|
Rio Chain Gang held their first event this Saturday and what a night it was. Over 2000 people showed up lining the streets trying to somehow get a ticket. The arena only has 1000 seats and scalpers were seen selling tickets for as much as 5000 dollars.
After a brief delay due to an incident in the parking lot, the fans were treated to a fireworks show followed by an incredible night of fights.
The night started out with a light heavyweight fight between a couple of very talented young fighters, Mike Lambert (1-0) took on Marcos Martinez in his MMA debut. Lambert proved to be too much for Martinez to handle in this one, Lambert feinted with a couple of takedown attempts to throw off his opponent and followed it up with massive right hand that dropped Martinez. After jumping into mount it only took a few shots to convince to ref to stop the fight. A very nice :21 second knockout that earned Lambert KO of the night honors.
The undercard continued with a bantamweight fight with Mark Lang (1-0) matched up with Ferris Bueller Jr. (1-0)
Both of these fighters were undefeated looking for their second win. Bueller took the fight into the clinch immediately, and began beating on his opponent. Neither of these fighters have any special skill at Muay Thai, but Bueller used his clinchwork to totally dominate the first round. Lang put up a good fight but Bueller repeated the same strategy in the remaining rounds and rolled on to an easy decision victory.
Next up was a welterweight fight featuring Yngve Stolt (2-0) going toe to toe against Bman Olot (5-5)
Olot brought more experience to the cage against an undefeated promising fighter looking to make a statement. Olot took the fight into the clinch right away and started working aggressively, but Stolt's striking defense proved to be too much for Olot, and he missed most of his shots in the clinch. Stolt landed a few good shots, but grew tired of the clinch and moved to striking at a distance. After a quick combo cut Olot, Stolt followed it up with a head kick that rocked Olot and quickly put him out of his misery with a left and Olot was sent home disappointed and hurt.
The undercard finished off with another bantamweight fight that pitted experience against a undefeated up and comer. Kali Parish (8-5) took on Roberto Medina (2-0). This fight didn't last long, after feeling each other out the first thirty seconds, Medina got down to business. After landing a couple of nice shots, in a show of real power he rocked Parish with an open hand slap. He then followed it up with a beautiful three punch combo that dropped Parrish for good in what could have easily been a contender for KO of the night.
The main card began with a bantamweight fight with Li Kong Ho (8-1) taking on the undefeated Eder Silva (4-0). Silva, known for his expertise at boxing but still lacking in ground skills needed to keep this one standing to keep his winning streak alive. The more experienced Ho had other ideas though and quickly took it to the mat. Silva showed his class, putting up a good battle on the ground for a stand up fighter, but it just wasn't enough to handle Ho. Ho dominated the fight on the ground, working in some ground and pound between eight sub attempts. Silva fought off seven of them but it only takes one and he was forced to tap and Ho walked away with submission of the night honors.
That exciting fight was followed with a scheduled five round bantamweight fight for the vacant championship. Stu Priest (5-3) squared off against Riccardo Puller (5-1). Both of these fighters are known for their ground game, Priest for his wrestling and Puller for his Jiu Jitsu. The fighters surprised the crowd by keeping this fight standing and neither trying for a takedown. Puller was totally ineffective against Priest in the standup. Priest connected shot after shot, cutting Puller on his was to a quick KO. An excited Priest carried his new belt over his head screaming and yelling all the way back to his dressing room.
Next up was a middleweight fight between Jakob Filby (6-4) and Junior Ramos (1-0). Again we saw an experienced fighter taking on a dangerous up and comer. Filby took the fight into the clinch right away and started working Ramos over with knees. After getting cut and knowing that to be effective against Filby he needed to get to the ground, Ramos pulled guard hoping to use his Jiu Jitsu advantage. Ramos was unable to reverse the position and work any submissions off his back and Filby stalled enough that the ref stood the fight back up. Filby took it back into the clinch and continued with the knees. After dominating the first round Filby land a nasty head kick that rocked Ramos early in round two. Filby continued the clinch-knee strategy throughout the fight and walked away with an easy decision victory.
The final fight on the main card was a heavyweight fight between Paddy McGuiness (9-10) and Jumbo Mambo (4-0). McGuiness looked distracted and shaken already when coming into the cage, not sure what that was about. This fight was promoted as the stand up battle of the month and it lived up to the hype. Mambo came out swinging and cut McGuiness early in the fight, but McGuiness came right back with a sharp shot of his own that dropped and rocked Mambo. Showing his superior conditioning, Mambo recovered quickly, and turned things around quickly with a massive overhand right that put the lights out for McGuiness.
The first main event was the highly anticipated welterweight fight scheduled for fives rounds for the vacant championship. Chevie Case (10-3) challenged Tupa Dufu (10-4). After feeling each other out for the first minute or so, Dufu went to work on Case dominating the stand up battle. Case did manage to get Dufu to the ground in the first round but Dufu escaped easily and went about working Case over with shot after shot to easily win the first round. Dufu picked up where he left off in the second round looking for a KO. Midway though the second Case landed a couple of takedowns back to back, after two beautiful escapes the third takedown was enough for Case to score a come from behind submission victory, in what turned out to be fight of the night.
The evening finished up with a scheduled five round bout fot the vacant heavyweight championship. Bruce Honeybottom (13-6) squared off against Kalle Kettu (12-5). This was a very exciting fight to watch, a great stand up battle. Honeybottom and Kettu went back and forth but Honeybottom was getting the better of his opponent. Kettu struggled trying to defend against Honeybottoms strikes for the first two rounds with Honeybottom easily outscoring Kettu. Kettu showed he has what it takes to compete at this level in round when he argueably won the third round. Honeybottom came back strong in round four and was counting on crusing to a decision, but Kettu had other plans, knowing he needed a finish he stepped it up and with one big right midway through round five, Honeybottom was beginning to see stars. The night ended with Kettu being crowned heavyweight champion of the world.
Article views:
259
» Donate to this author |
