Although it may vary depending on each one’s individual opinion, I am sure most MMA fans will consider that a show with no decisions by the judges is a good show. Like that, we know it was all left to the fighters with no third party getting involved to make that decision for them. This is what happened at the latest Ring of Combat, held this past Friday, September 9, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. But there was a lot more to it than just a no decision card. There was a good amount of blood splattered around and plenty of cuts – the last fight was held for a good half hour waiting for an ambulance to come back (yes, they had run out of ambulances).
The show started well with Brazilian Carlos Oliveira getting knocked out by Tom English on the first round, followed by a TKO by Chris Birchler on Shawn Obasi also on the first round. Those were just the preliminaries – it looked like the show was going to end early!
The main card started with Ed Gordon swallowing some fantastic knees thrown by Steve Edwards who, in round two, almost finished with a fantastic tight Kimura. Gordon really showed up he was polished tough. This fight got called at the corner by the doctor when Edwards was found incapable to continue.
The next fight followed suit with the doctor also calling the fight at 3:14 of the second round due to a gushing laceration inflicted on Brian Kelleher by Michael LaDuke. As a bonus, Kelleher also got a 45 day suspension to help him recover from his cuts. This is where blood started pouring, with the immediate fight just after having both fighters suspended due to facial lacerations – although the fight was won by an armbar submission by the Brazilian Eduardo Telles from GMA’s Victor Shaolin camp on the American Matt Ruskin also from GMA’s Renzo Gracie Academy.
Another submission quickly ensued when James Jenkins finalized Cody Castillo with a standing guillotine at 24 seconds of the first round. On the last fight of the Main card, Aung La N Sang TKOed Casey Gonzalez with some brutal ground and pound from a side mount that had rendered Gonzalez immobile.
Not to be left outdone, the Main card starts right off with some fantastic trading between Mike Stewart and Tom DeBlass. It was DeBlass that eventually got the best of it, with a strong left right on Stewart’s off button at the third minute of the first round. As DeBlass tried to celebrate his victory at the ring, a fight between both camps took root at the bleachers when some people purportely spilled beer on the females sitting at DeBlass’ camp. It was DeBlass himself then that asked for the microphone to appease the crowd “It’s over people, it’s all over now”. That seemed to quiet down the folks who then stayed under strict supervision by the athletic commission and no other fights were allowed to continue while they weren’t all sitting nicely on their comfy bleacher seats.
In the next fight we saw another round one KO when Al Iaquinta dropped a controversial kick on Gabriel Miglioli. Apparently Iaquinta’s big toe made it in to Miglioli’s left cornea but since there are no rules on being poked in the eye with a big toe the fight continue as Miglioli attempted to explain the fact to the ref who stopped the fight at 26 seconds of the first round when he could see that Miglioli was unable to defend himself.
The fight before last, was a superfight in all aspects – both as called by the promotion but also in what was delivered. After a lot of really good back and forth, veteran Chris Liguori scored a great right hand onto John Salgado’s chin that sent him packing to the canvas just when round three was coming to a close.
That is when we got to relax for a bit while waiting for an ambulance to be present for the last fight of the night. It was at 3 minutes and 24 seconds of the second round when Deividas Taurosevicus sank a rear naked on Ronnie Rogers who, up until this point, was being brutalized with well placed kicks and punches.
Quick stats for this show:
3 submissions, 3 KOs and 5 TKOs, with 9 suspensions
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Full Results:
Preliminary Card
145: Tom English def. Carlos Oliviera via KO (Punch) at 1:59 of Round 1
260: Chris Birchler def. Shawn Obasi via TKO (verbal tap due to strikes) at 2:47 of Round 1
Main Card
205: Ed Gordon def. Steve Edwards via TKO (Doctor Stoppage in corner) at 3:00 of Round 2
135: Brian Kelleher def. Michael LaDuke via TKO (Doctor Stoppage due to Laceration at 3:14 of Round 3
170: Eduardo Telles def. Matt Ruskin via Submission (Armbar) at 3:10 of Round 1
145: James Jenkins def. Cody Castillo via Submission (Guillotine) at 0:24 of Round 1
185: Aung La N Sang def. Casey Gonzalez via TKO (Referee Stoppage due to Unanswered Strikes) at 1:03 of Round 2
Feature Title Bouts
205:TITLE: Tom DeBlass def. Mike Stewart via KO (Punch) at 3:07 of Round 1
155:TITLE: Al Iaquinta def. Gabriel Miglioli via TKO (Referee Stoppage) at 0:26 of round 1
160:SUPERFIGHT: Chris Liguori def. John Salgado via KO (Punch) at 4:12 of Round 3
145:TITLE: Deividas Taurosevicus def. Ronnie Rogers via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:24 of Round 2