Friday, February 4, 2011

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 6

Steve DeAngelis and Dustin Pague are in the cage for their bantamweight title scrap. Round 1 is a lot of movement, a lot of punches thrown, and DeAngelis eating a knee but scoring a takedown and working his ground and pound. But Pague finds his range in Round 2, and he catches DeAngelis with a right hand. The official time of the KO is :25 of the round, and Pague is the new ROC 135-pound champ. Nova Uniao's Gabriel Migliolo and Tai Kai's Marques Daniels are up and competing for the ROC 155-pound strap. These guys really go at it, mixing wild striking with wild grappling, until Migliolo starts landing knees to Daniels' dome, wobbling the hell out of the Tai Kai fighter. Unfortunately, Miglioli lands one while Daniels has a knee on the mat, and the ensuing cut has the doctor waiving it off. Because it's a foul, Migliolo is disqualified, rendering Daniels the victor. Crappy ending to an exciting bout. Last bout and it's Clinch Academy's Jacob Kirwan and BJJ Shore Academy's Ryan Vaccaro for the featherweight title. The round opens and they immediately start grappling, and in a scramble Kirwan latches on with guillotine. Vaccaro taps at 1:26 of Round 1, making Kirwan the new champ. And that all, folks.

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 5

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Striker's Paradise. On the menu tonight is two of the best middleweight face-punchers in the Northeast: Serra/Longo's Costa Philippou and TSMMA's Uriah Hall. Round 1 sees both men kick each other in the nuts, Philippou graze Hall's eye with his fingers, and Philippou score a takedown - the only meaningful offense of the round. In the second frame, the Serra/Longo rep takes two more to the man purse, and though he eats a kick to the head, he manages another takedown. Hall changes things up completely in Round 3, taking Philippou down and pounding on him relentlessly in dominant fashion. It's not enough for the judges, who give Philippou the majority decision. The ladies are up, and it's Ashley Nee of the Scott Shields MMA Academy vs. Jessica Eye of Strong Style Fight Team. Wow. Eye comes out swinging and looking like Cris Cyborg while Nee looks like Cris Cyborg's food. For four minutes and 34 seconds Nee gets blasted, and by then the ref has seen enough and waives it off.

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 4

BJJ Shore Academy stalwart Rich Ashkar squares off against Combat Academy's Noah Faunce in an old blood vs. new blood match-up. Round 1 does not go well for Ashkar, as Faunce makes him pay dearly for every takedown attempt, and when Faunce gets a takedown of his own, he beats on Ashkar like he owes him money. Round 2 is more of the same, and by the third, Ashkar's face is starting to resemble hamburger. As Round 3 goes just as the others, it's a no brainer that Faunce deserves the unanimous decision. Drew Puzon of RABJJ returns to action to face Clinch Academy's Joey Kirwan. So what has Puzon been doing in all his time away from competition? Jiu-jitsu, apparently, and he uses it to work Kirwan over on the mat. But Kirwan's got a nice guillotine he keeps for special occasions, and he pulls it out and catches Puzon's neck with it. The tap comes at 1:09 of Round 2.

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 3

Main card time and it's Giedrius Karavackas of Logi International against last-minute fill-in Josh Key. Karavackas is a tough opponent when you have time to prepare, so Key's got an uphill battle ahead of him. The bout opens with Karavackas all over Key like white on rice, and though Key manages to muscle an escape, the Lithuanian is relentless. He gets the rear naked choke at 3:36 of Round 1. Ariel Sepulveda of NEMMA/Lotus enters the cage to take on late replacement Steve Durig of Wreck Room. If Sepulveda is anything, he's a badass striker, so Durig wisely takes him to the ground. Unfortunately for him, though, Sepulveda's been working his ground game, and Durig taps to a triangle/armbar combo at 2:24 of Round 1. Next up is Crazy88 Muay Thai instructor Aung La Nsang vs. Wreck Room sensei Mitch Whitesel. Whitesel gets Msang down and employs some ground and pound, but Nsang slithers out from the bottom and takes Whitesel's back. The rear naked choke comes at 3:09 of Round 1.

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 2

First bout and it's Manny Millan of Team Stryker and Mike Benoit of Bellmore Kickboxing in a featherweight contest. It's a dogfight from the opening bell, with both men blazing away on the feet and tagging each other until Benoit starts mixing in takedowns - then it's all about Benoit beating the bejeezus out of Millan every which way to Sunday. When time runs out Benoit takes the unanimous decision. Next: Team Vendetta's Jimbo Hoffman vs. Eagle Martial Arts' Yaser Shaukur in another featherweight pairing. Hoffman was a kickass amateur, but this is his pro debut. Can he make the transition seamlessly? Um, yeah. From takedown to mount to a storm of punches to a guillotine, it's all Hoffman, and Shaukur is tapping at :47. Last prelim and it's Vitor Shaolin student Sergio Da Silva against St. Charles MMA rep Alp Ozkillic at bantamweight. Round 1 is all Ozkillic, whose wrestling superiority enables him to stifle Da Silva's game and drop leather from above. Perhaps sensing he's in dire straights, Da Silva comes out for Round 2 throwing fists, knees and kicks with reckless abandon, and it serves him well in making Ozkillic know he's in a fight. But the judges aren't convinced, and Ozkillic ends up with the unanimous decision.

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Liveblog: ROC 34 Part 1

MMA Journalist is here at the lovely Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City for Ring of Combat 34, the Northeast's best and purest expression of state-sanctioned unarmed combat. There are 13 bouts on tap, four of which are championship bouts featuring the likes of Kurt Pellegrino-trained Steve DeAngelis, Bill Scott-trained Ryan Vaccaro, Andre Pederneiras-trained Gabriel Migliolo, and a chick fight between two ladies who I assume were trained by someone but I just don't know who. (Of course, it is possible they trained themselves - you know, by living in the woods and wrestling bears, or by watching a lot of episodes of The Ultimate Fighter. That is, however, not likely.) Anyhoo, it should be a good night of fights. Stay tuned.

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