Decisions Archives - The Doombeard Report

Richmond Rumble Play-by-Play

Posted by :jcastle On : October 2, 2013

Category: Decisions, Fight Recap, Fighting Style, Richmond Rumble

JoJo Stringfield vs. Randy “Doubletime” Campbell (145 lbs.)

Randy Campbell was a no show to the event. There was talk indicating that he is currently incarcerated (again). After a less than stellar Amateur career (1-?), and a pro career that saw him on the wrong end of several one-sided beat downs, Randy Campbell could potentially be done. As it stands, his erratic behavior has not left his reputation in a good place with local promoters.

JoJo Stringfield will apparently be paid his show money, but will not be able to fight due to an absence of an opponent.

Cristian Rodriguez vs. Arthur Parker (125 lbs.)

Major style points for Rodriguez, who walked out to “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee.

RD1: Cris pumps a double jab, and is looking to get comfy at distance. Parker responsds in kind. Cris briefly comes in for a takedown. Parker lands a leg kick. Cris lands what seems like a five-punch combination to the face of Parker, then puts him up against the cage and gets a slamming takedown. Cris takes the back, works some punches and then starts working for an RNC. Parker gamely defends and gets up. Cris then jumps up and takes his back from the standing position. Parker tries to slam his head on the ground to break it, but Cris eventually gets the tap by Rear Naked Choke at 2:55 in the first round.

Cris then jumps over the cage wall, jumps down to the ground, and went to hug his father. Awesome stuff.

Umit Yilmaz vs. Chris “The Magi” McNeil (200 lbs. Catchweight)

RD1: Umit lands a leg kick. Chris responds in kind. Umit lands two leg kicks, then Chris lands a series of hard punches to the chin of Umit. Umit crumples to the ground. Chris lands another few punches before Referee Mike King waves off the fight. Umit lay on the ground and took a few moments to begin to move again. A 29 second KO victory for Chris McNeil in the first round.

Keyon “Hands of Stone” Wilkins vs. Louis Johnson (145 lbs.)

RD1: Keyon responds to leg kicks with heavy punches to the head over Johnson. Johnson comes around, runs the pipe and gets a takedown after being pressed up against the cage by Wilkins. Johnson gets into mount and starts raining down punches, with Wilkins rapidly scrambling to avoid them and improve position. Wilkins ends up on the bottom in guard, trying to throw his legs up to work for a sub while he is taking punches from Johnson. Johnson is postured up throwing punches, then goes back down to the ground and lands a few audibly hard punches to the face of Wilkins. Johnson postures up and throws another series of punches to the face of Wilkins. Wilkins tries to lock up his wrists but they both stands up. Wilkins throws a series of punches to Johnson, who responds in kind and secures another takedown. Johnson gets a hold of Wilkins’ neck and ends up in a half guard of sorts, while looking for punches to Wilkins’ face. The round ends with Johnson throwing punches at a grounded Wilkins.

RD2: Wilkins pumps a jab, Johnson throws a few head kicks, then looks to throw what looks like a kick to sweep Wilkns’ leg. Wilkins steps in close and gets on top of Johnson in half guard, but they soon return to the feet. Johnson lands a few hard leg kicks and a knee to the head of Wilkins. Wilkins shoots for a take down against the cage, but Johnson does a great job of defending it and ends up on top in mount. Johnson starts raining down punches on Wilkins at a rapid pace. The ref waves off the fight as Wilkins remains crumpled up and facing down on the canvas.

Louis “Goosebumps” Johnson wins by TKO in the second round.

Mark “The Predator” Strickland vs. Colby Covington (170 lbs.)

Originally scheduled to be a Welterweight contest, this fight ran into a snafu at weigh-ins that ended up seeing the fight called off at the last minute. Both Mark Strickland and Colby Covington missed weight. Normally, the fight would proceed as a Catch-weight fight at that point, but Colby Covington would not consent to fight. This understandably upset Mark Strickland, who had plenty of fans who had already bought tickets and had planned on watching him compete. Strickland began to offer Covington increasing sums of money, which would come out of his purse, in order for him to take the fight. Covington continually refused, even after Strickland offered him his entire purse.

In one of the more bizarre fight cancellations I’ve seen in a while, Colby Covington refused to take the fight, despite the fact that he (accompanied by UFC Lightweight fighter Jorge Masvidal) came all the way up from Florida to take the fight. It would have made a bit more sense had Covington made weight and didn’t want to fight an overweight Strickland, but given the circumstances, I’d consider it a reasonable assertion to question the motivation behind such a course of action.

Sadly, Mark “The Predator” Strickland vs. Colby Covington was yet another fight on the card that never came to fruition.

Diego Peclat (is a Blackzilian) vs. Emmanuel Walo (Team Renzo Gracie/ All Star BJJ) (175 lbs.)

Diego Peclat had a big loud cheering crowd of supporters

RD1: Walo lands a leg kick, some punches and a kick to the body, with Peclat responding in kind. Walo gets a takedown, but they quickly return to the feet, with Peclat pressing Walo up against the cage working some knees top the legs of Walo. Walo lands a knee to the body of Peclat, but they are then separated. Peclat wings an overhand right, then soon secures a takedown that sees him landing on top in half guard. Walo gets back up to his feet, but Peclat stays in close and keeps him pressed up against the cage. Walo then gets a takedown and looks to lock up Peclat’s neck, but Peclat gets back up and presses Walo against the cage yet again, working short punches to Walo’s body. Walo and Peclat are battling for better position in the clinch, exchanging low kness. Peclat tries for a trip takedown, then looks for a single leg but doesn’t get it, then lands a knee to Walo’s thigh at the advice of his corner. Ref Todd McGovern separates them. Walo lands a high kick, then wings a series of punches. Peclat doesn’t like this obviously, and presses Walo up against the cage to end the round in the clinch.

RD2: Peclat lands a kick, then Walo responds in kind. After a brief exchange of kicks, Walo looks for a standing Guillotine but Peclat avoids it, and gets on top against the cage. They both soon return to the feet and resume an entertaining striking battle. Peclat lands a hard leg kick, with Walo looking to land hard counter punches, but Walo is missing on them by mere inches. Walo then lands a series of punches, to which Peclat responds with a spinning backfist. They clinch with each other and Peclat presses up against Walo, pinning him to the cage. Peclat is fishing for a trip, but Walo savvily stays clear of such attempts. Peclat’s corner is calling for him to try to take the back. Walo gets a brief takedown, but Peclat is keeping him pinned against the cage, smothering him and throwing just enough strikes to “stay busy” and not get separated. The ref separates them right before the round ends.

RD3: Peclat pumps a jab, then Walo responds with leg kicks and punches. Walo lands a head kick that stuns Peclat, then Walo takes him to the ground and throws some punches, before Peclat gets a hold of him and reverses. Both fighters quickly return to their feet, with Peclat resuming his strategy of smothering Walo against the cage. Peclat lands an elbow to the face of Walo, but continues to throw just enough strikes to not get separated by the ref. Ref separates them after a low blow that Walo suffers. They resume shortly after. Walo and Peclat exchange kicks, and Walo wings some hard punches to Peclat, but Peclat again presses him up against the cage. Peclat throws some short punches to the body of Walo, then the ref separates them. Walo lands a combo then takes Peclat down, landing on top in Guard. Walo starts to work some short elbows to the head of Peclat. You can tell that Peclat is attempting to sweep, but Walo keeps him in place, hitting him with elbows and a few punches for his efforts. Peclat opens up his guard to sweep, but Walo gets into half guard and throws punches and works for Peclat’s neck as the round comes to a close.

Unanimous Decision victory for Diego Peclat. Many in the crowd did not agree, probably due to Peclat’s clinch heavy style. Peclat was very gracious in victory, thanking his fans, as well as congratulating his opponent.

Keith Bell vs. Paul Waremecki (Heavyweight)

Paul Waremecki walked out to a version of “Ave Maria” done by a male opera singer. Definitely not typical walk out music, but gets him some style points all the same.

RD1: Touch gloves. Waremecki throws a leg kick that lands to the groin of Bell. The ref separates them, but Bell soon recovers. Waremecki is looking to pump some shots, but is at a severe reach disadvantage. Waremecki shoots in, but Bell reverses and pins him up against the cage and works some good knees in the clinch before they separate. After a furious exchange of hard punches, Bell ends up pressing Waremecki against the cage briefly. Waremecki is gamely throwing hard punches, but Bell is effectively countering. Bell lands a stiff jab, then clips Waremecki with a two punch combo that causes Waremecki to go stiff and start to fall to the side. Bell pounces on him, knocking him to the ground and remaining on top of his back, raining down hard punches until the referee stopped it, as Waremecki was laying unmoving on the ground at the time of stoppage. Great slug fest.

TKO stoppage for Keith Bell in the first round.

[INTERMISSION] MC Giovanni Lemm then brought UFC matchmaker Joe Silva into the ring to interview him. Joe Silva urged people to support local MMA.

Mike Wade vs. Nah-Shon Burrell (170 lbs.)

RD1: Wade lands a leg kick, Burrell responds with two leg kicks, then a left hook. Wade ducks under some punches from Burrell, goes for a takedown against the cage, and then jumps up and takes Burrell’s back, looking for a RNC. Burrell is moving around and fighting it, but Wade stays tight and keeps working for it, mixing in some punches to the head of Burrell. Burrell keeps mocking but eventually stands back up. Burrell wings a hard right, then starts to mix some leg kicks in with some punches. Wade throws a head kick, but Burrell blocks it, then responds with a leg kick. Burrell is able to get in quickly with punches. Burrell throws some punches, then Wade shoots for and gets a brief takedown. Burrell gets back up and gets free, then looks to land kicks. Burrell lands a leg kick, then throws a high kick in quick sucession, but Wade blocks the high one. Both fighters throw leaping knees to end the round. Both fighters exchange heated words right after the bell rings.

RD2: Wade comes in with a punch, then lands a punch to Burrell’s face. Burrell throws a kick and Wade jumps in and gets a brief TD against the cage and throws a knee to the head of Burrell. They separate, and Wade lands two leg kicks in a row. Wade throws a 1-2 that is just short, and Burrell backs away from it. Both guys guage distance. Burrell lands a leg kick then a body kick, Wade responds with a high kick. Burrell darts in with a combo, but Wade evades it, then shoots for a TD against the cage. Wade takes him down, keeping Burrell’s legs together, but Burrell pops back up, only to be slammed to the ground again. They get back up and separate, with Burrell throwing a left hand, then Wade landing a leg kick, then a series of good punches to the head of Burrell, who briefly buckles against the cage. Wade continues to throw hard punches to Burrell, then takes him down against the cage again. Burrell is throwing hard punches to the body of Wade. The round ends with both fighters showing signs of having taken some hard punches to the face. Burrell’s leg kicks have the side of Wade’s leg very red and bruised up already.

RD3: Wade lands a leg kick. Burrell lands with a left hand, then lands an uppercut as Wade comes in. Burrell lands a leg kick, then another. Wade lands a thudding kick to the body of Burrell. Burrell eats two hard punches from Wade, then responds with two of his own to the face of Wade. Wade then shoots for a TD against the cage, successfully getting a single leg. Burrell pops back up and is throwing punches to the head of Wade, but Wade keeps him pinned to the cage, working knees to the legs of Burrell. Wade then transitions to the other leg, but Burrell is adequately defending his TD attempts, throwing elbows to the side of Wade’s head. They separate, exchanging hard punches. Wade shoots for a TD but Burrell sprawls out and gets up. Burrell lands a right hand, then Wade shoots for a TD against the cage again, with Burrell throwing hard punches and elbows to the side of Wade’s head. Wade absorbs some hard elbows, but is doggedly continuing to work for the TD until the end of the round.

Nah-Shon Burrell wins by Split Decision.

Terrell Hobbs vs. Jeremy Myers (145 lbs.)

RD1: Myers wings some hard punches, but Terrell evades them and counters effectively. Terrell lands a leg kick, then Myers comes back with a kick of his own, then a high kick. Myers lands another leg kick, then Terrell briefly takes him down, but Myers pops back up, pressed against the cage. Terrell then gets a slamming takedown, ending up on top in side control. Myers is scrambling to improve his position, but Terrell is staying tight on top in half guard, landing short strikes. Myers tries to get up, but Terrell then gets into mount, Myers briefly reverses but Terrell ends up on top in mount again, and starts raining down hard elbows that I can hear from here. Myers is covering up, but Terrell is relentless with his GNP. Myers rolls over, and Terrell sinks in a RNC almost immediately, forcing Myers to tap.

Submission victory via RNC for Terrell Hobbs in the first round.

To Play It Safe or Not Play It Safe in MMA — Part I

Posted by :jcastle On : August 8, 2013

Fighters seemingly “playing it safe” en-route to a (usually) Unanimous Decision victory has been a hot-button issue for both MMA promoters and fans alike for quite some time. Fans routinely fill up MMA forums decrying such performances, lambasting fighters with such terms like “Lay-N-Pray” and “Wall-N-Stall”. Fans are also very quick to criticize when a fighter’s style blurs the lines between an elusiveness and counterstriking style vs. continually circling away and not taking any chances. Being routinely accused of being a “boring fighter” is generally not looked upon favorably, and can be known to have some adverse consequences in regards to a fighter’s career. Conversely, fighters who throw caution to the wind and adopt a more “crowd-pleasing” style are not only beloved by MMA fans, but are also afforded more chances to right the ship by their employers if they happen to lose in an exciting effort. After all, UFC President Dana White commonly refers to the fact that exciting fights “…put asses in seats…”, so he has given numerous exciting fighters a lot more leeway, whereas a 2-3 fight losing streak is most definitely going to earn a less exciting fighter his release from the organization. I will save my thoughts on what this means for the sport itself for another article, as I can personally appreciate the various facets of MMA so as to enjoy virtually almost every fight I watch, with a few exceptions of course! This two article series will include lists of fighters on both sides of the aforementioned equation.

Five Fighters Who’s “Non-Exciting” Style Hurt(s) Their Career or Legacy

Photo courtesy of http://fightersxchange.com

1. Ben Askren — To most people, this will not come as a surprise. Ben Askren seems to be the most widely panned Champion in any major MMA organization. While I would personally sell my soul to possess his wrestling abilities, he hasn’t really managed to gain much of a fan-base outside of MMA fans that are also hardcore wrestling enthusiasts. Askren’s fighting style essentially consists of top-notch “funk” wrestling with some cursory ground striking and light submission attempts thrown in for good effect. Watching the average Askren fight for the past few years is often akin to watching paint dry. If I happen to have the urge to take a gnarly dump, I can get up and do so at the beginning of his fight and know that when I return in the 3rd of 4th round, he will still be wrestling his opponent to death. His latest victory against Andrey Koreshkov was a TKO victory in the 4th round, but only after wrestling his opponent for 4 ½ rounds until Koreshkov was essentially too exhausted to continue. While I applaud Askren for defending his Bellator Welterweight title once again, I doubt he has endeared himself to many new fans in the process.

Photo courtesy of http://www.mmamania.com

2. Jon Fitch — A longtime UFC mainstay in the Welterweight division, Jon Fitch’s tenure in the UFC lasted from 2005-2013. After a few finishes were achieved as part of an eight-fight winning streak to start his UFC career, he was granted a title shot against Georges St. Pierre, which he ultimately lost by Unanimous Decision. After that is when the proverbial wheels started to fall off, and his favor with fans really began to wane. His subsequent (and much maligned) wrestling-heavy Decision wins against Akihiro Gono, Paulo Thiago, Mike Pierce, Ben “Killa B” Saunders, and Thiago Alves lead many fans, and UFC President Dana White as well, to decry such a fighting style even though it was ultimately a victorious one. Soon after, people began to refer to someone getting “Fitched” if a fighter was wrestled and held down en route to an unentertaining defeat by Decision. After a lackluster Draw against BJ Penn, Jon Fitch was confronted with the fact that a large share of the MMA community did not even desire a rematch of the fight. Jon Fitch’s next fight saw him on the wrong end of a gnarly Knockout loss to Johny Hendricks in just 12 seconds. After going 1-1 in his next two fights, Jon Fitch was released from the UFC. Official reasoning that was given for his release included his high price tag for delivering losing efforts, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the UFC was quite ready to jettison Jon Fitch into the open market, despite his overall UFC record of 14-3-1.

Photo courtesy of http://www.bleacherreport.com

3. Yushin Okami — Despite an overall UFC record of 13-4, Yushin Okami has come under some fire in the past few years for his clinch-heavy fighting style. While his last victory by stoppage happened at UFC 150 against a clearly overmatched Buddy Roberts, Okami has still become widely known for getting his opponents up against the cage and utilizing his wrestling and dirty-boxing to stifle any of his opponents attempts at mounting much of any kind of offensive effort. This fighting style is what made him a hard sell for a Championship match versus Anderson Silva in the first place. After being handily dismantled at the hands of the (until recently) reigning Middleweight Champion of the UFC, Okami has certainly found himself in a position where he will be hard pressed to ever be granted a title shot again. His recent Split Decision victory over Hector Lombard did little to improve his prospects in the Middleweight Division, or his standing with fans in general.

Photo courtesy of http://fansided.com

4. Lyoto Machida — Before you decry my inclusion of Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida on this list, I’d ask you to hear me out. I am not necessarily saying that Machida is a consistently boring fighter, I am merely pointing out that he is the present-day poster child for how a conservative striking-based style can also sometimes be detrimental to a fighters efforts to achieve victory. While “The Dragon” has some highlight-reel finishes of Thiago Silva, Ryan Bader, Rashad Evans, and Randy Couture to his name…he also was a part of some of the worst fights I can remember in these past few years. He lost a Decision to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by spending the majority of the fight circling away and sparingly throwing strikes at his opponent, demonstrating very little for the judges to even attempt to score in his favor. His most recent effort against Phil Davis was marred by the same overall strategy and outcome. Machida’s recent fight against Dan Henderson was, quite frankly, pretty awful as well. While he won a Decision victory against Henderson, he did very little to improve his stock in the Light Heavyweight Division because of it. His Karate-based counterstriking style is often described as “elusive” or “unpredictable”. While I give Machida all the credit that is due for being the only person to ever win a round against current Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones, some of his recent outings leave a lot to be desired for the average viewer, as well as his prospects at getting another shot at the title.

Photo courtesy of http://www.theprovince.com

5. Georges St. Pierre — I will be the first person to say that Georges “Rush” St. Pierre is a future UFC Hall-of-Famer and will go down as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. His accomplishments in the UFC’s Welterweight division are second to none; as he has been competing in the UFC since 2004, with the majority of his fights being for (or mainly defending) the Welterweight Championship belt. Despite his overall record of 24-2 (18-2 UFC), GSP has seen his favor with some MMA fans wane in the past few years. Despite his utter dominance in the UFC’s Octagon, many have grown weary of Georges St. Pierre’s long streak of Unanimous Decision victories. Whether he utilizes his dominant wrestling skills to grind his opponents against the mat for 25 minutes, or uses his jab to set up a winning striking effort from a distance, GSP has the longest slew of Unanimous Decision victories of any Champion in UFC history by far. The last time GSP won via any form of stoppage was when BJ Penn refused to answer the bell in their title fight in January of 2009. While his accomplishments are certainly laudable, I have had a hard time finding many MMA fans that aren’t wishing that GSP would get back to his old ways of finishing the majority of his opposition.

Honorable mentions for other fighters who fall under this category include: Jacob Volkmann, Colton Smith, Cole Konrad, Kris McCray, Francis Carmont and Shane Roller.

My next article will cover a list of fighters whose careers have greatly benefited from being regarded as “exciting” by the MMA community at large.