Archive for January, 2008
Fitch Confirms Fight with Wilson
Posted by Chad Edward on January 31st, 2008“Make sure you tune in,” UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch told his fans on MySpace Wednesday, January 30.
Though still unannounced by the UFC, Fitch confirmed the rumor he will be fighting Team Quest’s Chris Wilson at UFC 82 in Columbus March 1.
“Chris is a tough fighter that has been doing well in the IFL. He has a win over UFC veteran Jay Hieron. This should be a great scrap and I have been training very hard for this new opponent.”
Wilson is 13-3 and says, “I enjoy shin-kicking people in the face.” His stoppage victories are nearly evenly distributed between knockouts and submissions, with four submissions by triangle choke.
Wilson has won four straight. His last victory was a unanimous decision over 21-10-1 Derrick Noble October 27 at SportFight 20 in Portland. He has never fought in the UFC.
Fitch is 15-2 and at the pinnacle of six-year MMA career after his split decision victory over Diego Sanchez in September.
“[I’ll] I try to dish out another beat down,” Fitch promises.
Fitch’s original opponent, Akihiro Gono, withdrew after breaking his hand in training.
Got something to say Read Comments | Leave Your Comment
Interim Inoue Bests Kitaoka…Barely
Posted by Chad Edward on January 31st, 2008Interim welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue successfully defended his title versus Satoru Kitaoka Wednesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The fight was scored 29-29 by all three judges; but, under the championship rule of “must decision”, the judges were instructed to choose a victor. Two chose Inoue and one chose Kitaoka, giving Inoue a split decision victory.
The meeting was the third between the two Japanese fighters. Inoue won a unanimous decision in 2004 and the two fought to a draw in 2006.
Inoue improves to 16-5-2, 10-2-1 in Pancrase. He holds a decision victory over Kyle Noke, who fights Scott Smith on ExliteXC’s February 16 card in Miami.
Kitaoka falls to 19-8-9, with victories over ProElite’s Paul Daley, WEC’s Carlos Condit, and UFC’s Kurt Pellegrino.
The first lightweight King of Pancrase was also decided on Pancrase’s first iteration of their 2008 “Shining” tour.
Japan’s Shoji knocked out Russia’s Artur Oumakhanov with a high kick 21 seconds into the second round.
Shoji improves to 6-2, five wins by knockout, and picks up some brass. Oumakhanov falls to 7-2, 2-1 in Pancrase.
Shining 1 is the first show since Pancrase adopted new weight classifications based on the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.
On the undercard, Russian middleweight Alavutdin Gadzhiyev knocked out “The Pink Typhoon” Yuji Hisamatsu in 41 seconds to improve to 6-1, four wins by knockout, and 4-0 in Pancrase.
In 155-pound matchups, Shinsuke Shoji versus Yuichi Ikari and Wataru Takahashi versus Daisuke Hanazawa both ended as draws.
Japanese welterweight Sotaro Yamada caught countrymen Kiichi “Strasser” Kunimoto in a rear naked choke at 1:42 of the first round to improve to 5-3, all in Pancrase.
Undefeated bantamweight phenom Seiya Kawahara debuted in Pancrase by knocking out veteran Pancrase punching bag Yuki Yamasawa in 28 seconds with a high kick, improving to 4-0.
Pancrase’s second “Shooting” event occurs in March. No location or fight card has been announced.
Got something to say Read Comments | Leave Your Comment
Simple as “Semtex”
Posted by Chad Edward on January 27th, 2008“From hell…!” ShoXC broadcaster Stephen Quadros called the sinister origin of the Paul “Semtex” Daley elbow that detonated on Sam Morgan’s skull Friday at the Trump Taj Mahal in
After surviving the mat with Morgan, who owes 13 of his 19 victories to submissions, “Semtex” is a fighter rising fast with a lot of options under the ProElite umbrella.
Ebanez quickly made it to his feet after going down the first time; but, Alvarez pounced on him immediately after the second knockdown. He landed three big right hands before the referee stepped in and waved off the fight at 2:32. For Alvarez, it was his 11th victory inside the distance.
“I was a little hesitant in the first round after he caught me with a couple of good shots,’’ the exciting Alvarez said. “But I knew I won the round and that he would try and come out strongly in the second. So I stayed patient, continued to circle to my left and closed the show.
In a minor surprise, the soft-spoken, streaking Bao Quach dealt lightweight Bobby McMaster a second straight defeat by the scores of 30-27 twice and 29-28.
In the telecast’s opening bout, Ross “Kala Kolohe” Hose won a slugfest with Fred Belleton, stopping him with a perfect right hand to the chin at 4:32 of the first.
150-pound James “Binky” Jones submitted 1-3-1 Mark Getto by Kimura 1:12 of the first.
In his professional MMA debut, welterweight Brett Linebarger handed Sergio Vinagre his first loss by KO at 2:39 of the third.
Welterweight Joe Schilling wasn’t successful in his professional debut, being submitted in a rear naked choke by Matt Makowski at 4:01 in the first round.
2 people have responded Read Comments | Leave Your Comment
Cote TUF After The Comeback
Posted by Chad Edward on January 24th, 2008“TUF 4: The Comeback” silver medalist Patrick Cote spun Drew McFedries’s chin into orbit with a right uppercut Wednesday night at The Palms in Las Vegas.
It was the first round of their co-main event matchup on the UFC’s twelfth “Fight Night” on SpikeTV.
McFedries, back from a 33-second knockout win over Jordan Radev in June, collapsed against the cage.
“He was playing cocky,”
“The Predator” pounced atop the fallen Miletich fighter and pounded a 1:44 TKO out of him, referee Herb Dean stepping in mercifully at the end.
In his last fight, Cote took just three minutes longer to realize the same result versus Kendall Grove and now looks prime to return to the 185-pound picture.
The other co-main event, Swick vs. Burkman, formed a terrible tag-team of questionable judging with undercard matchupTavares vs. Omigawa.
Mike Swick, debuting at welterweight, looked like he would’ve attacked The Palms buffet with more oomph than he mustered in the Octagon against fellow “TUF” alum Josh Burkman.
For three rounds, both fighters tip-toed and paddy-caked; but, Burkman stalked more aggressively, manhandling Swick in the clinch.
Usually explosive, Swick apologized after accepting a majority decision victory amidst a cacophony of boos, saying, “I’m sorry for my performance not being as exciting. I don’t know what else to say.”
Fresh from his first loss in thirteen fights, lightweight Thiago Tavares wanted to take the statistically-overmatched 4-5 Michihiro Omigawa out.
Omigawa, however, was the personification of Japanese resiliency.
Most of the struggle took place in Tavares territory. Omigawa’s guard frustrated the busy BJJ black belt; but, Tavares wanted nothing from Omigawa’s stand-up.
What seemed inevitable, until Omigawa proved game, ultimately concluded the technical stalemate. Tavares was given a unanimous decision victory.
The two decisions continue a trend of mixed martial arts judges, usually with boxing backgrounds, awarding victories to more popular fighters when the underdog bites harder than pre-fight bark predicted.
“I’m trying to get some contenders, man, some top guys in there to fight,” Nate Diaz complained after tapping his third consecutive unranked UFC fighter.
9-2 lightweight Alvin Robinson got himself wrapped in a Diaz leg triangle, forced to tap at 3:39 of the first round.
Diaz may be destined to rematch Manny Gamburyan, his “The Ultimate Fighter 5” nemesis, who is healthy after sustaining a shoulder injury against Diaz in that season’s finale.
Fellow lightweight Kurt Pellegrino willed himself through an early onslaught by Alberto Crane to hammer out a TKO win at 1:55 of round two.
Crane caught Pellegrino early with a left high kick, then the BJJ black belt wrapped his near-unconscious foe in a tense guillotine choke.
“I thought it was a punch,” Pellegrino confessed about the kick after the fight. “I think I’m still knocked out.”
Pellegrino survived on instinct, gritting through the first round to settle the fight with a right hand to Crane’s eye in the second.
In untelevised undercard fights, Xtreme Couture lightweight Gray Maynard took a unanimous decision over German Dennis Silver.
Jeremy Stevens of Iowa TKO’d American Top Team’s Cole Miller at 4:44 of the second round in a fight at 155-pounds.
6′4″ lightweight Corey Hill TKO’d 5′6″ Joe Veres at 37 seconds of the second round.
Finally, Matt Wiman extended his UFC win streak to three with a first round rear naked choke submission of Octagon-debuting lightweight Justin Buchholz.
Got something to say Read Comments | Leave Your Comment
