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IFL Semi Finals

IFL Semi Finals

As I sit and wait for tonight’s preliminary fights, it’s clear that the International Fight League (IFL), the world’s first team-based MMA league is growing in popularity.

With a roster of 12 teams, all managed and trained by veteran legends of MMA such as Renzo Gracie (Pitbulls), Pat Miletich (Silverbacks), Carlos Newton (Dragons) and Dan Severn (Red Bears), it’s easy to see why so many people are being drawn to the arenas to see these events.

Tonight’s midweek attendance peaked at over 7,000, with fans gathered together to watch a great show featuring the defending IFL World Champion, Quad City Silverbacks vs. the Los Angeles Anacondas (led by Shawn Tompkins) and Ken Yasuda’s Tokyo Sabres facing the New York Pitbulls.

Each team will bring in 5 fighters, giving us 10 fights in the main event and 4 preliminaries, which do no count for the teams’ overall scores.

The preliminary fights started at 6:15pm and set the stage for the rest of the night:

LC Davis won his match vs. Conor Heun via unanimous decision; Joe Sampieri, a Muay Thai expert, was submitted at 3:21 of the first round by Jason Palacios; Lyman Good also won via decision against Mike Dolce; Dante Rivera stepped into the IFL ring determined to demonstrate why he’s the CFFC’s 185lbs champion, and he did so with a third round TKO over Nissim Levy.

Both Good and Levy did a great job representing Tiger Schulmann’s Karate, proving that you don’t have to be a 42-year-old mom of three to join their academy.

The team event started with Light Heavyweights Mike Ciesnolevicz (Silverbacks) vs. Alex Schoenauer (Anacondas). This is an important fight for the Schoenauer. Two of his team members will have replacements and are unable to fight tonight.

R1

Schoenauer gets the takedown but Ciesnolevicz is able to get back to his feet.

Ciesnolevicz finds Schoenauer face with his left hand and follows up with a guillotine choke. Schoenauer escapes but finds himself following the pace being set by Ciesnolevicz

Ciesnolevicz has evidently been working hard on his stand up game back in the Miletich camp and shows it by throwing a nice kick to Schoenauer’s body.

R2

Ciesnolevicz pulls guard.

Both fighters try to grapple to an advantageous position to no avail and are ordered to stand up. Schoenauer shows his boxing skills with a left hook to Ciesnolevicz cheek.

Ciesnolevicz once again takes control of the fight by getting into the mount position, which becomes an attempt at a rear naked choke.

Both fighters are back on their feet and Schoenauer delivers a right hand that brings Ciesnolevicz to one knee.

R3

Ciesnolevicz decides he’s better off on the ground for this round. He shoots for the double leg and is able to get Schoenauer in the corner.

Fighters are again split up by the referee.

Schoenauer is showing signs of fatigue but still throwing his heavy hands.

Schoenauer goes for a last take down attempt but the fight ends and he’s obviously tired.

The judges decide Ciesnolevicz is the winner and the Silverbacks are on the way to securing a spot in the IFL finals.

Welterweights Rory Markham (Silverbacks) faces Anaconda’s Chris Clements.

Markham is one of the best stand up fighters in the IFL, looking to end Clements’s five match winning streak.

R1

Clements delivers a solid left, to which Markham responds with a left of his own.

Clements starts to put a combo together but Markham brings him to the ground with a right punch to the chin.

After a couple more punches on the ground the referee stops the fight.

Clements is not pleased but the decision had been made. He lost at 1:17.

With three fights to go, the Silverbacks only need one more victory to secure a spot in the finals.

Miletich is beginning to wonder if he would look like Mr. T wearing two championship rings at the same time.

Lightweight’s Bart Palaszewski (Silverbacks) vs. Harris Sarmiento (Anacondas).

This is a frustrating situation for the Anacondas. They’re two fights down, and their starting lightweight, Chris Horodecki (10-0) is at ringside.

R1

Both fighters are looking to strike but can’t connect.

Palaszewski shows off his striking combinations, and Sarmiento responds them with his own.

Sarmiento seems to be controlling the pace of the fight and ends the round 1 ahead.

R2
Sarmiento starts the round well, landing a couple of punches before Palaszewski takes him down.

Sarmiento finds that his left hand/right kick technique is proving effective, but Palaszewski sees his game and brings him down again.

Sarmiento stays in half guard until the referee stands them up.

Palaszewski controls round 2 with weak but effective take downs.

R3

Palaszewski keeps his ground game plan by immediately taking Sarmiento down twice.

Palaszewski goes for a guillotine choke and gets the submission via tapout at the 1:06 minute.

The Silverbacks are officially in the finals but there are still two more fights to go.

Middleweights Gerald Harris and Benji Radach are preparing to enter the ring.

Harris is a collegiate wrestler, who previously competed in the IFL for Matt Lindland’s Portland Wolfpack. This is an exception for Miletich, since he normally uses other members of his camp when someone from his team is injured.

R1

Radach is working hard to get the takedown. Harris, who trains with Team Quest, knows his game and shows it by defending and getting a huge slam against Radach.

Radach is able to get back up and sinks in a guillotine. Harris tries to take Radach down but lands on the bottom.

After about 30 seconds the two men are ordered to stand up in the middle of the ring.

Radach is able to land an uppercut that makes Harris collapse.

Radach followed it but the fight was stopped, giving Radach the victory at 3:03.

Another highly anticipated fight of the night is between the heavyweights Ben Rothwell (Silverbacks) and Krzysztof Soszynski (Anacondas).

Ben, who suffered with spinal meningitis as a child, is today one of the best heavyweights in the league.

R1
Soszynski started the round with a right shot, which Rothwell answered with a right hand that promptly brought him to the ground. After a couple more shots on the ground the fight was stopped at 13 seconds, giving Ben the fastest knockout in the league’s history.

The Silverbacks are victorious (4-1) and will be in the finals.

The second half of the night belongs to the New York Pitbulls and the Tokyo Sabres.

The Pitbulls step into the ring with three substitutes due to injuries.

Middleweights David Phillips (Sabres) and Dan Miller (Pitbulls), who’s in for Fabiano Leopoldo, will start the action for the two teams.

Dan Miller, a veteran of Reality Fighting and CFFC, will likely show some of his submissions skills in this fight.

R1

The fight starts with Miller throwing punches.

Phillips gets the guard, and applies a beautiful arm bar.

Miller slams Phillips on the ground, allowing him to escape.

As Phillips gets back on his feet, Miller sinks in a standing guillotine choke and holds it until Phillips, who never tapped out, passes out.

There’s a huge party on Renzo Gracie’s corner and the energy in the arena is boiling.

The heavyweights are ready to take their places. Wayne Cole (Sabres) is a skilled striker and an All-American wrestler who will likely look for a knockout out of Bryan Vetell. Vetell, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, will certainly use his weight and skill to keep control of his opponent.

The introductions are made and Vetell rolls his eyes when his nickname is mentioned over the speakers. Out of all the names the IFL could’ve given a man his size, they went with Bryan “the Philosopher” Vetell. Good one.

R1

Cole comes to fight lean and mean. He’s fast, but Vetell is able to pin him against the ropes. After throwing a few knees, Vetell goes for a take down, but Cole is able to escape and delivers several hammer punches.

Vetell gets back up on his feet and they start to exchange punches.

Vetell once again pins Cole in the corner, and works with short punches and knees to the legs Cole’s legs.

R2

Vetell pushes Cole into the corner, and Cole can’t get away from him.

Cole makes little attempts to escape from this position, but Vetell weight and size begin to exhaust Cole.

R3

Vetell starts the round with a kick to Cole’s leg which makes Cole lose his balance.

Not surprising, Cole looks tired. He just spent 6 minutes trying to fight off a mammoth of a man.

Vetell capitalizes on Cole’s estate, and again gets him against the ropes.

He alternates knees to the leg and to the head on the outside.

Late in the round Cole gets the takedown and the full mount but before he can do much damage, the bell rings, and the fight’s over.

Vetell wins via decision. The Pitbulls are one step closer to the finals.

Renzo Gracie, who normally picks up the winning fighter in celebration, congratulates Bryan with a hug instead.

Savant Young (Sabres) and Deividas Taurosevicius (Pitbulls sub), lightweights, prepare to face off.

Young looks like a small giant. With his small stature his muscles look almost disproportional. Taurosevicius, another veteran of CFFC and jiu Jitsu expert, has a big challenge in his hands.

R1

Taurosevicius opens the round with leg kicks.

Young retaliates and is able to bring Taurosevicius to the ground with a right hook.

While in the guard of his opponent, Young attempts to land some heavy punches, his deliberate attacks almost became costly when Taurosevicius nearly had his arm for a submission a couple of times.

Taurosevicius appears to have outsmarted Young in the ground and standing up

R2

Taurosevicius opens the round (again) with leg kicks.

He’s comfortable in the ring and it shows.

After a nice takedown, Taurosevicius goes for the mount, and ends up with Young’s back.

Young does a great job defending his neck and arms, but knows there is no way he can accumulate points from this position.

The round ends with Taurosevicius trying to pry Young’s hands apart, so he could get the arm bar from the top.

R3

Young goes for a quick right, but Taurosevicius is fast and gets out of the way. He switches to the southpaw stance, using Muay Thai to keep Young, who’s looking for the knockout, at bay.

Taurosevicius gets a couple of take downs and is never in much danger.

The round ends and the judges award Taurosevicius the victory. The Pitbulls are going to the finals, and two of their subs have shown they have what it takes to be starters.

The “main event” is next. Welterweights Antonio McKee (Sabres) and Delson Heleno (Pitbulls) step into the ring.

R1

The fighters measure each other for what it seems like an eternity. Punches are thrown but nothing lands.

On Heleno’s second takedown attempt McKee is able to switch and get the double legs.

Heleno has the guard but his position in the corner makes it hard for him to shift his hips and legs for a sweep or submission.

R2

Heleno gets the takedown, but doesn’t capitalize on it on the ground.

The referee stands them up and they go into a clinch.

Heleno knees the inside of McKee’s legs, but eventually accidentally hits him in the groin. No points are taken since Heleno clearly was not aiming for it.

R3

McKee goes for a takedown, but Heleno lands on top.

Heleno throws punch after punch until the bell sounded.

The judges gave the split decision to McKee.

The announcement is made for the last fight of the night. The light heavyweights are in their corners, waiting for the fight to begin.

Vladimir “the janitor” Matyushenko (Sabres) will be facing Tim Boetsch (Pitbulls), whose last fight was only 4 days ago.

R1

Boetsch gets the takedown and goes for a guillotine. Matyushenko escapes.

Boetsch gets another takedown. Matyushenko escapes again and they’re back on their feet.

Matyushenko gets the takedown this time and starts the ground and pound. Boetsch gets on his feet is and able to land some heavy fists on Matyushenko.

R2

Boetsch lands a big right hand. Matyushenko retaliates with punches, and gets a takedown, followed by side control. He tries for an arm bar, but Boetsch is able to get on his feet.

Boetsch goes for a guillotine, but can’t find it.

Matyushenko is controlling the pace of the fight.

R3

Matyushenko gets the takedown. Eventually the referee stands them up.

Boetsch is looking for a fight, but Matyushenko is content just holding him in the corner.

Matyushenko tries for a takedown. Boetsch tries another guillotine.

Matyushenko is able to escape and wins the unanimous decision.

BodogFIGHT: Eddie Alvarez vs. Matt Lee

It's official: BodogFIGHT has landed in America. No longer relegated to far-off lands like cold Mother Russia or Canada for that matter, BodogFIGHT sets up shop in Trenton, New Jersey for its US debut. I have to wonder why a fight organization with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of funds would choose the modestly-sized Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, a city described by urbandictionary.com as being “Not as hard as Camden, but tuffer than Newark,” to make its first splash in the US. Perhaps Bodog was just testing the waters. I would imagine getting 10,500 people to shell out bucks to come out to Trenton would be a challenge for any organization, and indeed the arena was half full at best. But despite a questionable venue and low attendance Bodog played to their strengths by stringing together solid fights under their signature glossy production values.

With names like Roman Zentzov, Amar Suloev, and Yuki Kondo gracing the fight card, it may be hard for veteran MMA fans to understand how Eddie Alvarez VS. Matt Lee came to be offered as the main event. Maybe the folks at BodogFIGHT believe that have a highly marketable champ in Eddie Alvarez. Maybe they do.

Eddie Alvarez (10-1-0) vs. Matt Lee (9-5-1 )

From the moment the doors opened to the Arena, Eddie Alvarez's presence could be felt in the busloads of green t-shirt wearing fans that poured in to chant his name. His fan section, which made up a large portion of the crowd, became a theme throughout the night as they heckled other fighters, chanted for Alvarez no matter who was in the ring, and generally showed no respect for anything that wasn't Eddie Alvarez. To their credit, when Alvarez finally did enter the ring, the arena was thunderous with chants and stomping – the energy level was through the roof.

When the fighters touched gloves and got down to business, Alvarez wasted no time letting Lee know what kind of fight it was going to be and began launching whip-fast punching combinations. Matt Lee seemed out-gunned from the first few seconds of the fight. But Lee is very tough and showed both heart and chin in equal abundance. Early in round one, Alvarez shot in with a powerful double-leg which scrunched Lee into a corner where he ate several Hammer fists before temporarily giving up his back to Alvarez. But before long, the 170 pounders were back on their feet where Eddie continued to dominate the ring with hard flurries to Lee's body and face, while Lee mostly looked to land his Jab.

In round 2, Alvarez continued to strike Lee, who could never suppress Alvarez's speed and power long enough to mount an offense of his own. Lee can take one hell of a shot, and perhaps that is why he left his hands so low throughout the fight (between rounds his boxing coach was going nuts). Since direct offense was out of reach, Lee relied on counter punching, which he did with some success in the middle of round two when he connected flush with Alvarez's nose which instantly began to bleed down his face. It was a good punch from Lee, but nowhere near enough to win him the round.

Round 3 continued what had become a one-sided kickboxing match. At one point Lee looked like he lost his temper and began taunting Alvarez. Alvarez responded with a violent flurry and some taunts of his own. With the stand up not working in his favor, Lee decided to take the fight to the ground which he did with a slick leg trip, but there was no time for a ground fight and Alvarez walked away with a dominant performance and a unanimous decision.

Tara Larosa (14 -1) vs. Kelly Kobald (15-1-1) for the vacant Bodog Fight Women's 135-pound Championship.

Right off the bat, I have to call this the fight of the night. I actually had a chance to catch Tara Larosa and Kelly Kobald early in the night as they chatted away and joked modestly about what each thought the other was going to do to them. They were professionals cordially talking shop and enjoying each other. But come fight time the two powerful and skilled athletes went to war.

At the start of round one my first thought was WOW, Kelly Kobald hits hard. Kobald narrowly missed Larosa's chin with a right hook that must have sent quite a breeze Larosa's way – Kobald was game. For the first three rounds Kobald showed elements of training partner, Sean Sherk, as she pressed the action with a furious pace. It was Larosa's calm and experience that would allow her to survive an illegal 4-point knee strike that left her visibly dazed for a minute or two mid-way through round 3. Larosa soon found she would be more comfortable fighting Kobald on the ground and began to attack from her back with a series of very technical armbar attempts. In the fourth round Larosa's tenacious attacks finally paid off as she managed to trap Kobald's arm from the guard and sweep her to her back for a very slick finish. Larosa was emotional as she was handed the 135 pound belt. Kobald and Larosa fought a war that stole the show and convinced me that Women will one day soon headline a major MMA show. With Bodog's deepening female talent pool, they may just be the organization to pull it off.

Yuki kondo (46-20-6) vs Trevor Prangley (16-4) for the Middle weight title

When Yuki Kondo and Trevor Prangley stood across the ring from each other, one thing was obvious: Kondo was the smaller man. To be sure, not many of the fans in the crowd who welcomed Kondo with chants of 'USA" knew much about his storied career. In his 72 fights, Kondo had been in more than enough wars to earn legend-status. The real question was how much had his career taken out of him?

At the start, Prangley landed first and the USA chants fired up again. Prangley quickly got to Kondo's back in the clinch and then slammed him down where he stayed on his back hunting for the rear naked choke. Yuki miraculously escaped and the fighters got back to their feet. Most of the rest of round 1 saw Prangley out-work Kondo in the clinch – Kondo was unable to score with anything significant. In round two, Prangley continued to press on with his pace relentlessly. The clinch fighting continued until Kondo attempted to take Prangley down but was out-wresteled and reversed and ended up with Prangley in the cross side top position. Kondo was finally able to recover guard but was unable to mount any offense and was bloodied by Prangley's ground and pound instead. In the final moments of round 2 Kondo was dropped by a hard right hand and the doctors would not allow Kondo to continue in round 3. Anyone looking to take Prangley's belt has to be able to deal with his strong wrestling abilities. Prangley -- Sonnen 2 would fit that bill.

Amar Suloev (23-7) vs. Chael Sonnen (17-8-1)

No one's going to say Amar Suloev isn't a force at 185. His precision striking and smart ring-sense have led him to wins over some of the best at 185; Yushin Okami, Murillo Bustamante, and Dean Lister to name a few. But Chael Sonnen doesn't place much faith is ring-smarts or game plans – his plan is simple; to put you down and smash you to a pulp. And that's exactly what he did against Suloev when he dominated his way to a TKO victory in the second round. Sonnen showed that he is a force in anyone's 185 pound division and proved once again why many think he's one of the best wrestlers fighting in mixed martial arts. It was an impressive performance.

Roman Zentzov (16-11) vs. Branden Lee Hinkle (13 – 9)

If you have been keeping an eye on Roman Zentzov lately, you might think that there are few in the world of mixed martial arts that have the tools to beat him. Training out of Red Devil Sport Club with the likes of the Emelianenko brothers, and plastering his last seven opponents with his nightmare of a left hand, you would be forgiven for thinking that his loosing days were behind him.

Brandon Lee Hinkle, on the other hand, hadn't done much to raise eyebrows in MMA since dispatching Sean Gagnon back in 2005. Since then he's had three fights in which he failed to make it out of the first round and things did not look so good for Hinkle. Hinkle is an experienced fighter with almost a decade of MMA behind Him. In the past 9 years he has fought some respectable opponents; however, he has also lost the majority of his toughest tests. There was no reason to think that he would be the one to end Zentzov's 7-fight reign of knockout supremacy.

So what would your plan be if you found yourself starring across the ring from a Russian Tank who had a wrecking ball for a left hand? You might run or soil yourself (I would), but if you were Brandon Lee Hinkle, you'd rely on your strong wrestling to move the fight to the ground as quickly as possible. With Mark Coleman in his corner, it was clear that this was exactly the kind of fight that a very fit Hinkle had been training for.

From the first instant of round 1 Hinkle exploded with a double leg shot that had some serious horse-power behind it. After the first shoot it became clear that Zentzov was most likely not going to be spending a lot of time working his signature hook. So it was to be a ground fight. At first I was very interested to see how this would play out. We all know how good Zentzov's training partner, Fedor Emelianenko, is on the ground, so I was curious how much had rubbed off on Zentzov. Midway through round 1 the answer was clear: not much. What emerged was a repetitive pattern were Hinkle man-handled Zentzov in a string of dominant positions on the ground while half-heartedly looking for the occasional submission, and delivering very little punishment with his ground and pound. Zentzov continually gave Hinkle mount, his back, his side, and could never seem to recover guard against Hinkle. At the end of three rounds Zentzov didn't look like he had taken much of a beating, but Hinkle's plan had been a success and he earned a much needed and significant unanimous decision victory.

Yves Edwards (29-13-1) vs. Jorge Masvidal (11-2)

Two years ago you would have had to mention Yves Edwards on any list top light weights. Even in defeat he looked like a terror in the ring with dynamic striking and formidable ground game to boot. Edwards and his "thug-jitsu" toppled such great foes as Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Hermes Franca (x2), and Josh Thompson. …And then he was triangle choked by Mark Hominick, a champion Muay Thai fighter not known for his ground skills. Since then, Edwards has slid down the 155lb ladder going losing 4 out of his last 5 fights. His latest defeat came at the hands of talented American Top Team fighter Jorge Masvidal. The first round was hard to score as with both fighters circling each other and darting in for quick exchanges. If pressed, I would have given a slight lead to Edwards, but Masvidal had definitely demonstrated his worthiness. The second round started with a brawl, again apparently even, until Masvidal connected with a devastating right roundhouse kick to Edwards head which ended the fight with a stunning knockout 3 minutes into the 2nd round. The kick connected with so much force that it Masvidal broke his foot and had to limp out of the ring. As much as I would have liked to see Edwards climb out of his rut, Masvidal is a quality fighter who deserves attention.

145 pounders David Love (6-6-1) and Eben Oroz (3-1) opened the night with an exciting fight which was punctuated by Oroz's beautiful fanning jeet-kun-do kicks which were reminiscent of Bruce Lee himself, and marred by nonsensical referee stand-ups. Despite Oroz's kicking performance, it would be David Love who would walk away with the split decision victory due mostly to his aggression and wrestling abilities. Welterweights Dan Hawley (4-1) and local fan favorite Blair Tugman (2-0) gave fans an exciting ground war. Though Tugman would be awarded the unanimous decision for his take downs and activity in Hawley's guard, this fight should have went Hawley's way. Hawley nearly had Tugman submitted on numerous occasions, and Tugman seemed to be in constant danger in Hawley's octopus-like guard which is where he spent most of the fight. Hawley made Tugman play his game, but since he did so from his back, the judges saw it as Tugman's fight. Mark Burch (7 – 2) used his 50 pound weight advantage to grind down Yoshiki Takahashi (28-22-3) in the clinch wear he would drop him with an unforgiving knee late in the first. Nick Agallar (18-5) took a split decision over his opponent, submission fighter, James 'Binky' Jones (3-2) in what was mainly a ground fight. Several times the crowd shouted "stand'em up!" and every time the referee obliged. Despite the rude interruptions, both fighters gave solid performances and, in the end, Agallar's ground and pound out pointed Jones' submission game.

Fight Commentary

Coming Soon-- article on fight commentary...

Gracie and Slice win with superior jiu-jitsu at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 'Two Words – One Cage.'

I have to hand it to the folks at CFFC – when all was said and done, they put together a good event on the 23rd. Sure, there were a few kinks over the course of the evening. Some of the difficulties were technical; some of them spoke towards larger issues in the sport of MMA. There was, however, no problem in the entertainment value of the fights; on that front, CFFC 5 delivered, and with a bevy of exciting finishes, and quality match-ups

The Fights

Kimbo Wins… Off his back.

Excuse me? Come again? Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, the man we all know for putting lumps on flailing thugs in various vacant lots across Miami? The man with hands of stone and a chin that eats bare-knuckle punches for breakfast? Kimbo Slice beat Ray Mercer by submission from the closed-guard? It's one of the simplest and most common finishes in MMA – and if your opponent is a one-dimensional striker it's usually available, literally sticking its neck out waiting for you to seize the opportunity. Kimbo has been training with Bas Rutten, an MMA legend who, like Slice, had his beginnings as a fearsome striker. Bas Rutten knows what it takes to adapt and did so very well as is evidenced by his impressive record. Will Kimbo Slice go on to achieve similar success? Time might tell; unfortunately, his fight against Mercer didn’t tell us much. The fight was billed as a contest between two worlds, Boxing and MMA. I found myself wondering if Kimbo Slice was really the best representative of the sport of MMA to prove that point, and furthermore, if that point really needed to be proven… Again. The real appeal in a match-up between a boxing champ and a street fighting hustler, is the battle between a craft honed in the streets, and a sweet science forged in the gym and ring. Did fans really want to see Kimbo sink a choke and finish his aging opponent from his back? I don't think so. I think fans wanted to see what happens when back-alley power meets ring-tested, ESPN-approved boxing skills. I was hoping to find out if the punches the made Kimbo Slice a YouTube sensation could fell a mastered boxer. But Kimbo forced the tap from mercer with a standard guillotine from his closed guard on the ground. As I think of it now, I imagine Kimbo going for a triangle choke, and it makes me chuckle – its just so wrong! But, hey its MMA and as 2007 has shown us, anything can happen. Incidentally, the one blow that landed with any clairity was a hook thrown by Mercer, shortly before he was choked by Kimbo early in the first. Nevertheless, the crowd loved the fight, and was on its feet the entire time – this is what many of them came for. It was announced that David Tank Abbott would square off in the cage against Kimbo in October.

Speaking of submissions…

Enter, Gregor Gracie

If your last name is Gracie, and your family hails from Brazil, chances are your family business is the suave art of jiu-jitsu. Back in the early 90's, the Gracie's sought to introduce their “scientific” take on no rules fighting to America. They made their point with the tall slender, anything-but-physically-intimidating, Royce Gracie as America watched him breeze through a steady stream of muscle-bound brawlers and masters of traditional martial arts in the early UFC tournaments. One by one he dispatched them with confidence and relative ease, and in doing so, changed the reality of no rules fighting forever.

Almost 15 years after Royce first stepped into the octagon, the name Gracie carries a great deal of cache. To beat a Gracie is to put your name firmly on the MMA map. When Frank Shamrock wanted to reignite his career, he knew it couldn't hurt to leverage the Gracie name to do so. And certainly, for young 2-1 fighter like Josh Lydell, a win over a Gracie would be a huge bullet on his resume. If you are the Gracie in question, having that kind of bounty on your family name might add considerable pressure – especially if you happen to be making your MMA debut. But Gregor didn't feel that way, or at least he show it. Gregor went about every moment of his debut experience with easy confidence and poise. In his mind, Lydell was the man who should carry the burden of fear.

From the onset of the fight, Gregor dominated. He blasted Lydell with a hook, took him down, got side control, and dropped a barrage of elbows and punches. He moved gracefully from one dominant position to the next doling out generous portions of punishment along the way before finally taking Lydell for one last roll and sinking in a rear naked choke. In his debut, Gregor, the 15^th Gracie to have entered recognized professional MMA, showed that he is well suited for his family trade, and I hope to see more of him in the cage and ring.

The first fight of the evening got off to a late start and pit NJ locals Al Buck and Brain Demuro against each other for three fast-paced rounds. Both fighters were in shape and vigorously sought to blast each other with hooks throughout the fight. It was Buck who connected with the telling blows throughout the fight including a powerful hook that rocked Demuro in the 2nd. Demuro nearly had Buck finished with a triangle choke that made the crowd gasp when it seemed that it was almost cinched, but Buck powered out and went on to dominate the rest of the fight, later landing a roundhouse kick to Demuro's face that could be heard all through the convention center. The Judges gave the fight unanimously to Al Buck after 3 rounds of action. It was a good start to the evening

Middleweights, Doug Gordon (team rush) and Lyman Good (Tiger Schulman) squared off in the Hexagon. This was mainly a showcase of Good's athletic abilities, as he was able to out muscle and out work Gordon both standing and on the ground for the majority of the three rounds. Gordon never managed to get his offense going and the judges had no difficulty awarding the unanimous decision to Lyman.

NJ Local and Crowd favorite Nick Catone (Ricardo Almeida/Renzo Gracie) would hand Boston kickboxer, John Howard, his second career defeat in professional MMA. Early on, Catone struggled to cope with Howard's powerful leg kicks, but as the fight moved to the ground Catone had no problem scoring on Howard with strikes from Howard’s guard, side control, and late in rd. 3, from mount and back mount. For his effort, Catone won the Unanimous Decision.

After a surprisingly entertaining undercard, 150lb fighters Jim Miller and Anthony Morrison met in the first televised fight of the evening. Morrison, a freestyle fighter, entered the ring wearing a big steel chain and could have passed for Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson 's mini-me. Miller, another fighter under Renzo Gracie, apparently undaunted by Morrison's cage couture, proceeded to treat his opponent to a smorgasbord of submission attempts from his hyperactive guard. Miller attempted a kimura, a triangle, an omoplata, and then back to the triangle which he closed tight to force the tap with 5 seconds left in opening round.

Next to meet in the cage were 170 pounders Nick 'The Mad Monkey' Serra and Mike 'the Boston Bad boy' Varner. It was clear from the onset that this was going to be an entertaining match-up. First off you have Serra, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie, who makes his entrance wearing his Jiu-Jitsu gi and a monkey mask while tossing bananas in to the crowd. Then comes Varner (Boneyard), also wearing a Jiu-Jitsu gi, while proudly waving his white belt above his head. It's hard to say what Varner's message might have been with the belt waiving – either he was saying, ‘yeah, I'm a white belt, but I'll still smash you,' or 'I'm a white belt, so give me a break if I lose on the ground.' Either way, the match had a comical quality to it that never quite went away. The first round was mainly an even-sided clinch battle that had Varner scoring with foot stomps while Serra tried to connect with knees. If not for Serra's takedown and brief top-game, the first round would have been very hard to score. The second round, however, required no guesswork, as Serra quickly took Varner down, mounted, and forced the tap at 2:32 of the second round with a smoothly executed armbar. Apparently Serra was so happy to capture the CFFC welterweight title that he decided to share with the crowd a freakish anomaly involving the prehensility of his toes. Nick Serra, like his brother, is a crowd pleaser.

Dante Rivera pushed a heated pace in his effort to defend his NABC middleweight belt against Alexis Aquino. It was immediately clear that Rivera came out looking for a knockout. Aquino was tough but couldn't match Rivera's onslaught of hook combos and uppercuts. But Aquino hung on until the end of the round and Rivera looked like he might have emptied his tank. In the second round, the pace slowed. Both fighters scored with strikes and for a moment appeared to be friends rather than combatants, as they had begun to high five each other after landing hard shots. Aquino apparently thought he could use this to win the fight and called for the high five, but instead threw a high kick with lots of snap on it. The kick didn't connect with any force, but if it had, it might well have been decisive. It didn't matter though, because a moment both fighters were on the ground attacking each other's feet. It would be Rivera who secured the tighter lock on his opponent and Aquino tapped in visible pain. Renzo Gracie was in the ring to celebrate the victory of yet another of his students, when suddenly chaos erupted all over the cage. Apparently, one of Rivera's teammates didn't appreciate Aquino's high-five trick, and wanted to express it. The brawl was short lived no one was hurt.

Devidas Taurosevicius (say that three times fast) successfully defended his NABC lightweight belt from local crowd favorite, Kevin Roddy. Taurosevicius relentlessly imposed his ground game with relative impunity before skillfully applying a match-ending armbar. The crowd was audibly displeased.

CFFC light heavyweight champ, Josh Rhodes, would give the Jiu-Jitsu-heavy night its only TKO victory in his title defense against Noah Inhofer of TUF notoriety. There's not much to say about Rhodes other than he's a big, tough, country boy who knows how to bring some serious hurt. Round one was an absolute slugfest. Both fighters connected hard and often, and both were rocked at moments, but it was Rhodes who landed the more telling shots. Early in round 2 Rhodes was able to slam Inhofer to cage floor and finish him there with some mean looking strikes to the side of his head.

Questions

CFFC seemed to be working out its own identity in the ever more crowded market place of MMA, and in that process raised questions about the evolution of MMA's own infant image. CFFC utilizes a fight stat calculator called 'Compu-Combat Strike Stats,' which gives a tally at the end of each fight of the total 'strikes' landed. The first and most obvious problem with the stats was exposed by the string of submission victories inflicted mostly by the half dozen Renzo Gracie trained fighters. What does it matter if the fighter with the popped ankle threw 37 more jabs than the fighter that took him down and forced the tap? As the MMA audience learns more about every aspect of the sport, will they want to see submission attempts, guard passes, sweeps, reversals and take-downs accounted for in the Compu-Combat stats? And what about striking in MMA? In boxing there is little challenge in calculating the efficiency of strikes used in a match. Boxers either jab, or they throw a power shot. Both can determine the outcome of the match, and when tallied, they usually tell the story you'd expect them to – the fighter who lands the most, usually wins (unless you’re Winky Wright). But MMA is worlds apart from boxing, just ask Ray Mercer, who found his carotid arteries unable to function between Kimbo Slice's massive arms. MMA opens up a whole new world of strikes and positions to strike from. If fighter A threw 40 knees in the clinch and fighter B threw 30 punches from full mount, who would you guess was winning? What has more value, a leg kick or a body punch? A high-kick or a hammer-fist from side control? Could CFFC engineer a combat calculator with stats that could tell the story of an MMA fight? Probably, but I doubt they could find anyone capable of reading fast enough to finish the whole report between fights. Still, I've always liked the idea of fight stats for MMA – I hope CFFC finds a way to make it work.

BJ Penn: Much Respect

Upon reading the Sherdog message boards, I came across this post concerning BJ Penn: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?p=15710527#post15710527. This knowledgeable poster wrote about why BJ Penn is so respected with the intent of enlightening the newer fans who have only paid attention to the MMA world of the last two years. Upon reading, I thought to myself: how can people not give BJ Penn the utmost respect?

Coming off his masterful win over Jens Pulver last Saturday night in the Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale, the newer fight fans saw finally saw Penn in top shape as he put on a Brazilian jiu-jitsu clinic. Penn masterfully executed a perfect rear-naked choke midway through the second round, tying Pulver’s left arm down with his left leg, which left Pulver defenseless as Penn was free to choke him until he tapped. The victory came at the right time for Penn, and he no doubt gained many fans as a result; but before the fight, many of the new fans questioned Penn’s legitimacy, as he was coming off two straight defeats, the last one a brutal loss to Matt Hughes in the third round of their championship fight. Why all the hype? In order to understand why Penn is so respected by knowledgeable fans, one must go back to the beginning, much further back than the last three fights…

Penn first started training seriously in martial arts when he took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ralph Gracie in 1997. In 2000, he was awarded his black belt by Andre Pederneiras of Nova Uniao—that’s right, he became a BJJ black belt in three years. Three years to become a black belt in jiu-jitsu is practically unheard of—to date he is the fastest American to achieve the prestigious rank. Along the way, Penn entered tournaments with unreal success- in his first tournament, he won both his weight and the open weight class. In June 1997 he entered the Joe Moriera tournament in the blue belt category and won his weight class, even though he was a white belt at the time—and this was only his second tournament!

Penn at the Joe Moriera tournament (notice legend Rickson Gracie is the ref)

In 2000, Penn became the first non-Brazilian to win the gold medal in the black belt division of the Mundial World Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Needless to say, his jiu-jitsu is of the highest order and respected by the worlds greatest grapplers.

Penn winning the Mundial World Championship:

Because of his accomplishments in the jiu-jitsu world, Penn debuted in the UFC, which is fairly unheard of today (due in large part to the sprouting of minor MMA organizations). His first opponent, Joey Gilbert, was easily dismantled, and the fight was called in the first round due to a barrage of strikes. Penn’s next fight was against Din Thomas, who at the time was riding an impressive seven win-streak and had an overall record of 10-1, including a win over Jens Pulver and a very close loss to Caol Uno. At this time, Thomas was a huge favorite, and a win would have put him in line for a rematch with Jens Pulver, who had gained the LW since their last fight. Penn put a beating on Thomas, knocking him out two minutes into the first round. This fight completely shocked the MMA world and derailed Thomas' (and most likely the UFC management's) plan for a title shot.

The UFC then gave Penn his strongest test yet-- sort of a "how good is he really?" challenge-- in the form of a bout with Caol Uno, the only man who had previously defeated Din Thomas. Uno was one of the top fighters at this time, and had previously fought to a draw with Andre Pederneiras, who had awarded Penn his blackbelt. Penn knocked him out in 11 seconds via brutal punches to his head.

Penn then fought Jens Pulver, and lost a close decision. Penn almost closed out the fight with a tight arm-bar, but Pulver was saved by the bell as the round ended. After that fight, Penn then beat Paul Creighton by TKO, and won a decision over Matt Serra (the present UFC LW champ) and then fought to a very controversial draw in a rematch against Uno.

After that fight, Penn put together his own promotion to challenge then unbeaten Takanori Gomi, who had been tearing up the Shooto Organization (two months before the fight, Gomi lost his first decision, to Joachim Hansen, but when the fight was put together the intent was for Penn to prove he was the best fighter in the world). Penn submitted Gomi with a rear-naked choke in the third round.

Penn vs. Gomi:

Penn then returned to the UFC, moving up to the 170 lb division in defeating welter-weight champion Matt Hughes, who at the time was arguably considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. Following that fight, Penn easily submitted Duane Ludwig, who had come off recent wins against Pulver and Genki Sudo. He then took on undefeated jiu-jitsu great Rodrigo Gracie, winning a decision over the man who many had crowned as the next great Gracie fighter. He moved up to the middle-weight division (185 lbs) to fight Gracie, a full 30 pounds up from his ideal fighting weight.

In May 2005, Penn fought in K-1 and faced Ryoto “Lyoto” Machida, fighting in a division over 50 pounds heavier than he had originally started fighting in—and was defeated in a close decision. Ryoto Machida is still undefeated, and had previously dominated Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar. BJ Penn took on a guy fighting at heavyweight and barely lost (imagine Oscar De La Hoya fighting against Lennox Lewis).

BJ Penn takes on a 205 lbs Ryoto Machida:

Penn then defeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Renzo Gracie in unanimous decision, before returning to the UFC to fight against Georges St. Pierre. St. Pierre had only one previous loss, to Matt Hughes, and it was very close fight. Penn dominated the first round. The second round could have gone either way, and the third round GSP won decisively. Penn thought he had done enough to win the fight and had clearly done more physical damage to Pierre than Pierre had inflicted upon him, but the judges scored the fight as win for Pierre in split decision.

Penn’s next fight and first back-to-back loss came in a re-match with Matt Hughes, a fight that Penn took on four weeks notice. It seems that this fight is where poor opinions of Penn originate. After dominating the first two rounds, with Hughes being arguably saved by the bell in the second, Penn came out completely flat and defenseless in the third round. and Hughes brutally punched him in the head before the ref called the fight. Everyone criticized Penn for not coming into the fight in shape, thinking he had completely gassed. What people failed to realize is that Penn popped a rib in the second round, a freak accident that had nothing to do with Hughes offense, but just happened when he was going for a routine position change. With that fight came critics who deemed Penn his own worst enemy, saying that his cardio was weak. But the reality is that aside from the fight against Georges St. Pierre, Penn has never actually gassed to a damaging degree in a fight.

With his completely one-sided victory against Pulver, Penn looks to be in the best fighting shape of his life. MMA math, never perfect, says that Penn means trouble for whoever he fights, whichever division that may be—even if he’s fighting someone 50+ lbs over what he weighed in at for his fight against Pulver. What the future holds for him is in his hands (and Dana White’s), but one thing is for sure: BJ Penn deserves much respect.

Fighter Nicknames

First off, let me start by saying that I dig nicknames when they are appropriate, just, and fit the bill. Sakuraba, for instance, is nicknamed "The Gracie Hunter", because he sought out and destroyed many of the Gracie clan, so the name makes sense. BJ Penn is nicknamed "The Prodigy" because he achieved the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in three years. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Aight. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. Ok. Randy "The Natural" Couture. Mirko "Crop-Cop" Filipovic-- the guy was an officer in the anti-terrorist police force. We get that, and it's definitely bad-ass.

Somewhere along the way, probably in the beginning stages of Ultimate Fighting, fighters were told that having a nickname would make one more marketable. Of course, it seems that if one is truly great, the real name is instantly recognizable-- Jordan, Bird, Woods, Muhammed Ali, Royce Gracie, Fedor Emelianenko. The nicknames today are adding to the theatrical element-- the professional wrestling element that Dana White claims that he is trying to get away from...

The following are some of the more ridiculous nicknames in the world of Mixed Martial Arts:

Ken "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Shamrock. Hmmm...At this point, Ken, you're obviously not that dangerous. One win since 2001 means that you're endangering yourself (and from the looks of TUF, everyone else that you "coach".) Wait-- does that mean that the nickname makes sense? I might have to re-think this one.

Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine. Cool, it rhymes! Keith "get your clock cleaned (by Houston)" Jardine. Ok sorry that last one was totally unnecessary... But really Keith Jardine seems like a pretty good guy, not mean at all. Was he a bully off-camera on TUF?

Stephan "American Pyscho" Bonnar. Please, this guy is about as boring as you can get. Aside from one amazing fight with Forest Griffin, he has never approached psycho-ness in the ring, even when he was on steroids. In fact, seems like he's an all-american tough guy. But then again, referencing your nationality in your nickname is cool, just in case you need to remind people of the location your parents were fucking when they conceived you.

Other notable bullshit names: Rich "Ace" Franklin. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (actually I kind of like that one). Jens "Little Evil" Pulver-- doesn't seem evil at all, seems like a kind-hearted dude. Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon-- now we're just taking it too far...