Coached by former competitors, Maurice Smith (Pictures)’s Tigersharks used a disqualification victory and tight decision to squeeze past Renzo Gracie (Pictures)’s Pitbulls.
Brad Blackburn (Pictures) pulled the Tigersharks even by scoring a close split decision victory. Ray Martin saw it 29-28 for Blackburn’s opponent, Gustavo Machado (Pictures), while Doug Crosby and Fred Fitzgerald had it the other way. (Sherdog.com scored it 29-28 for Machado.)
The two welterweights waged a competitive clash, one of the few on tonight’s card, and were even heading into the third. A takedown with less than a minute to go appeared to give “Ximu” the edge, particularly when the Brazilian maneuvered for a heelhook in the waning seconds. But it was not to be.
Delson Heleno (Pictures)’s confusion prompted his disqualification against veteran middleweight Dennis Hallman (Pictures). At the close of a solid opening period, Hallman sat back in Heleno’s guard. “Pe De Chumpo” responded by cocking his right leg and smashing his foot into the American’s face.
With just one tick remaining in the first period referee Herb Dean (Pictures) jumped in and offered Hallman a chance to recover. On advice from the doctor, the fight was stopped and Heleno, who clearly did not intend to foul Hallman, was the unfortunate victim of a sport where rules vary from promotion to promotion and country to country.
Down 2-1, Jamal Patterson, making his pro debut, knew he’d have to step up and defeat veteran Matt Horwich (Pictures) if his Gracie-led team would have a shot to win. That’s exactly what he did.
Nearly capitalizing off a Patterson mistake to setup a guillotine choke, Horwich did well early. But the more athletic and explosive Pitbull fighter escaped and passed to side. Soon, he had his eccentric foe’s back and worked the choke until Horwich tapped for the first time from submission in 22 fights.
That’s when Cole stepped in against Cline, offering a workmanlike performance that pushed the Tigersharks into the IFL’s June show. They’ll face Pat Miletich (Pictures)’s Silverbacks, which took out the Anaconda’s with relative ease.
After having already clinched the match, a meaningless — in terms of the team concept — bout pitted Mike Pyle (Pictures), the reigning WEC welterweight champion, against Rory Markham. Forty-four seconds into the fight, a Markham overhand right slammed Pyle to the canvas.
It was a shocking result for a fighter considered to be a possible future contender with the world’s best 170-pounders.
Ryan McGivern used the controlling style made famous by his coach to earn a clear three-round unanimous decision over Amir Rahnavardi (Pictures), securing the Silverbacks’ victory over Rutten’s Anacondas.
Takedowns largely won it for the former University of Iowa Hawkeye wrestler, whose game plan prevented Rahnavardi from implementing any sort of sustained stand-up attack. In fact, through two rounds, McGivern owned the better striking moments.
When McGivern had the advantage on the floor — twice he scored the mount — Rahnavardi did a nice job of escaping to his feet. But McGivern proved to be too strong for the slimmed down middleweight.
Alex Schoenauer (Pictures)’s surprising heelhook of light heavyweight Travis Wiuff (Pictures) not only kept the Anacondas in the match, it signified Rutten’s first victory as an IFL coach.
Weathering Wiuff’s ground-and-pound, which was limited by the IFL’s prohibition of elbows to the head while on the canvas, Schoenauer managed to slap on a sloppy-looking leglock in the third minute of round two.
Wiuff rolled and pushed away with his free foot before Schoenauer countered and tweaked the big Minnesotan’s leg. Wiuff looked to fight through it, but a startling scream showed the submission was more dangerous than it first appeared. Schoenauer then twisted again and Wiuff tapped. Suddenly the fight was over.
Ben Rothwell (Pictures) overcame a shaky opening two minutes to dominate Krysztof Soszynski (Pictures) and win by stoppage with just one second remaining in the first round. Though the southpaw Soszynski scored early with pushing punches, he never jarred Rothwell. The Miletich heavyweight rebounded to score points on the canvas before dropping his muscular challenger as the period waned.
The Silverbacks took an early lead off the strong effort of Bart Palaszewski (Pictures), who brought it against a tough but outgunned John Shackelford (Pictures). Scoring behind crisp combinations and digging body shots, “Bartimus” worked the young lightweight across the ring.
Bloodied around his right eye, Shackelford fell on the wrong end of a four unanswered shots early in round two, including consecutive kicks to the right side of his body. Palaszewski then finished the contest with an uppercut-left hook combination 1:31 into the second period.
Jens enjoys an easy night
“Today was definitely the most pressure I’ve felt in a long time because, if you’ve followed my fight career, I haven’t been home in a long time,” said Jens Pulver (Pictures) after stopping former WEC bantamweight champion Cole Escovedo (Pictures). “It’s been almost six years since I won the world title here in the Trump Taj Mahal. Knocked out John Lewis (Pictures) here, in the Trump Taj Mahal. This is the house that Jens built. For me, this is where I fight. I love the east coast. I love being here in AC. I do well here.”
Pulver opened strong and refused to allow the smallish Escovedo any chance to build momentum or confidence. The only 155-pound champion in UFC history plowed through the Fresno, Calif. fighter’s defense, connecting with multiple power shots before an overhand left forced Escovedo to fall awkwardly.
A vicious downward punch from “Lil Evil” put an end to the contest just 56 seconds after it began.