IFL Battleground, March 26, 2007
“Everything that I do is to make sure that I’ll perpetuate my family history.†–Renzo Gracie
This week’s episode highlighted Renzo Gracie’s 2006 New York Pitbulls vs. The Quad City Silverbacks, including Gracie’s Superfight with Pat Miletich. Tiffany Fallon premiered as the new talking head for Battleground along with co-host Bas Rutten who retired as coach of the L.A. Anacondas. Hand-picked ring girls Emily and Lori were also introduced (Hand-picked, huh? They look like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer-ad girls to me; but I’m a chick, so what do I know?).
The first fight of the night was a “never before seen IFL world premier fight†that took place September 23, 2006. The players: welterweights; NY Pitbulls’ Delson Heleno (a Gracie BJJ alumnus) and Quad City Silverbacks’ Ben Uker. Just 3:14 into the very first round, the Pitbulls secure the win by TKO after Heleno nails Uker on the jaw with a beautiful flying knee followed by furious ground and pound.
The April 29, 2006 is revisited pitting lightweights Erik Owings of Gracie’s Pitbulls, in his professional debut, against the Seattle Tigersharks’ Justin “The Jet†Jones. Southpaw Jones clocks Owings with a right hand, dropping Owings to the ground. Recovering quickly, Owings pulls guard on Jones. Jones stands up with Owings still securely wrapped around his opponent, bringing both men back to their feet. After an ineffective trade of punches, Owings catches Jones in a guillotine choke but lets go. The two men trade close punches, Jones getting rocked by Owings’ right hand. Owings finishes the fight with a guillotine choke for the win.
Welterweights Gustavo Machado of the Pitbulls and Tigersharks’ Brad Blackburn were up next. Though Machado appeared to be the stronger contender in the full three-round contest, the win was given to Blackburn by judges’ decision.
Pitbulls’ middleweight Heleno returns for the third fight against the Tigersharks’ Dennis “Superman†Hallman. Both opponents in this fight are accomplished grapplers. With that being said, the fight stayed on the ground much of the time. Hallman secures a takedown but Heleno soon reverses, taking side control. Hallman bucks Heleno off as the Brazilian gets the mount. With less than 5 seconds left to the round, Heleno frees himself with an illegal kick to Hallman’s chin. As the doctor’s examine Hallman, Heleno is informed that he’s been disqualified for the illegal move. Despite Hallman receiving the win via Heleno’s disqualification, he shakes off Herb Dean’s attempt to raise his hand in victory.
With the Tigersharks ahead 2 to 1, the light heavyweights were up. Tighershark Matt “Suave†Horwich (you just gotta love this guy) enters the arena with his well-read and tattered Bible, ready for battle against Pitbull Jamal Patterson. During the preflight interview, Patterson explains the irony that his day job is to fix people’s teeth while his mission in the ring is to knock teeth out. The popular Horwich is clearly the crowd favorite, judging from the cheering from the audience. The round opens with one of Horwich’s familiar, yet awkward, roundhouse kicks. Horwich makes two good attempts at securing a guillotine choke without success. Patterson reverses control of the fight taking Horwich’s back and ending the fight with Horwich’s tapout from a rear naked choke. The score is now 2 and 2.
Tigersharks’ Devin Cole secures the win for his team after defeating Pitbulls’ Carlos Cline by unanimous decision.
The second hour revealed the results of the viewer poll regarding the Schonauer/Stark controversy. 51% of the voters said that Stark did not tap out. Tap or not, in my opinion, the referee stopped the fight causing Schoenauer to let go of his submission attempt. It is also my opinion that Schnoenauer might have won that fight had it not been the for ref’s decision to stop then restart the action. I still think it was a bullcrap call.
Battleground returns to September 23 for the new generation of Renzo Gracie’s Pitbulls, a group of mostly untested talent. His lightweight contender, Marcio Feitosa has the misfortune of making his IFL debut against Silverbacks’ Bart Palezewski. While the fight went the distance, the unanimous decision went to Palezewski, effectively ending Feitosa’s IFL career with the Pitbulls.
Pitbulls new welterweight, Marcelo Azevedo, faced the Silverbacks’ Rory Markham in the second fight. Markham, an aggressive stand-up fighter is the crowd favorite, no doubt especially with the female population in the audience. Azevedo shoots for multiple takedowns, hoping to get the striker off his feet. Markham’s defense is excellent. Markham attempts a guillotine choke but Azevedo finally managed to get the fight to the ground. Impressively, Markham slips out of Azevedo’s first heel-hook attempt then rolls across the mat in Crocodile Hunter death-roll style to get out of the second heel-hook attempt. Azevedo regains control, keeping Markham on the ground. Despite Markham being a striker, he shows excellent defense technique on his back, patiently avoiding multiple submission attempts then getting the fight back to its feet. Markham stuns Azevedo with a superman punch followed up with haymakers that would have stopped any other opponent. To Azevedo’s credit, he takes the punishment and attempts an armbar. Markham gets into his opponent’s half guard finishing with at least a half dozen right hands before the fight is finally stopped. Markham takes the win by TKO 3:58 into the first round. Markham is always fun to watch.
The middleweight bout introduced Fabio Leopoldo for the Pitbulls against Silverbacks veteran Ryan McGivern. Surprisingly, McGivern, who has only lost by submission, takes Leopoldo down. When the fighters returned to their feet, Leopoldo threw a right that missed and was rocked by an unexpected left jab. McGivern takes Leopoldo down but finds himself in a tight guillotine. Somehow, he escapes but the fight is paused to allow the Brazilian to adjust his cup, which also allows him to recover from the energy he expended in the failed guillotine. The first round ends with McGivern in full mount, raining punches on an obviously stuggling Leopoldo. Round two starts out strong for McGivern. The Silverback attempts to take the Pitbull’s back but Leopoldo rolls out to secure a kneebar for the win.
Pitbulls “mystery man†light heavyweight Andre Gusmao didn’t have a game plan against the Silverbacks’ Mike Ciesnolevicz. Nevertheless, he was able to catch the more experienced fighter in a vicious ground and pound that seemed to never end. When the fight was finally, and mercifully, stopped, Gusmao ran to celebrate with his team leaving Ciesnolevicz clearly in agony.
With the score now 2 and 2, it came down to the Heavyweights. Silverbacks’ Ben Rothwell was pitted against the Pitbulls’ only non-Brazilian (of the night), philosopher and Copa Cabana bouncer Bryan Vetell. Big Ben Rothwell eclipsed Vetell by five inches. Vetell surprised Rothwell with a combination of punches that ended in a clinch. Rothwell dazes Vetell with a hard right followed by a left that sends Vetell crumbling to the floor. The fight was stopped giving Rothwell the win by knockout.
Attempting a comeback, Pat Miletich went against Renzo Gracie for the Superfight which took place September 23, 2006. Gracie jumps guard twice, relentlessly seeking to sink a guillotine choke. Gracie finally gets his legs above Miletich’s hips and leans back against the ropes. Miletich, whose last fight was in 2002, reluctantly taps out 3:37 into the first round.
Finally, the Superfight from February 23, 2007, featuring Miletich fighter Robbie Lawler and Brazilian Eduardo Pamplona. Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten were joined by boxing legend Evander Holyfield to announce the bout. Lawler was clearly the crowd favorite as this was Pamplona’s American MMA debut. This was a fun fight to watch. Both fighters were aggressive, the pace was fast, the fighters equally matched on the ground and standing up. Despite Pat Miletich’s repeated instructions to “work your knees, Robert,†Lawler absorbed knees from his opponent only to push the action back toward the middle of the ring. Lawler unleashed a combination of punches that landed Pamplona on the ground eating haymakers. Damn, that was a good fight!
The Inside Pulse
I’m still having trouble with the two hour format. However, if I’m not mistaken, next week will highlight the much awaited Shamrock family drama. I can’t wait!
