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The fighters of Gladiator Fighting Championship took to the cage on Saturday night to the delight of a capacity crowd at Hard Knocks Arena and scored the highest rated fight card in the org's brief history. Some of GFC's best and brightest emerged as title contenders and the organization one again proved itself to be a thriving a viable fight org in the Vegas market.
The first fight on the card was a lightweight battle pitting Anthony Kiedis (17-10-2) against Elvin Ruez (16-9). Both fighters spent the early part of the first round jockeying for positing and trying to working in and out of the clinch and attempting to take the other to the ground. With about a minute and a half gone in the round, Kiedis was able to grab the upper hand by landing a nice knee to the head from the clinch followed by a takedown. Kiedis was unable to capitalize and allowed Ruez to slow the action down to the point that the referee stood the fighters up due to lack of activity. Ruez quickly cut loose with some nice punches that stunned Kiedis and left him with a nasty cut. Ruez was able to secure the clinch on Kiedis and rock him with a mighty elbow. Ruez broke the clinch but quickly changed his mind and decided to re-engage and try to finish the fight up close. Kiedis was able to defend against Ruez's punches but soon ate a pair of wicked elbows that put him on queer street. Ruez followed up with some additional punches for good measure to finish of Kiedis by TKO at the 4:53 mark of round one.
The second fight was a middleweight bout between Cris Dorh (15-9) and Maek Houzo (25-22). Houzo took the fight into the clinch almost immediately and after trying to throw a few token punches, he unsuccessfully tried to pull guard. Almost immediately, Houzo took the fight back into the clinch where Dorh made him pay with some nice knees to the body. Houzo tried to pull off a takedown but was once again turned back by Dorh. Realizing that he was having early success in the clinch, Dorh then pulled Houzo into the clinch and absolutely worked him over. Dorh put on a dirty boxing clinic for the next couple of minutes and finally rocked Houzo with an elbow. Another elbow strike followed by a hook, an uppercut and a huge overhand right dropped Houzo to the ground. Dorh wasted no time jumping into mount and pounding Houzo without mercy until the referee called the fight 3:55 into the first round.
Chris Christofi (3-0) kept his record spotless and put on a ground and pound show in a dominant win over Rafael Oliveira (5-4) Oliveira tried to throw a lazy punch to start the fight and Christofi made him pay by promptly depositing him on his back with a double leg takedown. Christofi looked to land some punches on Oliveira, but Oliveira was able to pull off a sweep, only to have Christofi immediately reverse it and end up back in guard. Christofi started to land more and more punches and they started to take their toll on Oliveira. With just over three minutes gone in the fight, Christofi rocked Oliveira with punches and elbows and then landed the fatal blow when he drilled him with a hammer fist that put him out cold. A very impressive showing for Christofi!
The fourth fight on the card paired off middleweights Cru Jones (19-28) and George Junior (18-9). Junior threw a nice right hand to start off the fight that set the tone and cut Jones immediately. Jones missed a couple of takedowns in the early going but was finally able to get Junior to the ground roughly a minute and a half into the round. Jones was able to work some ground and pound and mixed in a few submission attempts, though Junior defended well. Two of the three judges scored the round for Jones while the third judge saw it as a draw. Junior came on strong in round two and clearly took the round with crisp standup work and by keeping the fight off the ground. A good round for Junior won him the favor of all three judges for round two. The third round was a very close one with Junior scoring nicely with punches at times during the round. Jones managed to secure three takedowns in the round, with two of them coming late. Jones made a strong effort to battle back, but it was too little too late and Junior won the round 10-9, giving him the unanimous decision win.
The fifth fight saw Pvt. Palmer (11-5) turn in a dominant performance against fellow lightweight Bada Bada (19-18). Bada repeatedly looked to take Palmer to the ground and each time he was turned away and punished with a dizzying array of punches and kicks. As the three minute mark approached, Bada was rocked by a nice combination and then was knocked out on his feet by a huge right hook from Palmer. Palmer thrust his hand into the air in victory and Bada crashed to the canvas at the 3:05 mark of round one.
Sergei Korbobkov (6-4-1) looked extremely impressive in the sixth fight, handing Kaha Anoki (4-1) his first career loss. Korbobkov came out aggressively throwing leather early in the round and punished Anoki with punches to the head and body. Korbobkov rocked Anoki and knocked him down with a deadly combination very early on. He got into Anoki's guard but did very little, forcing the referee to stand them up. Korbobkov promptly drilled Anoki with another combination, once again sending him to the ground. Korbokov jumped in and worked a little bit of ground and pound before having to fend of a submission attempt. Deciding not to tempt fate, Korbokov stood up to get the fight back to a striking battle and almost instantly dropped Anoki once again with a big left hand. He then mounted Anoki and proceeded to knock him out cold with some heavy shots of ground and pound. After scoring the impressive first round KO victory, Korbobkov was shocked to learn in the locker room that his management team has decided to part ways with him.
Sam Anderson (22-11) came out and looked very impressive in a unanimous decision win over GFC newcomer Xavier Bastarrachea (20-11) in the seventh fight. Anderson looked like a boxer in the first round, using far more punches than expected. His punches were crisp and effective and clearly caught Bastarrachea off guard. The second round saw Anderson continue his solid striking but also instituted some very strong clinch work where he worked Bastarrachea over with punches and knees. Anderson secured the clinch early in round three and was able to continue working over an already battered and exhausted Bastarrachea for nearly the entire round. Anderson was never in any danger and truly put his talent on display in this light heavyweight bout.
The eight fight saw middleweights Machidan Lyoton (29-19) and Doc Holliday (11-6) lock horns. Machidan was able to score an early takedown but Holliday quickly stalled the action to force a referee standup. Holliday then went to work peppering Machidan with stinging low kicks mixed with crisp jabs. Machidan was unable to get Holliday back to the ground in round one and lost the round quite convincingly. Holliday continued to display good takedown defense in round two and continued to choose his strikes wisely, even cutting Lyoton with a high kick. Holliday clearly took round two as well and had a convincing lead going into the last round. Holliday started round three once again turning back takedown attempts before surprising Machindan with a takedown of his own. Holliday spent the remainder of the fight working ground and pound and clearly controlling his opponent giving him a 30:27 unanimous decision win.
The co-main event looked more like a K1 match when Luke Skywalker (19-7) met Onni Jokinen (14-7-1) in the cage. In the first round both fighters came out very aggressively throwing a mixture of kicks and punches. Both fighters showed incredibly diverse attacks with Jokinen getting the better of the exchange and winning round one. Round two saw the fighters continue to exchange from a distance early before Skywalker managed a takedown. Jokinen stalled the action and forced a referee stand up and soon thereafter initiated the clinch with Skywalker. Both fighters worked hard in the clinch resulting in a very close round, but Skywalker gained a slight edge with his takedown and won the favor of all three judges in the second round. The last round saw both fighters go all out, furiously throwing kicks and punches to try and end the fight. Momentum continued to swing back and forth and Jokinen did just enough to win the round and take the fight via 29:28 unanimous decision.
Dick Tanner (13-5) made a very impressive GFC debut by knocking of one of the premier fighters in the light heavyweight division in Tony Masters (10-4). Tanner had a very clear strategy coming into the fight and executed it to perfection when he took Masters into the clinch immediately after the fight began. Masters tried valiantly to fight his way out of the clinch with head and body punches and even attempted to take Tanner to the ground on a few occasions. Tanner was relentless and simply abused Masters, cutting him early with a razor sharp elbow and continuing to work over the cut as the fight wore on. Masters' cut grew larger by the second as blood drenched both fighters from head to toe. It looked as if Masters would survive the round when suddenly the fighters broke from the clinch. Just as the round was coming to a close, Tanner drilled Masters with a right hand directly on the gaping wound on his head, prompting the referee to call in the doctor with only one second remaining in the round. To the shock of all those in attendance, the doctor deemed Masters unable to continue and a TKO victory was awarded to Tanner at the 4:59 make of the first round.
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