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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist
BELLATOR 95
APRIL 4, 2013
LIVE FROM ATLANTIC CITY, NJ
FIGHT ONE: RICK HAWN VS. KARO PARISYAN (WELTERWEIGHT)
- Hard to believe Karo is only 30 years old, ain't it? He's also softer than radio stations that call themselves "The Mix" Nahmean?
ROUND ONE: The referee is Gasper Oliver. Who? Karo and Hawn waste no time getting to the clinch. Hawn lands a knee to the crotch, and time for a breather. Replay shows that it was likely a legal shot. We're back after 30 seconds. Smart of Karo to not milk it. Outside kick by Hawn, which elicits a taunt from Karo. Karo's trying to come in behind the double jab. He's been the aggressor so far. Outside leg kick by Karo. Hawn responds in kind. Karo continuing to come forward. Another clinch in the middle of the cage, but they push off before any fun throwing can happen. Oh well. Karo catches a leg kick and knocks Hawn down with a straight punch. More of a lack of balance than a knockdown, but it is what it is. Hawn comes forward and lands a right hand. Karo is still move active, though. Hawn throws a straight right to the body. Hawn eats a kick to the stones, and we've got another break in the action. It grazed the cup. We're back. Karo coming forward, and ducks under a Hawn haymaker that could've ended this fight. Hawn goes to the body again. Hawn's starting to figure out his range, but it isn't like he's landed anything hard yet. Head kick by Hawn, go figure. Hawn hurt him with that and stole the round with it. 10-9 Hawn
ROUND TWO: Hawn lands a left hook about a minute in. Karo backed off after eating that one. He's still coming forward, though, missing with a wild bolo punch. Hawn with another nice left. Hawn's finding a home with the body punches. Karo is still pumping the jab, but he's not doing any damage whatsoever. Hawn doesn't need to fear the jab. Hawn dodges a jab and lands a huge right hand. Karo is staggered. Right, left, right, right, right. Karo is down. Hammerfist to the back of the head, and the fight is over. Karo fell hard when he finally fell. Karo had nothing at all. NOTHING at all for Hawn.
WINNER: Rick Hawn by TKO at 1:55 of round two.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**-) Meh.
FIGHT TWO: BRETT COOPER VS. DOUG MARSHALL (MIDDLEWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINALE)
ROUND ONE: Bill Bookwalter is the referee. Yeah, THAT Bill Bookwalter, duh. Rhino lands a left hook and a big left kick early. Nice right from Marshall. Head kick from Cooper. Cooper shoots, and Rhino's on his butt within 45 seconds. We all know how this worked from Sultan Aliev. Cooper's doing absolutely nothing. rhino's up after 90 seconds. Cooper drops back down, and gets another takedown. Rhino is once again on his tuckus, sitting agsint the fence. Cooper lands 12 short lefts to the nose before Rhino bothers to move. Rhino back up, and Cooper immediately drops down for another double leg. Can't get it, but now he has a single. He gives it up. Marshall separates Cooper and lands a killer right hand. Cooper is flat on his back and Marshall follows up with a right hand that would murder a lesser man. Jesus Christ Monkeyballs!
WINNER: Doug Marshall (homicide) at 3:39 of round one.
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (***-) The fight sucked. Except for the last, what, say... 3 seconds? Yeah, those 3 seconds were jaw-dropping. I'm ecstatic Marshall won, because he's a hell of a lot more fun to watch than Brett Cooper.
- Spike airs the prelim fight between Liam McGeary and Anton Talamantes. McGeary is nine inches taller, and has a thirteen inch reach advantage. Wanna guess how this played out?
FIGHT THREE: FRODO KHASBULAEV VS. MIKE RICHMAN (FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT FINALE)
ROUND ONE: Keith Peterson is the referee for this fight. No feeling out process here. Frodo gets the best of the first minute, highlighted by a nice spinning back kick that found a home under neath Richman's right armpit. Frodo shoots from a mile out and misses by a mile and a half. It's calculus, just trust me on those distances. They're accurate. Frodo with a nice 1-2 and a body kick. The fight's at Richman's distance so far, but he hasn't done much yet. Richman lands a nice left, but eats two on his way out. Both fighters picking up the pace here. Frodo catches a kick and lands a couple punches before Richman gets free. Solid right to the ear by Frodo. Frodo's getting a little wild with hte hooks. Richman is really being patient, landing counters almost exclusively. Frodo's right hand is working well, and he's certainly more active. 1-2 and body kick yet again by Frodo. Frodo with another right hands, and Richman's bleeding out his nose. Another 1-2 headkick combo. 10-9 Frodo
ROUND TWO: Richman coming forward, Richman coming in straight. Straight left by Richman really rung Frodo's bell. It's about time he times something well enough to make Frodo think. nice overhand right by Frodo. Frodo is cut over his right eye. Richman's landing better in the second than he was in most of the first. Frodo seems to have lost his range on his punches, as they are wider now, and missing more often than not as well. Right hand by Richman. Frodo gets a takedown, and is standing over Richman. Richman gets up and we're bakc to standing. Frodo ducks under a head kick and grabs a single. Richman avoids the takedown but eats a knee for his troubles. Frodo slips while throwing a head kick. Frodo has thrown at least 15 1-2 head or body kick combos. Frodo slips, but Richman demurs and lets Frodo up. Richman grabs Frodo's head and gets on top. Hammerfists by Richman. Frodo's a bloody mess. Richman's arms are tied up, and Frodo's just holding on. Richman gets out of the guard and stands. Frodo lands a 1-2 head kick combo at the bell. 10-9 Richman. 19-19
ROUND THREE: Frodo shoots and gets stuffed, but aggressively goes after Richman as Richman gets back up. Frodo shoots again, and has Richman into the cage. Frodo sticks with it and gets the takedown. Frodo lands seven unanswered right hands before Richman wriggles back to standing. Richman's finding a home with his jab. Frodo's giving up on the combos and just winging the occasional hook. Frodo's gassing out I think. Richman's the aggressor now. That said, it's not like Richman's in berserker mode here. Frodo lands a superman punch. Frodo going back to the leg kicks now. Frodo's starting to land again, but he's not throwing with the frequency he did earlier. Richman can't pull the trigger. Frodo catches a kick and takes Richan down. Frodo postured up and lands a few left hands before richman gets back up. Richman is going ot lose this fight unless he does something and does it now. Instead he gets taken down briefly. This is a really ugly fight. It's exciting, but really Oprah-ugly. 10-9 Frodo. 29-28 Frodo
WINNER: Frodo Khasbulaev by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) First round was better than the second round, which was better than the third round. It got really sloppy at the end. It was entertaining, but by no means good. I can't imagine Frodo beating Curran more than once out of ten times.
FIGHT FOUR: PAT CURRAN (C) VS. SHAHBULAT SHAMHALAEV (FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH)
- Curran has a 6 inch reach advantage, and is 4 inches taller.
ROUND ONE: Keith Peterson has drawn the assignment for the championship fight. Full minute, not one strike landed. Shamhalaev lands a nice inside kick. Forty seconds later, Shamhalaev lands another one. Curran lands a high kick with his foot. A glancing blow. Curran lands another high kick, which Shamhalaev almost caught. Shamhalaev with an outside leg kick. Curran shoots and gets the takedown just like that. Guillotine! Shamhalaev is unconscious! Oh My God that was fast!
WINNER: Pat Curran by technical submission
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (***) That was kind of a letdown, because I wanted to see more. But it was thrilling to see Curran pounce like that. There was no setup to the takedown, he just took him the bleep down, got the guillotine, and that was that. And let's take a minute to give some recognition to Keith Peterson. Shamhalaev did not tap. He was unconscious. He wasn't out for an hour and a half before Peterson called the fight. The moment Shamhalaev's arms dropped, Peterson pried Curran off of him. That was just a great stoppage. And the guillotine was good, too. You didn't think I was going to end the night on the ref, did you? Oh shit, I just did.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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