(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?
That video, along with a video of the most insane post fight celebration in MMA history and more, awaits you after the jump.
(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
Here at CP, I see “us” as a bunch of cynical, condescending, annoyed class-clowns that have a genuine love for the sport of MMA. We love great fights and enigmatic fighters, it’s really that simple. Whether it is a fighter’s personality or in-ring performance, we try our best not to be “nut-huggers,” but sometimes these things happen in MMA (Damn you Georges!). Because I wanted to curb any bias towards fighters that I might have, I tried my best to not be like a 14 year-old girl, so I avoided Twitter like an invitation to a Mike Whitehead BBQ – but I have given in. Not to the invite, but to my status as a new member of Twitter, and I must admit, there are some pretty damn compelling, comical, and surprisingly elegant MMA fighters that can wax poetic in 140 characters or less.
“Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and they think everyone else’s stinks.” I believe that phrase was coined by Sigmund Freud or the Dalai Lama…or George Carlin. Whoever came up with the analogy was clearly a genius with a tremendous affinity for “Dirty” Harry Callahan. So take a big whiff because these are the MMA fighters that I think you should be following on Twitter with a few examples from their recent timelines.
We were all introduced to KenFlo on TUF 1. Although he was somewhat overshadowed by more flamboyant participants and in-house scuffles, he’s elevated himself within the UFC as one of its most versatile members. Whether as a fighter or broadcaster, he displays his wit and charisma like a true pro, but on Twitter he mixes in self-deprecation with an almost narcissistic vibe.
“When I’m being threatened, I will start doing splits to let ppl know what’s up. I always get mistaken for a talented dancer or gymnast.”
“Is a bow tie & no shirt too formal for a charity event I’m going to next week?”
“Guys, stop putting high expectations on fighters. @rory_macdonald didn’t steal my hairdo, he borrowed it. #Respect”
“If you’ve never taken a man’s shoe & beaten him with it then you’ve never been in a street fight. #KenFloFacts”
(It turns out Miguel was actually making grape jokes, which I have no problem with whatsoever.)
Here at CP, I see “us” as a bunch of cynical, condescending, annoyed class-clowns that have a genuine love for the sport of MMA. We love great fights and enigmatic fighters, it’s really that simple. Whether it is a fighter’s personality or in-ring performance, we try our best not to be “nut-huggers,” but sometimes these things happen in MMA (Damn you Georges!). Because I wanted to curb any bias towards fighters that I might have, I tried my best to not be like a 14 year-old girl, so I avoided Twitter like an invitation to a Mike Whitehead BBQ – but I have given in. Not to the invite, but to my status as a new member of Twitter, and I must admit, there are some pretty damn compelling, comical, and surprisingly elegant MMA fighters that can wax poetic in 140 characters or less.
“Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and they think everyone else’s stinks.” I believe that phrase was coined by Sigmund Freud or the Dalai Lama…or George Carlin. Whoever came up with the analogy was clearly a genius with a tremendous affinity for “Dirty” Harry Callahan. So take a big whiff because these are the MMA fighters that I think you should be following on Twitter with a few examples from their recent timelines.
We were all introduced to KenFlo on TUF 1. Although he was somewhat overshadowed by more flamboyant participants and in-house scuffles, he’s elevated himself within the UFC as one of its most versatile members. Whether as a fighter or broadcaster, he displays his wit and charisma like a true pro, but on Twitter he mixes in self-deprecation with an almost narcissistic vibe.
“When I’m being threatened, I will start doing splits to let ppl know what’s up. I always get mistaken for a talented dancer or gymnast.”
“Is a bow tie & no shirt too formal for a charity event I’m going to next week?”
“Guys, stop putting high expectations on fighters. @rory_macdonald didn’t steal my hairdo, he borrowed it. #Respect”
“If you’ve never taken a man’s shoe & beaten him with it then you’ve never been in a street fight. #KenFloFacts”
Mark Hunt – twitter.com/#!/markhunt1974
Though the #RallyForMarkHunt campaign fell short, the Super Samoan’s twitter activity has not. Unlike most, Hunt is a lot more personable and will reply to damn near any question. When asked, “Do you EVER stop consuming alcohol?” He replied, “never.” Scripps probably won’t be sending him an invite to their next competition but it can’t be easy typing on a mobile device when your fingers have the same girth as beer bottles.
“Man last time I saw Jo son he was trying to pull the other fighters pants down hahahaha u didn’t know bout that style of fighting lol”
“dammit disregard my last tweet man that was not supposed to go out lol i am so stupid at this shit fark”
James Thompson – twitter.com/#!/JColossus
We all know the MegaPunk and judging by the way he fights, I am pretty sure that most would assume that the guy communicates like a caveman with a brain hemorrhage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is he a Twitter dynamo who answers questions and responds to fans, he writes a very cerebral blog at colossalconcerns.com where he discusses all things MMA.
“Gf got me working the door again for her bar for some night. So tired I could cry. Sometimes i wish I was small and not so colossus like.”
“After working the door last night I’m curious and slightly disturbed/confused about what young people have against socks.”
“Needed to burn more calories today so set a fat kid on fire.”
“Who the fuck decide it would be cutting edge and cool not to be able to digest wheat properly. #neversawthatcoming”
Josh Barnett – twitter.com/#!/JoshLBarnett
If you are into MMA, Heavy Metal music, food binges, and muscle cars, then the artist formerly known as “The Baby-faced Assassin” is a guy to follow. Not only will he advise you on your current metal play-list, he will also describe his odd meals complete with pictures. A couple weeks ago, Barnett documented his destruction of a menu item called “Symposium of Ecstasy”- a giant meat platter intended on offending every vegan or member of PETA.
“Query: How long will it take before some rapper has taken ‘Someone That I Used to Know’ & ripped it off into ‘Someone That I Used to F#@!’”
“Goddamn I LOVE Don Frye. The man has a way with words.”
“A gay dude just eyeballed me, smiled and said “hi” while walking by…I still got it. #handsomedevil”
Dan Hardy – twitter.com/#!/danhardymma
“The Outlaw” always puts on entertaining fights, and after reading his tweets you will quickly realize that there is another reason why he wasn’t released by the UFC after 4 consecutive losses: he just seems like a pretty damn cool guy. Whether it is his escapades at the gym, his late night excursions to Target or the fact that he is a gun aficionado, Hardy comes off as a dude you want to have a pint with while theorizing your plan for the looming attack by the undead.
“I think Twitter should have a teleport function so instead of blocking someone I could show up wherever they are and beat them mercilessly.”
“Floyd Mayweather is such a dick. I dislike him a little more every time I hear him speak.”
“Police checkpoint on the way home from the gym, trying to catch the stoners because its 4/20. Tax money well spent right? #WhatAWaste”
“On a side note kids – Guns are for self defense, target practice, action movies and the coming zombie apocalypse. Not for problem solving.”
Forrest Griffin – twitter.com/#!/ForrestGriffin
Being an author of 2 books and having a sense of humor that could make a nun blush really gives FoGriff an advantage in this medium. What more could you expect from a guy that dressed in a loin cloth on one of his book covers? Answer: On Twitter you can get a picture of a spread-eagle Forrest dressed like SuperGirl in front of a casino slot machine.
“The other thing is real life prostitutes never look like the ones on tv”
“I want to sincerely apologize for my last tweet. I did not mean to say prostitute I meant to say sex worker. There much better”
“Homework: next time someone casually says hi say ‘your death will give me great pleasure’ or ‘your death will bring me great joy’”
“Did you here UFC fighter @StephanBonnar was arrested for loitering at a public highway reststop restroom”
Tim Kennedy – twitter.com/#!/TimKennedyMMA
There are some that think Tim may be the next person fired for his Twitter contributions but I enjoy the crap out of him. He is active with his tweets and judging from some of the things that CP has covered, he clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously. Although he is too politically motivated for my taste, Kennedy is still a worthwhile follow.
“Professional politicians, hippies, zombies, brussels sprouts, cheap furniture, cutting weight, and one ply toilet paper #ThingsIDislike”
“Dr. Phil please email me. [email protected] I want to coordinate punching some sense into you! You are an idiot.”
“Whenever I want to renew my concern for our country I just go down to the Starbucks by the university and fear for our future.”
“They should let @BrianStann and I head to North Korea to straighten some things out.”
Pat Barry –twitter.com/#!/HypeOrDie
Barry may have the greatest twitter wallpaper/background image in all the land and apparently his CAPS LOCK key is stuck. Aside from being generally hilarious, “HD” was pretty active with the tweets during last weekends Invicta FC with good insight mixed with comic relief. Don’t forget, he did give us one of the greatest video clips ever.
“FUCK TREADMILLS!!!”
“NOT SURE IF THIS IS A BAD SIGN BUT I WOKE UP, ATE, DRANK A REDLINE, THEN INSTANTLY WENT BACK TO SLEEP HARDER THAN I SLEPT LAST NIGHT!!!#fb”
“I WONDER IF ALL THE PEOPLE CONSTANTLY ASKING ME TO SUPPORT THIS HUNT RALLY ARE ASKING MIR AND CAIN TO HELP SUPPORT ALSO???”
“I’LL SUPPORT THE RALLYFORHUNT AS SOON AS EVERYONE ASKING ME TO SUPPORTS RALLYFORHD WHICH IS JUST GIVE ME THE TITLE WITH NO FIGHT!!! DEAL???”
I am not delusional and in no way do I think that I know these dudes because they answered a question or sent out one of mine as a retweet, but Twitter does give you a better understanding of some of the combatant’s personalities. Although social media is a hand grenade without a pin, when used responsibly, it gives althletes and fans a way to interact. I recommend Twitter to follow fighters especially during live events because you can’t get a better source for in-fight analysis. If I know the CP community, I am about to get treated like Ned Beatty in Deliverance.
(As with the Mona Lisa’s eyes, Thompson’s ear seems to just follow you around the room, doesn’t it?)
Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League recently announced the pairing of James Thompson and former WWE star Bobby Lashley as the main event of its third card, which will also feature Trevor Prangley, Doug Marshall, and Zelg Galesic in action.
This is the point where we stop discussing the matchups at hand and get to the news you really need to know: Super Fight League is crashing and burning like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Josh Barnett couldn’t melt a plastic cup with his urine fast enough to destroy SFL, which is beginning to look like it will be but a distant memory by the end of the fiscal year. Despite the fact that viewership is free to anyone with a computer, internet access, and the ability to spell Youtube, SFL already seems to be on wobblier legs than River Phoenix outside The Viper Room (too soon?).
And it’s pretty clear why.
Heading into their first event, the India-based promotion showcased an emphasis on flare, throwing fancy promos and even their own theme song into the mix in an effort to spur interest in a sport that their country had yet to build the smallest of followings for. This was their first problem, a lack of awareness. Where Asian-based promotion OneFC has thrived thanks to both collaborative efforts with local promotions and a strong, preexisting fan base in the area they chose to promote within, Super Fight League’s co-chairmen, Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt, opted to rely on a combination of Bollywood celebrities and music industry execs to help promote a new sport that they themselves weren’t truly familiar with. In fact, many of the celebrities in attendance, and most of the 300,000 India-based Youtube viewers who managed to make the first card a slight success, where under the impression that MMA, and specifically SFL, consisted of over-the-top, WWE style antics and entertainment, largely due to how the promotion chose to well…promote themselves.
(As with the Mona Lisa’s eyes, Thompson’s ear seems to just follow you around the room, doesn’t it?)
Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League recently announced the pairing of James Thompson and former WWE star Bobby Lashley as the main event of its third card, which will also feature Trevor Prangley, Doug Marshall, and Zelg Galesic in action.
This is the point where we stop discussing the matchups at hand and get to the news you really need to know: Super Fight League is crashing and burning like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Josh Barnett couldn’t melt a plastic cup with his urine fast enough to destroy SFL, which is beginning to look like it will be but a distant memory by the end of the fiscal year. Despite the fact that viewership is free to anyone with a computer, internet access, and the ability to spell Youtube, SFL already seems to be on wobblier legs than River Phoenix outside The Viper Room (too soon?).
And it’s pretty clear why.
Heading into their first event, the India-based promotion showcased an emphasis on flare, throwing fancy promos and even their own theme song into the mix in an effort to spur interest in a sport that their country had yet to build the smallest of followings for. This was their first problem, a lack of awareness. Where Asian-based promotion OneFC has thrived thanks to both collaborative efforts with local promotions and a strong, preexisting fan base in the area they chose to promote within, Super Fight League’s co-chairmen, Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt, opted to rely on a combination of Bollywood celebrities and music industry execs to help promote a new sport that they themselves weren’t truly familiar with. In fact, many of the celebrities in attendance, and most of the 300,000 India-based Youtube viewers who managed to make the first card a slight success, where under the impression that MMA, and specifically SFL, consisted of over-the-top, WWE style antics and entertainment, largely due to how the promotion chose to well…promote themselves.
When treated to MMA on full display, many of those same celebrities have since declared that MMA should be banned in India, and you can’t blame them for being mislead by the bright lights and poor marketing. Take a look at SFL’s venue choices, for instance. The promotion’s first event was held at the Adheri Sports Complex in Mumbai, a massive indoor complex capable of holding up to 20,000 people. The costs to rent such a venue doesn’t offer a lot of wiggle room, financially speaking, especially for an upstart promotion in every sense of the word. But they sure do look cool, don’t they? According to Indian sources, SFL 1 only managed to pull in around 300 paying customers. Add to that the cost of the fighter’s salaries, and there is no way it didn’t end up in the red. But perhaps the most obvious argument that Super Fight League was truly a promotion favoring style over substance was the inclusion of Bob Sapp in it’s very first main event.
OneFC made the same mistake once, but you can be damn sure they won’t do it again. Sapp is a walking publicity stunt, a carnival act, and the easiest way to show the world that you haven’t the slightest clue what the sport you claim to be promoting is actually about, let alone who is watching it. To a lesser extent, the same can be said about Thompson. Though it is a given that a promotion can only acquire so many great fighters with their limited budgets, the money SFL spent on the aforementioned flash and flare could have easily been used to pull in guys like Hector Lombard, Mamed Khalidov, the recently UFC-released Jorge Santiago and other lesser known, but much more respected, mixed martial artists. The simple matter is, fans were outraged and angered by the obvious work that was Sapp/Thompson, and it showed with the second event’s complete failure to pull in viewers.
Just take a look at the fight videos of SFL 2. Sure, you will notice that the card is actually an improvement over its predecessor in terms of production and matchmaking, but you will also notice that there was no one in attendance. Reports have had claimed the number of attendees to be around 1/5th of the T-Box Mobile Arena’s 5000 seat capacity. Think that’s bad? It gets worse. Despite signing an exclusive deal with Youtube, SFL 2 only managed to scrounge up an abysmal 3,000 views. That’s a ninety-nine percent drop from their first event, folks. And who do they decide to let headline their third event? A couple more freak show fighters that are almost universally reviled by MMA fans. One can expect those paltry numbers to drop even further with marketing tactics like these.
At the end of the day, we could be wrong about the direction SFL heads, which we predict will be rapidly downward in a spiraling motion. In either case, it appears that SFL seems to be having the same problems that EliteXC had, forgoing an actual investment in the sport in favor of overblown production values, laughably commentary, and a lack of thrilling, or even remotely exciting matchups. And let’s not even get into the ridiculous size of that ring, which looks like they threw a tarp over a motocross track and said, “Fuck it.”
The way we see it, SFL has two options; continue doing what they’re doing and be left penniless, or start focusing on what really makes a MMA promotion, and the sport itself, successful. To quote August Burns Red:
Lucky for you rock bottom is in sight, Your wake up call is set for now, And the trail you have followed has come all the way to the end, I hope you survive the crash
Perhaps it is appropriate that we are kicking off the disappointment and pent up frustration of another work week with none other than Bob Sapp, the most disappointing and utterly frustrating figure in the history of MMA. After landing his most devastating punch in his last ten fights career against Bill Mahood at Saturday’s weigh ins, Sapp’s headlining bout against James Thompson at Super Fight League 1 would end, go figure, in the abrupt, anticlimactic fashion of Sapp’s signature move, the Sapp Tapp, the Sappmission, or whatever variation of the term you prefer to use. Sapp has become so famous for quitting when the going gets tough that it appears Tiger Woods has adopted a similar strategy.
But, believe it or not, some fighters actually came to fight yesterday, and thankfully, the gents over at SFL have been nice enough to grant us a full playback of the event on their Youtube page. Check out the video above, and honor “The Beast” in Sappian fashion, by prematurely stopping it when the main event comes around.
Join us after the jump for some more great videos from around the MMA blogosphere, including an eight second KO that can only be described as “adorable,” a trailer for an upcoming documentary on Charles “Mask” Lewis, and more.
Perhaps it is appropriate that we are kicking off the disappointment and pent up frustration of another work week with none other than Bob Sapp, the most disappointing and utterly frustrating figure in the history of MMA. After landing his most devastating punch in his last ten fights career against Bill Mahood at Saturday’s weigh ins, Sapp’s headlining bout against James Thompson at Super Fight League 1 would end, go figure, in the abrupt, anticlimactic fashion of Sapp’s signature move, the Sapp Tapp, the Sappmission, or whatever variation of the term you prefer to use. Sapp has become so famous for quitting when the going gets tough that it appears Tiger Woods has adopted a similar strategy.
But, believe it or not, some fighters actually came to fight yesterday, and thankfully, the gents over at SFL have been nice enough to grant us a full playback of the event on their Youtube page. Check out the video above, and honor “The Beast” in Sappian fashion, by prematurely stopping it when the main event comes around.
Speaking of pent up frustrations, jump to 2:20 of the above video to see an adorable MMA fighter named Amanda Cooper unleash her inner demons on Tori Music at WXC 35, which went down in Michigan last weekend. Maybe I am too quick to jump to conclusions, but when I looked at both participants involved in this fight, I did not predict the cute girl in the pink top and booty shorts to uncork an ass whooping on the tattooed, cornrowed female across the cage. What’s that, you say? Cooper is a two time Golden Gloves champion? Yep, I’m an asshole.
And now that were all inspired by Ms. Cooper’s triumphant, stereotype shattering performance, let’s keep the ball rolling with the trailer for an upcoming documentary based on beloved MMA icon and Tapout founder Charles “Mask” Lewis. Directed by Bobby Razak, whom you may remember from the similarly excellent History of MMA, Mask documents the momentous rise and untimely fall of Lewis, and looks to be another solid entrance in Razak’s growing MMA filmography. There is no release date yet set for Mask, but we will keep you informed as details arise.
And just so we don’t end your morning on a low note, here’s a quick video of UFC Lightweight champion Ben Henderson demonstrating some of his signature moves. Are you watching this, Frankie? Because knowing is half the battle. And the other half is being able to take one of those kicks without sharting yourself.
Spoiler alert: It was a better punch than this one, and twice as effective. Props: Getty Images via MMAFighting.com
I guess it goes without saying, but today has been a pretty slow news day. But even if it wasn’t, I like to imagine we’d still give this our attention. When something as rare as Bob Sapp being involved in a competitive fight happens, it’s worth a few cheap laughs seconds.
Sapp headlined Super Fight League 1, which was live on Youtube earlier this morning, against robbery victim James Thompson. While weighing in for his fight against “The Colossus”, Bob Sapp landed one of the most beautiful backfists I’ve ever seen. His technique was flawless, like it was a something he had actually been practicing. Even Phil Baroni, who was on hand to introduce fighters, seemed shocked at the technique on display from “The Beast”.
Of course, it would have been far more impressive if it actually landed on James Thompson. Or if it, you know, was intentional. But it’s probably for the best that the move was an accident. If he had been trying to do that, he probably would have missed, taken a dive and immediately started tapping.
Spoiler alert: It was a better punch than this one, and twice as effective. Props: Getty Images via MMAFighting.com
I guess it goes without saying, but today has been a pretty slow news day. But even if it wasn’t, I like to imagine we’d still give this our attention. When something as rare as Bob Sapp being involved in a competitive fight happens, it’s worth a few cheap laughs seconds.
Sapp headlined Super Fight League 1, which was live on Youtube earlier this morning, against robbery victim James Thompson. While weighing in for his fight against “The Colossus”, Bob Sapp landed one of the most beautiful backfists I’ve ever seen. His technique was flawless, like it was something he had actually been practicing. Even Phil Baroni, who was on hand to introduce fighters, seemed shocked at the technique on display from “The Beast”.
Of course, it would have been far more impressive if it actually landed on James Thompson. Or if it, you know, was intentional. But it’s probably for the best that the move was an accident. If he had been trying to do that, he probably would have missed, taken a dive and immediately started tapping.
As for his actual fight against James Thompson, picture his fight against Rolles Gracie. Now imagine he had mounted an actual attack at some point during the fight. And imagine that he tapped after awkwardly landing after a takedown a little less than two minutes into the fight. Yep, that’s how he lost this time.
Also of note from the card, Jimmy Ambriz defeated Satish Jha via TKO just fourteen seconds into their bout. Your move, Todd Duffee.
CagePotato Roundtable is our new recurring column in which the CP writing staff and some of our friends all get together to debate an MMA-related topic. Joining us this week is former CagePotato staff writer Chad Dundas, who now writes for an up-and-coming blog called ESPN. If you have a suggestion for a future Roundtable column, send it to [email protected].
CagePotato reader Alexander W. writes: “The Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall fight inspired my suggestion: Greatest robberies in MMA history. I’d be curious to hear the variety of opinions out there. Surely that fight was a top ten.”
Chad Dundas
There are a lot of things about Pride Total Elimination 2003 that don’t make sense when viewed with modern MMA sensibilities. How to even comprehend a world where a skinny, haired-up, suit jacket-wearing Dana White could bet Pride bigwigs $250,000 that Chuck Liddell was going to win that company’s 2003 middleweight grand prix? Or comprehend that a bizarrely dangerous and clearly-enunciating Liddell showed up in the first round of said tournament and KTFOed an impossibly svelte Alistair Overeem? Or that Overeem had an old dude in a robe and shriners hat accompany him to the ring while carrying a big foam hammer? Or that on this night somebody got tapped out with a sleeve choke? Or that Wanderlei Silva fought Kazushi Sakuraba and it didn’t just make everybody feel sad and empty?
No sense at all.
What does still sort of make sense is this: After watching Liddell sleep Overeem, there was no way on God’s green Earth that Pride judges were going to let another UFC emissary walk out of Saitama Super Arena with a win*, so they conspired to pull off one of the greatest screwjobs in MMA history when they awarded Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira a unanimous decision over Ricco Rodriguez. The indisputable fact is, Ricco whipped Big Nog good that night, taking him down, brutalizing him, shaking off his feeble submission attempts and controlling pretty much the whole affair. At least, that’s how I remember it. Unfortunately, due to Zuffa’s ongoing war on Internet piracy it seems their bout will only be remembered by history and by the creepy old man who answers the queries you submit to the Sherdog Fight Finder.
CagePotato Roundtable is our new recurring column in which the CP writing staff and some of our friends all get together to debate an MMA-related topic. Joining us this week is former CagePotato staff writer Chad Dundas, who now writes for an up-and-coming blog called ESPN. If you have a suggestion for a future Roundtable column, send it to [email protected].
CagePotato reader Alexander W. writes: “The Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall fight inspired my suggestion: Greatest robberies in MMA history. I’d be curious to hear the variety of opinions out there. Surely that fight was a top ten.”
Chad Dundas
There are a lot of things about Pride Total Elimination 2003 that don’t make sense when viewed with modern MMA sensibilities. How to even comprehend a world where a skinny, haired-up, suit jacket-wearing Dana White could bet Pride bigwigs $250,000 that Chuck Liddell was going to win that company’s 2003 middleweight grand prix? Or comprehend that a bizarrely dangerous and clearly-enunciating Liddell showed up in the first round of said tournament and KTFOed an impossibly svelte Alistair Overeem? Or that Overeem had an old dude in a robe and shriners hat accompany him to the ring while carrying a big foam hammer? Or that on this night somebody got tapped out with a sleeve choke? Or that Wanderlei Silva fought Kazushi Sakuraba and it didn’t just make everybody feel sad and empty?
No sense at all.
What does still sort of make sense is this: After watching Liddell sleep Overeem, there was no way on God’s green Earth that Pride judges were going to let another UFC emissary walk out of Saitama Super Arena with a win*, so they conspired to pull off one of the greatest screwjobs in MMA history when they awarded Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira a unanimous decision over Ricco Rodriguez. The indisputable fact is, Ricco whipped Big Nog good that night, taking him down, brutalizing him, shaking off his feeble submission attempts and controlling pretty much the whole affair. At least, that’s how I remember it. Unfortunately, due to Zuffa’s ongoing war on Internet piracy it seems their bout will only be remembered by history and by the creepy old man who answers the queries you submit to the Sherdog Fight Finder.
What stings the worst about the whole thing is that it’s easy to imagine an alternate universe where that decision went the other way. In that universe, maybe Rodriguez goes on to become one of the sport’s most beloved and respected figures, ascending to full-on legendary status and winning gold in both Pride and the UFC, before having his arm snapped by Frank Mir at UFC 140 without so much as changing the expression on his beautiful, leathery face. And instead it’s Big Nog who slips unceremoniously into obscurity, slumming it on Celebrity Rehab and fighting out his days at events like Israel FC, Cage Thug MMA, and Armageddon Fighting Championships.
If that universe is out there somewhere, I hope we all find it someday.
(*Yeah, I’m just guessing about all this, but it feels true in spirit.)
Look, everyone knows that a robbery in PRIDE means nothing because the whole thing was fake anyway. At least in those cases, you knew that the judges had their reasons. Here in America, we have robberies based off of pure, home-grown stupid. We produced the master karate sensai judge that thinks leg kicks are pointless. Out on the regional scene, in places like Texas, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona, we’ve seen decisions passed down that were mind-gobblingly incompetent. Try to forget that those same states are players in national politics.
So let me tell you bastards about Zoila Frausto. Frausto was fighting at bantamweight and walking around at 150 pounds before Bellator announced its only tournament for women in 2010 — at 115. It was a brutal weight cut, but Frausto made it. Throughout the tournament, her most impressive victories were over the scales. A bland weight-loss diet left her unable to train intensely, and her performances in the cage were every bit as anemic as you’d expect. She out-muscled a visibly smaller boxer in Jessica Pene in the quarter-finals, earning an uncontroversial, but uninspiring win.
Her opponent in the semis at Bellator 31 was Jessica Aguilar, a fantastically well-rounded fighter out of American Top Team. The Warrior Princess spent most of the fight backpedaling, and her face told a bruising tale after fifteen minutes. Aguilar didn’t have a scratch, but Frausto got a split decision — one of the judges gave her all three rounds. I honestly thought the judges were confused about the fighters’ identities — the decision was that bad. So Frausto advanced to the finals.
Here, at least, justice would be done. Frausto’s opponent was Megumi Fujii, the undefeated, best female fighter on the planet (she’s not a can crusher ben dammit icanthearyou lalalalalalalalalalala). Fujii had outclassed both her opponents in the tournament, and she’d have her way with this interloper and claim an American title.
Except she wouldn’t. Fujii, like some kind of insane Sakuraba with a vagina, elected to stand and box with the one-dimensional striker. Frausto does her best Leonard Garcia impression [Ed. note: Hold on, I’m getting to that. -BG], putting on an impressive show of offense without actually managing to do anything or even land most of her attacks. Fujii out-lands her, out-maneuvers her, and out-works her. But those big arm movements must be impressive from a distance. Despite Frausto’s swollen face and rapidly closing eye, one Florida judge scores it four rounds to one for her, another sees it a bit closer, one judge has a brain in his head but he’s outvoted and boom: Frausto catches another gift decision and claims the Bellator Straw-weight Championship.
Rematches with both Aguilar and Fujii have been pursued, but neither have ever materialized. To this day, the women’s rankings are skewed and Frausto retains the belt. She’s hasn’t fought at 115 since October 2010.
If you need a “real” answer, then fine: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung at WEC 48, which is the robbery by which all modern robberies are judged. It’s the LeBron James of robberies. Judges love Leonard Garcia because he grunts like a female tennis player when he throws punches, and that irrational love helped Garcia take a similar decision against Nam Phan in December 2010, and previously hypnotized one judge into scoring it Garcia’s way when he got blown out in all three rounds against Mark Hominick at WEC 51. But Garcia/Jung 1 has to be the worst of the lot — or anybody’s lot — because it added a foul aftertaste to the greatest MMA brawl since Griffin vs. Bonnar at the TUF 1 Finale. It’s the proverbial poop-pie at the end of a great southern meal.
According to FightMetric, Garcia shouldn’t have won any rounds of that fight, let alone two. Here’s how Bad Boy clinched the split-decision, despite being outstruck 106-71 — he scored two takedowns, and he was the aggressor for much of the fight, meaning that the faces he made while audibly whiffing his hooks were much scarier than his opponent’s, as the Korean Zombie was tagging Leonard at will. Obviously it wasn’t a career-ender for Jung, who got his revenge 11 months later. But it was such a perfect representation of what’s wrong with modern MMA judging: Striking totals don’t matter, each takedown counts for a billion points, and “Octagon Control” can always be used to justify scoring it for the guy you like better. Ugh. Terrible.
Whenever I think of a robbery, normally Matt Hamill and Michael Bisping immediately come to mind. But a fight that tops even that is Machida/Rua 1 at UFC 104. That fight was incredibly hyped because of “The Machida Era.” Everyone was so entranced by the Elusive one. The Dragon had us eating out of the palm of his hand. Besides, nobody really knew which Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would show up for the fight and to be honest, who could blame them? After multiple knee surgeries, a broken arm, and some seriously lackluster performances not many people saw this as anything but an uphill battle for Rua. Machida was even favored in the odds by over 4-1, and for good reason.
However, right from the start, Shogun took to the center of the Octagon and kept cutting angles on Machida. That set the stage for some dirty boxing but more importantly some incredibly vicious leg kicks. It was evident before the end of the first round that Shogun was landing the more damaging shots. Machida started off in southpaw, but as I said, those leg kicks quickly changed all of that, seeing as Machida needed to change stances during round three.
It became apparent in round four and five that Machida had slowed down considerably. Meanwhile, Rua kept pushing forward, landing harder strikes, cutting Machida off with angles, and pushing him against the cage. It seemed like Rua had it all in the bag. It isn’t often you find yourself agreeing with Mike Goldberg but this seemed like one of those times, a clear-cut unanimous decision for the challenger, right? Wrong.
Judges Cecil Peoples, Nelson Hamilton, and Marcos Rosales scored the bout 48-47 for Machida. Rosales and Peoples both scored the first three rounds in favor of the champion, while Hamilton gave Machida rounds two, three, and four. After the fight, Cecil Peoples stated that leg kicks don’t win fights, and further explained that he thought Machida was landing the cleaner, more efficient shots during the entirety of the fight. FightMetric, however, disagreed claiming Shogun outstruck Machida in round one (19 to 11), round two (21 to 7), round three (19 to 14), round four (10 to 4), and round five (13-6). I don’t know what three of MMA’s most experienced judges were smoking the night of UFC 104, but I would wager it smelled of shenanigans.
Remember that scene from The Hurricane, where the black Rubin Carter beats the hell out of the white Joey Giardello, yet loses on the scorecards of the blatantly racist white judges? Yeah, it turns out that the real fight was nothing like that. At all. Not that that should surprise you. That scene displayed such over-the-top biases that I’d assume something like that could never happen in real life if I wasn’t familiar with Mariusz Pudzianowksi vs. James Thompson II.
It’s not that I want to believe that the outcome was predetermined; it’s just that literally everything about the completely unnecessary rematch leads me to that conclusion. The rematch was booked for KSW 17: Revenge — an event named by the least subtle person to ever work for the Polish MMA promotion. While Mariusz Pudzianowski was unsurprisingly the overwhelming fan favorite, his only significant offensive output was a jab he landed early in the second round. Meanwhile, Thompson landed numerous takedowns and punches from the mount and side control throughout the fight. Thompson dominated, yet Pudzianowski was still declared the winner by majority decision. While a terrible decision shouldn’t always lead one to believe the bout was a work, it doesn’t help that one of the judges’ scorecards looked like this. The hometown hero had earned his revenge — on paper, at least.
The fight has since been declared a no-contest due to miscommunication between the judges, who declared the bout a draw which should have warranted a sudden-death round, and the referee. Not that it matters. Even if the miscommunication never occurred, the sudden-death round was completely unnecessary. Thompson won easily and has nothing but a no-contest on his record to show for it. Fauh-king joooooooooke, indeed.
Jared Jones
Marcos Galvao may be the most cursed man in the history of decisions. For every gift Leonard Garcia is undeservedly given, three Christmas presents are stolen from beneath Galvao’s children in their sleep, metaphorically speaking. I would quote something about the yin and yang of life, but being that I was recently ostracized from my tree dwelling commune for urinating on one too many stray animals, I will save the liberal hippie analogy for another day.
The point is, Galvao’s fight with Joe Warren at Bellator 41 was the first time in recent memory that I actually believed the judges were paid off. Fresh off his damn-near-heroic comeback victory over Joe Soto, in which he snagged the Bellator Featherweight championship, self-proclaimed (aren’t they always?) “Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren decided to make a run at the Bantamweight crown. Why he was set on trying to capture two titles before defending one is beyond me, but Warren figured he’d test the waters against journeyman Marcos Galvao in a 137-pound catchweight fight back at Bellator 41. Galvao, who was riding a three-fight win streak over mediocre competition, seemed like a perfect matchup for both Warren and Bellator to display the champ’s dominance. This idea has backfired on Bellator before, and it should have backfired on them on that cool April night.
The first round was close, but clearly Galvao’s, as Warren’s main offensive output consisted of attempting wild takedowns that succeeded in getting him mounted on more than one occasion. Perhaps that was the goal, but I can guaran-damn-tee his goal in the second round wasn’t to eat as many flying knees as humanly possibly, and yet that’s how it went down. The third was clearly Warren’s, but was nowhere near the 10-8 round he would have needed to walk away with a lucky draw. Despite all this, Warren would claim victory, and Galvao’s children would go hungry for another night, because the world can be a cold, unforgiving place. Though Warren would meet his maker in Alexis Vila shortly thereafter, Galvao would wind up on the wrong end of another bullshit decision against, you guessed it, Alexis Vila. Yin and Yang, folks.
Go ahead, TRY and throw some Fightmetric stats at me for the Warren/Galvao fight; it will be as pointless an argument as the one that tree-hugging tyrant Raiyne Thomas-Kirkpatrick-Gilligan and I had before I was kicked out of Serenity Gardens. Neither of us are going to change our ways, so we’d best just move along.
Did we leave out any good MMA robberies? Let us know *your* #1 pick in the comments section.
