The past weekend was a important one for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts in the United States. On Saturday, the fledgling Elite XC made history with their CBS debut: the first MMA event broadcast live on a major US television network. And on Sunday, Zuffa-owned WEC held what was their most heavily hyped card to date, with 145-lbs champion Urijah Faber defending his belt against former UFC 155-lbs title holder Jens Pulver, and Miguel Torres defending his 135-lbs title against Yoshiro Maeda.
While both events had several exciting, action-packed bouts, the Elite XC broadcast suffered from one huge problem: all of the televised fights were stopped by either the referee, or the ringside doctor; and the stoppages ranged from mildly questionable to completely mind-boggling. Fights need to be decided by fighters, not the New Jersey Athletic Comission officials! That said, here’s how it all went down:
Elite XC ‘Primetime’
Brett Rogers vs Jon Murphy
The broadcast started out with a heavyweight bout between the undefeated Brett Rogers and the former football player Jon Murphy. Rogers is accompanied to the ring by the rapper Busta Rhymes. The fighters trade early on, and Murphy is holding his own in the striking exchanges, until Rogers drops him with a huge right cross. Referee Dan Miragliotta steps in, seemingly a bit early, to stop the bout and giving Rogers a TKO victory.
Fight grade: 3/5
Phil Baroni vs Joey Villasenor
In a middleweight bout, Baroni comes out aggressive as usual. Baroni catches a high kick from Villasenor and throws Joey to the ground. Baroni attempts some ground and pound but Villasenor gets back to his feet. Villasenor catches Baroni with a short hook that makes Phil take a step back. Villasenor swarms in and locks a standing guillotine against the fence. Baroni escapes but Villasenor continues to blast him with a knee and multiple punches. Baroni falls and Miragliotta immediately steps in – another somewhat premature stoppage.
Fight grade: 4/5
Gina Carano vs Kaitlin Young
The women’s bout (with three 3-minute rounds) was scheduled to take place at 140lbs, but Gina Carano came in at 144.5, forfeiting a percentage of her fight purse to her opponent as a penalty. This fight took place mainly on the feet, with both women landing often but Carano doing significantly more damage. Some grappling in the first round resulted in a stalemate, and they were back to kickboxing in the second. Carano took over the fight near the end of second round, rocking Young and taking her back as the round ended.
The match was stopped between rounds by the ringside doctor, giving Carano the victory. Kaitlin’s face was swollen with mouses (or is that mice?) under both eyes, but it does not look like the injuries were severe enough to be fight-ending.
Fight grade: 4/5 3/5 (1 point deduction for unnecessary stoppage)
Robbie Lawler vs Scott Smith
In his first title defense, the Elite XC 185-lbs champion ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler put his belt on the line against the UFC veteran and ‘Ultimate Fighter’ alumnus Scott Smith. The bout turned out to be a great standup war, with both fighters landing brutal shots and rocking their opponent multiple times. Despite the brawl, fans booed mercilessly at any lull in action. While Lawler dominated early on, Smith hung in there until an accidental finger poke to Smith’s eye caused the ref to halt the bout. Smith asked for his customary five minutes to recover, but as he was examined by the ringside doctor during the break, the fight was called off, with the result being a No Contest and Lawler retaining his title. Smith begged to continue, and claimed that he would have been OK had he received the full five minutes of recovery. A rematch was called for by both fighters after the bout, accompanied by non-stop chants of “bull-shit” from the angry crowd.
Fight grade: 4/5 3/5 (1 point deduction for unnecessary stoppage)
Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson.
For the main event, the Internet street fighting legend Kevin Fergusson (better known to the fans as ‘Kimbo Slice’) took on Pride FC veteran James Thompson. While most expected Kimbo to take advantage of Thompson’s notoriously weak chin, James played it smart by taking Slice to the ground early. Initially Kimbo was able to defend on the ground and even reverse Thompson, but as the fight went on and both fighters ran out of steam, Kimbo’s inexperience showed. In the second round, Slice got a bit of help from the referee when the fight was stood up with Thompson in side control. Kimbo took advantage of the standup and hurt Thompson in a striking exchange, but James was able to bring the fight back to the ground and almost immediately pinned Slice against the fence in the crucifix position. Though Thompson’s strikes didn’t seem to hurt Kimbo, who was giving the ref the ‘thumbs up’ to show that he is OK, Slice was unable to escape and was not intelligently defending himself. Nevertheless, Miragliotta allowed the bout to continue, until the clock ran out.
In the third round, both fighters were showing fatigue and Kimbo once again had Thompson badly hurt. Thompson was sporting a grotesquely swollen cauliflower ear throughout the fight, and it finally busted open in the third, flapping with every punch and squirting blood all over. Inexplicably, Miragliotta stepped in to stop the bout even though Thompson was still on his feet and fighting back. Thompson was furious and slapped Miragliotta! Thompson loses the bout by TKO. Kimbo is booed by the crowd after the fight.
Fight grade: 3/5 1/5 (2 points deduction for horrendous officiating by Miragliotta)
Event Grade: 1/5
This card could have turned out great, and had good action despite a lack of big names on the card, but was completely ruined by the horrible officiating. Fortunately, the weekend was not yet over, and we still had WEC 34 to look forward to!
WEC 34
Kenneth Alexander vs Rob McCullough
The former WEC 155-lbs champion McCullough, in his first fight back since losing the belt to Jamie Varner, took on Kenneth Alexander in a rematch of their 2002 bout (Alexander won by decision.) Both fighters were passive, with McCullough seemingly worried about the takedown. Alexander did attempt a number takedowns throughout the fight, but McCullough was able to stop some and quickly got back to the feet the other times. The standup was lackadaisical, with McCullough landing more strikes but showing more visible facial damage by the third round. McCullough landed an accidental knee to Alexander’s groin from clinch in the third. McCullough wins a split decision, with 30-27 on two scorecards and 29-28 Alexander from the third judge.
Fight grade: 2/5
Chuck Grigsby vs Mark Munoz
In a 205-lbs bout, Munoz took the fight to the ground early and dominated Grigsby, stopping him with ground and pound late in the first round.
Fight grade: 3/5
Donald Cerrone vs Danny Castillo
Both lightweight fighters went into this bout undefeated: 5-0 Castillo and 7-0 Cerrone. Castillo takes Cerrone down and ends up in his guard, where Cerrone makes quick work of him with an armbar. Castillo is forced to verbally submit as both of his hands are trapped.
Fight grade: 4/5
Miguel Torres vs Yoshiro Maeda
In the first of tonight’s championship bouts, Miguel Torres made his first defense of the WEC’s 135-lbs title against Pancrase veteran Yoshiro Maeda. After a somewhat lackluster start of the night, the co-main event really delivered. It was one of the most competitive bouts I have ever seen, and while Torres used his 8″ reach advantage to repeatedly blast Maeda in the face, Yoshiro took the strikes and fired back a few of his own every time, even drawing the first blood. Maeda was able to catch a high kick and throw Torres to the ground several times, but there it was Torres who constantly landed strikes and threatened submissions, preventing Maeda from capitalizing on the takedowns. At one point, Maeda had Torres in what seemed like a very deep heel hook, but Torres didn’t show any signs of being in pain, and retaliated with a leg lock of his own! In the end the punches to the face and knees to the body really took their toll on Maeda, whose face was bruised and battered after three rounds. Referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight after the third, as Maeda’s right eye was swollen completely shut. Take note of what a proper stoppage looks like, Miragliotta and NJSAC! An instant candidate for best fight of the year.
Fight grade: 5/5
Urijah Faber vs Jens Pulver
In the highly anticipated main event, the defending WEC 145-lbs champion Faber took on the former UFC 155-lbs champion and Pride FC veteran Jens Pulver. Both fighters were undefeated at 145 going into the bout. While many expected the younger, faster, and stronger Faber to steamroll Pulver, Jens held his own for five grueling rounds. The southpaw Pulver was thought to be the better striker of the two, but it was Faber who consistently beat Pulver to the punch and lumped up his face with repeated straight right hands. Faber was able to takedown Pulver several times, but Pulver either escaped or stalled until a referee stand-up. Pulver landed a few shots of his own and appeared to hurt Faber on occasion, but did not do enough to win a single round. Jens was hurt by an unintentional kick to the groin in the third round; he also appeared to be poked in the eye earlier in the fight. Two judges scored the five-round fight 50-44, and the third 50-45, for Urijah Faber. A great fight, and a true passing of the torch.
Fight grade: 4/5
While this event started slow, the championship bouts lived up to the expectations. A great change of pace from the Saturday night’s miscarriage of an MMA show!