Tag: Trey Houston

Battlegrounds MMA Results and GIFs: Roan Carneiro Wins the One Night, Eight-Man Welterweight Tournament


(Imagine this but 30 pounds heavier / Photo via Getty)

Chael Sonnen. Jim Ross. One night tournament. Holy shit. Are you ready for this?

We certainly weren’t (and judging by the sparse attendance, nobody else was either) The event was probably one of the most “freakshow-ish” events of the entire year, and we loved every second of it. Here’s a brief recap of the festivities!

The tournament, which was in the welterweight division, started off with Trey Houston vs. Jesse Taylor. Taylor took Houston down early and after a period of inactivity on the ground Houston managed to grab Taylor’s arm and lock in an armbar. Check out the GIF (this and others via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):


(Imagine this but 30 pounds heavier / Photo via Getty)

Chael Sonnen. Jim Ross. One night tournament. Holy shit. Are you ready for this?

We certainly weren’t (and judging by the sparse attendance, nobody else was either) The event was probably one of the most “freakshow-ish” events of the entire year, and we loved every second of it. Here’s a brief recap of the festivities!

The tournament, which was in the welterweight division, started off with Trey Houston vs. Jesse Taylor. Taylor took Houston down early and after a period of inactivity on the ground Houston managed to grab Taylor’s arm and lock in an armbar. Check out the GIF (this and others via Zombie Prophet/Fansided):

In the next quarterfinal bout, Roan Carneiro took on Randall Wallace. Carneiro took Wallace down immediately and out-classed him on the mat. He mounted Wallace, then took his back, and then scored a brutal armbar, the second of the night.

In the fight CagePotato viewed as the main event, Cody McKenzie fought Brock Larson. McKenzie looked awful physically. He sported a sizeable beer guy, channeling his inner Chuck Liddell. Despite his physique, he nearly managed to sink a guillotine in toward the end of the first round. But in the second, Larson’s strength prevailed. Overpowered McKenzie on the ground, passed his guard, and submitted him with an arm triangle choke.

The last quarterfinal took place between Joe Ray and Luigi Fioravanti. Fioravanti started the fight by pressing Ray up against the fence. This ended up working to Fioravanti’s disadvantage as Ray landed a knee in the clinch that hurt Fioravanti. Then Ray landed an additional pair of knees which floored Fioravanti, who turtled up.

After the semifinals, there was an interlude. A dude who as 16-23 took on a guy who was making his pro debut. Ugh. The 0-0 guy won. Moving on…

Two young featherweight fighters in Zac Church and Ryan Hayes met one another in a great scrap. The first round had some surprisingly technical scrambles between the two relatively inexperienced fighters and some decent striking exchanges as well. Unfortunately, this torrid pace didn’t continue and the fight slowed down by the end. Zac Church was awarded with a unanimous decision victory.

In semifinal one, Trey Houston met Roan Carneiro. Carneiro controlled the first, taking Houston down and mounting him. He wasn’t able to get the finish though. Carneiro landed a HUGE hook in the second that made Houston limp. Carneiro took Houston down off the punch and ultimately scored a TKO finish via ground and pound.

The next semifinal pit Joe Ray and Brock Larson against one another. Larson controlled the first, taking Ray down and cutting his nose open with an ‘accidental’ headbutt. Ray reversed his fortunes in the second. He managed to take Larson, the wrestler, down and stay on top of him in side control. Ray attempted a D’Arce choke that appeared to be sunk in but he couldn’t finish it. Larson controlled the last round with some serious lay and pray up until a fruitless flurry in the last few seconds. Larson won a unanimous decision. There weren’t any highlights from this to GIF, really.

So the finals were between Roan Carneiro and Brock Larson.

An interlude bout saw bantamweights Tyler Shinn fight Chris Gutierrez. This bout was pretty forgettable and wasn’t that great, in all honesty. Gutierrez was awarded with a split decision win.

Finally, the FINALS of the tournament. Roan Carneiro controlled the first round by pressing Larson against the fence, something we expected Larson to be doing to be honest. The second round saw much of the same and was pretty lackluster, to be honest. No fighter had any real offense, which was understandable as they were depleting from fighting twice already. Carneiro nearly finished the job in the start of the third round. He dragged Larson to the mat immediately, took his back, and started landing ground and pound. Larson, fighting off instinct, managed to regain half guard and then later full guard. Carneiro coasted on top for the rest of the round to win the fight via decision, as well as the entire tournament.

Overall:

We give this event a B-. I was certainly fun but it was plagued with pacing issues later on. The problem was that each tournament fighter had to have a 30-minute rest period after their tournament bouts. That killed the pacing in the last half of the card and made it run to an inconvenient time to those on the east coast. An earlier start date would work wonders. The tournament overall was intriguing, fun, and a refreshing change. It was a bit of a bummer that the final wasn’t terribly exciting.

And, of course, there was Chael Sonnen and Jim Ross on commentary. They started off pretty shaky but managed to pull it together and did a wonderful job. Chael was composed and very informative. JR did great as well, and had some great zingers too.

To us, the event was worth the $20. Let’s hope Battlegrounds survives to do a second event.

 

Bellator 61 Recap: Some Faces Get Smashed, No Arms Get Collected

Brian Rogers’ walk-off flying knee KO (Courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

Bellator kicked off its fourth 185-lb tournament last night and it was a pretty good night of scraps for those in the bludgeoning business. Despite a last minute cancellation of the scheduled Prindle-Santos rematch, the card marched bravely on. Eight middleweights squared off for a chance to advance to the semis and ultimately to challenge reigning champ Hector Lombard. It may not be the most popular tournament at the moment, but it’s ours, dammit, and here’s how it played out.

The opening bout in the eight-man scrum pitted Season 5 runner-up Vitor Vianna against Brian Rogers. Rogers came out as the early aggressor, firing off hard shots at a passive Vianna. Eager to get the fight to the ground, Vianna worked for the takedown, but his back only graced the canvas once for a few seconds following a hip-toss by Rogers. Back on the feet, “The Predator” stunned Vianna with a right hand that wobbled him back on his heels. Smelling blood, Rogers leapt in with flying knee for a textbook falling tree KO. “”That was my third flying knee knockout. Google it,” said Rogers in his post-fight interview. I would, boss, but I’m terrified of the internet. All nine of Rogers’ victories have come by first round stoppage. Not too shabby.

Brian Rogers’ walk-off flying knee KO (Courtesy of YouTube/BellatorMMA)

Bellator kicked off its fourth 185-lb tournament last night and it was a pretty good night of scraps for those in the bludgeoning business. Despite a last minute cancellation of the scheduled Prindle-Santos rematch, the card marched bravely on. Eight middleweights squared off for a chance to advance to the semis and ultimately to challenge reigning champ Hector Lombard. It may not be the most popular tournament at the moment, but it’s ours, dammit, and here’s how it played out.

The opening bout in the eight-man scrum pitted Season 5 runner-up Vitor Vianna against Brian Rogers. Rogers came out as the early aggressor, firing off hard shots at a passive Vianna. Eager to get the fight to the ground, Vianna worked for the takedown, but his back only graced the canvas once for a few seconds following a hip-toss by Rogers. Back on the feet, “The Predator” stunned Vianna with a right hand that wobbled him back on his heels. Smelling blood, Rogers leapt in with flying knee for a textbook falling tree KO. “”That was my third flying knee knockout. Google it,” said Rogers in his post-fight interview. I would, boss, but I’m terrified of the internet.  All nine of Rogers’ victories have come by first round stoppage. Not too shabby.

Giva Santana knew exactly what he wanted to do in his bout with Bruno Santos. So did the fans. And unfortunately for him, so did Santos. Santana, who owns more arms than Kali, worked dutifully to drag Santos to the mat, but “Carioca” wasn’t having it. He rolled out of two takedowns in a close first round and even pulled up on a slam in the second to avoid a ground battle with Santana. Santos continued to take out “The Arm Collector’s” base in the third with a series of leg kicks, and he defended well when they did hit the canvas. It wasn’t the evening’s most exciting bout, but the performance was enough to score Santos a unanimous decision and extend his record to a perfect 13-0.

Through the power of television, Bellator turned back the clock and showcased an undercard bout from earlier in the evening. The Trey Houston-Jeremiah Riggs must have been contested under “The Ultimate Fighter Live” rules, as both men swung for the fences and held nothing back for a potential second round. That go-for-the-kill pace left both men winded half-way through the opening frame. With his back against the cage, Houston exploded forward, driving Riggs across the cage and ending up in side-mount. After a scramble and more haymakers, Houston again scored the takedown. Mounted, Riggs flipped off the cage and reversed positions, but “That Just Happened” happened again with a beautiful armbar to end the fight. The 23-year-old Houston is now 9-0, with all wins coming via stoppage.

Vyacheslav Vasilvsky cut a path to the second round through Victor O’Donnell’s swollen face. Both men were aggressive in the first, with O’Donnell scoring two takedowns and working for mount. He tried to get the fight to the ground again in the second, but was stuffed on a takedown and stumbled backward by a short jab right on the button. From there, it was two rounds of survival. The Russian’s ground and pound had his opponent turtling up, and on the feet he continued to hurt O’Donnell with his accurate hands. O’Donnell showed great heart and proved too tough to put away, but he was out gunned in this battle. Vasilevsky scored the unanimous decision and picked up his fourteenth straight win.

In the main event of the evening, UFC exile Maiquel Falcao took on Norman Paraisy in a heated battle. Falcoa worked for takedowns early on, briefly securing mount and crowding the Frenchman against the fence through much of the first. At the end of the opening round, “Big Rig” hoisted Paraisy into the air, nearly securing a picture perfect “human torture rack” before losing control and dropping his opponent. As the bell sounded, Falcoa landed with a slightly late knee to the body, prompting a very late left hand from Paraisy. The two apologized, but shit was on. Falcao cranked it up a notch in the second, firing off leg kicks and finding a home for his flurries. The Brazilian dropped Paraisy twice in the second, but chose a bit of bravado and posturing over swarming in for the finish. Again, the round ended with some post-bell action from Falcao. The final frame was all “Big Rig”. Paraisy was hurt in the standup and found no sanctuary on the ground. Predictably, the fighting ended shortly after the final bell, but when the dust had settled a dominant Falcao got his hand raised.

The tournament’s four winners will advance to the semi-finals at Bellator 66. Rogers is slated to take on Santos while Vasilevsky will go to work against Falcao.

FULL RESULTS: (via AdCombat.com)

Middleweight Quarterfinals:
Norman Paraisy v Maiquel Falcao – Falcao by Unanimous Judges Decision R3
Vitor Vianna v Brian Rogers – Rogers by KO Flying Knee Strike 4:14 R1
Bruno Santos v Giva Santana – Santos by Unanimous Judges Decision R3
Victor O’Donnell v Vyacheslav Vasilevsky – Vasilevsky by Unanimous Judges Decision R3

Preliminary Card (Live on Spike.com):

Trey Houston v Jeremiah Riggs – Houston by Submission – Armbar, 3:30 R1
Eric Scallan v Derrick Krantz – Krantz by Submission – Choke, 3:01 R1
Jason Sampson v Jeremy Myers – Sampson by Submission Rear naked choke 2:25 R3