally one-sided as Takano walked right through Song, without any trouble at all. ‘twas entertaining, though, ending with a nasty-ass looking kimura.

Five Word Review: A fairly entertaining squash match.

 

Lee Gil-Woo (135lbs, 4-3) © vs. Lee Yoon-Jun (136lbs, 7-2) was the main event and was for the Road FC Bantamweight title. It was another short fight that was fairly entertaining, mostly because, as with the second fight, we saw both guys coming forward and making no attempt to back up. The highlight before the finish saw Gil-Woo have Yoon-Jun clinched against the cage but Yoon-Jun somehow managed to land a series of knees to the face of Gil-Woo. The finish itself was a corker with Yoon-Jun landing a pretty good right high kick to the head of Gil-Woo, which made a nice ‘thud’ sound, and also dropped the champion, with Yoon-Jun following up with some, really, unnecessary ground and pound as the referee leaped in to stop the fight and Yoon-Jun was understandably thrilled to have won the title, Road FC’s belts not looking entirely unlike PRIDE’s

Five Word Review: Another fun fight worth watching.

 

If I understood Korean, I’d probably like this a lot more, but it was still an entertaining night of action. Not great, but if you fancy giving a foreign product a try, it’s worth giving it a shot because it was still fairly entertaining and a lot of fun.