Tag: Recap

UFC 147 Aftermath Pt 2: Unrefined Guts & Emotional Homecomings

By Elias Cepeda


Card subject to change.

UFC 147’s main event provided the most fireworks of the night but other than that, it was the under card that shone brightest. Rodrigo Damm earned his first win in the UFC’s featherweight division with a rear naked choke submission win in the first round over Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo.

Damm took home Submission of the Night honors and the accompanying $65k bonus check. Marcus Vinicius won the KO of the night award and bonus money for his come from behind win over Wagner Campos in the final stanza of their bout. Vinicius used knees to the head and body to drop Campos and finished with nasty punches on the ground.

TUF Brazil Final Matches

Four young Brazilian prospects got the opportunity to become the next “Ultimate Fighters” last night, and in front of a raucously supportive gigantic crowd inside the nation’s largest indoor stadium, no less. Given the fighters’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, and relative inexperience, we saw a new phenomenon on display during the TUF Brazil finals – guys that can’t yet wrestle very well and are largely uncomfortable striking on their feet.

By Elias Cepeda


Card subject to change.

UFC 147′s main event provided the most fireworks of the night but other than that, it was the under card that shone brightest. Rodrigo Damm earned his first win in the UFC’s featherweight division with a rear naked choke submission win in the first round over Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo.

Damm took home Submission of the Night honors and the accompanying $65k bonus check. Marcus Vinicius won the KO of the night award and bonus money for his come from behind win over Wagner Campos in the final stanza of their bout. Vinicius used knees to the head and body to drop Campos and finished with nasty punches on the ground.

TUF Brazil Final Matches

Four young Brazilian prospects got the opportunity to become the next “Ultimate Fighters” last night, and in front of a raucously supportive gigantic crowd inside the nation’s largest indoor stadium, no less. Given the fighters’ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, and relative inexperience, we saw a new phenomenon on display during the TUF Brazil finals – guys that can’t yet wrestle very well and are largely uncomfortable striking on their feet.

Think back to TUF 1 in the states. All of those guys, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez and more, turned out to be at their embryonic stages of development and all became much more polished and skilled in later years. Sometimes their fights got sloppy, but they were comparatively more well-rounded than what we’ve seen this year with TUF Brazil, and a big reason was basic wrestling competency all around.

In the U.S., wrestling programs have been huge feeder systems for MMA, leading to the base becoming a dominant skill-set in the sport. In contrast, top Brazilian teams have great striking and wrestling programs but many of these young fighters we saw on this first international TUF season are so new to MMA that they have not yet made it to those teams or simply haven’t been mixing it all together for very long yet.

A case in point was the featherweight finale that saw Godofredo Pepey repeatedly jump guard on the eventual winner Rony Jason. Pepey often jumped guard when he wasn’t taking damage and in parts of the Octagon that were not favorable places for working off of one’s back (for example, near the cage, which kills hip movement necessary to pull off submissions).

In MMA a fighter who jumps guard is either extremely confident in his or her own guard or has no confidence in other parts of their game. Or both. It appeared that Pepey, and to a lesser extent, the other finalists had a little bit of that combination.

No doubt they will all improve their games if they have humble attitudes and work with the right instructors for long enough. But in retrospect, throwing in all these pure gi and no gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guys into a cage while they are still relatively inexperienced at MMA will predictably lead to the type of weird guard-jumping we saw in the featherweight final and the wild, looping and leaping striking we saw in the middleweight one.

The 185 final between Cezar Ferreira and Sergio Moraes had plenty of sloppy, but passionate striking on the feet. Ferreira jumped out ahead, looking more comfortable on his feet than his opponent, though not extremely technical. Moraes, seemed to be lost as to what to do at all on his feet, or how to throw a punch or kick or set up a real, MMA take down.

That didn’t stop Moraes, however, from making things interesting on the strength of his guts and refusal to quit. After nearly getting finished early on, Moraes rushed Ferreira in the second round with looping punches that found their mark on the jaw of Ferreira. Ultimately Ferreira won a decision and took home the contract, but Moraes showed tons of heart.

Emotions Spilling Over for Brazilian Competitors

It was frankly beautiful to see the emotion we did from Brazilian fighters fighting in front of their countrymen, Saturday. Wanderlei Silva appeared to bow and make an extended prayer at the foot of the Octagon before stepping into the cage and delivering an electrifying performance in his first fight in Brazil in over ten years.

Rony Jason had tears of joy flowing long before he won as he was overcome during his walk to the Octagon. Who could blame him? The kid was walking into the biggest opportunity and challenge of his life, and had a larger stage than many established UFC superstars have had, between the TUF show that reached ten million viewers each week and fighting in the huge stadium and on pay per view all over the world. That had to be the best moment of his entire life. That is, until fifteen competition minutes later when he was awarded a UFC contract.

[VIDEO] ONE FC 4: Destiny of Warriors Main Card, in Its Entirety

It may have been merely a footnote to most fans in an already sub-par chapter of MMA events, but this weekend’s ONE FC 4 gave fans a quick fix for soccer kicks, quick stoppages and some lesser-known talent making names for themselves.

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the names you’re already familiar with. Roger Huerta took to the cage at welterweight looking to rebound from an ugly TKO at the hands of War Machine. His initial opponent, Phil Baroni, was forced off of the card due to an ugly knockout loss at the hands of Chris Holland at Ring of Fire 43 earlier this month. Replacing “The New York Badass” was Zorobabel Moreira, a tall lightweight sporting a 6-1 record before the bout. If “El Matador” was looking to break out of his recent slump, Moreira was, on paper, the perfect opportunity.

It may have been merely a footnote to most fans in an already sub-par chapter of MMA events, but this weekend’s ONE FC 4 gave fans a quick fix for soccer kicks, quick stoppages and some lesser-known talent making names for themselves.

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the names you’re already familiar with. Roger Huerta took to the cage at welterweight looking to rebound from an ugly TKO at the hands of War Machine. His initial opponent, Phil Baroni, was forced off of the card due to an ugly knockout loss at the hands of Chris Holland at Ring of Fire 43 earlier this month. Replacing “The New York Badass” was Zorobabel Moreira, a tall lightweight sporting a 6-1 record before the bout. If “El Matador” was looking to break out of his recent slump, Moreira was, on paper, the perfect opportunity.

In reality, Huerta had his moments early on in the fight, using his aggressive striking against the jiu-jitsu black belt. But once Moreira started to catch Huerta with kicks of his own, he controlled the fight. The second round was all Moreira, as Huerta seemed tired, and was often hesitant to exchange. The fight was essentially over once Moreira caught Huerta with a knee, but since the referee didn’t stop the fight, Moreira capped things off with a brutal soccer kick. Retirement might be a good idea for Huerta, who has now lost six of his last seven outings.

The same cannot be said for Renato “Babalu” Sobral. When it was announced that Babalu would be making his return to the cage against the 11-7 Tatsuya Mizuno, we posited that the Sobral’s time away from the cage was the only thing keeping this fight from being a PRIDE-era mismatch. Well, we were wrong: The fight played out exactly as it would have two years ago, when Babalu was a consensus top ten light-heavyweight. It only took Babalu thirty one seconds to put away Mizuno with an armbar. I know, I’m just as shocked as you are.

Okay, enough of the chit-chat. We first have videos of just the Huerta/Sobral fights. Then we have a video of the entire main card, followed by a list of results if you’re feeling especially lazy today. Props to IronForgesIron.com for the videos.

Full Results:

Renato Sobral def. Tatsuya Mizuno by submission (armbar), 0:31 of Round One
Zorobabel Moreira def. Roger Huerta by KO (soccer kick), 3:53 of Round Two
Leandro Issa def. Masakazu Imanari by unanimous decision
Adam Kayoom def. Gregor Gracie by unanimous decision
Eric Kelly def. Bae Young Kwon by unanimous decision
Arnaud Lepont def. Brian Choi by submission (rear-naked choke), 1:38 of Round Three

Preliminary Card:

Mitch Chilson def. AJ Lias Mansor by submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of Round One
Marcos Escobar def. Rodrigo Praxedes by submission (D’arce choke), 1:40 of Round Three
Peter Davis def. Kim Quek Hong by TKO (knees and punches), 0:55 of Round One

UFC 147 Aftermath Pt. 1: Franklin Outlasts Silva in Classic

By Elias Cepeda


(At UFC 147 Rich Franklin proved that he could survive even the most brutal of hair cuts and go on to win in impressive fashion)

Sometimes, while covering an event, the perfect story book ending intersects with what a writer personally wants to see happen. But most of the time, it doesn’t. At UFC 147, it nearly did, sort of.

It is time I stop hiding it because you’d undoubtedly see through me at some point, potato nation – I am a huge Wanderlei Silva fan. If he’s not my all-time emotional favorite, he’s no worse than at the 3 spot. As such, I enjoyed seeing him tear fighters apart as Pride contender and champion and, for the past six years, have watched him fight with more and more trepidation each time out, worried that the brain damage he’s sure to have accrued over two decades of professional fighting was growing with each knock out loss or even hard punch landed to his tattooed dome.

But even when a slugger’s reflexes have slowed and their chin softened, their power stays with them. So, since Wanderlei insisted on continuing to fight, and he took on Rich Franklin in the main event of last night’s UFC 147, I secretly hoped that Wand could stay safe on the feet long enough to land a bomb of his own and put Franklin out.

What a note that would be to go out on for Silva – returning to his home country to fight for the first time in twelve years, as a legend and champion, and avenging a loss in dramatic fashion in front of the largest indoor stadium crowd in Brazil. Perhaps then Wand could be convinced to retire and move on to an ambassador role for the surging sport and UFC organization in Brazil and across the globe.

I didn’t think any part of that scenario was likely, the playing it strategic and safe, the winning, the retiring, but I hoped. However, the Wanderlei Silva we saw Saturday night was much better than any we’d seen in some time and he nearly toppled Franklin before ultimately losing a unanimous decision.

By Elias Cepeda


(At UFC 147 Rich Franklin proved that he could survive even the most brutal of hair cuts and go on to win in impressive fashion)

Sometimes, while covering an event, the perfect story book ending intersects with what a writer personally wants to see happen. But most of the time, it doesn’t. At UFC 147, it nearly did, sort of.

It is time I stop hiding it because you’d undoubtedly see through me at some point, potato nation – I am a huge Wanderlei Silva fan. If he’s not my all-time emotional favorite, he’s no worse than at the 3 spot. As such, I enjoyed seeing him tear fighters apart as Pride contender and champion and, for the past six years, have watched him fight with more and more trepidation each time out, worried that the brain damage he’s sure to have accrued over two decades of professional fighting was growing with each knock out loss or even hard punch landed to his tattooed dome.

But even when a slugger’s reflexes have slowed and their chin has softened, their power stays with them. So, since Wanderlei insisted on continuing to fight, and he took on Rich Franklin in the main event of last night’s UFC 147, I secretly hoped that Wand could stay safe on the feet long enough to land a bomb of his own and put Franklin out.

What a note that would be to go out on for Silva – returning to his home country to fight for the first time in twelve years, as a legend and champion, and avenging a loss in dramatic fashion in front of the largest indoor stadium crowd in Brazil. Perhaps then Wand could be convinced to retire and move on to an ambassador role for the surging sport and UFC organization in Brazil and across the globe.

I didn’t think any part of that scenario was likely, the playing it strategic and safe, the winning, the retiring, but I hoped. However, the Wanderlei Silva we saw Saturday night was much better than any we’d seen in some time and he nearly toppled Franklin before ultimately losing a unanimous decision.

It was immediately clear that Wanderlei would bide his time and look for openings as he covered up, moved his head and countered Franklin well in the first round. Hell, Silva even threw and landed the occasional straight punch, jab and moved laterally.

Franklin was getting some shots in, but they weren’t huge ones. Silva, on the other hand, was hitting Franklin on the jaw flush and often, and countering with nice head kicks. Franklin walked through it all, showing ridiculous strength. And then it came – Silva landed a huge punch that stunned Franklin, then knees, then more punches that dropped the former middleweight champ.

Silva showed great top control pressure, and stayed on Franklin as “Ace” covered up and attempted to roll out of danger. Wanderlei, however, landed punch after punch for nearly thirty seconds and Franklin couldn’t get out of the way or get up. With seconds left in the second round it appeared as though Wanderlei was about to win dramatically.

But referee Mario Yamasaki let the fight continue. Even when Franklin couldn’t mount an intelligent defense. Even when Franklin’s hips were flattened out for a few moments and he ate punches while on his belly, face-down on the mat. Yamasaki let the fight continue, and the second round closing horn sounded.

Yamasaki thought that Franklin could continue fighting. It turns out that he was right.

Wanderlei had spent his energy trying to finish the hurt Franklin in the second round and in the third and fourth he just plodded around the cage, trying to breath, while Franklin got his legs back underneath him and scored with crisp punches and one nice body lock to trip takedown. Franklin once again demonstrated the unbelievable toughness, conditioning and precision under duress that he’s become known for over the years, and turned the tide of the fight in his direction.

Still, as Silva rallied in the fifth round it still seemed possible that he’d win. The first round was close, and if the judges scored for him, it seemed likely that should he be able to steal the fifth round, he’d win. After all, any judge would have scored the second 10-8 in favor of Silva, and so a 47-47 draw seemed likely even if Franklin won the 2nd-5th rounds, 10-9.

Silva looked to close the fight hard and bum-rushed Franklin with wide punches. Many of them connected and Franklin backed up while getting tagged over and over. Still, Franklin fired back and in the last second of the round he landed a left that dropped Silva to the mat. Wand popped back up but the damage was done. He was a little too aggressive, perhaps, too reckless.

Turns out it didn’t matter. The judges did not give Wand the first round (totally understandable) but they also only scored the second round 10-9 for him (not understandable). There would be no 47-47 draw. Franklin won a unanimous decision with all three judges having it 49-46 in his favor.

The fight was closer than I thought it would be, and Silva came closer to finishing the fight than his opponent. Each man earned a $65,000 bonus check from UFC President Dana White for Fight of The Night honors.

Wanderlei looked smarter and more durable than he has in a long time against Franklin. That can’t reverse the damage he’s taken as a warrior all these years in training and in fights, often against much larger opponents, however, or change the fact that he should seriously consider retiring for his health.

A draw probably would not have made Silva feel any better and it is just as well that Franklin earned the win after his incredible, gutty performance. Victory and excitement are Wand’s priorities each time out. The former is becoming more and more rare for him but the latter certainly isn’t.

As usual, Silva disappointed no one. He’s always done right by fans. Here’s hoping that he now figures out the next, right move for himself.

Bellator 71 Recap: Summer Series Kicks off in Devastating Fashion


So close, yet so far away.

If you were at least sort-of interested in last night’s Bellator 71, then you walked away last night satisfied. If you had no interest in the event prior, and just happened to catch the fights that weren’t on FX, you undoubtedly walked away impressed by the action. Not to spoil the recap, but only one fight on the entire card, an undercard bout between Kevin Zalac and Chris Goldbaugh, went the distance. The main card of Bellator 71 more than made up for the anti-climactic finish to Guida vs. Maynard, providing fight fans with quick knockouts and submissions throughout the evening.

If you were expecting Travis Wiuff to steamroll Chris Davis on his way to claiming what is rightfully his, you weren’t surprised – but you also weren’t impressed. Wiuff managed to get the first round knockout, yet he didn’t necessarily excite fans with his performance. The fight was a wall-and-stall heavy performance, with Wiuff overpowering Davis, earning a takedown and then punching out Davis with just under one minute left in the round.

Wiuff’s bullying style isn’t always the most exciting thing to watch, but it’s hard to question its effectiveness. Add on the size advantage that Wiuff has over most opponents – “Diesel” has fought at heavyweight for most of his career – and it’s hard not to imagine him earning a rematch with Christian M’Pumbu by the end of the summer. Wiuff is now 67-14 (1 NC) in his career.


So close, yet so far away.

If you were at least sort-of interested in last night’s Bellator 71, then you walked away last night satisfied. If you had no interest in the event prior, and just happened to catch the fights that weren’t on FX, you undoubtedly walked away impressed by the action. Not to spoil the recap, but only one fight on the entire card, an undercard bout between Kevin Zalac and Chris Goldbaugh, went the distance. The main card of Bellator 71 more than made up for the anti-climactic finish to Guida vs. Maynard, providing fight fans with quick knockouts and submissions throughout the evening.

If you were expecting Travis Wiuff to steamroll Chris Davis on his way to claiming what is rightfully his, you weren’t surprised – but you also weren’t impressed. Wiuff managed to get the first round knockout, yet he didn’t necessarily excite fans with his performance. The fight was a wall-and-stall heavy performance, with Wiuff overpowering Davis, earning a takedown and then punching out Davis with just under one minute left in the round.

Wiuff’s bullying style isn’t always the most exciting thing to watch, but it’s hard to question its effectiveness. Add on the size advantage that Wiuff has over most opponents – ”Diesel” has fought at heavyweight for most of his career – and it’s hard not to imagine him earning a rematch with Christian M’Pumbu by the end of the summer. Wiuff is now 67-14 (1 NC) in his career.

In the co-main event of the evening, Slovakia’s Attila Vegh wasted no time putting away Bellator middleweight tournament veteran Zelg Galesic. Despite earning an early takedown, the Croatian kickboxer wanted to keep this fight standing, aggressively stalking Vegh with hard strikes. However, Vegh dropped Galesic with a brutal counter punch and sunk in a fight ending choke one minute into the opening frame. “Pumukli” improves to 26-4 with the quick, dramatic finish.

Despite being a last-second replacement for Richard Hale, Tim Carpenter managed to defeat Beau Tribolet in convincing fashion. After spending the first round getting the better of Tribolet on the feet, Carpenter locked in an armbar with roughly ten seconds left in the second round. Tim Carpenter looked impressive, as Tribolet rarely seemed comfortable in the cage with him, yet alone in control of the fight. Carpenter improves to 9-1 in his career, with his only loss coming to Christian M’Pumbu.

If you’re looking for a dark horse to win this tournament, “The Hardcore Kid” Emanuel Newton emerged as a legitimate threat. Although he has struggled with consistency, Newton looked great while choking out Cesar Gracie’s own Roy Boughton. Boughton had no answer for Newton’s takedowns, as “The Hardcore Kid” was able to drag Boughton to the canvas seemingly at will. Early in the second round, Newton was able to earn a takedown, take Boughton’s back and sink in the fight ending choke.

One final note, former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers scored his first victory since 2010 with a doctor’s stoppage over his former teammate Kevin Asplund on the undercard. Yes, the heavyweight who was once considered one of the most dangerous strikers in the division and a measuring stick for Fedor was fighting on the undercard of a Bellator show.

I hate to keep being such a Debbie Downer, but “Da Grim” didn’t exactly look impressive in the victory, either. Kevin Asplund arguably took the first round, save for a powerful uppercut from Rogers that cut him. The second round was also close until the end, where Rogers managed to land a few good punches to a grounded Asplund, which made his eye nearly swell shut, leading to the doctor’s stoppage. Don’t expect Da Grim to dethrone Cole Konrad, is what I’m saying.

Full Results:

Main Card:

Travis Wiuff def. Chris Davis via KO (strikes), 4:12 of Round One
Attila Vegh def. Zelg Galesic via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:00 of Round One
Tim Carpenter def. Beau Tribolet via submission (armbar), 4:51 of Round Two
Emanuel Newton def. Roy Boughton via submission (rear-naked choke), 0:49 of Round Two

Preliminary Card:

Brett Rogers def. Kevin Asplund via TKO (doctor’s stoppage), 5:00 of Round Two
Josh Stansbury def. Dan Spohn via submission (guillotine), 2:30 of Round One
Jason Butcher def. Duane Bastress via submission (triangle), 1:03 of Round One
Neil Johnson def. Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (rear naked choke), 4:29 of Round Two
Kevin Zalac def Chris Goldbaugh via unanimous decision

UFC on FX 4 Aftermath: Up is Down, Black is White, Fans Cheer Gray Maynard

By George Shunick


Our thoughts exactly. Props: MMAMania

Gray Maynard has never been the most popular UFC fighter. Maybe it’s because it’s almost impossible to picture him as an underdog; he’s an enormous lightweight who lives up his “Bully” moniker. (His choice of entrance music probably doesn’t do him any favors, either.) He’s always Goliath, and in our society we’re conditioned to root for David. That attitude was epitomized in Frankie Edgar’s back-to-back comebacks against him, with the crowd firmly in favor of the smaller fighter who seemed to rely on his will and technique, while Maynard relied on his size and power. As long as Maynard’s achievements were contextualized within that narrative, he would always be the villain.

Clay Guida won the first two rounds of their main event last night by constantly remaining out of Maynard’s reach, dictating the pace, occasionally landing jabs, and landing a solid head kick in the latter half of the second round. The action had been sparse throughout, but it seemed understandable; Guida obviously didn’t want to engage Maynard head on at first, he’d tire him out and then wear him down. Well, that didn’t happen. For the majority of the third round, Guida squandered whatever momentum he may have built by circling, dancing, and circling some more. It was UFC 112 Anderson Silva on meth. By the end of the round, Maynard was flailing with power punches, frustrated by Guida’s unwillingness to engage.

Midway through the fourth round, Maynard had enough. With Guida still circling and refusing to engage, Maynard finally grabbed a hold of him, landed some knees and then proceeding to embody the audience’s frustrations by dropping his hands and bellowing epithets, daring Guida to just stop running and hit him. Guida proceeded to oblige him, only to have Maynard walk through a hard overhand right, stuff a takedown and almost secure an arm-in guillotine in an unprecedented display of attitude and badassery that it actually caused fans to cheer him. Round 5 was unfortunately more of the same, which is to say, not much at all.

By George Shunick


Our thoughts exactly. Props: MMAMania

Gray Maynard has never been the most popular UFC fighter. Maybe it’s because it’s almost impossible to picture him as an underdog; he’s an enormous lightweight who lives up his “Bully” moniker. (His choice of entrance music probably doesn’t do him any favors, either.) He’s always Goliath, and in our society we’re conditioned to root for David. That attitude was epitomized in Frankie Edgar’s back-to-back comebacks against him, with the crowd firmly in favor of the smaller fighter who seemed to rely on his will and technique, while Maynard relied on his size and power. As long as Maynard’s achievements were contextualized within that narrative, he would always be the villain.

Clay Guida won the first two rounds of their main event last night by constantly remaining out of Maynard’s reach, dictating the pace, occasionally landing jabs, and landing a solid head kick in the latter half of the second round. The action had been sparse throughout, but it seemed understandable; Guida obviously didn’t want to engage Maynard head on at first, he’d tire him out and then wear him down. Well, that didn’t happen. For the majority of the third round, Guida squandered whatever momentum he may have built by circling, dancing, and circling some more. It was UFC 112 Anderson Silva on meth. By the end of the round, Maynard was flailing with power punches, frustrated by Guida’s unwillingness to engage.

Midway through the fourth round, Maynard had enough. With Guida still circling and refusing to engage, Maynard finally grabbed a hold of him, landed some knees and then proceeding to embody the audience’s frustrations by dropping his hands and bellowing epithets, daring Guida to just stop running and hit him. Guida proceeded to oblige him, only to have Maynard walk through a hard overhand right, stuff a takedown and almost secure an arm-in guillotine in an unprecedented display of attitude and badassery that it actually caused fans to cheer him. Round 5 was unfortunately more of the same, which is to say, not much at all.

At the end of the fight, Maynard was awarded a split-decision, with two 48-47’s and one 47-48. I don’t have a problem with the decision, though I can understand why some might; the fight was difficult to score just because so little happened during it. But that’s not what this night should be remembered for; this is the night that Gray Maynard broke the narrative paradigm that has plagued him throughout his UFC career. By expressing the frustration that so many of us felt, Maynard wasn’t a bully anymore; last night, he was one of us.

Well, and the night that Clay Guida single-handedly destroyed his reputation as a fan-favorite. Hey, I’m trying for the glass half-full approach here, people. Moving on…

Disappointing main event aside, this was a pretty good card. Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher lived up to expectations, in what was – I imagine – either the most difficult or the easiest fight to live blog of the night. (It depends if you try to actually give a play by play, or simply copy and paste “They engage. Both land shots,” over and over.) Although Fisher seemed to get the better of the standup exchanges ever so slightly, Stout sealed his victories by nailing takedowns in each round, securing the unanimous decision in their trilogy fight.

Just as interesting was the ground war waged between young gun T.J. Waldburger and battle-tested, immaculately manscaped Brian Ebersole. Waldburger got off to a fast start, dropping Ebersole with a straight left, and almost finishing him on the ground with a D’Arce choke. Despite his face turning the color of Prince’s garments of choice, Ebersole survived. In the next round, Ebersole escaped from an omoplata, an arm bar, and two triangle chokes. Despite Waldburger’s active guard, Ebersole took the round on the strength of his ground and pound, turning it on in the final seconds. The deciding round saw Ebersole secure a takedown, escape yet another triangle, and deliver shoulder strikes and elbows until the bell rang. It was enough for Ebersole to take a unanimous decision, 29-28 across the board. With this momentum, Ebersole plans to set up a higher profile fight at 170 in an attempt to… wait, no, apparently he’s going to try to cut to 155. Huh?

Cub Swanson and Ross Pearson was another highly entertaining fight, in which Swanson really got to show off just what was in his arsenal. Although Pearson was clearly the larger and stronger of the two, Swanson’s speed and ingenuity allowed him to get the better of the exchanges. At one point in the first round, Swanson threw a capoeira kick that would impress Anthony Pettis, which Pearson didn’t even flinch from, with Swanson following with upkicks from his back. The end came as Pearson pushed forward, Swanson landed two jabs, pivoted to his left and unleashed a counter left hook that sent Pearson crashing into the fence at 4:14 of the second round. Bring on Do Bronx, please.

The prelims were generally solid, but the highlight had to be Ricardo Lamas’ upset of Hatsu Hioki. Hioki had passed on a title fight with Jose Aldo because he believed he wasn’t ready to face him, and took the fight with Lamas as a tune up to that title shot. Well, it proved to be the right decision, because there was no way Hioki was ready for a title shot. After winning the first round and losing a competitive second round, Hioki was utterly ineffective in the third. It’s not so much that Lamas dominated him, although he did almost submit him with a number of guillotines, so much as Hioki just didn’t do anything in the final round. His standup looked atrocious, and his cardio looked almost as bad.

Fight of the Night went to Fisher-Stout, KO went to Swanson, and Sub went to Dan Miller for his third-round guillotine win over Ricardo Funch.

ShoFIGHT 20 Recap: Grove is now Champion, Fickett is now Homeless

It’s easy- perhaps even a bit lazy- to compare the embattled MMA fighter Drew Fickett to the similarly troubled Scott Hall. In their primes, both men performed on their respective sport’s biggest stages against recognizable names. In Fickett’s case, this meant a run in the UFC and notable victories over Dennis Hallman, Kenny Florian, Josh Neer, Josh Koscheck and Kurt Pellegrino.

Yet it’s arguable that both men are more famous for their self-destructive, chaotic lifestyles outside of sport than they are for their accomplishments. Both men have well documented struggles with addiction, have been fired from major promotions over their drunken antics and have attempted to stay relevant in their respective sports with increasingly tragic results.

Case in point: Last night’s ShoFIGHT 20, which took place on the campus of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. The show was essentially a who’s who of washouts from bigger promotions, which included (aside from Fickett) John Gunderson, Karo Parisyan, Kendall Grove, Lyle Beerbohm, Marcus Aurelio, Charles Bennett, “Smilin'” Sam Alvey and Roli Delgado. This card saw Fickett matched up against submission specialist Jonatas Novaes.

It’s easy- perhaps even a bit lazy- to compare the embattled MMA fighter Drew Fickett to the similarly troubled Scott Hall. In their primes, both men performed on their respective sport’s biggest stages against recognizable names. In Fickett’s case, this meant a run in the UFC and notable victories over Dennis Hallman, Kenny Florian, Josh Neer, Josh Koscheck and Kurt Pellegrino.

Yet it’s arguable that both men are more famous for their self-destructive, chaotic lifestyles outside of sport than they are for their accomplishments. Both men have well documented struggles with addiction, have been fired from major promotions over their drunken antics and have attempted to stay relevant in their respective sports with increasingly tragic results.

Case in point: Last night’s ShoFIGHT 20, which took place on the campus of Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. The show was essentially a who’s who of washouts from bigger promotions, which included (aside from Fickett) John Gunderson, Karo Parisyan, Kendall Grove, Lyle Beerbohm, Marcus Aurelio, Charles Bennett, “Smilin’” Sam Alvey and Roli Delgado. This card saw Fickett matched up against submission specialist Jonatas Novaes.

Before the fight, MMAJunkie.com revealed that, aside from moving from Arizona to Florida to enter a rehabilitation facility and train at American Top Team, Fickett was in very real danger of becoming homeless if he did not receive a win bonus for his performance. And while Fickett walked to the cage with a sign proudly proclaiming his forty two days of sobriety, he did not last one minute into the fight. Fickett was caught with a head kick early and covered up until the referee stopped the fight.

As depressing of a result as this is for Drew Fickett’s 60th professional fight, “Night Rider” believes that he could retire with 100 fights under his belt.

In far less depressing news, John Gunderson quickly submitted Karo Parisyan by guillotine choke. After being taken down early by “The Heat”, Gunderson caught Parisyan with a huge left knee. Parisyan desperately dove in for a takedown, and was caught in the fight-ending guillotine for his efforts. Gunderson improves to 34-14, while Parisyan has lost four of his last five fights.

TUF 3 champion Kendall Grove won the ShoFIGHT middleweight title last night as well, earning a split-decision victory over the previously undefeated Derek Brunson. Brunson took the fight on only four days’ notice, as the original challenger, noted punching bag Terry Martin, was not cleared by the Missouri Office of Athletics  to fight. Because of this, the bout was only three rounds, and at a catchweight of 190 pounds.

Grove was taken down often, yet remained busy from his back, attempting multiple submissions. When Grove landed an illegal upkick in the third round, the referee stood up the fight (?!), and Grove was able to pick apart Derek Brunson as the fight came to an end. Grove is now 15-10 with the victory.

Also of note, former Strikeforce lightweight Lyle Beerbohm battered and bloodied Marcus Aurelio on his way to a unanimous decision victory that all three judges saw 30-26. Aurelio was simply no match for “Fancy Pants” throughout the fight, being taken down at will and unable to threaten with any submission attempts. Beerbohm has now won three straight fights since being cut from Strikeforce.

Full Results:

Main Card:

John Gunderson def. Karo Parisyan by submission (guillotine choke), 2:04 of Round One
Kendall Grove def. Derek Brunson by split decision
Lyle Beerbohm def. Marcus Aurelio by unanimous decision
Mike Wessel def. Matt Kovacs by TKO (strikes), 4:50 of Round Two
Jonatas Novaes def. Drew Fickett by TKO (strikes), 0:51 seconds of Round One
Chris Greutzemacher def. Roli Delgado by TKO (elbows), 3:24 of round 3

Preliminary Card:

Sevak Magakian def. James Reese by unanimous decision
Chris McDaniel def. Charles Bennett by submission (triangle choke), 2:52 of Round One
Lucas Lopez def. Sam Alvey by TKO (strikes), 1:37 of Round One
Dustin Phillips def. Allen Gibson by unanimous decision
Matt Lucas def. Lucas Overcast by unanimous decision
Mike Brazzle def. Karen Darabedyan by TKO (strikes), 4:15 of Round One
Jacob Ritchie def. Robert Saborudden by TKO (strikes), 3:28 of Round Three
Jason Ignacek def. Gary Michaels via unanimous decision