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 Unbelievable, simply outstanding card full of great fights and even better finishes. 90% finish rate is outstanding with only one fight going the distance. The big news of the night is the champ retained his title after two rounds of epic battle.
Frank Mir DEF Andrew Koefti via Submission (Kimura)
Takedown, grab an arm, lock in Kimura, tap out.. that's about it.. The crowd loved the quick finish to kick off the night. This fight wasn't keen in the rankings, but a win is a win and we all know that these guys needed a win. Mir managed to pull it off in quick, dominant fashion.
Chris Bibi DEF Shapy Shifty via Submission (Armbar)
Shifty started out looking good taking this fight into the clinch and landing a solid knee, but Bibi continued to counter and kept biding his time. Once Shifty took it to the ground Bibi wasted no time defending the GnP and locked up an arm in an armbar forcing Shifty to tap. Bibi climbs to a respectable 5-3 record with the win while Shifty drops to a 1-3 record and goes back to the drawing board.
Dave DeMartin DEF Big Joe via Decision (Unanimous)
This fight went the distance and drew a few boos along the way. Neither fighter seemed to be overly aggressive with the exception of DeMartin going elbow crazy in the clinch. I imagine Joe's face looked like he got swarmed by bees by the end of this one with 23 of 53 elbows connecting. Joe never really had a chance in this one. His sole strategy was to get the fight to the ground and only managed to succeed in 1 of 25 takedown attempts. That probably took more energy than throwing 53 elbows.
Nuufo Seanoa DEF Nog Onbekend C via Submission (Armbar) SotN
Now I fully expected Seanoa to win this fight, but there was nothing to tell me he was going to take it to the ground and obliterate his opponent with a nasty armbar. Obliviously, Onbekend was not expecting this either as at just over 2 minutes into the fight, Onbekend was tapping out like flee ridden dog scratching his ears. This unexpected submission earned Sub of the Night honors.
Buster Glover DEF Vitor Almeida via TKO (Strikes)
Ok, so I would be lying if I said I wasn't pulling for Glover in this fight. But truth be told, I did not expect him to win. Almeida was the better fighter by skills alone as well as fight history, but Glover shocked the world with a most unexpected victory. After getting dominated the first two rounds of the fight, Glover showed he had miles and miles of heart as he just kept plugging away. Almeida had been demonstrating up to this point why he has been so dominant to this point in his career, having never let a fight leave the first round. But in this one, not only did it leave the first round, for the first time in either fighter's career, the fight went into the 3rd and final round. But when Glover had his chance and sent Almeida to the ground with a nasty counter, his killer instincts kicked in and he finished off Almeida.
Arthur Douglas DEF Leonid Zakharov via KO (Punch) KotN
The Russian steroid versus the half burnt hound! This fight I fully expected fireworks from the start and they did not disappoint. I guess that's not hard to do when it's over in just under two minutes though. Douglas was more focused on working punches while Zakharov chose to mix things up. Normally, that would be an effective strategy but when the hound punches you in the grill a few times, you tend to suffer the consequences. As Zakharov found out when he walked into a well timed hook that put him out. I wonder how many sheep he counted before the ref woke him up? This brutal KO earned KO of the Night honors.
Lewis Clarke DEF Chris Tamburello via TKO (Strikes) FotN
Talk about a beatdown? Lewis Clarke took flight in this one and dropped bombs on Tamburello all fight long. Absolutely dominating the fight from start to finish, nearly ending the fight at the end of the first round. Tamburellow was saved by the bell, so to speak. But as it turned out, that probably would have been the more gentle outcome to have been finished there rather than have to face another round and a half of a beat down. At the end of the fight, Tamburello got clipped by a big right (imagine if it had landed flush!) that sent him spiraling down to the ground, allowing Clarke to take his back and drop bombs until the ref had to jump in and save Tamburello from any more torture.
John Brown DEF Connor McAtee via Submission (Armbar)
Gotta love a fight when the first action in the fight is a takedown. Unfortunately, that's about the best of the action from the fight. The rest of the fight was a submission spam of endless submission attempts, but eventually, Brown was able to lock up an arm and force McAtee to tap out.
Booger Magee DEF Nikita Yashin via KO (Punches)
Well, I guess Booger didn't like us making fun of his nick name, eh? He came out with a ruthlessness that he's never shown before and put an end to Yashin in a mere 15 seconds. 15 seconds and Yashin looked like he had gotten run over by a bulldozer, broken and bloody. I don't think he ever even heard the bell ring to start the fight, it was just a blur of pain.
Murska Mfer DEF Ahjo Kuomanen via TKO (Strikes)
The most anticipated moment of the night and this fight had to live up to the great finishes of the earlier fights, but it managed to do so. When a title is on the line, you know there's going to be a great fight at hand. When both fighters are riding win streaks full of finishes, you know it's going to be a war. And that's exactly what we had here. The first round was back and forth action non stop where Mfer took the points. The second round is where the fight really got exciting, at least if you like dirty boxing. Mfer initiated a clinch and went to work on Kuomanen, but it was a quick uppercut that swung this fight into the final stage, rocking Kuomanen. It was like a finish out of a Rocky movie, Mfer pushed Kuomanen against the cage and worked over some dirty boxing, pushed him off with a quick hook putting Kuomanen down to the ground. He quickly tried to stand back up but couldn't, stumbling and falling back to his knees where the champ did the champ thing and jumped in to finish the fight and ensure victory. The ref saw it coming and jumped in to save Kuomanen for another day.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 2:18 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO... And still, undisputed Super Heavyweight champion of the world, Murska Mfer!!!
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