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 UNDER CARD
Bantamweight Fight
#20 Tony Frost (4-4, 4-3 NGF) v #15 PO Burn (6-5, 5-3 NGF)
Tony Frost once looked very promising, young, talented, chip on his shoulder, now after 3 straight losses he just looks raw and lost. This just simply wasn’t much of a fight. Burn had lost 3 straight heading into this one and he needed a win like the desert needs rain. As I wrote in the preview, Frost was submitted in his last two fights, he has no ground game, he lacks wrestling skills at this point, and this one went as scripted for Burn, take down, and wear him out with submission attempts. This fight was the worst on the card by far, it was a win for Burn, but thankfully most fans missed this one. PO in the first was in complete control, attempting 9 submission and using ground and pound to wear out Frost. The 2nd was the same thing. You can say this about Frost, defending 5 of 8 take downs and 15-16 submissions, at least his take down defense and submission defense seem solid. That’s about it, he looked terrible and he needs to figure out what the hell is the problem. Burn gets the much needed win with a RNC at 4:59 of the 2nd.
Super Heavyweight Fight
#13 Leopold Stotch (6-1, 1-0 NGF) v #17 Ben Benson (2-2, 0-1 NGF)
This one only lasted 41 seconds, but I seriously think it could have been the FOTN it was that good. Both these guys look like that have real futures in the NGF, they both will win a lot of awards if they lay it all out like they did in this one. This one started with both guys moving well, they look very quick for big guys. Ben Benson landed the first strike and head kick that landed on the left eye of Stotch and opened up a small cut under the eye. Leopold was able to land the next significant strike, a lighting quick jab that opened up a cut on Benson. After some defensive action, Stotch landed a huge right hand that knocked Benson to the mat, but Leopold was late trying to take advantage and Benson got back to his feet. Both fighters returned to back and forth action, with Benson looking like he had recovered from being rocked. The next strike was a vicious right hand that landed on the side of Benson’s head, completely knocking him out and he landed face first with a thud and giving Stotch his first NGF win and a $5,000 bonus for KOTN.
Bantamweight Fight
#19 Ron Paul (3-1, 0-1 NGF) v #13 Andrew Summer (7-4, 6-3 NGF)
I was surprised at this fight and the outcome. I was surprised at how dull these two fighters were, fighting like they didn’t want to make a mistake, yet there wasn’t much on the line in this one. Ron Paul came in 3-0 in his career and has just blasted threw his competition. Summer is the best competition, but I thought if Paul was able to use his strong Muay Thai and clinch work he’d be able to out point Summer. Paul did take the clinch early in this one, but Summer was able to pull guard and got this fight where he wanted it. Summer controlled the whole round on the ground, landing a strike here and there, attempting a late submission and taking the round. The 2nd was ugly for Paul, Summer got the take down right off the bell, from the 5 second mark to the end of the round, Summer was on top of Paul, landing big strikes, wearing out Paul and dominating the round. In the 3rd, Paul tried to get the fight in the clinch, but he was simply out of gas by this time and Andrew was able to easily push Paul off and get distance. Eventually Summer was able to get the fight to the mat again and he controlled the fight like the first 2 rounds. In the end the win was given to Summer 30-27 by all three judges.
Lightweight Fight
#23 Andry Andrianampoinimerina (4-2, 2-0 NGF) v #22 Jesse James (4-3, 0-1 NGF)
Okay, I think it’s about time we or I start giving Andry Andrianampoinimerina more respect. He’s got the longest name in the NGF, not even a question, and I think I’ll have to start calling him AA, but he has shown me he’s someone to be reckoned with in the lightweight division. AA loves to get a fight to the ground where he is just devastating. AA did get the early take down in this one, but Jesse James showed outstanding ground defensive skills, he became very hard to control or to hit. Andry held one of the highest strike landing percentages on the ground, but he was able to land just 11 of 32 attempts in this one. James was actually able to escape and get back standing in the 1st round, but he was out struck standing in this one, which nobody saw coming. The first came to an end with AA on top, almost in full mount and easily getting the round. James never looked to comfortable in this one, he just didn’t get things going, and he was taken down again early in the 2nd. It became a wrestling match, but the key moment came after James make some great defense moves from the bottom, but AA still was able to get into mount. From there he was able to land elbows and huge strikes and the ref was forced to step in to help James from further damage at 2:45 of the round. Andry looked a LOT better in this one then his first fight.
Heavyweight Fight
#17 Bob Probert (5-3 NGF) v #24 Matt Higginson (5-2, 1-2 NGF)
Bob Probert has made it 8 fights now, 8 fights in his career, 8 fights all 1 round fights. Probert had lost 2 straight coming into this one, and his coaches, which used to be high on him making a title shot one day now talk about he needs to get back to basics and wondering about his motivation. The motivation was simple in this one, get back on the winning track, and get back to feeling something positive. Matt Higginson seems like a dejected young man now adays. He is another fighter who seems to have other things on his mind. As the round starts, Bob Probert gets into his normal posture, he stands straight up, not much movement, standing in front of Higginson, he holds his fist like a 30’s style boxer, kinda rolling his fists. It looks like he could get hit with anything at any time. But as Higginson bounces in, Probert throws a very quick left, right combination, barely missing the target. Probert does look pretty quick on defense as Matt Higginson throws out a head kick. Probert then shows his strength as he pushes off Higginson who tries to clinch, then a quick jab to Higginsons jaw on the way out. Probert then cuts Higginson with a quick jab moments later. The move of the fight happened around the 1:20 mark, Probert after checking a few kicks, fires off a 3 punch combination, each landing to the head of Higginson, he’s rocked and is wobbly, Probert rushes in with a knee and a few more strikes and the fight is over.
MAIN CARD
Bantamweight Fight
#14 Maksim Zotov (6-3, 5-3 NGF) v #17 Ron Sieler (6-5 NGF)
I was thinking to myself doing the preview, I will not be predicting Ron Sieler in any fight with a fighter ranked higher than him until he proves he can beat them…well he just did. This fight, the first fight of the main card started off one of the best main cards of the year. I predicted that Zotov would get a submission in the 1st round, boy was I wrong, and this fight shows that Ron Sieler is growing into a very good fighter. In the 1st Sieler used a very good stand up game plan, using his Muay Thai skills and using quick jabs and kicks to dominate the 1st round. Sieler was also very slipper looking, his defensive skills have gotten a lot better and Zotov was off target on most of his strikes. In the 2nd, Ron Sieler started to look like a different fighter, he tested Maksim’s chin repeatedly, which turned out to be one amazing chin. Sieler started to land strikes at an alarming pace, hooks, kicks, body shots, elbows all found their mark over and over again and at the end of the round Zotov’s entire face was swollen. At this point the only thing Zotov had been able to do is land a few very solid leg kicks, but so was Sieler and it was Zotov that had the noticeable limp heading to his corner at the end of the round. In the 3rd you now saw another type of strike land from Sieler, a knee. He was able to land a beautiful knee that hurt Zotov, but he still didn’t go down. Ron Sieler was able to control the entire round landing a ton of strikes standing, and dominating in the clinch. Sieler was simply amazing in this one, he finally beat a higher ranked opponent and he did it in dominating fashion. He end this fight landing 33 of 39 head strikes standing, 21 of 29 leg kicks and he defended all 12 take down attempted by Zotov. He will make a lot of fighters take note of his clinch work also, where he was able to land all 40 strikes he attempted, including 17 elbows. Watch out for Ron.
Light Heavyweight Fight
#19 Noob Saibot (7-2, 1-0 NGF) v #8 Kert Nigobson (6-6, 3-3 NGF)
Well after a great, dominating fight that saw close to 100 strikes attempted we get this one which had 23 and 0 standing up. Noob Saibot is a bjj black belt and he will get to the mat any way possible, he can fight standing, but he can get into one of these fights, where he’ll just try and figure out his opponent, never doing anything, looking like he’s in trouble, then bam! Submission! This entire fight was spent on the mat; Nigobson was able to drop down right away, taking down Saibot, who looked like he didn’t put up much of a fight to get to the mat. From there Kert tried to pound out Saibot, but he was only able to land 7 of his 23 attempts with none really doing much damage. Then what we are unfortunately getting accustomed to is Kert getting sloppy. He does it again in this one, he wears himself out, throws slow strike and then leaves his arm there, Saibot takes advantage, grabs the arm and quickly transitions into a armbar at 4:55 of the 1st. The slick armbar earns Noob Saibot the $5,000 SOTN award and tells the Light Heavyweight division that’s there’s new title competition on its way.
Heavyweight Fight
#16 Armand Battailen (6-3, 2-2 NGF) v #7 Andrew Golota (10-3, 5-1 NGF)
This fight was great, a FOTN runner up for sure. These two guys fought their hearts out and put on a great show for the crowd. The fight started with Andrew Golota quickly stunning Armand Battailen with a combination that cut Battailen. From there each fighter tried to feel the other out, strikes were being attempted, but a lot were missing. I was surprised that Battailen didn’t try and get this in the clinch, but he decided to stay outside and trade punches with the better striker in Golota. The clinches he did attempt, he himself was the one to get out of it, he would clinch up and just seconds later, he broke it. Surprising. The round ended with Golota really hurting Battailen with a massive uppercut but the round was over. In the 2nd the two got back to trading punches, and quickly Battailen’s cut opened back up, worse than it was in the 1st. As the round continued there was a point where I thought the fight might get stopped, Battailen was a bloody mess, blood was starting to get into his eyes, he was clearly having trouble, but it continued on. The 3rd round was as good as the first two, big punches, big kicks, good defense, very entertaining round. Armand Battailen did try a few more times to get this fight to the clinch, but he just couldn’t keep it there. In the end Andrew Golota was able to land a few more total strikes then Battailen, but Armand was cut and cut badly, he was a mess and Golota won each round 10-9.
Co-Main Event:
Middleweight Fight
#7 Alpha Male (10-7, 4-5 NGF) v #6 Facaloto Gals (12-4, 4-1 NGF)
Alpha Male is in a stretch that he has to figure out something to change and figure it out fast. He is now just 2-5 in his last 7 fights. In the first, it wasn’t the most entertaining, but both fighters tried to find their range and feel the other out. Facaloto Gals was able to get 2 takedowns and controlled most of the round standing and on the ground, and he was able to land the only few significant strikes of the round. In the 2nd, Gals was able to lock in the early take down and the entire round was on the ground with Male trying to defend against a submission. You can only score that round for Gals as he dominated the grappling game. In the 3rd, more Gals takedowns, but Male did escape a few times, but each escape was met with another takedown. Very demoralizing for Alpha Male. As the fight ended, it was Gals once again ending the round on top, dominating the grappling and bjj game and taking this one 30-27 from each judge. Gals will move into a title contender and Male will probably drop out of the top 10 and try and figure out how to stop this slide.
Main Event
Heavyweight Title Fight
#2 Rinky Spider (6-1, 4-1 NGF) v #1 Sam Winchester (7-2, 2-0 NGF)
This was the fight I was so excited to see, the fight that I would have paid only to see and when the fight was over I wanted more. Two undefeated fighters in the NGF, to fantastic all around fighters that can take a fight anywhere and can win a fight anywhere. Very early on something happened that I didn’t think we would ever see, Rinky Spider rocked and knocked down. Just seconds into the round, Sam Winchester did a switch kick that landed right to the temple of Spider, rocking him, cutting him and dropping him to the mat. Winchester followed Spider to the mat where Spider recovers and holds on, looking to possibly get a referee stand up. After 30 seconds of stalling, Spider makes a quick move and does manage to get back to his feet. After a 5 minute delay while Spider shakes off a knee to the “happy” place, we get back to action. The round then sees some great ground action and finishes with both fighters standing and throwing. It was a fast pace exciting round, but one that was scored 10-9 for Winchester. The 2nd saw Spider get a little more aggressive, both fighters traded strikes back and forth, but Winchester did get the only take down and the only submission attempt, also he took this fight to the clinch for a bit. It was a close round and one that could have been scored either way. In the 3rd we had more stand up action from both fighters, but the big moment of the round was when Winchester was able to land another big head kick which once again rocked Spider and had him crashing to the canvas. To start the 4th, Winchester kicked Spider right in the privates, again crumpling Spider, I thought he should have had a point taken away, but it was another warning. In this round both fighters looked exhausted. They still traded punches and kicks, but it was Spider looking bloody and you could now see a noticeable problem with his left leg, there was a huge welt and Spider looked to be having a lot of trouble with it. In the 5th round, the fight really slowed down. After some early take down attempts failed by Winchester, he looked to almost go into “prevent” defense, his attack really tailed off and Spider was trying everything to get a knock out. Spider landed a lot more strikes in the 5th round, but he was out of gas and the fight ended. It was such a good fight, I wanted more, the crowd wanted more and maybe down the road these two will do this again, we can only hope. The judges scored this one 46-49, 47-48 and 46-49 and still HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, SAM WINCHESTER!
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