Sunday, June 19, 2011
So, About Friday Night...
Obviously, there was no Ring of Combat liveblog. I ended up having to miss the event because of my three-year-old daughter's first ballet recital. You know, they say that when you have kids they really cramp your style, but come on. Anyway, I haven't missed a Ring of Combat since ROC 1 eight years ago, so cut me some slack.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Epic ROC 36 Card is Epic
Friday night, another Ring of Combat installment, Pete Sell, Al Iaquinta, Sean Santella, about seventeen fights. Woo. There are epic cards – once, Ed Hsu put together an amateur card that had 43 bouts and lasted until 3:00am – and there are epic cards, where there are a ton of fights and just about all of them are worthy of attention. ROC 36 is the latter. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this preview of a select number of the anticipated matchups.
- Pete Sell vs. Elijah Harshbarger – UFC vet Sell returns after two years of sitting on the sidelines cheering on other Team Serra/Longo fighters. Opponent Harshbarger is going to try to out-wrestle and out-jiu-jitsu him. Will he succeed? No!
- Al Iaquinta vs. Gabriel Miglioli – The experienced, undefeated and well-rounded Iaquinta returns as well, though his hiatus was only a year and a half long and was due to his holy mission to spread the word of Christ to the natives of the isolated Pacific island of Wakandu. Miglioli is overmatched here, and will tap to a… wait for it… crucifix.
- Claudio Ledesma vs. Aljamain Sterling – Sterling is one tough cat, but Ledesma is a hard-hitting, aggressive jiu-jitsu hunting dog that will chase him up a tree and bite him if he dares come down.
- Sean Santella vs. Tito Jones – Santella is one the best “little” fighters in the Northeast. Jones is going to die.
- Munah Holland vs. Marissa Caldwell – TSMMA’s Holland debuted strong when she defeated Kim Couture, but Justine Kish put the kibosh on that win streak. Expect her to rebound by battering Caldwell until the bitter end.
- Carlos Eduardo vs. Arsen Tlisov – Funny story about Eduardo. He was a product of Brazil’s local fight circuit, and they’ve never even heard of the Unified Rules down there, so in his first fight in the US (Extreme Challenge 78 in 2007), he soccer kicked Lewis Pascavage in the head like it was nothing. Boy, I’ve never seen Nick Lembo so mad.
- Mervin Rodgriguez vs. Jason McLean – McLean got a gift decision against Kevin Roddy at Strikeforce earlier in the year, but he’ll find no such luck against Rodriguez, who is going to stuff all his takedowns and punish him against the fence.
- Jimbo Hoffman vs. Mike Benoit – HOFFMAN SMASH! GRRR!
- James Jenkins vs. Steve Perez – This is a great match-up. On one side, you have Jenkins, who’s proven to be both a capable striker and able submission’s guy, and on the other you have Perez, who fights like Clay Guida hopped up on meth.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Dana White's Late-Round Flurry
It's late in the final round of the fight to get MMA sanctioned in New York for 2011, and though he's down on the scorecards, Dana White's still got a flurry or two left in him. Check out his op-ed in today's New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/06/13/2011-06-13_ny_stop_fighting_this_sport.html. The odds are still against a victory before time runs out (there are five days left in the current legislative session), but hey, at least homeboy is still fighting.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Liveblog: CFFC 9 Part 4
Vagner Fernandes vs. Drew Puzon. Huzzah. Puzon was a tough dude back when Reality Fighting and Ring of Combat were the only MMA events New Jersey had to offer, so homeboy is definitely seasoned. At first it looks like Puzon might be in trouble, as Fernandes wields some healthy striking to go with his grappling game. But all it takes is one mistake, and Puzon is soon on Fernandes back, judiciously applying the rear naked choke. Fernandes taps at 3:29 of Round 1. And now it's time for Igor Gracie and Quinton McCottrell to do the dance. McCottrell's first mistake is poking Gracie in the eye with his very first punch. His second mistake is letting Gracie get his hands on him. After a brief recovery period, Gracie comes after his foe and ties him in knots - first with an armbar attempt and then with a guillotine. McCottrell taps at 4:01 of Round 1. Time for Cholish and Massouh. Hoo-ha. Round 1 is a lesson in poise, with Massouh roughing Cholish up a bit on the feet and Cholish firing right back with some technical striking. With jiu-jitsu Yoda John Danaher calmly voicing instructions from outside the cage, Cholish finds Massouh's chin with his right hand, then pounces on the stunned fighter and guillotines him at 2:01 of the second round. Cholish is now the CFFC lightweight champ. And that's it.
Liveblog: CFFC 9 Part 3
Roger Zapata and Mike Wade enter the cage. I know nothing about these guys. Hey, cut me some slack. I'm not omnipotent. The opening frame sees a lot of hugging against the cage. Like, a lot. The last minute, though, is some nice back and forth action on the ground, so that's something, right? Wade manages to put Zapata in some hairy positions in Round 2, and though Zapata escapes, it's easy to see who's racking up points. The final round is all about Wade doggedly getting the takedown and Zapata doggedly punching him from the bottom. Wade takes the unanimous decision. Trevor Suter and Steve Perez are up next. Suter is so mean and aggressive, pitbulls keep him as a pet, so this should be a good one. Sweet Jesus, this one is fast-paced. Perez is on Suter like some kind of angry wrestling demon right off the bat, but they battle back and forth in insane fashion. Round 2 has Perez nailing the slam and catching Suter in a rear naked choke at 1:52 of the frame. Very impressive.
Liveblog: CFFC 9 Part 2
I just ran into legendary female fighter Laura D'Auguste. You might remember her from such classic films as "Oh My God She Killed That Girl!" and "I'm The Best Female Fighter In The World So Kiss My Ass". She retired at the top to marry one of the Bittencort BJJ black belts and become a housewife, and she's quite content doing her thang. *Sigh*
First fight of the evening and it's hard-hitter Ariel Sepulveda against Shedrick "Chocolate Thunder" Goodridge. There's a joke somewhere in there re: that nickname, but, uh, I got nothing. Round 1 has Goodridge getting the early advantage on the ground, dominating position and going for subs, but Sepulveda's got a whole arsenal of sweeps and subs of his own, and soon he's got his foe defending. In Round 2 Sepulveda still can't seem to avoid the bottom, but he still manages a huge crowd-pleasing slam and an attempted Peruvian Necktie (!). The final round is pretty much all Sepulveda, as he nearly taps Goodridge with a choke and is dropping bombs at the bell. The split decision goes to Sepulveda. Next up is promising scrapper Artur Rofi against Nihad Rosic. In his last fight, Rofi snapped his opponent's arm then TKO'd him with punches. We'll see if Rosic takes a similar amount of punishment. Um, no, this time an armbar is enough. After a brief struggle on the feet, Rofi gets the takedown, mount, and extends the arm. It's over in two minutes exactly.
First fight of the evening and it's hard-hitter Ariel Sepulveda against Shedrick "Chocolate Thunder" Goodridge. There's a joke somewhere in there re: that nickname, but, uh, I got nothing. Round 1 has Goodridge getting the early advantage on the ground, dominating position and going for subs, but Sepulveda's got a whole arsenal of sweeps and subs of his own, and soon he's got his foe defending. In Round 2 Sepulveda still can't seem to avoid the bottom, but he still manages a huge crowd-pleasing slam and an attempted Peruvian Necktie (!). The final round is pretty much all Sepulveda, as he nearly taps Goodridge with a choke and is dropping bombs at the bell. The split decision goes to Sepulveda. Next up is promising scrapper Artur Rofi against Nihad Rosic. In his last fight, Rofi snapped his opponent's arm then TKO'd him with punches. We'll see if Rosic takes a similar amount of punishment. Um, no, this time an armbar is enough. After a brief struggle on the feet, Rofi gets the takedown, mount, and extends the arm. It's over in two minutes exactly.
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