WSOF 14: “Shields vs. Ford” came and went last night from Edmonton’s Expo Centre in Alberta, Canada, with the majority of the focus on a former UFC and Strikeforce combatant looking to regain his flair.
In a card billed as USA vs. Canada (borrowed from pro wrestling, of course), a welterweight title shot was on the line, as Jake Shields took on Ryan Ford in the main event. The co-main event featured the inaugural heavyweight championship bout between Derrick Mehmen and Smealinho Rama, and also on the main card, Canadian MMA veteran Chris Horodecki battled Luis Huete and Jared Hamman took on Luke Harris.
Check out the GIF highlights and the complete results below (all via Zombie Prophet):
WSOF 14: “Shields vs. Ford” came and went last night from Edmonton’s Expo Centre in Alberta, Canada, with the majority of the focus on a former UFC and Strikeforce combatant looking to regain his flair.
In a card billed as USA vs. Canada (borrowed from pro wrestling, of course), a welterweight title shot was on the line, as Jake Shields took on Ryan Ford in the main event. The co-main event featured the inaugural heavyweight championship bout between Derrick Mehmen and Smealinho Rama, and also on the main card, Canadian MMA veteran Chris Horodecki battled Luis Huete and Jared Hamman took on Luke Harris.
Check out the GIF highlights and the complete results below (all via Zombie Prophet):
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Mike Malott
The prelims were nothing to boast about, but we got this highlight of Hakeem Dawodu blasting Mike Malott, just because.
Jared Hamman vs. Luke Harris
The main card opened up with UFC veteran Jared Hamman against TUF:Nations alumnus Luke Harris, and it’s safe to say the former was a tad too much to handle. Hamman was treating Harris like a punching bag until his eventual death, but thank God the official stepped in when the Albertan’s knees his the mat.
Chris Horodecki vs. Luis Huete
This one was by far the card’s snoozer of the night, as the “Polish Hammer” used his wrestling abilities to best his opponent. He took Huete down at will, sometimes inactive and forced to stand up through the course of their bout.
Derrick Mehmen vs. Smealinho Rama
This fight would crown the promotion’s first heavyweight champion, with the 22-year-old prospect seizing the opportunity and finishing Mehmen in brutal fashion. It only took him 51 seconds to capture the gold, rocking and dropping “Caveman” multiple times.
Jake Shields vs. Ryan Ford
The Skrap Pack member acquired his first stoppage victory since 2009 (!), submitting Ryan Ford in the first round. The former Strikeforce champ hit the ground after Ford threw his first punch (a jab), but Shields recovered and eventually brought the “Real Deal” to the mat and sunk in a rear-naked choke. Successful in his first fight since his UFC release, Shields will take on the winner of Rousimar Palhares vs. Jon Fitch for the WSOF welterweight strap. Call me a masochist, but I’ve been waiting years for Shields vs. Fitch, and goodness gracious, I hope it happens.
Here are the complete WSOF 14 results:
Main Card
Jake Shields def. Ryan Ford via submission (rear naked choke), 4:29 of round 1.
Smealinho Rama def. Derrick Mehmen via TKO (punches), 0:51 of round 1.
Chris Horodecki def. Luis Huete via unanimous decision (30-27×3)
Jared Hamman def. Luke Harris via TKO (punches), 2:27 of round 1.
Preliminary Card
Tim Hague def. Craig Hudson via TKO (punches), 2:55 of round 3.
Hakeem Dawodu def. Mike Malott via TKO (punches and elbows), 4:13 of round 1.
Matt Baker def. Cody Krahn via submission (armbar), 2:28 of round 1.
Roger Alves def. David Swanson via unanimous decision (30-27×3)
Check out the GIF highlights and the complete results below (all via Zombie Prophet):
Bubba McDaniel vs. Emiliano Sordi:
The GIF tells the entire story of this fight. McDaniel shot in and earned a tight guillotine choke for his efforts. It was a slick submission win for Sordi.
Alexander Sarnavskiy vs. Dakota Cochrane:
Domination was in vogue at Bellator 128. Sarnavskiy vs. Cochrane was just as one-sided as Sordi vs. McDaniel. Sarnavskiy made Cochrane look like he hadn’t boxed in his life. After rocking him on the feet and flooring him, Sarnavskiy sunk in a rear naked choke.
Michael Page vs. Nah Shon Burrell:
The fight many expected to be the fight of the night turned out to be a dud. There weren’t many highlights from this match. Burrell tried to wall-and-stall Page, but Page managed to land far more strikes. He won via decision. The GIF above shows off a post-fight scuffle between the two fighters–or it shows officials trying to break up a hug. You decide.
Eduardo Dantas vs. Joe Warren:
Much to our surprise, Joe Warren managed to defeat Eduardo Dantas! Warren out-wrestled and out-hustled the Brazilian, who seemed disinterested in the fight. To use a terrible cliche, Warren just WANTED IT MORE [barfs from using that phrase]. Warren’s performance was of the gritty wrestler variety. As such, it doesn’t lend itself to GIF highlights. So what we have above is an illegal kick to the head of a grounded Dantas. Big John McCarthy didn’t take a point for this infraction, which caused some controversy among MMA fans on Twitter.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Joe Warren def. Eduardo Dantas via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
Michael Page def. NahShon Burrell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alexander Sarnavskiy def. Dakota Cochrane via submission (rear naked choke), 2:32 of round 1.
Emiliano Sordi def. Bubba McDanial via submission (guillotine), 0:58 of round 1.
Preliminary Card
Cortez Coleman def. William Florentino via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
Andreas Michailidis vs. Jason Butcher via TKO (strikes) at :28 of round 2.
Emmanuel Sanchez def. Stephen Banaszak via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:18 of round 1.
John Teixeira def. Scott Cleve via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
J.C. Cottrell def Jonathan Gary via submission (guillotine) at 3:38 of round 2.
Brandon Seyler def. Demario Cade via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:25 of round 1.
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
The weekend is in the books, and although many of you were indulging in baseball playoffs and college football madness, there was plenty of MMA to equally boast and complain about. Apart from the always-vibrant regional circuit, which included MFC 41 and SFL 35 last Saturday night (watch a dude go through the cage door looking like he was on the wrong end of a Stone Cold Stunner right here), there were four major MMA shows taking place in 48 hours, two of which came from the same promotion that may or may not be ruining the sport with its inflated and overstressed schedule.
To top it all off, there were also a handful of stories outside the cage to boast about, some amusing and some downright miserable.
Here is the Cage Potato “Weekend Roundup,” and quite frankly, the only recap you need:
Bellator vs. Battlegrounds MMA
It wasn’t exactly the showdown anyone anticipated, yet Bellator 127 went head-to-head against the hopeful Battlegrounds MMA, the upstart group that hired WWE legend Jim Ross and former UFC trash-talking guru Chael Sonnen to lead the way in the commentary booth for the return of the epic one-night tournament.
First, let’s get Bellator out of the way. These weekly Bellator shows will thankfully come to an end, and we can’t wait for Scott Coker to put on monthly shows better than the five UFC shows Zuffa runs per month, even though season 11 has owned so far.
In the main event, Daniel Straus blitzed past Justin Wilcox in under a minute, returning to winning ways after dropping his featherweight strap to Pat Curran back in March. Karo Parisyan’s comeback came to a stop at the hands of Fernando Gonzalez in a catchweight bout, after the latter dropped him and continued to deck him into oblivion. Another catchweight fight saw Rafael Silva defeat another UFC veteran, Rob Emerson, and Kendall Grove surprised the majority of his naysayers by choking out Christian M’Pumbu. Check out the highlights here.
As for Battlegrounds MMA, it was the perfect mix of sensation and shit show. The tournament format made a return, but we can sort of see why MMA can do without it. The show was a little long (not nearly as long as you-know-who), and with all due respect to the combatants participating, it would be hard to say the event would have acquired the same intrigue had it not been a one-night, eight-man welterweight tournament.
Since most of you care about the commentary team, they were a lot better than Mike Goldberg & Joe Rogan, Jon Anik & Brian Stann/Kenny Florian, generic English guy & Dan Hardy, and even Michael Schiavello & Pat Miletech. Both Ross and Sonnen offered something different in the booth, ranging from the “American Gangster’s” steroid jokes and ranking a ring girl, to Ross’ dry humor and still intact punch lines.
The unlikely winner of the whole shebang was Roan Corneiro, defeating three men in one night (including two finishes), and then stripped of $15,000 by the Oklahoma Athletic Commission for “showing up late” to a medical. Since the grand prize was a whopping $50,000, earning just $35,000 to topple three foes in one night is pretty atrocious. Other notable tournament highlights include Cody McKenzie making weight by donating a pint of blood and then losing to Brock Larson by submission, Joe Ray mauled Luigi Fioravanti, and Trey Houston upset Jesse Taylor with a slick first-round armbar.
UFC Sweden Actually Turned Out To Be A Good Show
UFC in the afternoon is a little odd. Depending on which coast you reside on, you have limited time when waking up in someone’s bed that you don’t recognize, and realize you’re about three ferry rides away from your home. Some of us would just keep chilling, but you know, their partner can turn out to be Leo Johnson.
Anyway, Twitter, the best social media app on the fucking planet, blew up with so-called MMA journalists and enthusiasts making fun of those watching the UFC Sweden prelims around noon without being paid for it. We tend to agree.
The UFC Fight Night 53 main card was pretty damn entertaining, mainly because all the Swedes and their affiliates lost. Rick Story shocked by emphatically defeating the overhyped Gunnar Nelson, and then completely blew his post-fight interview by not calling someone out. The co-main event saw Max Holloway knock out Akira Corassani, and the Wiki-less Ilir Latifi also fell to Jan Blachowicz due to a mean kick to the body. The action opened up with Mike Wilkinson upsetting Niklas Backstrom with a nasty knockout. The best part was when the latter walked up to Dan Hardy in the midst of talking to the Englishman and simply said, “that’s fucked up, man …(something else)…”
Donald Cerrone & Hapless Canuck Get Inked
After promising his boss he wouldn’t wakeboard or commit to other crazy shit on fight week, UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone got some pretty interesting ink on his foot. To be honest, there should be more instances of a blonde Bettie Page riding a rocket-penis in the sport.
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WoW the feet hurt!! Would way rather take 30 unanswered uppercuts to the face lol @benguntattoo
If you thought that was bad, check out this moronic UFC-loving sap getting UFC Halifax inked on his freaking forearm, complete with the iconic Chuck Liddell pose.
UFC made its debut in Nova Scotia this past Saturday night with UFC Fight Night 54, showcasing the fight card on multiple backup platforms after FOX Sports 1 flipped them the bird and said, “we’re finishing baseball first, Mitch Gagnon.”
The event was pretty lackluster in general, minus Rory MacDonald’s official coming out party as the real Patrick Bateman. He finished Tarec Saffiedine in the third round via knockout, and there’s a good chance he’s next in line for the welterweight championship. Also on the card, Miesha Tate’s boyfriend lost to Raphael Assuncao in the co-main event.
As for the rest of the main card, check Wikipedia. If Dana isn’t doing post-fight scrums anymore, we aren’t either.
War Machine Is Back On Twitter
War Machine, real name John … you know what? Fuck War Machine. Up next …
UFC Newcomer Creates Go Fund Me Page
Every time the fighter pay issue is brought up in the media, the UFC brass (primarily) completely shuts down the remarks, citing backstage bonuses, unknown contract clauses, and general media stupidity to fight their cause.
In this instance, Nina Ansaroff, who makes her Octagon debut against Juliana Lima in a women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, has created a “Go Fund Me” page upon entering her first fight for the promotion hopeful of “world fucking domination.”
This has to be one of the saddest instances of fighter pay in the goddamn world. Not only did Cat Zingano’s paycheck raise a few eyebrows last week, but also that’s just another example of how flawed the pay system is. Ansaroff is an Invicta FC veteran, riding a five-fight winning streak, and fought both Carla Esparza and Barb Honchak early on in her career. As it stands, the fighter has raised $960, with a projected goal of $5,000.
The “People’s Warrior” claimed he threw his welterweight title fight against Steve Carl back in October 2012, just to get back into the UFC’s grace. It was a little hard to believe since the scrap was a back-and-forth battle that saw Burkman go out due to a triangle choke.
After some back-and-forth clowning with Ben Askren on Twitter, Burkman reiterated that he would never throw a fight, and was simply tooling the current One FC welterweight champion (as per his chat with MMA Fighting).
UFC Fight Night 54 was the second card in a Saturday double-header. In the main event, Rory MacDonald took on Tarec Saffiedine.
The only “big” fight on the prelims was between Daron Cruickshank and Anthony Njokuani. The fight started with about a minute and a half of evenly-matched striking. Cruickshank managed to double-leg Njokuani but couldn’t keep him on the ground for long. Cuickshank was more aggressive in the striking for the next few minutes, throwing a more diverse array of attacks and just more strikes in general. He used these strikes to get Njokuani off balance and turn a high-crotch single leg into a wonderful slam. Cruickshank finished the first round on top in Njokuani’s guard.
In the second round, Cruickshank tried a takedown, which was blocked. He followed that up with this crazy jumping roundhouse that Njokuani simply sidestepped. It seemed as if Cruickshank’s takedowns made Njokuani afraid to open up. Then Cruickshank hit a gorgeous flying knee. Somehow Njokuani survived it. Cruickshank took him down off the flying knee but then landed an accidental illegal knee to Njokuani’s head. Dan Miragliotta briefly stopped the fight then stood him up. However, this made no difference as Cruickshank shot in for a successful double leg takedown afterward. Njokuani fought to his feet and landed a couple of decent shots. Cruickshank landed several of his own not long after. Cruickshank seemed to get the better of the exchanges throughout the rest of the second round.
A right hand from Njokuani buckled Cruickshank early in the third, but then Cruickshank landed an overhand right of his own to even the score. Cruickshank scored with a great spinning back kick to the body as well. Cruickshank took Njokuani down with a minute left in the fight. Njokuani nearly sunk in an armbar but it was too little, too late. Cruickshank won via unanimous decision.
Get the recap of the rest of the event after the jump.
(Photo via Getty)
UFC Fight Night 54 was the second card in a Saturday double-header. In the main event, Rory MacDonald took on Tarec Saffiedine. There were two other fights of interest on the card, at least to us.
So let’s get to the recap!
The only “big” fight on the prelims was between Daron Cruickshank and Anthony Njokuani. The fight started with about a minute and a half of evenly-matched striking. Cruickshank managed to double-leg Njokuani but couldn’t keep him on the ground for long. Cuickshank was more aggressive in the striking for the next few minutes, throwing a more diverse array of attacks and just more strikes in general. He used these strikes to get Njokuani off balance and turn a high-crotch single leg into a wonderful slam. Cruickshank finished the first round on top in Njokuani’s guard.
In the second round, Cruickshank tried a takedown, which was blocked. He followed that up with this crazy jumping roundhouse that Njokuani simply sidestepped. It seemed as if Cruickshank’s takedowns made Njokuani afraid to open up. Then Cruickshank hit a gorgeous flying knee. Somehow Njokuani survived it. Cruickshank took him down off the flying knee but then landed an accidental illegal knee to Njokuani’s head. Dan Miragliotta briefly stopped the fight then stood him up. However, this made no difference as Cruickshank shot in for a successful double leg takedown afterward. Njokuani fought to his feet and landed a couple of decent shots. Cruickshank landed several of his own not long after. Cruickshank seemed to get the better of the exchanges throughout the rest of the second round.
A right hand from Njokuani buckled Cruickshank early in the third, but then Cruickshank landed an overhand right of his own to even the score. Cruickshank scored with a great spinning back kick to the body as well. Cruickshank took Njokuani down with a minute left in the fight. Njokuani nearly sunk in an armbar but it was too little, too late. Cruickshank won via unanimous decision.
After a few other fights of varying levels of irrelevance, it was finally time for UFC Fight Night 54‘s co-main event: Bryan Caraway versus Raphael Assuncao. The first round was pretty even. Both fighters exchanged some nice body kicks and stiff hooks to the face. They both also failed some takedown attempts. The second round was pretty much a replay of the first with even less activity, though Caraway seemed to eat more punches than Assuncao. Assuncao nearly sunk in an awesome guillotine in the third but couldn’t complete it. He also landed some tired strikes, as opposed to Caraway who didn’t really do much of anything significant. Assuncao won via unanimous decision.
The main event between Rory MacDonald and Tarec Saffiedine arrived after what felt like weeks. The first round was evenly matched until MacDonald managed to take Saffiedine down off catching one of his kicks. The takedown definitely gave MacDonald the round despite the fact that Saffiedine returned to his feet within 10 seconds. MacDonald started pulling away in the second, using his jab to pepper Saffiedine and keep control of the distance. MacDonald tagged Saffiedine with a massive hook in the third and faceplanted him. It was over after a few follow-up punches. Nice work from MacDonald; he looked sharp.
Overall, this card was horrendous–easily one of the worst of the year. The fights were poor and contested between athletes who weren’t close to the top levels of the sport. The fact that the card was the second card in a LONG weekend of MMA made it even more intolerable. Don’t even scroll down for the complete results. Just forget this event ever existed save for McDonald’s excellent KO.
Main Card
Rory MacDonald def. Tarec Saffiedine via TKO (punches), 1:28 of round 3.
Raphael Assuncao def. Bryan Caraway via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Chad Leprise def. Yosdenis Cedeno via unanimous decision (
Elias Theodoru def. Bruno Santos via unanimous decision (29-28 x3).
Nordine Taleb def. Li Jingliang via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27).
Mitch Gagnon def. Roman Salazar via submission (rear naked choke), 2:06 of round 1.
Preliminary Card
Daron Cruickshank def. Anthony Njokuani via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Jake Lindsey via submission (keylock), 3:22 of round 2.
Paul Felder def. Jason Saggo via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Chris Kelades def. Patrick Holohan via unanimous decision (29-28 x3).
Albert Tumenov def. Matt Dwyer via TKO (head kicks and punch), 1:03 of round 1.
Pedro Munhoz def. Jerrod Sanders via submission (guillotine), 0:39 of round 1.
The UFC returned to Sweden on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 53 with a sizable contingent of European talent. The main event featured Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson opposite welterweight staple Rick Story. Despite Nelson’s incredible talent on the ground and Story’s wrestling base, the fight was almost exclusively contested on the feet. Both fighters scored […]
The UFC returned to Sweden on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 53 with a sizable contingent of European talent. The main event featured Icelandic prospect Gunnar Nelson opposite welterweight staple Rick Story. Despite Nelson’s incredible talent on the ground and Story’s wrestling base, the fight was almost exclusively contested on the feet. Both fighters scored […]
(Imagine this but 30 pounds heavier / Photo via Getty)
Chael Sonnen. Jim Ross. One night tournament. Holy shit. Are you ready for this?
We certainly weren’t (and judging by the sparse attendance, nobody else was either) The event was probably one of the most “freakshow-ish” events of the entire year, and we loved every second of it. Here’s a brief recap of the festivities!
The tournament, which was in the welterweight division, started off with Trey Houston vs. Jesse Taylor. Taylor took Houston down early and after a period of inactivity on the ground Houston managed to grab Taylor’s arm and lock in an armbar. Check out the GIF (this and others via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):
(Imagine this but 30 pounds heavier / Photo via Getty)
Chael Sonnen. Jim Ross. One night tournament. Holy shit. Are you ready for this?
We certainly weren’t (and judging by the sparse attendance, nobody else was either) The event was probably one of the most “freakshow-ish” events of the entire year, and we loved every second of it. Here’s a brief recap of the festivities!
The tournament, which was in the welterweight division, started off with Trey Houston vs. Jesse Taylor. Taylor took Houston down early and after a period of inactivity on the ground Houston managed to grab Taylor’s arm and lock in an armbar. Check out the GIF (this and others via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):
In the next quarterfinal bout, Roan Carneiro took on Randall Wallace. Carneiro took Wallace down immediately and out-classed him on the mat. He mounted Wallace, then took his back, and then scored a brutal armbar, the second of the night.
In the fight CagePotato viewed as the main event, Cody McKenzie fought Brock Larson. McKenzie looked awful physically. He sported a sizeable beer guy, channeling his inner Chuck Liddell. Despite his physique, he nearly managed to sink a guillotine in toward the end of the first round. But in the second, Larson’s strength prevailed. Overpowered McKenzie on the ground, passed his guard, and submitted him with an arm triangle choke.
The last quarterfinal took place between Joe Ray and Luigi Fioravanti. Fioravanti started the fight by pressing Ray up against the fence. This ended up working to Fioravanti’s disadvantage as Ray landed a knee in the clinch that hurt Fioravanti. Then Ray landed an additional pair of knees which floored Fioravanti, who turtled up.
After the semifinals, there was an interlude. A dude who as 16-23 took on a guy who was making his pro debut. Ugh. The 0-0 guy won. Moving on…
Two young featherweight fighters in Zac Church and Ryan Hayes met one another in a great scrap. The first round had some surprisingly technical scrambles between the two relatively inexperienced fighters and some decent striking exchanges as well. Unfortunately, this torrid pace didn’t continue and the fight slowed down by the end. Zac Church was awarded with a unanimous decision victory.
In semifinal one, Trey Houston met Roan Carneiro. Carneiro controlled the first, taking Houston down and mounting him. He wasn’t able to get the finish though. Carneiro landed a HUGE hook in the second that made Houston limp. Carneiro took Houston down off the punch and ultimately scored a TKO finish via ground and pound.
The next semifinal pit Joe Ray and Brock Larson against one another. Larson controlled the first, taking Ray down and cutting his nose open with an ‘accidental’ headbutt. Ray reversed his fortunes in the second. He managed to take Larson, the wrestler, down and stay on top of him in side control. Ray attempted a D’Arce choke that appeared to be sunk in but he couldn’t finish it. Larson controlled the last round with some serious lay and pray up until a fruitless flurry in the last few seconds. Larson won a unanimous decision. There weren’t any highlights from this to GIF, really.
So the finals were between Roan Carneiro and Brock Larson.
An interlude bout saw bantamweights Tyler Shinn fight Chris Gutierrez. This bout was pretty forgettable and wasn’t that great, in all honesty. Gutierrez was awarded with a split decision win.
Finally, the FINALS of the tournament. Roan Carneiro controlled the first round by pressing Larson against the fence, something we expected Larson to be doing to be honest. The second round saw much of the same and was pretty lackluster, to be honest. No fighter had any real offense, which was understandable as they were depleting from fighting twice already. Carneiro nearly finished the job in the start of the third round. He dragged Larson to the mat immediately, took his back, and started landing ground and pound. Larson, fighting off instinct, managed to regain half guard and then later full guard. Carneiro coasted on top for the rest of the round to win the fight via decision, as well as the entire tournament.
Overall:
We give this event a B-. I was certainly fun but it was plagued with pacing issues later on. The problem was that each tournament fighter had to have a 30-minute rest period after their tournament bouts. That killed the pacing in the last half of the card and made it run to an inconvenient time to those on the east coast. An earlier start date would work wonders. The tournament overall was intriguing, fun, and a refreshing change. It was a bit of a bummer that the final wasn’t terribly exciting.
And, of course, there was Chael Sonnen and Jim Ross on commentary. They started off pretty shaky but managed to pull it together and did a wonderful job. Chael was composed and very informative. JR did great as well, and had some great zingers too.
To us, the event was worth the $20. Let’s hope Battlegrounds survives to do a second event.
