VANCOUVER, Dec. 2 — Is Roger Gracie (Pictures) the next great fighter out of the first family of mixed martial arts?
“I thought [it would end] by choke to be honest,” said Gracie following the bout. “I was expecting at some point to get on top of him. I knew he was strong so it would be hard to catch an arm. But I thought at some point I would be able to reverse and I’m on top, him trying to escape, I’m going to be able to put a choke on. But it didn’t go that far.”
Gracie’s first try at armbar saw Waterman power his way out. That was on the Brazilian’s mind as he attempted the submission again shortly thereafter.
“Renzo was screaming ‘go for the arm, go to the arm,’” recalled Roger, the current Abu Dhabi submission wrestling absolute champion. “I remembered the first one when he picked me up so it took a while, but he kept the arm where I could attack. So when I passed the leg I felt his hands and knew he couldn’t pull the arm out.”
From the outset, a sense of calm appeared to envelop the young Brazilian’s mixed martial arts debut.
“I’m a very calm person always,” he said. “When I’m grappling a lot of people come to ask me how come I’m so relaxed. It’s pretty much in my nature; I’m calm like that. Even sometimes when I shouldn’t be, I’m more relaxed. That’s reflected when I fight. With those guys in my corner, there’s no way I cannot be relaxed. The confidence that they pass me is great. Renzo. Helio. My father. All of them.”
Considering his debut came against a man who’d never been submitted in MMA competition, Gracie was hardly given a “gimme.”
Waterman, who weighed 274 pounds on Friday, roughed up the six-foot-four, 220-pound youngster a bit, yet as many expected he never offered anything that would have seriously endangered Gracie’s health.
Earning the distinction of headlining bodogFIGHT’s first live television event — clearly designed to push the Bodog brand to MMA’s burgeoning young, male audience — Gracie said afterwards that he might return to the ring as soon as March 3, when bodogFIGHT will promote a live pay-per-view from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Alvarez continues to roll
Eddie Alvarez (Pictures) impressed yet again Saturday evening. The young welterweight remained unbeaten, stopping veteran Aaron Riley (Pictures) with a beautiful counter uppercut.
Recipient of many hard shots during a career that spans nine years, few punches have affected Riley as much as the perfect shot Alvarez unloaded during his Mixed Fighting Championship welterweight title defense.
“That’s something I did a 1,000 times before this fight coming up,” Alvarez said of the uppercut. “I woke up I did it. I went to sleep doing it. That uppercut is something that I love to do. I love the uppercut punch. It’s so valuable in MMA, I believe, just because someone like Aaron, I kept seeing in his films, after you were to throw punches Aaron would duck his head down a tiny, tiny bit. I kinda caught that. Like any fighter, you work off other fighters’ tendencies and I was able to see that when I was watching his films. And I was able to capitalize during the fight.”
Beyond landing a single punch, Alvarez turned up the pressure after hurting Riley. Trapping the American Top Team veteran in a corner, Alvarez fired straight punches that hit their mark. Riley was out on his feet — a rarity in mixed martial arts — before the referee could separate the fighters just 65 seconds after the opening bell.
Pele stuns “Junior”
Eric Pele (Pictures) was like so many mixed martial arts followers who’d heard the name Antonio Silva (Pictures) in recent months. But as is often the case, hype often fails to live up to reality. That was partially the case tonight when Silva met Eric Pele (Pictures).
Two of the most agile super heavyweights in the sport, Silva and Pele offered an exciting clash that in the end resulted in the Brazilian watching for the first time the man opposite him having his hand raised.
After taking an early kick to the groin, Pele was pinned in the corner when the mammoth six-foot-four, near-300-pound Silva unloaded a series of punches that forced the Las Vegan to turn his back and run to the opposite end of the ring.
“Even when I was dodging his barrage — like I said I was scared — I just had those jitters,” Pele said. “He didn’t really hurt me. It was like, when am I going to let go? I could feel myself holding on.”
Pele escaped the charging Brazilian and shook out his arms. “His punches didn’t hurt,” said the King of the Cage champion. “I just needed to wake up.”
Either Silva, undefeated in seven fights before tonight with the added distinction of having never allowed an opponent to make it out of the first stanza, didn’t recognize the signs or he didn’t care.
During an exchange, Pele unleashed a winging right hand that clipped Silva on his long chin. The Brazilian’s big frame slumped to the floor and Pele pounced, delivering a series of heavy punches that forced the referee to put a halt to the contest at 2:40 of the first.
“We worked on it because he has a hook,” Pele said of the right hand that changed the fight. “I guess I was thrown off because I knew he wanted to shoot. So when we worked he likes to jab and hook.”
Some, particularly Silva’s corner, protested the stoppage as premature.