(The Daily Haymaker is a daily series that takes a look back and covers the news, fights being made, and all the other insanity revolving around combat sports. The Haymaker’s purpose is to keep you up to date with the ever changing combat sports world and also provide thought-provoking [hopefully] analysis from yours truly.)
Fight Recap and Analysis
Tachi Palace Fights 17
TPF Bantamweight Title
Russell Doane (11-2) vs Jared Papazian (17-11, 1 NC)
Recap: This fight was all Russell Doane. From the start of the bell, Doane was able to take Papazian down at will out of the body clinch. Throughout the fight, Doane was also finding a home for his right. Doane taking down Papazian and controlling him on the ground was the story of the first three rounds. In the fourth, Doane rocked Papazian with a right and just unloaded on him with a barrage of punches. Somehow, Papazian survived, so Doane brought Papazian down to the canvas and brutalized him with elbows until the fight was called.
Analysis: The way Doane was able to seemingly outclass Papazian in this fight really took me aback. He did not look like the same fighter that lost to Kyle Aguon and Michinori Tanaka. Bellator should look into signing Doane. Their bantamweight division is aging and would benefit from bringing in a youthful and talented combatant like Russell Doane.
TPF Welterweight Title
Nate Loughran (11-1) vs Kito Andrews (10-4)
Recap: Loughran absolutely frustrated Andrews by turning the fight into a grappling match by taking Andrews down and leaching on his back en route to a unanimous decision win. Although Loughran suffered a cut that leaked quite a bit of blood, the fight’s result was never in doubt.
Analysis: Loughran returned to MMA in 2012 after being on the sidelines for four years due to a rib injury he suffered in a fight against Tim Credeur at the Fight for the Troops show. He’s faced a lot of adverstiy, and I don’t have a good read on how good he could be. In all honesty, he might be talented enough to hang with some of the mid-level UFC welterweights, but I’ll need to watch him perform a few more times before I’m sold.
Bantamweight Bout
Jeremiah Labiano (6-1) vs Adam Calderon (3-2)
Recap: Calderon took down Labiano, fended off a guillotine, but then got caught in a fight-ending triangle choke.
Analysis: Not much to be said with this one other than Labiano is quick as hell in his guard. PSA for his future opponents: don’t leave your arm or head laying in his guard.
Bantamweight Bout
Joe Soto (12-2) vs Cory Vombaur (6-3)
Recap: Joe Soto came out like a man determined to get a quick finish early on with a right hand that connected flush on Vombaur’s chin. Soto immediately got the takedown. The rest of the first round was Vombaur getting up from off of his back, and Soto putting him back down with another takedown. In the second frame, Vombaur stuffed a takedown from Soto and entered his guard. An triangle attempt from Soto failed, but Vombaur left his head in to deep in Soto’s guard which led to a fight-ending guillotine from Soto.
Analysis: Now free from his Bellator contract, Joe Soto is now looking to sign with a major MMA promotion. This win was solid, but it’s not going to get a call from Dana White [Soto might get one anyway because of his entire resume]. Soto is a couple of wins or one major win away [or a UFC bantamweight injury away] from getting his opportunity in the UFC.
Catchweight Bout
Randall Wallace (8-1) vs Kenny Ento (13-13)
Recap: Ento started off the first round by clipping Wallace with a left. Wallace recovered and took Ento down and got his back. Wallace tried for a rear-naked choke attempt, but Ento escaped and transitioned to Wallace’s back. From there Ento ended the round strong with strikes. The second frame was basically Wallace taking down Ento, getting his back, and Ento escaping. This happen a few times in a round that went to Wallace. In the third round, Wallace took control of a tired Ento. Wallace got a takedown and was able to keep Ento down this time.
Analysis: Wallace should be fighting at welterweight, and Ento is a Light Heavyweight. Needless to say, Wallace learned a valuable lesson in how big of a role size can play in Mixed Martial Arts in a fight that played out a lot closer than it appeared to have been on paper. Still, this shouldn’t hurt Wallace’s stock too much because of the circumstances in this fight.
Catchweight Bout
Cody Gibson (11-3) vs Evan EsGuerra (8-6, 1 NC)
Recap: Channeling his inner Randy Couture, Gibson dominated the fight with dirty boxing and knees inside the body clinch. The other two rounds also played out in the body clinch, but EsGuerra kept it close with his fair share of dominant positioning and striking punishment. Still, it was a clear decision for Cory Gibson.
Analysis: Cody Gibson is a bantamweight prospect that took this fight on short notice. He actually works as a student teacher and worked the day of weigh-ins, the day of the fight, and plans to work the day after. On the undercard, Gibson stuck out as the most impressive fighter.
Heavyweight Bout
Manuel Quezada (2-0) vs Jerod Brown (0-1)
Recap: This is Jerod Brown’s professional debut, and it showed. He game out real tentative with his hands up super high. A left, right from a methodical Manuel Quezada hurt Brown, and like a shark smelling pizza [pizza has a much better smell than blood] in the water, Quezada pounced on Brown until the fight was called.
Analysis: Manuel Quezada was just on another level than Brown. For what it’s worth, Quezada looked poised, but this fight told me nothing about Quezada other than that he has power in his punches.
Middleweight Bout
Anthony Ruiz (31-18) vs Collin Hart (4-3-1)
Recap: In the first round, Collin Hart pulled guard and was aggressive with his rubber guard, attempting triangles, armbar, and everything in between. Unfortunately for Hart, Ruiz was never in any serious danger and was able to win the round in the eyes of the judges (two of them) by staying in top position and landing ground strikes. The second frame also was close. Ruiz was throwing some wild, extended hooks and got the better of the early striking exchanges. Hart took Ruiz down, got his back, and attempted an arm-bar, but Ruiz slipped out and got on top of Hart. Hart ended the round with a sweep. Ruiz clearly took the third period by taking down Hart and playing it safe from top.
Analysis: Anthony Ruiz has some serious striking holes in his game that’ll be exposed against the better fighters in the division, but that’s fine. Ruiz is a veteran that has to be past the halfway point of his career. He’s not a world beater, but he’s an exciting fighter that I’ll get excited to watch every time he’s scheduled to go to war. Hart has a fun and active guard game that I enjoyed watching.
Lightweight Bout
Darren Crisp (11-7) vs Ryan Reneau (2-2-1)
Recap: A failed head kick attempt put an unbalanced Crisp down on the mat. Reneau entered Crisp’s guard, and Crisp locked on a triangle choke. Reneau attempted to ground and pound his way out of it, but Crisp was able to cinch it in and get the tap.
Analysis: This fight exhibited Crisp’s experience in the sport, and Reneau’s lack of it.
Women’s Featherweight Bout
Marion Reneau (3-1) vs Leslie Rodriguez (0-1)
Recap: Rodriguez was a 19 year old making her professional debut in a fight that she was aware only a few hours prior, and that was evident. Reneau showed Rodriguez no respect, stalking her with punches. Eventually, Rodriguez was taken down, mounted, and finished by strikes.
Analysis: Marion Reneau looked as good as she could have in a fight like this. I’ll be keeping an eye on her to see how she does against higher levels of competition.
The News
1. Earlier today, Bjorn Rebney set the twitter world on fire with the news that Bellator has released Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. Now, any promotion is free to sign Askren, and Bellator no longer has the matching clause. Askren was planning to just hold out for the year, but Rebney reduced Askren’s wait.
The question becomes who will sign Ben Askren? The two companies that come to mind are UFC and World Series of Fighting. Any MMA fan not named Ray Sefo would much rather see Ben Askren sitting at the same table as Dana White for his next pre-fight press conference than compete against a pool of welterweights that is shallower than the one he just left. Dana White said that he lacked interest in signing Askren, but I still believe Askren’s next fight will be in the UFC.
Ben Askren is the only welterweight not in the UFC roster that can produce some claim [not a strong one] that he could beat George St. Pierre. Signing the two-time National Champion and Olympian would further monopolize the welterweight landscape for the UFC. While Askren is known for having lousy fights, I believe that his fight style won’t matter when it comes to business. Askren gets the fight game and is a great speaker. If the UFC brings Askren in, gives him a couple of non-title fights, and he wins them in boring fashion, he’ll began to draw the ire of MMA fans because of his cocky personality. With the right build-up, I believe Askren could do a huge PPV number against George St. Pierre or Johny Hendricks because people would be willing to pay to see Askren lose.
2. A day passed, and the February 22nd championship fight between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira is already off. In the pre-fight media scrum for UFC 167, Dana White said that the fight will happen a little later, potentially in March, because Jones couldn’t fight on the date. Jones’s withdrawal was not injury related according to Dana White.
3. The details for The Ultimate Fighter: China have been released. Cung Le will be on the show in a Dana White-like role. [In either the press conference or scrum, White actually said that Cung Le had become the Dana White of China.] The coaches will be Tiequan Zhang and Hailin Ao. Zhang has gone 1-3 in the UFC with his lone win coming at UFC 127 against Jason Reinhardt. Ao, who hasn’t competed since late 2009, has won all eight of his professional bouts [all outside the UFC].
The show in China will be called Rookie Exposure. There will be eight featherweights and eight welterweights.
The eight featherweights on the show are Allen Chong, Zhuikui Yao, Jianping Yang, Fu Changxin, Lee Chunhan, He Jianwei, Ning Guangyou, and Shih Liang.
The eight welterweight on the show are Albert Cheng, Wu Qize, Sai Wang, Zhang Lipeng, Zhu Qingxiang, Dong Xin, Li Jinying, and Wang Anying.
4. Bloody Elbow reported that Asian combat sports promotion Legend FC has been shut down. Expect some of Legend FC’s roster to transition to promotions such as PXC.
5. Boxing heavyweight Tomasz Adamek pulled out of his fight on Saturday against Vyacheslav Glazkov because of a stomach flu. Glazkov will now face Garret Wilson.
6. UFC Heavyweight Brendan Schaub signed a six fight contract with the UFC. He’s gone 6-3 in the organization since coming off of the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s hard to think about Schaub without his vicious knockout losses to Rothwell, Nogueira, and Nelson coming to mind, but he’s a heavyweight with enough talent to add depth to a division. And who knows, Schaub might put together a significant run if he improves his head movement.
7. MMAJunkie reported that Cage Warriors will run a show in Baghdad, Iraq on December 14th. It was also announced that the promotion signed a pair of Australians, welterweight Ben Alloway (12-5) and Lightweight Damian Brown (10-4).
Alloway is coming off of a 1-2 run in the UFC that saw him claim a victory over Manuel Rodriguez and lose to Ryan LaFlare and Zak Cummings. Alloway’s a talented striker that has had trouble defending takedowns.
Brown is a 28 year-old that’s gone 4-1 in his last five fights. Five of his six finishes have come by way of submission.
Fights Made
Ultimate Fight Night 35
Bantamweight Bout
T.J. Dillashaw (8-2) vs Mike Easton (13-3)
Featherweight Bout
Cole Miller (20-8) vs Sam Sicilia (12-3)
UFC 169
Flyweight Bout
Kyoji Horiguchi (12-1) vs Chris Cariaso (15-5)
That’ll do it for today’s Haymaker. Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford [TC, how the hell does this man still have a job?!?!?!?!].
“It says that I wanted to eat her [expletive]. I’ve never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married. I’ve got more than enough to eat at home.”
-Dan can be reached at [email protected] or @danielgal.
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