Welcome! As with every MMA event that airs on HDNet, Bloody Elbow is here to bring you live play by play and discussion of the XFC 14 card as it unfolds. Headlined by Nate Jolly and Jamie Varner, it should be a fun night of fights. It’s Varner’s return to fighting after a 28 day long “retirement”, which he announced at last month’s Titan Fighting Championships event. The fights start at 9:00 p.m. ET on HDNet.
I’ll be doing the play by play and commentary. Give me a follow on twitter for some updates and whatever I choose to not be allowed to write on this site. It’s not so much my choice as it is the man. Occupy Bloody Elbow to enact change. Twitter hashtag is #OBE.
Round 1: The Noose comes forward with punches and Mahlow shoots in and gets the takedown. Bruce almost finishes the fight quickly with a guillotine but Mahlow quickly passes to side control. Small elbows from Mahlow while Conners tries to sweep. Conners is bleeding a lot from those elbows. Conners pushes up with his legs but doesn’t get up. Mahlow dives right back in and has north-south and then back to high side control. Conners regains half guard and stands. He tries for a guillotine but can’t finish it. 10-9 John Mahlow who looks pooped.
Round 2: They trade kicks. Conners doesn’t like this. Seems tentative. This is much different than the first round. Another digging kick from Mahlow. Conners doesn’t want this fight. He’s just not doing anything. Mahlow isn’t doing well, he’s just doing better. Conners lands a jab. Body kick is blocked by the arms. Conners shoots and the round ends. 10-9 John Mahlow.
Round 3: Bruce Connors comes out very flat footed. Mahlow is moving well and continues to land at will with his kicks and punches. It’s pretty much the story of the round. Conners came in at the end with a superman punch at the end and got tagged right on the jaw. It was another one sided round. 10-9 Mahlow.
Official Result: John Mallow via Unanimous Decision
Mike Bernhard vs Mikey Gomez
Round 1: Bernhard throws a kick and is punched in the face. Gomez throws a wild punches and he misses. Gomez shoots and get caught in a headlock. Bernhard is throwing knees to the head. Gomez is playing the game placing a hand on the ground. I hate that so much. Bernhard kneeing his arms. The ref breaks them and Gomez gets the takedown. Bernhard is looking for a kimura but Gomez defends well. It looked like Gomez tapped to me. The ref I guess saw it and stood them up? Bernhard shoots and pushes the fight against the cage. 10-9 Bernhard.
Round 2: Gomez throws a leg kick and Bernhard answers with a monstrous punch. Gomez shoots and Bernhard sprawls. He spins and is looking to finish. He doesn’t. They stand and Bernhard is back to throwing knees. He gets dropped by a leg kick. Bernhard has his arm and is working to finish with an armbar. This is close. Wow. Gomez survives but that was ridiculous. Gomez takes the mount and then the back. He sinks in a deep choke and that’s alllllll over!!
Official Result: Mikey Gomez by Rear Naked Choke
Elijah Harshbarger vs Nicolae Cury
Round 1: Nicolae Cury put on an absolute clinic. He took Harshbarger down, got the mount. Threw some punches and then got the armbar. It was ridiculously beautiful.
Official Result: Nicolae Cury by Arm bar
Round 1: Pena gets the fight to the ground immediately. He can’t do anything with it. He stands up and Clark looks for a leglock. Pena steps out and keeps looking for the pass which he never gets. Clark stands and lands a knee. Pena picks him up and walks him across the cage before slamming him down. Pena looking for a d’arce. Pena backs up and Clark lands knees on the way up. Pena gets the takedown again but he’s not doing anything with them. Pena gets the mount but Clark just shrugs him off. Clark stands and lands an uppercut and head kick before getting taken down again. 10-9 Pena for the takedowns but he’s losing the damage war.
Round 2: Clark lands a knee and some big punches then shoots the takedown. He’s on top and gets his head out of a guillotine. While he’s trying to pass Pena stands and gets the double leg. Pena is in halfguard Pena backs up and Clark lands a straight left on the way up. Clark looks tired but he’s the better fight on the feet. Clark tries a trip takedown and then lands a knee on the way up. Pena with the body lock takedown and lands some nice ground and pound. They stand and Clark lands another beautiful knee to the head. 10-9 Clark in my opinion.
Round 3: They’re both gassed. Pena got the takedown. Clark is looking for submissiones but he’s exhausted. He sweeps and Pena stands up. He gets the takedown and he’s just laying down. He’s too tired to finish the fight at this point, especially with Pena locking an arm in. Clark tries to pass to side control and Pena stands. He lands a punch and Clark just goes fetal. The ref allows him to punch Clark in the head for the remainder of the round. 10-9 Pena.
Official Result: Reggie Pena by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28×2)
Molly Helsel vs Marianna Kheyfets
Official Result: Marianna Kheyfets by Unanimous Decisions.
Note: I started doing PBP for this fight and then I decided that it’s absolutely impossible keeping up with so little. I’m doubtful that Helsel landed 8% of the punches she threw. Kheyfets wore a long sleeved tshirt and had braids like a Predator. It wasn’t a good fight. It wasn’t a good fight at all.
Carmelo Marrero vs Scott Barrett
Round 1: Clinched against the cage. Kinda some snap on a jab from Marrero that whiffs. Back to the fence. Have you ever seen seals fighting for a small rock or a bouy and trying to push each other into the water. It looks a lot like that. Barrett keps rubbing his eye. Eventually drags Marrero to the mat with less than 30 left. Not much happens then the round ends.
Round 2: Slow start then rock ’em sock ’em exchange. The kind that makes both look bad. A little clinch then back to the cage. It’s hard to call this clinch work because it’s insulting to good clinch fighters. It’s more of a hug that’s just a little rougher than you’d be comfortable with. Marrero leads with his head really bad on a right hand, not sure if he’s bad or looking to foul. Gets tagged a few times by Barrett, pushed to the cage and kneed in the balls. Just what this fight needed. I truly admire Schaivello’s ability to call techniques even when excecuted this poorly. Then they go full Frye vs. Takayama but without committing to the punches like a bad hockey fight. Excitement over. Both dudes are gassed. More hugging against the cage, more arm punches, bell sounds.
Round 3: The seals are back and clearly have blood in their shoulder equivolents. Nothing but weak flipper punches. And they start rough hugging against the fence, but it’s getting gentler. Soon to be a bro-hug? HDNET dude had his camera sideways, which is more interesting than the “action” here. Both have their flippers low and chin high. More hugging. Fight ends and they hug again, presumably as a tribute to the lack of action they just had.
Official Result: Carmello Anthony Marrero by Unanimous Decision
Round 1: They are out early and Jolly throws a leg kick and then drops for a takedown. Varner rolls for a leg lock. Jolly steps out and Varner is able to get Jolly down and then start throwing heavy shots. Jolly is OUT! Jamie Varner lands 10 punches on a sleeping Nate Jolly. Jamie Varner IS FOR REAL! THAT MAN IS MY HERO! THAT MAN IS MY HERO! Now we’ll see the old Jamie Varner!
Official Result: Jamie Varner by Knockout via Ground n Pound. Jamie Varner isn’t retiring or he’s unretiring. He should celebrate by doing the worm.
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