Hell, tickets even went on sale, with ringside (yes, as in a ring not a cage) seats still available as of writing this!
Unsurprisingly, the main event will feature a Team Cesar Gracie fighter – UFC veteran Daniel Roberts (14-4, 3-4 UFC) – fighting against the most formidable local opponent the promotion can find. Via NickDiazPromotions.com:
Hell, tickets even went on sale, with ringside (yes, as in a ring not a cage) seats still available as of writing this!
Unsurprisingly, the main event will feature a Team Cesar Gracie fighter – UFC veteran Daniel Roberts (14-4, 3-4 UFC) – fighting against the most formidable local opponent the promotion can find. Via NickDiazPromotions.com:
Fighting out of San Francisco, Daniel Roberts is set to face challenger Justin Baesman from the East Bay of California. Roberts has had numerous bouts in the UFC and trains with the Cesar Gracie Fight Team. Baesman now with a 12-4 record, has looked good as of late and a win over Roberts would catapult him to the next level of his career.
Main Card:
Daniel Roberts vs. Justin Baesman
Antonio Banuelos vs. Benny Vinson
Caleb Mitchell vs. Evan Esguerra
Mike Persons vs. Clayton McKinney
Darin Cooley vs. Cody Gibson
Roy Boughton vs. Liron Wilson
Chris Quitiquit vs. Dominic Clark
There haven’t been any announced bouts for the undercard, so if you’re holding out on hope that there will be a gloriously preventable screw-up somewhere in the planning of this event, it may come here. But as for now, things appear to be running very smoothly, despite all of us expecting the contrary.
So now the only question that remains is, do you plan on watching War MMA’s inaugural event in a few weeks?
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.
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
A veritable treasure trove of MMA action kicked off with two events last night, MFC 30 and “The Score Fighting Series”. Even if those organizations don’t ring a bell for you, they did line up recognizable names for their cards, and we’ve got the videos of who did what to whom.
At MFC 30, Brian Cobb showed no intimidation when the opening bell rang, but shortly after standing back up from a Drew Fickett takedown, the 18-6 prospect found himself in a world of trouble. Just a minute into the fight, Fickett took Cobb’s back standing, locking up a body triangle and working for his 31st submission when the fight hit the ground. Three and a half minutes and a dozen rear naked choke attempts later, Cobb turned into Fickett’s guard and unloaded a barrage of unanswered punches forcing the ref to halt the bout. To his credit, Fickett did meet all of the criteria needed to challenge an early stoppage, but from the replay it looked like the only thing supporting his bobblehead was the bottom rope.
After the jump, video of Spratt-Davis, a video recap of The Score, and full results.
A veritable treasure trove of MMA action kicked off with two events last night, MFC 30 and “The Score Fighting Series”. Even if those organizations don’t ring a bell for you, they did line up recognizable names for their cards, and we’ve got the videos of who did what to whom.
At MFC 30, Brian Cobb showed no intimidation when the opening bell rang, but shortly after standing back up from a Drew Fickett takedown, the 18-6 prospect found himself in a world of trouble. Just a minute into the fight, Fickett took Cobb’s back standing, locking up a body triangle and working for his 31st submission when the fight hit the ground. Three and a half minutes and a dozen rear naked choke attempts later, Cobb turned into Fickett’s guard and unloaded a barrage of unanswered punches forcing the ref to halt the bout. To his credit, Fickett did meet all of the criteria needed to challenge an early stoppage, but from the replay it looked like the only thing supporting his bobblehead was the bottom rope.
Former UFC southpaws Pete Spratt and Marcus Davis also locked horns on the HDNet-aired card. Davis showed a lot of movement throughout the fight, landing knees on the inside and shooting for takedowns whenever Spratt looked to tee off. Little damage was meted out when the fight hit the canvas, but the same could be said for the stand-up battle prior to the third round. In the end, Davis had done enough to secure the decision victory.
I can’t find any videos of the Sokoudjou-Boughton and Zaromskis-Mein bouts online, so “The Score” video recap will have to suffice. Did Zaromskis pull off the win? Did Sokoudjou fart his way to victory as predicted? Click play and find out.
-Brian Cobb def. Drew Fickett via TKO (punches) – R1, 4:44
– Marcus Davis def. Pete Spratt via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
– Sheldon Westcott def. Thomas Denny via unanimous decision (29-27 3x)
*Westcott was deducted a point in the third round for hitting Denny in the back of the head.
– Dhiego Lima def. Jamie Toney via TKO (punches) – R1, 2:47
– Curtis Demarce def. Robert Washington via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
* Decision was initially announced in favor of Robert Washington, but commission later changed the result after learning the 30-27 score was meant for Demarce and not Washington.
– Andreas Spang def. Cody Krahn via submission (guillotine choke) – R1, 1:18
– Mukai Maromo def. Scott Cleve via first-round TKO
– Garrett Nybakken def. Jevon Marshall via first-round TKO
-Mike Reilly def. Tyler Hardcastle via KO (slam) in round 2
-Alex Ricci def. Mike Sledzion via KO (punch) in round 2
-Tristan Johnson def. William Romero via unanimous decision
-Kurt Southern def. Jorge Britto via unanimous decision
-Josh Hill def. Darin Cooley via unanimous decision
-Mick Mamalis def. Adrian Wooley via split decision
-Antonio Carvalho def. Douglas Evans via unanimous decision
-Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou def. Roy Boughton via unanimous decision
-Joe Doerksen def. Luigi Fioravanti via unanimous decision
-Jordan Mein def. Marius Zaromskis via unanimous decision
You can catch the rest of MFC 30 courtesy of Zombie Prophet.
