Wednesday, November 24, 2010

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Liveblog: Big Bang Part 4

UFC Rafaello Oliveira and Kevin Roddy enter the cage and square off. Apparently still very angry that the UFC cut him, Oliveira is all mean and fury, getting Roddy down, raining down strikes, and working on the rear naked choke. Roddy is game, but he has no choice but to tap at 4:46 or Round 1. Next: Chris Liguori vs. John Salgado. On paper, this is Liguori's to win or lose. But you never know... Round 1 is all about these two waging war on the feet, peppering each other with kicks, knees and punches, and a pace that remains high throughout. But Salgado can't seem to match Liguori's intensity, and in Rounds 2 and 3 the Ricardo Almeida-trained fighter gets Salgado down and works him over. Ligouri takes the unanimous decision. Branden Hinkle and Kevin Jordan are up for some old school heavyweight action. Hinkle has longtime training partner Mark Coleman in his corner. Jordan, meanwhile, has the voodoo diety Legba, so we'll see how it goes. Wow. Hinkle looks completely revitalized. First with a takedown, then top position, then hellacious ground and pound, and Hinkle gets the TKO win at 2:30 of Round 1. Last bout and it's Tara LaRosa against Takayo Hashi for a title. Round 1 let's us know right off the bat what's in store: a grappling chess match on the ground and a very tactical battle on the feet. Maybe - maybe - Hashi spends more time on top in the first and LaRosa lands more in the second, but no one is dominating. All that changes in Round 3, as LaRosa gets a takedown and works her way into back-control. Unfortunately for her, the bell rings before she can finish the choke. Round 3 alternates between tentativeness and bursts of violence, and again the bell rings with LaRosa on Hashi's back. Maybe Hashi spends more time on top in the final round - maybe - and when time runs out the judges are left with the unenviable job of deciding who won. Their answer: LaRosa. Adios!

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Liveblog: Big Bang Part 3

AMA FC's Jonathan Helwig and Team KOA's Lewis Pascavage square off for some heavyweight punch-tango. This one starts off with Pascavage absolutely lighting Helwig up and bloodying him. But the AMA FC rep refuses to wither, and he gets Pascavage down, gets on top, and applies the head-arm choke for the tap at 2:04 of Round 1. Biff Walizer of Team Tap or Sleep and Jeremy Anderson of American Kickboxing Academy are up now. Anderson is undefeated in four fights, and he keeps his streak going with wrestling and wilting pressure. Walizer taps to a rear naked choke at 3:17 of Round 1. Eric Moon and Tenyeh Dixon are next, and the bout pits a MASH fighter against a Team Raw Dawg rep. Dixon - another very experienced cat - wastes no time getting Moon down, taking his back, and submitting him with a rear naked choke. The official time of the tap is 2:33 of Round 1.

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Liveblog: Big Bang Part 2

First up is Zachary Sanders vs. Piotr Andrejko, which pits a dude from Kentucky against a Renzo Gracie Danville rep at lightweight. Round 1 is pretty back and forth, with Sanders trying to work his ground and pound and Andrejko threatening with punches and a kimura. However, all of Sanders' takedown attempts begin to exhaust him, and in Round 2 Andrejko gets on top and punishes. The final frame sees Andrejko wobble Sanders and Sanders survive to get the local boy down and work him over. It's close, and when time runs out the split decision goes to Andrejko. Next is Fight Factory's Steve McCabe taking on Darnell Hooker of Team Catch Wrestling in a featherweight contest. Hooker comes out with guns blazing, doing his best to overwhelm his foe with knees and flurries. McCabe beats him back at first, but eventually Hooker clips him, and when McCabe sinks to his knees, Hooker slips on the rear naked choke. Binky Jones of Team Ground Control takes to the cage to face Team Greg Jackson's Ran Weathers. Binky's been around forever, so we'll see if he can work the experience-angle in his favor. The opening round is essentially a jiu-jitsu match with punches, and when the bell rings Binky is on top looking for a place to put his fist. It's hard to tell if it's experience or grappling superiority that does it, but Binky dominates Weathers in Round 2 - so much so that Weathers makes damn sure that he's not on bottom in Round 3. It doesn't matter, though, and Binky takes the unanimous decision when time runs out.

Liveblog: Big Bang Part 1

MMA Journalist is here at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City for Carl Mascarenhas' DaMMAge Fight League debut, which is dubbed the "Big Bang" and which has already drawn the ire of right wing religious nutjobs everywhere who believe in Creation (get it? The Big Bang vs. God creating the universe? Ah, shut up). Anyhoo, Chris Liguori is letting a very underrated John Salgado take a crack at glory, Tara LaRosa is squaring off against some Japanese chick may or may not be her ticket to Strikeforce, and Kevin Jordan and Branden Lee Hinkle are going to do something. I don't know. Maybe fight. Also, Jonathan Helwig is on the card, and I still haven't forgiven him for killing my character in Urbandead for no reason. Yes, it was about six years ago, but c'mon, he shotgunned me to death and turned me into a zombie. Boo! Hiss!

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