Here are some results and brief notes from the Underground on last weekend’s Freestyle Fighting Championships II, where Austin’s Phil Cardella competed in the headliner. Click on Read More for details.
1) Becks wins by rear naked , first round
2) Beecher over Peeples, Beecher caught him right at the beginning of the round with a flurry, fight was over
3)Williams over Roscorla, rear naked, first round, another impressive win by Aaron williams!
4)Sayavonga over Shelton ref stoppage, Sayavonga conrolled the fight pretty well , good fight
5) Donley over O’Neal, judges decision- best fight of the night. Donley took the first two rounds pretty convincingly, and O’Neal looked gassed and hurt. The third round, O’Neal came back with a vengence, and despite Donleys best efforts ONeal took the third round in a fight that had the crowd screaming and cheering. Excellent fight by both athletes, simply excellent!
6) Lucio over Cardella in submission match, decision–there is something special about seeing two world class submission artists doing what they do best, and this match was a constant battle, with exceptional skill shown by both fighters. Very impressive groundwork on both sides.
7) Benefield v Gilden, sub match- draw, both guys struggled, but neither could gain an advantage. Dave “The Pimp” looked viscious and lethal, but couldnt pull off a win.
8) Clementi over Jordan, arm bar, first round. Jordan shot in immediatly on Clementi, both fighters clinched in the corner. Jordan landed a few foot stomps on Clementi, but Clementi then pinned him in the corner. Celementi worked some knees and elbows, and tried repeatedly to pull Jordan off the ropes, but was mainly unsuccessful. Near the end of round one, Clementi finally succeeeded , and both fighters ended up on the ground, Jordan in Clementis gaurd. with 10 seconds remaining in round 1 , Clementi caught Jordan in an armbar. Very good fight.
This was another great event by the Freestyle Fighting Championship crew. In attendence were Billy Lyons and Sal Taranto, senior exceutives of the Mississippi Athletic Commission, both of whom came away with a very positive impression of MMA.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Clementi did fight with out his hair gel. As painful as it was for him to do so, like a true warrior he sucked it up and fought despite his less-than-perfectly groomed appearence.
Also, props to Joe Jordan. He helped judge the childrens submission matches at the tourmanent held during the day. After a decison, he heard the parents of the losing child complaining, and he took the time to explain to them why the decision had been made, and said some nice things about the heart that their kid showed in the match. Classy move, Jordan seems like a cool guy.