PKC Karatemania 4/26/86 PKC World Middleweight Title: Jean-Yves Thierault vs. Bob Thurman 3R. Thurman wanted to fight in a miniature phone booth, so he just kept coming forward endlessly to smother Thierault. He didn't really defend so much as he just kept throwing and throwing and throwing, which meant he was at his most effective in the first round when he was fresh. The pace of this fight never wavered though, and there was great action throughout. Thierault was certainly the much more powerful and precise striker, with superior technique. He wanted to land one or more big shots rather than land a bunch of shots into the block, so he concentrated on defending and countering with a precise power shot, following it if he could. Thierault was better at range though, so he was trying to get Thurman off him, mostly to no avail, even using his elbow to push him back to open up space for a kick. Thurman fared much better in the final 30 seconds of the 1st round when he was able to back Thierault into the ropes or corner, and may have stolen the round. This style continued into the second round, and it started to become apparent that Thierault was simply letting Thurman punch himself out into the block because Thierault really wasn't making much of an effort to use his lateral movement to get off the ropes. Thierault did some nice work to the body, and had a solid overhand right to the eye, but for the most part he didn't do a lot in the first half of the 2nd round. Then he came on big in the later stages when he began to use the uppercut. Thierault's combinations were sharp, and he welted Thurman's left eye with a short range uppercut. Even though the issue was really under the eye, Thurman's eye was quickly swelling shut, to the point he probably needed a KO in the 3rd before the doctor called it. Thierault went all out at attacking the eye, doubling up on the jab and working all his punch combos to the left side of Thurman's head. Thurman's defenses dramatically decreased in the third, as he couldn't really see out of the right eye, and Thierault began to hammer him time after time. The doctor allowed the fight to continue when they checked in the middle of the round, but by the time the round was over, the eye was almost completely shut, so the fight was called. It was unfortunate because the action here was really good, but definitely a good decision because Thurman would have just gotten hammered until he finally dropped. They had a rematch in France 2 years later, which Thierault also won. Good match.

UFC on ESPN 37 6/18/22 Josh Emmett vs. Calvin Kattar 5R. The first round was just feeling out. Kattar outlanded Emmett 15-11. It wasn't as completely uneventful as Rose vs. Carla, but it sucked. They waited for each other for 2 1/2 minutes, then Emmett made a little push, landed 1 good punch but mostly hit air. Then Kattar sort of established the jab, cutting Emmett, but Emmett made a big push in the final seconds, again not landing cleanly. I'd give the round to Kattar if you put a gun to my head because he did a touch of damage with the cut, and Emmett is the smaller more powerful striker with a huge reach disadvantage and far less technical striking, thus Kattar is essentially winning by default if he's just allowed to occasionally peck away at distance. It's Emmett's job to get in and make something happen. Either way, it's the type of round that would be completely disregarded when scoring as a whole, and thus should just be scored even, as neither guy really even tried to win the round, much less did anything deserving of edging it. Kattar began to take things seriously in the 2nd, now being much more proactive, coming forward behind much crisper jabs and making Emmett have to push forward himself to break things up. Emmett was mostly just using haymakers on the air, while Kattar just looked so much sharper, cleaner, and more technical with all his punches. Emmett started throwing combos in the second half of the round, and while the first shot or two was missing, Kattar had to back all the way into the cage to avoid them, and then Emmett was able to land with the third or fourth shot. When Emmett actually landed, he had a ton more on his strikes than Kattar, and was clearly doing damage, so I give him this round, although it was by no means decisive. Round three saw the fight begin to pick up. It was a clear round for Emmett. He outlanded Kattar 27-19, but most of his shots made an obvious impact on Kattar, while Kattar's shots did not. After a conversation with his corner, Kattar refused to just back up to avoid Emmett's initial shots. He tried to dodge them, but decided it was better to eat one shot and hold his ground so he could go back on the offensive rather than give up all the space he could, and then wind up eating two shots anyway. Emmett didn't get going in this round because he was now mostly throwing single shots, with Kattar outlanding him 41-21, including wobbling him with 1:15 left. While overall this fight could go either way, this was a clear Kattar round, his best of the fight. Chris Lee giving this round to Emmett proves yet again he has literally no clue what he is watching. This is the clown that even Danny Roberts said "I don't know what fight they were watching" when asked if he thought he had won all 3 rounds against Ramazan Emeev, as Lee scored it. Emmett was by no means dragging in the 4th and 5th rounds, but his style was entirely based upon throwing huge haymakers off the blitz, and there were less and less of those blitzs in the last 2 rounds when he was not as fresh, although again this was also due to Kattar not retreating at the first sign of Emmett coming forward. Meanwhile, Kattar's much more technical style held up much better over the course of 25 minutes, and it basically seemed like he could do this all day. Kattar certainly won the fifth round, not as convincingly as the 4th, but a solid 34-22 strike advantage. Much of the reason people were disgusted with the split decision for Emmett is that Kattar took over when it counted, winning the last two rounds for sure, and seeming in position to win going forward, for PRIDE fans, as opposed to only 1 sure round for Emmett. Sal D'Amato giving the 1st 3 rounds to Emmett isn't outlandish as there were 2 close rounds then a certain Emmett round, but had Lee not thought that Kattar somehow lose the 4th, D'Amato would have been overrided given Lee & Doug Crosby gave Kattar one of the first 3 rounds (the 2nd). Overall, I felt like this fight was better watching it live than watching it again. It gets a lot better after the first two rounds, but still is more interesting for being a very close fight that either fighter could have won then for having consistent action. Good match.

PFL 4 6/17/02: Alexander Martinez vs. Clay Collard 3R. Alexander Martinez vs. Clay Collard. Everyone knows Collard is going to come forward and force the opponent to fight. Martinez showed good footwork, and was able to fend off some of the pressure with hooks and body kicks, but Collard took over in the second half of the first round, establishing the body punch, which opened up the jab head, and allowed Collard to come in behind it. Martinez rarely did much in standup after this point. After winning the 1st, Collard was really ripping the body with confidence to start the 2nd, backing Martinez with each shot, and then continuing to close the distance with hooks to the head or more body shots. Collard dropped Martinez with a left jab midway through the 2nd. Collard lost position going for the armbar, but while he kept rolling and rolling, Martinez did a great job of adjusting to stay in control until he sunk a deep rear naked choke. I thought Martinez had it for a second, but that was about as long as it took for Collard to defend enough that it was no longer even a threat. I gave Collard the round because he did a lot of damage in the first half, and outside of the brief choke, Martinez only had control. This was Martinez's problem all fight, he clearly outgrappled Collard, but other than this one moment, to no end. Collard kept moving and moving even when he was on the bottom or Martinez had his back, so Martinez was always having to worry about maintaining control, and rarely found the opportunity to actually launch an offensive. All that being said, I don't think it's terrible to give the 2nd round to Martinez. FPR had it 88-78 Collard, but Collard's corner told him he lost the round. In any case, this was a really good round with good work from both fighters. In the 3rd, Collard eventually maneuvered his way out of Martinez's ground control into his own takedown attempt, which Martinez answered with the guillotine. There was no threat, but Collard just backed away when he freed himself to get back to his domain. Collard was going for a standing kimura, but Martinez was able to slip out and take control on the mat for the last 20 seconds. Martinez finished on top in each of the three rounds, and that was basically his claim to fame. Again, he never had a chance to do any damage. FPR had R3 82-43 Collard, and I'm assuming they weren't fooled by Martinez slipping into what he wound up sort of making look like a knockdown. This was clearly at least 2 rounds for Collard, sending him into the playoffs, which PFL really wanted because he's one of their only fighters with any buzz, gaining a lot of popularity after his exciting win over Jeremy Stephens. Of course, since MMA judges are blockheads, two of them gave the 2nd and 3rd round to Martinez, sending Collard packing. Good match.

UFC 275 6/12/22: Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka R5 4:32. The last time we saw a major old school striker versus grappler fight was Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza at UFC 274 5/7/22, and it was one of the all time stinkers. Though not as bad as the infamous Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou snooziest of snoozefests, it was kind of the same thing where you know Carla is the female Ben Askren, and you know Lewis is not going to do anything beyond pray the opponent is dumb enough to walk into his big right hand unless he's fighting someone truly terrible like Chris Dorkis, so the match is entirely dependent upon how the opponent reacts to the one thing Esparza & Lewis are going to try. In this case, it was shocking that such a skilled standup fighter as Rose, with massive advantages in both reach and speed, couldn't at worst attend the Mayweather school of "winning" the rounds by virtue of landing 5 jabs without suffering counterfire.Thankfully, these two don't actually suck at all other aspects of MMA, Teixeira is an exceptional boxer, and Prochazka is an expert at getting back to his feet who can also threaten with ground and pound or submissions when he chooses to, it's more that Prochazka has so much reach and also is so fast that he can dodge even the best punching attacks of Teixeira when he's fresh, and Teixeira is such a superior takedown artist and grappler that he is likely to take over on the mat even if he were to start off in a disadvantageous position, so it obviously generally doesn't make sense for either fighter to engage the other in the areas where they are stronger any more than they have to. Prochazka was mostly fighting out of the southpaw stance, so we immediately saw Teixeira try to establish his right hand to the head in order to set up dropping down into a single on the lead right leg, which led to the first takedown. Teixeira didn't rush anything on the mat, he controlled and threw his punches, forcing Jiri to make the moves in order to get back to his feet, with Teixeira looking to take the back when Prochazka began to wall walk, but Jiri just managed to defend controlling the hand, and was subsequently able to explode off his back to his knees then stand. Teixeira continued the same strategy, making Jiri worry about the right hand in order to get the single on the lead leg into mount. Teixeira gambled on the submission because it was late in the 1st, but Jiri actually slipped out and did some nice damage in the final 15 seconds. In the first 2 rounds, Jiri was so explosive that he really did a lot of damage anytime he got off, and was so fast and varied that his attacks were really difficult for Glover to anticipate enough to defend. Even though Teixeira had his moments, and was able to execute his gameplan on his feet for the most part, it really felt like he was never remotely safe in standup because Jiri would just do something awesome out of nowhere. Though to some extent that same explosiveness could be said to be recklessness that was keeping Jiri from being able to consistently get off in standup because he get himself taken down, Jiri's style is based on being unorthodox and unpredictable, landing the one big shot you don't see coming then finishing with a flurry, if it's even needed, and this was definitely working throughout the fight, just not for enough damage to finish or for enough time to take the rounds. Prochazka is a strong counter striker, but Jiri couldn't really rely on that in this type of fight given Teixeira was mostly striking as misdirection. Jiri was a lot more dangerous attacking when he came behind the jab, for instance when he hurt Teixeira toward the middle of the 2nd with the jab/overhand right then jab/flying knee then fake jab/uppercut. Jiri was swarming on Glover all throughout the middle stages of this round, but Glover swatted Jiri with a hook enough to knock him out of the air when he was trying a flying knee, and drop down into mount. Teixeira cut Jiri over the left eye with a big elbow just before the end of the round. Though Glover finished strong, I still gave this great round to Jiri. Both fighters were looking slower in the third, and Prochazka was now more willing to stand and bang with Glover rather than relying on his speed to enter and exit. This really helped Glover's cause because even though Prochazka was doing big damage, now it was much easier for Glover to grab him for the takedown, and he wasn't just whiffing on his punches. Teixeira's strategy was increasingly to suck it up and absorb a couple big blows in order to make the push forward and try to get Jiri down. This was working, with Prochazka's attempts to roll out of the single leg backfiring because Glover would just let the leg go and follow him down to the mat, but Jiri was getting back up, and really began to take over in the later stages of the third round with a nice reverse up elbow followed by a series of punishing body shots, hurting Teixeira enough that he tried to drop into a desperation takedown, which Jiri easily stuffed and took top on. Even though Glover seemed spent, Jiri opting for ground and pound and an arm triangle attempt rather than just standing back up was questionable, and Glover had regained the top within a minute. Teixeira landed three big elbows, and finishing on top was a good look, but overall the damage clearly went to Jiri, and I had Prochazka up two rounds to one now. Jiri was significantly slower in the 4th, and now it was really up to who had the energy to go on the offensive because neither fighter was really doing much to defend against the opponents pushes forward. Teixeira had 3 1/2 minutes to work with on the ground, with Jiri's lack of explosion being much more of an issue here, but he couldn't quite get the arm triangle in deep enough, and then when he went for it on the difficult side, Jiri was able to escape to his knees, beating Glover to the top position by virtue of a tired Teixeira really not scrambling at all. Glover soon took Jiri's back anyway though. Definitely a Glover round, even going into the fifth. Teixeira hurt Jiri bad early in the 5th with an overhand right, and tried to drop into the guillotine, but Jiri slipped out and took the top. Bisping was highly critical of Teixeira taking this chance with "his opponent out on his feet almost", but I thought it was reasonable to try to finish there, especially since Teixeira had regained control on the mat every time Jiri choose to engage there. In this case, remembering that, Jiri just let him back up anyway. Glover was winning the striking now, but only because he was attacking. You could say that now he shouldn't go for the takedown, but he was reasonably too tired to keep swinging the whole round, and as soon as he stopped attacking, Jiri was going to go back on the offensive and begin nailing him. Teixeira mounted with two minutes left, but Jiri managed to kick off the cage into a reversal. Jiri was landing some punches, but this was Glover's round barring a miracle, so literally all Teixeira had to do was survive the final 75 seconds and he would theoretically win the decision three rounds to two. Jiri was trying to isolate the left arm from side mount to set up a crucifix position, so Teixeira slowly rolled to his back, where Jiri pounced on his neck, and shockingly, with 30 seconds left in the fight and no body control whatsoever, Teixeira was unable to fight the hands enough, and had to actually submit to a naked rear naked choke. This was one of the biggest surprise finishes I have ever seen, totally out of a bad Hollywood movie. Teixeira is the better submission fighter by such a huge margin, and has never been submitted in a 20 year, 41 fight career. It's so hard these days to even win with a full on rear naked choke, much less what's essentially a bulldog choke, but fatigue is real, and Jiri Prochazka is the new champion! Great match.

CMLL 8/30/10 Puebla, Mexico, Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title: Volador Jr. vs. La Sombra 26:24 (3:45, 2:15, 20:24).
DC: Both workers were still masked at this point in their respective careers. You could tell this was going to be special right from the start the way they worked the lucha sequences during the feeling out stage with great precision and intensity. It didn’t take long for them to start hitting big moves, as La Sombra (a.k.a. Andrade El Idolo) hit a tremendous tope suicida early in the match. Sombra wanted to go for the win as quickly as possible and hit a split-legged corkscrew moonsault to take the first fall. In the second fall, Volador Jr. hit a tope con giro, and managed to put Sombra away quickly via a headscissors piledriver. They were now tied after two short falls, which showed they were super urgent in their approach, wanting to beat each other as swiftly as possible. They didn’t stop taking risks in the third fall, as they seemed to think continuing to do what they did in the first two falls would eventually get them where they wanted to be. In the third fall, Volador was able to counter some of Sombra’s offense, which got him closer to victory. As soon as Sombra was able to do something back, he hit a tremendous top-rope moonsault to the floor onto Volador. When Volador had Sombra in a hold, Sombra tapped the mat with his hands, but not because he was giving up, it was because he was selling the pain. Sombra eventually fought back and hit a tope con giro. Volador came very close to victory after a super frankensteiner, but Sombra kicked out. Sombra hit a moonsault, but Volador grabbed the ropes when Sombra went for the cover. The match now got more back-and-forth and exciting, as they were both feeling they came close to victory, but they weren’t quite able to put the other way just yet. There were several near falls that felt like it could have been the finish. They worked the finishing stretch in a great way, it didn’t feel like it was done just for the sake of “epicness,” but rather because they were putting over that they were trying to beat each other. In the end, it was Volador who won the match, but he had to cheat to win, because that’s how close this contest was. It wasn’t just the dives that made this match so great, it was the intensity and urgency that went along with it that made it special. ****¾

CMLL 2/15/13 Arena Mexico, Reyes del Aire Final: Volador Jr. vs. La Sombra 15:15 (1:11, 1:49, 12:15).
DC: They started attacking each other with high flying moves even before the bell rang. La Sombra was able to win the first fall, and as usual with these two, it was a short first fall. Volador Jr. was able to win the second fall a bit too easily, and this was another short fall. On one hand, it’s justifiable for those falls to be short because you could see it as them throwing big moves at each other right away. On the other hand, you have to wonder how they are always having two short falls first before always being able to survive far more impact in the third fall. Either way, this feud between Volador and Sombra is the greatest in-ring feud in Mexican lucha libre history, along with the great mid 1990s feud of Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera. In the third fall, the longest fall, Sombra started off with a bang, as he hit a tremendous tope con giro. It was easy to forgive the oddness of the first two falls being so short when seeing the tremendous athletic display given by these two in a great third fall. They went all out with their great high flying, which was fitting, since this was the Kings of the Air tournament. Not only was the flying really good, but the selling was also really good, as it was just enough selling, not too much and not too little. This enabled them to keep a nice flow going throughout the entire match. After lots of action, Volador tried to be clever by pulling Sombra’s mask off while the referee wasn’t looking, but it backfired as Sombra outsmarted him by quickly pulling Volador’s mask off and cradling Volador for the pin. This was a great match, and it was one of their best matches together. It was almost as amazing as their 8/30/10 match, and it was slightly better than their excellent 1/22/12, 10/16/12 and 10/30/15 matches, which are all worth seeking out for anyone who is interested in high-quality lucha libre. ****½

Kyushu Pro 1/3/22 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, UWF Rules: Minoru Tanaka vs. Hitamaru Sasaki 10:53.
DC: Both wrestlers displayed solid grappling skills. What made this match so intriguing was that they both kept moving and both displayed lots of urgency. They both wanted to win this. Minoru Tanaka is one of GLEAT’s main guys, so if he would win, it would be good for GLEAT’s reputation in interpromotional competition. Hitamaru Sasaki likes to believe he’s one of the best shoot style guys today, so he would like nothing better than a win over someone of the caliber of Tanaka. Sasaki has been talking trash to GLEAT wrestlers, and he seems to think he’s better than GLEAT’s shoot style guys. In this match, Sasaki had a leglock applied on Tanaka that caused Tanaka to go for his first rope break. Now that he was one point ahead, Sasaki seemed to get a bit too confident and relaxed, and Tanaka took advantage of it by applying an armbar. They were now tied in points, as they both had used one rope escape, which meant they had 4 points left each. It was a very even battle that really could go either way. Tanaka had to use another rope escape after getting stuck in a leg lock, but he quickly replied with a high kick after noticing there was the opportunity to attack Sasaki’s head area. Soon after this, Sasaki was down once again after Tanaka hit a German suplex. Tanaka had to use a rope escape because of an armbar. Sasaki went down after a high kick by Tanaka. There was definitely a lot of action, and the points kept flying left and right. Sasaki applied a leglock in the middle of the ring. Tanaka almost tapped, but he managed to get to the ropes. Both men had only one point left each. Anything big happening now could be crucial. Tanaka won the match because he attacked Sasaki with a flurry of palm strikes followed by two high kicks, which ultimately sent Sasaki down. It was an exciting fast-paced match. It was only a 10-minute match, but considering the urgency and all the exciting action, it was fitting that this was a head-on sprint that didn’t last too long. Even though the match was done, they weren’t done with each other. On 4/16/22, these two would face each other in a very good tag team match in GLEAT. This feud between Hitamaru Sasaki and GLEAT seems to be far from over. ***¾   

SEAdLINNNG 5/13/22 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Title: Arisa Nakajima vs. Riko Kaiju 19:58.
DC: Arisa Nakajima gave a strong performance, as usual. She showed lots of intensity behind everything she did. Riko Kaiju has been wrestling for nearly two years now. When Kaiju tried to escape Arisa’s attack, Arisa made sure to attack even more. Kaiju managed to get a good amount of offense in though, because she realized she had no choice but to try her absolute best against Arisa, who is one of the all-time greats. Arisa would always regain control because of her experience and confidence in her ability. When Kaiju kicked out of a double footstomp off the top rope, Arisa kinda had a look on her face that said: “this girl is tougher than I thought she was.” So while Arisa was being the confident veteran, she definitely helped put over Kaiju as a worthy challenger. This was a very good match, because both participants fought hard, and the level of urgency helped enhance the title match feel of this match. Kaiju’s work wasn’t too special technically, but what made her performance work was her fighting spirit. Arisa’s execution was superb, and her performance made this match a match that was worth watching. This was Arisa’s third successful defense since winning the title in December. ***½