Tag: marcus davis

Bellator 93 Recap: Dave Jansen and Michael Page Earn Victories in Night of Quick Stoppages, Controversy

(Michael Page vs. Ryan Sanders — strong front-runner for Phantom Punch of 2013. Props: videosei.)

Despite losing some of its star power due to injuries, last night’s Bellator 93 event in Lewiston, Maine, turned out to be a mostly-satisfying affair, with eight of the ten scheduled matches ending within the first-round, and three ending within the first 20 seconds. But two unfortunate moments cast a shadow on the event.

First off, Michael Page‘s hotly-anticipated Bellator debut ended with a 10-second KO victory over Ryan Sanders, as the flashy British striker caught Sanders with a straight right as his victim was charging in…or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, there was something a little fishy about the stoppage. Watch the replays in the video above, and you’ll see that Page either barely touched Sanders, or didn’t touch him at all. At any rate, the strike didn’t seem to justify the reaction of Sanders, who immediately flopped to the mat, clutching his head in agony. He was back on his feet moments later, looking somewhat disappointed. We’re not going to accuse Bellator of some vast conspiracy; it’s more likely that Sanders simply didn’t want to be there. And unfortunately, he may have robbed us of the opportunity to see Page produce another classic no-walk-off knockout.

Speaking of let-downs, the guaranteed barnburner between Marcus Davis vs. Waachiim Spiritwolf ended in a no-contest in the first round, after Davis nailed Spiritwolf with a knee to the groin; Spiritwolf couldn’t continue after the foul. (Sound familiar?) Though the Lewiston crowd chanted “Bullshit!” and booed Spiritwolf in an apparent indictment of his bitchassness, there was nothing fake about that low-blow. Check out the GIF below, via BloodyElbow…


(Michael Page vs. Ryan Sanders — strong front-runner for Phantom Punch of 2013. Props: videosei.)

Despite losing some of its star power due to injuries, last night’s Bellator 93 event in Lewiston, Maine, turned out to be a mostly-satisfying affair, with eight of the ten scheduled matches ending within the first-round, and three ending within the first 20 seconds. But two unfortunate moments cast a shadow on the event.

First off, Michael Page‘s hotly-anticipated Bellator debut ended with a 10-second KO victory over Ryan Sanders, as the flashy British striker caught Sanders with a straight right as his victim was charging in…or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, there was something a little fishy about the stoppage. Watch the replays in the video above, and you’ll see that Page either barely touched Sanders, or didn’t touch him at all. At any rate, the strike didn’t seem to justify the reaction of Sanders, who immediately flopped to the mat, clutching his head in agony. He was back on his feet moments later, looking somewhat disappointed. We’re not going to accuse Bellator of some vast conspiracy; it’s more likely that Sanders simply didn’t want to be there. And unfortunately, he may have robbed us of the opportunity to see Page produce another classic no-walk-off knockout.

Speaking of let-downs, the guaranteed barnburner between Marcus Davis vs. Waachiim Spiritwolf ended in a no-contest in the first round, after Davis nailed Spiritwolf with a knee to the groin; Spiritwolf couldn’t continue after the foul. (Sound familiar?) Though the Lewiston crowd chanted “Bullshit!” and booed Spiritwolf in an apparent indictment of his bitchassness, there was nothing fake about that low-blow. Check out the GIF below, via BloodyElbow…

In other main card action, can-crusher extraordinaire Travis Wiuff‘s return to the heavyweight division ended up with him getting crushed in just 18 seconds. The GIF below tells the entire story of the fight, pretty much — southpaw Ryan Martinez landed a heavy straight left early, and didn’t stop swinging until Big Dan was pulling him off. It was the third consecutive loss for Wiuff.

Finally, in the main event, Dave Jansen and Marcin Held battled for three rounds to determine Bellator’s Season 7 Lightweight Tournament winner. Though he’s primarily known as a submission ace with a taste for leg-locks, Held looked very comfortable keeping the fight standing in the first round, getting the better of Jansen in most of their striking exchanges. Ironically, Held was much less effective on the mat, as his attempts to tie Jansen up in the second round were consistently met with escapes and ground-and-pound. As the Polish prodigy began to fade in the third, Jansen turned up the heat, beating him up in the standup exchanges and keeping his knees/ankles well out of danger. Jansen took the fight by unanimous decision, upping his Bellator record to a perfect 6-0, and earning a future title shot against Michael Chandler.

Full results from Bellator 93 are below…

MAIN CARD
– Dave Jansen def. Marcin Held via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Ryan Martinez def. Travis Wiuff via KO, 0:18 of round 1
– Marcus Davis vs. Waachiim Spiritwolf declared a no contest (unintentional low blow), 3:05 of round 1

PRELIMINARY CARD
– Dave Vitkay def. Jesse Peterson via technical submission (guillotine choke), 0:18 of round 1
– Michael Page def. Ryan Sanders via KO, 0:10 of round 1
– Jason Butcher def. Jack Hermansson via submission (triangle choke), 2:24 of round 1
– Mike Mucitelli def. Brett Dillingham via submission (armbar), 2:48 of round 1
– Joe Pacheco def. Pierry Pierre via submission (Americana), 1:54 of round 1
– Vince Murdock def. John Raio via TKO, 4:01 of round 3
– Jon Lemke def. Jesse Erickson via TKO, 2:50 of round 1

Four Reasons to Be Moderately Excited for Tonight’s Bellator 93 Event

Since switching to the “Thursday Night Fights” format, Bellator has been consistently cranking out high quality fight cards that often compensate for their lack of name value with exciting finishes and entertaining brawls to boot. Then again, with all of their biggest starts consistently underperforming, Bellator’s cards often live and die by the performances of their lesser known fighters. Tonight’s Bellator 93 card is no different, featuring a slew of relative unknowns and up-and-comers that are all but guaranteed to deliver in terms of entertainment. Here’s why you should be watching when they do…

1. Michael. F’in. Page. 

Despite his short time in the sport, Michael “Venom” Page might just be the most hyped fighter currently outside of the UFC. At just 3-0, the British phenom has already drawn comparisons to Jimi Manuwa and even Anderson Silva for his flashy yet devastating style of striking. Just check out the above video of Page clowning Ben Dishman in his professional debut (fight starts at the 3 minute mark) and tell us that the sky isn’t the limit for this kid. On the heels of a doctor stoppage TKO victory at Super Fight League 7, Page will be taking on relative unknown Ryan Sanders, who has dropped three of his past four fights. Yeah, this is not going to end well for him. But it probably will for fans of horrifying knockouts.

Since switching to the “Thursday Night Fights” format, Bellator has been consistently cranking out high quality fight cards that often compensate for their lack of name value with exciting finishes and entertaining brawls to boot. Then again, with all of their biggest starts consistently underperforming, Bellator’s cards often live and die by the performances of their lesser known fighters. Tonight’s Bellator 93 card is no different, featuring a slew of relative unknowns and up-and-comers that are all but guaranteed to deliver in terms of entertainment. Here’s why you should be watching when they do…

1. Michael. F’in. Page. 

Despite his short time in the sport, Michael “Venom” Page might just be the most hyped fighter currently outside of the UFC. At just 3-0, the British phenom has already drawn comparisons to Jimi Manuwa and even Anderson Silva for his flashy yet devastating style of striking. Just check out the above video of Page clowning Ben Dishman in his professional debut (fight starts at the 3 minute mark) and tell us that the sky isn’t the limit for this kid. On the heels of a doctor stoppage TKO victory at Super Fight League 7, Page will be taking on relative unknown Ryan Sanders, who has dropped three of his past four fights. Yeah, this is not going to end well for him. But it probably will for fans of horrifying knockouts.

2. Marcin. F’in. Held. 

Despite suffering a setback in his Bellator debut (via submission to lightweight champ Michael Chandler), Marcin Held has quickly established himself as one of the promotion’s fastest rising lightweights. In the past two years, Held has racked up five straight victories including a submission via toe hold over UFC vet Rich Clementi at Bellator 81 (video above). The win propelled him into the tournament finals, where he will take on Dave Jansen — who also riding a five fight win streak — for the right to a much wanted rematch with Chandler.

3. Barnburner Alert: Waachiim Spiritwolf vs. Marcus Davis

Aside from possessing the greatest tattoo in MMA history, Waachim Spiritwolf — like his father Nightwolf before him — is never afraid to shy away from a good old fashioned slugfest. Sure, he’s dropped his last four fights and six of his last seven overall, but the dude always brings it, which is all that really matters anymore, right? Anyway, he’ll have no trouble convincing UFC veteran Marcus Davis to throw strategy to the wayside for the sake of entertainment, as it’s been something that Davis has been doing nearly his entire MMA career. Would a win for either man have a resounding impact on the MMA landscape? Hell no, but sometimes, we like to set things like “technical abilities” and “status” aside and just watch two old dudes throw down until one of them falls over. This fight all but guarantees that.

4. Travis Weeufff: The Ultimate Can Crusher

I’d like to start by immediately apologizing for misleading you with that subtitle. Travis Fulton is the *ultimate* ultimate can crusher, but Travis View (somehow spelled Wiuff but pronounced as such) comes in a damn close second. In fact, Wiuff is so good at crushing cans that he occasionally takes out a Bellator champion in a non-title bout. And tonight, Wiuff will be taking on 8-2 Ryan Martinez, who to his credit has yet to achieve true “can” status. That being said, Wiuff is going to crush him, and I mean crush him, all the same. At 68-16, Wiuff’s experience will simply be too much for Martinez, and the fight will likely end in similar fashion to Wiuff’s Bellator 71 destruction of Chris Davis. Again, it probably wont be the most technical affair, but it’s a free night of fights that is guaranteed to end with at least one person’s skull being caved in, so what the hell are you complaining about?

–J. Jones

Sad Knockout of the Day: Marcus Davis Meets the Head Kick of Doom

(Skip to the 2:10 mark if you want to watch your dad get his ass kicked.)

Good afternoon, Potato Nation. How’s your Monday going? Well, it’s about to get even worse, because everyone’s favorite kilt-wearing former UFC welterweight, Marcus Davis, nearly met his maker this past weekend, and since we had to sit through it, so shall you. After opting out of his Zuffa contract the hard way at UFC 125, “The Irish Hand Grenade” would go 3-1 in various promotions before facing off against Mark Casserly in a kickboxing match.

Now, Davis has suffered some of the most brutal knockouts in the history of the sport (*cough* Ben Saunders *cough*), but this may be the cherry on the blood flavored ice cream sundae. We can’t remember the last time that a kick turned its recipient into a human rocking chair, but we’ll remember this KO for years to come, that’s for sure. Seriously, it’s like that scene in Bad Santa when the midget from Me, Myself, and Irene gets punched in the nuts and falls head over heels, except not nearly as hilarious.

We’re not doctors, but we think this might be the fight that prompts Davis to call it a career. As you can see, it took him more than a few minutes before he was able to regain his composure, and sometimes that is all it takes for a fighter to reconsider his line of work, especially at Davis’ age. Regardless of the decision he may or not make within the next couple weeks, we’d like to take a moment here at CP to thank Davis for his contributions to the sport…

…Alrighty then, now join us after the jump to watch another ferocious head-kick KO from this past weekend, courtesy of our friends over at MiddleEasy. Don’t blink, because it happens just over five seconds into the fight.


(Skip to the 2:10 mark if you want to watch your dad get his ass kicked.)

Good afternoon, Potato Nation. How’s your Monday going? Well, it’s about to get even worse, because everyone’s favorite kilt-wearing former UFC welterweight, Marcus Davis, nearly met his maker this past weekend, and since we had to sit through it, so shall you. After opting out of his Zuffa contract the hard way at UFC 125, “The Irish Hand Grenade” would go 3-1 in various promotions before facing off against Mark Casserly in a kickboxing match.

Now, Davis has suffered some of the most brutal knockouts in the history of the sport (*cough* Ben Saunders *cough*), but this may be the cherry on the blood flavored ice cream sundae. We can’t remember the last time that a kick turned its recipient into a human rocking chair, but we’ll remember this KO for years to come, that’s for sure. Seriously, it’s like that scene in Bad Santa when the midget from Me, Myself, and Irene gets punched in the nuts and falls head over heels, except not nearly as hilarious.

We’re not doctors, but we think this might be the fight that prompts Davis to call it a career. As you can see, it took him more than a few minutes before he was able to regain his composure, and sometimes that is all it takes for a fighter to reconsider his line of work, especially at Davis’ age. Regardless of the decision he may or not make within the next couple weeks, we’d like to take a moment here at CP to thank Davis for his contributions to the sport…

…Alrighty then, now join us below to watch another ferocious head-kick KO from this past weekend, courtesy of our friends over at MiddleEasy. Don’t blink, because it happens just over five seconds into the fight.


(Skip to the 5:45 mark for the beginning of the end.) 

Remember that ridiculous come from behind victory we featured last week? You know, the one where “Diamond” Dan Pauling absorbed approximately 1 million punches before submitting his opponent? In case you do, meet fellow SHINDO New Breed fighter Jack “The Flash” Gooderham, who took the much easier path to CP glory by crushing his opponent with a brilliant head kick just six seconds into the opening round of their May 5th scrap. With the win, he improves to 8-0 as a pro, and 1-0 as a CagePotato certified badass. We’ll leave it up to him to decide which one is more important.

–J. Jones

Barnburner Alert: Jeremy Stephens Replaces Yves Edwards vs. Donald Cerrone at UFC on FUEL 3

Have you heard? Jeremy Stephens vs. Donald Cerrone!

It is rare feat in mixed martial arts when a replacement fighter actually increases the interest for a fight, so that makes this particular announcement all the more interesting. It appears that Yves Edwards has suffered an undisclosed injury that has forced him to withdraw from his upcoming UFC on FUEL 3 lightweight fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Luckily, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva has found literally the PERFECT opponent to replace Edwards, Iowa power puncher Jeremy Stephens, in a fight that is now all but guaranteed to be a slugfest.

We last saw “Lil’ Heathen” at UFC 136, where he was out grappled by the likely next challenger to the UFC Lightweight title, Anthony Pettis, en route to a split decision loss. Prior to that, Stephens had scored two straight, KO’ing Marcus Davis out of a Zuffa contract at UFC 125…

…before almost ripping Danny Downes‘ arm off at the TUF 13 Finale. 

Have you heard? Jeremy Stephens vs. Donald Cerrone!

It is rare feat in mixed martial arts when a replacement fighter actually increases the interest for a fight, so that makes this particular announcement all the more interesting. It appears that Yves Edwards has suffered an undisclosed injury that has forced him to withdraw from his upcoming UFC on FUEL 3 lightweight fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Luckily, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva has found literally the PERFECT opponent to replace Edwards, Iowa power puncher Jeremy Stephens, in a fight that is now all but guaranteed to be a slugfest.

We last saw “Lil’ Heathen” at UFC 136, where he was out grappled by the likely next challenger to the UFC Lightweight title, Anthony Pettis, en route to a split decision loss. Prior to that, Stephens had scored two straight, KO’ing Marcus Davis out of a Zuffa contract at UFC 125…

…before almost ripping Danny Downes‘ arm off at the TUF 13 Finale. 

7-6 in his octagon career, Stephens will be facing another tough test when he takes on Donald Cerrone, who had arguably the best 2011 of any fighter, scoring four straight in the UFC over Dennis Siver and Charles Oliveira among others. Unfortunately, on December 30th, Cerrone would get his ass whooped worse than Kevin Bacon’s in Animal House by Nate Diaz at UFC 141, which wasn’t a great way to ring in the new year. That being said, it looks like a good match just got even better, with all due respect to Yves. Prepare yourselves for three rounds of absolute war, ladies and gentlemen, because these two granite-chinned SOB’s don’t know how to put on anything else.

UFC on FUEL 3 goes down from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on May 25th, and features a featherweight showdown between Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung.

Who you got for this one?

-J. Jones

W-1 MMA 7 “Reloaded” Recap: O’Neil Upsets Davis, Kim Couture still Sucks

I’ll never figure out how Kim Couture is still getting fights. She isn’t skilled. She isn’t exactly loved by the MMA community. And while you’ll get media attention for putting her on your fight card, it’s usually at the expense of having your good fighters ignored so that the inevitable freak show bout can receive extra criticism. Is any attention truly better than no attention?

Kim Couture fought Suzie Montero, a Muay Thai fighter who once fought Gina Carano, who was making her MMA debut. If this fight was a warm-up for Kim Couture’s planned transition to professional kickboxing, then perhaps Kim should train more. Or at least she should train with consenting sparring partners. Couture now drops to 3-6 in her MMA cash grab.

The saddest part is that W-1 MMA had some real news emerge from last night’s card. For starters, W-1 announced that it has agreed to terms with UFC veteran and TUF Season 2 winner Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. While details are still unclear, Stevenson is expected to make his debut with the promotion in early 2012. The fight will be Stevenson’s first fight since being cut from the UFC in August.

I’ll never figure out how Kim Couture is still getting fights. She isn’t skilled. She isn’t exactly loved by the MMA community. And while you’ll get media attention for putting her on your fight card, it’s usually at the expense of having your good fighters ignored so that the inevitable freak show bout can receive extra criticism. Is any attention truly better than no attention?

Kim Couture fought Suzie Montero, a Muay Thai fighter who once fought Gina Carano, who was making her MMA debut. If this fight was a warm-up for Kim Couture’s planned transition to professional kickboxing, then perhaps Kim should train more. Or at least she should train with consenting sparring partners. Couture now drops to 3-6 in her MMA cash grab.

The saddest part is that W-1 MMA had some real news emerge from last night’s card. For starters, W-1 announced that it has agreed to terms with UFC veteran and TUF Season 2 winner Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. While details are still unclear, Stevenson is expected to make his debut with the promotion in early 2012. The fight will be Stevenson’s first fight since being cut from the UFC in August.

Also of note, TUF 13 alumnus Chuck O’Neil defeated Marcus Davis in the main event of the evening. In an otherwise close fight, O’Neil used his reach advantage to control the distance, and opened a nasty cut on Davis’ forehead with an elbow from top position in the third round.  O’Neil improves to 9-4, while Davis falls to 20-9. The loss snaps a three fight win streak for Davis.

Full results, courtesy of Bloody Elbow:

Chuck O’Neil def. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Luis Palomino def. James Edson Berto via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
John Manley def. Sabah Homasi via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Alan Arzeno def. Tom Waters via TKO, 3:12, R2.
Nathan Coy def. Patrick Mikesz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Kenny Moss def. Bruno Reis Da Maria via submission (shoulder choke), 1:46, R2
Frank Carrillo def. Joseph Watson via KO (uppercut), 2:37, R1
Suzie Montero def. Kim Couture via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Giovanni Brugnoni def. James Wynn via submission (guillotine choke), 0:57, R1
Michael Trujillo def. Eric Raposo via TKO, 0:55, R1
Anthony Garavito def. Davaun McKoy via submission (keylock), 2:57, R3.
Michael Quinones def. Denis Sejdievski via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

 

The Argument For Banning Weight Cutting in MMA


(Davis during a much easier weight cut. Photo courtesy of MMAJunkie)

As a member of a group that has done some consulting for the Ontario Athletic Commission in terms of MMA fighter safety and regulation, I’ve been a longtime opposer of the practice of weight cutting. It’s just a matter of time before a fighter dies from the practice.

Not only is the process a dangerous one that has led to the death of several high school and college wrestlers, its side effects are non-reversible and can cause major health problems for fighters later in life. It’s no coincidence that many of the sport’s participants who used to wrestle and cut weight in their youth are now on hormone replacement therapy. Starvation and extreme dehydration — two of the facets of the weight cutting procedure — put stress on the body’s endocrine system and inhibit the production of key chemicals such as testosterone, adrenaline and insulin.

Former UFC welterweight-turned-lightweight Marcus Davis shared a scary weight cutting story with MMA Weekly recently that should be a must read for athletic commissions who allow such a dangerous practice as dropping between 10 and 40 lbs the week of a fight to take place.

Davis, a former pro boxer who had been cutting weight since he was a teenager explained that his first post-UFC bout weight cut for his MFC 29 bout with Curtis Demarce in April was a nightmare that very well could have had fatal consequences.

“It’s kind of scary to say this but that fight almost killed me, making that weight. I had a really, really, really bad time and I still made the weight, but I’ll never ever be able to do that again,” Davis explained, revealing that the dehydration left him without his voice at weigh-ins and unable to urinate or have a bowel movement for the better part of a week. “After that, I think I was all the way down to 154 (pounds) when I ended up weighing in and that fight was on a Friday. That Monday I was 207, so it had nothing to do with my overeating. It had to do with my body freaked out and thought that I might torture it again like that so it just held onto everything.”


(Davis during a much easier weight cut. Photo courtesy of MMAJunkie)

As a member of a group that has done some consulting for the Ontario Athletic Commission in terms of MMA fighter safety and regulation, I’ve been a longtime opposer of the practice of weight cutting. It’s just a matter of time before a fighter dies from the practice.

Not only is the process a dangerous one that has led to the death of several high school and college wrestlers, its side effects are non-reversible and can cause major health problems for fighters later in life. It’s no coincidence that many of the sport’s participants who used to wrestle and cut weight in their youth are now on hormone replacement therapy. Starvation and extreme dehydration — two of the facets of the weight cutting procedure — put stress on the body’s endocrine system and inhibit the production of key chemicals such as testosterone, adrenaline and insulin.

Former UFC welterweight-turned-lightweight Marcus Davis shared a scary weight cutting story with MMA Weekly recently that should be a must read for athletic commissions who allow such a dangerous practice as dropping between 10 and 40 lbs the week of a fight to take place.

Davis, a former pro boxer who had been cutting weight since he was a teenager explained that his first post-UFC bout weight cut for his MFC 29 bout with Curtis Demarce in April was a nightmare that very well could have had fatal consequences.

“It’s kind of scary to say this but that fight almost killed me, making that weight. I had a really, really, really bad time and I still made the weight, but I’ll never ever be able to do that again,” Davis explained, revealing that the dehydration left him without his voice at weigh-ins and unable to urinate or have a bowel movement for the better part of a week. “After that, I think I was all the way down to 154 (pounds) when I ended up weighing in and that fight was on a Friday. That Monday I was 207, so it had nothing to do with my overeating. It had to do with my body freaked out and thought that I might torture it again like that so it just held onto everything.”

In spite of his health issues, “The Irish Hand Grenade” won the bout. Figuring that the symptoms he displayed were simply his body’s way of telling him that he should go back to welterweight, Davis took a fight two months later against fellow UFC vet Pete Spratt at 170. Unfortunately the cut was as brutal as the last one.

“Saying it was a hard cut to go to 155 is one thing, but you know I fought Pete Spratt about eight weeks later and I had difficulty making 170. What was weird was I followed the same routine cause I got into panic mode cause I wasn’t losing any weight, so I went to my 155-pound diet and my body still wouldn’t let that weight go. I had a really tough time with those two fights,” Davis said.

Heading into his W-1 bout with Chuck O’Neil this weekend in Miami, Davis says he feels 100% healthy with the cut this time around and that the health scares he had earlier this year prompted his wife to make the 38-year-old father of four promise he wouldn’t go down to 155 again.

“My body’s back being adjusted for 170. That probably was the best fit and the strongest that I’ve been in a long time,” he explained. “I honestly don’t think my body would allow me to do it, and if I did, I wouldn’t want to know what it could do to my health in the long run. I made a promise to my wife that I wasn’t going to do that again.”

The advantage a few pounds gives a fighter over a smaller opponent is a negligible one when it affects their cardio and performance in the fight and causes them irreparable damage to their body and health. The ABC need to hire an independent group to study the effects of cutting weight and hopefully ban the process from combat sports. Same day weigh-ins would simply make fighters fight at their natural weights, which would mean an even playing field for everyone, especially if they were weighed just prior to their bouts.