Tag: Matt Horwich

Recap: Khalidov Submits Grove, Michal Materla Joins the First-Punch KO Hall of Fame at KSW 21: Final Resolution

We’re not sure if Mamed Khalidov has been workshopping any nickname ideas, but as the unofficial authorities on this subject, we’d like to suggest “The Compactor.” Because for the past two or so years, Khalidov has been making his living collecting the UFC’s trash and shredding them into bite-sized pieces before disposing of them like yesterday’s leftovers. In this regard, his victory over TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove was a success, as he secured a rarely seen achilles lock to put Grove away inside the distance. But in a way, the win was one of Khalidov’s less impressive performances in recent memory. I mean, he even let Grove get to the second round for Chrissakes, and considering UFC veterans like Rodney Wallace, James “WHY ME?!” Irvin, Matt Lindland, and Jesse Taylor couldn’t make it out of the second minute, it really makes you wonder just why Khalidov decided to dick around for as long as he did.

We kid, we kid. In his last six fights, Khalidov has scored two victories by knockout, one by armbar, one by kneebar, one by guillotine, and one by the aforementioned Achilles lock. The man is as close to a human Swiss army knife as you will ever find, and once the UFC offers him a contract worth more than the paper it’s printed on, expect to see him making waves stateside.

Unfortunately, the video of his fight with Grove in unembeddable, so you’ll have to go here to check it out.

After the jump: Videos of the night’s co-main event — which pitted Rodney Wallace against Michael Materla for the KSW middleweight title — and the scrap between UFC veterans Matt Horwich and Terry Martin.

We’re not sure if Mamed Khalidov has been workshopping any nickname ideas, but as the unofficial authorities on this subject, we’d like to suggest “The Compactor.” Because for the past two or so years, Khalidov has been making his living collecting the UFC’s trash and shredding them into bite-sized pieces before disposing of them like yesterday’s leftovers. In this regard, his victory over TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove was a success, as he secured a rarely seen achilles lock to put Grove away inside the distance. But in a way, the win was one of Khalidov’s less impressive performances in recent memory. I mean, he even let Grove get to the second round for Chrissakes, and considering UFC veterans like Rodney Wallace, James “WHY ME?!” Irvin, Matt Lindland, and Jesse Taylor couldn’t make it out of the second minute, it really makes you wonder just why Khalidov decided to dick around for as long as he did.

We kid, we kid. In his last six fights, Khalidov has scored two victories by knockout, one by armbar, one by kneebar, one by guillotine, and one by the aforementioned Achilles lock. The man is as close to a human Swiss army knife as you will ever find, and once the UFC offers him a contract worth more than the paper it’s printed on, expect to see him making waves stateside.

Unfortunately, the video of his fight with Grove in unembeddable, so you’ll have to go here to check it out.

We’re not sure how Rodney Wallace fandangled his way into a middleweight title shot considering he was knocked out by none other than Mamed Khalidov in his last KSW appearance, but be that as it may, Wallace found himself riding a two fight win streak heading into his match against 18-3 Michal “Magic” Materla. Unfortunately for Wallace, his second appearance under the KSW banner would go even worse than the first. Materla only needed one punch — specifically, the first one he threw — to send Wallace crashing to the mat like a farm plow stuck in a rut. Face down, ass up, that’s the way Michal likes to fuck Chuck.

A few follow-up hammerfists sealed the deal, and the newly crowned middleweight champ now finds himself on a six fight win streak that includes victories over UFC veterans Jay Silva and Matt Horwich, the latter of which squared off with fellow UFC vet terry Martin just beforehand.

When you read this headline, did you think it was Terry Martin who would end up on the wrong end of the first-punch KO? No one would have blamed, for your reasoning was undeniably sound, but Martin would actually succumb to an even more demoralizing loss than usual at the hands of Matt Horwich last Saturday.

Despite being taken down early, Horwich — who is looking like Roy Nelson’s meth-dealing cousin nowadays — utilized his superior grappling background to pull out a late first round TKO stoppage over Martin. And we say TKO in the loosest sense of the term, as Horwich managed to follow an omoplata sweep with some of the honest-to-God weakest ground-n-pound punches we have ever witnessed. Still, the defeat had to be somewhat of a moral victory for Martin, in that he wasn’t completely zombified by the time the fight was over like every other one of his 8 (T)KO losses. I hope that dude likes smoothies, because that’s all he’s gonna be eating in the future if he keeps this up.

–J. Jones

The Fourteen Ugliest Walkout Shirts in MMA


Yes, it’s ugly, trashy and tasteless to include Arianny on this list. Just like this t-shirt. Props: UFCStore.com

MMA fighters aren’t exactly known for their fashion sense. So it should come as little surprise that most MMA t-shirt companies produce some pretty questionable designs. The rampant abuse of foil print, skulls, chains, tribal designs and nautical stars among most MMA t-shirts is bad enough on its own; even worse when you consider that they sell for thirty bucks a pop.

Which I guess makes it all the worse when a fighter makes his way to the cage covered in an “athletic fit” Old-English mess. Not only is the shirt revolting, but it’s going to sell for an outlandish sum of money, and be worn by every overweight Texas Roadhouse chef, milquetoast tech support geek and muscle-bound frat boy.

Perhaps the reason that we’ve never attempted an “Ugliest Walkout Shirts” post is because ranking these train wrecks is like ranking, well, actual train wrecks. No matter what order you place them in, you’re a total scumbag for attempting to rank a tragedy from most to least depressing. And besides, you’re clearly wrong about which one belongs at number three. For that reason, these will not be ranked, per se, but rather categorized. How you feel these shirts fall into place is up to you.

Let’s start with the most obvious category:


Yes, it’s ugly, trashy and tasteless to include Arianny on this list. Just like this t-shirt. Props: UFCStore.com

MMA fighters aren’t exactly known for their fashion sense. So it should come as little surprise that most MMA t-shirt companies produce some pretty questionable designs. The rampant abuse of foil print, skulls, chains, tribal designs and nautical stars among most MMA t-shirts is bad enough on its own; even worse when you consider that they sell for thirty bucks a pop.

Which I guess makes it all the worse when a fighter makes his way to the cage covered in an “athletic fit” Old-English mess. Not only is the shirt revolting, but it’s going to sell for an outlandish sum of money, and be worn by every overweight Texas Roadhouse chef, milquetoast tech support geek and muscle-bound frat boy.

Perhaps the reason that we’ve never attempted an “Ugliest Walkout Shirts” post is because ranking these train wrecks is like ranking, well, actual train wrecks. No matter what order you place them in, you’re a total scumbag for attempting to rank a tragedy from most to least depressing. And besides, you’re clearly wrong about which one belongs at number three. For that reason, these will not be ranked, per se, but rather categorized. How you feel these shirts fall into place is up to you.

Let’s start with the most obvious category:

Ugliest Tapout Shirt: Ryan Bader‘s UFC 119 Walkout

Don’t worry, this won’t be the only Tapout shirt to make this list. The company that is responsible for more ILS than Muscle Beach has produced some downright disgusting t-shirts. We’ve said it before: Tapout has become the new Vuarnet or No Fear.

Taking the cake though has to be Ryan Bader’s UFC 119 walkout. I didn’t think it was possible to dislike anything related to ”Citizenship in a Republic“. I stand corrected.

Ugliest Affliction Shirt: Chris Leben‘s UFC 116 Walkout

Speaking of companies you’ll be seeing more than once, here’s our first Affliction eyesore. The only redeeming quality of this shirt is that the edges are already frayed, meaning it will fall apart much sooner than a normal t-shirt. Then again, if you’re the type of person who wears shirts like this, you probably won’t think that’s such a good thing.

Ugliest “Nationality-Themed” Shirt: Cain Velasquez’ UFC 104 Walkout

Cain Velasquez is a proud Mexican-American with “Brown Pride” tattooed across his chest. I get how that means any shirt bearing his name is going to play off of his heritage. What I don’t get is why Dethrone wanted this shirt to look like the totally bitchin’ Myspace background of a fifteen year old from 2006.

Ugliest ”Patriotic” Shirt: Rich Franklin’s UFC 93 Walkout

Sorry Ace, but America’s colors are red, white and blue. And this shirt is hideous.

Ugliest Clusterfuck: Frank Mir’s UFC 107 Walkout

Put yourself in my position for a moment: I am expected to explain to someone with healthy eyesight- someone who is clearly capable of just looking at this mess- why this shirt is ugly. After two hours of trying to write something, I’ve decided that it’s probably for the best that I never look into a career as a guy who writes warning labels for coffee cups.

Ugliest Shirt to Never Be Worn: Aleksander Emelianenko’s “Affliction: Banned” Walkout

No matter what you are doing in life, be it getting tattoos or picking fights with hapless cans, you should never try to out-badass Aleksander Emelianenko. Any attempt you make at it, be it a walkout t-shirt or a fight game plan, is guaranteed to end in disaster. Especially when Affliction is involved.

Most Half-Assed Shirt: James Toney’s UFC 118 Walkout

Judging by his performance at UFC 118, James Toney spent about twenty minutes studying the ground game leading up to his bout with UFC Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture. Judging by the image above, that’s roughly 5x longer than Twistd Apparel spent designing his walkout shirt. Besides, if you’re going to make something half-assed, at least make it realistic.

Hit that “next page” link for that other Emelianenko, the craziest shirt you’ll see all day, and some lifetime achievement awards for walkout shirt ineptitude…

KSW 19 Recap: Multiverse – 1 Dignity – 0


Is there ANYTHING about this man that makes him unqualified to talk about the infinitely accelerating current of creativity? Didn’t think so.

If last night taught us anything, it’s that some things never change. Nick Diaz will be Nick Diaz. Kimbo Slice will crush cans. And literally anything that involves Bob Sapp will lack anything that resembles dignity. What a universe we live in.

But today is Mother’s Day, so I’m going to try to be somewhat positive for a few sentences. The good news to come out of this event is that Matt Horwich managed to snap a four fight skid with a third round TKO over Poland’s own Antoni Chmielewski, who was 22-8 coming into this fight. Horwich has always been an interesting character, sort of a non-juiced up hippy Ultimate Warrior. Even though he’s too crazy for most major promotions to take a chance on him (not to mention his pedestrian 27-21 record), he fits in just fine with KSW’s roster. That wouldn’t usually be intended as a compliment, but in whatever section of the multiverse Matt Horwich is from, it is.

Video of Horwich’s victory and the freak show that was Bob Sapp vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski after the jump.


Is there ANYTHING about this man that makes him unqualified to talk about the infinitely accelerating current of creativity? Didn’t think so.

If last night taught us anything, it’s that some things never change. Nick Diaz will be Nick Diaz. Kimbo Slice will crush cans. And literally anything that involves Bob Sapp will lack anything that resembles dignity. What a universe we live in.

But today is Mother’s Day, so I’m going to try to be somewhat positive for a few sentences. The good news to come out of this event is that Matt Horwich managed to snap a four fight skid with a third round TKO over Poland’s own Antoni Chmielewski, who was 22-8 coming into this fight. Horwich has always been an interesting character, sort of a non-juiced up hippy Ultimate Warrior. Even though he’s too crazy for most major promotions to take a chance on him (not to mention his pedestrian 27-21 record), he fits in just fine with KSW’s roster. That wouldn’t usually be intended as a compliment, but in whatever section of the multiverse Matt Horwich is from, it is.

Okay, positive sentences over. Time to talk about Bob Sapp vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski.

I think it’s safe to say that Bob Sapp can’t do anything right at this point in his career, except be a large, scary looking guy that has zero chance of winning and even less of a chance of hurting his opponent. At the weigh-ins, he put a picture of Pudzianowski on a (presumably uncooked) chicken. See, because he thinks Mariusz is “chicken”, get it? It’s not exactly the most clever way to mock someone- especially when you remember that Bob Sapp just tapped out to a double leg takedown- but he clearly put far more effort into that than he did training.

Perhaps it’s only because he was fighting Bob Sapp, but Mariusz seems to have made strides in his standup. I’m not saying he’s ready for legit competition or anything, but still, props to him for taking this fight seriously. You know the drill by now: Sapp gets caught, Sapp covers up and waits for the “fight” to end, the referee decides that the fight should stop before Bob Sapp actually takes some kind of damage (even though Pudzianowski initially doesn’t oblige), and then everyone is laughing and giving out bro-grabs afterwards, seemingly forgetting that Sapp was “out” just a few seconds ago.

As KSW likes to say, biznes jak zwykle. At least I think it’s them that says that.

Full Results

Mariusz Pudzianowski def. Bob Sapp via TKO, Round One
Mamed Khalidov def. Rodney Wallace via KO, Round One
Michal Materla def. Jay Silva via Majority Decision
Matt Horwich def. Antoni Chmielewski via TKO, Round Three
Aslambek Saidov def. Grigor Aschugbabjan via submission (Kimura), Round One
Marta Chojnoska def. Paulina Suska via submission (Scarf Hold Armlock), Round One
Borys Mankowski def. Marcin Naruszczka via Majority Decision

Knockout of the Day: Pete Spratt’s Spinning Backfist as Time Expires at AFC 2

Skip to the 19:55 mark of the video for the KO. Props: IronForgesIron.com

Imagine you wake up from a devistating spinning backfist knockout. You’re already pretty confused as it is, and now you’re finding out that you lost your fight by…unanimous decision? That’s how it feels to be Daniel Acacio, who met Pete Spratt at Amazon Forest Combat 2 last night.

Before anyone else points it out, you’re right: this technically isn’t a knockout. Spratt, who is no stranger to winning Knockout of the Day honors, landed the spinning backfist that caught Acacio right on the chin as the horn sounded for the end of the fight. So technically, this isn’t a knockout, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, who all saw the fight in Spratt’s favor. So yes, this is technically “Unanimous Decision of the Day”- because I’m sure it matters to Acacio’s remaining brain cells and all.


Skip to the 19:55 mark of the video for the KO. Props: IronForgesIron.com

Imagine you wake up from a devistating spinning backfist knockout. You’re already pretty confused as it is, and now you’re finding out that you lost your fight by…unanimous decision? That’s how it feels to be Daniel Acacio, who met Pete Spratt at Amazon Forest Combat 2 last night.

Before anyone else points it out, you’re right: this technically isn’t a knockout. Spratt, who is no stranger to winning Knockout of the Day honors, landed the spinning backfist that caught Acacio right on the chin as the horn sounded for the end of the fight. So technically, this isn’t a knockout, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, who all saw the fight in Spratt’s favor.  So yes, this is technically “Unanimous Decision of the Day”- because I’m sure it matters to Acacio’s remaining brain cells and all.

By the way, if you’re looking for a more productive way to spend April Fools Day than threatening to delete your blog, check out the rest of the card. Amazon Forest Combat 2 also saw a rematch between Matt Horwich and Thales Leites, Patrick Cote knock out Gustavo Machado and Murilo Bustamante edge out Dave Menne. Enjoy.

KSW-17 “Revenge” Results: Mariusz Pudzianowski Puts the Heavyweight World on Notice (LOLZ!!)

(Pudz v. Thompson, courtesy of Ironforgesiron) 

If there was anyone out there who felt that a rematch between former World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowksi and world renowned punching bag James Thompson was an absolute necessity, well then I hope you’re satisfied. The fight, which went down yesterday and thankfully was only scheduled for two rounds, saw Thompson thoroughly dominate Pudzianowski in the first round with top control and pitter-patter punches from side control. In fact, the most significant offense Pudianowski was able to mount was a fricken’ jab early in the second that managed to rock Thompson nonetheless. However, the judges, whom I can only assume were members of Pudzianowski’s immediate family, saw the fight in his favor, despite Thompson’s multiple takedowns that would have won him the fight in any other promotion on this planet. “Revenge” indeed.

It’s just baffling how anyone could have given Mariusz that fight, especially considering how the first round went. But perhaps more interesting than the fight itself was that of the post fight interview, wherein Thompson stole the microphone and went on a verbal tirade that would have made Brock Lesnar be like, “Chill, bro.”

The evening’s main event saw Mamed Khalidov score another quick submission win over TUF 7 alum and late replacement for Paulo Filho, Jesse Taylor, to retain his middleweight title. Capitalizing on an early takedown from “JT Money,” Khalidov transitioned beautifully between submission attempts, finally locking in a kneebar just 46 seconds into the fight. I think it’s safe to say that Khalidov is currently one of the most overlooked fighters in the middleweight division, and if the UFC doesn’t give him a call then they will be seriously missing out.

In other action, Polish born fighter Jan Blachowicz evened the score with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, taking away a unanimous decision victory over the Cameroonian and scoring some revenge of his own for his second round TKO via retirement loss to Sokoudjou back at KSW 15.

And the bad luck streak continued for our buddy Matt Horwich, who dropped his third straight unanimous decision loss to Michal Materla. I guess we can salvage the fact that someone with a Dan Quinn level of craziness is still competing on a professional level, right?

Full results from the event, Thompson’s tirade, and the Khalidov submission are all after the jump, courtesy of Ironforgesiron. 


(Pudz v. Thompson, courtesy of Ironforgesiron) 

If there was anyone out there who felt that a rematch between former World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowksi and world renowned punching bag James Thompson was an absolute necessity, well then I hope you’re satisfied. The fight, which went down yesterday and thankfully was only scheduled for two rounds, saw Thompson thoroughly dominate Pudzianowski in the first round with top control and pitter-patter punches from side control. In fact, the most significant offense Pudianowski was able to mount was a fricken’ jab early in the second that managed to rock Thompson nonetheless. However, the judges, whom I can only assume were members of Pudzianowski’s immediate family, saw the fight in his favor, despite Thompson’s multiple takedowns that would have won him the fight in any other promotion on this planet. “Revenge” indeed.

It’s just baffling how anyone could have given Mariusz that fight, especially considering how the first round went. But perhaps more interesting than the fight itself was that of the post fight interview, wherein Thompson stole the microphone and went on a verbal tirade that would have made Brock Lesnar be like, “Chill, bro.”

The evening’s main event saw Mamed Khalidov score another quick submission win over TUF 7 alum and late replacement for Paulo Filho, Jesse Taylor, to retain his middleweight title. Capitalizing on an early takedown from “JT Money,” Khalidov transitioned beautifully between submission attempts, finally locking in a kneebar just 46 seconds into the fight. I think it’s safe to say that Khalidov is currently one of the most overlooked fighters in the middleweight division, and if the UFC doesn’t give him a call then they will be seriously missing out.

In other action, Polish born fighter Jan Blachowicz evened the score with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, taking away a unanimous decision victory over the Cameroonian and scoring some revenge of his own for his second round TKO via retirement loss to Sokoudjou back at KSW 15.

And the bad luck streak continued for our buddy Matt Horwich, who dropped his third straight unanimous decision loss to Michal Materla. I guess we can salvage the fact that someone with a Dan Quinn level of craziness is still competing on a professional level, right?

KSW 17 Results
Mamed Khalidov defeated Jesse Taylor via submission (kneebar) in round 1
Mariusz Pudzianowski defeated James Thompson via majority decision
Jan Bachowicz defeated Sokoudjou via unanimous decision
Michal Materla defeated Matt Horwich via unanimous decision in an overtime round
Artur Sowiski defeated Maciej Jewtuszko via KO (punches) in round 1
Antoni Chmielewski defeated James Zikic via split decision in an overtime round
Aslambek Saidov defeated Rafal Moks via majority decision

Thompson’s speech, for anyone who can understand it

Khalidov v. Taylor (video missing first 30 seconds)

-Danga 

Reminder: KSW 17 Goes down Tonight, Should be Completely Insane

Weigh-in video, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com

In the absence of a UFC event tonight, many of you are going to tune in to Bellator 59 to catch this season’s Heavyweight and Bantamweight tournament finals. But let’s say that Bellator isn’t your scene. Let’s say that you’re the type of person to watch an event and say “This is fun and all, but I’d much rather watch freak show fights and can crushing”. Well, good news: Your favorite Polish promotion, KSW returns tonight with both of the above.

It’s almost fitting that a fighter known for pulling out of fights would pull out of his retirement fight. Astute readers may have remembered that KSW 17 was supposed to be Paulo Filho’s final fight, but that FIlho, as he’s known to do, pulled out of the fight at the last minute. Jesse “JT Money” Taylor has been recruited as a late replacement to take on Mamed Khalidov, who was last seen choking out Matt Lindland at KSW 16.


Weigh-in video, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com

In the absence of a UFC event tonight, many of you are going to tune in to Bellator 59 to catch this season’s Heavyweight and Bantamweight tournament finals. But let’s say that Bellator isn’t your scene. Let’s say that you’re the type of person to watch an event and say “This is fun and all, but I’d much rather watch freak show fights and can crushing”. Well, good news: Your favorite Polish promotion, KSW returns tonight with both of the above.

It’s almost fitting that a fighter known for pulling out of fights would pull out of his retirement fight. Astute readers may have remembered that KSW 17 was supposed to be Paulo Filho’s final fight, but that FIlho, as he’s known to do, pulled out of the fight at the last minute. Jesse “JT Money” Taylor has been recruited as a late replacement to take on Mamed Khalidov, who was last seen choking out Matt Lindland at KSW 16.

Speaking of KSW 16, this card also features a rematch between Mariusz Pudzianowski and James Thompson. Their first fight was a surprisingly entertaining affair that saw Thompson walk away victorious. Shogun vs. Henderson it will not be, but it should be a decent fight nonetheless.

Also in action tonight: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou defends his LHW championship against Jan Blachowicz, who he defeated at KSW 15 to win the vacant title. Meanwhile, Matt Horwich attempts to pick up his first victory since 2010 when he takes on Michal Materla. Horwich has gone 4-9 since the start of 2008.

Full weigh-in results, courtesy of Pro MMA Now:

Aslambek Saidov (77.0 kg/169.4 lbs) vs. Rafa? Moks (76.6 kg/168.5 lbs)
James Zikic (83.7 kg/184.1 lbs) vs. Antoni Chmielewski (84.0 kg/184.8 lbs)
Maciej Jewtuszko (70.1 kg/154.2 lbs) vs. Artur Sowi?ski (70.1 kg/154.2 lbs)
Matt Horwich (84.2 kg/185.2 lbs) vs. Micha? Materla (84.0 kg/184.8 lbs)
Sokoudjou (93.0 kg/204.6 lbs) vs. Jan B?achowicz (93.0 kg/204.6 lbs)
James Thompson (125.3 kg/275.7 lbs) vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski (116.0 kg/255.2 lbs)
Jesse Taylor (84.1 kg/185 lbs) vs. Mamed Khalidov (85.0 kg/187 lbs)