The first fight I ever watched converted me into a follower.

I never watched any type of Mixed Martial Arts match from start to finish. Fighting just wasn’t something I had considered to be entertaining. I’d linger when I channel surfed, but all it was to me at the time was a bunch of scary-looking guys beating each other up; it was something I never really saw myself getting into, despite being a sports nut.

But after watching overly dramatic commercials on the rematch between Mike Brown  and Urijah Faber being the fight of the year, I just had to see what all the fuss was about. And boy, did I find out.

After five rounds of action-packed punches, elbows and kicks, Brown defeated “California Kid” Faber by unanimous decision.

The upset of last year’s World Extreme Cagefighting Championship by Brown over Faber was unexpected and led Faber to say he was “eager to get some redemption,” as said to the WEC.

The rematch of this fight took place Sun., June 7, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif. and was much anticipated. The fights leading up to the main event were nearly as exciting. Notably, one match lasted only eight seconds, with Jose Aldo knocking out Cub Swanson with a flying knee.

The match took place in Faber’s hometown, and when he walked into the arena the crowd erupted with cheers. Several times throughout the fight, chants of “Faber, Faber!” could be heard. Despite this, Brown came away from the fight victorious.

“I heard the boo’s coming in and I actually – I almost like it,” Brown said in an interview with WEC.tv. “When I’m the hometown guy, when people cheer for me, I almost am nervous, like ‘Oh no, I don’t want to let these guys down.’ But when I’m booed it makes me want to fight.”

Faber arguably took Round 1, while Brown dominated the rest of the fight, and won by unanimous decision after five hard-fought rounds, once again making him the WEC Featherweight Champion.

After breaking his hand early on in the fight, Faber did a good job of hiding it from the viewers and from his opponent for several rounds, eventually throwing more elbows instead of punches.

About halfway into the fight, Versus announcers called the fight “a classic in the making,” giving credit to Brown and Faber as both being talented and persevering athletes in the MMA world. Wec.tv called the fight “epic” and “one of the most memorable bouts of the year.” Philly.com called it one of the “biggest events in the history of the WEC.”

This sport got to me for several reasons. It showed strong emotions, determination, mental and physical toughness and extreme athleticism. It had me yelling at the television, screaming “Hit him!” and wondering how in the world the fighters got out of some of those holds (the guillotine and triangle chokes are insane!).

When the fighters teared up after losing or winning, I felt for them. Despite being an individual sport, it was still all about teamwork and supporting all the trainers that helped them get to the fight.

I admire their toughness even when injured. You can’t name too many professional athletes that would continue to play despite breaking a hand.

So, I think I learned my lesson: Don’t judge a sport ‘til you watch it!

MMA Mania

The lightweight finale for TUF was set this week as Andre Winner and Ross Pearson punched in their tickets to an all-UK affair at the expense of Cameron Dollar and Jason Dent respectively.

In the first fight of today’s episode, Winner disposed to Dollar in quick and unexpected fashion with a triangle choke in the first round.

It was a sloppy fight initially, with Dollar swinging for the fences from the start while Winner responded with precision counter strikes. The decisive factor was Dollar’s inability to suck Winner into the ground game, as Winner muscled off Dollar’s takedowns and was unnerved by Dollar’s looping go-for-broke punches. Winner then took advantage of a desperate lunging takedown by Dollar to sweep into full mount. The mount was high, so the striker Winner switched to a triangle choke which hung dangerously loose for awhile. However, Dollar didn’t muster the strength to pull out of the hold, and Winner eventually locked it up and coaxed the tap from Dollar.

In the second fight, the veteren Dent finally turned up the heat against British slugger Pearson, fighting Pearson at his own game of non-stop striking in the first round. Pearson was up to the test and refused to back up, throwing strikes of his own which found their mark. Overall in the round Pearson landed more clean shots, but Dent ended the round with a strong flurry, making it a round nearly too close to call.

It was more of the same at the start of the second round, with both men exchanging punches and kicks. Pearson scored the first takedown of the match to escape a Dent flurry, but Dent made it back to his feet and continued to apply the pressure from strikes. However, a takedown attempt by Dent went wrong and Pearson ended the round by raining down blows from guard, taking away all the momentum that Dent had built up.

Convinced that Dent was behind on the scorecards, USA coach Dan Henderson implored Dent to finish the fight in the third and final round. However, Pearson came out of his corner full of confidence and brought the fight right up to Dent, hitting him with punches before taking him down once more. Pearson went on to punish the tired Dent from guard before grabbing side-back control when Dent tried to squirm back to his feet. From there it was all Pearson, who showed enough awareness to avoid all of Dent’s last-ditch submission attempts while still actively delivering strikes on the ground.  The fight ended with Pearson in dominant position, and while Dent finally showed what he could do, it was indeed Ross Pearson who took the unanimous decision.

Though the non-fight segments of the episode were kept short, listening to the Team UK fighters talk about what Jason Pierce had told them about Cameron Dollar’s striking tendencies was a nice reminder that trustworthiness is a factor when deciding which fighters you want in your camp.

TUF Finale Big Board

With only one episode remaining before the finale, both final fights look to be highly entertaining matchups.

Lightweight

The Favorite – Andre Winner

The Underdog – Ross Pearson

Winner will enter the TUF 9 ligthweight finale as the slight favorite due to his size and experience advantage. In a battle between two strikers who can also finish with submissions, Winner will need to impose his will on the smaller man both standing and on the ground. For Pearson, the key will be to once again push the pace and try to harass Winner into losing his composure.

Welterweight

The Favorite – Demarques Johnson

The Underdog – James Wilks/Frank Lester

No matter whoever wins the final fight next week, Johnson will enter the finale as a slight favorite against Wilks or a clear favorite against Lester. Johnson seems to have a complete game, but as his semi-final fight showed, he can be rattled by strikes that come fast and early. Lester, although tough as nails, lacks the technique to compete with Johnson, and Wilks will have to bring some ruthless aggression and not let Johnson settle into any kind of game plan.

Quote of the Show:

“I never suck my thumb in the house… only at nights… and sometimes in the van.”

Andre Winner, on his tendency to sometimes suck on his own thumb.

Jack-of-all-trades Joe “Diesel” Riggs outclassed Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni both standing and on the ground en route to a decision victory at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields.

On this night Baroni simply didn’t have the necessary tools to deal with Riggs, who controlled most of the action on the ground. While standing, Riggs threw mixed combos of punches, flying knees and kicks, punishing Baroni’s one-dimensional jabs.

Much like Randleman before him, Baroni simply seems to be a relic from MMA yesteryear, where his simple punching power and slightly-above-average wrestling doesn’t stand up against a well-rounded opponent.

In the first welterweight semi-final, Team USA’s Demarques Johnson grabbed the first spot in the finale by winning a slugfest against Team UK’s Nick Osipczak.

At the start of the show, the semi-final matchups were set by the head coaches and UFC President Dana White. The lightweight matchups were Andre Winner against Cameron Dollar while Jason Dent would face Ross Pearson. The welterweight matchups were a rematch between Frank Lester and James Wilks, while Osipczak was paired with Johnson.

The fight this week was an absolute gem, where the underdog Osipczak gave the welterweight favorite Johnson all he could handle. In the first round, Johnson started strong, peppering Osipczak with punches while scoring takedowns. However, Osipczak was game, landing hard elbows from bottom position while fighting off multiple attempts by Johnson to take mount. At the end of the round, Osipczak caught Johnson with a big uppercut while getting up from the ground, and the round ended with a flurry of punches from both men, with both connecting more than once with shots to their opponent’s face, with Osipczak getting the better of the late exchange.

Despite Johnson still showing the effects of the brawl from round one, stand-up fighter Osipczak foolishly went for a takedown at the start of round two, a takedown which was easily turned into top position by Johnson. Johnson tried to both ground-and-pound and then lock a kimura, but Osipczak again avoided taking major punishment on the ground until giving up back mount. Johnson, for some reason, didn’t go for a choke, but rode out the round raining punches down on Osipczak, who did little more than cover up.

In the decisive round three, Osipczak (after answering the bell defiantly) was again on the receiving end of jabs and punches from Johnson. With both men gassed, Johnson secured another takedown, but was rolled over after trying to take mount again. Unfortunately, Osipczak had no strength left to deliver any more effective strikes, leaving Johnson to win the well-earned decision.

The next episode will feature both lightweight semi-finals, and hopefully those future bouts will be able to match the excitement of the fight from this week.

TUF Top 3

Demarques Johnson claims the first spot in the finale, while both lightweight spots will be filled by next week.

Lightweight

1. Ross Pearson – Team UK (Previous rank: 1)

The illegal knee to Ritchie Whitson will surely be up for much debate among TUF fans, but Pearson was already winning the stand-up exchange even before the knee. Pearson picked up right where he left off in the prelims, outslugging and overpowering his opponent while roaring back to the top of the lightweight heap. He will face Jason Dent next week for a spot in the finale.

1. Andre Winner – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)

Winner, an early favorite coming into the show, was shaky in his prelim fight but turned up the heat against Santino DeFranco, beating the American in the stand-up game before finishing on the ground. Winner’s combination of strength and length will provide a matchup nightmare against Cameron Dollar next week.

1. Cameron Dollar – Team USA (Previous rank: 3)

For all of the trash talk, antagonizing his own teammates, and then pre-fight crisis of confidence, Dollar still managed to put on a solid ground showing versus Martin Stapleton. He will have his hands full with Andre Winner in next week’s episode.

Welterweight

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1)

Johnson solidified his status as the welterweight to beat so far with his quick submission of Dean Amasinger and decision victory over Nick Osipczak. Johnson might have to work a little on his cardio, but is still the clear favorite to claim the welterweight TUF 9 title.

1. James Wilks – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)

Wilks, who submitted the notable Che Mills in his prelim fight, handled Team USA’s Frank Lester in brutal fashion, showing a hard Thai clinch and knees before finishing things up on the ground. While Lester wasn’t exactly the most seasoned welterweight on the show, Wilks proved that he is no slouch on his feet in addition to being a definite danger on the ground. A rematch with Frank Lester for a spot in the finale beckons next.

1. Frank Lester – Team USA (Previous rank: 3)

Heart is usually the vaguest thing to measure in a person, but whatever that toughness “X Factor” is, Lester has it in spades. Lester gave Team UK favorite David Faulkner all he could handle, outlasting him and grabbing the final spot in the semifinals, where he will once again meet James Wilks.

Quote of the Show:

“Yeah I want to fight Dent…. He’s a fucking crybaby.”

- Cameron Dollar, on why he would rather fight Jason Dent in the semi-finals than either of Team UK’s fighters.

In the final first round fight of the season, Team USA’s Frank Lester was chosen to replace Jason Pierce and fight against Team UK’s David Faulkner in a welterweight showdown. Lester then disposed of tournament favorite Faulker when Faulkner declined to get out of his corner in the third round

Lester, still suffering from the bruises and wounds of his previous loss to James Wilks, was battered by strikes from Faulkner in the first round, but was able to muscle out of takedown attempts and clinches before things got too dangerous. Faulkner won round one, but was visibly gassing already by the round’s end.

On the advice of his corner, Lester swarmed Faulkner with punches and knees of his own in round two, and while Faulkner was gassed, he was able to both survive and also throw enough strikes of his own to keep things competitive. Both men were tired and swung for the fences at the end of the round, but an extra round would be needed to decide a winner.

Faulkner however, proved himself to not much more of a real fighter than Jason Pierce when he declined to continue the fight, presumably because he was too tired. In a battle of wills, Lester, despite being bruised and battered from his last fight, proved that he wanted to be a UFC fighter much more than Faulkner did.

In the non-fighting portion of the show, Michael Bisping decided to squirt a water bottle in the face of Demarques Johnson in retaliation to something that was said during the coach’s tennis match. Except it was Cameron Dollar who actually uttered the taunt in question. Bisping’s douchebag-like behavior should add some spice to the season finale and the Bisping-Henderson fight at UFC 100.

For the first time in TUF history, a hypnotist was brought onto the show, to help Faulkner try to mentally overcome a gag reflex issue that made him constantly spit out his mouthpiece. It didn’t work, as Faulkner ended up spitting out his mouthpiece once at the start of round two. Perhaps next time Faulkner can get the hypnotist to correct his tendency to give up when things really matter.

Spike TV’s teaser of the next show advertised a welterweight slugfest for a spot in the finale.

TUF Top 3

Lightweight

1. Ross Pearson – Team UK (Previous rank: 1)

The illegal knee to Ritchie Whitson will surely be up for much debate among TUF fans, but Pearson was already winning the stand-up exchange even before the knee. Pearson picked up right where he left off in the prelims, outslugging and overpowering his opponent while roaring back to the top of the lightweight heap.

1. Andre Winner – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)

Winner, an early favorite coming into the show, was shaky in his prelim fight but turned up the heat against Santino DeFranco, beating the American in the stand-up game before finishing on the ground. Winner’s combination of strength and length will provide a matchup nightmare against whichever lightweight stands in his way next.

1. Cameron Dollar – Team USA (Previous rank: 3)

For all of the trash talk, antagonizing his own teammates, and then pre-fight crisis of confidence, Dollar still managed to put on a solid ground showing versus Martin Stapleton. Despite Jason Dent’s lack of aggression, Dollar is still probably the matchup both Winner and Pearson would favor.
Welterweight

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1)

Johnson solidified his status as the welterweight to beat so far with his quick submission of Dean Amasinger. While Amasinger wasn’t one of the top welterweights, Johnson’s finish was still convincing enough for him to keep the top spot.

1. James Wilks – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)

Wilks, who submitted the notable Che Mills in his prelim fight, handled Team USA’s Frank Lester in brutal fashion, showing a hard Thai clinch and knees before finishing things up on the ground. While Lester wasn’t exactly the most seasoned welterweight on the show, Wilks proved that he is no slouch on his feet in addition to being a definite danger on the ground.

1. Frank Lester – Team USA (Previous rank: n/a)

Heart is usually the vaguest thing to measure in a person, but whatever that toughness “X Factor” is, Lester has it in spades. Lester gave Team UK favorite David Faulkner all he could handle, outlasting him and grabbing the final spot in the semifinals.

Quote of the Show:

“If you’re not willing to sacrifice for your dream, it’s not really your dream, and you’re not meant to have it.”

- Frank Lester, on taking on David Faulkner despite losing some teeth in his last fight

 

The final first-round matchup at lightweight pitted Team USA’s UFC vet Jason Dent against Team UK’s Jeff Lawson. In one of the strangest fights of the season, Dent prevailed via an anaconda choke in round two. With the first round of lightweight fights complete, Team UK still holds a 4-3 lead overall.
In other noteworthy news, Jason Pierce’s negativity was finally killed off by Dana White, who declared Pierce unfit to fight after Pierce failed to convince White that he was physically or mentally prepared to fight. A staph infection, coupled with Pierce’s seeming lack of will to tough out the circumstances, led White to pull the plug on Pierce, mercifully ending his sad-sack moping and any chance that Pierce would be labeled “The Ultimate Fighter”.
In this week’s fight, Lawson convincingly won the opening round, despite frequently dropping his hands in favor of trying high-impact strikes and slams. Dent never tried to capitalize, however, and Lawson turned a sloppy clinch into a sutemi waza-like takedown and kept top position for the rest of the round.

 

Lawson gassed badly in the second round however, making no effort to hold up his hands and lacking any kind of power in his strikes. Dent inexplicably failed to press, instead keeping up his methodical pacing and an occasional leg kick. Despite having no energy (a case of bronchitis earlier in the show was offered as an explanation by Michael Bisping), Lawson almost turned a leg-scissors into a heel hook before lunging into the arms of Dent, who gator-rolled Lawson and applied an anaconda choke for the win.

 

Needless to say, the sight of Lawson bent over gasping for air in the second round while Dent just stood there slowly circling made for a poor-quality TUF viewing experience. With Dent basically labeled borderline-uncoachable by Dan Henderson, one can see why Dent didn’t stick in the UFC during his two-fight tenure with the company in 2006-07.

Spike TV’s teaser of the next show promised a firecracker of a show, as Team USA selects another welterweight to fight David Faulkner, Demarques Johnson flips out on Bisping, and the Faulkner vs. ????? fight is revealed to go into a sudden-victory round.

TUF Top 3

The final four lightweights have been decided, but after two unconvincing performances, Jason Dent fails to break into the top three LWs.

Lightweight

1. Ross Pearson – Team UK (Previous rank: 1)
   The illegal knee to Ritchie Whitson will surely be up for much debate among TUF fans, but Pearson was already winning the stand-up exchange even before the knee. Pearson picked up right where he left off in the prelims, outslugging and overpowering his opponent while roaring back to the top of the lightweight heap.
2. Andre Winner – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)
   Winner, an early favorite coming into the show, was shaky in his prelim fight but turned up the heat against Santino DeFranco, beating the American in the stand-up game before finishing on the ground. Winner’s combination of strength and length will provide a matchup nightmare against whichever lightweight stands in his way next.
3. Cameron Dollar – Team USA (Previous rank: 3)
   For all of the trash talk, antagonizing his own teammates, and then pre-fight crisis of confidence, Dollar still managed to put on a solid ground showing versus Martin Stapleton. Despite Jason Dent’s lack of aggression, Dollar is still probably the matchup both Winner and Pearson would favor.

Welterweight

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1)
   Johnson solidified his status as the welterweight to beat so far with his quick submission of Dean Amasinger. While Amasinger wasn’t one of the top welterweights, Johnson’s finish was still convincing enough for him to keep the top spot.
2. James Wilks – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)
   Wilks, who submitted the notable Che Mills in his prelim fight, handled Team USA’s Frank Lester in brutal fashion, showing a hard Thai clinch and knees before finishing things up on the ground. While Lester wasn’t exactly the most seasoned welterweight on the show, Wilks proved that he is no slouch on his feet in addition to being a definite danger on the ground.
3. Nick Osipczak – Team UK (Previous rank: 3)
   The first winner on the main show didn’t look overly impressive in doing so, but he showed a good chin in dealing with Mark Miller’s punches in the first round. Osipczak so far has not shown much technique, and instead seems to be coasting on his physical talents alone.

Quote of the Show:
“Physically I’m nothing to look at…I’m a ginger, for god’s sake.”

- Jeff Lawson on why some fighters might underestimate him.

Two of TUF 9’s early lightweight favorites were paired against each other in the latest round of lightweight fights, with Team UK’s Ross Pearson scoring a quick yet somewhat controversial victory over Team USA’s Ritchie Whitson. Team UK now has a commanding 4-2 lead over the USA.

 

In a matchup of two high-energy fighters, both fighters let fly with strikes before an illegal knee by Pearson temporarily stopped the fight. After the restart, Pearson muscled his way into Whitson’s clinch and executed multiple slams, before an armbar from back control finished off Whitson in the first round.

It was an unfortunate turn of events for Whitson, who wasn’t able to follow up his impressive showing in the prelims with another victory. Not only did he take a knee to the face while grounded, but a contagious rash had kept him out of most of his training the week prior to his fight. In hindsight, Team UK’s matchup choice of Pearson to take on Whitson came at the perfect time.

Neither Pearson nor Whitson had gotten much “face time” on the show prior to this week, and before the fight announcement, the strange rash on Whitson’s face had almost gotten more coverage time than both fighter put together.

In a somewhat more bizarre occurrence, David Faulkner spoiled Team UK’s original matchup choice by injuring himself with a sledgehammer, which was present due to a Team UK exercise which involved taking a sledgehammer and hitting a truck tire with it. According to Michael Bisping, the exercise helps build core strength, but watching some of the UK fighters clumsily handle the hammer seemed to suggest that the exercise isn’t worth the potential mishaps usually associated with swinging hammers around.

TUF Top 3

Which of the fighters are the front-runners to winning it all? As more and more fights occurs, the cream slowly rises to the top…

Lightweight

1. Ross Pearson – Team UK (Previous rank: dropped out)
   The illegal knee to Ritchie Whitson will surely be up for much debate among TUF fans, but Pearson was already winning the stand-up exchange even before the knee. Pearson picked up right where he left off in the prelims, outslugging and overpowering his opponent while roaring back to the top of the lightweight heap.
2. Andre Winner – Team UK (Previous rank: 3)
   Winner, an early favorite coming into the show, was shaky in his prelim fight but turned up the heat against Santino DeFranco, beating the American in the stand-up game before finishing on the ground. Winner’s combination of strength and length will provide a matchup nightmare against whichever lightweight stands in his way next.
3. Cameron Dollar – Team USA (Previous rank: n/a)
   For all of the trash talk, antagonizing his own teammates, and then pre-fight crisis of confidence, Dollar still managed to put on a solid ground showing versus Martin Stapleton. This week’s episode saw Dollar have a mini-emotional-breakdown, bringing up more questions about his mental makeup heading into the next round.

Dropped out: Ritchie Whitson – Team USA

Welterweight

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1)
   Johnson solidified his status as the welterweight to beat so far with his quick submission of Dean Amasinger. While Amasinger wasn’t one of the top welterweights, Johnson’s finish was still convincing enough for him to keep the top spot.
2. James Wilks – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)
   Wilks, who submitted the notable Che Mills in his prelim fight, handled Team USA’s Frank Lester in brutal fashion, showing a hard Thai clinch and knees before finishing things up on the ground. While Lester wasn’t exactly the most seasoned welterweight on the show, Wilks proved that he is no slouch on his feet in addition to being a definite danger on the ground.
3. Nick Osipczak – Team UK (Previous rank: 3)
   The first winner on the main show didn’t look overly impressive in doing so, but he showed a good chin in dealing with Mark Miller’s punches in the first round. Osipczak so far has not shown much technique, and instead seems to be coasting on his physical talents alone. Now at least, his KO win should make the other welterweights respect him a little more.

Quote of the Show:
“This is going to be a good fight, Ross Pearson versus Shaun White…”

- Dana White, on the Pearson/Whitson matchup.

MAY 3, 2008 - ‘Hard Knocks Cage Fights’

 Mike Putnam, trained by MMA Coach, Bruce Lombard, of Titan Fitness in State College, PA won his amateur MMA debuwith a split decision victory(29-28,28-29,29-28) over previously unbeaten Ohio native Josh Baker, in the 145lb weight division.  The two strong willed fighters went back and forth for three rounds with no clear advantage for either fighter standing or on the ground.  In the first round Putnam almost got caught in a choke in Josh’s guard, but he cleared the submission attempt and threw down some effective ground and pound as he cleared Baker’s guard.  Baker landed a few heavy punches to the head of his opponent in the second round, but they did not seem to phase Putnam’s attack.  The third round was a back and forth battle as well, but in the end, I think the judges decision came down to Putnam’s control in the clinch game.  Mike controlled his tough opponent in the clinch throughout the first two rounds keeping him pinned against the cage and landing many effective knees. 

This event was promoted by ‘Hard Knocks Cage Fights’ and was held in St. Clairsville, OH.  The  event arena was sold out as over 2,500 MMA fans enjoyed 15 cage fights.

For more information go to:  www.hardknockscagefights.com

The majority of this week’s episode of TUF was devoted to the two fights that took place, with Team USA and Team UK once again splitting the victories. Team UK still holds the overall lead at 3-2.

In a lightweight match, Team USA’s Cameron Dollar defeated Team UK’s Martin Stapleton with a rear naked choke in round one. The second fight of the night had both limbs and teeth flying, with Team UK’s James Wilks triumphing over Team USA’s Frank Lester due to verbal submission.
Dollar was shown in the lead-up to the fight to being something close to a nervous wreck, but in a classic styles-make-fights example, Dollar managed to run the ground gauntlet against Stapleton, who’s lack of ground prowess left him helpless against Dollar’s wrestling. Dollar reversed a Stapleton takedown attempt, secured back control and eventually choked out Stapleton with plenty of time to spare in round one.

In a welterweight clash, Wilks restored Team UK’s lead by winning a slugfest over Lester. In this fight, Lester’s inexperience showed; even though brawling and stand-up were his best weapons, Lester never bothered with defense or head movement, leaving him open to the clinch of the longer-reaching Englishman. Wilks, who has won all of his professional MMA fights via submission, was able to close the distance and clinch at will before delivering a devastating knee which knocked several of Lester’s teeth out. From there on out, Lester was easy pickings for Wilks, who manhandled his opponent until securing a verbal submission out of an armbar.

TUF Top 3

Which of the fighters are the front-runners to winning it all? As more and more fights occurs, the cream slowly rises to the top…

Lightweight

1. Richie Whitson – Team USA (Previous rank: 1)
   The red-haired Alaskan, already nicknamed “Carrot Top” by internet fans, defeated Paul Bird via first round submission to earn the right to represent the USA. The Team Quest prospect showed good takedown defense and quick hands in his victory, making him the top standout so far from 155.
2. Andre Winner – Team UK (Previous rank: 3)
   Winner, an early favorite coming into the show, was shaky in his prelim fight but turned up the heat against Santino DeFranco, beating the American in the stand-up game before finishing on the ground. Winner’s combination of strength and length will provide a matchup nightmare against whichever lightweight stands in his way next.
3. Cameron Dollar – Team USA (Previous rank: n/a)
   For all of the trash talk, antagonizing his own teammates, and then pre-fight crisis of confidence, Dollar still managed to put on a solid ground showing versus Martin Stapleton. While his victory was impressive due to its quickness, his weak stand-up and questionable frame of mind wont have any other of the lightweights shaking in their boots.

Dropped out: Ross Pearson – Team UK

Welterweight

1. Demarques Johnson –Team USA (Previous rank: 1)
   Johnson solidified his status as the welterweight to beat so far with his quick submission of Dean Amasinger. While Amasinger wasn’t one of the top welterweights, Johnson’s finish was still convincing enough for him to keep the top spot.
2. James Wilks – Team UK (Previous rank: 2)
   Wilks, who submitted the notable Che Mills in his prelim fight, handled Team USA’s Frank Lester in brutal fashion, showing a hard Thai clinch and knees before finishing things up on the ground. While Lester wasn’t exactly the most seasoned welterweight on the show, Wilks proved that he is no slouch on his feet in addition to being a definite danger on the ground.
3. Nick Osipczak – Team UK (Previous rank: 3)
   The first winner on the main show didn’t look overly impressive in doing so, but he showed a good chin in dealing with Mark Miller’s punches in the first round. Osipczak so far has not shown much technique, and instead seems to be coasting on his physical talents alone. Now at least, his KO win should make the other welterweights respect him a little more.

Dropped out: David Faulkner – Team UK

Quote of the Show:
“We all hate you too, you old grumpy f**k”

- Cameron Dollar, while overhearing Jason Pierce telling Mark Miller and Dean Amasinger about how much he dislikes Dollar.

Allison Glenny trains Muay Thai under coach, Bruce Lombard, out of Titan Fitness and MMA in State College, PA.  On April 18, 2009 she had her first amateur Muay Thai fight in Hamburg, PA.  Glenny won a unanimous three round decision in a fast paced battle over a determined opponent from Allentown, PA.

As displayed in the video above, Allison showed amazing poise in her first Muay Thai fight displaying accurate punch to kick combinations and powerful knees in the clinch.  Knocking her opponent down twice with her straight rear cross, plus her relentless high to low attack and dominance with the plumm position, the judges rewarded her the decision with scores of: 30-25, 30-25, 30-26.

Allison Glenny will return to the ring this July.