Contributor: Nolan Howell
- Tonight’s main event was as perfect a storyline as any; two teammates would go at it for the gold, leaving plenty of emotion in the cage. Eduardo Dantas proved to be the sharper, faster fighter and it showed every second of that fight. Dantas impressed as he dropped Galvao with a head kick, only to land a sneaky right uppercut and follow-up hammerfists put Galvao to sleep in the second round. Galvao is as gritty as they come and Dantas used his slick striking and adherence to a gameplan to take home the win. Although he may have slipped against Tyson Nam, the future is blindingly bright for Dantas, who showed class and emotion for having to fight his teammate.
- Brian Rogers and Dan Cramer was a ridiculous scrap that had a bit of everything to make it a great fight. Rogers used multiple lateral drops throughout the fight, while Cramer concentrated on trips and double-leg takedowns to blanket Rogers. On the feet, Rogers packed the power, but Cramer’s sharp technique had enough mustard to rock Rogers before anything significant happened. Rogers is always a great guy to watch, but he’s likely hit his ceiling. While having some scary power, his chin doesn’t hold up too well to those who can patiently counter and not brawl. Despite some trouble, Cramer did this very well and showed a heavy top-game to grind out the victory.
- Brett Cooper had a spectacular outing against Norman Paraisy, taking him down at will and finding some counters on the feet. While Cooper did get hit with a few shots from the kickboxer, he was able to land a few of his own and take the fight to the mat at will, raining down ground and pound when it got there. Cooper is a tough fight for anyone because of this relentless gameplan and it will be interesting to see how he matches up with Cramer next time around. Cramer’s counterstriking looked on point, but can he stop Cooper’s power double?
- Finally, Andreas Spang and Doug Marshall went down exactly like I called. The two men swung at each other ruthlessly, with Spang using his technical boxing and Marshall winging windmill hooks. Unfortunately for Spang, that bull rush from Marshall made him taste leather one too many times and he went down hard. Marshall is a good time when he steps in the cage and will always go out swinging, damned if it is detrimental or not. He will take on Sultan Aliev next, so we’ll see if Aliev can survive “The Rhino’s” gore.
–Nolan can be reached at @nolanhowell and [email protected].
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
