Four New Champs Crowned, Philippou Tops Hall at Ring of Combat 34

Jacob Kirwan (left) choked Ryan Vaccaro out in 86 seconds. | Keith Mills/Sherdog.com

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Ring of Combat 34 saw four North American champions crowned to cap a 14-fight card at the Tropicana Casino and Resort Friday night.

In the evening’s main event, featherweight Jacob Kirwan made it 2-0 on the night for the Kirwan family, submitting Ryan Vaccaro via guillotine in just 86 seconds to become ROC’s featherweight North American champion.

After being taken down, Kirwan managed to get back up to his feet. With Vaccaro still in position for another double-leg takedown, Kirwan pulled guard and slapped on a guillotine, forcing the tap from Vaccaro. With the win, Kirwan, who trains out of Ferocity MMA in Frederick, Md., moved his record to 8-2.

Dustin Pague's right hook led
him to victory.Kurt Pellegrino disciple Steve Deangelis started strong against Dustin Pague, but ultimately fell prey to Pague’s brutal right hand in their ROC North American bantamweight title bout.

Deangelis outworked Pague on the ground to start the fight and looked fit to dominate proceedings on the ground. However, in round two, Pague came out on fire, taking the bout to his fellow lightweight. Countering a low kick, Pague answered back with a huge right hook that knocked Deangelis out cold just 25 seconds into the second frame.

The win was the fifth straight for the 23-year-old Pague.

The ROC North American lightweight title bout was decided in controversy, as Marques Daniels took a first-round disqualification win over Gabriel Miglioli.

Late in the opening stage, as Daniels pushed for takedown against the fence, Miglioli threw a hard knee to the downed Daniels that opened up a cut, and enraged TUF 12 vet and Daniels cornerman Marc Stevens. After a doctor consult Daniels was deemed unfit to continue, and since the stoppage came from an illegal strike, Daniels was declared the winner by DQ at 4:27 of the first round.

Jessica Eye destroyed Ashley Nee.
Following the bout, Sherdog.com learned that a Daniels-Miglioli rematch is likely for Ring of Combat 35 on April 8.

In a bout for the vacant ROC North American 130-pound women’s title, 24-year-old unbeaten prospect Jessica Eye ran over late replacement Ashley Nee, who replaced an injured Justine Kish. Eye wasted little time, plowing Nee from the opening bell. Eye was connecting with almost everything she threw and forcing referee Keith Peterson to finally stop the bout at 4:34 in the first as the Parma, Ohio, native pummeled Nee along the fence.

In the most pressing bout of the undercard, TUF 11 vet Costantinos Philippou defeated Team Tiger Schulmann product Uriah Hall by majority decision in a foul-filled contest.

Philippou (left) may have earned a
title shot with his win.
Early in the contest, Philippou caught Hall in the eye and in the groin, prompting respites from referee Dan Miragliotta. In the second frame, Hall returned the favor with a series of low blows to Philippou, though neither fighter was deducted a point.

The Serra-Longo representative won the bout on the back of hard single punches and well-timed takedowns that allowed him to shut down Hall’s big-kicking offense. After three four-minute rounds, judge Vincent Sinclair scored the bout a 29-29 draw. However, judges Cardo Urso and Michelle Agustin saw it 29-28 for Philippou, who took the majority decision.

With the win, Philippou is a likely contender for ROC middleweight champion Chris Weidman in April.

At 185 pounds, Drew Puzon started strong against Joey Kirwan courtesy of his wrestling, but early in the second round, a desperate Puzon single-leg attempt led to a fight-ending guillotine choke from Kirwan, just like his headliner brother, who got the tap at the 69 second mark.

Noah Faunce weighed in at 173.75 pounds for his welterweight contest with against Rich Ashkar, and used the weight to his advantage, shrugging off Askhar's takedown attempts and putting his foe on the floor. After three rounds, Faunce's total ground control was enough to take 30-27 scorecards across the board.

Aung La Nsang sat pretty in guard for the opening minutes of his middleweight bout with Mitch Whitesel until "The Burmese Python" swiftly took the back of his journeyman foe and sunk a fight-ending rear-naked choke 3:09 into the fight. The loss was Whitesel's fifth straight loss since last September.

Giedrius Karavackas spotted late replacement Joshua Key seven-and-a-half pounds in their 180-pound catch-weight bout, and proceedings showed he had little to fear in doing so: Karavackas quickly put the self-trained Key on the mat, and sunk in a rear-naked choke for the win at 3:31 of the first round.

Giedrius Karavackas dominated
Joshua Key.
Ariel Sepulveda was on his back quickly against Steve Durig in their middleweight affair, but the native New Yorker threw up a clever triangle that forced Durig to tap at 2:24 of the first round.

Alptekin Ozkilic wrestled his way past Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro understudy Sergio Da Silva over two rounds, taking three 20-18 scorecards.

At 145 pounds, Jimbo Hoffman ran over Yaser Shaukat, crushing Shaukat with a right hand, following up with punches and a fight-ending guillotine choke to earn the W in just 47 seconds.

In the featherweight opener, Mike Benoit outgrappled Manny Millan to a unanimous 20-18 decision following two rounds.

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Shooto Rookie Kings Crowned; ‘Sarumaru’ Steals the Show

The 2010 class of Shooto rookie tournament champions: Taro Irei | Sherdog.com

TOKYO -- What do Shooto world champions Tatsuya Kawajiri, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue, Shinichi "B.J." Kojima, Yasuhiro Urushitani, Masakatsu Ueda, Hideki Kadowaki and Akitoshi Hokazono all have in common?

What about UFC and WEC vets Takeya Mizugaki, Hiroyuki Takaya, Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura? Or Pride, Dream and Sengoku vets Mizuto Hirota, "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura, Nobuhiro Obiya, Ikuo Usuda and Takuya Sato?

They are all former Shooto rookie champions, and on Saturday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, pro Shooto crowned one of the most exciting rookie classes since the inception of the rookie tournament series in 2002.

The cream of the 2010 crop was 143-pound rookie king Yuta "Uruka" Sasaki, who outclassed Yo Saito on the floor en route to a unanimous decision. Sasaki displayed a level of grappling prowess usually only seen in seasoned specialists like one of his training partners, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki. Speaking to his grappling chops, the 21-year-old Sasaki tapped well-regarded grappler Katsuya Toida by rear-naked choke in a grappling match in July 2009.

Sasaki’s transitions were brilliant. In the first round, when Saito attempted to slam out of a triangle, Sasaki transitioned instantly to an armbar and, from there, nearly choked Saito unconscious with a figure-four-grip guillotine.

Yuta Sasaki impressed with his
dominant grappling display.In round two, “Uruka” took back control, threatening with chokes and punches. Judges Tadashi Yokoyama and Toshiharu Suzuki scored the bout 20-18, while judge Kosuke Watanabe had it 20-17 for Sasaki. For his prodigious grappling, Sasaki was awarded the 2010 rookie "Best Technique" prize.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Krazy Bee rep Koji Horiguchi stopped Seiji Akao to become the 2010 132-pound rookie champ. The Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto pupil opened the second round with a blistering barrage of punches that dropped Akao in his corner. Horiguchi allowed Akao to stand, following up with another barrage against the ropes, as Akao helplessly turned away from the punches. Referee Toshiharu Suzuki jumped in for the stop 43 seconds into the round, just as Akao's corner threw in the towel. Horiguchi's tournament performance earned him the 2010 rookie tournament MVP award from the Japan Shooto Association.

Kota Shimoishi took the 154-pound rookie title with a miraculous comeback submission of Akira Okada. Okada dropped his fellow 23-year-old twice in round two but foiled himself by throwing an illegal knee while Shimoishi was grounded, prompting referee Toshiharu Suzuki to deduct a point from him and leading to a majority draw after two rounds. In the extension round, Shimoishi suddenly captured Okada's back in a scramble and sunk the choke, forcing the tap for a dramatic ending at 1:24 of the third.

The win was also a measure of revenge, as Shimoishi is a student of former Shooto world champion Takashi Nakakura, while Okada is a pupil of Takanori Gomi, who knocked out Nakakura in May 2009, detaching his retina and forcing him out of action since.

Faux M-16 in hand, Kosuke "Rambo" Suzuki gunned down two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu World Championships silver medalist Yusuke Honma to win the 123-pound rookie tournament. The first round saw both men trade stiff shots on the feet, until Suzuki crushed Honma with a pair of hooks that crumpled the star grappler against the ropes. The official end came at 4:53, after which an inert Honma was taken from the ring on a stretcher. Suzuki was awarded the 2010 rookie tournament "Fighting Spirit" prize.

Masayoshi Kato took a split decision (20-18, 20-19, 19-20) over Tadaaki Yamamoto to become 115-pound rookie champ in a fight that saw spit and sweat fly in the punching exchanges. "Macho the Butterfly" also showed the eccentric flair of his trainer, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, entering the ring in a frilly pink two-piece bikini. Lone judge Tadashi Yokoyama scored the bout for Yamamoto.

Yusaku Inoue was crowned 168-pound rookie champ, defeating Ryuichiro Sumimura. After forcing an extension round, Inoue used strong ground-and-pound to win the final frame 10-9 on all three scorecards.

In the main event of the evening, former Shooto 143-pound world champion Hideki Kadowaki -- a rookie champion himself in 2002 -- defeated high-flying 2009 rookie champ Yusuke Yachi by unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-19) over two rounds.

No matter what Yachi threw -- flying punches or wide head kicks -- Kadowaki was able to block or take Yachi to the canvas. Kadowaki dropped short punches, constantly controlling the hyperactive Yachi. Judges Kosuke Watanabe and Tadashi Yokoyama had it 20-18 for the former champ, while Toshiharu Suzuki saw it 20-19.

Junji Ito (right} swung until he
knocked out Atsushi Takeuchi.However, the evening's real marquee bout was an exhilarating slugfest in which pint-sized punchers Junji "Sarumaru" Ito and "Atch Anarchy" Atsushi Takeuchi traded big blows up until the inevitable knockout finish.

It was "Sarumaru" who fell first, as the southpaw Takeuchi landed a fully loaded left cross, sending Ito careening into the corner. With a wide grin on his face, Ito began recklessly swinging with desperate abandon in an attempt to clip the oncoming Takeuchi.

"When I got hit early, I really was in trouble," Ito said after the bout, "but in a striking battle, I simply can't lose. So, I just came back and knocked him out."

And knock out Takeuchi he did. Moments later, a recovered Ito chased down the tattooed Takeuchi with more winging punches, finally raking a right hook right across the chin. An instantly unconscious Takeuchi fell face-first to the canvas, prompting referee Toshiharu Suzuki to dive in to save him from further punishment at 3:58 of the first round.

"Everyone’s seen my punching power," the boisterous Ito bragged in the post-fight glow, lobbying for a shot at the Shooto 115-pound world champion Rambaa Somdet. "People now believe that I can knock out Rambaa. It'd be a fun fight to see, don't you think?"

In bantamweight action, Tetsu Suzuki used his strong grappling and survived two knockdowns in the third round from Masato Sannai to take a majority decision win (29-28, 29-28, 28-28).

At 143 pounds, Hiroshige Tanaka took a dominant decision (20-17, 20-18, 20-18) over Masaki Yanagisawa, with two rounds of counterpunches and low kicks.

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