(Props: XFC MMA via the UG. Check out an alternate angle of the KO here.)
Last weekend was a veritable potpourri of violence for the rabid anti-UFC MMA fan (a.k.a the CagePotato reader), with the WSOF, Bellator, and several local Brazilian promotions all churning out entertaining cards packed with memorable finishes. Perhaps the greatest KO of the bunch, however, was the Anderson Silva-esque front-kick scored by Bellator veteran Luis “Sapo” Santos over Alfredo Morales at XFCI 3. The way the sweat flies off Morales’ face, coupled with the picture-perfect way he folds like a lawn chair on his way down…it’s what puts the “arts” in “mixed martial arts.” It’s visual poetry, really…(*sniffs wine glass of own farts*)
But the “Sapo” KO — which marked his *sixtieth* win as a professional — was just one of many brilliant knockouts to transpire over the weekend, so join us after the jump for a look at the most recent entry in Josh Burkman’s WSOF highlight reel, as well as a sick spinning backwrist from the worst-named card of the year.
(Props: XFC MMA via the UG. Check out an alternate angle of the KO here.)
Last weekend was a veritable potpourri of violence for the rabid anti-UFC MMA fan (a.k.a the CagePotato reader), with the WSOF, Bellator, and several local Brazilian promotions all churning out entertaining cards packed with memorable finishes. Perhaps the greatest KO of the bunch, however, was the Anderson Silva-esque front-kick scored by Bellator veteran Luis “Sapo” Santos over Alfredo Morales at XFCI 3. The way the sweat flies off Morales’ face, coupled with the picture-perfect way he folds like a lawn chair on his way down…it’s what puts the “arts” in “mixed martial arts.” It’s visual poetry, really…(*sniffs wine glass of own farts*)
But the “Sapo” KO — which marked his *sixtieth* win as a professional — was just one of many brilliant knockouts to transpire over the weekend, so join us after the jump for a look at the most recent entry in Josh Burkman’s WSOF highlight reel, as well as a sick spinning backwrist from the worst-named card of the year.
Although he may have come up short in his WSOF welterweight title fight with Steve Carl last October, it would be hard to argue that any UFC veteran (“Rumble” aside) has enjoyed a more impressive WSOF run than Josh Burkman. With vicious finishes of Jon Fitch and Aaron Simpson and a decision win over TUF 7‘s Gerald Harris already under his belt, Burkman looked to get back on the path to a title shot against savvy striker Tyler Stinson last Sturday, and my God did he ever.
Despite being the supposedly inferior striker and holding a noticeable reach disadvantage, Burkman managed to clip Stinson just over two minutes into the first round of their WSOF 9 main card scrap, sending the Strikeforce and Bellator veteran crashing to the canvas. The punch was righteous, ye, but it was Burkman’s follow-up uppercut that truly sealed the deal. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something about the calm, collected manner in which Burkman strolls away from his victims — whether because of a referee’s intervention or simply his own discretion — that is just so…baller.
Speaking of baller, check out this ridiculous spinning backwrist that also happened over the weekend.
According to a commenter on this gifs reddit page, the backwrister’s name is Daniel Gustavo (who was apparently making his professional debut) and the event was…Fatality Arena 6. Seriously, Brazil? Fatality Arena? You do realize that there are areas of the world trying to separate this sport from its barbaric past and constant comparisons to gladiators and “human cockfighting,” right? Besides the fact that, well, what *isn’t* a potentially fatal arena in the destitute hellscape you call a country? I was going to say “gas station” until you went and fucked that one up. And lord knows your soccer games are just a step above a prison riot. Rabble! RABBLE!!
I’m sorry, Brazil. I had a rough weekend and I’m taking it out on you. Because while you may not be without your faults, your people still know how to show the proper respect where it counts, and that’s all that matters, really.
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Find out what happened to Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman, as well as the complete results of the card after the jump.
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Jon Fitch was the only “mainstream” fighter on the card to win his fight, but his split decision victory was somewhat questionable (the fans booed it, for whatever that’s worth). Marcelo Alfaya—whose claim to MMA fame is getting knocked out by a young Jake Ellenberger at Bellator 11 in 2009—took Fitch down several times and even had Fitch’s back at one point. Fitch eventually landed some takedowns of his own and demonstrated some marginally improved striking, but he didn’t look great. In fact, he looked embarrassingly mediocre against a guy he should’ve destroyed. Fitch wrestle-f*cked Erick Silva yet had serious difficulties with a C-level fighter in Alfaya. Based on this performance, you’d have never thought Fitch once fought for a world title.
In the main event, Josh Burkman fought Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight championship. Burkman fought well enough in the first round, but faded in the second and third rounds, and was ultimately choked unconscious in the fourth.
It wasn’t a good night for the “established” fighters—the fighters that the WSOF brought in to get you to watch the show in the first place.
Here are the complete results, for the guys you were interested in reading about and the guys you’re just hearing about for the first time:
Main Card
Steve Carl def. Josh Burkman via Technical Submission (Triangle) Round 4, 1:02
Marlon Moraes def. Carson Beebe via KO (Punches) Round 1, 0:32
Jon Fitch def. Marcelo Alfaya via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Justin Gaethje def. Dan Lauzon via KO (Punches) Round 2, 1:40
Preliminary Card
Pablo Alfonso def. Miguel Torres via Submission (Guillotine) Round 1, 3:05
Luiz Firmino def. Jacob Volkmann via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Chad Robichaux def. Andrew Yates via Technical Submission (North-South Choke) Round 2, 4:09
Josh Rettinghouse def. Alexis Vila via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nick LoBosco def. Fabio Mello via KO (Head Kick and Punches) Round 1, 1 2:02
Alexandre Pimentel def. Jade Porter via Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 3, 3:05
(As if Fitch didn’t have *enough* douchebags trying to get photos with him in public. / Props: Getty)
The past year hasn’t been easy for former perennial welterweight title contender Jon Fitch. After a loss to Demian Maia, Fitch was still ranked by the UFC as one of the division’s very best, but that didn’t stop the promotion from firing him.
After being priced out of his job with the UFC, the top-ten ranked Fitch next fought and lost to Josh Burkman in his World Series of Fighting debut. Now, Fitch finds himself apparently unable to make ends meet through fighting alone and he has packed up his family and moved them from San Jose, California, to Syracuse, New York, to take a job at a mega-gym called Pacific Health Club.
“There are financial things to take into consideration — it’s a salaried job with guaranteed income and health benefits for my family,” Fitch told MMAFighting in a recent interview.
“Those are huge, really. Honestly, California is falling apart. The whole country’s kind of falling apart. But the cost of living here in California is ridiculous, and the taxation in California is ridiculous. I’m not sure it’s any better in New York yet, but I’ve got to start doing something, thinking outside the box trying to keep yourself and your family above water and outside the sinking ship.”
(As if Fitch didn’t have *enough* douchebags trying to get photos with him in public. / Props: Getty)
The past year hasn’t been easy for former perennial welterweight title contender Jon Fitch. After a loss to Demian Maia, Fitch was still ranked by the UFC as one of the division’s very best, but that didn’t stop the promotion from firing him.
After being priced out of his job with the UFC, the top-ten ranked Fitch next fought and lost to Josh Burkman in his World Series of Fighting debut. Now, Fitch finds himself apparently unable to make ends meet through fighting alone and he has packed up his family and moved them from San Jose, California, to Syracuse, New York, to take a job at a mega-gym called Pacific Health Club.
“There are financial things to take into consideration — it’s a salaried job with guaranteed income and health benefits for my family,” Fitch told MMAFighting in a recent interview.
“Those are huge, really. Honestly, California is falling apart. The whole country’s kind of falling apart. But the cost of living here in California is ridiculous, and the taxation in California is ridiculous. I’m not sure it’s any better in New York yet, but I’ve got to start doing something, thinking outside the box trying to keep yourself and your family above water and outside the sinking ship.”
Fitch says that he’ll head up the mixed martial arts programs at the 90,000 square foot fitness center in upstate New York. “Just in my MMA section, we’ve got 8,000 square feet of mat space and two full-sized cages,” he said.
“It’s just a ridiculous facility, and that’s one of the reasons I made the move, just to take advantage of what they have going on up there. I’m running the MMA and grappling program, but I’m trying to start a fight team.”
The former Purdue wrestling team captain will still conduct his training camps at the American Kickboxing Academy gym in San Jose that he has helped build, and that helped build his career in return. Fitch next fights on October 26 in Florida against Marcelo Alfaya at WSOF 6.
What do you say, ‘Taters? Are you bummed out that a recently top-ten ranked fighter with one of the very best records in the history of the welterweight division has to travel the entire length of the country to take a civilian job at a gym in order to support his family? Or is cashing in on his reputation and building an MMA camp the best possible move for him at this point?
(“All right, boys, break it up.” Photo via Getty Images.)
Josh Burkman’s incredible and somewhat controversial (MAZZAGATTI!!) walk-off submission of the nearly-unsubmittable Jon Fitch at WSOF 3 (video here) may be old news by this point, but it’s been keeping us up nights here at CagePotato ever since. Not because of how shocking or unpredictable it was, but because we couldn’t honestly recall the last time we saw a fighter act as judge, jury, executioner and medieval corpse disposer during his own fight.
The walk-off knockout, while equally entertaining and respectable, is a lot easier to come by based on its definition alone. The walk-off submission, however, is an entirely different beast, so let’s take a look back at eight classic examples of this phenomenon (in no particular order) to honor those who were actually able to pull it off. Enjoy.
Ah yes, the very first walk-off submission in UFC History. In every sense of the word.
(“All right, boys, break it up.” Photo via Getty Images.)
Josh Burkman’s incredible and somewhat controversial (MAZZAGATTI!!) walk-off submission of the nearly-unsubmittable Jon Fitch at WSOF 3 (video here) may be old news by this point, but it’s been keeping us up nights here at CagePotato ever since. Not because of how shocking or unpredictable it was, but because we couldn’t honestly recall the last time we saw a fighter act as judge, jury, executioner and medieval corpse disposer during his own fight.
The walk-off knockout, while equally entertaining and respectable, is a lot easier to come by based on its definition alone. The walk-off submission, however, is an entirely different beast, so let’s take a look back at eight classic examples of this phenomenon (in no particular order) to honor those who were actually able to pull it off. Enjoy.
Ah yes, the very first walk-off submission in UFC History. In every sense of the word.
To recount the story of the very first UFC event would be a disservice to as learned an audience as you Taters, but suffice it to say, it was a clusterfuck. Sumo wrestlers getting their teeth kicked out by savateurs 1/3rd their size, future professional wrestlers breaking street fighters legs with whatever the hell “submissions” were supposed to be…it was a mess. But at the center of the chaos was a man with a modest goal: Proving that he was the best fighter (with the best fighting style) on the entire goddamned planet. That man was Royce Gracie, and his first step toward immortality came in the form of a guy wearing one boxing glove and some sick Nikes.
You know how the story goes, Gracie took Jimmerson down and mounted him almost immediately. Completely out of his element and likely believing that the man on top of him was about to rape his bellybutton, Jimmerson tapped. The tap was so baffling that neither Gracie nor the ref truly knew what had happened, but after a moment to clarify that yes, Jimmerson was getting far too old for this shit, Royce stood up and walked away, his first UFC victory secured. To this day, the referee involved has no idea what the f*ck went down that night.
Otherwise known as the walk-off submission that did not get Jon Jones some fans, Bones’ guillotine of Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 was a work of cold-blooded perfection. Having arguably lost the first round of his UFC career, Jones caught Lyoto coming in with a beautifully timed left hand late in the second. The light heavyweight kingpin then snatched up the choke and pressed Machida against the fence, utilizing the almighty power of the fulcrum to put the Brazilian out on his feet.
It was a finish made all the more impressive when you consider that “The Dragon” is a Jiu-Jitsu black belt himself who had never been submitted in his previous 19 contests. Yet Jones was able to choke him unconscious with what appeared to be minimal effort, then drop him to the canvas like a bag of piss-stained bed sheets. Not bad for a guy who claims that Jiu-Jitsu is his “weakness.”
Otherwise known as the most Diazian submission in the history of the brothers Diaz.
After securing the TUF 5 plaque by successfully disabling Manny Gamburyan‘s shoulder with a set of nunchucks backstage at the season finale (you didn’t know about that?), the younger Diaz passed his first two post-TUF tests with flying colors, successively submitting Junior Assuncao and Alvin Robinson. Diaz would meet his first true test, however, when he was booked against Kurt “Batman” Pellegrino at Fight Night 13.
As is often the case with a Diaz fight, birthday party, or family trip to Old Country Buffet, there was a preexisting beef that needed to be squashed here. You see, Pellegrino used to be a member of Team Renzo Gracie. Then he wasn’t. Therefore, traitor. It was a rivalry that, uh, rivaled such rivilous rivalries as Duke vs. UNC, Anthony vs. Roth, Zimmer vs. Martinez…you get the point. It was also a fight that Pellegrino was utterly dominating with top control and some vicious ground and pound in the first round. The fact that he was making “bitch ass lady sounds” whilst doing so did not take away from this fact.
But there’s an old 209 adage that, loosely translated, states, “It’s damn near impossible to finish a Stocktonian.” Or perhaps it goes, “It’s damn near impossible for a Stocktonian to finish High School.” In either case, a bloodied and bruised Diaz rallied in the second, and brilliantly countered a Pellegrino takedown by pushing off the fence and positioning his legs to set up a triangle choke in mid-air. And when a Diaz knows he has your number, the taunting begins. Although not necessarily a “walk-off” submission, the fact that Diaz was able to prematurely celebrate with both Stockton standby taunts (the muscle flex and the Heybuddy) is arguably just as badass.
See also: Diaz vs. Guillard
Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota – K1 Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2009
Otherwise known as the “talk-off, walk-off” submission.
Speaking of two guys who absolutely hated each other, DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki was rather public about his beef with Sengoku champion Mizuto Hirota in the weeks leading up to their battle at Power of Courage 2009. He called the fight a “disgrace” to his family, pretended to not know who Hirota was, dressed like a schoolgirl; pretty standard stuff, really. Hirota returned fire by mocking Aoki’s fighting style, saying some particularly nasty things about his family, and calling him a “repulsive” person. So when these two clashed heads on New Year’s Eve, we expected that at least one of them would be kicking off 2010 in a hospital bed. As is usually the case, we were spot on.
Hirota never stood a chance, truth be told. Aoki secured a takedown within the opening seconds of the round, worked his way to mount, secured a police-style hammerlock and started cranking. To his credit, Aoki gave Hirota every chance in the world to tap, even warning Hirota what was coming at one point. As the man himself put it:
He was very disrespectful to me before the fight. When I had his arm, he had a chance to tap and he chose not to. I’m not going to give up the submission just because my opponent is too arrogant to not tap. So I broke his arm.
That’s right, a “talk-off” submission. Hirota refused to tap and Aoki obliged with a snap. Taking a page right out of the Diaz playbook, Aoki then proceeded to flip off his injured opponent and the attending audience before disappearing backstage. So technically, this was a “talk-off, flip-off, walk-off” submission.
On the “next page” of our tribute: An absolutely brutal IFL gem, a legend’s final triumph, and a future legend’s most shocking loss…
If there’s anyone that Dana White gets pleasure out of verbally tearing down in the media morethan Roy Nelson, it’s Steve Mazzagatti, the (formerly) porn-stached, cool as a cucumber veteran UFC official who has given us such avant-garde decisions as “Eye Poke Equals a TKO,” “Flying Head Kick? 40 More Punches to Convince Me” and “Tap 10 Times For Assistance.” The Baldfather has stated on numerous occasions that he doesn’t think Mazzagatti should even be watching MMA — which is all the more astounding when you consider all the crazy shit DW has said and done to try and sell a pay-per-view before — and even gone as far as to unofficially dub Mazzagatti “The Worst Referee in the History of Fighting.” In a world where this was allowed to happen, that’s a pretty bold claim.
As it turns out, Mazzagatti found himself at the center of controversy once again last weekend when he basically handed over his reffing duties to Josh Burkman during his WSOF 3 clash with Jon Fitch. After clipping Fitch early (like somebody here predicted he would), Burkman locked in a tight guillotine that put Fitch to sleep just over 40 seconds into their headlining bout. Burkman then proceeded to roll his unconscious opponent over and stand over him triumphantly before Mazzagatti decided to step in. It was perhaps the first walk-off submission in MMA History, and for some reason, you all are pissed about it.
Although White and Fitch have been involved in a war of words ever since the AKA product was released from the UFC, at the end of the day, it’s safe to assume that White wishes no ill will towards the former title contender. And being that Mazzagatti is higher up on White’s hit list than Fitch, the UFC Prez recently laid into the veteran ref for nearly 10 straight minutes at the UFC 161 post-fight media scrum. It was, quite honestly, the harshest takedown we have seen since Neal Page’s “Chatty Cathy” criticism of Del Griffith.
We’ve placed the full video of Dana’s rant above. After the jump, we’re going flush our last remaining scrap of credibility down the toilet in an attempt to do the unthinkable: defend Steve Mazzagatti. We know, we know.
If there’s anyone that Dana White gets pleasure out of verbally tearing down in the media morethan Roy Nelson, it’s Steve Mazzagatti, the (formerly) porn-stached, cool as a cucumber veteran UFC official who has given us such avant-garde decisions as “Eye Poke Equals a TKO,” “Flying Head Kick? 40 More Punches to Convince Me” and “Tap 10 Times For Assistance.” The Baldfather has stated on numerous occasions that he doesn’t think Mazzagatti should even be watching MMA — which is all the more astounding when you consider all the crazy shit DW has said and done to try and sell a pay-per-view before — and even gone as far as to unofficially dub Mazzagatti “The Worst Referee in the History of Fighting.” In a world where this was allowed to happen, that’s a pretty bold claim.
As it turns out, Mazzagatti found himself at the center of controversy once again last weekend when he basically handed over his reffing duties to Josh Burkman during his WSOF 3 clash with Jon Fitch. After clipping Fitch early (like somebody here predicted he would), Burkman locked in a tight guillotine that put Fitch to sleep just over 40 seconds into their headlining bout. Burkman then proceeded to roll his unconscious opponent over and stand over him triumphantly before Mazzagatti decided to step in. It was perhaps the first walk-off submission in MMA History, and for some reason, you all are pissed about it.
Although White and Fitch have been involved in a war of words ever since the AKA product was released from the UFC, at the end of the day, it’s safe to assume that White wishes no ill will towards the former title contender. And being that Mazzagatti is higher up on White’s hit list than Fitch, the UFC Prez recently laid into the veteran ref for nearly 10 straight minutes at the UFC 161 post-fight media scrum. It was, quite honestly, the harshest takedown we have seen since Neal Page’s “Chatty Cathy” criticism of Del Griffith.
We’ve placed the full video of Dana’s rant above. After the jump, we’re going flush our last remaining scrap of credibility down the toilet in an attempt to do the unthinkable: defend Steve Mazzagatti. We know, we know.
Let’s start by taking another look at the fight itself…
(Fight starts at the 2:25 mark.)
4:39 left on the fight clock – Burkman drops Fitch with a right hand.
4:32 – Fitch latches onto a single, Burkman uses a guillotine to lift Fitch back to his feet.
4:29 – Both fighters tumble to the canvas, with Burkman still holding onto the guillotine from half guard.
4:26 – Fitch is still fighting the choke, as evident by the fact that he is attempting to grab Burkman’s elbow with his left hand.
4:25 -Fitch goes noticeably limp, with Mazzagatti standing on the wrong side of the action to notice.
4:23 – Burkman releases Fitch, rolls him over, and stands triumphantly over his victim like Duke fucking Nukem.
Now, there are a couple of significant factors here that, while not absolving Mazzagatti of being an incompetent “toolbox,” at least help his case. The first thing that should be considered here is:
Context: As a longtime official at the highest level of the sport, it is Steve Mazzagatti’s job to understand that discrepancies exist between certain fighters and apply that knowledge when reffing each fight on an individual basis. In short, every ref out there knows (or should know) that Roy Nelson can take a punch, that towards the end of his career, Chuck Liddell couldn’t, and so forth.
Jon Fitch is a black belt in Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu who has not been submitted since his first ever professional contest, despite facing such submission specialists as Demian Maia, Erick Silva, and BJ Penn in recent contests. Although Mazzagatti only presided over one of Fitch’s UFC fights, he was surely in the arena for most of them, and probably took a lot of knowledge away from the ones he was able to stay awake during (BA-DUM-TSH!). To predict that Fitch would be submitted by not only an “inferior” grappler but in as quick a fashion as he was would be presumptuous to say the least. Again, this doesn’t absolve Mazzagatti and isn’t meant to, but is rather an attempt to understand where he might have been coming from. Which of course brings us to…
The Choke Itself: You don’t have to be a BJJ black belt to understand just how difficult it is to submit someone with a guillotine choke from half guard, let alone a grappler of Fitch’s pedigree. The fact that Burkman was able to do this, recognize that Fitch had gone limp, and roll him over in a mere 3 seconds is incredible to say the least. Even Bas Rutten didn’t think Burkman could pull off the choke from the position he was in, and didn’t realize that Burkman had pulled it off until he was standing over Fitch’s unconscious body. Seriously, not since Jacare vs. Camozzi have we seen a fighter go out so quickly, which could partially explain why Mazzagatti wasn’t quick to jump in.
Again, context should be taken into equation here, and given all the heat that Mazzagatti took for his early call during the Ronda Rousey vs. Sarah D’Alelio match at Challengers 18, perhaps he was assuming that he’d rather be a little late on the call than early. In this case, making the call at exactly the right moment would have required some split-second level reflexes that we rarely see from any UFC referee.
In our opinion, the real problem with Mazagatti’s non-stoppage was that it took him a whole three seconds to wave the fight off and start attending to Fitch after Burkman had already done so on his own. While Mazzagatti may have been out of position to see Fitch go limp, there is no excusing how nonchalantly he took action once he realized that Fitch was out. DW may have exaggerated just how long Burkman held onto the choke once Fitch had gone limp (a second at best), but he was undoubtedly right in his criticism of Mazzagatti’s reaction after the fact.
NSAC director Keith Kizer agreed with several of the above points when he attempted to defend Mazzagatti in an interview with MMAFighting. However, he also believed that The Baldfather’s latest rant could be attributed to his own ego more than anything else:
The guy went out and Josh immediately released the hold,” said Kizer. “What’s weird is he flipped Fitch over, away from the ref. When Josh had the hold, he (Mazzagatti) was one step away. He had a perfect view. Josh flipped him away from the ref, then stood up. I would praise the referee if he did a good job. But here, there’s nothing to talk about the ref. It wasn’t a good job or a bad job. He had no job. I think most people thought Jon was going to get out. Bas and I both thought he was letting go of the hold and transitioning to another hold.
Dana’s a good guy,” said Kizer. “Very few people care about other people as much as Dana. But you’ve heard what he’s said about former fighters, former employees, even fighters in his organization. Even Jon Jones. He likes to put people down, whether rightly or wrongly. It’s an ego thing. We all have egos. I think it’s wrong when people lie and you can make your own conclusions on Dana.
At the end of the day, we’re talking about a stoppage that could have come a second earlier at best. This wasn’t a Zaromskis vs. Koreshkov level travesty by any means, and thankfully, Burkman is the kind of fighter who can register when his foe is unconscious and show appropriate mercy in record time.
Mazzagatti has surely made some terrible calls in the past, but so has the untouchable Big John McCarthy, the unfazeable Her Dean, and the uncatchableJosh Rosenthal. All we’re saying is, of all the calls Mazzagatti has botched, we should at least give him some leeway with this one.
What’s so significant about that date? It was the last time that Jon Fitch lost via submission. The last time, until his World Series of Fighting debut in the main event of WSOF 3 on Friday night, where Fitch was swiftly put to sleep via guillotine choke by Josh Burkman. Yup, that Josh Burkman. The Josh Burkman who was little more than average during his UFC stint, going 5-5 with one of those losses from being choked out by who? You guessed it, Jon Fitch.
Even though the World Series of Fighting announcer called the Fitch vs. Burkman rematch “years in the making,” nobody who has watched MMA believed that nonsense. It was supposed to be Jon Fitch snuffing out Burkman and then grabbing the microphone and telling the UFC to kiss his grits. You know, with Jacob Volkmann lurking over his shoulder mumbling some nonsense about a fighter’s union. But, as they always say, there’s a reason why they actually fight.
Burkman, meanwhile, continued his surprising run of upending former UFC fighters in the WSOF, as he is now 3-0 in all three World Series of Fighting events with victories over Gerald Harris, Aaron Simpson and now Jon Fitch. But who the hell expected him to beat Jon Fitch? I’ll tell you, nobody…except Josh Burkman. And of that nobody percent, who thought that Burkman would choke Fitch to sleep in 41 seconds? Nobody…not even Josh Burkman.
“Who thinks they are going to choke out Jon Fitch?,” Burkman said through a wide smile after the shocking main event that capped off a fairly ho-hum third outing for WSOF.
Prior to the jaw dropping main event, WSOF trudged along with a string of relatively boring fights that yielded very little excitement for those in attendance at The Joint inside of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. After the first few matches, most fans drowned themselves in spirits and had loud (mostly drunk) conversations that could be heard throughout the venue. The first five fights of the night are barely worth mentioning. Dan Lauzon beat up on a John Gunderson who looked lifeless in the cage. Carson Beebe earned a controversial unanimous decision despite being completely outclassed on the ground by Joe Murphy. The other disgruntled former UFC employee, Jacob Volkmann, put such a snoozer of a performance in a unanimous decision victory over Lyle Beerbohm that Ben Askren tweeted “That fight had less strikes than one of my fights!” So, you know, when Ben Askren pretty much calls your fight boring, you are in trouble.
(“Hey, sorry I’m late, the beer line was crazy, did I miss anyth-OH SHIT.” — Steve Mazzagatti / Photo via Sherdog)
What’s so significant about that date? It was the last time that Jon Fitch lost via submission. The last time, until his World Series of Fighting debut in the main event of WSOF 3 on Friday night, where Fitch was swiftly put to sleep via guillotine choke by Josh Burkman. Yup, that Josh Burkman. The Josh Burkman who was little more than average during his UFC stint, going 5-5 with one of those losses from being choked out by who? You guessed it, Jon Fitch.
Even though the World Series of Fighting announcer called the Fitch vs. Burkman rematch “years in the making,” nobody who has watched MMA believed that nonsense. It was supposed to be Jon Fitch snuffing out Burkman and then grabbing the microphone and telling the UFC to kiss his grits. You know, with Jacob Volkmann lurking over his shoulder mumbling some nonsense about a fighter’s union. But, as they always say, there’s a reason why they actually fight.
Burkman, meanwhile, continued his surprising run of upending former UFC fighters in the WSOF, as he is now 3-0 in all three World Series of Fighting events with victories over Gerald Harris, Aaron Simpson and now Jon Fitch. But who the hell expected him to beat Jon Fitch? I’ll tell you, nobody…except Josh Burkman. And of that nobody percent, who thought that Burkman would choke Fitch to sleep in 41 seconds? Nobody…not even Josh Burkman.
“Who thinks they are going to choke out Jon Fitch?,” Burkman said through a wide smile after the shocking main event that capped off a fairly ho-hum third outing for WSOF.
Prior to the jaw dropping main event, WSOF trudged along with a string of relatively boring fights that yielded very little excitement for those in attendance at The Joint inside of the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. After the first few matches, most fans drowned themselves in spirits and had loud (mostly drunk) conversations that could be heard throughout the venue. The first five fights of the night are barely worth mentioning. Dan Lauzon beat up on a John Gunderson who looked lifeless in the cage. Carson Beebe earned a controversial unanimous decision despite being completely outclassed on the ground by Joe Murphy. The other disgruntled former UFC employee, Jacob Volkmann, put such a snoozer of a performance in a unanimous decision victory over Lyle Beerbohm that Ben Askren tweeted “That fight had less strikes than one of my fights!” So, you know, when Ben Askren pretty much calls your fight boring, you are in trouble.
Yup, it was not a memorable night for WSOF.
But things did perk up a little when the co-main event took place. Tyson “Man Of” Steele threw about a million kicks in the first sixty seconds of his fight against Steve Carl that left the former Bellator welterweight tournament fighter looking rather unimpressed. So Carl stuffed an ill-fated takedown attempt and rear-naked-choked Steele to earn the stoppage victory at the 1:32 mark. The crowd perked up for that.
By the time Fitch vs. Burkman took place, most of the writers in press row were either bored or increasingly annoyed by the spilled drinks landing on them courtesy of the drunken fans above us. We needed something fun to write about and this was it.
In the opening seconds of the fight, Burkman clipped Fitch with a right hand that sent the former UFC welterweight title contender stumbling forward in an attempt to secure a takedown. Burkman took the opportunity to snare Fitch’s neck and applied a standing guillotine. Perhaps aware that Fitch isn’t so easy to choke out (ask Erick Silva), Burkman went all WWE on Fitch and damn near DDT-ed him through the canvas. But Fitch was still awake and struggling. The Ultimate Fighter 2 contestant put all he had into the choke and Fitch eventually went limp and everyone, including referee Steve Mazzagatti, stared in shock. Unfortunately, refereeing and fighter safety is Mazzagatti’s job and if it wasn’t for Burkman letting Fitch go, the AKA fighter would have probably needed medical attention because he’d be nearing death. Great job Mazzagatti. But I digress…
As Fitch lay motionless on the canvas, the ghost of a snickering Dana White could be felt hovering over the venue. Maybe Dana knew that Fitch — who is now 1-3-1 in his last five fights — was damaged goods. Fitch, who seemed more embarrassed than distraught summed up his loss as “a mistake” and began talking about having a rubber match.
“I got a little overconfident with my choke defense,” Fitch said. “I was going to slam him but he locked it in too tight, a mistake on my part.”
You know who didn’t make a mistake? The UFC. With Fitch’s loss and Volkmann looking very Volkmann-like in his victory, Dana White and Co. won’t be losing any sleep after parting ways with the two fighters. Perhaps White was right, Fitch’s best years are behind him.
As for Burkmann, his resurgence as an MMA fighter will continue as he will now likely face Steve Carl for the first-ever WSOF welterweight title. Clearly, this victory was the most significant of Burkman’s career.
“I think it does validate my win streak,” he said. “I think it also comes full circle. My career kind of went up and down after I lost to Fitch. To get this one back is big for me, and big for my career.”
Ultimately, WSOF 3 lacked the excitement and finishes the first two installments had and it will be interesting to see if the fighting organization can snare away some attention from the UFC and Bellator.
WSOF 3 Results
MAIN CARD
Josh Burkman def. Jon Fitch via 1st round submission (0:41)
Steve Carl def. Tyson Steele via 1st round submission (1:32)
Jacob Volkmann def. Lyle Beerbohm via unanimous decision
Justin Gaethje def. Brian Cobb via 3rd round TKO (2:19)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Jerrod Sanders def. Jeff Smith via unanimous decision
Dan Lauzon def. John Gunderson via unanimous decision
Carson Beebe def. Joe Murphy via unanimous decision
Krasimir Mladenov def. Kendrick Miree via unanimous decision
Brenson Hansen def. Josh Montalvo via unanimous decision
