|
 EMMA 16 lived up to the hype and all of the 974 fans in attendance at The Undeground in Montreal got their money’s worth. It was a clinical striking display for the most part with 5 fights ending due to (T)KO. Let’s take a closer look at some of the evenings more important fights.
Rakewon the Chef def. Gerard Drogba
Raekwon the Chef successfully defended his belt against Gerard Drogba in impressive fashion. The Chef is now 5-0 as a professional and slowly but surely becoming one of EMMA’s biggest draws. The Chef was working Drogba over from the starting bell by throwing strikes, jumping into the clinch to wear him down, looking for takedowns and never letting Drogba get comfortable. By changing up the distance regularly The Chef was able to stifle Drogba’s offense. Drogba’s standup proved useless against the chef, not landing a single strike and he was only able to land on occasion in the clinch. Late in the 1st round The Chef broke the clinch after eating a knee and an elbow and counters a right hand from Drogba with a huge right hand. That was the beginning of the end as the Chef finished the fight seconds later with jab, right hook combo that knocked Drogba out cold. The Chef has looked impressive and I for one am excited to see what he can accomplish here in EMMA.
Mos Def def. Stock Pile
This was a back and forth war as we have come to expect from Stock Pile although, once again, he comes up short. The first round was a close one with Pile looking to land bombs on the feet which Mos Def managed to avoid while landing powerful leg kicks of his own. Both fighters where mixing takedown attempts into their strikes in attempts to secure rounds although when it did get to the ground, neither fighter was too aggressive. Mos Def took the round by landing some solid kicks and managing to stuff numerous takedowns from pile. Pile seemed to really want to fight in the ground so in round two Def gave him what he wanted, Def landed a takedown early in the round and controlled pile the entire time. Def was looking for many different submissions but pile, as always, just hangs in there. Pile was obviously starting to gas after going all out in the first round and the second round was a dominant one for Def. The third round was similar to the second except the pile was even more tired. Def had his way with him although Pile did once again prove his durability. Pile again failed to land takedowns and ended up on his back and stayed there most of the fight. At one point Pile did use armbar attempt from Def to his advantage as he managed to get top position but the conditioning difference showed as Def was able to get up in a matter of moments. A very dominant fight for Mos Def in which he proves he is one of the toughest fighters in the 170 pound division.
Siyad Jarrah Def Randall Johnson
EMMA’s 135lbs champ was in action at EMMA 16 and showed off his impressive ground game against a durable opponent. Jarrah was relentless with his takedowns right of the start and was always looking for submissions. Jarrah landed his first takedown early and was effectively scoring points from guard until Johnson landed a sweep out of nowhere into full mount. Jarrah showed a champions composure and technique as he managed to regain guard and force a referee stand up without absorbing much damage. After some success in the ground for Drogba he seemed to want to go back to the ground and managed to land a takedown late in the first but this time it was Jarrah who landed the sweep, passed Drogba’s guard and attacked with a dangerous Kimura. Johnson showed good defense of his own to escape the submission although it did probably lose him the round. In the second round Drogba could no longer defend the takedown at all and did not have much success on the ground although he did manage to land another sweep and defend multiple submissions from a superior grappler. After Drogba manged to sweep Jarrah stayed calm and counted with a lovely sweep of his own into mount. From here he was relentless with his submissions but Randall showed good defense and time ran out. The third round was almost identical to the second, Jarrah landing the takedown and Drogba game on the ground but not quite good enough. Drogba managed to reverse an armbar attempt into top position but Jarrah landed the sweep again. Jarrah was better in the scrambles, landed the takedowns, went for submissions and had the better position for the majority of fight which lead to him winning the decision. It was a good win for Jarrah although I do think fans were expecting him to finish his opponent but these non title fights are risky for champions and Jarrah just took care of business.
The results from the earlier fights are listed below
170 lbs Hendrik Daross Bradly Danielson Decision (Unanimous) 3 05:00
185 lbs Theodor UberReem CJ Davis Submission (Strikes) 1 00:21
185 lbs Method Man Damian Drake TKO (Strikes) 2 04:58
265 lbs Charles Rua Jeffrey Cass KO (Punches) 1 00:56
205 lbs Max Hatred Janne My TKO (Strikes) 1 01:56
205 lbs Alfredo Amarena Buck Nekkid TKO (Strikes) 2 04:57
205 lbs Eugene Oregon Clyde Dixon Decision (Unanimous) 3 05:00
Article views:
162
» Donate to this author |
