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 What an event! Three belts on the line in Sydney in front of three thousand screaming fans. The action flew and the title fights lived up to the hype.
John Bourne def Bubba Gump via TKO for Heavyweight title
This fight played out exactly as people thought. Bourne was able to execute his game plan a bit better however, keeping the fight at striking distance most of the fight, and eventually managing to land a couple of big right crosses to the jaw that ended the night for Gump. It’s worth noting that Gump dominated when he was able to get the fight to the ground. Gump simply wasn’t able to keep the fight on the mat well enough.
Alberto Lopez def Felix St Pierre via KO for
Bantamweight title
The champ was known to be the better striker and he showed it in this fight. Nearly 90% of his points scored came from strikes. It’s interesting to note that St Pierre’s points came almost exactly 50-50 between standing and ground. It’s also something to note that St Pierre ran out of gas very early in this fight, and it showed. He got sloppier and sloppier as the fight progressed until finally Lopez was pretty much landing shots at will.
Alfonso Lopez def Leonard Washington via KO for Light Heavyweight title
The champ said before this fight that it was going to end early. He was right. Lopez fought a beautiful counter strategy, landing shot after shot on Washington’s misses. Add to that the fact that Most of the shots Lopez actually threw on his own landed, and it was pretty much a matter of time before Washington tumbled to the mat.
Hae Ki Park def Kirk Boon via TKO
This fight was short and sweet. Boon came in swinging wildly, tring to land lots of combos. Park noticed after the fifth combo attempt Boon let down his gaurd and cracked Boon with a huge counter that spelled the end of the fight. After that fight Park is surly back in contention for another run at that title.
James Braddock def Buer Eremiel via KO
This was actually a very action packed fight. Braddock was ahead on the score cards going into the third round, but Eremiel had been quite the challenge. Braddock finally put himself clearly ahead at the very end of the second round, rocking Eremiel with a ridge punch. He was unable to finish the fight in time however, and everyone was curious as to how Eremiel would respond in round three. It turns out that he didn’t. Eremiel walked out for the third and caught a roundhouse to the head for his trouble.
Mr Small def Matt Tolbowl via KO
This fight turned into a ground war pretty quickly. Both fighters did pretty well while they were in top position, looking to show off their ground and pound skills. It was Small who managed to land the big power shots though. Tolbowl was unable to get off of his back once he was there, and Small proved able to work effectively enough to flush Tolbowl.
Gray Son def Alberto Lopez via TKO
It’s a shame this fight didn’t last longer. There was something for everyone here. Ground action, submission attempts, good striking, clinch work, you name it. Lopez was probably about to take the round when he stumbled while attempting to throw an overhand right. It left his jaw exposed and Son took advantage, landing the open counter and following it up with a big shot to knock Lopez down. The fight was very shortly over from there.
Mark Sutter def Vadim Leonov via TKO
This fight seemed interesting in preview. Two solid wrestlers with decent striking looking to work their ground and pound. In truth Sutter was definitely the top of the class here. He was the better striker and absolutely dominated on the ground. Let’s hope that
Leonov is alright, as the referee was pretty late in stepping in to stop the fight.
Arthur Pandora def Denis Andreas via unanimous decision
While it’s really hard to pick against a title fight for Fight of the Night, this one took the nod from quite a few people. All three rounds were pretty close, and Andreas took a round on two judges score cards. A fan could not have asked for a better fight to start off the event, and not a whole lot separated the two fighters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a rematch at some point in the future.
Bob Roberts
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