The Sprawl And Brawl Video Review: King of the Cage: Cyclone
Posted by Randy Harrison on 01.22.2008
The King Of The Cage touches down for their first show in Oklahoma with a veritable "Cyclone" of action. Eleven fights on the card and not a one of them reach the judges. Will it be enough to make this show a keeper, or will it just be a night of one-sided beatdowns. There's only one way to find out and you all know what that is....CLICK!
Howdy folks, and welcome to another Sprawl and Brawl Video Review. It's been a busy week for I, your favorite video reviewer, with a huge Five Rounds Of News last Friday, the UFC and a big boxing match on Saturday night, and of course my beloved Patriots winning again on Sunday. Fear not, dear readers, I would never leave you in the lurch and without your weekly slice of MMA paradise. This week the Sprawl & Brawl is going back to November of 2006 as we follow King Of The Cage into Tulsa, Oklahoma for their event Cyclone. We've got eleven big fights on the card and there's sure to be a ton of action so let's not dilly-dally and get right to the fights!
This King Of The Cage event is part of the five-disc, ten event Underground Worldwide box set available here.
King Of The Cage - Cyclone
No opening of any kind from the announce team, just the usual King Of The Cage video to start out with. We get sent straight to the cage and Tyson Johnson who is introducing the first fight of the night. The first four fights on the card, I believe, are amateur fights because there are no records posted anywhere for any of the fighters in them and there are no posted records of these fights actually taking place. I would assume that means that they are amateur fights but that's just fine with me, because a fight is a fight. Let's get to the action!
Match One: Featherweights
Abel Collum vs. John Chester
Johnson announces Collum as having a 9-1 record and Collum comes in with the flag of New Mexico over his shoulder and an American flag dress shirt with a cowboy hat on. The announcers talk about all of the great guys coming out of New Mexico like Carlos Condit, Keith Jardine, Diego Sanchez and think that Collum may be of that mold. John Chester is introduced without a record and the announcers begin talking about the sponsorships that are booming because of the way the sport is blowing up and then they discuss how to dispel the myth of MMA being nothing more than a "bar brawl" and how frustrating it can be.
Round One
Cecil Peoples gets us underway and Chester comes roaring out with a big right hand and some knees to the body on Collum, who blocks most of the knees and actually ends up pushing Chester over and taking him down, landing in the full mount. Chester bucks from the bottom and manages to get out from under Collum, but eats some Thai knees to the head from the clinch as he regains his feet. Collum with a combination and a leg kick that both land and the pace of this one is greased lightning so far. Collum with another leg kick and an overhand right that puts Chester off balance and knocks him onto his ass, but that looked more like a slip than a knockdown. The same combination lands again and Chester barely stays up on his feet.
Collum lands a hard body kick now as well and he's taking this fight over in a hurry. Collum with a left jab that lands flush and a one-two that catches Chester with his hands down and he's picking him apart standing up. Collum comes in witha flying knee that misses but he ends up hitting another few combinations and he's just landing strikes at will with Chester putting up no defense or response at all. Collum works the body now with another combination and lands some leg kicks as Chester finally throws back, firing off a weak combination that glances off of Collum's face. Collum working the inside leg kicks and he just misses a SPINNING BACK KICK TO THE FACE! Holy shit, that was awesome. Collum does the crane to much applause, and then hits him with ANOTHER spinning back kick to the face that LANDS. This is fantastic.
Collum lands another one-two-three combination and rushes in after Chester to try to finish but actually gets caught with a punch and knocked down. Chester standing above Collum, who is on his back and kicking at Chester's legs until he gets back up. Collum grabs the Thai clinch and lands some hard knees before putting together some more hard combinations. Collum in for a bodylock against the cage and he scores a leg trip takedown into side control. Left elbows and a hard right hand land for Collum from the side and that's it for the first round.
Holy hell, that was a beating. Collum looked like he was sparring in there, landing strikes at will, slipping every punch except one, and even playing to the crowd while he was doing it. I'd even go so far as to say that despite Collum not having a definitive knockdown or coming close to a stoppage, that could easily be 10-8 just for the sheer domination. Chester better hope round two gets better.
Round Two
The bell rings for round two and Collum comes out with a body kick and another solid combination. He scores some knees to the body and Chester is just eating shots. Collum comes in for the takedown but Chester grabs the fence and ends up on top of Collum but Collum pops right out of it, stands up against the fence and slams Chester down in response. Collum takes Chester's back and is close to finishing with the rear naked choke. I'ts on the chin right now, so Chester is safe, but sure enough, Collum manages to slip it in under the chin across the throat and he draws the tap.
Winner: Abel Collum, submission (rear naked choke) at 1:31 of Round Two
Well, things didn't get any better for Chester in the second. That was seriously about as close to a squash match as you could come to in MMA. Collum dominated every aspect of this fight, and I'd have to wonder why he's not listed anywhere as having fought professionally because he looks like a guy that could come into the WEC and maybe make some waves. I'd love to see him against Cub Swanson or someone that would present a real challenge to him and his skills.
Match Two: Catchweight
Dewayne Haynes vs. Ryan Gillman
Haynes is making his fight debut and is from Oklahoma so he has a bit of a hometown contingent. He trains with Bas Rutten and the announcers talk about Rutten training guys and that they expect big things from him, just based on the name of Bas being attached to him. They also bring up that once bigger name fighters retire, they can leave a legacy by training guys and that you can still see some of the style of the original fighter in their students. Gillman makes his way to the cage now, also making his fight debut, and ALSO from Oklahoma and he's actually weighing in at about 15 pounds less than Haynes. They bill this as a light-heavyweight fight and I suppose technically it is but, really with a 15 pound weight difference it's a catchweight fight. Gillman sporting the Elvis sideburns and a Tapout rear naked choke logo tattoo on his right bicep in a very classy touch. Nothing like having something to regret when you're seventy Ryan.
Round One
Cecil Peoples gets us underway and Haynes ducks under a combination and goes right for the takedown into a side control situation. He takes mount immediately and he's just RAINING the punishment in on him with a ton of right hands and lefts and he survives but he looked absolutely PANICKED on the ground. Gillman tries to grab the head of Haynes but is holding onto it in a poor position, in side control and Haynes just shrugs it off and ends up in half-guard landing more punishing punches. Gillman gets it back to full guard and he's just hanging on for dear life at this point, throwing up a high guard hoping to catch a miracle armbar or something but that ain't happening. Gillman picks up Haynes and slams him with a short powerbomb to break the full guard before landing another couple of right hands. Gillman turns to his side and Haynes might be taking the back here soon. Haynes gets the full mount again and then falls back for an armbar and while it doesn't look very good stylistically, it's a decent armbar that still draws the tapout from Gillman.
Winner: Dewayne Haynes, submission, (armbar) at 2:05 of Round One
Haynes looked good, but it's all in context as Gillman was WAY overmatched in this one. He looked absolutely lost on the ground and against someone training under Bas Rutten, that's trouble. Haynes ate him alive on the mat and then slapped on the sloppy submission for the win. You could tell technique-wise that it was Haynes' first fight, but the potential is there.
Match Three: Lightweights
Jared Weise vs. Mike Bennett
Another Oklahoma boy in Weise making his way to the cage in his gi with what looks to be a camoflauge belt. I have no idea what that is in jiu-jitsu but I'm guessing it's probably at least fairly good. Or he just dyed his white belt so he would look a little more intimidating in the cage. Bennett is announced as having a 5-2 record and has a nickname of "The Caveman" and he kind of looks the part. The announcers must not know a lot about Bennet as they start talking about the differences between a karate black belt and a jiu-jitsu black belt, almost making fun of karate.
Round One
They touch gloves to start and Weise tries a leg kick that misses and another that lands. Bennett catches that leg kick and lifts Weise up for a BIG takedown. Bennett is into side control and pressing a forearm across the neck of Weise as Weise looks like he's got it back into half-guard. Bennett goes into the full mount and presses Weise against the cage, crossfacing him before posturing up to land some forearm strikes and hammer firsts. Weise holds on for a moment and Cecil Peoples.... stands them up? Huh, that was a pretty quick stand-up for my tastes but I guess Sensei Cecil thought that four second stalemate was enough of a lull. Weise with a good leg kick and a head kick that misses as Bennett drops down for a great double-leg and gets another takedown against the fence into side control. Weise tries to walk up the fence to turn himself away from it and eats an elbow and a knee to the body as Weise tries to hold onto him again. Bennett postures up to land some hard strikes as the round comes to a close.
I don't know if there was some clipping or if they're only fighting three minute rounds in this one, but either way that round was all Bennett. Takedowns, striking, any way you want to slice it, Bennett had the advantage. Weise looked a little lost but let's hope he can pull it together and shake thos jitters out for round two.
Round Two
They touch again to start round two and Bennett drops almost immediately into another BIG takedown into side control. Weise gets it back to half guard but takes some hard shots to the body and head for his troubles. Bennett gives him another hard pair of shots and then pushes Weise back into the cage. They compare Bennett's style to Tito Ortiz as he stays in half-guard and just pounds away. Bennett moves into the mount and starts to land some HARD elbow strikes and forerams with both hands and Cecil Peoples steps in and stops the fight. We think. Wait, yes he has. They thought he might have been standing it up but that would have been a quick stand-up, even by Cecil's standards. Weise is bloodied up in the nose and it's a good stoppage as he was just eating elbows and doing nothing to stop it.
Winner: Mikey Bennett, TKO at 1:42 of Round Two
Another example of a guy that has a ton of experience and skills against someone who just looked like they were in over their head. Bennett took Weise down at will and grounded and pounded him until he was able to get the dominant position to stop the fight. A good win for Bennett but as I keep saying, it's whether they can do this against decent competition and not the ham-and-eggers that will tell if guys like Bennett will last in the sport.
Match Four: Heavyweights
Moises Castillo vs. Jason Lee
They bill Castillo as having a 5-1 record and he's an independent fighter out of New Mexico. Castillo is in the UnderArmour rash guard and looks like he's angry and ready to fight. The announcers talk up the main fights on the card as Castillo comes down to the ring as I think they don't know a lot of what to say about Castillo. Lee is a local boy from Tulsa, Oklahoma, making his fight debut here. He's going to be outweighed by like forty pounds here as he comes in at 219, to Castillo's 263. Lee gets some pride-obliterating bitchslaps from his cornerman before making his way into the cage. Lee looks even angrier than Castillo if that's possible. The announcers pimp the crowd in Tulsa and talk about how King Of The Cage has broken ground in a lot of states to allow some of the larger organizations to follow up afterwards, but that without KOTC there wouldn't be events in some of these new states.
Round One
They touch em up and Castillo catches a BIG right hook over the top which prompts Lee to shoot in for a takedown. Castillo sprawls out of it really well and lands another right hook before sprawling again. He has ahold of Lee's head and lands some hard knees to the body before just pushing Lee back, stuffing the takedown over and over. Castillo with a jab to the chest as Lee misses with an overhand right. Castillo pressing Lee up against the fence and landing and uppercut before pressing Lee off and out of the clinch, avoiding another takedown. Castillo clips Lee coming in on another takedown attempt with an overhand right and he hits another uppercut and right hook that put Lee down on his ass.
Castillo into side control and he lands a couple of hammerfists before he lets Lee get back to his feet. Lee wobbles across the cage like Jeff Conway on a three day bender and he slumps against the fence as Castillo follows him in and ends up on the mat on his back. What the HELL is he thinking? Get back and let him wobble his ass into another right hand but get off the MAT!! Castillo under Lee and trying to regain half-guard, eating some shots from the top as I still curse his stupidity. Lee with a couple of hammerfists and forearm strikes as he presses Castillo against the fence and this is almost unbelievable. Castillo tries for a sweep from underneath but Lee is just hammering away with the forearm strikes. The bell rings to end the round and I still think Castillo is retarded.
A round that Castillo won, in my eyes, but that Lee could have easily stolen in the last minute by being on top and pounding away. I swear that could have been the dumbest strategy I have ever seen from a fighter when Castillo took things to the mat the way he did. Let's hope he doesn't repeat that foolishness.
Round Two
Round two is underway and they touch em up and Castillo gets pushed back against the cage by Lee who rushes in with a combination. Castillo defends it well and lands another uppercut as Lee keeps pressing him against the cage, not doing much of anything though until he finally grabs a double-leg and scores a takedown on Castillo. Lee in side control and starting to rain in some forearms and elbows, and he starts hammerfisting Castillo from the mount and Castillo just turns to his side and taps out.
Winner: Jason Lee, TKO at 1:01 of Round Two
Lee is pretty much in tears and screaming like a lunatic after the win. The announcers talk about how Castillo probably shouldn't have tapped out and should have let the referee handle whether there was going to be a stoppage or not. Lee looked good but I really think that Castillo gassed himself out and gave away that fight. Lee has a lot of things to work on if he expects to improve and not get slaughtered the next time he fights, that much is certain.
Match Five: Welterweights
Gabe Morantes (3-1) vs. Joe Geromiller (8-7-1)
Fighting out of Albequerque, NM, here comes Gabe Morantes, posing for the cameras as he makes his way down to the cage. The announcing goes quiet for about thirty seconds or so which makes me wonder about whether they know anything about him. Instead, they end up talking about the possible homosexual overtones of the color commentator having another man's muscled body tattooed on his own. Geromiller comes down to the cage now and looks like he's ready to go, bouncing around and seeming like he's a caged animal. Again, Geromiller goes with the rash guard as the color guy points out his cauliflower ears which means he's spent a lot of time on the mat.
Round One
Morantes tries for a leg kick but Geromiller immediately avoids it and shoots in for a deep double-leg, securing the takedown and pressing Morantes against the fence. Geromiller working some hard punches to the body from the full guard as Morantes tries to work some body control. Geromiller trying to get some seperation to land some strikes and he's still working those HARD punches to the body before moving up to land a couple to the head. Morantes has a hold of the head and despite Geromiller still working and landing strikes Cecil Peoples stands them back up. Geromiller with a big combination that lands and he throws a knee up the middle that lands as well, peppering Morantes with some punches and forcing him into a shoot which is to Geromiller's advantage.
He sprawls out of the shot attempt from Morantes and lands a couple of shots as Morantes holds onto the single-leg and presses Geromiller against the cage. Morantes manages to score the takedown into half-guard and Geromiller is already grabbing for a kimura but lets it go in favor of some strikes. Morantes drops back for an anklelock and they're trading leg locks but neither have anything deep yet. Geromiller sits up out of the leg lock, lands a couple of hammerfists and takes Morantes' back. He slips a forearm in under the chin of Morantes and sinks in the rear naked choke and that's it, Morantes is tapping out.
Winner: Joe Geromiller, submission (rear naked choke) at 3:09 of Round One
Geromiller looked great in this one, landing the better strikes while standing and then schooling the youngster on the mat when the fight went to the floor. A great transition out of that anklelock into taking Morantes' back and quick work once he had the back to sink in the choke. Not much of a back and forth fight, but still quite entertaining to watch a bit of a chess match on the mat.
Match Six: Welterweights
Shane Jackson (0-1) vs. Johnny Hughes (1-1)
Jackson is a hometown boy, coming to the cage in his gi, with another camoflauge belt. They make a joke about the last guy that had a camoflauge belt and how well he managed to do in his fight. They don't seem to have a lot of background on some of thes local fighters because they're not talking a lot about the guys backgrounds or their training partners or anything like that. Hughes comes to us from Indiana and looks like he's maybe 15 years old from his face. Apparently Hughes is an action fighter that pushes the pace and honestly his corner looks like they're not much older than Hughes or perhaps even younger than him.
Round One
The announcers are on my good side for the rest of the night now because they went ahead and made fun of Cecil Peoples' little leg lift he does at the start of every fight. Hughes comes out with a knee to the body right out of the gate and he ducks down for the shot with a BIG, BIG takedown into side control. Hughes tries to take the mount and gets it as Jackson gets an overhook and stands up out of the takedown. Hughes takes him down immediately with another slam, landing a couple of knees to the body from side control before scoring the mount again. This time Hughes is firing off with big rights and lefts, landing forearms, elbows and punches to Jackson as Jackson is just covering up and trying for body control but he's not doing anything but getting a beating. Hughes looks to be trying for an arm triangle from the top but he's not in the right position for it and lets it go in favor of shots to the body before landing more HARD punches and forearms to the head and Cecil Peoples finally steps in to save him from the punishment.
Winner: Johnny Hughes, TKO at 2:21 of Round One
Well, the camoflauge belt must mean "I take ass-whippings well" because we've seen two of them tonight and both guys wearing them got teh OWNAGE put on them by their opponents. Hughes was a beast, came out ultra-agressive and pounded him out. Impressive performance by Hughes here.
Match Seven: Lightweights
Kenny Giddens (1-1) vs. Chris Bowles (4-1)
For once, they actually have the announced record that matches the record that I have for their record. Again he poses on his way down to the cage before even making his entrance down the ramp. They bring up his record and that he'll be wanting to get off the even record and win to put it up to 2-1. Yeah, I can't imagine why they would think he would want to win the fight. Jackasses. Bowles is on his way out now and he's a Lion's Den fighter from Dallas. Ohhh this is a nice little Texas/Oklahoma rivalry going on as Giddens is an Oklahoma fighter. Tra Telligman is in Bowle's corner for this one and the color guy puts his money on Bowles, strictly from being a Lion's Den fighter.
Round One
They're underway and Bowles sticks the jab in early, and the trade combinations into a clinch, with Bowles landing a hard knee to the body. They mention how calm Bowles looks in comparision to Giddens and I'd have to agree with them there. In the exchanges Bowles' punches look a lot crisper and a lot less panicky. Bowles ducks under a straight right from Giddens and lands a body kick and they just keep jumping into exchanges and bouncing back out with both guys throwing and nothing really landing. Giddens with a crazy shot from WAY outside gets nothing but air and Bowles moves in to work the clinch against the cage. Giddens circles out of it and pushes away. Giddens eats a big right hand and gets buckled as Bowles tries to move in for the kill, throwing combinations and landing most of his punches now.
Bowles lands a pair of overhand rights and a good stiff left jab before eating a punch from Giddens, who finally gets a good one to land. They clinch in the center of the cage with Bowles grabbing the Thai clinch and working a couple of knees to the body before the seperate and circle. Good leg kick from Bowles and he shoots in for a double-leg that Giddens does very well to defend against. Bowles with another knee on the way out of it and they're back to circling. Bowles shoots in again and gets stuffed again and Giddens ends up landing a good overhand right out of the stuff. Bowles with another hard leg kick that lands and an overhand right that glances off of Giddens before he grabs the Thai clinch again with another solid knee.
They trade and exchange again with Bowles trying hard for the takedown again after getting rocked with a jab and Giddens stuffs it again with a HARD knee as well, but he actually ends up getting rolled over into being mounted in a GREAT display of jiu-jitsu by Bowles. That was a lightning-quick transition ladies and gentlemen. Fantastic technique by Bowles there. Bowles starts hammering with lefts and rights and Giddens is sticking his arms straight up and Bowles catches on it and he locks on the flash armbar submission in that it was just SNAP and it's locked on and Giddens has to tap out.
Winner: Chris Bowles, submission (armbar) at 4:04 of Round One
A great display of jiu-jitsu and a great transition into the mount and then into the armbar. The Lion's Den fighter comes out on top, but not without a little adversity as he got clipped a few times. The first fight of the night that looked like a fairly even contest and it was a good one at that. Not a bad showing at all from Giddens and with a little more seasoning he could prove to be even better next time around. Bowles has since been brought in to fight under the HDNet Fights banner by fellow Lion's Den member and HDNet Fights President Guy Mezger, with a 1-1 record in that promotion.
Match Eight: Lightweights
Mark Barrett (0-0) vs. Matt Jaggers (2-1)
Barrett is another Oklahoma boy, in a card full of them. He comes through the curtain and they talk about the early stoppages that have been coming about for the entire night, noting that sometimes it's the matchup and sometimes it's the two guys just getting after it to finish it. They also talk about how just because it's a short fight, doesn't mean that it's a bad fight. Well so far, a lot of them have been short and mismatches so to me that's kind of bad, but to each their own I suppose. Jaggers comes down to the cage and I've actually seen him before as he was working the corner for Johnny Hughes, and there's Hughes working the corner for Jaggers in this one.
Round One
The fight is underway and they touch gloves to start out. Some circling and feinting to start with before Jaggers touches Barrett with a little one-two and they move into a clinch in the center of the cage. Barrett wtih a couple of knees and they hit the mat and Jaggers ends up on top in the guard of Barrett. He steps back and tries the jumping stomp to the body to pass the guard but misses it, and instead ends up letting Barrett back to his feet. Jaggers grabs the Thai clinch, pushing Barrett up against the cage and landing a couple of hard knees to the body. Jaggers shoots in for the takedown and gets it, moving into side control and landing a couple of elbows before getting the mount on Barrett. Barrett tries to buck out from underneath but he can't do it as Jaggers is just landing elbows and forearms and punches in bunches.
Jaggers tries for a head and arm triangle now from the mount and he turns it over into side control in a side choke. Jaggers is landing a couple of knees to the body and he clinches that choke in before trapping Barrett's arm in the crucifix. Jaggers with a TON of right hands to the face of Barrett with that arm trapped and Jaggers is back to the mount. Jaggers raining down elbows as Barrett grabs onto Jaggers head in a modified guillotine, trying anything to stop the punishment. Barrett just kind of holds onto it and Jaggers...taps? Holy shit, he tapped from the top in mount with a guillotine on. I have NEVER seen that before in that type of position, with that kind of dominance. WOW.
Winner: Mark Barrett, submission (guillotine choke) at 3:24 of Round One
Of all the ways I saw that fight ending, that certainly wasn't one of them. Jaggers has to be crushed after that performance, dominating for three minutes of the round, only to end up tapping to a guillotine that in no way could have had enough pressure to finish him. A big win for Barrett but honestly there was no way he should have won that fight. Cecil Peoples could have stopped it a couple of times and Barrett kind of lucked into the win.
Match Nine: Middleweight
Jimmy Johnson (3-0) vs. Red Anquoe (0-4)
Here comes Jimmy Johnson and the announcers of course make all of the NASCAR driver, football coach jokes based on his name. He comes down in the same gi and the same camoflauge belt that the other members of his fight team were wearing when they got the shit kicked out of them. He's fighting against another fighter that trains out of the same Bas Rutten team that produced Dewayne Haynes from earlier on this fight card. They talk about how hard it is to pronounce Anquoe's name and I don't think they heard about him being a Bas Rutten fighter because they aren't talking about him at all, instead making jokes about The Million Dollar Man and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Way to stay on point, guys.
Round One
They touch and Johnson lands a stiff jab and a hard leg kick before Anquoe shoots in for a takedown against the cage. Johnson has a standing guillotine and is trying to crank on it but there's nothing there as Anquoe tries for the takedown again and finally gets it. Anquoe pops his head out from the guillotine but ends up in the full guard and not able to land much of anything. Some short elbows from Anquoe and he works some shots to the body as well before Cecil People's stands them up after a few seconds of body control. Anquoe with a front kick that misses and Johnson misses with a glancing overhand right before landing a VICIOUS Thai knee that stuns Anquoe. Johnson takes his back off of that knee and is trying for the rear naked but Anquoe rolls out of it.
Anquoe unfortunately rolls directly into mount and is eating a ton of punches and elbows until he reverses it, ending up on top but almost getting caught in an armbar. Anquoe pulls his arm out and gets past the armbar and the guard into side control, throwing some short elbows to the thighs and body of Johnson from the top. Johnson reverses out of that and sweeps Anquoe over into side control of his own. He lands some short elbows of his own and Anquoe is working some good body control until Johnson tries for a keylock. Johnson turns that keylock into mount and starts just pounding away at Anquoe and there's nothing that Anquoe can do about it, lefts and rights, lefts and rights, pushing Anquoe against the fence and Cecil Peoples mercifully steps in to call the fight.
Winner: Jimmy Johnson, submission (strikes) at 4:24 of Round One
Well, Johnson finally breaks that whole curse of the guys with the camoflauge belts, but it really looked like it was his fight to win. Anquoe seemed kind of overwhelmed and while he didn't look as helpless on the mat as some of the other fighters on this card have, he still looked a little overmatched by the skills of Johnson. Anquoe is still sadly looking for his first MMA win, losing another fight since this one to drop to 0-6 lifetime. Ouch. Just ouch.
Match Ten: Lightweights
Melvin Scott (2-1) vs. Gabe Rivas (11-9-1)
Again we get the right record for a guy as Scott is announced as 2-1 and I have his record officially as 2-1. Good job, King of the Cage!! They talk about how Scott is a game opponent but it really makes it sound like he's being brought in to lose as they keep talking up Rivas through the entire entrance of Scott. Here comes Rivas now and they're talking about how Rivas has the bald head/ponytail look and they talk about Kickboxer and Street Fighter and how much he looks like characters from both the movie and the video game. They also talk about how nice Rivas is outside of the cage and how well-rounded a fighter he is. Gabe bows and shakes hands with Scott on his way into the cage and we're set to get things underway.
Round One
Rivas with a solid leg kick to start out and Scott bullrushes him up against the fence with a bodylock. Scott trying for some knees to the thighs and he scores the takedown but it gets immediately reversed with Rivas on top in full guard. Rivas postures up and lifts Scott up for a partial slam before peppering him with hammerfists, rights and lefts. He lands a couple of big punches and Scott has had enough of that, using his feet to push Rivas away and get back up. Scott looks wobbled and leans against the cage as Rivas comes forward and starts throwing the heavy bombs in combinations. Scott grabs the Thai clinch and throws a couple of weak knees before Rivas picks him up and slams him to the mat. Rivas in half-guard before Scott gets it back to full guard and Rivas lands a hard, HARD body shot before unloading with rights and lefts that are connecting solidly on the face of Scott. Hammerfists and about ten more right hands come raining in on the face and arms of Scott and Peoples steps in to call the fight before Rivas kills him or something.
Winner: Gabe Rivas, TKO at 1:47 of Round One
That, my friends, was an ass-kicking to the tenth power. Rivas was an animal, leaving Scott in a heap on the canvas after pounding the everloving shit out of him. They could replay the entire fight if they wanted to since it was all an absolute beatdown. Rivas moved on to the IFL after this fight, losing his debut in February of 2007 and not fighting since. Scott hasn't fought anywhere since this fight and I would think that that's a very good idea for him based on the thrashing he took in this fight.
Match Eleven: Welterweights
Donald Sanchez (5-3) vs. Buddy Clinton (7-2-1)
Tyson Johson thanks everyone for coming down to the event and thanks the host casino and all of the sponsors before introducing the participants for tonight's main event. Sanchez comes to this fight from Albequerque and is fairly tall for a welterweight at 5' 11". They talk about Buddy Clinton and how he's the guy that's going to be at or near the top and if Sanchez wants to prove himself as being near the top of the 170 pound division in King Of The Cage he's going to have to beat Clinton. Clinton is introduced as the #4 ranked welterweight and #2 ranked lightweight in the world, which I HIGHLY doubt, but hey let's give it to him since he's fighting in what is essentially his hometown. The crowd goes crazy for Clinton and he comes out as a suck-up with all of his OU gear on for his ring walk. Clinton trains with Travis Lutter and Royce Gracie so you know where he's going to want this fight to take place. They do the staredown in the cage with Cecil going through the instructions and they shake before the fight. Both guys look INTENSE.
Round One
They touch gloves to start and trade leg kicks with Clinton running right through them, pushing Sanchez against the cage and scoring the takedown. Clinton into half-guard and landing some left hands to the face of Sanchez, who is actually working fairly decent body control from the bottom. Clinton drops back into a heel hook and tries to end it early but Sanchez is double tough and actually punches his way into making Clinton let it go. They scramble back to their feet and Clinton again has the double underhooks, pushing Sanchez's back against the fence and takes him down again. Clinton again in half-guard with left hands before trying to pass and he gets it into side control. Clinton works the knee into the belly and looks to be trying to move to a mount position on Sanchez, grinding and landing some forearms into the face before trying for a far side armbar. He transitions that into a kimura attempt and uses that to transition into taking Sanchez's back. Great jiu-jitsu from Clinton and he's got both hooks in on the back quickly, trying to lock in the rear naked. Sanchez defends it well for a moment, forcing Clinton to throw a few more strikes before Clinton flattens him out again and slaps on that rear naked choke, sinking it in deep this time. Sanchez fights it for a bit but finally relents and taps out.
Winner: Buddy Clinton, submission (rear naked choke) at 2:51 of Round One
Clinton is definitely a ground fighter for sure. You could tell that he's a Gracie/Lutter fighter and as soon as that fight got down to the mat, it was just a matter of time. A great showing from Clinton, who seems to have hit a bit of a roadblock in his career as of late with two straight King Of The Cage losses to Clay French, but the talent and the potential is there for him to do big things later on in his career.
We get the customary shot of all the ring girls shaking their um...ring cards..before the credits roll and that's it for King Of The Cage - Cyclone
That does it for another edition of The Sprawl and Brawl. I thank you all for joining me and I'll remind you to join me again in seven short days for another review where, knock on wood, we'll be looking at the IFC: Rock and Rumble show from 2005. If not, I've got another couple of things on the back burner that I'm sure you all will enjoy as suitable replacements. For now though, in the meantime and in between time, I'll see you all here next time for an all-new, all-rumble, Sprawl and Brawl Video Review!!
The 411: Well there were a lot of finishes, but a lot of one-sided fights as well. I don't mind having finishes but a lot of these looked like mismatches and those are never really a lot of fun to watch. A couple of good fights sprinkled throughout and the excitement that comes from seeing fights finished but nothing that was mind-blowing. A good night of fights and worth a look if you have an hour and a half free though.
