It was a clean sweep for the home team - Xtreme Couture - in Las Vegas Saturday night with all five of their entries in A Night of Combat II picking up wins. "The Natural" John Alessio (24-11) knocked welterweight Gideon Ray (15-10-1) cold on the mat in 45 seconds. Xtreme Couture's Alessio whipped a left hook over a Ray right hand and dropped Ray.  Alessio finished the job with hammer strikes, leaving the fellow former UFC fighter unconscious. "Quicksand" Mike Pyle (18-5-1) of Xtreme Couture transitioned slickly into an armbar from full mount to tap welterweight Brian Gassaway (28-19-2) as he attempted roll free at 4:21 of round one in another battle of former Octagon fighters. Xtreme Couture welterweight "Thorobread" Jay Hieron (16-4) won a one-sided unanimous decision over late replacement Chris Kennedy (6-6) by judges' scores of 30-27 three times. Hieron's original opponent, Bryson Kamaka (6-13), failed his pre-fight urinalysis. ...

Xtreme Couture welterweights "Thorobred" Jay Hieron (15-4) and "Quicksand" Mike Pyle (17-5-1) will headline A Night of Combat II in Las Vegas 11 October. Former IFL titlist Hieron has been matched, if not undermatched, versus Bryson Kamaka (6-13) while Pyle will fight vet Brian Gassaway (28-18-2). Also on the card, welterweight "The Natural" John Alessio (23-11) will return after a "W" over "Secret Weapon" Pete Spratt (18-14) in A Night of Combat's debut to battle Gideon Ray (15-9-1). Light heavyweights "Sick Dog" Hector Ramirez (7-3-1) and kickboxing vet "The Jet" Rick Roufus (4-3) will face-off. And, TUF 3 finalist "Bring the Pain" Josh Haynes (10-10) will fight "Seargent" Steve Byrnes (6-1). The card features eight men's MMA bouts at the Thomas & Mack Center. ...

Chicago's "Bartimus" Bart Palaszewski (29-11) snapped a three-fight losing streak with a right high kick that left "Grinder" Jeffrey Cox (9-6) unconcious against the fence at 1:27 of round two Saturday night at Adrenaline MMA in Hoffman Estates, east of Chicago. After a paced and cautious first round for both fighters, "Bartimus" began working kicks in the second, first a solid body shot, then snapping at Cox's leg. During the final flurried exchange, Palaszewski wheeled a wide left hook to Cox's body, backing Cox into range for the right high kick finisher. Palaszewski literally lept out of the cage upon the stoppage "W". In the main event, Michael Russow (10-1) manhandled late replacement for "Snowman" Jeff Monson (24-8),  Jason Guida (17-16), tapping Clay's big brother in a standing neck crank against the fence at 2:13 of round one. "I hope he's OK," Russow related after the stoppage. Hometown hero Rory Markham (14-4) said, "Let's get serious.  That guy just jumped over me!" after "Silent Assassin" Jay Ellis (5-19) launched a flying knee at the opening bell, indeed, flying right over Markham.  "So, I decided I was going to keep it on the ground." Markham pounced on Ellis; but, Ellis swept to Markham's guard, which Markham climbed into a triangle tapout at 57 seconds of round one. ...

Thursday Adrenaline MMA, formed of the American executives from the now defunct M-1 Global promotion, issued it's official fight card for the promotion's Chicago premier 14 June. As reported by Fighters.com, the main event matches grappler "The Snowman" Jeff Monson (24-7) versus wrestler Michael Russow (9-1) in a mat struggle. "The Snowman" will fight Russow just two weeks after taking on Fighters.com's third-ranked heavyweight "Babyface Assasin" Josh Barnett (21-5) at Sengoku II in Tokyo. UFC fighter turned boxer Terry Martin (16-4) will fight Japanese middleweight Daiju Takase (7-11-1) before his hometown crowd. Martin comes off UFC losses to "Crippler" Chris Leben (18-4) and "Beastman" Marvin Eastman (15-7-1), but won his boxing debut 12 April with a knockout of Ricardo Upchurch (0-2 in boxing). Lightweight jiu-jitsu player Alberto Crane (8-2), who lost both of his UFC fights, will bounce back matched against King of the Cage vet Clay French (15-2). IFL lightweight standout "Bartimus" Bart Palaszewski (28-11), who's taken three tough losses consecutively, will rebound in his hometown versus Jeffrey Cox (9-5), who lost his UFC debut to "Pitbull" Manvel Gamburyan (8-2) last month in Denver. Also on the card to be held at the Sears Centre: "The Freak" Tony Fryklund (14-9) v Brian Gassaway (28-17-2) Taiwan Howard (4-1) v Rory Markham (13-3) James Giboo (11-2) v Mark Miller (8-3) "Herc" Antoine Hayes (6-5) v "Meat Truck" Kerry Schall (21-9) Rob Kimmons (20-3) v Hector Urbina (11-4) Aaron Rosa (10-2) v "Killing Fields" Ron Fields (22-25-1) Dom O'Grady (4-0) v Mike Stumpf (9-1) Joe Jordan (39-12-2) v Ryan Williams (5-2) Christian Reynosa (6-2) v John Hosman (7-3-1) ...