Written by Jim Murphy
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Sunday, June 28 2009
Bobby Lashley made short work of Bob Sapp, quickly taking 'The Beast' down and pounding him en route to a submission victory in the main event of 'Ultimate Chaos' in Biloxi, Mississippi
Bobby Lashley continued to progress on the road to MMA stardom by destroying Japanese pop culture icon Bob ‘The Beast’ Sapp in under four one sided minutes of the first round. The Lashley/Sapp bout was the main event attraction of ‘Ultimate Chaos’, held Saturday night in Biloxi, Mississippi. Despite dubious production values and shoddy officiating the co-main events and a surprisingly spirited undercard made for an entertaining evening of fights.
Sapp, the former NFL player who parlayed his fighting career in K-1 and PRIDE to superstar status in Japan, may be past his prime as a competitor but is still a physically imposing challenge for any fighter. ‘The Beast’ entered the fight against Lashley in better shape than he’s shown in some time. Nonetheless, the 6’5” 322 pounds is one of the few men on the planet who can make the 6’3” 255 pound Lashley look small. Lashley, of course, was in his usual ungodly physical shape and in his prefight press suggested that he was looking forward to a standup war with Sapp.
From the opening bell, it was apparent that it was all a ruse—Sapp rushed forward aggressively and was caught by Lashley and taken down with ease. From that point, Lashley worked in half guard raining down a punishing ground and pound attack until ‘The Beast’ finally tapped out late in the first round. After the fight, Sapp indicated that he’d taken a punch in his eye. He gestured to the same eye that suffered the smashed orbital bone at the hands (and feet) of Mirko Cro Cop in their 2003 K-1 battle. It may have been the case that he figured with his many other career options letting a younger, stronger opponent pound on the same area simply wasn’t worth it.
In the co-main event, Gilbert ‘Hurricane’ Yvel scored a brutal first round TKO victory over Pedro Rizzo. Yvel has always had a reputation as something of an enigma, possessed with devastating KO power but often displaying questionable judgment in the ring. His career has been marred by several disqualifications, including an instance where he slugged a referee. In the past year or so, his training team has insisted that he’s a ‘changed man’ and Yvel was given the opportunity to fight Josh Barnett at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Yvel fought courageously in his loss to Barnett, and against Rizzo demonstrated a more sophisticated ground defense to compliment with frightening strikes. Rizzo took the fight to the mat early, but Yvel withstood the ground attack and got to his feet. At this point ‘The Hurricane’ exploded, partially connecting with a high kick followed by a right hand that floored Rizzo. Yvel then landed five uncontested and downright destructive power shots on the ground before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
Afterwards, he displayed nothing but class. Upon noticing that Rizzo was still lying on the canvas receiving medical attention, Yvel cut short his celebration and quieted the crowd before kneeling by his fallen opponent until it was clear that he was OK. Even after Rizzo was alert and walking around the cage, Yvel kept his celebration low key out of respect to his foe. Make no mistake—Yvel wants to make his mark on the heavyweight division: “I want to move up to (fight) the champions because I want a belt. I’m learning the ground game. What I did tonight was be patient, relax, and kick-off.”
It’s not often that a matchup between competitors with one professional bout between them can rightfully be called the most inspirational fight on a card, but such was the case in Biloxi as 42 year old Affliction VP Tom Atencio got off the canvas in the first round to earn a TKO victory over 25 year old local product Randy Hedderick. Hedderick tagged Atencio with a looping right in the first round, and looked to be on the verge of a victory. Atencio displayed considerable toughness and heart as he withstood a ground and pound attack to continue the fight. He also displayed some very impressive striking skills for a 42 year old corporate executive, breaking Hedderick’s nose in the second round and forcing him to throw in the towel before the third. Afterwards, Atencio had some words for his rival Dana White who had made some derisive comments about his opponent: “Randy’s a tough kid and I thank him for the fight. Screw Dana White for what he said about you. Anybody who steps in the ring deserves a lot of respect. Win, lose or draw, at least you had the balls. He rocked me a couple of times and decked me.”
Perhaps the best compliment that could be given to Atencio is that had someone tuned in not knowing who he was they would have thought he was just another fighter. More often seen in his fashionable eyeglasses, gauged earrings and Affliction garb, Atencio was obviously in great physical shape and demonstrated impressive handspeed and technique. He likely earned some new fans with his spirited effort, and deserves a lot of credit for the toughness, dedication and seriousness with which he took the bout.
Earlier in the card, Affliction and IFL veteran Brett Cooper suffered a setback against an opponent that he may not have taken seriously, Waachim Spiritwolf. Spiritwolf caught Cooper with a powerful right hand late in the first round that ended the fight. Cooper had been slated to appear on the August 1st Affliction: Trilogy undercard but that’s highly unlikely after a devastating knockout which will probably result in a medical suspension. In his postfight comments, Spiritwolf admitted that his opponent’s casual attitude toward the fight served as motivation: “I head Brett Cooper signed to fight in 30 days,” Spirit Wolf noted. “It was all over the news. I said, if he didn’t take me serious, he’d be in trouble and that’s what happened. He never should have looked past me. I’ve been fighting tough guys since I started. I’ve always told my management to get me the best fighters. I’ll fight anybody. I’ve gone through wars and it’s made me a more powerful, spiritual fighter.”
Former IFL standout Chris Horodecki returned to the ring for the first time in over a year and easily defeated William Sriyapi via first round rear naked choke. It was the first submission victory for Horodecki, who has in the past relied more on his striking. In another preliminary bout, Mark Kergosian found himself in deep water for his pro MMA debut as he replaced Din Thomas against tough Javier Vasquez. Thomas had been forced to withdraw after suffering some physical issues relating to his weight cut, and Vasquez made short work of his inexperienced adversary gaining the tapout in under a minute via guillotine choke.
The card was marred by some horrible officiating that crossed the line of simple carelessness and incompetence to the point where the fighters’ safety was placed at risk. The ref in the Yvel/Rizzo fight essentially stood and watched while ‘The Hurricane’ pounded his unconscious opponent with five uncontested right hands. In the main event, the referee twice failed to see Bob Sapp tapping out to Bobby Lashley’s ‘ground and pound’ barrage. Usually when we complain about the officiating its over rather pedestrian things like referees not letting fighters work on the ground before standing them up, or letting crowd reactions dictate how they call the fight. Tonight’s officiating was so poor that we’re just happy that the card was completed without serious injury.
Here are the full results of ‘Ultimate Chaos’:
FULL RESULTS:SUPER HEAVYWEIGHTS Bobby Lashley (4-0-0), Parker, CO WSUB1 (3:17 – Strikes) Bob Sapp (10-5-1), Seattle, WA
HEAVYWEIGHTSGilbert Yvel (36-13-3), Las Vegas, NV WKO1 (2:10 - Punches) Pedro Rizzo (16-9-0), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rocky Overstreet (1-0-0), Auburn, AL WSUB1 (2:08 – Arm Bar) Greg Maher (0-1-0), Gulfport, MS
WELTERWEIGHTSWaachim Spirit Wolf (6-4-0), Las Vegas, NV WTKO1 (Punches) Brett Cooper (9-5-0), Los Angeles, CA
Colin McKee (4-2-0), Belfast, Northern Ireland WSUB1 (4:16 -- Strikes) Lance Thompson (5-3-0), Slidell, LA
James Orso (9-3-0), McIntosh, AL DEC3 (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Danny Abbadi (4-5-0), Orlando, FL
FEATHERWEIGHTSJavier Vazquez (13-2-0), Pomona, CA WSUB1 (0:59 -- Guillotine) Mark Kergosian (0-1-0), Gulfport, MS
LIGHTWEIGHTSChris Horodecki (13-1-0), London, Canada WSUB1 (4:02 – Rear Naked Choke) William Sriyapai (12-5-0), Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Tom Atencio (2-0-0), Laguna Beach, CA WTKO2 (5:00) Randy Hedderick (0-1-0), Biloxi, MS
Brandon Harder (2-0-0), Horn Lake, MS WSUB2 (4:31 – Arm Triangle) John Harris (0-2-0), Biloxi, MA
Drew Wallace (1-0-0), McComb, AL WTKO2 (4:02 – Punches) Eric Graham (3-1-0) Petal, MS
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