The Sprawl and Brawl Video Review 10.09.07: SuperBrawl's Greatest Hits
Posted by Randy Harrison on 10.09.2007
The Sprawl and Brawl takes a trip to Hawaii and debuts a new semi-recurring addition this week as the review now comes with VIDEOS! Tim Sylvia battles Wes Sims in a grudge match and Bas Rutten gets down and gets funky. Plus this just in, chicks from Hawaii are hot. All inside this week's Sprawl and Brawl Video Review!
We're back to Sprawl and Brawl and this week, we're heading off to an island paradise to check out SuperBrawl's Greatest Hits. SuperBrawl was the precursor to the current Icon Sport promotion, which was recently purchased by Pro Elite, which runs Elite XC as it's main promotion recently holding a title vs. title match with Icon champ Robbie Lawler besting Elite XC champ Murillo "Ninja" Rua. Now that we're done playing Six Degrees of MMA Seperation, we can begin to check out some fights from Honolulu. All fights on this DVD will be taking place at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu which has been a fixture in MMA since 1995 when Icon Sport first started holding their SuperBrawl shows there. Another small format note as I will now be integrating videos into my column as much as possible. I'll usually be picking the best fight of the DVD or something relevant to what's going on in MMA or a fighter in the review to give you a taste of the action, but I could throw in other little gems throughout just to keep you all on your toes. With all the formalities out of the way, let's get to the action everybody!
SuperBrawl's Greatest Hits
The DVD starts out with a spiffy little rap number which is only slightly worse than anything put out by Vanilla Ice or Marky Mark. Seriously when you have to name drop Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and Tim Sylvia in your rap, it's a SAD, SAD thing. It's not the WORST rap song involving MMA I've ever heard because there is an absolute turd sandwich that the IFL graced us with at the beginning of the year that takes the top spot. I don't know how many people have seen it so here it is. By the way, it's cool to see them doing it and having fun, but they're all horrible rappers and the song has more cliches than I think I've ever heard in one four minute span, though Bas Rutten dancing like he was having a seizure while licking a car battery makes the video MORE than watchable. Just to let you all know, 411mania or myself will not be held liable for any hearing loss, brain damage or emotional trauma that will ensue from the viewing of this video. With that being said and all my liability issues being resolved.. ENJOY!!
Sweet merciful Jeebus that was bad. I'm not going to say Holocaust bad..but I'll let you do the math. Anyhow with our musical interlude out of the way and everyone's ears feeling numb and abused, let's get to some fighting!!
Match One
Ray Cooper (0-0) vs. Taro Obata (0-0-1)
Cooper is a local fighter from Hawaii and is making his professional debut against someone who seems just as inexperienced in Obata. The fight is from SuperBrawl 3 which took place on January 17, 1997 and is being billed as a semi-final contest in a tournament that also featured Pat Miletich as a participant. It's being fought at 198 pounds or below, but Cooper is looking to be giving up both height and weight to his Japanese opponent which could spell trouble for him in this one.
Round One
They trade jabs to start out and Cooper ends up with a takedown, standing in Obata's full guard trying to strike. He lands a good left hand over the top and Obata tries for a shoulder lock from the bottom but Cooper is able to slip right out of it. Obata stands up and Cooper takes his back standing and side slams him to the mat, moving into side control for a moment but Obata is too strong this early on and stands back up. Cooper tenaciously keeps at the takedown and they grapple from their knees back to a standing position, circling while clinched together before Cooper uses a lightning quick foot trip to take Obata down against the ropes. In Obata's half guard now and Cooper is using headbutts to try to gain a little seperation, landing a good right hand before Obata turns his back and tries to stand again. He can't make it all the way up this time and Cooper is standing above him raining down HARD left hands, landing shot after shot, knocking Obata out cold, forcing the referee to step in and spare him any further punishment.
Cooper looked like a world-beater here, using speed and heavy hands to finish a larger opponent with relative ease. This set Cooper into the final of the tournament against Jason Nicholsen who was beaten by Pat Miletich but I can only assume advanced due to an injury to Miletich after their fight. If you can believe it Cooper won that fight in the same fashion and even quicker, finishing the final and winning the tournament in a whopping 28 seconds.
Winner: Ray Cooper, KO at 1:16 of Round One
Match Two
Maurice Corty (1-0) vs. Jay R. Palmer (3-0)
This one is back in time a little bit, coming to us from SuperBrawl 2 on October 11, 1996, and it's a final of another four-man tournament as Palmer and Corty are both coming off of wins earlier in the evening. Palmer comes in with a belt which looks to be from his victory in the first SuperBrawl tournament earlier in the year. Corty is a BJJ specialist who will be looking to get this fight to the ground quickly and Palmer is a striker with an almost streetfighting style and he looks like he'll do whatever it takes to win.
Round One
Interesting to see our referee for this one, Steve English, in just sweats and a muscle shirt as opposed to the actual uniform styles we are accustomed to seeing the referees in today. Part of the lack of uniform comes from it being 1996 and MMA still being relatively unregulated and part of it comes from it being Hawaii where there weren't even the smallest of rules or regulations in regards to a state athletic commission and plus it's Hawaii, everyone is allowed to be a little laid back. The bell rings and Corty immediately makes me burst out laughing by coming out like he's fighting John L. Sullivan and it's the 1880's. Palmer doesn't even look like he can believe what he's seeing and he's circling and waving at Corty to come on as if to say "Bitch, I got your dukes right here!". Palmer circles and Corty just stands there completely stiff and barely making any motion, looking more like a rock 'em sock 'em robot than a fighter, using a completely stiff style that belies his relative inexperience with striking. Neither has thrown a punch or even faked one at this point and we're nearing a minute into the bout. Every time the show Corty in profile with his retarded stance I laugh my balls of, but with all this inactivity the crowd is getting a little restless. Corty comes at Palmer like a spider monkey or something with a bizarre rush and Palmer just side-steps him and throws him to the mat in the corner. Before Corty can regain his footing, Palmer is on him and pummeling him with 5 or 6 good right hands to the face and head and he slips behind Corty and slaps on a rear naked choke variation with his forearm directly across Corty's throat. Corty is able to break free of the choke but suffers through the forearm to the throat for another moment or two before breaking free entirely. Palmer mounts for a moment and Corty escapes out the backdoor but eats a knee to the face for his efforts. Both men to their feet and Palmer cinches in a bodylock and takes Corty down with a BIG slam, holding onto his arm and smacking him around with some hammerfists. Two rights and five or six more lefts and Corty is looking overwhelmed by Palmer's constant movement and aggression. Head butt lands for Palmer and he's in full mount now, moving into side control and landing hard knees to the head of Corty. Palmer back into the mount and is essentially standing over Corty before landing three BRUTAL stomps to the face, knocking Corty into next year and essentially ending the fight as Palmer just kinda walks away from him and the ref motions that Corty's corner might want to come wipe the poop out of his pants.
Post-fight one of Palmer's cornermen keeps nervously looking over his shoulder to check on the condition of Corty as Palmer motions for his wife to join him in the ring. They show the replays of Corty making his bizarre shoot in and eating all those punches as well as the end of the fight, which is a little uncomfortable to watch the second time around as you can see that Corty was clearly out and took at least one and possibly two more stomps completely undefended while he was unconscious. Corty ends up ok and leaves under his own power after he and Palmer exchange pleasantries and hugs but it could have been a lot lot worse as those stomps looked sick and they landed cleanly to Corty's jaw.
Winner: Jay R. Palmer, KO at 2:27 of Round One
Match Three
Eddie Yagin (3-0) vs. Ryan Diaz (8-3)
Round One
This referee better hope for his sake that Big John McCarthy never sees this DVD or he will end up having Big John sue his ass back to the stone age since he sounds EXACTLY like BJM when he asks each fighter if they're ready and then says "Let's GET IT ON!!!". Diaz comes straight through the middle of the ring and corners Yagin landing a WICKED knee right up the middle, stiffening Yagin and flooring him. The announcers are talking like he's out and it certainly looked that way on his way down, but then Diaz landed a couple of punches and those might have snapped him back into reality. Unfortunately for Yagin, that reality consists of being stuck in a reverse triangle choke at this point, getting cracked in the top of the head with punches, hammerfists and elbows. Yagin is stuck turtling and trying to defend his head while Diaz just unloads with right hands to the top of Yagin's dome. Diaz traps an arm but nothing comes of it so he just peppers Yagin with tons more punches, and the referee is warning Yagin that a stoppage is coming. He even asks Yagin if he wants the fight to be stopped, and to Yagin's credit he says no, just before breaking out of the lock that Diaz had around his head and popping out into top position in Diaz's guard. Yagin lands some lefts and rights and a great four punch combination from inside Diaz's guard and Yagin is trying to turn the momentum of this round around. Yagin stands out of the guard and lands a hard roundhouse kick to the side of Diaz, who is in the butt scoot position on the seat of his pants. Hard leg kick from Yagin when he lets Diaz stand back up. It's just insane to see the recovery from Yagin, going from essentially knocked out ten seconds into the fight to now taking over the round slowly but surely. Another huge right hand lands over the top for Yagin and he's full of confidence after weathering the storm. They clinch into the corner and both knee the body before pushing away and THROWING DOWN, with Diaz landing a good one-two combination with a high kick chaser and Yagin responding with a good hard combination of his own and a vicious uppercut from the clinch. We're back down to the mat now with Yagin on top and manging to land a good shot or two, posturing up to throw power punches but standing up out of the guard when Diaz tries to throw his legs up for a submission attempt. Yagin puts a ton of stank on a high kick that just misses and lands a solid leg kick as the round finishes out.
A TON of action in this first round and I think I might need a wet-nap after all of that. Diaz controlled early but Yagin came back late with a great turnaround, really putting the pressure on Diaz who may have punched himself out in the beginning of the round. Too close to call for the first round for me. Referee Steve English agrees that it was a great round, jumping up and down in the ring and waving his arms before throwing a jumping spin kick to show off his own abilities which was a nice modest touch and in no way took the attention away from the fighters and put it on himself. Diaz is being cornered by what looks to be Sayid from Lost and I hope he's getting some good advice or at least some spoilers for the new season.
Round Two
The second round picks up where the first left off, with Yagin landing a good right hand and a couple of solid leg kicks before getting a bodylock on Diaz, taking him down to the mat. Yagin tries to do some work from inside Diaz's guard but he can't seperate to fire anything off. Diaz works from the bottom landing some light shots with Yagin trying to improve position and pass, although he ends up getting himself into a triangle choke. Diaz can't close out the choke and Yagin backs off to let Diaz stand and as soon as he's to his feet, Yagin unleashes another massive high kick that JUST misses. A good leg kick/knee combination from Diaz and a straight left follows it up as he's trying to swing the momentum back to his favor in this back and forth war. He lands another couple of nice one-two combinations to gain a little more confidence and SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK, Yagin just obliterates him with a huge right hand on the button that knocks Diaz out COLD. Diaz is stiff as a board and it's about thirty seconds or so and he still hasn't moved.
Holy hell that was a power punch if I've ever seen one and as soon as it landed Diaz was finished. A great back and forth fight with a lot of action and a pretty remarkable recovery from Yagin.
Winner: Eddie Yagin, KO at 2:55 of Round Two
Match Four
Jay R. Palmer vs (4-0) vs. Danny Bennett (0-1)
Palmer has two belts with him for this fight from his first two SuperBrawl tournament wins as this is from SuperBrawl 3 and is being billed as a Superfight which makes me cringe thinking of the Gracie/Shamrock snoozefest or any of the other "great" Superfights put on in the early days of the UFC.
Bennett is wearing the traditional Muay Thai headband into the ring and he's being announced as the ISKA Professional Commonwealth Light-Middleweight Champion, which is such a long name for a belt it ALMOST sounds made up, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt in this one until the fight starts. Palmer is introduced and as that's happening we're cut to a highlight of his last fight in which Palmer chases his opponent across the ring against the ropes and kicks him right over the top rope to the outer apron, which makes me laugh uncontrollably. Apparently the poor sap didn't get enough because we see more highlights from the same fight with Palmer finishing him off with stomps. Incidentally this one doesn't have any rounds, just one thirty minute time period so we'll tackle it in sections rather than as a whole.
Palmer is taunting to begin the round, doing some wiggling and dancing that would give Rashad Evans a run for his money, dropping his hands and mugging at Bennett who finally closes the distance with a kick to the body. Palmer tries to give it back but gets caught and almost taken down off of it, and Bennett throws another good high kick that lands. They're into the clinch now and both guys try leg trips that don't work and finally Palmer manages a takedown into Bennett's half guard. Palmer trying to pass but having no luck with it, works lots of punches to the body and finally passes guard, taking Bennett's back, but Bennett stands up and holds onto a headlock. Palmer picks up Bennett for a big slam but it ends up backfiring on him as Bennett rolls with it and uses it to mount Palmer, trying for a triangle choke before Palmer reverses and breaks out of it, landing some stomps to the face while Bennett is on the mat. Palmer working elbows to the back of Bennett while Bennett is turtled and trying for a single-leg takedown. Palmer avoids the takedown and starts landing some hammerfists with Bennett still holding onto that single-leg attempt. Palmer defends it and is trying to pick Bennett up for a PILEDRIVER??? Are you fucking KIDDING ME?? They weren't kidding when they said Palmer would do anything to win. Anyhow, off of that Palmer ends up bulling Bennett over onto his back and is on top of him in full mount. Palmer landing shots while Bennett holds onto his body, trying to prevent him from posturing up to deliver heavier shots. A couple of elbows land for Palmer and the referee stops them and literally drags them into the center for a restart.
Bennett is still controlling the body and avoiding any serious damage and Palmer is trying to break the bodylock by slamming down onto Bennett with his chest. Palmer manages to posture up and throw a few hard shots while talking some shit but doesn't manage to land anything and Bennett is right back to the bodylock. There's nothing much happening now and I would really love to see a stand-up at this point because they've been on the mat for quite some time and it's basically stalemated. Bennett finally manages a sweep and reverses position after a couple of minutes that felt like an eternity. I'm all for letting the fight take place on the mat but there was CLEARLY nothing happening there. Palmer reverses again and goes back to trying to use his chest to slam Bennett's head into the canvas. Palmer tries for an armbar but the idea is better than the execution and he can't sink it in and we're back to being stalemated with both fighters using their legs to control the other's head. Palmer lets go of the armbar and Bennett looks like he's inching closer to a reverse triangle. Palmer uses his heels to stomp on the back of Bennett's head landing about ten or twelve good shots in the process. Palmer stands up again and goes for more stomps to the head but Bennett catches a leg and tries for a kneebar. Palmer pulls his leg out and is looking to stompy stomp again but can't manage to make a connection. Bennett throws an up-kick to gain some space to stand up and Palmer throws a head kick at him but slips and rolls under the bottom rope like he's taking a timeout or something but Bennett doesn't acknowledge the timeout and kicks him in the face a couple of times for shits and giggles before the referee backs him off. They wash off Palmer's mouthpiece which Bennett apparently kicked into press row and they restart again.
Leg kick by Bennett and a hard body kick that Palmer catches and uses for a takedown. Palmer is STILL trying for those stomps and Bennett takes advantage again, catching a leg on the way down and trying for another leg lock. They both down and trying for achilles tendon pulls or heel hooks but neither really has the knowledge to finflict any real damage with them. Bennett with hard punches to the knee and thigh of Palmer and the referee has seen enough of their half-assed submission attempts and stands them up. Bennett tries for a punch and Palmer ducks it and shots in for a takedown which he gets but Bennett keeps his head about him and locks in a guillotine with Palmer's arm trapped. Bennett lets it go and does a great job defending from the bottom, controlling Palmer's body and taking no real damage from any strikes. Bennett uses his hips to sweep and reverse Palmer again before letting him get back to his feet. Bennett lands another good body kick and glances a foot off of Palmer's face with a nice high kick. It glanced but it apparently did some damage as Palmer is clearly staggering and his mouthpiece falls out again while he's eating a barrage of leg kicks from Bennett. Palmer puts his hands down and in his infinite wisdom decides it's time to fix his shorts which have apparently rode up on him. He grabs the seam and starts to tug the first leg down and BAM!!!! Bennett unleashes a MONSTER head kick that knocks Palmer the FUCK OUT. I mean he almost fell out of the ring onto the photographer's table.
He is out COLD and the referee is pissed about something, either Bennett's possibly trying to follow up on that kick or for kicking Palmer while he was adjusting. I would have to say the former because anyone with common sense would think that stopping to jimmy with your wardrobe in the middle of the fight would be a bad idea. Palmer is still sprawled out on the mat like he's been shot and Bennett is celebrating in all four corners, while the announcers call it the biggest upset in SuperBrawl history. We get a replay of Palmer's armbar attempt and his slip that put him under the ropes along with a couple of angles on the KO, including a slow-motion replay thrown in. Yep, still looks pretty devastating when they slow it down like that. If you need a visual of how it looked, think Salmon vs. Evans when Rashad knocked him stiff with that head kick last year. Palmer is at least awake now with a neck brace on and they're loading him onto a back board to take him out and get him looked at.
Winner: Danny Bennett, KO at 13:55 of Round One
Match Five
Yukiya Naito (3-0) vs. Egan Inoue (11-5)
We're headed to February 8, 2003 and SuperBrawl 28 for this one. Naito is coming over from Japan and this is his first fight outside of his home country and Inoue is nearing the end of his career, having already put his time in with Pride, losing to the likes of Guy Mezger and Carl Malenko.
Round One
Naito throws a straight kick and misses with it allowing Inoue to hit a leg kick in return. Another front kick by Naito misses and Inoue ducks inside with a straight left to the body. Naito finally lands with the front kick and Inoue loads up with a big punch but misses and throws himself off balance for a moment before landing another hard body shot. They clinch allowing Inoue to use a leg trip to take Naito down and pass into side control with a knee on Naito's belly before taking full mount. Naito bucks his hips and throws his legs up catching Inoue under each arm and forcing him off and they're back into a standing clinch. Naito's leg is already red and bruised from the stiff leg kicks Inoue's been landing up to this point. Good knees to the body from Inoue and Naito pulls guard, throwing up a quick but unsuccessful triangle attempt. Inoue stands to get out of it and stands above Naito dropping more hard punches down, holding onto Naito's leg and landing three more SNAPPING leg kicks on the already damaged leg. Inoue leans down and connects with a HUGE right hand that draws a collective "OHHHHHH" from the crowd at the Blaisdell. Naito is smiling while he's on the canvas and Inoue smiles back while holding the leg and scoring with another couple of leg kicks. Naito asks for help up off the mat and then offers for Inoue to come down and join him and they both chuckle a little. Inoue continues working the standing leg kicks and after a little more inaction from both fighters, the referee stands them up. Inoue tries a high kick on the taller Naito and slips, ending up on the canvas for a second before springing back up to eat a high kick from Naito. They exchange flurries to finish the round and both actually end up landing a few shots after the bell that causes a little staredown.
A good round for Inoue, slightly winning the stand-up and managing to score the big takedown and do a lot of damage to Naito while he was on the mat. There's a lot of blood streaming from Naito's nose all through the between rounds break leading the annnouncers and myself to conclude that it looks like it might have been broken when Inoue landed that missle of a right hand towards the end of round one.
Round Two
Naito throws more front kicks to begin the second round, trying to keep Inoue at a distance but it only works for a short period of time as Inoue lands a good left-right-left combination and follows it up with a pair of stiff left hooks and a flurry that drives Naito backwards. Inoue works some knees to the body and more punches trying to finish the fight as Naito turns into a bloody mess. Inoue scores with a few hard knees to the face of Naito, forcing him to try a weak desperation shoot that Inoue sprawls out of, taking Naito down to the mat. Inoue passes into side control just as Naito tries to sit up and the combination of Inoue's fist coming down for the punch and Naito's head coming up is like a head-on car crash with a huge thud of fist on face. That one hurt Naito badly and he's turtling trying to avoid punches, but Inoue forgoes taking the back and pushes Naito back down to his back for more punishment. Inoue lands a hard punch to the body and some good left hooks to the face, scoring at will with his strikes. A brief period of rest and inactivity leads the ref to stand them back up and he almost has to drag Naito to his feet. They clinch off of the stand-up and Inoue works an excellent throw takedown into side control and he tries to restrict Naito's already labored breathing with a hand over his face, which the announcer speculates is "a mouth over the face". AGAIN with the possible gay inferences...so many jokes..brain overloading. Inoue not doing much with his side control position landing a couple of body shots and little else as the crowd is imploring him to finish. Inoue moves from north/south position to side control on the opposite side and hits another body shot before Naito scrambles out of it and regains his guard. At ringside even the RING ANNOUNCER is shouting encouragement to Inoue. Boy, they might be saying that Anderson Silva's going into "Hostile Territory" later this month, but I'm betting he won't have to deal with Bruce Buffer screaming at Rich Franklin to finish the fight like poor Naito is hearing from the Hawaiians. Naito has a little more fun and spread-eagles himself while on his back on the mat and Inoue decides that the time for fun is over and axe kicks Naito in the gut as the horn sounds to end the round. The announcers are surprised that the fight is over since from the beginning they've been claiming it as a three round fight but that's it, we're off to the judges. All three of them see it as 20-18 for Inoue and I'd have to agree since Naito did very little but take punishment for the whole ten minutes of the fight.
Winner: Egan Inoue, Unanimous Decision
Match Six
Jason Miller (9-3) vs. Sean Taylor (0-1-1)
Miller makes his entrance with a machete and a Jason-style hockey mask on. That certainly seems like an interesting choice but for those who've seen Miller before it's not completely unexpected. The announcers speculate on Miller's...um...lack of intelligence and they relate a story about Miller getting hit in the head with a beer bottle and nothing happening because according to Miller "You can't hit a Miller in the head because there's nothing going on up there." Again that's not terribly shocking coming from Miller.
Round One
The referee for this one is Jeremy Horn and he gets us underway. Miller throws a leg kick to start out and Taylor responds with a combination that lands before Miller ducks under and grabs a double-leg, scoring the takedown. Miller into half guard and he traps one of Taylor's arms behind his back, working to gain a submission with a simple hammer lock, and also using it to pass guard into side control. Miller landing hard knees to the head and body from side control and Taylor's arm is bent almost completely backwards at the elbow but he's fighting through it. Miller lets go of the arm and tries a cross choke that Taylor spins to his stomach to avoid, managing to regain his feet and trying to take Miller down. Miller drops guard into a TIGHT guillotine choke and Taylor is trying to pull Miller's arm out to pop his head out and he succeeds, getting out of trouble momentarily but Miller tries for an arm and slides through over Taylor's head, taking his back with both hooks. A beautiful transition from Miller there into full back control and he sinks in a rear naked choke in short order and this one is deep. Taylor tries to punch his way out of it and is fighting the tap, even with his head turning a purplish shade. Miller rolls it to get Taylor onto his stomach and cranks the pressure even harder on the neck, but Taylor is still fighting it, blue head and all. Miller adjusts the hooks into a full body triangle and readjusts the choke with his forearm across Taylor's throat but he just won't tap still throwing punches to Miller's face. The crowd appreciates the effort, applauding for Taylor just as he escapes the choke, but Miller still has back control and is raining punches in to the back of Taylor's head. Taylor spins out of back control but Miller reverses it into a full mount and starts wailing away with four or five good hard punches to end the round.
I am absolutely STUNNED that Taylor was able to survive that round in all honesty. If you ever want to see what a 10-8 round with relatively little striking looks like, this was it. A total domination on the ground by Miller with multiple deep submission attempts and crisp striking. The only thing that keeps this fight going is Taylor's incredible toughness as there were two or three points in the first round where it could have been over.
Round Two
Miller with a leg kick that Taylor checks and Miller tries a takedown attempt that gets stuffed. Taylor tries to reverse it to get on top but Miller grabs a leg for a leg lock and Taylor has to pull out of it and stand back up. Taylor with knees to the legs of Miller and he leaves his head sticking out again which Miller takes full advantage of, dropping into full guard again with a guillotine that looks tighter than the first. Taylor just forces his head out of it again and survives another one. Miller throws his legs up to go for an armbar but Taylor defends it well, though all it earns him is being stuck in a triangle as Miller moves fluidly from submission to submission trying to finish the fight. Taylor tries to roll out of the tight triangle but can't do it and ends up leaving his arm out so Miller grabs it and now has a triangle/straight armbar combination submission. I guess if the submissions don't work one at a time to get a tap, double up on them. Miller transitions to just the straight armbar but Taylor manages another narrow escape from it so Miller slaps the triangle back on and this looks like the tightest submission out of them all so far. How in the FUCK is Taylor managing to survive all of this? Taylor tries to slip out the back door of the choke and Miller grabs an arm and is wrenching back on it, in a scene that is eerily reminiscent of when Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia's forearm with a modified armbar. Taylor pops his head out of the triangle again but can't move away from Miller's legs quickly enough and Miller puts him in another triangle from the other side this time, straining with everything he has to finish this fight off. Taylor smacks the mat and referee Horn checks to make sure it wasn't a tap even asking Taylor to give him a thumbs up if he's alright. Miller rolls and rolls with the triangle and eventually Miller just looks over at Horn and tells him that he's asleep and Horn steps in to stop the fight.
Post-fight, they're still trying to wake Taylor up and Miller comes in to check on him to make sure he's ok. In the interview Miller hopes that all Hawaiians aren't that tough and then calls out Egan Inoue, who was supposed to be his opponent for this fight and talking shit on the hometown boy doesn't exactly endear Miller to the crowd at all. Miller talks enough to get Inoue to come out from the back to the ring. Inoue confirms that he had to pull out of the fight due to injury and not a lack of balls like Miller was suggesting. They agree to a fight for later in the year and the announcer asks the crowd to give a round of applause to Taylor for his gutsy performance and even Miller obliges giving him a nice hand on his way out of the ring.
A ground clinic put on by Miller with submission after submission attempt, silky smooth transitions and superb body control. A great win for Miller who seems primed to face island favorite Egan Inoue after this fantastic performance.
Winner: Jason Miller, Submission (triangle choke) at 3:43 of Round Two
Match Seven
Jason Miller (10-3) vs. Egan Inoue (14-5)
This is the grudge match that everyone wanted to see based on the hype from the previous SuperBrawl card which was just shown on this DVD. For once I'm glad to see some continuity on the part of the people that put together this DVD as they let us see the build up to the fight and then they give us the actual fight as opposed to...SWEET JESUS, are the ring girls hot in Hawaii. As much as I thought the King of the Cage girls were a little rough in my debut column, these Hawaiian SuperBrawl ring girls are NICE. What was I talking about again? Bah, nevermind let me ogle her for another little bit. Giggidy giggidy giggidy goo. That's all I have to say. The ring announcer introduces Miller and you can see that he has Phil Baroni in his corner for this one which could end up being interesting. Inoue is introduced as the number one contender at 185 pounds, so I guess this is a fight to see who will get a shot at the SuperBrawl middleweight title. I was right about Baroni by the way as he's already talking some mad shit to Inoue's brother Enson during the pre-fight instructions.
Round One
Miller throws a high kick and Inoue goes straight into the clinch out of that, working some knees to the body, as Miller pushes Inoue to the corner. Inoue uses over/under hooks to hit more knees to the midsection and attempts a guillotine but Miller quickly escapes. Miller rushes and tries to land a couple of punches but Inoue avoids them and fires back with a nice uppercut. Inoue spins around and Miller slips off of him into the turtle position and Inoue tries to take his back before Miller rolls out of it. Inoue tries a standing guard pass but Miller grabs a leg and tries to lock in a kneebar, however Inoue gets the leg out of trouble and uses side control to cinch on a tight americana. Miller tries to roll out of the armlock but Inoue locks his legs around Miller's head and rolls with him, continuing to crank up the pressure. Miller finally rolls out of danger onto his back with Inoue on top of him in side control, punching to the body and trying to gain full mount. Inoue actually does mount and is landing good left and right hands with Miller trying to buck and sweep but unable to get Inoue off of him. Miller blocks the majority of the punches but some of them are starting to get through forcing him to roll to his stomach to avoid them, but Inoue shoves Miller over again onto his back and lands some body shots. Miller give Inoue his back for a moment before spinning into Inoue and reversing things, ending up on top of Inoue in his guard. A great move from Miller to get out of a very dangerous position. He postures up and starts trying to land shots but Inoue won't let him and Miller tries to pass guard instead. Inoue turtles and gives up his back and Miller gets a hook in and hits Inoue with a hard hammerfist before stopping and looking out to the crowd. He stops for a moment to let the crowd know he thinks that they're number one and then lands another hammerfist to the side of Inoue's head. Apparently on further review it wasn't the "You're #1!" finger, but rather the "Fuck you all" finger. That's awesome, and a great way to get the crowd to feel a little less like killing you Jason. He gets the second hook in and starts raining down blows, right hand after right hand and hammerfists thrown in as well. Inoue covers his head and tries to hold out til the end of the round and Miller tries to shame Inoue out of that strategy by spanking him on the ass. Spank, spank, spank and a HARD right hand and a left follow for Miller and that's the round.
A big action round that I have to score for Inoue because he had the control for the majority of the round. Miller looked more impressive during the last portion of the round but Inoue had top position for most of it and almost got a submission out of Miller with the armlock. Miller will need to sustain what he did at the end of the round into round two and keep it going for the entire round.
Round Two
Inoue lands a right hand that Miller laughs at and returns with a right of his own. Miller starts hitting combinations and scores with some serious punches, as Inoue tries to trade but Miller is getting the better of the stand-up until he stumbles, allowing Inoue to hit a knee to the face and turn the tide back to his favor. They seperate and Miller tries to push the pace but eats another right hand from Inoue and they clinch into the corner. Inoue tries a leg trip that fails and they're back to a clinch in the corner until Miller works a great throw and takes Inoue down near the ropes. The referee moves them away from the ropes and restarts them as Inoue throws up a triangle but Miller works through it and passes Inoue's guard, taking his back. Inoue lifts Miller up off of that and slams him down landing in side control, hitting knees to Miller's body and holding him down. Miller tries to pull a north/south position but Inoue gets it back to side control and digs a hard elbow into Miller's body. Inoue keeps up side control and moves to the other side landing some hard punches before moving to the north/south position again. Both guys working punches to the body with Inoue being busier on top and throwing more punches including a couple to Miller's head. Miller catches one of Inoue's legs and pulls himself around on it and gets up to his stomach and finally all the way up to his feet, reversing and taking down Inoue. Inoue tries an up-kick from the botom that misses and Miller tries for a jumping guard pass or a stomp and gets neither but it forces Inoue to roll over onto his stomach and turtle again. Much like the end of the first round Miller gets his hooks in on Inoue and takes his back landing HUGE hammerfists and punchs to the head as well as some body shots to end the second.
The round ends and Inoue can't get up, clutching at either his ribcage or his abdominal muscles. You can hear someone saying that he broke his rib, but I'm not sure if it's someone who can confirm it like a doctor or just speculation at this point. The ring announcer calls 10 seconds until corner's have to leave to let the third round begin and Inoue is still sprawled out on the canvas. A little more time and no improvement and the referee has no choice but to award the contest to Miller when Inoue can't answer the bell for the third. Miller starts breakdancing to celebrate the win and the crowd isn't terribly thrilled with that development. Miller and Baroni are both checking on Inoue who is still laying on the mat as they bring in a back board and stretcher for him, but Inoue refuses it and gets helped to his feet and walks out on his own power. Miller continues becoming a fan favorite in Hawaii by saying that if they stop booing him he might possibly come back and that if anyone in Hawaii wants some they should just step up and get it, and of course the heavily pro-Inoue crowd boos Miller viciously.
Winner: Jason Miller, Referee's Stoppage at 5:00 of Round Two
Match Eight
Tom Sauer (16-9) vs. Enson Inoue (11-7)
Inoue comes out from the upper deck on a lift a la Pride's entrances and this is actually Enson's first fight in Hawaii and it comes nine years into his career after fights in both Pride and the UFC. Sauer comes into this fight with plenty of experience, counting wins over Jeff Monson and Valentijn Overeem on his record. Inoue has trained with Phil Baroni and Kid Yamamoto for this one and it's funny to see Baroni in Inoue's corner after they were shit-talking in the fight before this one on this disc.
Round One
Glove touch to start and Inoue JUST misses a huge right hand and they're into the clinch quickly against the ropes. Inoue looks like he tries for a throw but doesn't shift his hips and he just slowly sinks to the canvas bringing Sauer down with him. Sauer and Inoue throwing from inside Inoue's closed guard and the announcers bring up Inoue's penchant for armbars and how he submitted Randy Couture with that very move. Inoue moves his legs up for an armbar or a triangle but Sauer does a good job of defending it until he tries to pick up Inoue for a short slam. As he lifts him, he leaves his arm in and Inoue is all over it trying to snap on the armbar. Inoue trying for multiple submissions throwing his legs up again and again into armbar and triangle positions trying to catch something off of them. Sauer keeps trying the slam to avoid them, allowing Inoue to snatch an arm again and almost end things with another armbar. Sauer finally gets away from danger for a moment and moves into side control, landing a knee to the head of Inoue. Sauer looks like he might be trying for an anaconda choke from the north/south and Inoue starts throwing up knees to the top of Sauer's head. Sauer responds with knees of his own from the top, loading them up and landing heavily to the face and head of Inoue. They trade more knees back and forth from the north/south position and Sauer moves into side control again landing knees to the body of Inoue and actually mounting him. Sauer lands some good punches and forces Inoue to roll to his side to avoid them but Sauer just keeps landing punches and Inoue has no defense for them. The referee after giving Inoue a ton of rop to hang himself with, finally cinches the noose and calls for the bell, REALLLLLLLY upsetting the hometown crowd.
Inoue's corner is irate and for once it's not crazy Baroni leading the charge as some little guy starts shoving the ref and the ring announcer calls for security. The corners are talking shit to each other and Inoue's corner is screaming at the referee and security is trying to seperate everyone and it's a wild scene as the boos are coming loudly from the crowd. Here comes some of Hawaii's finest to try to get things under control in the ring and they get the referee and some of the troublemakers out of there and that's the end of the disc..
Winner: Tom Sauer, TKO at 4:14 of Round One.
BUT WAIT!! There's still more to come as we have ourselves a bonus match!!
Bonus Match
Wes Sims (7-6, 1 NC) vs. Tim Sylvia (16-1)
The announcers play up the grudge match aspect of this fight before we cut to an interview with Tim Sylvia. He says that he's tired of Sims' talking and he's pissed off and is going to shut his ass up. He says that Sims is 0-5 in his last five fights and that after tonight he'll be 0-6 because he's going to get his ass knocked out. Sylvia comes out to the ring with some sort of camoflauge hunting blanket or something that he's modified into a kilt. And you thought Big Tim couldn't get any weirder looking...there ya go.
Now we come to Sims and his interview package, with him claiming that Tim Sylvia must hate himself because he had to pay Sims to beat him up. Sims is convinced that Sylvia is his biggest fan and that all he wants is an autograph. Well Wes, it might be hard for you to sign that autograph when you're a corpse after the fight, but you might just prove me wrong. The announcers touch on what Sims said in his interview saying that Tim Sylvia actually gave some of his purse to Wes Sims to ensure that the fight would take place. Now THAT'S anger folks.
Round One
Sims comes out in a three point stance, mocking Sylvia, before making his way to the center to engage properly, throwing a pair of leg kicks and grabbing a Thai clinch. Sylvia clinches Sims against the coern and lands a knee before Sims tries to pull guard on Sylvia. Big Tim landing hard shots on the inside while Sims is up against the ropes in full guard and Sylvia lands a hard left/right combination, breaking the guard and dropping Sims to the mat. Sylvia pouncing now, landing a barrage of unanswered punches until the referee steps in to stop the fight.
Five minutes of shit-talking between the two of them for about a minute's worth of fighting. The ref is pulling Sylvia off and he's still throwing shots and actually lands a kick or two WELL after the bell for good measure. Sims is on the mat holding his left elbow in pain and his cornerman Mark Coleman is in to check on the injury. Replays of the closing moments of the fight as the announcers mention that Sims had a previous arm injury from his last fight but still fought in this one, trying to hide the injury, but I'd say that it didn't go so well with that.
Winner: Tim Sylvia, TKO at 1:32 of Round One
Post-match interview with Sylvia where he calls Sims a pussy-ass and tells him to get his ass out of his (Sylvia's) ring, leading Sims to come back into Sylvia's face and they jaw nose to nose. The poor little ring announcer is caught in the middle looking like a midget between the two giants and Sylvia pushes Sims and the corners get involved, milling around and trying to seperate the fighters while slapping at each other. In come the Hawaii Sherrif's Deputies and they mean business, seperating them and escorting Sims from the ring, allowing Sylvia to finish his interview and invite everyone to his post-fight party at Round Table Pizza. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. SO....MANY.....JOKES.....GAHHHHH!!! Quite the step down from Liddell's parties at the Voodoo Lounge in Vegas isn't it?
That wraps things up for SuperBrawl's Greatest Hits. Be sure to come back next week where the Sprawl and Brawl will salute Rich Franklin and his upcoming title shot by looking at one of his earliest fights when we review the World Fighting Alliance's premiere event, WFA 1. See you next time folks!!
The 411: A highly enjoyable set of fights with plenty of stand-up action and some very technical grappling to play to any fight fan's tastes. Sylvia making Sims his personal bitch is good for laughs and Eddie Yagin and Ryan Diaz put on an epic back and forth that make the disc more than worth picking up. The production suffers a little but all of these fights took place anywhere from three to ten years ago so I'm willing to let that slide.
