Sherdog Preview: Rumble On The Rock 175-lb. GP
Frank Trigg vs. Carlos Condit
Apr 19, 2006
TRIGG: Frank Trigg
(Pictures) (13-4-0) is a four-time USA
Wrestling All-American, a 2000 Olympic Trials finalist and a
Phoenix College wrestler with 53-1 record.
“Twinkle Toes” runs the R-1 Gym (formerly RAW Team) with business and training partner Rico Chiaparelli. Vladimir Matushenko, Kengo Ura (Pictures) and Jake Moody all represent the R-1 Gym in MMA.
Trigg began fighting in the bull fighting rings and small bars in
Texas, where they fought Pancrase-style matches (open-hand strikes)
and in Evan Tanner
(Pictures)’s Unified Shoot Wrestling
Federation show. He won an eight-man tournament at USWF 7 and had
wins over SHOOTO veterans Ali
Elias and Dan
Gilbert.
He made his SHOOTO debut in 1998 and pounded Marcelo Aguiar. Trigg then handed jiu-jitsu legend Jean Jacques Machado, in his only professional MMA bout, a TKO loss after a Trigg knee burst open the Brazilian’s forehead.
In a return to SHOOTO, Trigg fought a back-and-forth battle with Hayato Sakurai (Pictures). Early on Frank was taking it to the then SHOOTO 167-pound champion and had him in trouble late in the first round.
However, Sakurai’s warrior spirit rose to the challenge and he stopped Frank in the second round with a series of knees to the face.
Trigg won all three of his bouts in the short-lived World Fighting Alliance in 2001 and 2002. His WFA victims included Laverne Clark, Jason Medina and Dennis Hallman (Pictures) (a controversial bout that saw the Nevada State Athletic Commission rule in Trigg’s favor after Hallman could not continue following an unintentional groin strike).
Frank’s long-awaited Octagon debut took place at UFC 45 against reigning UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes (Pictures). The highly decorated wrestlers put on a grappling display in the early moments, but late in the opening round Hughes climbed to Trigg’s back and secured a rear-naked choke for the dramatic win.
A rematch with “Superman” Hallman took place at UFC 48 and Trigg stopped him in the first round. At UFC 50 Trigg battled Renato Verissimo (Pictures) and “Twinkle Toes” put the hurt on “Charuto,” stopping him with strikes in the second round.
A rematch with Hughes took place at UFC 52 and despite having an early edge Trigg found himself losing to Hughes by the very same choke that ended their first bout.
Divisional superstar Georges St Pierre put on a clinic at UFC 54 choking out Trigg by, you guessed it, rear-naked choke. And in the opening round of the Rumble on the Rock tournament Trigg took a unanimous decision over the “Machine Gun” Ronald Jhun (Pictures).
CONDIT: Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and Muay Thai fighter Carlos Condit (Pictures) sports a professional record of 14-2 record in MMA. He is part of the FIT NHB Team in New Mexico with fighters Matt Knaub (Pictures) and Thomas Schulte (Pictures), trainers Tom and Arlene Vaughn, and manager Phyllis Lee.
In addition to his MMA accomplishments, Condit has also won three K-1 rules bouts against three well-known MMA fighters: Cruz Chacon, Marcus Davis and Pete Spratt (Pictures).
Carlos began fighting MMA in 2001 in a local show called the Aztec Challenge. He continued to fight in smaller shows, mostly in New Mexico, and he was 4-0 before making it to his first major event, the King of the Cage.
He won his KOTC debut and then fought in the Ring of Fire promotion, where he stopped Brad Gumm with strikes. He scored additional wins in KOTC and ROF before suffering his first MMA loss in a bout with MFC veteran Carlo Prater (Pictures).
Condit rattled off three more wins in local shows before returning to Colorado’s Ring of Fire and submitting Chile Gonzalez. A trip to Japan and a bout in Pancrase against Satoru Kitaoka (Pictures) dealt Carlos his second loss.
He rebounded with a big win over Hawaiian Ross Ebanez (Pictures) in the Rumble on the Rock, dropping “The Boss” early in the first round. The victory landed him in January’s ROTR welterweight tournament. Condit scored an even bigger win, knocking out UFC veteran Renato Verissimo (Pictures) in the quarterfinals with a knee strike just seconds into the bout.
MY PICK: Trigg. As interesting and accomplished a fighter as Condit is, I don’t see Trigg getting caught the way “Charuto” did. It would make a great story though, wouldn’t it? And you know Condit will be looking to sink that rear-naked choke. Carlos isn’t a kid without experience being thrown to the wolves. Granted he hasn’t fought anywhere near the level of competition Trigg has recently, but 14-2 is still 14-2. Frank’s wrestling will be the difference. Trigg by TKO in the second round.
“Twinkle Toes” runs the R-1 Gym (formerly RAW Team) with business and training partner Rico Chiaparelli. Vladimir Matushenko, Kengo Ura (Pictures) and Jake Moody all represent the R-1 Gym in MMA.
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He made his SHOOTO debut in 1998 and pounded Marcelo Aguiar. Trigg then handed jiu-jitsu legend Jean Jacques Machado, in his only professional MMA bout, a TKO loss after a Trigg knee burst open the Brazilian’s forehead.
In PRIDE he punished a diminutive Fabiano Iha, stopping him with
strikes midway through the first round. A trip to World Extreme
Fighting pitted Trigg against Ray Cooper (Pictures). Trigg came out on top via
rear-choke.
In a return to SHOOTO, Trigg fought a back-and-forth battle with Hayato Sakurai (Pictures). Early on Frank was taking it to the then SHOOTO 167-pound champion and had him in trouble late in the first round.
However, Sakurai’s warrior spirit rose to the challenge and he stopped Frank in the second round with a series of knees to the face.
Trigg won all three of his bouts in the short-lived World Fighting Alliance in 2001 and 2002. His WFA victims included Laverne Clark, Jason Medina and Dennis Hallman (Pictures) (a controversial bout that saw the Nevada State Athletic Commission rule in Trigg’s favor after Hallman could not continue following an unintentional groin strike).
Frank’s long-awaited Octagon debut took place at UFC 45 against reigning UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes (Pictures). The highly decorated wrestlers put on a grappling display in the early moments, but late in the opening round Hughes climbed to Trigg’s back and secured a rear-naked choke for the dramatic win.
A rematch with “Superman” Hallman took place at UFC 48 and Trigg stopped him in the first round. At UFC 50 Trigg battled Renato Verissimo (Pictures) and “Twinkle Toes” put the hurt on “Charuto,” stopping him with strikes in the second round.
A rematch with Hughes took place at UFC 52 and despite having an early edge Trigg found himself losing to Hughes by the very same choke that ended their first bout.
Divisional superstar Georges St Pierre put on a clinic at UFC 54 choking out Trigg by, you guessed it, rear-naked choke. And in the opening round of the Rumble on the Rock tournament Trigg took a unanimous decision over the “Machine Gun” Ronald Jhun (Pictures).
CONDIT: Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and Muay Thai fighter Carlos Condit (Pictures) sports a professional record of 14-2 record in MMA. He is part of the FIT NHB Team in New Mexico with fighters Matt Knaub (Pictures) and Thomas Schulte (Pictures), trainers Tom and Arlene Vaughn, and manager Phyllis Lee.
In addition to his MMA accomplishments, Condit has also won three K-1 rules bouts against three well-known MMA fighters: Cruz Chacon, Marcus Davis and Pete Spratt (Pictures).
Carlos began fighting MMA in 2001 in a local show called the Aztec Challenge. He continued to fight in smaller shows, mostly in New Mexico, and he was 4-0 before making it to his first major event, the King of the Cage.
He won his KOTC debut and then fought in the Ring of Fire promotion, where he stopped Brad Gumm with strikes. He scored additional wins in KOTC and ROF before suffering his first MMA loss in a bout with MFC veteran Carlo Prater (Pictures).
Condit rattled off three more wins in local shows before returning to Colorado’s Ring of Fire and submitting Chile Gonzalez. A trip to Japan and a bout in Pancrase against Satoru Kitaoka (Pictures) dealt Carlos his second loss.
He rebounded with a big win over Hawaiian Ross Ebanez (Pictures) in the Rumble on the Rock, dropping “The Boss” early in the first round. The victory landed him in January’s ROTR welterweight tournament. Condit scored an even bigger win, knocking out UFC veteran Renato Verissimo (Pictures) in the quarterfinals with a knee strike just seconds into the bout.
MY PICK: Trigg. As interesting and accomplished a fighter as Condit is, I don’t see Trigg getting caught the way “Charuto” did. It would make a great story though, wouldn’t it? And you know Condit will be looking to sink that rear-naked choke. Carlos isn’t a kid without experience being thrown to the wolves. Granted he hasn’t fought anywhere near the level of competition Trigg has recently, but 14-2 is still 14-2. Frank’s wrestling will be the difference. Trigg by TKO in the second round.
