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ENNIS: Live Coverage and Analysis of MFC 21 Featuring Bobby Lashley
May 15, 2009 - 7:16:53 PM ENNIS: Live Coverage and Analysis of MFC 21 Featuring Bobby Lashley

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Alright, people. We've got lots of fights to check out tonight, even though I'm not going to pretend that most of those reading this are interested in anything but Bobby Lashley's third professional MMA fight. But hey – we've got Trevor Prangley, David Heath, John Alessio, and Marvin Eastman on the card among others, so it's certainly not without its merits.

I don't know how many people are with me on this, but I think Ron Kruck is a better play-by-play guy than Kenny Rice, and thankfully he's with us tonight and he's joined by Bas Rutten. They start out by talking about the main event light heavyweight title fight between challenger Trevor Prangley (8-1) since ending his latest stint in the UFC) and champion Emmanuel Newton, who hasn't lost since 2004. Not a bad main event.

Then, of course we move to Bobby Lashley, who will be taking on Mike Cook, who hasn't had many notable wins, but does have a loss on his record to another former pro wrestler in Daniel Puder. They go to commercial preceding the first fight of the evening.

FIRST FIGHT: MARVIN "THE BEASTMAN" EASTMAN vs. ARON LOFTON (Light Heavyweight)

ROUND ONE: Eastman doesn't waste time in going for the takedown from the clinch, and Lofton doesn't waste time in delivering a powerful knee directly to the jewels of Eastman. Big John McCarthy is the ref, and he lets Eastman recover, which having watched the replay, should have taken much longer than it did. They clinch again, and neither man gets much offense in as both work for a takedown. Surprisingly, Lofton ends up getting Eastman to the ground, albeit in a pretty sloppy manner. He works an equally sloppy guillotine from the top position and then transitions to a half-hearted kimura attempt from the sitting half guard (I guess that's what you'd call this position.) Eastman transitions into Lofton's guard as Lofton continues to try and work the kimura. They get back to the feet and exchange knees inside the clinch until McCarthy separates them. Eastman lands a nice combination and Lofton answers with a straight right hand. Lofton misses another right hand and Eastman takes him down perfectly right before the round ends. I'd give the round to Lofton by just a little, as he did more in that round.

As a side note, this is not a shill for HDNet, but if you have high def, you must have this channel. The HD is fantastic. Way better than anything you see on UFC PPV's at this point, or most anywhere else for that matter. I'm just sayin.

ROUND TWO: Lofton lands a high kick before being taken down easily by Eastman. Eastman postures up and drops some nasty elbows, opening up Lofton and causing the fight to be called. Very nice effort by Eastman early in the second after a lackluster first stanza.

RESULT: Eastman by TKO at 1:45 of round 2
STAR RATING: (**) Wasn't much to the first round outside of jockeying for position, but Eastman showed some fire in the second and did what he needed to do. Nice to see Eastman pick up a win. He was too big for the middleweight division where he'd been fighting for the last little while.

SECOND FIGHT: MYCHAL CLARK vs. RYAN JIMMO (Light Heavyweight)

Clark does some dancing on his way to the ring, and dude has got some moves. Jimmo has some less impressive moves that he shows off during his pre-fight vignette – he does the robot in the video – but that's still more than I could do. Jimmo looks like he's ready to get down to business.

ROUND ONE: They feel each other out for the first two minutes or so until Jimmo works for and gets a takedown and gets into side control. Clark tries to stand back up, but Jimmo gets to the other side and keeps him down. He pins down Clark's arm briefly until Clark is able to get back to the feet. They stand for a second until Jimmo brings it back down and gets Clark into his guard. Jimmo works for a sweep, which Clark defends for a while until Jimmo is able to reverse and get the mount. He drops an elbow until Clark gives up his back for a second. Jimmo almost lands a wicked elbow from the mount again, and the horn sounds. That round goes to Jimmo.

ROUND TWO: Jimmo wants no part of the standup and gets a trip takedown in the first minute, working from Clark's half guard. He looks for ground and pound, but Clark is able to avoid any significant damage before moving back to his feet after a couple of minutes. Jimmo gets it back to the floor but is again unable to inflict any damage despite controlling the position. The fight stays on the ground with Jimmo working from the full guard for the remainder of the round. Positionally dominant round goes to Jimmo.

ROUND THREE: Clark works diligently to keep the fight standing from within the clinch, but Jimmo imposes his will and gets to the mat again. He looks for ground and pound from side control. Clark is able to eventually work back to the feet, but is unable to mount any offense. As you may guess, Jimmo gets it back to the ground and controls the position for the rest of the fight. Clark looks for an ankle lock late in the round, but is unable to get it and the round ends. Another round for Jimmo. Nothing spectacular here, but impressive grappling by Jimmo, even if he was unable to do anything devastating.

RESULT: Jimmo by unanimous decision.
STAR RATING: (**-) Not much to this one. Jimmo controlled the whole fight. There were some nice transitions throughout, but nothing much of note.

They go to an interview with Jason MacDonald, who was recently cut from the UFC. MacDonald announces that he's signed with MFC and comments that he'd like to get his hands on the MFC middleweight title. Nice signing for the organization.

THIRD FIGHT: JOHN ALESSIO vs. ANDREW BUCKLAND (Welterweight)

Alessio is channeling Matt Horwich with a horrible, albeit not colored, hairstyle.
ROUND ONE: Buckland comes out alternating leg kicks and a high kick. Alessio continues to play defense for the first couple of minutes as Buckland throws more kicks. They clinch and Alessio delivers a left hook that hurts Buckland. Buckland shoots in for a takedown and Alessio grabs a guillotine, but he's unable to hang on to it. Alessio works from side control, then transitions to mount. He begins to eliver some punishing strikes to Buckland, who rolls and gives up his back. Alessio seizes the opportunity and grabs a rear naked choke for the victory. Buckland has a nasty mouse under his eye that's going to hurt pretty good for a few days.

RESULT: Alessio by submission at 2:53 of round one.
STAR RATING: (***-) That was a fun three minutes. Alessio looked great when he should look great, so that worked out well for him.

Note: We've got a heck of a thunderstorm here, so I'm a little behind on coverage as my power flickers on and off and makes my DVR go crazy.

FOURTH FIGHT: DAVID HEATH vs. TRAVIS GALBRAITH (Light Heavyweight)

ROUND ONE: They come out firing, with both men throwing nice, crisp punches. Neither is able to do much damage off the bat, but Heath especially looks pretty good so far. Galbraith lands a nice leg kick, and Heath answers with a nasty kick of his own to the upper thigh. Staight right hand lands for Heath, and Galbraith lands another low kick. Heath's hands are nowhere near his chin, and Galbraith looks to throw some leather to keep him honest. Nothing big lands. Heath evades a body punch. Nice left-right combo by Heath. Leg kick for Galbraith, and a left hook. Heath lands a nice leg kick of his own. Heath blocks a head kick. Nice body kick lands for Heath, and they exchange as the round ends. Nice first round – I'd probably give it to Heath by just a hair, though I wouldn't argue a round for Galbraith. Heath seemed frustrated about something toward the end.

ROUND TWO: The smack talk begins as the ref admonishes them to be professional. Spinning back kick misses for Galbraith. Heath looks for a roundhouse and misses. Galbraith lands a nice combo. Heath is baiting him, but Galbraith doesn't bite and we're looking at a bit of a stalemate while they think about things. Galbraith delivers a kick a little south of the border, and Heath gets a minute to recover. Nice body kick by Galbraith, and Heath answers in kind. Another body kick by Heath, and he fires off a combination that fires up Galbraith. Galbraith unleashes a torrent of punches as well. Leg kick by Galbraith, and Heath lands a left-right. Straight right by Heath, and a leg kick by Galbraith. Heath lands a right hand as Galbraith closes in, but Galbraith lands a couple of shots as well. Body kick by Galbraith. Nice right-left by Heath, and it seems that he could score at will if he were to get after it. They clinch as the round ends, and Heath delivers a knee to the gut. I'd probably give that round to Galbraith, if for no other reason than to even it up, since this is a close fight.

ROUND THREE: The come out with more of the same, and Heath lands a vicious body kick followed by a leg kick. Galbraith answers with a combination and looks for a takedown. Heath defends and lands a knee as they separate, taking a knee to the marbles at the same time. He gets another period to recover. They clinch as the action resumes with Galbraith just missing with a couple of nice shots. Galbraith looks for a takedown and is stuffed. Spinning backfist misses for Galbraith. Heath lands a jab and takes a front kick. It looks like Heath took a finger to the eye, and that may be what he's been getting frustrated about during the fight. He's not happy about this. The action resumes and Heath takes a kick to the body. He looks to be getting a mouse under the eye. Low kick by Galbraith. Heath is doing the chasing as the round ends and he lands a couple of shots. I'd give the round to Heath by a little. Nice, close fight, but I'd give it to Heath due to more effective striking – not to mention the numerous non-penalized infractions by Galbraith.

RESULT: Galbraith by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
STAR RATING: (**+) I don't know that I agree with the decision, as Galbraith was decent but nearly as effective as Heath. Also I don't think Galbraith hurt Heath at all during the fight. Too bad for Heath.

FIFTH FIGHT: BOBBY LASHLEY vs. MIKE COOK (Heavyweight)

Cook comes to the ring with a lucha libre mask; no doubt a jab at Lashley. Kruck makes some ill-advised WWE references as he incorrectly notes that Cook has a win over Daniel Puder. As a side note, it seems like Cook is taking off black t-shirts for about five minutes before getting prepped for entry into the ring. I think he had about six of them on or something. Weird. But anyway. Lashley comes in as better than a 10-1 favorite, which is insane for a guy in his third professional fight. Lashley looks intense in the staredown and does not shake hands when Cook offers. I like the attitude.

ROUND ONE: Lashley charges in quickly and throws a punch, but grabs a guillotine as Cook ducks. He lets it go briefly but then cinches it again with Cook in the prone position, and Cook goes out. That was a quick one – I guess the oddsmakers knew what they were doing.

RESULT: Lashley by submission at 0:24 of round one.
STAR RATING: (***-) I only give it that much of a rating because of the quickness and almost brutality of the guillotine. That was really impressive instincts by a guy who has been training for such a short time.

Lashley's post-fight interview: The interviewer noted that Lashley was somewhat annoyed by the mask that Cook was sporting. Lashley said: "Well yeah, you know I'm here for business. Everybody...tries to make fun of the wrestling thing. I'm real. I'm coming out here to fight. You know, if they don't want to fight me, they can play around. If they play around I'm gonna knock 'em out or choke 'em out. That's what I did today. Choked him out. Made him pay. Now he can go put back on the mask and have fun with himself." Nice interview. Lashley also plugged his fight with Bob Sapp next month. Should be interesting.

Lashley didn't give us much to analyze in this one other than the ability to seize an opportunity and end a fight quickly. At the same time, we know he can win by TKO, submission and decision as he's done all three in his first three fights. We should be able to see if he can take a punch against Sapp. I'm not saying Sapp is a world-beater by any stretch, but they guy can hit hard. One wonders, though, if he'll get the chance to do so against a strong wrestler like Lashley. This fight will happen, by the way, at the "Ultimate Chaos" event in Mississippi on June 27. (That is, of course, provided that Sapp survives his fight with Ikuhisa Minowa next week in Japan. Yes, you read that right.)

SIXTH FIGHT: TREVOR PRANGLEY vs. EMANUEL NEWTON (Light Heavyweight Title Fight)

ROUND ONE: Newton's striking was a little wild in this round, and Prangley got some really nice judo throws in, but I think Newton takes the first by landing more power shots and getting more takedowns. He may also have an advantage in that Prangley looks tired.

ROUND TWO: Prangley looked much better in this round as he was able to land some nasty kicks and he didn't allow quite as many takedowns by Newton. He also got a takedown of his own, followed by some brief ground and pound. So I'll give him this round. However, he looked tired again at the end of the round. I should also say, though, that Newton doesn't exactly look fresh, either.

ROUND THREE: Prangley looked like he may have tweaked an ankle or something as he retreated from a flurry by Newton. Later in the round he was given the opportunity to recover after a perceived low blow by Newton. Big John took a point away with no warning after there were at least two other fights with multiple rule infractions and no point deductions. That's unfortunate since the replay showed that it was barely even a low blow, if it was at all. With the deduction, that was probably a 10-8 round, since Prangley would have won that one on my card.

My cable just went out for most of the last two rounds, but I can tell you that Prangley landed a head kick at the end of round five that put Newton just about out. Prangley likely won the fight if things started going more in his direction.

RESULT: Prangley by unanimous decision. (48-46, 49-46, 49-46)
STAR RATING: (n/a) I'd rate this right around 3 stars from what I saw, but I don't want to give a total rating not having seen the whole thing.

Nice win for Prangley – Newton thought he had the fight won when "New" was announced, except it wasn't for "Newton", but "New Champion".

All in all, this was a decent card but without any must-see fights. Lashley's win is worth tracking down, and it'll only take a few seconds to watch. But most everything else was largely pedestrian. Until next time.