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[VIDEO] The Highs and Lows from ‘One FC: Pride of a Nation’

Hmm…do we count Tim Sylvia’s weight as a high or a low?

If you didn’t get to catch One FC’s fifth event yesterday, you more than likely are under the impression that it was an event crushed by its completely preposterous stance on soccer kicks. While the soccer kick fiasco brought the sort-of anticipated fourth bout between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski to new heights of freak show ridiculousness, the show gave fans plenty of reasons to cheer and a few things to jeer as well. With videos beginning to surface from yesterday’s bouts, and no other televised MMA to look forward to tonight, let’s take some time to re-watch some of the better fights.

Unfortunately, the best fight from yesterday’s card – a lightweight slugfest between Eduard Folayang and Felipe Enomoto – isn’t available as of now. We’ll keep you posted if a video surfaces, but if one doesn’t, you’ll only have to wait until October 6 to see Folayang battle Zorobabel Moreira for the promotion’s lightweight title. Videos from the rest of the card available after the jump.

Hmm…do we count Tim Sylvia’s weight as a high or a low?

Phil Baroni vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro

High: I know how much you all love the technical, methodical fighting styles of Jon Fitch and Ben Askren, but sometimes quick, brutal knockouts are exciting. This one is over before it really ever begins…
Low: …and yet it still went on for at least thirteen seconds longer than it needed to. Props to Phil Baroni for begging the referee to stop the fight, but it should have never had to come to that.

Rolles Gracie vs. Tony Bonello

High: In this three round grapplefest, Rolles Gracie demonstrates that he’s one of One FC’s premier heavyweights.
Low: See above.

Eric Kelly vs. Jens Pulver

High: Pulver was surprisingly competitive, coming close to pulling off the upset a few times during the fight.
Low: Unless you’re a total masochist, you’ll find nothing fun about watching the former world champion get knocked out by yet another fighter you’ve never heard of.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia

High: It wasn’t nearly the pathetic freak show you were expecting it to be.
Low: At least not until it ended as a no contest. Then it was much worse.

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Gustavo Falciroli

High: It wasn’t pretty, but Bibiano Fernandes continued to make his case for being one of the top bantamweights on the planet with a victory over the blue-haired Gustavo Falciroli.
Low: After bailing on the UFC, Fernandes needed a much stronger performance than this to still be a top bantamweight in the eyes of most fans. We’ll have to wait and see how he rebounds from this fight.

@SethFalvo

Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver Both Book Matches They Will Probably Lose at OneFC: ‘Pride of a Nation’

(You mean to tell me that the guy lying face down in a pool of his own blood WAS ALIVE THE ENTIRE TIME?! No. F’ing. Way.)

Not too long ago, it was announced that former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver had signed with Singapore-based upstart promotion OneFC, and were scheduled to compete on the August 31st scheduled ‘Pride of a Nation’ card against opponents that had yet to be named. Given the pair’s name power, not to mention their hard runs of luck as of late, it was assumed by most that they would likely be featured in a pair of squash matches to help build up their name (also, confidence) within the promotion. It now appears that we have severely underestimated the fellas at OneFC. Or overestimated, we’re not sure.

In either case, Arlovski has been booked to take on fellow UFC castaway and dangerous striker Soa Palelei, who is coming off a 12 second…we guess you’d call it beating, of Bob “Bitch Tits” Sapp at CFC 21 in May. And although just a few years ago, a guy like Palelei would never even be mentioned in the same breath as “The Pit Bull”, we may very likely see him listed as the favorite heading into this matchup as it stands today. Palelei packs a wallop of a punch and Arlvoski’s off switch is easier to find than a dwarf among midgets, so expect “The Hulk” to let his fists go early and often in this one and Arlovski to crumble violently to the mat shortly thereafter. Let’s just hope that Arlovski has finally undergone that Tango and Cash jaw replacement surgery he always wanted, or he is going to get royally FUBAR’d in this one.

(You mean to tell me that the guy lying face down in a pool of his own blood WAS ALIVE THE ENTIRE TIME?! No. F’ing. Way.)

Since dropping three straight in Strikeforce (two by way of KO), Arlovski has actually put together a two-fight win streak over 7-3 journeyman Ray Lopez and most recently 247-49 (!!!!) journeyman Travis Fulton, whom Arlovski scored a vicious head kick finish over in the very last second of their otherwise snoozer of a scrap at the abysmal ProElite 2: Big Guns event last year. Palelei has not lost since succumbing to a first round submission via strikes at the hands Daniel Cormier at an XMMA event back in 2010. Though we can’t confirm this, we imagine Cormier likely broke at least one of his hands during that performance as well. Seriously, it’s like those things are comprised of equal parts boron and tinsel.

Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver appears to have booked himself into the exact opposite conundrum, as he is scheduled to square off with undefeated submission specialist Eric Kelly at the same event. Pulver has been able to slightly turn things around as of late, collecting five wins in his past seven contests, but prior to that, he suffered five straight losses, including three straight by way of submission, to round out his WEC career. Pulver most recently picked up a win over 3-4 Jesse Thorton in a flyweight contest in April.

Pulver’s submission game (or lack thereof) will truly be put to the test against a guy like Kelly, who has scored all but one of his professional wins by way of submission. Kelly is 2-0 under the OneFC banner, and last scored a UD win over Bae Young Kwon at OneFC 4: Destiny of Warriors last month. If you recall, this was the same event that saw Roger Huerta nearly decapitated by a soccer kick that instantaneously gave thousands of PRIDE fanboys a full on nerdgasm upon witnessing. For those of you who fell into this demographic (raises hand), don’t worry: It’s not gay if someone almost dies.

Pulver has been flirting with retirement for what feels like ages, but do you think he can pull off what will easily be his biggest win in years come August 18th?

–J. Jones

Filipino Featherweight Eric Kelly Aims to Make His Mark With One FC

Filed under: ONE FCFilipino featherweight Eric Kelly’s background is in striking, but you wouldn’t guess it from looking at his MMA record.

As Kelly heads into his co-headlining bout against Shooto veteran Bae Young Kwon (6-2) at One FC 2 on Feb. 11 …

Filed under: ONE FC

Filipino featherweight Eric Kelly‘s background is in striking, but you wouldn’t guess it from looking at his MMA record.

As Kelly heads into his co-headlining bout against Shooto veteran Bae Young Kwon (6-2) at One FC 2 on Feb. 11 in Indonesia, Kelly is carrying a 6-0 record in MMA all by submission.

Kelly wanted to showcase his standup last September at the inaugural One FC card in Singapore, but his opponent Mitch Chilson turned the fight into a grappling exchange. And so, Kelly recorded his fifth first-round rear-naked choke win of his career.

“People think I am only a ground fighter because all my wins are by submission but I like fighting standing up as well,” Kelly said to MMAFighting.com Tuesday.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Kelly started training boxing at 19 after graduating high school and then further developed his standup game by studying the Filipino kickboxing art “Yaw-Yan.”

“All I know that Yaw-Yan is like kickboxing and Yaw-Yan originated in Philippines, I have also trained in Pencak Silat (Indonesia self-defense style) and done some boxing,” Kelly said. “I first started out as a boxer because I left school and I didn’t have a lot of money and it was a good option for me but I only did one boxing match which I won.”

Kelly’s journey in martial arts next led him to Wushu and San Shou. From 2001-2004, Kelly competed for the Phillippine’s Wushu and San Shou team and his experience was highlighted by a Southeast Asian Games Gold medal in Wushu.

It wasn’t until an injury directed Kelly to take a break from his striking to begin training jiu-jitsu. MMA soon followed and he began his competitive MMA career fighting for the Phillippines-based MMA promotion URCC. In his fifth appearance for URCC, he won the company’s featherweight title and landed a deal with One FC, a fledgling Singapore-based promotion.

One FC, which aims to revitalize the Asian MMA industry, draws fighters from all around the world, allowing Kelly to challenge himself against competition outside of the Philippines. At One FC 2, Kelly meets Kwon of South Korea in a battle of prospects. Kelly admits he feels the extra pressure of fighting under international exposure, but he knows this is what he needs to realize his goal of fighting for the UFC.

“I have never been in an MMA event as big as One FC before, there were so many people at my fight and to hear them cheering for me made me know I must win the fight for them,” he said of his One FC debut. “I am honored to fight for One FC and to have everyone in Asia see me fight but to fight for the UFC is my dream. I hope one day it can come true.”

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ONE FC: Champion vs Champion — Impressions From the First Event

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Much the excitement for the event came from the comparisons to PRIDE. According to ONE’s website, they utilize “a combination rule set of global MMA best practices, blending Asian and non-Asian rules”, meaning no restriction to elbow, knee, or kicking attacks on a grounded opponent. We didn’t see any at the first event, and I’m still not entirely clear on how the fighters were instructed.

They didn’t get Lenne Hardt (AKA The Crazy Screaming PRIDE Lady), but they did get Yuji Shimada (AKA “I don’t care, kill him. Do you want to win?”) in to referee.

It does seem that ONE is shooting for high production values as PRIDE did, but there were no grand displays. No elaborate entrances, although there was an amusingly eclectic mix of music chosen for walkouts, which led to the revelation that Bas Rutten digs Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash. The crowd was relatively sparse in the 12,000 capacity stadium, but they were an enthusiastic bunch.

And with good reason: the card was full of good action throughout.

For the grappling fans: Kelly vs Chilson, BJJ aces vs South Koreans named “Kim”. Both Gregor Gracie and Leandro Issa outpointed Kims, and there was jits popping out all over the place. Gracie’s opponent Seok Mo Kim had outstanding submission defense, escaping a triangle and surviving multiple arm triangle chokes from Gracie, who is going to be catching hell from family for failing to finish a fight in which he scored and maintained mount for minutes at a time. Kelly took home a $5K bonus for sub of the night for sleeping Chilson with a standing RNC.

For the KO junkie: Sityodong vs Mashamaite, Ng vs Bo, Colossa vs Yu, Rahman vs Ghosh. Both Ng and Bo are generally favorites of livebloggers everywhere. Beats the hell out of Magomed Sultanakhmedov, Georgi Karakhanyan, and Jadamba Narantungalag, is all I’m saying.

For the “PRIDE mismatch to make the home team look like a ninja” fan: Rahman vs Ghosh. Raheem Rahman picked up the $5K knockout of the night bonus after plowing through his opponent in the first.

For the sadist: Moreira vs Wang. Not a gory fight, but painful nonetheless. Yuji Shimada has seen some world-class ass whoopings in his lifetime, so don’t expect him to stop a fight unless someone’s ear falls off. If a fighter wants to continue to soak up punishment in the second round, Shimada is willing let him. And the fighter does. So Shimada does.

Fight of the night: Folayang vs Kwon. Supposedly a mismatch on paper, this was a fast-paced, even contested fight with lots of fun kick technique and some wild exchanges. Go watch it.

Notes to Victor Cui (ONE CEO): Can you hook up with HDNET? That would be great, then we can watch these in high def, and rewind when Folayang and Kwon are moving to damn fast for us to follow. Also, a little pyrotechnics never hurt nobody.*

All in all a fun event, albeit short of rivaling PRIDE’s inaugural event or UFC’s current dominance. If the first broadcast is any indication, ONE FC will be the leader in MMA in the eastern hemisphere in short order. I know I’ll tune in again.

[RX]

*Not intended to be a factual statement.