Friday, December 11, 2009

IMG00584.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Liveblog: AFL Part 6

Adam Penberthy of TriState MMA and Darren Goodall of LA Boxing are up. This one is a back-and-forth grappling contest that goes the distance, and Penberthy gets the unanimous decision based on... based on... oh, I don't know. Now it's time for a title fight between Pete Burdge of Pellegrino MMA against Noah Faunce of Combat Academy. Faunce's reach and timing put him ahead, and his knockdown of Burdge in Round 2 only reinforced that fact. Throw in his successful takedowns and top game, and it was clear Faunce was taking the belt home. Last bout of the night and it's Chris Wright of Knoxville Martial Arts against Julio Arce of TSMMA for another championship belt. They both start strong, with Wright showing solid wrestling and Arce attempting a flying triangle. However, Arce takes over completely in Round 2 and 3, unequivocably out-grappling Wright until time runs out. Arce wins the unanimous decision.

Liveblog: AFL Part 5

Brian Natoli of Taurus MMA and Delroy McKoy of Camp Undefeated take to the cage, and once their fight begins Natoli takes charge with crisper striking and smoother grappling. Rinse and repeat for all three rounds, with Natoli winging an overhand right and scoring with leg-kicks and clearly ahead on the scorecards, and McKoy knocking him out with only one second left in the bout. Cilio Ribiero of Gold Team and Justin Incera of Chamber MMA are next at bat. Though a much better puncher and much better grappler, Ribiero keeps butting up against the brick wall that is Incera's wrestling, and it goes to the third round, where Ribiero punches his Incera in the head while Incera is on the ground and gets disqualified.

IMG00583.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00582.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00580.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00579.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00578.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Liveblog: AFL Part 4

James Jenkins of Combat Academy and Wesley Carvalho of Gold Team are up. Jenkins has got heavy and accurate hands, which he uses to drop the Brazilian more than once, and in the third round Jenkins hits Carvalho so hard he spins completely around before returning to Earth. The official time of the KO is :10 of Round 3. Trevor Baney of Serra/Longo is in the cage now taking on LA Boxing's Danny Carbonel. Baney is out-boxing his opponent and mixing in takedowns, and though he's game, Carbonel never finds his groove. Baney takes the decision. It's time for James Funaro of Vamos BJJ vs. Mike Fischetti of TSMMA. This one is bloody, with Fischetti popping Funaro in the nose early and prompting the ref to call in the doctor for a look. It continues, and Funaro tries to get it to the ground, but Fischetti is too skilled to let that happen and he tags Funaro again, this time opening a cut over the UCL vet's eye. That's enough for the ref, and the bout is called. And no lie, it takes the Asylum crew about 10 minutes to clean the cage.

IMG00577.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00576.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00574.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00573.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Liveblog: AFL Part 3

James Hoffman of Team Vendetta and Mike Riley of Taurus MMA are up. Taurus MMA is WEC fighter Deividas Taurosevicius' school, so of course Riley is no stranger to grappling - and it shows when he remains calm when Hoffman attempts a pair of guillotines in the opening round. Round 2 is more of the same, but Hoffman turns up the heat in Round 3, feeding Riley punches until Riley shoots and winds up in a guillotine from which there's no escaping from. Levar Curry of the NJ National Guard enters the cage to take on James Turner of Combat Acadmey in what will be a batle of the big boys. From the outset Turner is all over Curry, wrestling the hell out of him until the 2:26 second mark, when he submits Curry with a rear naked choke. Renzo Gracie Denville fields another fighter in Alex Bruzzese, who's taking on TSMMA's Abel Ekonomakos. Bruzzese makes no bones about wanted to turn this into a grappling match, a fact reinforced by his constant clinching and Ekonomakos blasting him in the face with short punches whenever there's space. Bruzzese takes the split decision when time runs out, but based on who did more damage and who was more effective, Ekonomakos shouldve won.

IMG00572.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00571.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00570.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00569.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00568.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Liveblog: AFL Part 2

First up is Rob Weiser of Victor's MMA against Dan Arthur of Renzo Gracie Denville. I don't know anything about these two, so I'm just going to make stuff up - like how Weiser is a bounty hunter and Arthur once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Nice, Arthur is coming out to the song from "The Karate Kid". Round 1 has Weiser throwing about 100 1-2 combos and threatening with a kneebar and inverted triangle, but Arthur's superior wrestling has him on top for the most part. Arthur keeps it up in the second round, and eventually snags the textbook armbar. Good showing for the Karate Kid. Next: Rhino Fight Team stud Ken Rivera against TSMMA's Bryan Tapper. Tapper's a member of the new generation of Tiger Schulmann fighter, plucked from the cradle at only a few months old and trained in the combat arts his whole life. Anyway, Rivera comes out strong, firing off leg-kicks and even landing a few jumping side-kicks, while Tapper keeps throwing out his lead hook. Round 2 sees clinching against the cage, Tapper attempting a triangle on the ground and Rivera scoring a knockdown with a flurry. They trade on the feet a little more in the third round, and though Tapper is in it throughout, Rivera is simply quicker with the leather. Rivera takes the unanimous decision.

Liveblog: AFL Part 1

MMA Journalist is cageside for Asylum Fight League's latest installment, which is playing out in the arctic paradise of the Raritan Center in Edison, New Jersey. There are 13 fights scheduled, with two title bouts and representatives hailing from such venerable schools as TSMMA, Team Renzo, Pellegrino MMA, Rhino Fight Team and the Garden State Guido Academy. It should be a good night of action. Celebs present include teen heartthrob Lester Caslow, who recently fought Felipe "I really, really love Ben-Gay" Arantes, the Garv and Frosty the Snowman (who likes to hang out in the Raritan Center and just chill).

IMG00567.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00566.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

IMG00565.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Predictions for UFC 107: "Ultimate Oh My God BJ Killed Him!"

I don't blame the UFC. After all, they do have contractual obligations to fill and BJ Penn does have to eat. It's just sad, though, that Diego Sanchez - an otherwise tough dude with a ton of skill - is the one being fed to the Hawaiian lightweight champ like a cheap quesadilla. Anyway, Penn vs. Sanchez is headlining UFC 107, and here are some predictions for the event.
  • Why is Mike Pierce in the UFC? Oh yeah, so top-level guys like Jon Fitch can get easy paychecks. Go ahead, Jon, you've earned it.
  • Paul Buentello by Hurricane Hippo Holler.
  • In the Kenny Florian/Clay Guida match-up, one fighter is going to squeak past the other for the split decision. Then they'll promptly be killed by Penn.
  • Win or lose, Cheick Kongo is going to walk around wearing his glasses afterwards and look like that dude who slept with your ex-girlfriend when she did a semester abroad. The bitch.
  • Sanchez is going to harness the energy of a nearby storm and supercharge himself with bolts of lightning and rumbles of thunder.
  • Penn will still kill him.