BodogFight PPV Recap
Preliminary Fight: Velek vs. Smith
The lights dim. The crowd is still thin, but the fist preliminary fight is about to begin. Rob Velek, a jacked up local guy making his pro debut, makes short work of Tim Smith. Velek takes him down, gets side control, takes full mount, then throws down strikes until the ref calls a stop to things. Velek barely looks to have broken a sweat. Smith can barely stand, he looks completely out of it.
Neurosonic Plays a Short Set
And I go over my notes.
Intro
There is a giant-screen video intro, a laser light show, and a tremendously loud fireworks display to start the PPV off in spectacular fashion. Punk rock pixie Bif Naked comes out to introduce the Bodog girls. They’ve definitely got the sizzle down, but I’m pretty sure that everyone watching is here for the steak.
Martin Malhosyan vs. Mike Patt
The first of the “USA vs. Russia” fights matches up two 205 pound wrestlers. They surprisingly stay on their feet for most of the first round. Malhosyan catches Patt with a nice left that knocks him down, but the American stands right back up. There is a lot of circling and clinching, enough that the crowd starts to boo the fighters. Patt responds with a nice high kick and a few knees, but then they go back to clinching. Eventually, the Russian gets a takedown, but Pat’s guard is good enough that Malhosyan can’t do any damage from on top.
The second round also starts slowly, with a lot of circling, a few feints, and a takedown attempt that almost sends the American through the ropes. Eventually, the Russian scores another takedown, but Patt once again is more aggressive on the ground, going for a triangle, a kimura, and even a knee bar before ending up on top as the horn sounds to halt an entertaining round.
The third round, on the other hand, suffers from a frustrating lack of sustained action. Malhosyan gets our hopes up by coming out aggressively, but he quickly goes back to his game plan of circling away from Patt. The American throws some random right low and left high kicks. The Russian tries to connect with a hard left hook and overhand right, but misses. Not much else seems to happen.
Patt is awarded for his slightly more aggressive approach with a split decision victory (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
Keith Wisniewski vs. Eric Oganov
The welterweight (170 pound) veterans put on a much more interesting fight, with plenty of back and forth action. The first round in particular fires up the crowd. Oganov bloodies Wisniewski and controls most of the action. The American scores late with a big right hand that knocks Oganov, but with only ten seconds remaining in the round he’s unable to finish the Russian.
The second round sees a lot of clinching against the ropes and in the corner, interrupted by brief but exciting flurries of action. Wisniewski takes Oganov down, but the Russian ends up on top. Oganov drops back into heel hook position, but Wisniewski is saved by the horn.
As the third round begins, Oganov is sucking air pretty badly. Wisniewski looks like he’s taken more punishment, but he also looks far more eager to keep going. The round is pretty evenly contested. Oganov gets a takedown with one minute left, but Wisniewski reverses a heel hook attempt and is throwing leather from full mount when the final horn is sounded.
Oganov evens things up for the Russians with the second split decision of the evening (30-27, 27-30, 29-28). I have not problem with the fight going to Oganov, but I can’t really see how either fighter won all three rounds. The first round could have gone either way, but from where I was sitting it looked like Oganov took the second and Wisniewski took the third fairly easily.
Nick Agallar vs. Vladimir Zenin
Everyone in press row is pretty fired up for the 155-pounders, as this fight promises to bring a faster pace to the proceedings.
Agallar and Zenin do not disappoint. Agallar lays right in to his shorter opponent with a variety of kicks. I’m sure you’ve heard commentators saying things like, “You might not be able to see this too well at home, but fighter X’s leg has a huge red welt on it right now…” From ten feet away, I can clearly see that the Russian’s leg is completely messed up. The American takes full advantage of his superior reach, striking away at Zenin while leaving the Russian unable to connect. Zenin drops his left, perhaps to protect his leg, and it looks like the American is about to score an easy victory. Zenin, however, catches Agallar on the jaw with an awkward looking left hand from down low. The American fighter falls to his back, and the Russian pounces, laying his opponent out flat with hard rights.
The crowd goes crazy as Zenin earns an upset victory with a first round KO.
Nick “The Goat” Thompson vs. Ansar Chalangov
Thompson was one of the most interesting personalities on the first season of BodogFight’s reality show. He looks quite a bit larger than Chalangov, who shoots for a takedown as soon as the bell rings. Thompson almost gets a guillotine, but both men start to slide underneath the ropes and the ref stands them back up. Chalangov clinches, throws The Goat down, and goes for an ankle lock. Thompson reverses into mount position. The Russian ties him up and works for a choke. That failing, Chalangov scrambles back to his feet, only to get taken down when Thompson gets hold of his arm. There is an incredible series of submission attempts, escapes, and reversals on the ground that sees The Goat end up in full mount pounding away. The Russian gives up his back, allowing Thompson to sink in a choke.
The Goat earns a very exciting victory by tapout in the dying seconds of the first round.
Non-Fight Nonsense
Ms. Naked returns to the ring to introduce some kind of “comedy” video. This seems to take some of the momentum away from the fight card, which had just begun to flow quite nicely.
Tara Larosa vs. Julia Berezekova
Fortunately, the next fight is another exciting one, pitting the woman who is quickly becoming the biggest American name in female MMA against a very game and courageous Russian fighter.
Berezekova ducks a high kick, and peppers Larosa with shots. The American eats the punishment and earns a side headlock takedown with her toughness. On the ground, Larosa gets an arm, but Berezekova escapes. Tied up near the ropes, the Russian works for a side headlock of her own. Larosa shows off her flexibility by getting a figure four body lock on Berezekova’s back while Berezekova has still got control of her head. Berezekova reverses again, and the ref drags the women out of the ropes towards center ring. Larosa controls the Russian’s arms and keeps working to get back to the figure four. Eventually, she gets Berezekova’s back again, and then almost gets an arm bar just as the round is over.
Berezekova comes out swinging to start the second round, and almost catches Larosa in a guillotine. Larosa again gets back mount while Berezekova tries to choke her out. Larosa sinks in another arm bar, and the Russian almost rolls out but she cannot escape and she’s forced to tap.
Larosa’s face lights up as she’s awarded the victory by second round submission.
Chael Sonnen vs. Alexei Olyinek
After watching his very sharp first round KO win over Timothy Credeur on the BodogFight website, I am excited about seeing Sonnen fight in person.
Sadly, this fight fails to live up to expectations. Sonnen is able to take Olyinek down at will. On the ground, however, the Team Quest grappler isn’t able to do any damage to his tough and crafty opponent. The fight ends up being three dull rounds of takedowns followed by frustratingly limited action.
Sonnen earns the win by unanimous decision. All three judges call it 30-27, but neither Sonnen nor the crowd is happy with his performance.
Mario Rinaldi vs. Sergei Kaznovsky
This superheavyweight fight doesn’t exactly bring the crowd back up out of their stupor. Kaznovsky, who has a great pro wrestling bad guy type of look, catches Rinaldi with a sick flying knee in the second round that busts the powerful Florida native open. Other than that, the rest of the fight consists mainly of Rinaldi holding Kaznovsky down.
All three judges give it to Rinaldi with 30-27 scores. The American celebrates with a back handspring that is probably the most exciting aspect of his performance on this evening.
Sonnen Gets Paid
With one of the ring ropes broken and hanging loose, Bif comes back out to try (and largely fail) to hype the crowd back up. Internet poker billionaire Calvin Ayre makes a video screen appearance to announce that Chael Sonnen was voted the most popular fighter of the first season of the BodogFight reality series. The award ceremony confuses many in the crowd, who seem to be under the misapprehension that Sonnen is getting some kind of bonus for his fight against Olyinek.
The rope is repaired quickly enough to avoid disaster.
Trevor Prangley vs. Andrei Semenov
Another dull fight would have sucked every remaining shred of momentum out of the evening and probably killed the crowd for good. Fortunately, Prangley and Semenov both came to Vancouver ready to swing.
They get the crowd going right away with a wild exchange before tying up in the corner. The ref breaks them up and Prangley goes straight after Semenov, swinging for the fences. The Russian tries to shoot, but Prangley is too strong for him. The South African pounds Semenov in the ribs until he goes down, then lays in some heavy blows from the spider guard.
The second round sees Prangley continue to thwart the Russian’s takedown attempts while punishing him with heavy body shots. When they are separated, both men come back throwing hard. The Russian lands a great uppercut, and Prangley takes him down into a stalemate on the ground.
Round three keeps the crowd going with more great stand-up exchanges. Prangley is sucking wind, but even though he looks tired he isn’t content to lay’n’pray. He keeps fighting until the horn, almost sinking an arm bar right at the end of the round.
The third consecutive unanimous 30-27 decision of the night turns out to be an entertaining one, as Prangley earns both the victory and the respect of the crowd.
More Bif
She enters the ring again, this time to present a trophy to Team America.
Eric Pele vs. Antonio “Junior/Gorilla” Silva
Silva enters this fight undefeated, with nine of his previous seven fights having gone past the first round. Pele enters the fight having recently dropped over 100 pounds of body fat.
Silva seeks to establish his dominance early, and he lays into Big E with several big strikes. The tatooed Samoan turns his back and literally runs from Silva, who gives chase and very nearly knocks Pele out of the ring. The fight is restarted, but an inside thigh kick from Silva hits Pele about cup high, and the ref gives Pele time to recover. When the fight is restarted, Silva corners his opponent and once again rains in the heavy blows. Pele stays calm this time, however, and catches Silva’s anvil-shaped jaw with a perfectly timed counter-punch. The giant Brazilian drops to his knees, and Pele follows him to the ground, throwing all the way. Silva rolls onto his back and takes three consecutive hard shots to the head before the referee calls a controversial halt to the bout.
Junior’s corner is livid, their anger matched only by Pele’s joy at his upset first round KO victory.
Neurosonic Perform Again
And I’m quite happy to go backstage and talk to Eric Pele.
Roger Gracie vs. Ron Waterman
Waterman is 41 years old and has been fighting professionally since 1999. Gracie is 25 and making his MMA debut. Gracie is quite a bit taller, but Waterman outweighs him by almost 50 pounds.
The powerfully built Waterman immediately goes for a body slam. Roger keeps his balance for quite a while, but he is eventually taken down. Waterman postures up and gets in one good shot, but Gracie keeps his cool and gets hold of H2O’s right arm. Waterman powerslams his way out of trouble, gets back into Gracie’s guard, unloads another shot, and get his arm trapped again. This time, Waterman is unable to escape.
Gracie shows that he just might be the man to carry on the daunting legacy of his family name with an impressive first round submission of a powerful wrestler who had never tapped out before.
Aaron Riley vs. Eddie Alvarez
The final superfight of the evening is for the MFC Welterweight Championship. If I understand correctly, people watching this card on PPV didn’t get to see this bout. I did, and it was a corker. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. You can download or watch the fight for free, right here: BodogFight
Todd Gouwenberg vs. Ron Faircloth
The night ends as it began, with a local fighter beating someone senseless. The muscular and mohawked Gouwenberg hits the shorter Faircloth with kicks and knees, takes him down for some G&P, stands back up, and knocks him cold. This helps to send the live crowd home in a happy mood.
Thanks for reading!
Coming soon, we’ll take a final look at Calvin Ayre’s promotion, including the fallout from this PPV, BodogFight’s upcoming second season, and at their future as a player in the MMA industry.
Following that, we’ll have Year End Awards and then a look at the upcoming New Year’s Eve supercards.
Please send any feedback to: mr.gordi at gmail dot com I love discussing MMA, so don’t hesitate to write and share your thoughts on any aspect of our favorite sport.
Photos courtesy of BodogFight
The Inside Pulse
Not a bad job at all for their first try at a PPV. There were a couple of dull three-rounders, but those were more than balanced by the quality of Prangley vs. Semenov, Thompson vs. Chalangov, and Larosa vs. Berezekova. The superfights were all short but exciting, as were the lightweight fight and the two local fights.
Thumbs up for this one.
