Extreme Challenge: "Mayhem at the Marina" Postscript

Tara LaRosa had zero problem with Sally Krumdiack, Jeff Lentz completely neutralized Maciej Linke before wrecking him, and Kevin Roddy was slick as hell.

Liveblog: Mayhem at the Marina Part 4

Jay Silva of Team Rampage and Mike Johnson of Fight Factory make their way to the cage. Silva has Jorge "Macaco" Patino in his corner, while Johnson seems to have an entire Philly neighborhood on his side. Silva comes out taunting Johnson, daring him to trade with him, so of course Johnson engages in a grappling contest with him, the two trading positions and sub attempts and Silva getting the better of them. Silva gets his wish in Round 2, though, and after tagging Johnson repeatedly in the face he plants a knee to the ribs that has Johnson crumpling to the canvas. Silva wins via TKO at 1:26 of the round. Next up: Tim Bradley, who is apparently some badass wrestler from out west, against Steve DeAngelis of Team Pellegrino. DeAngelis seems to have superpowers, as all he needs to do to make Bradley verbally submit is to chill out in Bradley's guard and somehow pop the wrestler's rib. It's over at 1:50, and I'm not sure DeAngelis even broke a sweat. Last bout of the night and it's Tara LaRosa and Sally Krumdiack. Of course every opponent is a challenge, but will Krumdiack challenge LaRosa "extremely"? (See what I did there?) Not so much in Round 1, as LaRosa takes her down and pummels her intermittently for the duration. Round 2 is just like the first, while in the final round LaRosa punches Krumdiack in the face a couple times before taking her down and tapping her out with a keylock at 1:25. And that's it.

Liveblog: Mayhem at the Marina Part 3

It's time for Kevin Roddy of Team Pellegrino vs. Biff Walizer of Lionheart MMA. Once again, Roddy is firing off sub attempts like a Marine SAW gunner firing off rounds at Taliban irregulars, but Walizer dodges them all and punishes him return. Round 2, however, is when Roddy finally finds his groove, as he rocks Walizer on the feet then nails the triangle off a scramble. The official time of the tap out is 3:19 of the second round, and Roddy proves he's still got it. Schnake is in the cage introducing some Airforce "Special Forces" dude, and the Airman is pitching the US Airforce. Special Forces? Are they called in when the bird crap on the runway gets too fierce? I kid! Next up are Rich Edwards of Gold Team Fighters and Team Pellegrino's Dave Church. This is Edwards' first pro fight, and Church's only pro bout was a loss to Greg Soto about 10 years ago, so, um, yeah, I don't know what my point was. Oh wait, Richards favors boxing and Church grappling. How does this one play out? Church gets Edwards down, nearly gets him with a guillotine, then after a scramble gets Edwards with a head/arm choke at 2:29. Matt Kocher of some school in Pennsylvania and Troy Maxwell of Extreme Performance are up. I'm tempted to go up to Kocher and ask him if he only eats Kosher foods, but I don't think it would be well-received. Round 1 is pretty back-and-forth, with Kocher landing a hip toss and working for an RNC, and Maxwell almost hitting an RNC and some ground-and-pound. Round 2 has Kocher running out of gas and Maxwell beating him up standing and getting the RNC at 2:51.

Liveblog: Mayhem at the Marina Part 2

"Big" Poppa Schnake is announcing tonight and it truly is utter mayhem here at the Marina. Okay, not really. First bout is Pat White vs. Mervin Rodriguez, a featherweight match-up between two guys who weigh very little and probably eat a fraction of what normal-sized humans eat. Round 1 is all about Rodriguez beating the living hell out of White from every position possible, and while White manages to hang in there and even reverse at one point, he takes some serious punishment. The second round is more of the same until Rodriguez snags the armbar at 4:31. Dominant performance. Now it's Daniel Straus from Cincinatti taking on Lester Caslow of Kurt Pellegrino's Academy of Coolness. Straus' entrance music is an esoteric Queen song called "Keep Yourself Alive", which means he's either a fan of obscure classic rock or flamboyantly gay. Hmmm... he doesn't look gay. As usual, Caslow's entrance involves young girls swooning and throwing their panties into the cage. The opening round sees Caslow almost put his opponent to sleep with an arm-in guillotine, almost snag an armbar and punish him with knees on the feet. Straus gets some licks in, but I give it to the Team Pellegrino fighter. Things slow considerably in the second round, as an exhausted Caslow finds himself on the bottom losing the positional war. Round 3 is close, with both men scoring takedowns and blasting each other on the feet, and when time runs out the judges have the unenviable job of having to pick a winner. They pick Straus via split decision. That one seriously could have gone either way. Maciej Linke of Gold Team Fighters against Jeff Lentz of Rhino Fight Team are up. Linke is a Mundial winner or something, and from my vantage point I can see one of his cornermen praying and crossing himself. Hey, that's not fair bringing God into this. Wow, okay, I guess Lentz's purple belt courtesy of Carmine Zocchi is enough to keep him out of trouble, as he avoids Linke's ground game to drop bombs to knock Linke out. Linke is left unconscious on the mat at 1:45 of Round 1. Very impressive.

Liveblog: Mayhem at the Marina Part 1

MMA Journalist is cageside for Extreme Challenge's "Mayhem at the Marina", a Monte Cox event at Atlantic City's Trump Marina. This is the first New Jersey MMA show to take place at the Trump Marina, and the cage is set up in the ballroom of a casino full of elderly people and what I think may be zombies (or they could be just really old people). So, yeah, Trump Marina seems to be where old gamblers go to die. Here's hoping tonight's show doesn't give them heart attacks. Anyway, Tara LaRosa came in at 125 pounds, which is pretty light for her. Jay Silva is chilling with the Gold Team Fighters crew - I guess he's one of them now. Sally Krumdiak is pretty small, and up close it's apparent she does indeed have eyebrows (they're just very light).

Extreme Challenge: "Mayhem at the Marina" Lineup

Tomorrow night is Extreme Challenge: "Mayhem at the Marina", which takes place at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City. MMA Journalist will be there liveblogging the action, and the lineup currently looks like this:

• Tara LaRosa (Fight Factory) vs. Sally Krumdiack (Charlie's Combat Club)
• Maciej Linke (Gold Team Fighters) vs. Jeff Lentz (Rhino Fight Team)
• Tim Bradley (Wolf Pack) vs. Steve DeAngelis (Team Pellegrino/Bombsquad)
• Rich Edwards (Gold Team Fighters) vs. Dave Church (Team Pellegrino)
• Matt Kocher (Lionheart MMA) vs. Troy Maxwell (Extreme Performance)
• Jay Silva (Team Rampage) vs. Mike Johnson (Fight Factory)
• Daniel Straus (Vision MMA) vs. Lester Caslow (Team Pellegrino)
• Pat White (Evolution Fight Team) vs. Mervin Rodriguez (Rhino Fight Team)
• Kevin Roddy (Team Pellegrino) vs. Biff Walizer (Lionheart MMA)

Keep an eye out for LaRosa, DeAngelis, Caslow and Roddy.

NJSACB Refuses to Allow Sylvia/Mercer Match-Up; Bout Moved to "Thunderdome"

The proposed match-up between former UFC champ Tim Sylvia and former heavyweight boxing champ Ray Mercer, which was to headline the May 30th Adrenaline event at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, has been denied sanctioning by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. Originally intended to be an MMA bout "with no grappling" then repackaged as a straight boxing match, Sylvia/Mercer stirred up a decent amount of fan interest despite finding no traction with the commission. Consequently, promoter Monte Cox has moved the match-up to June 13th at the "Thunderdome" in the unsanctioned wilds of Bartertown. Said Cox, "Who rules Bartertown? Masterblaster rules Bartertown, so we really don't have to worry about athletic commission approval down there. Also, the rules of the Thunderdome are that 'two men enter, one man leave' - which is perfect for the kind of bout we're going for." Adrenaline is still set for the Taj Mahal at the end of May, with the new tentative headliner a match-up between Jeremy Horn and Dante Rivera.

Tara LaRosa Deserves a Superfight

Mention women's MMA to anyone and they'll immediately think of Gina Carano, then salivate over Carano's inevitable superfight against Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Sadly, though widely considered the best in the world at 135 pounds (Carano fights at 180 pounds), Tara LaRosa's been in the game longer and accomplished more, yet commands only a fraction of the attention. What LaRosa needs is a superfight. Sure, she's headlining this weekend's Extreme Challenge: "Mayhem at the Marina", but it's a foregone conclusion that she'll put Sally Krumdiak away with a submission before time runs out. LaRosa should be facing the best, facing someone who'll make for a "Oh wow!" kind of match-up. That person might actually be located right here in the Northeast. Her name is Vanessa Porto. A Brazilian and member of Gold Team Fighters (which is based in Newark, New Jersey), Porto has wins over Hitomi Akano and Tonya Evinger, and she's got aggressiveness and experience against top-level fighters - two things that could make for a competitive and compelling fight against the Fight Factory femme. Think Carano vs. Cyborg will be exciting? LaRosa vs. Porto could put you into cardiac arrest. This is a superfight worthy of the best 135-pound female fighter in the world.

Team Serra/Longo, version 2.0

Dissect any fight team and lay out the parts and you'll see it's akin to a family, with the trainers as parents and the fighters of varying experience levels the siblings. The Northeast's Team Serra/Longo - helmed by jiu-jitsu magicians Matt and Nick Serra and striking guru Ray Longo - is no exception, and it's not hard to discern that veterans Pete Sell, Luke Cummo and James Gabert are the "older brothers". But who are the younger brothers? MMA Journalist has picked out four notable up-and-comers from this New York-based group. Keep an eye out for them, as they comprise Team Serra/Longo, version 2.0.

1. Constantinos Phillippou, light-heavyweight/middleweight - Take Luke Cummo, shave his head and add a ton more muscle. That's "Costas", who's proven to be a deadly striker and very capable grappler in the 11 or so months he's been fighting. His only loss was a close split decision to Ring of Combat star Ricardo Romero, and at ROC 24 he'll be taking on UFC vet Sean Salmon.
2. Al Iaquinta, lightweight - Solid wrestling mixed with submissions, plus a ton of experience as an undefeated amateur - that's the best way to describe Iaquinta, who made his pro debut at ROC 23 and dominated before nailing the Anaconda choke for the tap out. He's fighting again at ROC 24, in a rematch against Will Martinez (who Iaquinta defeated via decision at an amateur show in Delaware).
3. Chris Weidman, middleweight - He's only fought once, but he looked pretty damn impressive. At ROC 23, Weidman steamrolled over Rubens Lopes, tossing the Brazilian to the ground and submitting him with a kimura in a minute and a half. This Serra/Longo rep will be taking on Mike Stewart at ROC 24.
4. Anthony Abatelli, welterweight - An experienced amateur (although not nearly as experienced as Iaquinta), Abatelli is a wrestler and ground-and-pounder, and in his first pro fight he took out the veteran Garrett Carmody via decision.

Further Proof of Sally Krumdiak's Lack of Eyebrows

Gina Carano Speculates Wildly, Predicts Plagues and Apocalypse

The eagerly-anticipated match-up between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos has yet to be formalized, but erstwhile female MMA superstar Carano recently gave an interview where she speculated wildly about the near future, dropping hints to fans everywhere as to when Carano vs. Cyborg may happen. "And now I saw a pale horse, and its rider's name was 'Death'," said Carano, who went from marquee fighter with EliteXC to contractual limbo with Strikeforce in recent months. "And there followed after him another horse whose rider's name was 'Hell'. They were given control of one-fourth of the earth, to kill with war and famine and disease and wild animals." Carano's last venture into the cage was in October, when she defeated Kelly Kobold by unanimous decision. Rumors have abounded concerning her return. When pressed for an exact date, Carano responded, "Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six." No word yet from Strikeforce to confirm if this is the date of a Showtime event or CBS event. Stay tuned for more.

April 25th UWC to Feature Mike Easton Executing Another Poor Soul

Unless Mike Easton's opponent has fought in the WEC or was invited to DREAM's 135-pound tournament but turned it down because he hates Japan, it's a sure bet that whoever Easton faces at the Ultimate Warrior Challenge will die. Sadly, such is the case with Josh Ferguson, who will be taking on DC's best fighter at the UWC: "Capital Punishment" event at the Patriot Center on April 25th. Who is Ferguson? Well, that doesn't really matter at this point, although his tombstone will probably say something like "Grappler Who Wasn't Ready For Easton's Kind of Badness". Expect "The Hulk" to execute another poor soul at the top of another exciting UWC.