Tag: TJ Grant

Filed under: UFC

This is the UFC on Versus 6 live blog for all six preliminary bouts on tonight’s UFC Live card from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. This is the UFC’s debut in the nation’s capital city.

On the Facebook-streamed undercard are Yves Edwards vs. Rafaello Oliveira, Michael Johnson vs. Paul Sass, Byron Bloodworth vs. Mike Easton, T.J. Grant vs. Shane Roller, Josh Neer vs. Keith Wisniewski and Joseph Sandoval vs. Walel Watson.

Sass tries to stay unbeaten in his career when he meets Johnson, who won his first UFC fight in June after losing to Jonathan Brookins in the TUF 12 finals. Edwards and Oliveira had winning streaks snapped over the summer and are looking to rebound. And Neer and Wisniewski return after long stints outside the UFC, Neer more than two years and Wisniewski nearly six years.

The live blog is below.

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Walel Watson vs. Joseph Sandoval

Round 1: We open up with a bout between a pair of debuting bantamweights. Watson trains at the San Diego Combat Academy with Team Hurricane Awesome, including Strikeforce women’s fighter Liz Carmouche. Sandoval is unbeaten at 6-0. Sandoval is channeling Dan Hardy, walking out with a bandana-mask covering his face, as well as a reddish-orange mohawk. Mario Yamasaki gets things rolling. Sandoval opens in southpaw stance and ducks away from two right head kicks from Watson. Then he checks one, then eats one to the mommy-daddy parts. Sandoval gets a few seconds to recover, and Yamasaki warns Watson. Watson comes back with a big head kick and he lands it big time, right under the chin. Sandoval hits the canvas, but bounces up quickly. But Watson is there to land a right kick to the side of the head, and a couple punches before Yamasaki can get in and stop it. It looks like Sandoval could’ve continued, but had he, he just would’ve eaten more shots. “I’ve been working on my striking. I just measured my distance, threw my head kick – same thing I’ve been practicing all day,” Watson tells Joe Rogan.

Result: Walel Watson def. Joseph Sandoval, TKO, 1:17 Round 1

Josh Neer vs. Keith Wisniewski

Round 1: Both men returning for the first time in a while. Neer has been out of the UFC more than two years. Wisniewski for nearly six. They start out striking with Wisniewski getting a few short jabs in before clinching up and throwing a few knees. Wisniewski eats a right, then they clinch up again but not much comes from it. Wisniewski has a pretty good height advantage, and as Neer comes inside he lands repeated body blows until Wisniewski pushes him away. They clinch again and trade position against the fence. Neer’s mouthpiece falls out, and we take a second to put it back in. Nice low leg kick from Neer. Wisniewski throws on a Thai clinch, but there’s not much there. Wisniewski lands a left, then eats an uppercut from Neer. Wisniewski may be bloodied over his eye. Neer gets the better of a dirty boxing exchange, then eats a couple shots. Neer goes after Wisniewski’s cut with elbows trying to open it up some more. It’s a pretty interesting round, but it looks like Neer landed a few more shots and we’ll give it to him 10-9.

Round 2: Neer apparently told his corner that Wisniewski has broken his ribs with some body shots. So let’s see how that affects Neer here in Round 2. Big right from Neer backs Wisniewski up. Then a pair of jabs as Wisniewski moves in. Wisniewski told MMA Fighting on Friday he planned to get the better of exchanges and take the fight to the ground in each round. He never did that in the first. Will he look for a takedown in this round? They trade elbows along the fence in some more dirty boxing exchanges. Wisniewski goes back to the body. Wisniewski eats several elbows to the face, and then lands one of his own. Neer getting the better of all these standing elbwos, and Wisniewski looks very battered on his face and is starting to bleed pretty good. Neer lands uppercuts as Wisniewski clinches. Dan Miragliotta calls time to have a doctor look at Wisniewski’s cuts. Wisniewski says he’s fine, he can see and he wants to continue. But he is absolutely a bloody mess. Now we are looking for Wisniewski’s mouthpiece, which has fallen out against the cage and is now apparently lost under the cage! Never seen this before! They send someone under the cage to find it, and they do! Wisniewski probably will come forward with a new strategy now, and he comes forward quickly and looks for a takedown. It’s not there, and he eats some more elbows. With a minute left, Wisniewski is going to need to find some serious offense. But he eats some more elbows, then four straight left jabs. Neer goes for a standing guillotine at the end of the round, and it’s a bloodbath all over the cage. Miragliotta looks closely at the cut that was leaking all over the place as Neer squeezed the guillotine. It’s an easy 10-9 round for Neer, and it very well could be a 10-8. But it won’t matter. The doctor will stop the fight, and it’s a TKO victory for Neer, who landed probably nowhere short of 10,000 elbows.

Result: Josh Neer def. Keith Wisniewski, TKO (doctor’s stoppage), 5:00 Round 3
“I’m happy. I work on my elbows all the time. I have a lot of respect for (Keith). I wasn’t surprised the fight was stopped. It was getting hard to do anything in there, it was so bloody. I didn’t break my ribs. He definitely hurt me,” Neer tells Rogan afterward.

Shane Roller vs. T.J. Grant

Round 1: Grant walks first, and walks to “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake, conjuring up memories of Mark Wahlberg in “The Fighter” playing boxer “Irish” Micky Ward. This is Grant’s debut at lightweight, moving down from welterweight. Grant in the middle and stalking. Roller misses a looping left, then eats a couple short jabs. Big right uppercut from Roller, and Grant takes him to the ground. But Roller gets a guillotine. They flip-flop position a couple times, and Grant winds up on top looking for a side choke, then an armbar. Roller is an Oklahoma State wrestling product, though, and pretty quickly rolls Grant over and gets on top – and nearly gets a guillotine himself. Good scramble from Grant, though, and he gets up out of the bad position and stands up looking to throw punches from standing. He dives back in and Roller stays back in full guard. Grant looks to land some body shots as Roller looks for a guillotine. Grant moves around and gets to side control, and Rogan mentions the rare “Von Flue” choke that Grant apparently doesn’t know about. Grant traps Roller’s right arm, and proceeds to land some good shots from the top as Roller covers up. It’s a 10-9 round for Grant on the unofficial MMA Fighting card.

Round 2: Head kick from Grant 20 seconds in is partially blocked. Grant then times a nice inside leg kick. Some big knees from Grant lead Roller to shoot for a takedown. Roller tries to control an arm, but as they come back up he settles for some good shots on the feet. Roller starts throwing some bombs. Grant goes for a big takedown and lands it – and lands right into a guillotine. But Grant is able to pop his head out and winds up in side control. Grant changes position, giving up a pretty good spot, and after a short scramble Grant again looks for a crucifix position. But he loses his good spot going for the back, and Roller winds up on top. Roller tries to pass, but a bizarre scramble sees Grant pull off a beautiful transition to an armbar – and Roller just barely survives the round. We’re scoring it for Grant again, 10-9.

Round 3: A little slower pace to start the third round. Both guys trade jabs until Grant lands a big right hand that cuts Roller. Roller looks like he’s having some trouble seeing, blinking a lot. Roller shoots 90 seconds in, but Grant doesn’t have much trouble sprawling to defend. Roller continues to look for the takedown and gets a single, but Grant locks on a guillotine. Roller pops his head out, but Grant throws on an armbar, and it’s a good one. Suddenly, the ref stops the fight. But Roller didn’t tap. Roller is extremely upset. The crowd boos the perceived bad stoppage from Mario Yamasaki’s brother, Fernando.

Result: T.J. Grant def. Shane Roller, TKO (verbal submission), 2:12 Round 3
“He was in there and he yelled out in pain. You’re told before the fight you can’t do that. He gave me a helluva a fight, and that’s what I expected,” Grant said. “I knew I had a short window there (with the armbar).” Roller was less than pleased, talking to Rogan: “We were getting in a scramble, and I ended up an the armbar. It got locked up tight. I moaned, but I didn’t yell. I was trying to get out.”

Mike Easton vs. Byron Bloodworth

Round 1: Both fighters are making their UFC debuts. Bloodworth takes this fight on very short notice, filling in for Doug Hougland. He couldn’t hit the bantamweight limit, though, so this is a 138-pound catchweight fight and Bloodworth is giving up 20 percent of his purse. Easton is a big fan favorite as a D.C. native. Easton is buddy-buddy with Dominick Cruz, and he moves just like him. Easton isn’t doing anything in the way of attacking yet, though. Bloodworth lands an inside leg kick. Nice high kick from Bloodworth is checked. A couple nice inside leg kicks from Easton. Bloodworth shoots for a takedown, but Easton stops it. They clinch up and move to the fence and trade knees. With about 2 minutes left in the round, the ref breaks them for a lack of action. Good spinning back kick from Easton lands to Bloodworth’s gut with 90 seconds left in the round. Bloodworth misses a 1-2 with a spinning back elbow. Easton lands a knee to the midsection, then backs up and re-sets. Bloodworth shoots, but Easton easily sprawls out of it. It’s a pretty close first round, but Easton probably takes it 10-9.

Round 2: Easton has a little more pep in his step, if that’s even possible. Or at least he’s looking more offensive minded than the first, which had a lot of time spent bouncing but not throwing much offense out there. Nice kick from Easton, and then a lazy shot from Bloodworth is pushed away. Left hook from Easton, and a beautiful right kick from Easton to Bloodworth’s left leg. Then another shot to the lead leg, and Bloodworth appears to be feelin’ it for sure. Bloodworth toggles back and forth in his stances hoping to keep Easton away from that left leg, and he’s circling all over the place. Easton throws a kick, but it lands low and Bloodworth gets some time. Easton says, “Dude, totally sorry. My bad.” (Not literally.) But we get back going, and a Bloodworth kick combined with an Easton slip has Easton briefly with a knee on the mat. They clinch with a minute left, then trade position on the fence. Easton throws some big right knees to Bloodworth’s face, then lands a big knee to the body that instantly crumples Bloodworth. Easton gets in four lefts on the ground before Kevin Mulhall steps in to shut things down.

Result: Mike Easton def. Byron Bloodworth, TKO, 4:52 Round 2

Michael Johnson vs. Paul Sass

Round 1: Flying knee-kick thing from Sass starts the fight, and Johnson moves out of the way. It gets a nice “Ooooh!” from the D.C. crowd, though. Sass is the triangle master with eight of his 11 wins by the choke finish, including seven straight at one point. Johnson lands a nice right, then a left, then a knee that sends Sass to the ground. But instead of moving to the ground to try and finish, Johnson stays well away from Sass’ strength. They stay standing. Spinning elbow from Sass misses. A scramble sees the fight hit the ground, and Sass looks for a heel hook. He loses it, but then locks it up again. He turns it over and looks for leverage. He keeps working the hold, and then he rolls Johnson over and the TUF 12 runner-up has to tap. Sass is truly a submission specialist, and he gets yet another one. Sass, from England, moves to 12-0 – with 11 submissions, and is line for a possible second straight Submission of the Night bonus to start his UFC career.

Result: Paul Sass def. Michael Johnson, submission (heel hook), 3:00 Round 1
“I was trying to go for a triangle today, but any submission I’m going for. He’s hard to tap. I didn’t hear (his knee pop), but I didn’t want to let go,” Sass says after the fight.

Yves Edwards vs. Rafaello Oliveira

Round 1: Oliveira opens with a head kick that is blocked. Then a big flurry that is followed by a press against the fence. Edwards survives the flurry and ties Oliveira up. Edwards looks for a Thai clinch, but it’s not there. Oliveira comes back with another flurry. Another high kick from Oliveira is blocked. Edwards throws a right kick of his own, but it misses. Inside leg kick from Oliveira. Nice combo from Edwards, including a high kick. Nice kick to the body from Edwards now, then a high kick that is blocked. Edwards has stayed patient, and he looks to be in a better rhythm. Edwards ducks under a left, then lands a left of his own. Another good combo from Edwards is on the mark. Oliveira shoots for a takedown, but Edwards defends it nicely and lands a shot on the way back up, then a couple more. Oliveira started fast, but Edwards was more consistent and he gets the round 10-9 on our card.

Round 2: Traded kicks in the first 30 seconds. Good scramble that Edwards defends well. On the standup, he lands a nice inside leg kick. Each guy dodges away from some combos. But Edwards lands a big right that drops Oliveira. He pounces and lands some big shots on the ground as Mario Yamasaki moves in. It looks close to being stopped, but Yamasaki gives Oliveira the chance to recover. And somehow he does. But Edwards continues to land some shots – though Oliveira fights back. But then an Edwards kick to the head drops Oliveira again, and he pounces and lands repeated shots to the head. Yamasaki probably lets it go a little too long this time, but when Edwards takes Oliveira’s back and flattens him out, it’s quickly, and mercifully at this point, over.

Result: Yves Edwards def. Rafaello Oliveira, TKO, 2:44 Round 2
“I know Rafaello’s a really tough guy and would come out hard. I just had to get my timing down. I’m faster than just about everyone out there, so I just had to figure that part out. Ultimately I’m just a guy fighting in front of a crowd, asking them to love him,” Edwards said.

 

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