It has been an incredible weekend of combat sports action, as we had both the ADCC in China and UFC 166 in Houston Texas.
First up we will take a look at the ADCC and all the action therein.
It was a weekend of superb fights in China, as the worlds best grapplers got together for the bi-annual ADCC. The -66kg Division saw two of the worlds pound for pound best, Rafa Mendes and Reubens “Cobrinha” Charles (pictured above with yours truly at this years European Championships) start at opposite ends of their brackets and run through their respective opponents to meet in a hotly anticipated and viciously contested final. Rafa had to beat the always dangerous Joao Miyao on his way to the final, so that tells you the calibre of opponents that compete in this division. Someone once told me that in Jiu Jitsu, 10 seconds is a lifetime, well if 10 seconds is a lifetime for an average competitor, what is 47 minutes between two of the world’s best? That is how long it took “Cobrinha” to overcome the challenge of Rafa Mendes, the man who had already beaten him to two consecutive ADCC world titles. It took Reubens 6 years and 3 attempts to finally get his hands on the coveted ADCC title, but I’m sure it was all the sweeter for the wait.
In the open weight division Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu and Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida (pictured above) started at exact opposite ends of their brackets and were on a collision course from the get go. Marcus had to first get through a very game Gary Tonon before facing Rustam Chisiev in the quarters and the super dangerous Leglock Machine, Dean Lister in the semi’s. On the other end, “Cyborg” had to get through the always tough Pole, Kamil Uminski, he also had to face Gary Tonon as the original opponent, Jared Dopp was injured in the first round. Roberto then had to face new team ATOS Black Belt, Keenan Cornelius in the semis before finally meeting Marcus Almeida in the final. It was always sure to be a crazy fight, but no one expected “Cyborg” to come out on top. Marcus was the hot favourite coming into this final and many people expected him to not only beat, but humiliate Roberto. “Cyborg” wasn’t having any of that nonsense though, seemingly achieving the impossible and eventually beating “Buchecha” by 10 points to 0 after losing to him earlier in the day in the +99kg division. As a massive “Cyborg” fan myself i was very pleased to see Roberto win the absolute (open weight) world title.
On to MMA news now as we take a trip to the Toyota center in Houston Texas and the incredible UFC 166 card.
The beauty of MIxed Martial Arts competition is that you rarely ever get what you expect, the fights which seem the best and have the most hype behind them almost never live up to expectations. Veteran viewers of UFC events have come to expect maybe 2 out of 5 fights on the main card to be any good. If that’s what you were expecting last Saturday night, you were in for a rude awakening, as EVERY fight on the card was an absolute Slugfest.
First up in the Flyweight division we had John Dodson (pictured) (15-6) against Darrell Montague (13-3). This was Montague’s 16th Professional bout and his UFC debut, it was perhaps a little unfair to put him in against a man with such UFC experience as Dodson, a man who is fresh off a narrow loss challenging for the Flyweight belt. Dodson was all over Montague from the get go, hardly giving him any room to breath and punishing the brave rookie with strikes, rocking him once with punches and failing to finish. Montague was not as lucky when Dodson caught him the second time with a vicious right hand knocking the newcomer out. Dodson received knockout of the night honours for his performance.
Next up in the Heavyweight division, Gabriel Gonzaga (above) made short work of Shawn Jordan (15-5). Jordan was early on the attack and was pressing the action against the talented Brazilian, a move which proved to be extremely unwise as Gonzaga showed Jordan how dangerous he is from any position. Gonzaga, back-pedalling towards the cage , caught Jordan with a sweet knockout punch at 1:33 of the very first round. This is the second time in a row Gonzaga has ended a fight in this fashion, and he will now look to start challenging the top 5 in the division.
Also on this card we had a Lightweight Bout between the always entertaining Diego “the dream” Sanchez (24-6) and former Strikeforce and WEC champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (above). This is the kind of fight fans crave, it’s the reason many of us watch MMA, to see two warriors slugging it out in pursuit of a K.O. This was a bout for the ages, there is no point in trying to dissect the rounds, it was just too crazy. Do yourself a favour and watch this fight, you deserve it, Melendez ended up winning by Unanimous Decision, a decision which clearly irked Sanchez, as he immediately called for a 5 round rematch. God if you’re up there, please let this happen!
On to the main event now between Cain Velasquez (13-1) (above) and Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos (16-3). If somebody had told JDS that this fight would go down almost exactly the same way as his last outing against Velasquez did, he would have probably laughed in their face. Alas, for Junior, that is exactly the way it went down, with Cain utilizing his stellar wrestling skills to keep the Brazilian against the cage, battering him with Elbows and short range punches for almost 5 rounds. Near the middle of round number 5 junior could take no more of the onslaught and shot for a Takedown from which he would never recover. The Referee jumped in to bring an end to this gruelling one sided affair, and declare the winner by TKO and still the Heavyweight Champion, Cain Velasquez. It’s not looking like anybody is going to be able to stop Cain any time soon, but you just never know in the MMA game.
Until next week,
Pierce.
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