While we were all busy watching Eddie Alvarezhead kick his way into the UFC at last weekend’s Bellator 76 event, it turns out that another just as devastating first round head kick knockout had taken place less than an hour beforehand, and in about 4 minutes less fight time. The matchup, which paired fellow featherweight prospects Mike Richman and Jeremy Spoon against one another, barely got under way before Big John had to step in and save Spoon’s ass from certain death. No, it was not because he suffered a gruesome in-ring injury, but rather because Richman decided to play Major Payne to Spoon’s Bam Bam Bigelow roughly twenty seconds into the fight.
Video after the jump. Catch it before it’s gone.
(Seen here: The one strike that didn’t land.)
While we were all busy watching Eddie Alvarezhead kick his way into the UFC at last weekend’s Bellator 76 event, it turns out that another just as devastating first round head kick knockout had taken place less than an hour beforehand, and in about 4 minutes less fight time. The matchup, which paired fellow featherweight prospects Mike Richman and Jeremy Spoon against one another, barely got under way before Big John had to step in and save Spoon’s ass from certain death. No, it was not because he suffered a gruesome in-ring injury, but rather because Richman decided to play Major Payne to Spoon’s Bam Bam Bigelow roughly twenty seconds into the fight.
Video after the jump. Catch it before it’s gone.
Unless you’re a big fan of fighter walkouts, skip to the 5:30 mark for the action. Then prepare for your sphincter to involuntarily contract as Richman stares a hole into your soul at the 6:08 mark. Seriously, that might be the creepiest/rapiest post fight celebration face this side of Gabriel Gonzaga that I’ve ever witnessed. Shang Tsung would approve.
With the victory, Richman earned himself a spot in Bellator’s featherweight semifinals against Shahbulat Shamhalaev, who defeated American Cody Bollinger by first round TKO just one fight earlier. The winner of the season will get an inevitable shot at champion Pat Curran, who is no stranger to the art of the head kick KO himself, if he is able to get past Patricio Freire whenever the hell those two are set to meet.
(This is normally where we would place a screencap of the fight. Unfortunately, the quality of SFL streams is so poor that the screencap looked more like a Jackson Pollock than it did anything else and no amount of enhancing could do it justice.)
As you may or may not know given the plethora of fight action that occurred this past weekend, Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League held their fourth event in Mumbai, India. Now, we have been predicting the collapse of SFL for some time now (turns out we just had the wrong promotion) and when it was reported that CEO Ken Pavia had resigned from the organization, it only fueled similar predictions around the MMA blogosphere. Throw in the fact that SFL couldn’t even reel in Bob Sapp for their fourth event — which was headlined by a 1-2 fighter taking on a 11-8 fighter — and you’ve pretty much got all the ammunition you need for an official deathwatch.
But despite all of the things going against them, SFL’s fourth event turned out to be a modest success, at least in terms of the fights themselves. With the exception of the opening fight between bantamweights Irfan Khan and Kaushik Sen (freaking little guys, amiright Michael?), every fight was finished within the distance and impressively so. But no one, I repeat, no one, could top the knockout turned in by Bhabajeet Chowdhury, which was easily one of the most fantastic finishes we have seen all year.
Video after the jump.
(This is normally where we would place a screencap of the fight. Unfortunately, the quality of SFL streams is so poor that the screencap looked more like a Jackson Pollock than it did anything else and no amount of enhancing could do it justice.)
As you may or may not know given the plethora of fight action that occurred this past weekend, Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League held their fourth event in Mumbai, India. Now, we have been predicting the collapse of SFL for some time now (turns out we just had the wrong promotion) and when it was reported that CEO Ken Pavia had resigned from the organization, it only fueled similar predictions around the MMA blogosphere. Throw in the fact that SFL couldn’t even reel in Bob Sapp for their fourth event — which was headlined by a 1-2 fighter taking on a 11-8 fighter — and you’ve pretty much got all the ammunition you need for an official deathwatch.
But despite all of the things going against them, SFL’s fourth event turned out to be a modest success, at least in terms of the fights themselves. With the exception of the opening fight between bantamweights Irfan Khan and Kaushik Sen (freaking little guys, amiright Michael?), every fight was finished within the distance and impressively so. But no one, I repeat, no one, could top the knockout turned in by Bhabajeet Chowdhury, which was easily one of the most fantastic finishes we have seen all year.
(Fight starts at the 6 minute mark.)
Making his professional debut (!!!), the man we shall officially refer to as “Chowder” from here on out put on an absolute clinic against his fellow debuting counterpart in Charanjit Singh, battering his opponent’s legs with heavy kicks throughout the first round. But it was not until halfway through the second (roughly 14:55 of the video) that Chowder decided to finish his hapless foe off with a brilliantly timed spinning back kick to the jaw that was, dare I say it, Siver-esque in its delivery. Singh does his impersonation of a falling Jujube tree and this one is all over. Speaking of all over, it’s safe to say that Singh’s MMA career might be headed that direction as well. He would be carried out on a stretcher, but according to reports suffered no serious injuries other than his heart, which was ripped from his chest in ritualistic fashion later that evening. Shame.
Don’t get us wrong, SFL is more than likely going to be SOL by the end of the fiscal year, but if they can deliver a few more exciting knockouts like this in the future, perhaps the history books will grant them more than a footnote when all is said and done.
If there’s a word that sums up UFC 153, it’s got to be “wow”. Anderson Silva gave another performance indicating that we do indeed live in the Matrix. Jon Fitch was in the most exciting fight of the night, and one of the best of the year. Big Nog submitted a man impervious to jiu-jitsu. Demian Maia choked/neck-cranked a man so hard he had a mini-hemorrhage and blood spurted out of his nose. And perhaps most impressive of all, Wagner Prado actually stopped a hat thief.
The bottom line is UFC 153 was an amazing card that delivered from top to bottom. Could it have been better if it had Frankie Edgar square off against Jose Aldo? Probably. But I’ll take another transcendental show from Anderson Silva any day of the week. And that’s exactly what his fight with Stephan Bonnar was. After a slip, Bonnar pressed Silva into the cage, presumably looking to wear the smaller fighter down. Silva wasn’t having any of it, offering a few knees, shoulder shrugs and nothing else. Bonnar backed away and then things got weird. Silva remained on the fence, hands down, encouraging Bonnar to hit him.
Now, I know Stephan Bonnar isn’t the world’s greatest striker. He’s never shown serious knockout power, and his technique has never been the best. But he’s still a 230 pound man who’s spent the majority of his adult life learning how to hurt people. He’s a professional fighter. And for about 4 minutes and 40 seconds last night, those facts didn’t amount to jack shit. Silva dodged, deflected or simply absorbed Bonnar’s offense for about two minutes, demonstrating what a black belt in Tae Kwon Do is worth against a man who seems to know what you’re going to do before you do. Then, Silva decided to end the fight. He tripped Bonnar, established some separation, and then connected with a debilitating, pin-point knee to the solar plexus. Bonnar – who had never been stopped with strikes before – collapsed and waited for the end to come. Mercifully, it did.
If there’s a word that sums up UFC 153, it’s got to be “wow”. Anderson Silva gave another performance indicating that we do indeed live in the Matrix. Jon Fitch was in the most exciting fight of the night, and one of the best of the year. Big Nog submitted a man impervious to jiu-jitsu. Demian Maia choked/neck-cranked a man so hard he had a mini-hemorrhage and blood spurted out of his nose. And perhaps most impressive of all, Wagner Prado actually stopped a hat thief.
The bottom line is UFC 153 was an amazing card that delivered from top to bottom. Could it have been better if it had Frankie Edgar square off against Jose Aldo? Probably. But I’ll take another transcendental show from Anderson Silva any day of the week. And that’s exactly what his fight with Stephan Bonnar was. After a slip, Bonnar pressed Silva into the cage, presumably looking to wear the smaller fighter down. Silva wasn’t having any of it, offering a few knees, shoulder shrugs and nothing else. Bonnar backed away and then things got weird. Silva remained on the fence, hands down, encouraging Bonnar to hit him.
Now, I know Stephan Bonnar isn’t the world’s greatest striker. He’s never shown serious knockout power, and his technique has never been the best. But he’s still a 230 pound man who’s spent the majority of his adult life learning how to hurt people. He’s a professional fighter. And for about 4 minutes and 40 seconds last night, those facts didn’t amount to jack shit. Silva dodged, deflected or simply absorbed Bonnar’s offense for about two minutes, demonstrating what a black belt in Tae Kwon Do is worth against a man who seems to know what you’re going to do before you do. Then, Silva decided to end the fight. He tripped Bonnar, established some separation, and then connected with a debilitating, pin-point knee to the solar plexus. Bonnar – who had never been stopped with strikes before – collapsed and waited for the end to come. Mercifully, it did.
Plenty of people are clamoring for Silva to fight Jon Jones now. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be intrigued, but until both of them want to fight, it seems silly to speculate. Besides, Silva’s fights with people he considers his friends don’t seem to be the entertaining variety. (Even if said “friends” actually dispute their friendship.) Personally, though, I’d like to see him fight Chris Weidman. GSP is, in my opinion, too small for Silva, and is coming off ACL surgery anyway. Michael Bisping wouldn’t last a round. Weidman has the wrestling to make things interesting, and the standup to, at least, survive on the feet for a time. He’s earned his shot; give it to him. Bonnar, on the other hand, was already contemplating retirement. Perhaps it’s best he follow through on that. He’s accomplished all he’s going to in the sport, and he can look forward to a cozy, Chuck Liddell-esque position within the UFC.
In the co-main event… actually, I’m putting that on hold for the moment. Because we have to talk about the Jon Fitch-Erick Silva fight. It was probably the most anticipated fight on the card, which is odd for a Fitch fight. But it delivered in spades. I’ve never got the hate for Jon Fitch that so many fans seem to harbor – yeah, he’s not the most exciting fighter, but the fact that people criticize a guy for fighting to his strengths instead of fighting for their personal entertainment is simply irrational. But you couldn’t levy those criticisms at him this fight – Fitch turned his grinding style up to 11 and brought the fight to Silva. The first round was closely contested, but in Fitch’s favor. The second Silva actually won, largely through securing back control and sinking in a rear naked choke that would have submitted anyone not named Jon Fitch. In all honesty, I still have no clue how Fitch survived, but he did. And he made Silva pay in the third, getting dominant positions, including mount, and unloading with punches for virtually the entire round. (A round which should have been scored 10-8 and which, predictably, no judge scored 10-8.)
Fitch broke Erick Silva. There’s no other way to describe it. That doesn’t mean Silva won’t recover, however. He’s still extraordinarily talented, and Jon Fitch is still one of the best fighters in the division. It was a big step up in competition, and for the first two rounds, he held his own. But sometimes, that’s the difference between good and great. Silva will work on his game and comeback stronger. As for Fitch, perhaps he’s got one more run left in him. This fight certainly indicated he does.
OK, now we’ll get to the co-main event. Basically, you don’t want to fight Big Nog in Brazil. And if you do, you don’t want to be Dave Herman. I’m not sure who came up with Herman’s game plan of “get punched in the face repeatedly and exchange takedowns with one of the most dangerous jiu-jitsu artists in the division,” but damn if Herman didn’t follow it to perfection. He spent the entire first round doing exactly that, getting hit flush in the face on numerous occasions. (This fight, if anything, did not lend any credibility to Brandon Schaub’s already suspect chin.) Why Herman, who possessed a distinct reach advantage, decided not to jab at all is a mystery to me.
It cost him in the second, where Nog was able to floor him with a left hook, achieved mount, and eventually secured a fight-ending armbar over the man who claimed that “jiu-jitsu doesn’t work.” As it turns out, it does, and it probably just handed Herman his walking papers after his third straight loss. Nogueira, on the other hand, wants a top-10 fighter. Give him Stefan Struve, Antonio Silva or Fabricio Werdum, and let the remaining two fight each other as well.
Glover Teixeira lived up to the hype. He tagged Fabio Maldonado early on, took him down, and did his best Donkey Kong imitation for the next four minutes. But Maldonado is made of something tougher than ordinary human beings. He somehow survived, stood, wobbled and then proceeded to tag a fatigued Teixeira with a left hook that wobbled him. But he was unable to capitalize, and was subjected to more of the same over the next round. Finally, the ringside doctor called for the stoppage in between the second and third rounds. Maldonado protested, but it was the right call. He won’t be cut simply because of how tough he was, but it’s unclear where he should go from here. Teixeira, however, needs to fight a big name at 205. Phil Davis or Shogun should fit the bill, if Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson fight as intended.
There isn’t much to say about the Wagner Prado-Phil Davis fight, other than that Wagner Prado did this, a feat unequaled in UFC history. Unfortunately for Prado, stopping the notorious Brazilian hat-thieves was his only accomplishment of the night, and he was dominated by Davis for their entire fight. The end came in the second, as Davis transitioned from an arm-triangle into a front headlock and then an anaconda choke, forcing Prado to submit. Prado was visibly upset afterwards. He’ll probably get another shot in the UFC; there’s no shame in being out-grappled by Phil Davis. I’d say Davis should take on Ryan Bader next, but winners get winners, so give him Shogun or Teixeira instead.
Finally, Demian Maia’s turning into a force at 170. I’m not surprised he beat Rick Story, but I’m surprised how easily he took him down and kept him down. Once Story was on the ground, it was only a matter of time. Maia took his back and sunk in an absolutely brutal RNC/neck crank, which caused blood to erupt from Story’s nose and mouth. Maia’s much stronger at 170 than he was at 185. If only Jake Shields hadn’t tested positive for something, that would have been the match-up to make. Since he has… hell, give him Jon Fitch. That should be interesting.
Maia took home submission of the night, while Fitch and Silva took home fight of the night. Knockout of the Night went to Rony Jason’s second round TKO over Sam Sicilia. Anderson Silva probably deserved the award, but he’s made enough money as it is. I doubt he minds the decision. Other brief thoughts; Fernando Yamasaki is a terrible referee. Madadi should’ve won his fight. The referee should have probably taken a point from Wagner Prado for holding the fence, but I understand his desire to leave Brazil with all his limbs intact. The chick who had “Erick Silva” tattooed on her forearm is probably rethinking her decision, and many of her life’s decisions, right about now.
Main Card Results
Anderson Silva def. Stephan Bonnar via TKO (4:40, Round 2)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Dave Herman via SUB (4:31, Round 2)
Glover Teixeira def. Fabio Maldonado via TKO (Doctor’s Stoppage, Round 2)
Jon Fitch def. Erick Silva via UD (30-27, 29-28 x 2)
Phil Davis def. Wagner Prado via SUB (4:29, Round 2)
Demian Maia def. Rick Story via SUB (2:30, Round 1)
Preliminary Card Results
Rony Jason def. Sam Sicilia via TKO (4:16, Round 2)
Gleison Tibau def. Francisco Trinaldo via UD (29-28 x 3)
Diego Brandao def. Joey Gambino via UD (30-27 x 3)
Sergio Moraes def. Renee Forte via SUB (3:10, Round 3)
Chris Camozzi def. Luiz Cane via UD (29-28 x 3)
Christiano Marcello def. Reza Madadi via SD (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
It is physically impossible to walk into a Kevin James flick with high dramatic expectations. I mean, come on, this is the man who brought us such cinematic classics as Zookeeper, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. If you bought a ticket to anything starring the actor and thought you were getting a shoe-in for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, you deserve to have your mullet set on fire. That said, James — who’s long been a supporter of the UFC, and whose presence at Octagonside has been frequent and well-documented by Zuffa cameraman desperate for an eight-second cutaway shot of something even just moderately noteworthy — stars in Here Comes the Boom, a UFC-centric comedy that opens today. How is it? Well, it’s no Gone with the Wind, but it’ll do.
The premise is simple, and something we’ve seen a million times before: an apathetic dude starts to give a crap about something noble, and goes through hell to do some good for that thing he previously did not give a crap about. James is, of course, the apathetic dude, a high school biology teacher named “Scott Voss” from Boston, MA, who puts about zero effort into teaching and too much effort into trying to land a date with the school nurse (Salma Hayek, cleavage-alicious as usual). But when budget woes spell impending doom for the music teacher’s job (played by a schlubby Henry Winkler — remember the Fonz? Yeah, he’s dead now.), it’s time for Voss to step up and do something drastic to plug up the school’s fiscal hole. And hey, what better way to earn cash then to become a UFC fighter?
It is physically impossible to walk into a Kevin James flick with high dramatic expectations. I mean, come on, this is the man who brought us such cinematic classics as Zookeeper, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. If you bought a ticket to anything starring the actor and thought you were getting a shoe-in for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, you deserve to have your mullet set on fire. That said, James — who’s long been a supporter of the UFC, and whose presence at Octagonside has been frequent and well-documented by Zuffa cameraman desperate for an eight-second cutaway shot of something even just moderately noteworthy — stars in Here Comes the Boom, a UFC-centric comedy that opens today. How is it? Well, it’s no Gone with the Wind, but it’ll do.
The premise is simple, and something we’ve seen a million times before: an apathetic dude starts to give a crap about something noble, and goes through hell to do some good for that thing he previously did not give a crap about. James is, of course, the apathetic dude, a high school biology teacher named “Scott Voss” from Boston, MA, who puts about zero effort into teaching and too much effort into trying to land a date with the school nurse (Salma Hayek, cleavage-alicious as usual). But when budget woes spell impending doom for the music teacher’s job (played by a schlubby Henry Winkler — remember the Fonz? Yeah, he’s dead now.), it’s time for Voss to step up and do something drastic to plug up the school’s fiscal hole. And hey, what better way to earn cash then to become a UFC fighter?
Thankfully, there are the requisite laughs, and plenty of inside jokes and nods to MMA’s legion of fans. Bas Rutten — who plays a Dutchman named “Niko” and essentially acts like Bas Rutten – assumes the role of coach, a job he juggles while studying to become a citizen and working as a yoga/streetfight-aerobics/disco spinning class instructor. Mark DellaGrotte (playing himself) steps up as Voss’ Muay Thai trainer, and hijinks ensue there. Since Voss is a nobody in the sport, he has to start at the bottom and work his way up the minor league ladder, and along the way he fights a number of familiar faces (including Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who’s named “Lucky Patrick” but essentially acts like Jason “Mayhem” Miller), culminating in an Octagon face-off with Krzystof Soszynski (who’s named “Ken Dietrich”, but who essentially acts like someone who’s good at fighting).
What sets Here Comes the Boom apart from MMA-heavy flicks that have come before it is how big a role the UFC apparatus plays. Remember how Top Gun starred Tom Cruise AND the US Navy? Here Comes the Boom very clearly stars Kevin James AND the UFC. Joe Rogan is in it as himself, Mike Goldberg is in it as himself, “Stitch” is in it, Bruce Buffer is in it…if a filmmaker got in bed with the UFC any more than this, Dana White would have to take a pregnancy test afterwards. And really, this symbiosis isn’t so much a bad thing. In fact, to an MMA fan, it perhaps adds to the appeal.
Yes, there’s enough cheese in the flick to make Mickey Mouse vomit, especially whenever the beleaguered music students are on screen. But James does a bang-up job in terms of hitting the necessary comedic notes (and Rutten does wonderfully hitting his), and the action — though staged — isn’t wholly unappealing. I daresay it’s even realistic.
Bottom line: is Here Comes the Boom worth your time? Yeah, it is, especially if you go in expecting a Kevin James comedy. If you go in expecting more…Dude, we can’t be friends anymore.
(Where the hell do y’all think you’re going?! Please, I’m begging you, if you stick around, I’ll even break out the Techno Viking dance!)
We can’t wait to see how Dana White tries to spin this one.
The numbers were just released for all of last weekend’s UFC events. The good news: The main FX card did pretty well and the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter hit a seasonal high in terms of viewership (take that with a grain of salt). The bad news: The FUEL prelims were caught by less people than the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee prelims on ESPN 3. Probably.
You see, last Friday’s FUEL prelims only managed to draw in 44,000 viewers, absolutely shattering the promotion’s previous FUEL prelim low of 84,000 for UFC on FX 3. If these kind of numbers do not improve, the UFC won’t have to worry about emerging victorious from a ratings war with the WWE because they will be too busy trying to compete with the Punkin Chunkin people. We expect DW to start lobbing insults at “those four-eyed f*cking scumbag f*cks on the Lience Channel” any day now.
(Where the hell do y’all think you’re going?! Please, I’m begging you, if you stick around, I’ll even break out the Techno Viking dance!)
We can’t wait to see how Dana White tries to spin this one.
The numbers were just released for all of last weekend’s UFC events. The good news: The main FX card did pretty well and the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter hit a seasonal high in terms of viewership (take that with a grain of salt). The bad news: The FUEL prelims were caught by less people than the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee prelims on ESPN 3. Probably.
You see, last Friday’s FUEL prelims only managed to draw in 44,000 viewers, absolutely shattering the promotion’s previous FUEL prelim low of 84,000 for UFC on FX 3. If these kind of numbers do not improve, the UFC won’t have to worry about emerging victorious from a ratings war with the WWE because they will be too busy trying to compete with the Punkin Chunkin people. We expect DW to start lobbing insults at “those four-eyed f*cking scumbag f*cks on the Lience Channel” any day now.
In all seriousness, at least part of the insane drop can be attributed to the fact that last weekend’s prelims started one hour earlier than normal — at 5 p.m. EST rather than 6 p.m. — meaning that many West Coast viewers would still likely be working or on their way home when the fights began. That being said, we don’t think a one hour difference could be the sole factor behind a 75% drop from the UFC on FX 4 prelims, which managed to reel in over 160,000 viewers. Although the card suffered some last minute setbacks, we also can’t imagine that the absence of Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Hallman were responsible for this ratings drop either.
At this point, we don’t know what to say really. While it’s not exactly crisis mode for the UFC, there’s no way they can be completely satisfied with such continually disappointing numbers. Say what you want about “Spuke TV”, but they sure as hell knew how to market The Ultimate Fighter and the prelim events better than FX does. I can’t remember the last time I saw an advertisement for the prelims more than a day or two out from when they were scheduled to air, which seems to be the main problem FX is facing: awareness. With a UFC event happening practically every weekend, FX needs to start advertising each event earlier and with more frequency if they expect to bring in more viewers.
Then again, it could simply be a case of the UFC spreading themselves too thin. Think about it, most cable-accessible UFC events begin with a live stream on Facebook, then a few fights on FUEL, then the main card on FX. Aside from the fact that most of the country does not get FUEL even with special cable packages — I have a 160 channel package that doesn’t — asking your viewing audience to keep jumping through hoops to watch a few fights featuring lower-level fighters seems like a counterproductive strategy. Only die hard fans of the sport will make the effort to catch every single fight, and they must often resort to illegal streams and other means to do so because of the variety of channels and mediums through which the UFC broadcasts their content on a given night.
The question now becomes: What can the UFC/FX do to boost these ratings?
(Joanne Calderwood vs. Ashley Cummins. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark. Someone nearly shits their pants around the 4:45 mark.)
Over the past several months, we’ve heard a lot of hoopla regarding the plight of women’s MMA and the lighter weight classes in general. According to some self-proclaimed experts, these fighters stand next to no chance of providing exciting finishes because of their “frail bones” and their “cabbage fingers” and their “lady parts that prevent them from committing gruesome acts of beautiful violence.” And while it should be noted that I normally obtain most of this expert testimony during my weekly NO MA’AM meetings, I must admit that the ladies of Invicta Fighting Championships are pretty much shattering every pre-conceived notion that one could have when approaching women’s MMA or the lighter weight classes. Last weekend’s Invicta FC 3 event did not stray far from the pattern established by the firsttwo events, which is to say, it delivered exciting fights and brutal finishes from top to bottom.
In the evening’s main event, submission specialist and general hottie Jessica Penne made history by becoming the promotion’s first champion in the atomweight class, controlling the previously number one ranked atomweight Naho Sugiyama easily before submitting her midway through the second round with a slick triangle choke. Penne improved to 10-1 as a professional with the win and likely set up a showdown between herself and “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, who picked up a hard fought split-decision win over Lacey Schuckman earlier in the evening, down the line. I’m not saying I will be watching that fight with ulterior motives, but I am saying that I will be watching it alone. With the curtains closed. With no pants on.
After the jump: A boatload of fight videos from the event, including Shayna Baszler’s domination of Sarah D’Alelio, Stephanie Frausto’s lightning quick submission over Amy Davis, and Julia Budd’s brutal beatdown of Danielle West.
(Joanne Calderwood vs. Ashley Cummins. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark. Someone nearly shits their pants around the 4:45 mark.)
Over the past several months, we’ve heard a lot of hoopla regarding the plight of women’s MMA and the lighter weight classes in general. According to some self-proclaimed experts, these fighters stand next to no chance of providing exciting finishes because of their “frail bones” and their “cabbage fingers” and their “lady parts that prevent them from committing gruesome acts of beautiful violence.” And while it should be noted that I normally obtain most of this expert testimony during my weekly NO MA’AM meetings, I must admit that the ladies of Invicta Fighting Championships are pretty much shattering every pre-conceived notion that one could have when approaching women’s MMA or the lighter weight classes. Last weekend’s Invicta FC 3 event did not stray far from the pattern established by the firsttwo events, which is to say, it delivered exciting fights and brutal finishes from top to bottom.
In the evening’s main event, submission specialist and general hottie Jessica Penne made history by becoming the promotion’s first champion in the atomweight class, controlling the previously number one ranked atomweight Naho Sugiyama easily before submitting her midway through the second round with a slick triangle choke. Penne improved to 10-1 as a professional with the win and likely set up a showdown between herself and “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, who picked up a hard fought split-decision win over Lacey Schuckman earlier in the evening, down the line. I’m not saying I will be watching that fight with ulterior motives, but I am saying that I will be watching it alone. With the curtains closed. With no pants on.
She may have only improved her record to an even .500 on Saturday night, but the little sister of Zoila Gurgel did not waste anytime establishing herself as a legitimate threat in the atomweight division with a quick guillotine victory over Amy Davis. From the opening bell this one was all Frausto, who rushed across the cage and started hurling leather like she was running late for her own funeral. After securing an easy trip takedown, Frausto peppered Davis up with shots, latched on a tight guillotine, and it was good night, Irene.
God, I hate myself for using that phrase. I’m going to chalk this one up to the lack of an edit button.
Julia Budd has suffered perhaps the two most brutal losses that any professional athlete ever could. In her second Strikeforce Challengers appearance, Budd was hammerfisted into oblivion by Amanda Nunes in just 14 seconds. Two fights later, she became Ronda Rousey armbar victim number #4. Needless to say, the woman has been through some tough times. But it’s good to see that she can take it as well as she can dish it out, because she may very well have beaten the last remaining fucks given out of Danielle “The Honey Badger” West in their main card-opening bout. The first couple minutes were mainly held in the clinch as the two ladies jockeyed for position, but as soon as Budd managed to get the fight to the ground, elbows and fists fell like buckets of paint in a Home Alone movie. The end came shortly thereafter, and Budd finally managed to end up on the right side of a highlight reel.
In the evening’s co-main event, Strikeforce veteran Shayna Baszler opened an entire case of whoop ass on Sarah D’Alelio, utilizing her superior ground game to constantly threaten D’Alelio with submissions from the top. Though D’Alelio would gamely defend her attempts for the entirety of the first round, she would fall victim to a rear-naked choke early in the second. Although the finish was nice, my personal favorite moment of the fight came with 10 seconds remaining in the first round, wherein Bazler delivered some of the most painful looking stomps to the Achilles tendon that you will ever see. Lordy.
We’ve posted the videos of the Waterson/Schuckman, Porto/LaRosa, and Young/Smith II fights along with the full results below. If you’re interested in checking out all of the fights from last weekend, head over to MMAWeekly for a full rundown.
Michelle Waterson vs. Lacey Schuckman
Tara Larosa vs. Vanessa Porto
Kaitlin Young vs. Leslie Smith II
Full Results
Jessica Penne def. Naho Sugiyama by submission (triangle) at 2:20 of round 2
Shayna Bazler def. Sarah D’Alelio by submission (RNC) at 0:48 of round 2
Leslie Smith def. Kaitlin Young by referee stoppage (mounted crucifix) at 2:19 of round 2
Barb Honchak def. Aisling Daly by unanimous decision
Vanessa Porto def. Tara LaRosa by unanimous decision
Cat Zingano def. Raquel Pennington by submission (RNC) at 3:32 of round 2
Michelle Waterson def. Lacey Schuckman by split decision
Julia Budd def. Danielle West by TKO at 2:32 of round one
Carla Esparza def. Lynn Alvarez by TKO at 2:53 of round one
Joanne Calderwood def. Ashley Cummins by KO (knee to body) at 3:13 of round one
Stephanie Frausto def. Amy Davis by submission (guillotine) at 0:48 of round one
Jessamyn Duke def. Marciea Allen by submission (armbar) at 4:42 of round one
Tecia Torres def. Kaiyana Rain by unanimous decision
Ediene Gomes def. Katalina Malungahu by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:19 of round one
