» Fighter: Mike Pyle

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.

Read More About Alessio Turns Out Ray’s Lights, Pyle Takes Gassaway’s Arm…

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.

HDNet Fights announced Wednesday that they will broadcast the welterweight match between Jason High (6-0) and “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (17-5-1) and the heavyweight match between “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (26-10) and Roy Nelson (13-2), happening 11 October at Affliction’s sophomore event.

The Day of Reckoning broadcast will mark the beginning of a new deal between HDNet Fights and Affliction Entertainment.

Read More About Buentello V Nelson, Affliction Undercard on HDNet…

It only took 36 seconds for “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) to leave “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (24-5) laid out on the mat in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, Saturday night.

Just thirty-six seconds to answer questions raised by Fighters.com about Emelianenko’s two-year hiatus from top competition.

At the bell, Sylvia exited his corner in an awkward, low crouch.

Obviously…Emelianenko wasted no time blasting Sylvia with a left, right hook combo, followed by an uppercut.

“I’ve never been hit that hard in my life,” said Sylvia after the fight.  “He’s not human.”

The “Maine-iac” dismantled to the mat; and, Emelianenko stuck in a rear naked choke that forced Sylvia to tap.

After the fight, the Russian was nonchalant, but not arrogant about his destruction of one of the world’s top heavyweights.

The victory cemented him as the top heavyweight in the world, the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world, and perhaps the greatest mixed martial artist ever.

Read More About Any Questions?…

“Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) def. “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (26-6) via submission (rear naked choke), 0:36 of round one.

“Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (13-5) def. “Big” Ben Rothwell (33-6) via KO, 1:13 of round three.

“Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (26-5) def. Pedro Rizzo (16-8) via KO, 1:44 of round two.

“The Machine” Mark Hominick (16-8) def. Savant Young (9-8) via submission (armbar), 4:25 of round two.

“Babalu” Renato Sobral (30-7) def. Mike Whitehead (23-7) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 30-27)

“The Law” Matt Lindland (21-5) def. Fabio Negao (8-4) via unanimous decision (30-26; 30-27; 30-27).

“Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (14-3) def. “Babyface” Edwin Dewees (35-13) via TKO, 4:06 of round one.

“Quicksand” Mike Pyle (17-5-1) def. JJ Ambrose (8-2) via submission (rear naked choke), 2:51 of round one.

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (17-8) def. Terry Martin (17-5) via KO, 3:12 of round two.

“Head Hunter” Paul Buentello (26-10) def. “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (23-18-1) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 30-27).

Wednesday Affliction added “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (16-8) versus Terry Martin (16-4) to the preliminary card of its Banned event on 19 July in Anaheim, just east of Los Angeles.

Belfort, a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and PRIDE veteran, will make his middleweight debut.

“The Phenom” is coming off two consecutive wins, both at Cage Rage.  Most recently he claimed their light heavyweight title when he scored a unanimous decision over “The Messenger” James Zikic (16-5-2).

Martin is coming off two consecutive losses, after Chris Leben (18-4) KO’ed him in the third round at Ultimate Fight Night 11 and “Beastman” Marvin Eastman (15-7-1) won the UD at UFC 81.

Martin is scheduled to face Daiju Takase (7-11-1) this weekend at Adrenaline MMA’s debut event near Chicago.

A bout between welterweights J.J. Ambrose (9-10) and “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (16-5-1) has also been added to the preliminary card.  They were formerly scheduled to fight Patrick Speight (6-0) and Brett Cooper (8-4), respectively.

Sunday in Tokyo at Sengoku II, Fighters.com’s third-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (22-5) ground out a unanimous decision over “Snowman” Jeff Monson (24-8) in a match battled mostly on the mat.

Heavyweight “Monster” Kevin Randleman (17-12) also pulled out a UD over Pancrase star Ryo Kawamura (8-3-2).  The decision was considered controversial.

Monson and Randleman are scheduled to fight on a 24 June card in Charlotte.

Highly-touted Roger Gracie (2-0) remained undefeated after tapping MMA vet Yuki Kondo (48-22-6) in a rear naked choke at 2:40 of round one.

“Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (7-1) called out “Ironhead” Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6) after knocking out Kiwi “Big” Jim York (9-2) 46-seconds into round two.

American Top Team welterweight Jorge Santiago (17-7) fought off near-submissions before finding his own submission of Grabaka’s Yuki Sasaki (21-14-1) in a third-round armbar at 2:10.

Lighweight Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2) took only 4:15 to sink a rear naked choke submission in on “Crazy” Kwang Hee Lee (5-1).

Xtreme Couture welterweight “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (16-5-1) locked in a triangle choke to tap “Handler” Dan Hornbuckle (15-2) at 4:52 of round one.

Welterweight Pancrase vet Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9) submitted Aussie Ian James Schaffa (7-5-1) in a guillotine choke in just 50 seconds to begin the night.

Affliction Veep Tom Atencio told SI.com Thursday that light heavyweight “Babalu” Renato Sobral (29-7) has been matched versus Xtreme Couture fighter Mike Whitehead (20-5) for the apparel-company-turned-promoter’s debut 19 July in Anaheim, outside of Los Angeles.

Whitehead was dismissed from the UFC after losing a unanimous decision to Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked 205-pounder “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine (13-3-1) in February 2006, his only official appearance in the big show.

Since that loss, Whitehead has wracked up 11 straight wins, nine by stoppage, in several promotions, including a four-fight stint in the IFL.

Sobral is 2-1 since challenging then-champ and sixth-ranked “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-5) for the UFC title in August 2006.

He was dismissed from the big show after holding an anaconda choke several seconds after David Heath (7-3) obviously tapped out, then bragging about it.

Atencio also added the following fights to the official card:

Savant Young (9-7) v “The Machine” Mark Hominick (15-8)
Ray Lazama (5-5) v Justin Levens (9-8)
JJ Ambrose (9-1) v Patrick Speight (6-0)
“Quicksand” Mike Pyle (15-5-1) v Brett Cooper (7-4)

World Victory Road has added Fighters.com’s third-ranked heavyweight “The Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (21-5) to their 18 May Sengoku card at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

No opponent has been named.

Also added to the line-up is a match-up between welterweights “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (15-5-1) and “The Handler” Dan Hornbuckle (15-1).

Heavyweights Roger Gracie (1-0) and “The Monster” Kevin Randleman (16-12) remain on the card without opponents.

At an 18 April press conference, WVR PR representative Takahiro Kokuho said, “At first we had one Japanese and one non-Japanese fighter ready to go [with Gracie]; but, because of injuries we are still in the process of deciding the opponent.  Roger’s side has been asking us to decide the opponent soon and for sure I would like to meet that request.”

Randleman recently cancelled a puroresu match in Inoki Genome Federation with an ankle injury, but Kokuho promised, “It has no relation to his MMA bout. We should be able to announce his card sometime next week.”