At Legacy FC 36 last Friday, Damacio Page (19-9, 0-3 UFC 3-2 WEC) cemented his place as the organization’s flyweight champion with an eye-popping KO of Brian Hall (7-4-0) in the first. Hall stunned Page right out the gate with a rangy left hook, and a hook-uppercut combination dropped Page to his knees, where it looked for a moment like the former UFC bantamweight would succumb to ground and pound–all that within the first half-minute of the fight. However, Page was able to gut his way back to his feet, where a jab and lunging right would knock Hall stiff.
The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak for Hall, who is 2-1 for the year. Page, meanwhile, has won three straight, and is 4-1 since the 2012 submission loss to Alex Caceres that saw him released from the UFC. Page is 3-0 in 2014.
Page vs. Hall can be seen here.
Also on the card was Michelle Nicolini, a highly decorated BJJ champion and owner of a submission win over Kyra Gracie at ADCC 2012, who looked to further establish her MMA career. Underdog Norma Rueda Center, however, refused to succumb to the hype.
Nicolini threatened with leg locks a couple of times in the opening frame only to appear increasingly sluggish in the subsequent rounds. Meanwhile, careful submission defense, superior conditioning, and straight punches (including a counter-right that dropped Nicolini late in the second) would see Rueda Center notch a unanimous decision victory. Nicolini falls to 2-1-0 in her MMA career, while Center, rebounding from a loss to current TUF hopeful Joanne Calderwood last year, improves to to 3-1-0.
Rueda Center vs. Nicolini is here.
And at Full Contact Contender 11, out of England, TUF: USA vs. UK contestant Martin Stapleton (14-4, 0-3 Bellator) found himself back in the win column with a second-round TKO of Kostadin Enev (3-4-0). Stapleton, who lost to Goiti Yamauchi by rear-naked choke last month, is 2-1 for the year.
Recent UFC castaway Jesse Ronson wasted little time getting back to work, rebounding from his final UFC loss this past July with a TKO of Dom O’Grady early in the second round of their main-event fight. Ronson, who went 0-3 in the UFC, with all losses coming by split-decision (something I’m not sure we’ve seen from any other fighter) is now 1-0 since his release. He improves to 14-5-0 overall. O’Grady, proud owner of the excellent monicker “I Hate You So Much,” falls to 16-7-1.
Finally, we have DEEP Cage Impact 2014, which featured JMMA old guard Jutaro Nakao, who in 1999 submitted reigning UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich and who, between 2001 and 2002, went 1-1 in the UFC, knocking out Tony DeSouza before dropping a unanimous decision to Sean Sherk. Nakao, returning from a 2013 KO loss by the hands of Katsunori Kikuno, took on Hidetora, who was riding a three-fight win streak into the bout. Three rounds later, Nakao would emerge with the unanimous decision victory. The win moves Nakao’s record to 25-18-4, while HIdetora’s drops to 10-6-1.
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