(Thompson vs. Lashley. Come for the nut shots, stay for Phil Baroni‘s childlike enthusiasm behind the mic. All praises be to IronForgesIron for the vids.)
You know, maybe it’s due to the fact that our expectations were so low, but other than a few hiccups along the way (one of which involved the most ridiculously over-the-top celebrations you will ever see), Super Fight League’s third event was actually a mildly entertaining affair. Who would’ve thought such a thing would be possible without the graceful presence of Bob Sapp? Although SFL’s production team still needs to get their shit together and stop cutting to random angles from halfway across the stadium, SFL 3 featured more than a fair share of exciting finishes, topped off by an at times groggy but overall solid main event clash between Bobby Lashley and James Thompson.
But before we get to the main event, lets talk about the very first fight of the night: a middleweight throwdown between Dream and Bellator veteran Zelg Galesic and former WEC light heavyweight champion Doug “The Rhino” Marshall, whose mere appearance on the card was enough to bring this “writer” back to the days of yore. Unfortunately for Marshall, the trip down memory lane was cut short by a beautiful flying knee that turned his lights off just 34 seconds into the fight. Nostalgia is a bitch, ain’t it?
Galesic vs. Marshall
If one were to peruse over Trevor Prangley‘s Sherdog profile, they would more than likely file him under the category of “sacrificial lamb” when looking at his past few fights. After being brought in to test the effectiveness of Roger Gracie‘s ground game (as if there was anyone doubting it) at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg, the South African rounded out his 2011 season with a pair of brutal KO losses to Tatsuya Mizuno (via pants-shitting knee to the body) and Hector Lombard (via Hellstorm of unnecessary punches). Heading into the third round of his fight with Russian armbar specialist Baga Agaev, it looked as if Prangley would coast his way to his first victory since September of 2010. But the AKA product would not be content with a judges decision, and instead opted for a monster right hook that dropped Agaev like a sac of Kholodets. A few unnecessary follow up punches sealed the deal in what must have been a sigh of relief for Prangley, who improves to 24-9 with the victory. We’ve added a video of the third round below.
Now let’s get to the oddest moment of the night, which involved 11-8 Kultar “The Black Mamba” Gill and 1-3 Quinton Arendse. The fight itself, which can be seen here, lasted just under a minute and saw Gill stuff a takedown, secure a trip takedown of his own, and promptly pound his opponent’s head into dust. The fact that these men appeared to be in two entirely different weight classes may have had some determining factor in the fight itself, but it didn’t help that Gill had apparently ingested an entire bottle of Mickey Rooney’s Crazy Pills before stepping into the cage. When interviewed by Phil Baroni in the aftermath of the fight, Gill proceeded to take the mic, deliver a lengthy post-fight call to arms, smash said mic, sprint around the outside of the ring, and smash a camera he managed to pry away from a ringside cameraman. Hopefully the paltry $2,000 Knockout of the Night award he received will be enough to cover the damages, but probably not.
In the night’s main event, muscle-bound freakazoid and former/current(?) WWE superstar Bobby Lashley squared off against an unknown British prospect by the name of James Thompson. Perhaps you’ve heard of him on Twitter, Myspace, or some other form of these “social” networks, no? In either case, the first round started off in rather entertaining fashion, with Lashley unleashing some nice combinations and securing a couple takedowns to boot. A low knee by Thompson would temporarily halt the action with just under a minute to go, and Lashley would take full advantage of the allotted time. Whether or not he was truly recovering from the low blow or simply catching a breather is yet to be determined, but we’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Baroni would not be so kind in the third frame when another low blow by Thompson caused yet another lengthy delay. “Suck it up,” Baroni remarked, which might have been a bit of strategic advice for Lashley’s testicles more than anything else.
The second and third rounds were fought primarily from the clinch, as Lashley’s hands began to drop lower and lower with each passing minute, an unfortunate side effect of combining Popeye’s muscles with Bluto’s gas tank. As Baroni and friends pointed out from ringside, it seemed that Lashley’s tendency to resort back to his wrestling roots, even when he had Thompson rocked, that could have cost him a TKO victory. But despite what we were being told about Thompson and Lashley’s “incredible” cardio, both men were clearly zonked by the third frame, resorting to clinch work and the occasional combination to round things out. Thompson’s octagon (or rather, circle) control and aggression seemed to be enough to warrant a victory in the judges eyes, earning him his first two-fight win streak since December of 2005. Lashley, on the other hand, falls to 7-2 as a professional.
Full results from SFL 3 are below:
James Thompson def. Bobby Lashley by Unanimous Decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
Joanne Calderwood def. Lena Ovchynnikova by Unanimous Decision (30-26,30-26,30-26)
Anup Kumar def. Chatmongkhon Simma by TKO (punches) at 4:55 of Round 1
Kultar Gill def. Quinton Arendse by KO (punches) at :51 of Round 1
Trevor Prangley defeats Baga Agaev by TKO (punches) at 2:03 of Round 3
Lakwinder Sekhon def. Vladimir Biandov by TKO at 5:00 of Round 2
Gurdarshan Mangat def. Si Cong Liu by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:37 of Round 2
Zelg Galesic def. Doug Marshall by KO (flying knee) at :34 of Round 1