I’ll be here live with you guys covering the Elite XC Saturday Night Fights card from my living room. We’ll have live results and my thoughts on the action. BloodyElbow.com Editor-In-Chief Luke Thomas is live in the arena and will be providing me with updates as the night goes on.
Our coverage will start with the undercard and we will be with you all the way through the main event of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. James Thompson. Main card results will follow.
Stick around and comment on your thoughts as the show progresses. I love to talk with you guys and your thoughts on the show are always welcome.
I’ve spoken to Luke, he is there, the action is getting ready to begin. The first two fights are not scheduled to air even via webcast.
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
Joe Sampieri vs. Mike Groves
Fighters circle without much exchanging. Sampierei lands vicious head kick and winds up on top in full guard in the scramble. Groves works high guard, but doesn’t make progress. Sampieri continues to work from on top with elbows and punches. In a scramble after an armbar attempt, Groves gets on top and lands in half guard. Groves working one-arm in guillotine but escapes. Fight restarts on the feet and Sampieri floors Groves again. Sampieri lands in mount and unloads punches until the ref stops the fight at 4:58 of the very first round.
Zach Makovsky vs. Andre Soares
I’m having major computer problems at the moment.
Apologies.
Round 2 – Fighters trade and Soares is clearly gassed. Makovsky pressing with one two combinations on the feet and stuffing all of Soares’ takedown attempt. Makovshy lands crushing left hand that sends Soares crashing to the floor. Makovsky follows up but Soares hangs on.
10-9 Makovsky
Round 3 – More of the same. Soares is gassed and throwing either desperation shots at the end of exchanges or attempting takedowns. Makovsky is picking Soares apart the entire. Soares is able to pull half guard once, but Makovsky stands out. Makovsky couldn’t put Soares away, but clearly landed the only damaging shots of the round.
10-9 Makovsky.
BE didn’t get the chance to score the first round but calls this fight for Zach Makovshy. The judges score it 29-28, 29-26, 29-26 and award Makovsky the unanimous decision victory.
Calvin Kattar vs. James “Binky” Jones – 150 lbs – Jones’ striking looked bad to start things and Kattar was obviously the better striker aside from Binky’s knees. However once it went to the ground “Binky” was able to flex the wrestling and BJJ skills. He worked for kimuras and eventually was able to sink in a rear naked choke after Kattar gave up his back. James Jones wins by Submission – Rear Naked Choke – Round 1 (4:44)
Justin Robbins vs. Wilson Reis – 140 lbs – Round 1 – Reis is looking to follow behind low kicks with a left hand. Robbins ends up on his back as Reis has him against the cage. Passing to side control is Reis, then to full mount. Robbins is able to reverse to top control. Reis is looking for a triangle, switches to an armbar and I thought Robbins arm broke but he survives only to fall back into a triangle choke. Robbins is staying calm and Reis gives up on the choke. The ref was telling him “you have to work” while he had the choke locked up…which is…wrong. Omoplata attempt is avoided by Justin. Reis briefly looked for a leg lock but went back to side control. Robbins gives up his back and Reis starts to throw big shots to the side of his head. RNC is sunk in and Robbins tries to fight out but is left with no choice but to tap. Robbins showed heart avoiding the triangle and armbar but he Reis was transitioning from sub to sub like crazy all fight. Very impressive showing. Wilson Reis wins by Submission – Rear Naked Choke – Round 1.
Nick Serra vs. Matt Makowski – 170 lbs – Nick Serra is out wearing a monkey mask. He is the “mad monkey” after all. Mauro says he hopes the fans go “bananas for him.” Between “$kala,” the rappers, the dancing girls, and Mauro’s crappy puns…EXC has a long way to go to improve their production. I missed the new female announcer’s name but she did say that this fight is a “3 round for Elite XC welterweight” which…didn’t make any sense and only adds to the production issues. Round 1 – Serra with a takedown 3 seconds in but Makowski stands right back up. Leg kick lands for Makowski as does a body kick. They go to the ground and Matt stands back up as he wants no part of the ground game. Now Serra gets the takedown and is on top in the middle of the cage. Elbows and punches land for Nick and Makowski visibly doesn’t like it. Serra has the back and Makowski attempts to stand up and shrug him off. Serra tries to switch to an armbar and Makowski straight up slams him to the mat and gets back to standing. Serra’s takedowns are failing now and the fans are turning on him. He actually looks straight up tired. 2 big time right uppercuts from the clinch for Makowski and now Serra is on the run. Makowski is just measuring him. Serra is exhausted and if Makowski can go to the body he can end this. The round ends and I’d score it 10-9 for Serra for the sub attempts…but the real winner is Makowski as Serra is gassed badly. Round 2 – Serra is backing up again and he doesn’t look to have caught his wind yet. Desperate takedown attempts are failing. Serra isn’t checking the leg kicks now and a huge left kick to the body lands for Makowski…that is the ticket to win here. Another roundhouse to the body hurts Serra. Mike is picking apart the lead leg now…beautifully mixing up his attack here in the second.Serra jumps in for a takedown and misses so he lays on his back and receives a warning. Seconds later he just flops to his back again and loses a point (making it a 10-7 round in my eyes) the ref tells him to get up or he will be DQ’ed. Serra decides to take the DQ rather than take any more beating. That is an awful showing for Serra. Just awful. Matt Makowski wins by Disqualification – Refusal to Fight – Round 2. They announce it as a TKO, but the ref warned and threatened to DQ Serra if he didn’t get up. So I’m calling it a DQ for Butt Scootery (or just for refusal to fight).
Carlton Haselrig vs. Carlos Moreno – Heavyweight – Haselrig is 42…get ready to hear all kinds of “old man” jokes from Mauro. He also was a former all-pro football player. Moreno is taking the fight on short notice. Round 1 – Gus Johnson is doing a nice job with the announcing by the way. Haselrig is trying to set up a shot and is doing from way too far out. Lucky for him Moreno throws punches like a moron in a bad street fight. Now it is just a wrestling match as Moreno has given up his back but Haselrig is just focused on turning him over onto his back rather than dealing damage or taking the back. Carlton is unsuccessfully trying to use a foot trap to turn over the bigger man. Finally Haselrig is starting to throw punches to the head. The ref stands them up even though Haselrig had a dominant position. Moreno tees off on Haselrig who looks to have next to no stand-up. Mauro says this isn’t the “best looking mma fight” which is…um…very true. Moreno’s pants fall off on the ground and the fight gets even uglier (don’t worry…he has underarmor…or some sort of compression shorts on). RNC attempt fails for Haselrig. As soon as Dan Mirgliota hears booing he stands them up. Moreno lands some more shots and then gets taken down. Here is the story of the fight…Haselrig has no standup skills and no real submission skills, Moreno has no ground skills. I guess I give the round to Haselrig but Moreno is doing some decent work on the feet. If he had better technique the strikes would do more damage. Round 2 – Moreno…quits before the round starts. Haselrig is talking a lot of crap to the camera for someone who may have lost the only round of the fight but the guy who took the fight on short notice couldn’t continue. These are two very bad endings in a row. Thank god this portion of the card isn’t on CBS. Carlton Haselrig wins by TKO – Refusal to Fight – Round 1.
Chris Liguori vs. Jim Bova
Referee stops the fight in the fight at 4:31 of the second round due to cut, giving the win to Chris Liguori. Apologies for the poor breakdown, but I’m having technical difficulties.
That’s it for the undercard. At 9:00pm eastern we’ll be here live with results for the CBS Televised portion of the card. I will be starting a new column with the main card results. Check back in at the main page once the CBS broadcast kicks off.