October 21st, 2007
You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor written on October 21st, 2007.
The electricity was at an all time high inside boardwalk hall last night, as everyone from die hard MMA fans, friends and family of fighters, members of the armed forces, and one UFC lightweight Champion gathered to witness BattleCage Xtreme III on an unusually warm October night. The evening started off at a reasonable pace with the first three bouts going the distance and ending with decisions. However things picked up quickly during the total destruction that was the fourth bout of the evening, between heavy handed George Sullivan (of the well represented Rhino fight team) and Roberto Conscepsion. After that, you couldn’t hear very much during the bouts beyond your own shouts and boos as it seemed most of the fighters had their own personal cheering section, all of which have surely lost their voice by now. Read on for fight recaps to get caught up on the high adrenaline action that took place in Atlantic City last night.
Bout 1. 170 lbs. Mike Madrano (Rhino Fight Team) vs. Nick Callandrino (CNY MMA)
The two clinch right away and eventually Callandrino begins to unleash a solid ground and pound attack. Callandrino nearly sinks a choke in while landing solid shots in but the round ends before damage can be done. In the second round Callandrino scores a HUGE takedown turned into a slam and stays on top but loses position and Medrano catches his back while just missing out on the rear naked choke as the round closes. Third round action was pretty much just Callandrino on top trying to wreak more havoc from inside the guard and the round ends. Unanimous decision for Nick Callandrino. All judges score 29-28.
Bout 2. 155lbs. Ryan McCarthy (Modern Martial Arts) vs. Lester Caslow (Rhino Fight Team)
Lester Caslow definitely wanted to keep this one standing, and with good reason. McCarthy comes out shooting for a takedown but it gets stuffed and he ends up on the bottom, attempting submissions from the guard. They eventually stand back up and Caslow tries for a flying knee strike that misses big. The first round ends with Caslow starting to throw some bombs while stuck in the top guard. The second round saw a nice kick by Caslow which connected BIG on McCarthy’s face, but that was about it. In the third round Caslow escapes a guillotine attempt and forces McCarthy to stand with him. McCarthy, being manhandled in the stand up, takes to the ground again and the round ends with Caslow on top. Unanimous decision 30-27 for Lester Caslow.
Bout 3. 170lbs. Brian Demuro (Team Balance) vs. Damian Vitale (CNY MMA)
Brian Demuro comes out looking angry while singing along to his Eminem entry music.
The fight starts and Damian Vitale scores a takedown and lands on top. Vitale out classes Demuro on the ground and the round ends with Vitale stuck in Demuro’s guard. Vitale scores a big slam early in the second round that sends Demuro to the canvas hard. Vitale begins to work on top but almost gets caught in a hell hook by Demuro, though he escapes and the two stand in the cage as the second round ends. Vitale comes out in the third and totally dominates on the ground, nearly catching Demuro’s back but ultimately losing position. The bell sounds and the crowd knows that Damian Vitale clearly won the fight.
Unanimous decision 30-27 for Damian Vitale.
Bout 4. 165 lbs Roberto Consepcion (Dragon Warrior) vs. George Sullivan (Rhino Fight Team)
What. A. Fight!!! Either George Sullivan is a beast, or Roberto Conscepcion just stepped in the ring after being lost on the boardwalk. Conscepscion definitely looked soft at 5 foot 4, 165lbs. While Sullivan looked lean and clearly had the crowd on his side. The bell sounds and Sullivan throws Conscepscion around the cage like it was nothing, stuffing every one of his shabby takedown attempts. Sullivan wastes no time scoring Roberto’s back and fires away with punches. Roberto eats leather and elbows for about 10 more seconds and the ref finally calls it. Roberto Consepcion didn’t really stand a chance given the massive height and reach advantage of George Sullivan, and I would suggest he drop down a weight class or two in the future. George Sullivan wins via TKO in the first round.
Bout 5. 185lbs. Andrew Rittles (Renzo/Almeida) vs. Brian Wright (Real Martial Arts/Fitness Center)
The crowd rips cheers and just a few boos as Andrew Rittles enters sporting a classic jiu jitsu gi. Rittles looks pretty diesel while his opponent definitely looks softer in the 185lb weight class.
The round starts and Rittles easily scores a takedown and works from the top. Rittles dominates from the top position and gets constant instruction from his coaches outside the cage. The fighters stand and Rittles manages to sink in a guillotine. Wright goes limp in the choke and the ref pulls Rittles off for the victory. Rittles wins via submission in round 1.
Bout 6. 185lbs. Justin Haskins (The Armory) vs. Don Wagner (Team Vicious)
Justin Haskins comes out huge scoring solid punches and a BIG slam. Haskins secures a guillotine but can’t keep it and drops bombs from the top. Haskins reigns in elbows and punches galore and things appear to be over but the bell sounds saving Don Wagner momentarily. Haskins shoots immediately in the second round but gets caught in a guillotine which he soon escapes. Haskins gets the top mount, proceeds to drop severe bombs on Wagner’s face and the ref finally calls it. TKO for Justin Haskins in the second round.
Bout 7. 185 lbs. Aaron Salisberry (Team Balance) vs. Carlos Rodriguez (Steve Kats/Rhino NY)
Aaron Salisberry looks intense at his opponent while sporting a fresh Mohawk.
Salisberry shoots immediately but Rodriguez sprawls nicely and the two clinch. Rodriguez scores big punches from the stand up and lands a nice takedown where he controls Salisberry on the ground until the round ends. Rodriguez comes right out in the second looking to throw and connects with a MASSIVE right hook sending Salisberry to the canvas hard! Rodriguez follows for the ground and pound but Salisberry is clearly out and the ref calls it. K.O for Carlos Rodriguez in the second round!
Bout 8. 140 lbs Blair Tugman (CNY MMA) vs. Jason Frawley (Renzo PA)
Frawley shoots immediately but it gets thwarted and Tugman quickly gets his back. Tugman sinks in a rear naked choke with a couple punches to soften Frawley up, and Frawley eventually taps out. Tugman wins round 1 via submission.
Following the win, Blair Tugman called out current BCX 140lb champ Steve D’Angelis. Steve entered the cage and responded saying Tugmans call out is a “bad decision” for him. We can expect to see this match at the next BCX event in Janruary.
Bout 9. 125lbs. Nick Cattone (Daddis FC) vs. Josh Spearman (Dragon Warrior)
Vacant BCX flyweight Title Bout.
I don’t know if Nick Cattone is single, but he seems absolutely dedicated to the guillotine choke. He must have had it applied in some form at least four or five times during the fight. Cattone came out strong and immediately secured a guillotine which he turned into a top mount position. The two work back to their feet and Cattone lands a nice knee to the face while clinching and throws Spearman hard to the canvas. Another brief clinch and Cattone lands in Spearman’s half guard. Cattone eventually passes guard, gains side control, and rolls spearman quickly to sneak in that guillotine once more, and this time Spearman cannot escape. Josh Spearman taps out and Nick Cattone wins at 4:50 of round 1 via submission to become the new flyweight BCX champion.
Bout 10. 155lbs Nuri Shakir (Team Elite) vs. Jim Miller (AMA Fight team/Renzo Gracie)
USKBA Title Match
Jim Miller manages to get Shakir to the ground after a short clinch and attempts a kimura but Shakir escapes to his feet. Shakir scores from the clinch with a NICE judo throw but Miller recovers and they clinch again. Seconds before the bell Shakir manages to land a nice muy thai knee to the head and the round ends. Shakir lands with a solid right hand to start the second round. The two keep it standing and Miller swings but misses with a couple combinations and they clinch back into the cage fence. After lackluster action in the clinch Shakir scores a big slam and ends up on top in Millers guard. Shakir controls on top and Miller looks for a triangle but misses and the two stand up again. Miller shoots but is thwarted and Shakir controls until the round ends only a few seconds later.
Shakir connects with big right hands early in the third but Miller presses on. After a brief clinch battle against the cage Miller finally scores a takedown and gains a dominant position on top. Miller suddenly gets kicked away into the fence and comes FLYING back across the canvas to apply quite possibly, the fastest rear naked choke I have ever seen. I swear if you looked away for half a second you would have missed this. I think Jim Miller may have just invented the flying rear naked choke. Miller is able to keep the choke on strong and Shakir taps. Jim Miller comes back to win via rear naked choke in the second round.
Note: Nuri Shakir weighed in 13 lbs over the limit and I do not think could have won the title if he had won the bout. Also this was strange: Before the fight the announcer claimed that Jim Miller was the current champ. After Miller won however the announcer claimed he was the NEW champion. In an unrelated note, Miller spoke in the third person about his victory during the post fight cage interview. It sounded funny.
Bout 11: Carlos Moreno current USKBA Champ (Rhino Fight Team) vs Kevin Jordan (Modern Army Combatives)
For the Vacant BCX Heavyweight Title, USKBA Title.
Well they certainly saved the best for last. The crowd went crazy as Carlos Moreno entered the cage with a huge entourage along with a black and white American flag. Moreno is clearly the fan favorite, though Kevin Jordan is a fairly accomplished UFC veteran. This fight started strong and almost ended with a fan riot. You’ve got read it to believe it.
Moreno starts things off with leg kicks and nice body shots. Moreno lands a strong right hook and Jordan lands a solid kick to the mid section. Carlos lands a nice left hook. No one attempts for a takedown and both fighters appear to want to keep things standing up. Despite the disadvantage of being shorter, Moreno does a good job of keeping Jordan at bay thanks to his difficult-to-counter, south paw style. The round ends with both fighters circling.
In round two Kevin Jordan comes out attempting a high kick but it has nothing on it. Moreno lands solid body shots and continues to score right hands to the head and body of Jordan. Jordan throws a strong leg kick that hits Moreno in the groin and the match is paused. Moreno recovers and rocks Jordan with a HUGE right hand and the crowd goes wild jumping over the cage area barriers to get a better view. Moreno follows for the ground and pound and the two continue fighting even after the bell sounds. The bell rings three more times and the ref finally breaks them up while the whole crowd is on their feet cheering on Carlos Moreno.
Round three starts and Moreno lands nice uniform jabs to the face. Jordan scores with a nasty inside leg kick and the two clinch up. Jordan gains momentum and lands with a devastating knee that sends Moreno to the ground. Jordan catches Moreno’s back and unleashes a reign of punches that appear to have no end in sight. Before the ref can even call the fight, a woman reported to be Moreno’s mother attempted to enter the cage to stop the match and the fans went crazy. A mini riot ensues and security manages to calm the woman down as the match is finally stopped giving Kevin Jordan the upset victory via TKO in the third round. The crowd boos as Jordan’s name is announced as the new Battle Cage Extreme Heavyweight Champion. What a night.
This BCX III recap is special contribution to 5 Oz of Pain by Eric Shapiro
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Battle Cage Xtreme and MMA.
The “biggest” news to come out of UFC 77: “Hostile Territory” is the acquisition of heavyweight Brock Lesnar, a four-time Minnesota Golden Gophers All American wrestler and NCAA champion.
He’s also a former professional wrestler and NFL dropout with the Minnesota Vikings.
At 6′2″ tall, Lesnar is a huge ball of muscle, weighing in the neighborhood of 285-295 pounds. He’ll have some work to do prior to his Octagon debut to come in under the 265-pound division limit.
No date or opponent has been named at this time. However, UFC.com mentions that we will see him soon.
Here’s a snip from UFC president Dana White on the recent signing:
“I don’t think there are any other pro wrestlers that can make the transition to MMA, except for Brock Lesnar. And if you look at his amateur wrestling credentials, his size, and what he’s done, this guy can end up being a force in the heavyweight division of the UFC.”
Lesnar has been training mixed martial arts for about two years. And he has one professional win to his credit — a first round pummeling of Min Soo Kim at a K-1 Hero’s event this past June.
He hasn’t been tested up until this point of his career. However, he’s a mountain of a man with impeccable wrestling credentials.
It should be very interesting to see if he can develop into a heavyweight contender.
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Brock Lesnar and UFC 77 and UFC Heavyweight Division and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
On FoxSports.com, Alex Marvez has a UFC 77 recap available that reveals several interesting news items. I wanted to take a few minutes to go over some of the news items that Marvez is reporting and give my thoughts on each one using the same format that a lot of fantasy sports websites use.
News: Rich Franklin suffered a broken nose during last night’s loss to Anderson Silva and is believed to be considering retirement.
Views: This isn’t too hard to believe. Franklin’s path to the title is road blocked as long as Silva is wearing the belt. However, I think Franklin is too young to retire. I have no idea about his personal wealth but if there’s still good money to be made in fighting, why would you completely walk away?
Franklin has taken extended breaks from MMA in the past due to injuries and I think another extended break appears likely. He should take a step back and wait for the landscape in the middleweight division to change before making his next comeback.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article on Sam’s blog on ProElite.com
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 77 and UFC and MMA.
Thanks to “Elvis” from the Underground forum for posting this sick shot:
Click for more UFC 77 goodness on 5 Oz of Pain.
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Kalib Starnes and UFC 77 and MMA.
As promised, here are my post-show thoughts of UFC 77.
Overall Grade: B
Match of the Night: Silva vs. Franklin (I didn’t see Matt Grice vs. Jason Black but they got the $40,000 bonus for match of the night from the UFC)
Knockout of the Night: Anderson Silva
Submission of the night: Demian Maia
Match-by-match thoughts…
Anderson Silva TKOs (strikes) Rich Franklin at 1:07 of round 2
Franklin looked so much better this time against Silva then he did last time. He defended the clinch well (well, better than he did in the first match) and even took the fight to the ground at one point. You can tell Rich took the match serious and worked his ass off. He also showed a tremendous chin because he took some sick shots in the first round and was able to recover.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article on Sam’s blog at ProElite.com
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Rich Franklin and UFC 77 and Brandon Vera and Tim Sylvia and UFC and Anderson Silva and MMA.
“What happened?”
That’s what Rich Franklin mouthed to his corner right after his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “Ace’s” appearance in the UFC 77: “Hostile Territory” main event against 185-pound champion Anderson Silva in his hometown of Cincinnati clearly didn’t go his way … again.
“The Spider” dismantled the former champion for the second time in 12 months. From spinning back fists and kicks to bone-crushing knees, Silva wrecked Franklin with an awesome and lethal combination of strikes to earn a second round technical knockout win.
It almost didn’t get that far, however. Silva floored Franklin in the waning seconds of round one with a right hook. Franklin needed to be peeled of the canvas and escorted back to his corner with the help of his cornermen.
The Brazilian smelled the blood in the water and immediately went in for the kill to begin the second stanza. Franklin had no answers for Silva’s clinch once again — he ate knees and elbows until he mercifully went down for the second and final time of the night.
With yet another convincing win over a tough opponent Silva has made a statement that he is perhaps the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artist on the planet. Right now, there is not anyone (on paper) in that division who can stop him.
He’s one “scary” dude. And the thing that’s bizarre in all of this is that his body language after the bout was as if he felt bad about beating up Franklin. So I guess he’s a scary “classy” dude, too.
No idea where Franklin goes from here. He’s exhausted most of his options in terms of fighting top-level talent in the division. And even if he goes on a crazy win streak in the next year or so, is anyone interested in Silva-Franklin III?
Franklin probably isn’t.
In the co-main event, Tim Sylvia used his size and experience to overwhelm and frustrate Brandon Vera en route to three-round unanimous decision win.
It wasn’t a great action-packed fight, but it did have its moments.
After a year-long layoff Vera looked a little stiff entering the Octagon and never seemed to get comfortable. Sylvia stalked “The Truth” for much of the fight and kept a close distance, preventing Vera from unleashing his powerful kicks and Muay Thai skills.
This fight was spent mostly pressed up against the cage. And when it went to the center of the cage Sylvia seemed to be the busier and more accurate striker.
“The Maine-iac” did what he had to do to get the win. He seems like his old self again even if he didn’t stop Vera with a highlight-reel knockout. In fact, that might be a testament to Vera’s ability and not to Tim’s recent inability to finish opponents.
In the post-fight interviews, Sylvia called out Cheick Kongo. It was bizarre because Yahoo!Sports.com reported that the winner of the match up would face Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the vacant heavyweight title sometime in early 2008.
Perhaps that is no longer in the cards or Sylvia just didn’t get the memo. Time will tell.
Vera plans to remain in the heavyweight division despite being at a major size disadvantage. He’s confident that he can hold both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles simultaneously one day.
Maybe he’s right. But Vera should work his way from the bottom up if he wants to find out. He broke his left hand during the fight, which more than likely played a factor in the Sylvia fight. There’s no telling how long it will take him to recover, and when he is healed, who he will fight next.
In the swing bout, Alvin Robinson weathered a first-round Jorge Gurgel blitze and beat down the former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 2 contestant for the next 10 minutes.
Gurgel was reduced to a bloody pulp after Robinson dropped about 741 head bouncers on him during rounds two and three. It was brutal ground and pound.
Robinson looked good — Gurgel is a tough guy who has a lot of heart. But I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again: he’s not UFC caliber. His only win inside the Octagon was against Danny Abbadi.
Not to kick a man when he’s down, but Gurgel has had more chances than most to succeed in the UFC and he has never really delivered. He belongs in the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization at 145 pounds.
That seems like a much better fit for his size and skill set.
In other main card action, Alan Belcher took out Kalib Starnes in the second round because of a grizzly cut on the Canadian’s forehead.
It was kind of like Marvin Eastman’s battle cut, but of course, not that bad. Apparently the cut was so deep that the doctor could see his skull.
Ouch.
Regardless, Starnes was furious with the decision to stop the fight, which was pretty good up until that point.
“The Talent” always looks to mix it up and he didn’t disappoint at the U.S. Bank Arena last night. He looked to be in great shape, picking up his first win at 185-pounds in the UFC.
The light heavyweight bout between Stephan Bonnar and Eric Schafer rounded out the televised portion of the pay-per-view (PPV) event.
It was a match up between two former training partners and still good friends.
“Red” never really had a shot in this one. “The American Psycho” was the dominant and more aggressive fighter from the outset.
Bonnar survived an early submission attempt in the first round and went on to score a technical knockout win late in the second.
He looked good. Maybe he should now fight Alan Belcher.
That’s all for the UFC 77 main card round-up. For all results check out our LIVE blow-by-blow blogging last night with UFCmania reader DrubySunshine.
Apologies this recap didn’t come out sooner. Real life got in the way last night and I didn’t watch the fights until about 2 a.m. this morning.
It was a decent card all around that perhaps left more questions than answers. As usual, however, things will all work out eventually.
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 77 and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
I promise I will have my post-UFC 77 thoughts later today. I’m running behind because I attended to IFL draft tryouts in New York on Saturday. It was a full day of MMA for me between the IFL and UFC 77, but I had a blast.
I was xocering the draft cover for CBSSports.com and I will post my professional, third-person feature-style article for CBS later this week, In the meantime I wanted to post my free-form, first-person account here.
As a point of clarification, while the IFL is labeling their three-city tryouts as the “IFL Draft,” I would say that scouting combine would be a more apt description. My understanding is that fighters will be evaluated during the tryouts and then when the tryouts are over and the IFL has verified that these guys aren’t contracted to other promotions, the teams will then be able to choose who they want to join their team.
Overall, I had a lot of fun at this event. It was really great and it is definitely something that should be opened up to the public next year whether it be in a bigger venue or building a webcast around the event.
The tryout process was about as fair as it can be given the circumstances (i.e. a lot of fighters and little time). The fighters were broken down into groups of four and then went through the opening round that consisted of 1:30 of takedowns, a 1:30 of rolling/submission grappling with no closed guard, and 1:30 of standup sparring. Sometimes there were additional rounds if the coaches wanted to see some of the matchups changed. The fighters were told up front not to feel each other out and to get down to business. Most heeded the advice but some did not. Some of the fighters got quick hooks if they were warned to pick up the pace and then didn’t.
CLICK HERE to read the remainder of this article on Sam’s ProElite.com blog.
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on James "Binky" Jones and Levon Maynard and Torrance Taylor and Jim Bova and Matthew Brown and IFL and Matt Lee and Kurt Otto and MMA.
This is my review of how I remember the fight:
This was the main event of UFC 77, and Rich came out looking more confident than he did in the first fight, looked like he was ready to stand with Silva, then Silva almost immediately went for the Thai clinch and it went like this: knees, knees, knee, kick, shin to ribs, knee to ribs, double knees, punches to face, Rich Franklin breaks free and is ready to slug it out some more… Another clinch, Rich Franklin gets a takedown!!!1! They’re back on their feet, Anderson Silva delivers more knees and punches, Rich is knocked out but saved by the bell at end of round 1, he is helped to walk to his corner.
Round 2 starts and goes like this: Anderson Silva lands knees, double knees, kicks to body, knees, knee to face, knee to ribs, punches in face, more knees, and Rich Franklin is asleep unconcious. Anderson Silva by KO again.
Written by admin on October 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva and UFC and MMA.