15 Apr Weekend in Fights! April 14th Edition

This Weekend in Fights! (April 14th, 2012) saw the return of the UFC for the first time in 43 days, with UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Stockholm, Sweden, a new Bellator Bantamweight champion was crowned in Atlantic City, as well as action from Cage Warriors in Jordan, EFC Africa in South Africa,  XFC in Tennessee, and Aggression Fighting Championship and AM Ford Fight Night 2012 in British Columbia.
Cage Warriors kicked off this weekend in fights on Thursday with Cage Warriors Fight Night 5: Brents vs. Linderman.  CWFN 5 took place at the New Boxing Arena in Amman, Jordan and was broadcast on MMAJunkie.com. In the main event of the card, D.J. Linderman, who lost two weeks ago at Instinct MMA 3, edged out Bobby Brents with a unanimous decision on two weeks notice. Even though he was giving up almost 25 pounds, Linderman bloodied the much larger Brents’ nose in the first round, but the action slowed down in the second. In the final frame, Linderman picked apart Brents with striking combinations to get the nod.
The Cage Warriors Middleweight tournament semifinals took place, with Pavel Kusch and Victor Cheng advancing to the finals for the vacant Cage Warriors Middleweight title. Kusch made short work of John Phillips with a 25 second heel hook submission, the submission specialist has 13 wins with 13 submissions. On the other side Victor Cheng went the distance against Faycal Hucin to  pick up the unanimous decision.  (Full Cage Warriors Fight Night 5: Linderman vs. Brents event results below.)
The action continued on Friday night with Bellator 65 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Emenating from Boardwalk Hall and broadcasting on MTV 2 and Spike.com, Bellator crowned a new Bantamweight champion in the main event. The main event featured the first title defense of Bellator Bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky, as he took on the winner of Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight tournament, Eduardo Dantas. Both fighters came out full throttle, in a bout that didn’t make it past the second round. Dantas completely dominated Makovsky, with an extremely impressive performance both off his back and in mount. Dantas was able to counter Makovsky’s take down attempt, and gain top position. From the mount, Dantas rained down on Makovsky, with a series of blows, followed up with an arm triangle choke. Despite his best efforts to grip his own leg and avoid the submission, Dantas was able to apply enough pressure to force Makovsky unconscious, and claim the title.
In the Featherweight tournament semifinal match up, Daniel Straus handed Mike Corey his first ever loss in Bellator. In the three round affair, Straus displayed his improved stand up, putting the beat down and bloodied up Corey in the first. However, Corey was able to regain his composure in the second, as he scored a take down and controlled most of the round. Straus continued to tee-off on Corey in the third, with punch and knee combinations. Both fighters ended the bout, swinging violently at each other, perhaps in desperation, or an attempt to woo the judges; ultimately, Straus was awarded the bout.
Bellator kicked off the Season 6 Bantamweight tournament with Luis Nogueira and Marcos Galvao both picking up unanimous decision victories to advance to the semifinals. Nogueira counter struck his opponent, Alexis Vila, staying away from his powerful right hand in order to pick the win. Glavao impose his will as he secured take downs, attempted submissions and connected with devastating power punches to pick up the win of Ed West. (Full Bellator 65 event results below.)
XFC 17: Apocalypse took place at the Oman Arena in Jackson, Tennessee and was broadcast on HDNet on Friday. In his second appearance for the promotion, American Top Team’s Eric Reynolds continued winning streak and snapped Luciano Dos Santos three fight win streak, in a three round stand up war, that saw Reynolds come out the victor in the main event.
Marlon Moraes had an early night when he came out swinging with devastating left hands, knocking out Jarrod Card in just 48 seconds.The one armed man, Nick Newell continued his miraculous undefeated streak, with a majority decision over Chris Coggins. The congenital amputee with just one fully-formed arm, Newell now improves to 7-0. Felice Herrig bounced back from her December 2, XFC 15 unanimous decision loss to Carla Esparza, with a unanimous decision victory of her own over Patricia Vidonic.  (Full XFC 17: Apocalypse event results below.)
Also on Friday, African based promotion Extreme Fighting Championship held their thirteenth even at the GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World, in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. IN a 12 bout card, seven bouts ended with slick submissions, three by TKO and two decisions. One of the three TKO’s on the night came in the main event, which saw Jadyson Costa (8-12-1)captured the EFC Africa Welterweight title by defeating then champion Dallas Jakobi (6-3) with a fourth round TKO. (Full EFC Africa 13 event results below.)
The UFC kicked off Saturday’s fights in the afternoon, with UFC on FUEL TV 2, at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Hometown hero, Alexander Gustafsson headlined the event against heavy handed Brazilian striker Thiago Silva. Due to the Swedish Athletic Commission rules, the bout was on three rounds, as opposed to the new UFC standard five round main events. After dropping Silva in the first round with an uppercut, Gustafsson landed some ground and pound, but was unable to finish Silva. However, the knockdown set the pace for the remainder of the bout, as Gustafsson was able to control Silva. Silva managed to land some heavy strikes, but none effective enough to give him control. Gustafsson’s conditioning proved to be better than Silva, as he continued to connect with punches and kicks. Silva attempted to finish the bout in the third round, chasing Gustafsson with some power punches to no avail. Gustafsson picked up the unanimous decision victory.
In the co-main event of the evening Brian Stann made short work of Alessio Sakara with a combination of knees punches to the head,  dropping Sakara to the mat. Stann began his ground and pound assault, only to be pulled into Sakara’s guard. Breaking free, Stann connected with three solid elbows rendering Sakara unconscious.
Dennis Siver made a successful debut at Featherweight with a unanimous decision victory over Deigo Nunes. In a very stand up heavy match up, both fighters connected with  numerous flurries of punches and knees threw the bout in the clinch. Even with his good take down defense, cutting Siver open, and dropping him to a knee, Nunes failed to win the bout in the eyes of the judges in a very close bout.
In a huge upset of the night Afghani born, product of Golden Glory, Siyar Bahadurzada knocked out Paulo Thiago in his UFC debut in just 42 seconds. Winning the “Knockout of the Night” honors, Bahadurzada landed a  big right hand that cause Thiago to hit mat face first.
The “Fight of the Night” went to Bantamweights, Brad Pickett and Damacio Page in an instant classic. Both fighters went at each other from the opening bell with Pickett ultimately getting the submission victory in the second round. The first round was highly contested back and fourth action with both connecting with heavy strikes. The fast pace action continued into the second round. With Page dazed from all on shots, Pickett took advantage,  sinking his hooks in and applying the rear-naked choke, forcing page to tap.
In a Welterweight match up, John “The One” Maguire squared off against DaMarques Johnson. Sporting the pink and black, cause Bret Hart is his hero, MaGuire was losing the stand up war, as he ate a lot a clearly painful leg kicks from Johnson. Taking it to the mat, Maguire worked his Jiu-Jitsu game and attempted an omoplata, armbar, guillotine choke and rear-naked choke, all unsuccessfully.  In the second round, Maguire took Johnson down with ease, but was on the receiving end of some elbows. Unable to get off his back, Johnson grabbed Maguire’s arm for a kimura, but Maguire snatched Johnson’s arm and wrenched a beautiful arm bar, forcing Johnson to tap in the “Submission of the Night.”
Tristar Gym’s Francis Carmont averted disaster, after being man handled in the first round by Magnus Cedenblad. With his hooks in, Cedenblad had Carmont’s back worked for the rear-naked choke in the first round. Early in the second round, after landing a take down, Carmont rained down on Cedenblad with relentless ground and pound punches and elbows from mount position forcing Cedenblad giving up his back. Carmont would take advantage and sink in a rear-naked choke to score the victory in under two minutes.(Full UFC on FUEL TV 2 event results below.)
Aggression Fighting Championship held its first collective fight card on Saturday night with AFC 8 in Victoria, British Columbia. The AFC was formed as a merger between three of Canada’s premier fight promotions Aggression MMA, Armageddon Fighting Championships, and AX Combat, to be known as Aggression Fighting Championship. Their inaugural show as a collective was held at Bear Mountain Arena and featured both amateur and professional MMA bouts. Teammates of former STRIKEFORCE Women’s Bantamweight champion Sarah Kaufman, Diego Wilson & Ryan Janes were both successful.
Both Zugec Ultimate Martial members were featured on this card Bantamweight, Deigo Wilson in the main event. Wilson bounced back from his first ever pro loss with a TKO victory over Corey Gower.  Middleweight,  Ryan Janes picked up his fourth career victory with a submission rear-naked choke over Marcus Hicks. Janes is now riding a three fight win streak. In Featherweight action, Bruno Capdeville rendered Nick Driedger a bloody mess, with a series of lefts, that busted open Driedger so bad that the action was ended after doctor examination mid way through the first round.  (Full AFC 8 event results below.)
Another British Columbia fight promotion held an event on Saturday as AM Ford Fight Night 2012 went down at the Trail Memorial Centre, Trail, British Columbia. The event featured mixed of pro & amateur MMA, including two championship bouts, and two Muay Thai bouts.
In the main event of AM Ford Fight Night 2012, former Ringside MMA fighter Jesse Ronson won the AM Ford Fight Night Lightweight Title Fight by knocking out  Brad Causey with only six second remaining in the first round. In the other championship bout, Stephan Frictra successfully defeated his AM Ford Fight Night Middleweight title against Jason Gorny , also winning with a first round knockout.  (Full AM Ford Fight Night 2012 event results below.)
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Thursday Night Fights-
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Cage Warriors Fight Night 5: Brents vs. Linderman results:
D.J. Linderman def. Bobby Brents via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Pavel Kusch def. John Phillips via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 0:25 – middleweight-tournament semifinal
Victor Cheng def. Faycal Hucin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) – middleweight-tournament semifinal
Liam James def. Jean N’Doye via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28
Mike Ling def. Eric Cebarec via TKO (elbows) – Round 2, 2:11
Piotr Hallmann def. Kevin Donnelly via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:10
James Brun def. Thomas Back via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)
Facebook prelims:
Kris Edwards def. Janne Elonen-Kulmala by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Mohamed Ali def. Doo Hwan Kim by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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Friday Night Fights –
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Bellator 65 results:
Eduardo Dantas def. Zach Makovsky via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:26 – to become new bantamweight champion
Daniel Straus def. Mike Corey via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) – featherweight-tourney semifinal
Luis Nogueira def. Alexis Vila via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – bantamweight-tourney opening round
Marcos Galvao def. Ed West via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – bantamweight-tourney opening round
Spike.com prelims:
Duane Bastress def. Plinio Cruz via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:52
Will Martinez def. Terrell Hobbs via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:13
Scott Heckman def. Lester Caslow via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:40
Kris McCray def. Ailton Barbosa via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Lyman Good def. LeVon Maynard via KO (punch) – Round 1, 0:13 – welterweight-tourney qualifier
E.J. Brooks def. Mikhail Malyutin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
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XFC 17: Apocalypse results:
Eric Reynolds def. Luciano Dos Santos via unanimous decision
Marlon Moraes def. Jarrod Card via KO (punch) – Round 1, 0:48
Nick Newell def. Chris Coggins via majority decision
Felice Herrig def. Patricia Vidonic via unanimous decision
Charles Blanchard def. Johnny Davies via unanimous decision
Jason Wood def. Ronnie Rogers via submission (guillotine choke) Round 2, 2:13
Joel Cooper def. Amaechi Oselukwue via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Prelims:
Teddy Holder def. Bobby Carter via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:27
Bradley Stafford def. Tommy Roberts via majority decision
Steven Durr def. Michael Manley via unanimous decision
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EFC Africa 13 results:
Jadyson Costa def. Dallas Jakobi via TKO (Punches) -0:39 – Round – New EFC Africa Welterweight champion
Bernardo Mikixi def. Calven Robinson via TKO (Punches) -4:09-Round 1
Leon Mynhardt def. Don Madge via TKO (Punches) -3:23-Round 3
Michiel Opperman def. Martin van Staden Submission (Guillotine) -4:18 – Round 1
Norman Wessels def. Dain Neveling via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:31-Round 1
Dino Bagattin def. Francois Kabulu via Split Decision
Wade Henderson def.  James Le Roux via Submission (Arm Bar) 1:19-Round 1
Mahmoud Hassn (0-0) vs. Ricky Misholas via Submission (Punches) 1:18-Round 1
Arnabd de De Bruyn def. Abri Valentine via Submission (Arm Bar) – 4:50-Round 1
Abdul Hassan def. Leo Gloss via Split Decision
Morne Marais def. Michael Vermeulen via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) -3:16 – Round 1
Jason Culverwell def. Mahmoud Salama via Submission (Keylock)
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Saturday Night Fights –
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UFC on FUEL TV 2: Gustafsson vs. Silva results:
Alexander Gustafsson def. Thiago Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Brian Stann def. Alessio Sakara via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:26
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Paulo Thiago via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:42
Dennis Siver def. Diego Nunes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
John Maguire def. DaMarques Johnson via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:40
Brad Pickett def. Damacio Page via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:05
James Head def. Papy Abedi via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:33
Cyrille Diabate def. Tom DeBlass via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
Francis Carmont def. Magnus Cedenblad via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:42
Reza Madadi def. Yoislandy Izquierdo via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 1:28
Simeon Thoresen def. Besam Yousef via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:36
Jason Young def. Eric Wisely via unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28 )
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AFC 8 results:
Pro Bouts:
Diego Wilson def. Corey Gower via TKO – 1:27 – Round 2
Adam Smith def. Karel Bergen via Split Decision
Bruno Capdeville def. Nick Driedger by TKO (Doctor Stoppage/Cut) – 2:24- Round 1
Advin Omic def. Marcus Vinicios via Submission  (Arm Bar)- 4:42 – Round 2
Ryan Janes def. Marcus Hicks via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 2:04 – Round 2
Nathan Swayze def. Derek Mrak by Split Decision
Dajan Kajic def. Ash Mashreghi by Split Decision
Amateur Bouts:
Alexi Argyriou def. Guy Gauthier via TKO (GNP from Mount) – 1:07- Round 1
Bronson Peterson def. Chris Anderson via TKO (Punch) 1:17 -Round 1
Dustin Joynson def. Dylan Moore via TKO (Punches) – 1:51 – Round 3
Dillon Brown def. Brandon Shorter via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 1:30 – Round 3
Dee Obaro def. Josh Williams via TKO (Pumches) – 2:01 – Round 3
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AM Ford Fight Night 2012 results:
Pro MMA bouts:
Jesse Ronson def. Brad Causey via  KO – 4:54 – Round 1 – Claims AM Ford Fight Night Lightweight Title
Stephan Frictra def. Jason Gorny via KO – 1:42 – Round 1 –defends his AM Ford Fight Night Middleweight Title Fight
Jordan Knippelberg def. Brandon MacArthur via TKO – 2:31 – Round 3
Josh Kitchen def. Shawn Smith via TKO (Ref Stoppage) Round 2
Darwin Douglas def. Sheldon Doll via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 2:54 -Round 1
Mark Dolbie def. Jason Warshawsky via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – 3:49 – Round 1
Amateur MMA bouts:
River Jones def. Jade DeHaas via TKO – 1:13 – Round 4
Andrew Kloot def. Johnny Forry via Submission (Arm bar) – 1:01 – Round 1
Wyatt Lake def. David Felton via Submission (Guillotine) – 1:55 – Round 1
Muay Thai bouts:
Landon Giguere def. Justin Boardman via Unanimous Decision
Kamryn Winter def. James Sullivan via KO 0:08 Round 1