Sunday, November 02, 2008

ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series 10/10/08 Re-Cap

ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series 10/10/08

Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros are the announcers. There are 5 fights tonight. The bigger names on the card are Jason Guida, Dave Herman and Kerry Schall.

Lightweight Fight- Rafaello Oliveira (5-0) vs. Lyle Beerbohm (7-0)

Beerbohm’s nickname is “fancy pants.” Beerbohm has only been training for 19 months. He’s from Spokane, Washington and he had is first fight after training for only one week. Beerbohm is wearing some seriously hideous tights that are very colorful and apparently made by his mother, hence the fancy pants nickname. These would make Shinya Aoki blush. This is Oliveira’s first fight on the mainland, he has one in Hawaii. Both of these fighters are undefeated. Oliveira has a 4” reach advantage. Oliveira is a Jiu Jitsu practitioner and Beerbohm is more versed in submission wrestling. Apparently Beerbohm has already called out Nick Diaz (who has a Lightweight title fight coming up against Eddie Alvarez to fill the vacant Elite XC Lightweight title on Nov 8th).

R1- Oliveira immediately gets a take down after a couple of leg kicks and then takes Beerbohm’s back and drills him with some punches. Oliveira dominates the first minute of action. Beerbohm gets caught in an attempted triangle after he rolled to the top. Oliveira hitting some elbows and has opened up a cut on Beerbohm and then Oliveira attempted a kimura but lost it. Beerbohm gets a brief guillotine but Oliveira gets command again and is looking very smooth. They stand in a clinch and Oliveira with a knee. The separate and Beerbohm charges and gets a clinch and then gets a freaking FIREMAN’S CARRY. Beerbohm gets caught in an arm bar but rolls out of it. They clinch against the cage and Beerbohm gets a slam and is in Oliveira’s full guard. Beerbohm hits one big elbow and Oliveira is bleeding heavily. Beerbohm hits a couple of more strikes. Very good and close round as Oliveira won the first half and Beerbohm won the last minute. Oliveira is in danger of having this fight stopped due to his cut. He walks out of the cage at one point during the intermission. It’s a large cut, Quadros says you “can put a quarter in it.” And the fight is stopped due to the cut. Really good first round and would like to see these two guys fight again as I think Oliveira is the better fighter, he just got caught with that one big elbow that cut him open.

Post-match Beerbohm thanks his mom for making his shorts and then calls out the winner of Diaz/Alvarez. Says he will beat up either of the two. I’m not sure if “fancy pants” has ever seen Alvarez fight.

Winner: Lyle Beerbohm by TKO (Doctor Stoppage/Cut) R1

Middleweight Fight- Alexander Shlemenko (29-5) vs. Bubba McDaniel (12-4)

This is Alexander’s US debut and his first fight against an American fighter. Alexander is a Muay Thai and Sambo fighter from Russia. Mauro says that Alexander is from the Siberian city of Omsk . He says that according to stats- 50% of the youth in this city are either in prison, hooked on drugs or dead by the age of 21. Alexander is only 24 years old but has 34 professional fights. Bubba McDaniel has 12 victories, 10 of them have been won via tap out. He is the reigning Icon Sport Middleweight Champion. Bubba has a 4” height and 5” reach advantage.

R1- Bubba goes for an immediate take down and Alexander grabs the cage to stop it and gets a warning. Bubba takes him down but Alexander has an arm. Bubba hitting Alexander on the side and then they stand and Bubba is holding his back and wrestles him back to the ground but then they stand back up. Bubba gets a take down against the cage but Alexander gets back to his feet. Lots of clinching and up and down without either guy getting in anything of substantial damage. Bubba moves from north/south to side control to taking Alexander’s back. Bubba hitting him with shots and then mounts and gets some Ground and Pound. Bubba is controlling this round and starting to dominate. Bubba goes for a choke but Alexander is keeping his chin down. Alexander got back up and right at the bell he nailed Bubba with a huge knee and Bubba buckled to the floor. Alexander looked to the ref for a stoppage but it looks like Bubba may have been saved by the bell. The ref says it was a groin shot and that he is not stopping the fight. Bubba is saying that his ribs are hurting and he is lying on the ground in pain. Now they are saying that it’s not his groin and that it’s his ribs and Bubba can’t answer the bell and this one is over as Bubba can’t answer the bell. What a shot by Alexander right before the bell to win the fight in a round where he got controlled. He hit the flying knee right under his heart.

Winner: Alexander Shlemenko by TKO (Flying Knee) R1

Two really good, fun fights to start off this show. Both have been stopped between the first and second rounds. Bubba is still down and they have to help him to his feet.

Robbie Lawler is at the fights and he is interviewed by Stephen Quadros. They talk about his re-match with Joey Villasenor (Lawler won the first fight).

Welterweight Fight- Anthony Lapsley (13-3) vs. Mike Stumpf (10-1)

Stumpf has a 4 fight winning streak and is a wrestler. Lapsley is known as “The Recipe.” Lapsley is a wrestler and a boxer. He is the King of the Cage Welterweight Champion. Stumpf weighed in at 172.5 pounds but Lapsley choose to fight anyway. Lapsley has a 3” reach advantage. Stumpf is only 22 years old. Lapsley is 13-3 with 10 Submissions.

R1- Lapsley comes out throwing punches but doesn’t hit. They clinch and exchange knees. They are in an active clinch against the cage. Stumpf got a take down and is in half guard. The fight gets back to the feet and Lapsley lands a nice kick to the upper body but Stumpf grabbed a single leg take down but Lapsley takes half guard on top of Stumpf. Lapsley lands a strike or two. Lapsley lands a couple of nice shots and then an elbow to the jaw. Lapsley with hammer fists but Stumpf grabs full guard and tries to protect with one and a half minutes left in round one. Lapsley lands some strikes and goes for an arm triangle but Stumpf slips out. Lapsley with elbows and punches until Stumpf covers up. Lapsley wins Round One 10-9 and looked like he was on the verge of finishing Stumpf at times.

R2- First minute of the round is a stalemate. Lapsley hits a flying knee and then gets a single leg take down. Not a whole lot going on in this round buy Lapsley is maintaining control of the round. Lapsley is throwing some wild punches and lands one. Stumpf pulls guard and grabs a kimura. Stumpf then moves to full mount with about a minute left in the round. Stumpf basically does nothing and then gets rolled over by Lapsley. Very ho hum round after a very good first round. I have to give this round to Lapsley as he controlled the majority of it but not as convincing a round as the first. Lapsley up 20-18 on my score card.

R3- Lapsley lands a kick and a punch to start the round and then they clinch. Pretty much the same way that the other two rounds have started. Lapsley gets a take down. Not a real exciting round. This one is much like round two with Lapsley winning the round by controlling Stumpf with wrestling. Lapsley is going to win this fight 30-27.

Judges score cards say: 29-29 (WHAT fight was this judge watching?), 30-27, and 30-27. Winner by majority decision is Lapsley.

Winner: Anthony Lapsley by Decision (Majority)

Light Heavyweight Fight- Mamed Khalidov (17-3-1) vs. Jason Guida (17-17)

Khalidov is yet another fighter making his North American debut. Guida says he’s going to knock this guy out. Jason’s brother UFC fighter Clay Guida is in his corner. The announcers reference Guida’s appearance on TUF where he failed to make weight before the qualifying fights. Clay slaps him around a little bit before he gets in the cage. Mamed is from Poland. Both guys have a wrestling background. Mamed usually competes at middleweight so he is a little undersized in this fight. Mamed is undefeated in his last 12 fights. Guida claims that he is 25-17 (instead of 17-17) but Mauro says that they were unable to confirm this statistic.

R1- Guida comes right at Mamed and hits a punch and then bulrushes him. Mamed tries a rolling knee bar and is going after Guida’s legs. Guida goes for a heel hook of his own. Very exciting first minute. Guida takes his guard but Mamed goes for an arm bar but Guida escapes. Guida went for a roundhouse upkick but missed. Guida has a cut on the top of his head. Mamed catches Guida with an up kick that knocks him off guard and then gets warned about strikes to the back of Guida’s noggin. They are in the clinch and Mamed hits a punch and knee to the gut. Guida gets a take down. Mamed has used an active guard throughout the first round. This is a tough round to judge. Guida controlled the cage much more but Mamed did more damage and had more submission attempts and was very active when in a defensive position. Mamed 10-9 on my score card after one. Good first round. Guida looked really tired at the end of the first round, must have been all that weight cutting.

R2- Mamed with a good counter punch to start the round. Guida answers with a good kick that countered one by Mamed. Mamed hit a spinning heel kick that was blocked but looked great. Mamed with a combo and now he’s coming on as Guida looks winded. Mamed with a spinning back fist. Guida finally clinches to slow down Mamed’s combo’s but Mamed hits some strikes and then gets a take down. Guida with very little offense so far this round through two minutes. Guida eats a couple of punches against the cage and covers up and eats two good punches from Mamed. Mamed taking it to Guida and Guida goes for a take down and Mamed sprawls. Guida is on his knees and Mamed levels him with a punch. Guida dives at the leg and is holding onto it trying to recover. Mamed with some elbows that are close to the back of the head. Guida loses his mouthpiece and the ref stops the fight to put it back in but he can’t find it and Guida is getting a ton of time to recover here as he is down on his knees sucking wind. They can’t find Guida’s mouthpiece and they tell him he has to use another one and Guida knocks it away. They find the mouthpiece after the ref says that he is going to DQ him and then Guida throws it out to get it cleaned. Guida is stalling here and it’s just painfully obvious. This is ridiculous. Mamed with a left hand and now he is opening up on Guida against the cage and Guida is standing taking a beating and the ref steps in and stops the fight and Guida pushes the ref and then leans on him.

Man, Jason Guida just with a horrible performance here. First he totally gasses. Then he plays stalling tactics with his mouthpiece and then he pushes the ref. He totally got outclassed here by Mamed. Guida needs to go back to the minors where he belongs. He is the total opposite type of fighter than his brother is. Mamed on the other hand looked really good. I would definitely like to see him fight again as he picked Guida apart once he gassed.

Winner: Mamed Khalidov by TKO (strikes) R2 4:53


Heavyweight Fight- Dave Herman (11-0) vs. Kerry Schall (22-10)

Schall’s nickname is “Meat Truck.” They briefly discuss Schall’s loss to Fedor early in Fedor’s career. Herman’s nickname is “Pee Wee” and he’s undefeated. He was impressive in his victory over Ron Waterman. He trains by himself at his house. Says he doesn’t really have a strategy, just kind of goes with the flow and sees what happens. Both guys are wrestlers. Schall has an 18 pound weight advantage, Herman with a 2” reach advantage. Schall has 17 submissions out of his 22 victories. Herman has 8 KOs in his 11 wins. He has no decision wins (the other 3 were by submission).

R1- Herman landing some front kicks early. Herman with some knees and Schall hits Herman hard when he came in for one of them but Herman grabs Schall into a Muay Thai clinch and hits knees to the body. Schall goes down and Herman destroys Schall on the ground and this one is over.

Winner: Dave Herman by TKO (strikes) R1 1:05

Good show. Check it out if you get the opportunity.

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