Friday, June 11, 2010
Liveblog: ROC 30 Part 5
Probably the most important bout of the night (in the grand scheme of things) is about to begin, with Pellegrino MMA bantamweight Steve DeAngelis squaring off against TSMMA's Nick Pace. This one's for the belt, and the winner should be considered the best 135-pounder in the Northeast. The opening has DeAngelis shucking Pace's head down and working towards a D'Arce. But the TSMMA rep escapes and gets DeAngelis down, and after a scramble slips on a tight D'Arce of his own. The tap out comes at 3:03 of Round 1, and Pace is now a ROC champ. That's a big win over a quality opponent. Next up is Marcello Guidici of Team Renzo vs. Edson Barboza of the Armory - two Brazilians - for the ROC lightweight crown. As expected, this one is ugly as all hell, as Barboza's vastly superior Muay Thai enables him to chop out Guidici's knee with a low-kick and force Guidici to verbally submit at 3:03 of Round 1 (think: Pedro Rizzo vs. Dan Severn).
Liveblog: ROC 30 Part 4
Adolfo Sanchez of the Rhino Fight Team and BJJ Shore Academy's Ryan Vaccaro enter the cage for a lightweight pairing. Round 1 is all methodically grappling-game - Vaccaro on top after a successful takedown and Sanchez doing his best to neutralize his opponent's offense while whispering demoralizing phrases like "Your tattoos are ugly" and "You call that a haircut?" Other than Vaccaro gaining mount, Round 2 is exactly the same, and after Round 3 plays out in identical fashion, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Vaccaro has garnered the unanimous decision. Tong Dragon's Liam Kerrigan, who made a pretty successful transition from the amateurs to the pros, steps up to face his toughest test yet: Armory lightweight powerhouse Ed Guedes. Oh lordy, Round 1 is almost a carbon-copy of what Vaccaro did to Sanchez, although Guedes does manage to attempt a D'Arce in the waning seconds of the frame. Guedes is infinitely more effective with his ground and pound in Round 2, raining down fists until Kerrigan gives up his back, and continuing with the storm until ref Dan Miragliotta steps in. The official time of the TKO is 2:41 of the second round.
Liveblog: ROC 30 Part 3
It's main card time, and opening the festivities is a lightweight match-up between James Jenkins of Jamie Varner's Combat Academy and Mike Prokop (aka, "Porkchop") of the Rhino Fight Team. As Jenkins is a devout Muslim, and a porkshop is made of pork, this has all the makings of a hotly-contested battle. (Editor's note: Jenkins isn't really Muslim. Come on, people, get with it. This blog is at most 30 percent serious.) And... a battle it most certainly is, with both men slugging out it with reckless abandon. For about three minutes and forty-four seconds Porkchop is getting the better of the exchanges, blasting Jenkins repeatedly and even stunning him at one point. But at 3:45 of Round 1 Jenkins clips Porkchop right on the chin and that's all she wrote. Next: Team Zocchi's Ariel Sepulveda against TSMMA middleweight Carlos Brooks. Brooks is coming off a loss via flawless jiu-jitsu onslaught (which occurred at UCC 2 last month), but it's doubtful this is going to be anything other than a striking festival. Sepulveda starts off strong, muscling Brooks around and landing hard strikes, yet as time wears on the TSMMA rep finds his groove and begins eating away at Sepulveda with a never-ending barrage of short punches. Half of Round 2 is spent with the Team Zocchi fighter pressing Brooks against the cage, with time ticking down to Sepulveda throwing spinning backfists and Brooks straight boxing him. The momentum belongs to Brooks in the final round, with his punches finding their mark more often than not and Sepulveda doing the funky chicken but refusing to give up. It's a close one, as evidenced by the majority decision handed down to Brooks. Good fight and a real crowd-pleaser.
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