JAM-PACKED WEEK OF MMA IN CHICAGO

The Chicagoland area will get treated to plenty of MMA this week. Here’s a rundown of the events.

Bellator 25, Thursday, Chicago Theatre

Bellator returns to Chicago for Bellator 25. The exciting Zoila Frausto (7-1) will battle the undefeated, #6-ranked flyweight Jessica Pene (7-0). Damian “The Polish Pitbull” Grabowski (12-0) will take on Scott Barrett in a battle of heavyweights. Bellator Season 2 Welterweight Tournament runner-up and local favorite Dan Hornbuckle will face off against UFC veteran “Bad” Brad Blackburn. Undefeated Division I NCAA Wrestling Champion Cole Konrad takes on submission specialist Rogent Lloret in another heavyweight tourney showdown. “Mr. International” Shonie Carter will take on Torrance Taylor, a one time Strikeforce fighter. Brian Gassaway will battle Kevin Knabjian in a match of two local fighters. Mark Miller was supposed to fight on the card, but he has been forced to withdraw due to injury. Keoki Cypriano will face Eric Kriegermeier in the promotion’s third show in the Windy City. Visit Bellator.com for ticket info.

G2 Fight Night Live, Saturday, Tinley Park Convention Center

The Gilbert Grappling produced event is back with another card full of promising amateur fights. Here’s a great fight video from the last G2 featuring Jon Reed vs. Kenny Jordan.

For more information contact 630.479.6304 or send an e-mail to g2fightnight@live.com.

American Predator FC, Saturday, Lithuanian World Center

The second event produced by APFC will once again be held in Lemont. You can buy tickets and check out the full fight card at the American Predator FC website.

XFO 36: OUTDOOR WAR 6 RESULTS

by Tim Priester

Outdoor War 6 lived up to its billing and XFO started this great event by featuring some good amateur fighters displaying grit, talent and heart. Are these the next up and comers of MMA? The future of MMA? Whatever it will be, it will be pretty good if these fighters are any indication of the future of MMA. Some of the amateurs won with some impressive submissions. This was some great action that got the fans excited about what was to come from the pro card.

The fans didn’t just show up for the party-like atmosphere, cold beers, delicious food and some good amateur fighters. They were here screaming for the pros and you could tell the fans were hungry with anticipation. The hot sun finally set on the day’s action meaning the pros were treated to a cool night — but some hot action in the ring — and I’m not talking from those sexy little ring girls. The first pro fight was the Parker/Ambang fight. A good fight to open with and the quick decision didn’t even wet the whistles of the fans. Parker’s rear naked choke in the first after some nice strikes put a quick end to the fight.

The Winters/Santiago fight also finished with a submission but lasted until the 2^nd round. The first round was filled with a series of jabs and strikes exchanged between fighters but a little after the start of the 2^nd round winter’s managed to slip a guillotine in and it was over.

Working with, and being lead to the ring by Jeff Curran, Michelle Gutierrez displayed why she is one of the top female fighters in XFO, but what was surprising was how she won. Even though Gutierrez had been working with Curran on her ground game, this fight turned into a three round slug fest with Cassie Rodish and there was no action on the ground to speak of. Even so, Gutierrez had little problem convincing the judges and won by unanimous decision.

What turned out to be one of the best fights of the night was the 180 pound fight between Nowaczyk and Morrow. It was a rematch for these two fighters it was a technical brawl. Both fighters battled through a series of hard punches and knees and both tried multiple submission attempts. However, Nowaczyk did manage to put on a tough arm bar (his fifth attempt) in the second that Morrow was unable to get out of. This was a darn good fight!

After one of the better fights of the night, came one of the more questionable fights of the night. The Sturdy/Brooks fight featured a couple of 205-pounders that looked poised to knock each other out. And they didn’t disappoint as the punches came in bunches. But at about the 2 minute mark of the first round Brooks lost some balance (after some tough Sturdy strikes) and was against the cage getting punched and kneed from Sturdy when the ref stopped the fight to the confusion of the fighters and the fans. Some were thinking that Brooks was going to be given a minute for what seemed like a low blow while others where cheering the victor…Sturdy. This reporter had a good view and it did look like a low knee to the groin. This caused Brooks to look defenseless as he tried to gather himself as the punches from Sturdy continued to rain down and so the ref stopped the fight. Needless to say fans and Brooks were upset but in the end the ref had to make the call to protect what he thought was a fighter in trouble.

Part of the co-main event was the return to the ring of Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa, and telling by the reaction of the crowd that was why most of the fans were there. A three year layoff proved to be nothing for Sunshine as he started the match against Bobby Reardanz with a fury punches. Reardanz was able to match the intensity and powerful strikes were exchanged by both men for the entire first round, with the occasional takedown attempt sprinkled in. The second round started much the way the first ended and Sunshine utilized vicious punches that found their mark causing a ref stoppage early in the second much to the delight of many of the already cheering fans.

The last fight of the night was Joe Pearson vs Daniel Straus and was the other main event on the ticket. The first round had Straus taking Pearson down quickly and maintaining control; then, the ref had to stop the match so that Pearson could tape up his toe after it inadvertently got caught and cut on the cage. After the medical stoppage the action resumed with Straus continuously controlling the action and pace with ground and pound. The brutal ground and pound displayed at the end of the first was utilized all through out the second round and the ref was forced to stop the fight after a series of hammer-fists found their mark as Pearson was pinned against the cage.

Complete pro results from OUTDOOR WAR 6 presented by XFO:

145–Joe Pearson vs Daniel Straus: Daniel Straus won via TKO in the 2nd at 4:04 (ref stoppage)

145–Matt Fiordirosa vs Bobby Reardanz: Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa won via TKO in 2nd at :33 (ref stoppage)

205–Ryan Sturdy vs Rashad Brooks: Ryan Sturdy won via TKO in 1^st at 2:10 (ref stoppage)

180–Kevin Nowaczyk vs Robert Morrow: Kevin Nowaczyk won via submission in 2^nd at 4:13 (arm bar)

120–Michele Gutierrez vs Cassie Rodish: Michele Gutierrez won by unanimous decision

155–Mike Santiago vs Donavon Winters: Donavon Winters won via submission in the 2^nd at 1:12 (guillotine)

170–Francios Ambang vs Tony Parker: Tony Parker won via submission in the 1^st at 2:08 (rear naked choke)

Christopher Garcia vs Marcos Marquez: DNF

XFO: THE OUTDOOR WAR IS BACK

XFO 36 is Saturday night, and it’s time for their sixth annual Outdoor War. It’s a fun, all day event with an amateur card during the day and then a pro event at night. And plenty of food and drink in between.

Here is a snapshot of the pro card:

Joe Pearson vs Daniel Straus
Matt Fiordirosa vs Bobby Reardanz
Ryan Sturdy vs Rashad Brooks
Kevin Nowaczyk vs Robert Morrow
Michele Gutierrez vs Cassie Rodish
Mike Santiago vs Donavon Winters
Christopher Garcia vs Marcos Marquez
Francios Ambang vs Tony Parker

The event will be at Sideouts:
4018 Roberts Road
Island Lake, Illinois

Make sure you go check it out. Here is a recap from last year’s XFO Outdoor War.

LOCAL FOX STATION INTERVIEWS CHRIS LYTLE [VIDEO]

Despite the popularity of the UFC and the thriving MMA scene in the region(Chicago and Northwest Indiana) the coverage of the sport has been virtually non-existent in mainstream Chicago media outlets.  One local TV sports anchor is looking to change that fact.  WFLD-TV’s Lou Canellis recently interviewed UFC welterweight Chris Lytle live on set.

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JOE LAUZON PLAYS WITH HIS HEMATOMA

Joe Lauzon is a glutton for punishment. Here he tries to smooth out a pretty disgusting hematoma on his leg. Some NSFW language in the video…

UFC 117 POST-FIGHT PRESSER [VIDEO]

Chael Sonnen was making good on all the pre-fight trash talk against Anderson Silva till the champ pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of all-time in UFC history. Watch Chael and Anderson share their thoughts on the outcome of their title fight at UFC 117.

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CLAY GUIDA TALKS UFC 117

Clay Guida talks UFC 117 and his fight against Rafael Dos Anjos with Heavy.com.

“I’m gonna bring my style which is crazy, ugly, drooling on myself, burpin’, spittin, you name it.” – Clay Guida

NAURACY VS. AGUIRRE – CUT THROAT MMA [VIDEO]

Cut Throat MMA is riding a huge wave of momentum from its last event, “Naperville Fight Night.” Many are talking about the main event between Jake Nauracy (Team No Ego) and Danny Aguirre (Miguel Torres Martial Arts) for the Bantamweight Title. According to the promoter more than one thousand fans came out to watch making it one of the most lively crowds it has had for an event. As for Nauracy/Aguirre it’s getting buzz as one of the best fights in promotion history. This is quite a statement considering some of the fighters who’ve competed in Cut Throat MMA’s events including UFC vets Clay Guida, Shonie Carter and Mike Russow.

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STITCHING STEPHAN UP

Munster, IN native and former Chicago resident Stephan Bonnar snapped a 3-fight losing streak by finishing Krysztof Sosynski at UFC 116. As a parting gift for his efforts, Sosynski left Bonnar some “friendly” reminders their clash and they required stitches. If you’re the type who gets faint when watching medical documentaries on Discovery then it’s probably a good idea to avoid watching this video.
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SIX PACK RATINGS: UFC ON VERSUS 2

by Tim Priester

After watching the “free” UFC fights on Versus last night I thought it to be important that I fill you all in on my rating system for good fights. I use the six pack rating system. If I watch the fights and manage to drink just one beer before I open my mouth and start trash talking how I can beat this guy, then this particular fight was not as good as it could be and gets the ultra low rating of 1. See, the best any UFC fight can get is 6 on my scale, pretty simple, and I hope we are all following along. A six pack rating means that it looked like every fighter was more prepared and dangerous looking than the fighter previously, the fighters put on a good fight even if it was a 10 second knockout or 15 minutes of ground and pound. There are special factors that could single-handedly change my thoughts about a fight night; for instance I gave the last Anderson Silva fight 2 beers because of his two rounds of him trying out for “Dancing with the Stars.” When big name belt holders do that it doesn’t matter how many good fights there were previously in the fan’s mind the only thing remembered was his playing around. There are other special circumstances that could change my rating quickly and you will see as I analyze this fight.

Overall the fights were good, especially for being free. In this tough economy any little bit helps and I love when you can see UFC for free, so that helped their rating. Another thing that helped the overall fight rating was Jon “Bones” Jones not disappointing in his climb to become a champ.

Another boost to the rating was the knockout of Griffin by Gomi, which this writer/fan is not calling foul on the ref stoppage…did you see how wobble Griffin was when he did stand up? Gomi needed this after his last lost and all the hype about him.

A definite ratings helper was that tumor growing off of Howard’s eye. If the doctor doesn’t stop that there was no telling if Ellenberger would have done the same to the other eye or left Howard with permanent damage.

Now let’s look at those details that caused a drop in my rating of this event. First and foremost, a real lack of some home town cooking. Call me a homer for Chicago but I love this place, deep-dish, Vienna hot dogs…I love it so much I don’t hate Oprah! But I didn’t see too many fighters from the Chicagoland area and that is not right. So in an effort stay tuned to the end of this I will help you get your Chicago’s MMA fix.

Another ratings drop was the lack of a big name fight…I get that it was for free but if you want to dig into that NFL, MLB on NBA revenue dollar you need to put forth the big names, and this is not a knock against the fighter who fought but come on! The other nagging thing from the fight was the split decision, the fighting equivalent of kissing your cousin. You got a kiss…but! I hating seeing it left in the judges’ hands. And the last comment that really hurt the score was Jones’ “Stay classy San Diego!” Loved the Anchorman with Ferrell just felt like Jones thought of that on Friday and was so proud of himself.

So, my overall rating was three beers. Could have had some big names show up, especially from the city of the Chi. No cheesy one liners from fighters please. But the real reason it gets three beers was because of price tag.

Now like I promised if you want some local talent being displayed throughout August, we have Clay “The Carpenter” Guida at UFC 117, XFO’s “Outdoor War 6” up in Island lake on the August 14th, and August 18th Bart Palaszewski is fighting for WEC on Versus, tune in and cheer on the Chicago talent!

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