Former six-time WWE champion and star standout Dave Bautista made his professional mixed martial arts debut in the headliner of this evening’s Classic Entertainment and Sports 12 event.Vince Lucero, a grizzled veteran of more than 40 fights, took…
Former six-time WWE champion and star standout Dave Bautista made his professional mixed martial arts debut in the headliner of this evening’s Classic Entertainment and Sports 12 event.
Vince Lucero, a grizzled veteran of more than 40 fights, took to the cage to welcome the former bodybuilder to the world of “real fighting.”
The bouts early goings saw Lucero land plenty of unanswered and undefended punches to the head of Bautista, who looked to be battling a severe case of nerves. With over three minutes having ticked away from the clock, Bautista finally seemed to shake the butterflies and secured a solid double-leg takedown.
The conclusion of the bout felt imminent. Bautista controlled Lucero on the mat, took his back, nearly mounted and ended up unleashing a barrage of strikes to the sides of Lucero’s head. Vince, who picked up two victories earlier this year, had no answer as he clamored to simply avoid the strikes of Bautista.
A brief melee ensued in the wake of referee Dan Miragliotta’s intervention, although no serious extracurricular insanity unfolded beyond a few verbal insults hurled from both sides of the cage. Ultimately the two put whatever fueled the conflict to rest, as Lucero congratulated a smiling Bautista moments later.
Thank the higher powers that be we were able to avoid a WWE–esque spectacle.
Dave Bautista now sports a 1-0 record as a professional mixed martial artist. While his debut was a bit stiff, and he took some punishment, the former professional wrestler proved capable of maintaining composure and adapting in actual combat.
What’s next for the 43-year-old star (you can spot Bautista in the upcoming action flick, The Man with the Iron Fists) remains to be seen, although if we learned anything from tonight’s performance, it’s that Bautista dodged a bullet in avoiding signing with a major promotion.
Victorious or not, this is one former wrestler who doesn’t look to be quite prepared for the leap to the big leagues yet.
Siding with the judges who scored Friday night’s co-main event that saw Jake Ellenberger earn a decision victory in rematch with the first man to defeat him in professional competition, Jay Hieron, isn’t an unfathomable idea or ludicrous st…
Siding with the judges who scored Friday night’s co-main event that saw Jake Ellenberger earn a decision victory in rematch with the first man to defeat him in professional competition, Jay Hieron, isn’t an unfathomable idea or ludicrous stance.
That said, it’s not exactly outlandish to reach the conclusion that Jay Hieron did more than enough work to take a decision himself.
An incredibly close fight, the vast majority of the bout took place from a vertical position, as both men looked to gain the upper hand in an extremely closely contested technical kickboxing match.
Hieron managed to keep Ellenberger just outside of the pocket and in comfortable range to land his jab and prevent “The Juggernaut” from closing the distance (sans a few brief scares), and he utilized a varied attack that seemed to leave his foe befuddled for stretches.
When Ellenberger did force his way into the pocket, he did a solid job of making Hieron pay the price. He staggered “The Thoroughbred” on a couple occasions, and managed to score a flash knockdown in the fading minutes of the final round.
Incorporate a pair of takedowns (one of which proved virtually irrelevant as Hieron spent no time on his back and was up and mobile in moments, one of which yielded some nice punishment from Ellenberger that left Hieron a bloody mess) and it seemed apparent that Jake was the far more imposing specimen physically.
I simply refuse to believe Hieron matched Ellenberger’s pure strength.
That said, I saw a fight that the judges didn’t see. I saw Hieron working constantly, exhibiting a deeper pool of tools with which to dive into, and ultimately earning more points than the perennial contender, Ellenberger.
These eyes (which I consider pretty unbiased) viewed this fight without any preconceived notions or bias affixed: the truth is, I’m a pretty neutral guy in my view of both men. These are two tough guys who’ve been around forever and fought a wealth of tough opponents.
Prior to this bout, I wasn’t leaping to brand anyone a sure-fire winner, and I sat perched atop a fence of complete indecision.
I saw Jay Hieron earn a decision (29-28) nod over Jake Ellenberger. According to Fightmatrix.com, my opinion isn’t mind numbingly absurd: HieronoutlandedEllenberger by a tally of 43 to 27 total strikes, 32 to 25 in terms of significant shots landed.
Was Hieron the more aesthetically pleasing of the two to watch? No, I wouldn’t say he was. I would however say he was the busier of the two who did just enough to win. To be swept on the scorecards is stretching reality, just a hair, but that’s on the judges, not me.
Ultimately, the bout was too close to make a serious fuss over. I’m not angered in any way by the fact that Ellenberger was awarded the decision, he’s a game guy who always shows up to hurl leather, and he’s the owner of the kind of power that your “average” fighter would kill to possess.
He’s the kind of guy you really want to see fight. He’s just not the guy who should have won this bout.
When it comes to combat sports, fans tend to naturally gravitate towards larger men. I suppose the rationale is that bigger men produce more devastating finishes.And, to a certain extent I would say that’s probably true; I think it’s more l…
When it comes to combat sports, fans tend to naturally gravitate towards larger men. I suppose the rationale is that bigger men produce more devastating finishes.
And, to a certain extent I would say that’s probably true; I think it’s more likely that Junior dos Santos completely levels an opponent than Demetrious Johnson scoring a brutal one-punch knockout. But that’s not to say that smaller men, especially flyweights, are incapable of finishing fights.
When you examine the upper echelon of the 125-pound division, you’ll see plenty of strong finishers, despite what detractors will lead you to believe. In fact, I may as well touch down on Johnson’s career while he’s fresh in the mind.
“Mighty Mouse”, the UFC’s current flyweight titleholder has yet to finish an opponent within the UFC’s octagon, but he’s proven time and again that he’s not only capable of finishing, he’s capable of finishing in various different fashions.
The man has 19 fights on his ledger, and he’s walked away victorious via submission or strikes on nine occasions. I’m no master mathematician, but I’m fairly certain that’s a near-50 percent finish ratio, which isn’t all too shabby.
Ian McCall, who just tangled with Johnson on two consecutive occasions, boasts seven finishes in 15 fights. He’s a proven powerful striker at 125, and he’s stopped a few durable fighters, including the tough as nails Coty Wheeler.
Even excluding fights in which McCall finished, he’s battered some truly respectable talent: Jussierda Silva, Dustin Ortiz and Darrell Montague—three very respectable fighters—have all come up short when tangling with the aggressive “Uncle Creepy”. This guy puts on stellar shows, and he deserves a wealth of respect. There’s no boredom when Ian takes to the cage.
YasuhiroUrushitani is a bona fide Shooto star, and he’s easily one of the most experienced competitors campaigning at 125 pounds today. Unlike many others I’ll be mentioning, who’ve recently made the transition from bantamweight to flyweight, he’s been flirting with the 125-pound division for quite some time. He’s accomplished quite a bit as well.
Yasuhiro admittedly lacks some killer instinct, as he’s picked up only five stoppages in his 19 wins, but he’s a workhorse who shows up to give opposition hell. The man owns a hard fought victory over MamoruYamaguchi as well as a unanimous decision nod over Daniel Lima, and those are respectable feats.
What’s truly insane is, even after mentioning so much talent within the division, I haven’t even tackled the topic of Joseph Benavidez, who may very well be the most impressive competitor tipping the scales at 125 pounds not holding a title belt.
Those who follow mixed martial arts faithfully know that Benavidez has spent the majority of his career brutalizing bantamweights. Joey B, as I like to call him, has only recently dropped in weight class, but he appears to be a solid performer at flyweight.
The man is a human wrecking ball, and he’s turned some absolutely amazing fighters into helpless victims. Eddie Wineland, Wagnney Fabiano, Danny Martinez, Jeff Curran, Miguel Torres and Rani Yahya were all toppled by the Team Alpha Male standout, and that is—by a sizable margin—the most impressive résumé I can point to in this article.
The man is as relentless as it comes, and not only does he bring a potent wrestling pedigree to the cage, he’s a refined, powerful striker as well. Of his sixteen victories he’s allowed the fight to fall in the judges’ hands just four times. The killer instinct is strong in this one!
I’d be a full-on fool to omit Jussierda Silva, who makes his promotional debut this evening, from this discussion. This monster has only tasted defeat once in his career: that loss coming at the hands of the aforementioned Ian McCall, who is clearly a top-five ranked flyweight, if not top three.
Da Silva’s racked up 15 wins in his seven years of professional competition, and he’s submitted six foes along the way. Wins over Rodrigo Favacho dos Santos, MamoruYamaguchi and Danny Martinez (who himself has picked up twelve finishes in sixteen victories; don’t tell me that’s not a finisher) anchor his blossoming ledger, and those are certainly impressive victories.
This is a man who might prove to make some major waves in the division, if he can get by John Dodson, another superb athlete who’s finished in seven of eighteen fights, tonight.
The point I’m out to make is that small fighters are just about as dangerous as large ones, when paired on a level playing field, and they deserve serious respect for their efforts. These men are fast, agile and dangerous wherever the fight may take place. Fans’ tendency to label the division a “boring” one is just inaccurate on many, many levels.
With the UFC finally providing the division a large scale kick-start, we’ll be seeing a lot of extremely talented men meet in fistic fashion, and while we may have been forced to endure a few drawn out decisions as of late, I guarantee we’ll play witness to some explosive action in the future.
Small or not, these guys are the real deal, and they deserve every bit of respect that is typically extended to the larger fighters. I say, give the division some more time to expand, and wait patiently for what promises to be fireworks.
Come November 19, MMA fans in Northern California will be treated to a fantastic welterweight scrap when Martin Kampmann and Rick Story collide in San Jose at UFC 139.The bout, which has already been verbally agreed upon by both men, will go a long way…
Come November 19, MMA fans in Northern California will be treated to a fantastic welterweight scrap when Martin Kampmann and Rick Story collide in San Jose at UFC 139.
The bout, which has already been verbally agreed upon by both men, will go a long way in determining another decisive top 170-pound contender.
Considering the recent hurdles that both men have faced as of late, this is a fight that should produce some serious fireworks.
After rattling off six consecutive wins in the division, Rick Story appeared primed for a title shot; then he ran into unheralded prospect Charlie Brenneman, who soundly outworked “Horror” over the course of three rounds.
The loss put serious question marks into the minds of many as to where Story truly belongs in the division.
On the other hand, Martin Kampmann has dropped two consecutive bouts to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez respectively, but both were hotly contested bouts that ended in controversial decision losses for the Dane. One could easily argue that Kampmann hasn’t legitimately lost a bout since his collision with Paul Daley in 2009.
The victor here makes a major statement and puts himself right back in the title hunt.
Former six-time WWE champion and star standout Dave Bautista made his professional mixed martial arts debut in the headliner of this evening’s Classic Entertainment and Sports 12 event.