By John McMullen
jmcmullen@phanaticmag.com
ATLANTIC CITY (The Phanatic Magazine) - It was far from the best night to try
to make a mark in the fighting world, not with Floyd Mayweather Jr. stepping
into the ring with Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas,
But the fledgling MMA World Series of Fighting promotion made its return to
Atlantic City and Ovation Hall at the Revel Resort for a televised card on NBC
Sports Network.
As a tip of the cap to Mayweather's drawing power, which was expected to yield
in the range of 1.7 million pay-per-view buys for SHOWTIME, WSOF did move up
the start time an hour hoping to serve as sort of a pre-game show for the
higher-profile action in the desert.
Overshadowing the main event at Revel was the cancellation of a middleweight
tournament semifinal bout between the highly-regarded Elvis Mutapcic (13-2)
and Jesse Taylor (26-9) after Mutapcic was seen taking some kind of
prescription medication by a athletic commission official, something the Round
Kick Gym product denied.
"I think maybe she is on prescription drugs," Mutapcic said when asked what
happened and what the official saw. "I guarantee it was not me taking
anything. I will take a blood test right now."
Mutapcic's manager has a heart problem and was in possession of prescription
drugs while wearing similar gear so this looks like a case of mistaken
identity.
"It is sad to see this happening," WSOF president Ray Sefo said. "I've been in
this sport 25 years and have never seen this happen before. His manager did
have some pills so his corner cost him a fight."
In the cage former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, an injury
replacement for Anthony Johnson, edged Mike Kyle by unanimous decision.
In an evenly matched fight, Kyle (20-10) was the one who recorded two knockdowns -- one in the first round and another in the third -- but that was enough and Arlovski (20-10) earned the unanimous decision by winning 29-28 on all three scorecards.
Kyle, a 12-year veteran who hails from one of MMA's most-respected fight
camps, American Kickboxing Academy, wasn't all that impressive in between the knockdowns but he did win The Phanatic Magazine scorecard and should have won the fight.
In the middleweight tourney semi that did go off, the always methodical David
Branch out-grappled Danillo Villefort en route to winning a unanimous
decision.
Branch (13-3) rarely excites and this was no exception as he took the fight to
the ground early and kept it there. Villefort (13-5) flirted with a choke in
the final round but once Branch reversed it was a done deal. He took all
three scorecards by a 30-27 margin.
"I wanted to actually do more striking with him, but I got a little tight out there," Branch said. "I think it was due to the weight cut. I've got to work on that because I'm losing a little bit of pop, and I've got to work on the grappling. I've got to adjust. But I've got the tools to do the striking. I've just got to show it now, but my body seized up a little bit. "
Heavyweight submission specialist Rolles Gracie inexplicably spent 7 1/2
minutes boxing with Derrick Mehmen, until a straight right put Gracie to sleep
before he hit the ground.
It was a disastrous game plan for a fighter who ends virtually all his fights
with either an arm-triangle or rear-naked choke. Gracie tried just one
takedown in the entire bout and Mehmen, the far more powerful, albeit wilder
puncher, was thrilled.
"I'm just ecstatic right now," Mehmen said. "I've never had a one-handed quitter like that in my career, but wow I want as many of those as I can get."
The televised portion of the evening kicked off with a featherweight bout
between former pro soccer player Georgi Karakhanyan and Philadelphia's Waylon
Lowe.
Born in Russia to Armenian parents, the 28-year-old Karakhanyan won his
eighth straight fight when he made Lowe tap to a guillotine choke at 3:37 of
the first round. This was just Lowe's second fight at 145 pounds after
competing for the previous seven years as a lightweight.
"I think I performed well," Georgi said. "I would've like to have showcased my standup more, but if it goes to the ground, I'm always look for a finish. If you step in this cage, I'm going to finish you. I'm a finisher."
Nieman Gracie, a 24-year-old middleweight, kicked off the night on WSOF.com
and had his hands full with the raw but game Darren Costa, who came out
aggressive.
Like a true Gracie, Nieman (1-0) tried to take it to the ground and Costa
(0-2) seemed accommodating as his corner yelled to let Gracie up. Costa, whose
sole professional fight before tonight ended in a TKO loss, was eventually
caught with an armbar and tapped at 3:57 of Round 1.
"Thank you for trying to wrestle me," Gracie said when talking about Costa's game plan.
The Russian-born Ozzie Dugulubgov (5-1), now a resident of Hackensack, N.J.,
won for the second time under the World Series of Fighting banner, stopping
Andrew "Ozzy" Osborne in a 160-pund catchweight bout.
The 24-year-old Renzo Gracie-trained fighter nearly ended with a no contest
after catching Osborne with a kick to the groin. After a lengthy delay,
however, Dugulubgov got Osborne to the ground and locked on a heel hook for
the win at 1:12 of the second round.
"I wanted to show my standup, try a little bit of new things here and there, but I knew if the fight went to the ground, I have much more opportunity there," the winning Ozzie said. "When it went down, I saw [the submission] was there, and with confidence, I just went for it. Thank God it worked."
Another accidental low blow marred the Richard Patishnock-Gregor Gracie bout
when Gracie was hit clean in the opening round. Patishnock (6-1) went on from
there to dominate Round 1 with a series of leg kicks than rung out in the
arena like gun shots along with some solid striking.
Gracie hung on but continued to struggle with the low leg kicks in the second
and almost got caught in a guillotine choke. Down two rounds Gracie's team
implored him to push the pace in the final frame but the conditioning wasn't
there at least compared to Patishnock and after a few nice early moments the
new "Gracie killer" flashed the speed which kept his opponent befuddled
throughout, bloodying Gracie's nose.
The scorecards read 30-27, 29-28 and 28-28, all for Patishnock. The Phanatic
Magazine scored it 30-27 for the winner as Gracie failed to gain a measure of
revenge for his brother Igor, who also lost to Patishnock after sustaining a
shoulder injury in their bout.
Brazilian bantamweight Sidemar Honorio came out like a house of fire and
nearly put Jimmie Rivera away with some ground and pound seconds into the
fight but couldn't finish things with a series of hammer fists.
Rivera regained his bearings from there and dominated the final two rounds to
win all three scorecards 29-28 and improve his impressive win streak to 12
straight fights.
"It's about pushing the pace. That's what I do every fight, and that's what I'm going to keep doing, non-stop," Rivera said.
The final dark match featured one featherweight riding an 11-fight win
streak, Rick Glenn, against another who has tapped out five consecutive
opponents, Newark's Artur Rofi.
Rofi (6-1), a Team Bittencourt fighter who has earned all six of his career
wins by way of stoppage, spent the entire first round shooting for an armbar
until a visibly frustrated Glenn (14-2) picked him up and tried a few power
bombs that certainly weren't going to remind you of Leon White.
Rofi tried to bang with Glenn in the second and that was ill-advised, The Iowa
native dominated the action and nearly put Rofi away with a hard right from
the top.
Glenn was the recipient of the third low blow of the night early in the final
round before settling in winning his second straight round to earn the
unanimous decision. All three scorecards read 29-28.
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