Saturday, August 7, 2010
Liveblog: M-1 Global Part 3
Time for the welterweights, and it's Colin Schrader of the Bombsquad against Len Bentley of Victor Athletics. Uh oh, Bentley's nickname is the "Liger", which is a cross between a lion and a tiger. Does he not know that those kinds of big cats are usually mentally retarded? Round 1 has Schrader working his jiu-jitsu magic, going for subs off of some sweet transitions. Bentley dodges all of it, though, and keeps putting his fist in the New Yorker's face - a fact that makes this one nice and competitive. Round 2 is all Liger, as Schrader engages in a slugfest with the stronger man and takes one square on the chin at 1:45 in. Good win for Bentley, and Schrader is carried out on a stretcher as a precaution. Next, the light-heavyweights, with Chris Syndor of Team Hustle and Daniel Vizcaya of Power Martial Arts. Syndor's nickname is "the Finisher". Not because he finishes people, but because blah blah blah something about Finland. Shades of Lesnar/Carwin in this one, as Vizcaya survives a hard punch to the chops to get the takedown, jump to side-control and sink the head-arm choke. Now it's time for Shane Primm and Mike Geurin to get it on, which should be a real treat as it pits a tough TUFer against a real mean (and skilled) bastard who can wrestle and box. After a brief feeling out period, these two really start trading leather, and Geurin starts getting the better of it and wobbling Primm hard. The round ends with Geurin dropping bombs. Round 2 is more of the same, and two things become apparent: Primm has on heck of a chin, and Geurin simply does not know how to not have a war. Bloodied but still in the driver's seat, Geurin switches to takedown-mode in the final round, easily taking the unanimous decision, 30-27.
Liveblog: M-1 Global Part 2
First bout and it's Byron Byrd of American Top Team vs. Sammy Collingwood of Capitao MMA in a light-heavyweight match-up. Both guys are from Florida, so consider this a contest for Disney World bragging rights. Who will come away with the coveted mouse ears? Well, as Collingwood seems to have an aversion to head-movement, it's Byrd, who needs only 40 seconds to use Collingwood's grill as a speedbag and TKO the hell out of him. Collingwood takes a long time to come to his senses. Next up is Josh Thorpe of Port City MMA against Jose Figueroa of ATT in a lightweight bout. Figueroa's got Din Thomas in his corner, so expect him to at least be well-rounded. Round 1 sees things moving at a somewhat slow pace, with both men mixing methodical striking and grappling with brief explosions of violence. The advantage goes to Figueroa, whose lanky build and Muay Thai skills force Thorpe to have to play his game. But Thorpe gets some licks in by way of fistic lovin', and Round 2 ends with him tossing Figueroa to the canvas and glaring at him. Round 3 has Figueroa getting Thorpe down and pounding on him from above, and though Thorpe eventually escapes back to his feet, the ensuing hug-a-thon means all the points go to the ATT rep. Figueroa takes the unanimous decision. Josh Bacallao of Champions MMA vs. George Sheppard of MMA Institute (not an accredited university) are in the ring ready to do their lightweight thing. Although clearly a concise and technical fighter, Bacallao seems to have trouble overcoming Sheppard's strength and right hand, and by the end of the first Bacallao's forehead is pretty marked up. Round 2 has Bacallao out-working his foe, but still Sheppard's heat-seeking missiles find their target. But all his hard work finally pays of in the third, as Bacallao gets a takedown and scores points from top position, and then ends up stalking Sheppard when it's back on the feet. Is it enough? Nope. Sheppard takes the split decision.
Liveblog: M-1 Global
MMA Journalist is here at Bally's in Atlantic City for M-1 Global's "Selection" show, which brings together some of the Northeast's toughest fighters and pairs them up against a whole ton of dudes I know nothing about. But hey, Fedor is supposed to be here somewhere, and there's ten bouts scheduled with Tom Gallicchio and Aaron Meisner rocking the main event, so yeah, it should be lovely.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Predictions for UFC 117: "Ultimate Big Mouth Strikes Again"
There are compelling match-ups based on the competitiveness of the fighters, and there are compelling match-ups based on the verbal diarrhea those fighters have spewed. With the insanity that’s come out of his mouth leading up to this Saturday UFC 117, Chael Sonnen’s impending scrap with middleweight champ Anderson Silva is clearly compelling of the “diarrhea” variety – and I mean that in the best possible way. Because let’s face it, aside from his destruction of Forrest Griffin a year ago, Silva’s been phoning it in since he and Patrick Cote did the man-dance back in 2008. Sonnen, in the meantime, defeated Dan Miller then smoked Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt, all the while running his yap and transforming himself into one of the most interesting guys out there. And who would you rather have as champ? A stoic non-speaking Brazilian who looks like he’d rather be at the disco than in the cage or a quote-factory with no compunctions about getting his hands dirty and throwing down? Anyhoo, predictions.
- Roy Nelson has thus far had it pretty easy in the Octagon, which is the same treatment all TUF winners get when they get put into the regular rotation. But despite the fact that opponent Junior dos Santos is a step up in competition, Nelson still wields his secret weapon: the Mullet of Doom. Expect dos Santos to lose via TKO due to luxurious locks of unrepentant Southern redneck-ness, because two million NASCAR fans can’t be wrong.
- Matt Hughes sports a mullet in his old high school pics. Ricardo Almeida does not, but if you go to his grade school yearbook, you can clearly see a youngster with a well-coifed bouffant that pays homage to Elvis Presley. Almeida via rear naked choke.
- Clay Guida wins anything to do with hair, hands down. Rafael dos Santos is losing via TKO.
- Thiago Alves seems to be incapable of growing hair on his head. When Jon Fitch wakes up every morning, coach Dave Camarillo has to talk him down from the Jheri Curl ledge. Fitch via decision.
- Silva has no hair. Sonnen does. That, plus his big mouth, means he’s coming away with the belt.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
M-1 Global Event on Saturday: Why You Should Care
M-1 Global is holding the latest installment of their "Selections" tournament in Atlantic City this Saturday, and though there are no "marquee" names on the card, there's still a very good reason why you should care: Tom Gallicchio vs. Aaron Meisner. For those just emerging from a coma or those released from a decade of solitary confinement in a state penitentiary, Gallicchio has long been one of the Northeast's top welterweights. Somehow a jump to the national stage has eluded him, but he's a banger with a devastating ground-and-pound and hard-to-resist rear naked choke, and always seems one "big name" win away from a Strikeforce Challengers bout on Showtime. On the other side of the match-up is Meisner, who at one time was one of the hottest prospects coming out of Philly. Sporting deadly Muay Thai clinch-work and knees, Meisner was a middleweight badass who ran into a brick wall when he tried to fight his way into the TUF House for Season 7, and after that he was out-struck by Costa Phillippou at ROC 23. However, he's since cut down to 170 and has been smoking dudes, and where Gallicchio is an ace grappler who can throw a punch, Meisner is an ace striker who can dodge a submission. That alone makes for one intriguing pairing. Check out M-1 Global's upcoming show for Mike Guerin's impending war with TUF vet Shane Primm or Gold Team Fighter's star Plinio Cruz's face-punching part with Tyson Jeffries, but at the end of the day it's all about Gallicchio and Meisner throwing down, and you can expect some livebloggery from MMA Journalist (and live Tweets for all you Twitter degenerates) on the event.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
TUF 12 Contestants of Relevance
Three things in life are inevitable: death, taxes and the Ultimate Fighter. That last one is soon approaching, and with it comes all the usual promises of in-the-cage battles and in-house wall- and furniture destruction. By now, we all know the formula the SpikeTV execs like to adhere to – the Pride veteran/IFL champ/dude-with-800-fights ringer plus the total scrub with one amateur fight plus the thug/clown/autistic person plus everyone in between – so really, the only fresh components are the names. Well, SpikeTV has just released the names of TUF 12’s contestants, and for those who follow the Northeast MMA scene, three of them should ring a bell. They are…
- Andy Main – A 145 pounder from AMA Fight Club, Main has long been a promising young stud with heavy hands and a concise submission skills. He rocked out in New Jersey’s amateur leagues before going pro, and his most notable scrap was when he went toe to toe against Fight Factory boxing trainer Ricky Lee and, after getting dazed, KO’d Lee late in the first. The only knock against Main going into TUF 12 is he’s a featherweight who will be going up against bigger dudes.
- Jeff Lentz – Another hard striker and capable jiu-jitsu guy, Lentz went 8-1 as an amateur before going pro, and then crushed six opponents before Anthony Morrison handed him his first pro loss (the two were fighting for the ROC 145-pound title, and afterwards Morrison went on to the WEC). He trains with the boys down at Kurt Pellegrino’s school, so count on three things from Lentz: he can kick ass, he can kick ass, and he can kick ass.
- Marc Stevens – As a tough wrestler with solid submissions and a ton of heart, Stevens won ROC’s Tournament of Champions at middleweight (!) back in 2007. He’s since redefined himself by cutting a ton of a weight and fighting two weight classes down – a fact that should give him a size and strength advantage over the rest of the TUF 12 lightweights.
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