73.5 kg Mix Fight Tournament 1st Round
Ronny Rivano vs. Nikita Abramov. Some good strikes by both men.
Rodney Glunder vs. Sergei Bytchkov. Glunder was overmatched on the mat, but did a lot of damage with punches in standup. Very questionable decision.
100 kg Mix Fight Tournament 1st Round
Pedro Palm vs. Oleg Tsygolnik
Gilbert Yvel vs. Sergei Tunic. Yvel shreaded him with strikes.
100 kg Cage Fight Tournament 1st Round
Bob Schrijber vs. Emil Stroka
Colorado Lopez vs. Ruslan Kerselyan
73.5 kg Mix Fight Tournament Final: Ronny Rivano vs. Sergei Bytchkov. Really cool ending.
100 kg Mix Fight Tournament Final: Gilbert Yvel vs. Oleg Tsygolnik
100 kg Cage Fight Tournament Final: Bob Schrijber vs. Ruslan Kerselyan. Schrijber knocked Ruslan down then, in vintage form, kicked Ruslan in the balls instead of waiting to see if he could answer the 10 count. Ruslan wanted to tear Schrijber's head of, so Schrijber did his usual it was an accident crap.
Marina Nicolava vs Loes Scholte Aalbes
Marina Nicolava vs Wendy Van Maren
Loes Scholte Aalbes vs Elena Paulova
Irma Verhoef vs Trina Inkitovic
Loes Scholte Aalbes vs Yamila
World Combat Fight #41 1/20/00 M-1 MFC World Championship 1997 taped 11/1/97 St. Petersburg, Russia
73.5 kg Mix Fight Tournament 1st Round
Ronny Rivano vs. Nikita Abramov. Some good strikes by both men.
Rodney Glunder vs. Sergei Bytchkov. Glunder was overmatched on the mat, but did a lot of damage with punches in standup. Very questionable decision.
100 kg Mix Fight Tournament 1st Round
Pedro Palm vs. Oleg Tsygolnik
Gilbert Yvel vs. Sergei Tunic. Yvel shreaded him with strikes.
100 kg Cage Fight Tournament 1st Round
Bob Schrijber vs. Emil Stroka
Colorado Lopez vs. Ruslan Kerselyan
73.5 kg Mix Fight Tournament Final: Ronny Rivano vs. Sergei Bytchkov. Really cool ending.
100 kg Mix Fight Tournament Final: Gilbert Yvel vs. Oleg Tsygolnik
100 kg Cage Fight Tournament Final: Bob Schrijber vs. Ruslan Kerselyan. Schrijber knocked Ruslan down then, in vintage form, kicked Ruslan in the balls instead of waiting to see if he could answer the 10 count. Ruslan wanted to tear Schrijber's head of, so Schrijber did his usual it was an accident crap.
World Combat Fight #44 2/10/00 M-1 MFC World Championship 1998 taped 4/10/98 St. Petersburg, Russia
80 kg Tournament 1st Round
Roberto Schernius vs. Sergei Zavadsky
Sergei Bytchkov vs. Goksel Sahinbas. This had some good striking and a cool powerslam type of takedown by Bytchkov.
Under 90 kg Tournament 1st Round
Richardus Baika vs. Dennis Deryabkin
Vidal Serradilla vs. Garik Mamiev
Over 90 kg Tournament 1st Round
Darnelius Razmus vs. Oleg Tsygolnik
Sergei Akinin vs. Piet Van Gammeren
80 kg Tournament Final: Sergei Zavadsky vs. Sergei Bytchkov. Great short match. Zavadsky blitzed Bytchkov right off the bat with flurries of punches and knees. He did a lot of damage, but Bytchkov withstood it and took over because Zavadsky had punched himself out. Bytchkov messed up Zavadsky's ankle with one of his slam takedowns.
Under 90 kg Tournament Final: Vidal Serradilla vs. Dennis Deryabkin
Over 90 kg Tournament Final: Darnelius Razmus vs. Piet Van Gammeren
Mike Russow vs. Roman Zentsov 1R 2:58. End of this match and 1st 2 min of next match don't play
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo 2R
Murilo Bustamante vs. Makoto Takimoto 2R
Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez 2R
Kazuo Misaki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama R1 7:48
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa 2R
Shinya Aoki vs. Jung Bu-Kyung 2R
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong-man Choi 1R 1:54
Mike Russow vs. Roman Zentsov 1R 2:58 I miss the Bodog Fight TV show for the women’s matches, particularly if Rosi Sexton was involved, but their heavyweights put the b in boring. The worst kind of fighters are the punching turtles, as at best you get a z grade boxing match, and at worst you get clueless ground fighting. Zentsov is one of the most overrated fighters in the world, being a heavyweight doesn't make you good, and even then he's undersized. He was completely exposed by Branden Lee Hinkle in his last Bodog fight, and Russow couldn’t wait to follow suit by putting Zentsov on his back. After the immediate takedown he knew he had 9:50 to finish the Russian off, as he wasn’t going to show any offense, defense, or sweeping skills of note. Russow was thus extremely calm, setting up the submission for a few minutes before locking the north/south choke for the win. Poor fight.
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo 2R. Neither fighter had fought since last December, but Kawajiri was in top form and Azeredo had no answer for a fighter who wasn’t surprising anyone. Kawajiri is one of the premier ground and pound fighters, similar to Fedor and Tito Ortiz he’s so ferocious striking from his opponent’s guard it’s hardly even worth the risk of trying to pass. In fact, the only time Azeredo did anything was when Kawajiri looked to pass to side mount, as Azeredo made a quick roll and snuck behind Kawajiri. Azeredo’s choke wasn’t working so he tried to transition into an arm bar, but Kawajiri regained the top and finished the round with a flurry of punches. Previously, Kawajiri took Azeredo right down with a leg sweep and was taking him apart with strikes. Azeredo tried to set up a triangle but generally did little beyond stalling. Azeredo had a brief reprieve when the ref gave him a yellow card for repeatedly tying Kawajiri up, but fell victim to the same leg sweep. Kawajiri was even more dominant in the second round, cutting Azeredo around the left eye and opening it up pretty badly with hammerfists. His ground and pound was relentless as always, leading to the easy unanimous decision. Another bad match.
Murilo Bustamante vs. Makoto Takimoto 2R. Takimoto is a judo gold medalist with excellent submission defense, but he’s very inexperienced in MMA with this being just his seventh fight. He has punching power, but is very wild. He has throws, but he kept going for the same one every time he got into trouble, and lacking the gi to grab onto, Bustamante would just slip his head out during the hip roll and take control off the scramble. Bustamante is either the master of grasping defeat from the clutches of victory or just getting screwed out of the decision depending upon your opinion of his matches against Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson, & Dan Henderson (#2). I'd definitely choose the later, but either way, he rarely has a dull fight and this was certainly no exception. In fact, it was a far better, and for Bustamante fans more frustrating, fight than it had the right to be. There were several lead changes and reversals leading to quality positions, at least for Bustamante, who showed his diverse arsenal of techniques. Bustamante had several chances to win, especially in the first round. He had Takimoto’s arm, but the ropes seemed to get in the way of him driving his legs through and putting Takimoto on his back for the arm bar, so Takimoto slipped out. He made Takimoto respect his up kicks then picked his leg, which rendered a leg lock a possibility but Bustamante was quickly reversed. Takimoto was rather predictable, giving his back and trying to stand up every time Bustamante mounted, which was quite often, leading to Bustamante trying a kneebar. Takimoto was never on the verge of losing, but Bustamante kept the pressure on him and had several very advantageous positions. I can’t say Bustamante was dominating because Takimoto’s submission defense was so good he was able to give up position in order to escape and standup, though in Bustamante’s favor, he hadn’t produced any notable damage. Midway through round 2 the fight turned when Takimoto dodged a left hook and fired back with a combo, a solid right hook then a big left that knocked Bustamante down. Bustamante was clearly stunned, leading to a strong minute and a half where Takimoto could have attained a ref stop had his ground and pound been decent. Takimoto landed some solid body knees, but generally he wasn’t adding much to the damage with short pawing punches. Bustamante tried an arm bar when he got his senses back, and though it failed, he got Takimoto’s back and landed a few punches before the bell. Bustamante controlled the majority of the fight, but Takimoto clearly came a lot closer to winning, and he did it down the stretch. He generally fought pretty well, as if he didn’t he would never have lasted, but basically his split decision victory was based on the one big punch. Very good match.
Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez 2R. Melendez suffered the first defeat of his career against 13 victories, being taken down repeatedly by Ishida. These are two of the quicker fighters at this size, but Ishida clearly had the advantage in this regard. Melendez was the better standup fighter, but Ishida is explosive enough to get away with staying a mile away until he was ready to shoot. Ishida showed unending energy, as it’s very rare anyone can stick with takedown after takedown the way Ishida did here. Though both are known for their ground and pound they are so speedy with constant hip and head movement it’s hard to even hit them on the ground, much less keep them there. Ishida tried to hang on Melendez’s back and choke him out when Melendez would stand up, but Melendez would wind up slamming him. One time he tucked Ishida’s head forward and dropped him similar to a pro wrestling bomb. Melendez had few other highlights though. He landed a big knee, his best strike of the match only to have Ishida grab his leg and put him on his back yet again. Melendez did have top control more in R2, but Ishida had a good submission chance from his guard, clasping Melendez’s arm and turning sideways so there was big time pressure on his elbow due to the arm being trapped between Ishida’s neck and shoulder. Melendez had a ground and pound flurry in the final 15 seconds, but it wasn’t enough as Ishida still gained the unanimous decision. A high level of fighting, but they are similar fighters who largely negated each other resulting in Ishida’s takedowns being the majority of the offense. Pretty good.
Kazuo Misaki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama R1 7:48. The big grudge match as Misaki said he’d never even fight on the same card as Akiyama after Sakuraba lost to Akiyama last New Year’s (changed to a no contest) due to Akiyama having too much grease on his body. Pretty good standup fight. An even match with both badly stunning the opponent once. The difference in the fight was Misaki was able to tie Akiyama's arm up after being knocked down with a right straight and pounced upon. Above average match.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong-man Choi 1R 1:54. Fedor tried for a takedown grabbing a waistlock, but the 7'2" giant would lean forward and drive until he fell on top of Fedor. Hong obviously needs a lot of room to punch, so Fedor would just grab hold of an arm when Hong left it laying against Fedor's body and swivel his hips into the arm bar. Hong escaped the first time, but then there was essentially an instant replay of the aforementioned with Fedor getting the submission after Hong's takedown. A more experienced fighter probably wouldn’t have fallen for the same thing twice, but Hong is in just his second fight, which is why he has no business in the ring with the great champion. Fedor face looked pretty bad after the match, especially considering he didn’t seem to take any big shots, but he’s known to cut easily.
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa 2R. DEEP champion Hasegawa is a sambo specialist who is content to defend while patiently looking for an opening for a submission. Most of his fights go the distance, and it’s easily to see why as even though Sakurai had a big advantage in standup, it’s difficult to knock out an opponent who backs away when you try to hit him. Hasegawa doesn’t completely refuse to engage, but he never lets things get out of control and turn into a brawl. Sakurai seemed underwhelming, but mostly it’s that Hasegawa forces his opponent to grind out the victory. Mach dominated the fight, but it was dull as he was the same two positions over and over. Hasegawa shows no aptitude for takedowns, so he was on the bottom every time the fight went to the ground. That might work for him against a lesser fighter, but Sakurai has only been submitted once in nearly 40 fights, and was never in any sort of trouble. Sakurai won an easy decision. Below average.
Shinya Aoki vs. Jung Bu-Kyung 2R. 2000 judo silver medalist Jung subbed for an injured J.Z. Calvan, showing good poise in his debut and excellent skills within his discipline but very little outside of it. Jung’s big problem was he had no guard; his ground defense was looking for a submission, which is difficult when you are going all out for them but deadly when you are being patient. Aoki is a submission specialist who isn’t looking to pound out a victory, but you take what your opponent gives you, and Jung didn’t control Aoki’s body, thus allowing him whatever distance he desired. Aoki still regularly went for leg locks, but it was Jung that had the two close calls with arm bars. The first came at the outset just after he was taken down, but he didn’t have optimal leverage as Aoki was standing. In the 2nd round, Jung rolled Aoki to his back first, but Aoki was clenching for life. Aoki eventually did a unique escape where he let go of his clasp and immediately rolled to his knees and rotated his shoulder and elbows in a manner that looked as though it would dislocate the shoulder, but worked for him as he took his arm back before Jung could really lock it. Jung’s eye was swollen shut from a poke, but Aoki never took advantage of it. This wasn’t one of Aoki’s best fights, but he controlled the fight, getting the takedowns and scoring with ground and pound while looking for submissions that never came against an opponent who defended them well. Pretty good.
Round 1 France vs. Red Devil
Bendy Casimir vs. Mikhail Malyutin 2R
Farouk Lakebir vs. Erik Oganov 2R
Karl Amoussou vs. Dmitry Samoilov R1 0:18
Mikhail Zayats vs. Christophe Daffreville 2R
Kirill Sidelnikov vs. Martin Soltisyk R1 2:25
Round 2 Holland vs. Germany
Bogdan Cristea vs. Sven Wegscheider R1 4:32
Romano de los Reyes vs. Franco de Leonardis R1 0:15
Jason Jones vs. Daniel Weichel R1 0:06
Gegard Mousasi vs. Steve Mensing R1 2:44
Jessie Gibbs vs. Alexander Murawski R1 1:49
Bruno Carvalho vs. Dave Dalgliesh R1 3:53
Mehmet Uygun vs. Oktay Karatas R2 1:56
Round 3 Finland vs. South Korea
Niko Puhakka vs. Jong Man Kim R1
Janne Tulirinta vs. Doo Won Seo R2
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Lucio Linhares R1 0:17
Toni Valtonen vs. Seung Hyun Choi R1
Jarno Nurminen vs. Ji-Hoon Kim R1
Super Fight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Silvio Santos R1 1:34
Round 8 Team Russia Legion vs. Team Spain
Yuri Ivlev vs. Carlos Valeri R1 2:29
Juan Manuel Suarez vs. Islam Karimov 2R Unanimous Decision
Ansar Chalangov vs. Eulogio Fernandez R1 1:18
Besiki Gerenava vs. Rafael Rodriguez R1 4:10
Rogent Lloret vs. Akhmed Sultanov 2R Unanimous Decision
Round 9 Team USA vs. Team France
David Gardner vs. Samuel Judes R1 3:16
Jake Ellenberger vs. Farouk Lakebir 2R Majority Decision
Karl Amoussou vs. Mike Dolce R2 0:41
Christian M'Pumbu vs. Barry Guerin R1 0:32
Malick N'diaye vs. James Jack R1 3:54
Round 10 Team Holland vs. Team Japan
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Bogdan Cristea 2R
Romano de los Reyes vs. Ken Hamamura 2R Majority Decision
Jason Jones vs. Yuta Watanabe R2 2:03
Kamil Uygun vs. Yuji Sakuragi R1 4:52
Jessie Gibbs vs. Katsuhisa Fujii R1 1:34