Rad Fights of Yesteryear - Shamrock vs Severn II

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that's simply the most lamentable dustman in existence.

UFC 9: Superfight championship - Ken Shamrock vs Dan Severn

This time on Rad Fights of Yesteryear, it is perhaps the Raddest Fight to have ever existed. Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn are two legendary competitors,and, at the time of the fight, were two highly rated fighters. Severn had won the UFC 5 and Ultimate Ultimate 95 tournaments, while Shamrock was the inaugural King of Pancrase champion and the defending UFC Superfight champion (Having defeated Dan Severn to win the belt).

Due to some last-minute rule changes that allowed the event to take place in Detroit, closed fist punches to the head and headbutts were no longer allowed (This shouldn't have been too much of a problem for Shamrock, since Pancrase also barred closed fist punches). Also, thanks to a Tito Ortiz-esque litany of training injuries, Shamrock was less than 100% going into the bout.

However, because both men were incredibly skilled mixed martial artists, what went down was one of those rare fights that is both an all-out war and an epic, highly-contested, cerebral chess match.

On this, the first day of April, please enjoy "The Detroit Dance".

Fighter Retrospective - Bas Rutten

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that will always let you bang, bro.


This time on Fighter Retrospectives, I’ll be taking a look at a Dutch maniac, Bas “El Guapo” Rutten.

Who is this guy?

Bas Rutten is a guy from Holland that was very good at killing people’s faces.  He began his martial arts career in Tae Kwon Do and Kyokushin karate, then later transitioned into Muay Thai kickboxing (I think 80% of all Dutch people are skilled in Muay Thai), before participating in mixed martial arts.

He started in Pancrase, a Japanese organization that had a fair amount of professional wrestling influences (Combatants were allowed rope breaks for submissions during a match, for instance, and closed fist punches to the face were illegal.  The rope breaks were in finite supply, though, and once you used them up, the next rope grab would end the fight.).  Bas was initially very good at knocking out people with his excellent striking background, but would quickly become lost when a fight went to the ground.  One of the top stars of Pancrase, Masakatsu Funaki took on Bas and several other fighters to train submission skills simply to give himself more of a challenge (Rest assured, I’ll be writing about Funaki in the future).  Rutten learned the ground game very well and started submitting people with numerous different holds.

Were any of his fights any good?

Boy howdy, were they!  Bas had some very impressive and fun fights with such peoples as Jason DeLucia, Frank and Ken Shamrock (Individually, of course, this was Pancrase, not ZST), and Masakatsu Funaki.

Rutten versus Frank Shamrock III - The Fighting Clown, Frank Shamrock

 Bas struggled against the Shamrock family, going 2-3 overall with the grappling brothers.  This fight is to unify Bas's King of Pancrase title with Frank's interim KoP title.  Bas is on commentary because he's awesome.  There's a good mix of grappling, striking, and conversation to start things off.  Oh, they also spill out of the ring during a takedown attempt by Frank.  Crazy times in Pancrase!

It's not really until the latter stages of the fight that Frank starts goofing around.  He throws a turtled-up backhand, and during a leg lock attempt, just pulls ridiculous faces as Bas tries to punch his way out.  Frank ends up with a cut over his eyebrow, and that's the official reason for the end of the fight, but Bas says, and I'm inclined to agree, that Shamrock just looked like he was done, cut or no cut.

Check out more about Bas after the (splits) jump!

Rad Fights of Yesteryear - Frye vs Takayama

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s less entertaining than Shamrock vs. Severn II.

Don “The Predator” Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

Who Are These Jerks?

Don Frye is a propaganda cartoon of America brought to life, born from the union of a football and an apple pie, raised by a bald eagle to fight everything with his fists of fury and a bitchin’ mustache.

Yoshihiro Takayama is a dyed blond pro wrestler that decided to give real fighting a try, to hilariously disastrous results (Oops, guess I should have left if a mystery if the guy who only knows fake fighting is capable of real fighting).

Why Should I Care About This Dumb Thing?

 

Prior to the fight starting, Frye and Takayama have a pretty intense stare down during the referee’s instructions that I’m chalking up to Don Frye being really awesome.  Takayama’s no slouch, though; he towers over Frye and does his best at mean mugging, but ultimately loses due to his lack of a boss mustache.

The fight is nothing more than a brawl, a wild, beautiful, amazing brawl.  Frye and Takayama trade punches early and often before both men grab a hold of single collar clinches.  This allows each man the opportunity to repeatedly punch his opponent in the face while offering no chance of defense.

Things are now AWESOME!  The pace slows down to prevent both men’s punching hands from igniting, and they move to body clinches.  Now knees are getting thrown in addition to face punches.  Takayama throws Frye down, but Don’s back to his feet pretty quickly, only taking a knee to the head on his way back up.  We’re back to single collar ties, or AWESOME TIMES, then body clinches, and this continues back and forth until a brief lull allows the referee to call for a break.  Don gets the mouthpiece he dropped returned to him, and Takayama gets his busted up face checked out by the ring doctor.  Nothing seems to be too dangerous, so the fight continues, and they’re back to wild brawling.  The body clinches return, and Takayama tries for another takedown, but just ends up pulling Frye into mount.  Don unloads some ground and pound, and the referee has seen enough (Takayama’s probably had enough, too), ending the fight.  Frye wins by first round TKO, while Takayama must deal with his slow transformation into a Lumpy Space person (Oh my Glob, face punches are lame!)

What Did We Learn?

• Striking defense is for idiot babies
• Only face punchings are important, this was Takayama’s downfall, as he attempted body shots and knees far too often
• The Mustache Triumphs the Blond Dye-Job
• Pro wrestling is a poor substitute for actual fighting skills 

Rad Fights of Yesteryear - Emelianenko vs Randleman

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s dirtier than Gilbert Yvel.

It's time, once again, for Rad Fights of Yesteryear!  This is from the 2004 Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals, as then-current Pride Heavyweight champion, Fedor "the Last Emperor" Emelianenko takes on Kevin "the Monster Randleman.

Who Are These Jerks?

Fedor “the Last Emperor” Emelianenko is a Sambo practitioner, and, at the time of this fight, was considered one of the best Heavyweights in the world, coming into the contest at 18-1.  Kevin “the Monster” Randleman is a wrestler and has the size of a Light Heavyweight, but achieved far more success at Heavyweight (Probably because the Heavyweights generally aren't as skilled), capturing the UFC's Heavyweight title in 1999.  He enters this bout at 15-7. 

What's So Special About This Dumb Fight?

There’s a very brief striking exchange that allows Randleman to get a body clinch.  Kevin lifts Fedor off the mat and takes him down, landing in half-guard.  Randleman lands a few punches before Emelianenko gives up his back and stands back to his feet.  What follows is the greatest German suplex in the entire history of throws.

Randleman, having leveled up twice after knocking out Mirko Filipovic in his last fight, and wanting to try out his new moves, launches Emelianenko off his feet and decides to leap into the air as well, smashing Fedor’s head and neck into the canvas.  Surprisingly, Fedor’s head doesn’t fly off into the fifth row, nor does his spine get pulverized into bone dust.  Instead, Emelianenko calmly sweeps Randleman, attains side control, punches Randleman in the head around twenty times, and then sinks a fight ending kimura.

Being all stoic and Russian, Emelianenko pretty much remains calm the entire fight, only smiling slightly after Randleman lifts him in the air post-fight.

What Did We Learn?

• Wrestling is pretty cool, but Sambo is kind of awesome
• German suplexes are most awesome
• Sambo teaches you to fall from great heights directly on your head to no ill effects
•  Seriously, how did Fedor not die from that?

Fantastic Finishes - Shlemenko vs McDaniel

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s less coherent than Wanderlei Silva.

This Fight is pretty Rad, but it's only four years old, so it doesn't meet the requirement of being from Yesteryear.  So, I decided to create another sub-category of "Here's a non-recent fight that I enjoy, and now I'll talk about it".  Fantastic Finishes are about fights that are fairly unremarkable up until those last few seconds that ends the whole thing.  Not every KO or submission is a fantastic finish, it takes something special and memorable.

Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko vs. Robert “Bubba” McDaniel

Who Are These Jerks?

Alexander Shlemenko is a kickboxer and a military combatives guy and probably a sambo dude, too, because which Russians aren’t?  Robert McDaniel is a guy nicknamed Bubba, with fewer total fights now than Shlemenko’s fight tally at the time of this bout.

What's Going On, Why Should I Care About This Dumb Thing?

This fight turned me into a Shlemenko fan, even though he doesn’t really do much.  McDaniel gets a takedown early in round one, and some fun grappling ensues.  Shlemenko briefly threatens with a kimura and even gets a sweep, but for the most part, McDaniel controls the grappling.  He gets both full front and back mount, fishes for a rear naked choke, but is unable to secure the submission.  Shlemenko gets back to his feet very late in the round, tries a spinning backfist (Which has since become one of his signature moves), misses, gets taken back down, but manages to get up again.  With seconds remaining in the first, Shlemenko feints, then lands a flying knee, dropping McDaniel to the canvas as the round ends.

Shlemenko raises his arms in victory while the referee tries to roll the obviously hurt McDaniel onto his back.  McDaniel briefly rests his hands on his stomach, which convinces the ref that Shlemenko’s knee hit below the belt.  McDaniel’s corner enters the cage and everyone huddles around Bubba, trying to sort out where exactly he got hit.  Did I mention that McDaniel is groaning in severe pain the entire time?  He totally is, and it’s pretty disturbing and haunting to hear.  McDaniel finally manages to moan that his ribs are hurt, the ref stops the fight for good, and Bubba continues trying to not die.  Shlemenko is officially announced as the victor while a replay shows his knee hit McDaniel right below the heart, probably detaching the Xiphoid Process and dropping it into McDaniel’s stomach (Which I totally heard from a friend’s cousin’s friend’s uncle’s cousin who is a Special Forces guy that is totally a Special Forces Death Move, which probably means Shlemenko is totally Spetsnaz/KGB/SMERSH).

What Did We Learn?

• If you’ve been outwrestling a guy for an entire round and he gets up with seconds left in the round, take your time getting back to your feet
• Flying knees to the body are pretty rad
• HURGH OH GOD ARGH MY RIBS BLEARGH URGH OH GOD BLORG

Rad Fights of Yesteryear - Sudo vs. Oxley

Welcome to Leg Kick TKO, a MMA blog that’s less engaging than Kalib Starnes.

Rad Fights of Yesteryear is a feature where I talk about cool fights that are at least five years old.  Five years might not sound like much, but back then Tim Sylvia was the UFC Heavyweight champion.  A lot can change in the MMA world in five years.

Genki Sudo vs. Craig Oxley

Genki Sudo is the coolest dude around.  I’ll probably end up writing a full appreciation post for him where I go over more of his accomplishments, so just know that he is a Greco-Roman wrestler with a very high level Brazilian jiu-jitsu game.  Cool Grappler Man is a very fitting appellation for Genki Sudo, to go along with his more official nicknames of “Transforming Trickster” and “Neo Samurai”.

I don’t know who the hell Craig Oxley is, and it doesn’t really matter, this fight is all about Genki Sudo being a Cool Grappler Man.  I will point out that Oxley was making his professional debut and finished his career at 0-3 (Dang, I just spoiled the result of the fight!)

The fight is in Pancrase (Yes, they are Hybrid Wrestlers), but it’s not early Shamrock Brothers, Bas Rutten, Funaki Pancrase with no gloves and only palm strikes to an opponent’s head.  They’ve got gloves, but it’s still Pancrase, so they’ve also got shin guards, and Oxley is wearing shoes.  Though, this is from 2000, so shoes aren’t a big deal for a MMA fight.

Anyway, the fight starts, and Genki begins his normal routine of doing goofy shit.  He stands sideways to Oxley, eats a leg kick, then shoots in for a double leg.  Genki lands the takedown in side control, then transitions to north-south, then grabs for an armbar.  Oxley defends and rolls with Sudo, ending up with Craig in Genki’s full guard.

Genki keeps an active guard and gets Oxley in a triangle choke.  Genki lands a few strikes, but Oxley doesn’t seem to be in much danger from the submission, but he is stuck.  Sudo repositions his legs, trying the choke from the other side, but still no tap from Oxley.  Craig manages to get his head free, but in the ensuing scramble, Genki ends up on top of Craig in his closed guard.

Sudo postures up, stands, and then EXECUTES A GIANT SWING!  Genki drops to the mat, right into an Achilles lock, and despite Oxley fighting it, Sudo turns him over and gets the submission.

What Did We Learn?

•  Genki Sudo is cooler than you (And way cooler than me)
• Genki Sudo will out grapple a dude so bad he'll finish the fight with a pro wrestling move.