By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev was this past weekend and
featured some interesting fights. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to
the rundown.
UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev
GOOD- Steve Erceg stops Matt Schnell
They exchange some good strikes early in the fight before Erceg starts connecting with some big power strikes that really start hurting
Schnell. The first round ends as Erceg gets stuffed on a takedown
attempt. The second round begins with Erceg nailing Schnell with a
beautiful left hook that ends the fight not quite thirty seconds into the second round. Erceg improves to 12-1 and has won 11 straight
fights while Schnell drops to 16-8 with 1 No Contest. Good win for Erceg.
GOOD/BAD- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bekzat Almakhan
Almakhan comes out aggressive and drops Nurmagomedov with an overhand
right early in the fight. They scramble and Nurmagomedov lands on top
and stays there the rest of the first round. The second round begins
with some exchanges until Nurmagomedov gets a takedown. Almakhan
scrambles up but gets immediately taken down again. Almakhan gets up
again but gets immediately taken down again and Nurmagomedov works
some ground-and-pound until the second round ends. The third round starts with Nurmagomedov getting another takedown and they stay on the
mat for the rest of the fight. Almakhan landed five strikes in the
entire fight and I’m thankful this wasn’t scheduled for five rounds.
We go to the judges to render their verdict. Nurmagomedov wins the
decision to improve to a perfect 17-0 while Almakhan drops to 11-2 and has his 8 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Nurmagomedov.
GOOD- Muhammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez
They exchange strikes early as Mokaev keeps trying for a takedown but
can’t get one until the last minute of the first round. He lands some
ground-and-pound before the first round ends. The second round begins
with them fighting on the fence for a while before Mokaev can finally
get another takedown. He can’t do with it, though, as Perez scrambles
away. They exchange strikes for the rest of the second round. The third round starts with some striking exchanges before Mokaev starts going for a takedown. They’re up and down repeatedly as they scramble
for the rest of the fight. We go to the judges to render their
verdict. Mokaev wins the decision to improve to 12-0 with 1 No Contest
and has won 7 straight fights while Perez drops to 24-8 and has lost 3 straight fights. Good win for Mokaev.
BAD/GOOD- Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro
They trade a lot of kicks in the first round, with both men mixing in some punches as well. The second round begins with more of the same
sparring-style action. They reverse each other on takedown attempts
and fight on the fence. The third round starts with Petrino taking
control and landing some nice strikes. He then gets a takedown and they scramble up and down for a while. Petrino tries for some
submissions but can’t lock any in and the fight ends, We go to the judges to render their verdict. Petrino wins the decision to improve
to a perfect 11-0 while Pedro drops to 10-5. I generally try not to be
too negative in these rundowns but I didn’t like this fight much.
Kudos to the fighters, though. Good win for Petrino.
GOOD/UGLY- Tyson Pedro retires, talks money
After the fight Pedro retired and finished his career with a 10-5
record. He won twice as many as he lost so that’s pretty good to me. I wish him well in his retirement. At the post-fight press conference he
talked about his financial challenges and even quipped that he’ll
likely have to rob someone in the parking lot due to losing the fight and the tax deductions on his show money.
This is just more gasoline on the issue of the UFC needing to pay
fighters more money. It’s easy for me to say something like this, it’s not my money, but it feels like if the UFC wants to grow, especially
in the higher weight classes, they need to pay more money. For some of
the lighter fighters, MMA might be the best avenue to go down but there’s less incentive for the bigger guys when the best athletes at that size can make more money competing in other sports.
I don’t know, it’s a complicated issue but it feels wrong for a guy
who’s fought in the UFC 11 times to be facing money issues.
GOOD/BAD- Jairzinho Rozenstruik stops Shamil Gaziev
Gaziev tries for a few takedowns but can’t get any. As he’s doing that Rozenstruik is peppering him with jabs. Gaziev finally gets a takedown
as the first round ends. The second round begins with more jabs from Rozenstruik as Gaziev tries for another takedown. Wash, rinse, repeat as we move into the third round and to my horror I remember that this
is the main event and will be five rounds. Oh crud. The fourth round is more of the same Rozenstruik teeing off on Gaziev with jabs and the
occasional kick. The fourth round ends and in between rounds Gaziev tells his corner that he can’t see so the cageside doctor stops the fight after four rounds. Rozenstruik improves to 14-5 while Gaziev drops to 12-1 and is handed his first career loss. Again, I don’t want to be too negative but this fight… Credit to Rozenstruik for
throwing that many jabs. I generally don’t like five round fights as a rule and I certainly don’t want to see heavyweights going that distance. Anyway, good win for Rozenstruik.
*************
Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA 7 was also this past weekend. The results
were as follows.
Junior dos Santos (23-10) stopped Alan Belcher (19-9) by second-round
TKO (4:39) to become the inaugural Gamebred Heavyweight Champion.
Chase Sherman (18-12) def. Alex Nicholson (18-11) by first-round KO. (3:57)
Handesson Ferreira (20-5-1) def. Karl Roberson (9-7) via unanimous decision
TJ Brown (19-11) def. Mandel Nallo (13-5) via second-round submission (0:22)
Jesse Ronson (27-12, 1 No Contest, 6 straight wins) def. Anthony Njokuani (18-15, 1 No Contest) via first-round submission (4:26)
Brandon Jenkins (17-11) def. Tyler Hill (12-9) via third-round TKO (2:12)
Anvar Boynazarov (6-3) def. Marlon Gonzalez (15-7-2, 1 No Contest)
def. via first-round TKO (0:13)
Joe Penafiel (12-9) def. Charles Bennett (30-46-2, 16 straight losses)
via third-round TKO (3:49)
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Also, here’s the link to my Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium Thank you
very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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