'L.T.' Wins, Legion Lightweights Impress at Ringside's 'Rising Star'

Robert Masson lasted just 83 seconds against Lenard Terrance | Al Quintero/Sherdog.com

MONTREAL -- Ringside MMA has declared its intent to find Quebec's best up-and-coming talents. Saturday night at Club Soda, the downtown club was packed with 700 fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the next big thing to come out of La Belle Ville at Ringside's "Rising Star."

No glimpses were in sight for the main event, as 290-plus-pound Lenard "L.T." Terrance earned an 83-second stoppage over Robert Masson.

The mountainous Terrance came out stalking, looking to land one big punch from the start. Eventually, Terrance bulled Masson into the cage, as he threw heavy knees but was unable to land clean. After the two were separated for lack of action, Masson indicated to referee Marc-Andre Cote that his pinky finger had been broken, putting an unceremonious halt to the fight just 1:23 in.

However, it was a highly successful night for Team Legion lightweights Yohan Gariepy and Tommy Cote.

Yohan Gariepy started slow but
finished in dominant fashion.Gariepy walked away with the unanimous decision victory over late replacement Jean-Francois Royer, with a trio of 29-28 scores. Originally set to rematch rival Samuel Charbonneau, Gariepy started slow, as Royer got his foe to the ground and threatened with chokes. However, Gariepy picked up the pace in the second and third rounds, forcing Royer to don the crimson mask. Bloodied but unbowed, Royer was tenacious with his takedown attempts in the third, but Gariepy refused to go down, sealing the unanimous decision victory.

Cote indulged Danny St. Gelais on the feet, as the two spent the first 60 seconds of their bout trading leather. It was Cote with the upper hand, forcing St. Gelais to clinch, but the Victoriaville, Quebec, native countered, stunning St. Gelais with an overhand right.

Undaunted, St. Gelais returned with a jumping knee and a right cross of his own. The first round was toe-to-toe power shots being exchanged until the sound of the horn.

After the first round, the bout appeared to be heading St. Gelais' way. After a vicious kick to the body to start round two, the Team Bergeron product started to pick his shots on the fatiguing Cote. In the third frame, St. Gelais was landing at will until, all of a sudden, it happened: a right hook from out of nowhere floored St. Gelais, and Cote pounced for the finish. Unable to pound out his foe from back mount, Cote grabbed an arm and coaxed the come-from-behind tap 2:41 into the final round.

Neither rubber guard nor flashy kicking offense could help Maxim Fecteau against Stephane Pelletier in their bantamweight tilt. Pelletier elbowed through Fecteau's rubber guard attempts and busted the Joliette, Quebec, native's face. In the second round, Fecteau came out with crescent and spinning hook kicks, but a hard right cross from Pelletier put him on the mat. Though Fecteau survived Pelletier's follow-up, the ringside physician was summoned shortly afterward and the bloodied Fecteau was stopped 1:44 into the second stanza.

Tommy Cote pulled off a thrilling
comeback in the third.
Heavyweights Jeff Breau and Martin Trempe had the Club Soda crowd on its feet for the entire duration of their fight, swinging from the opening horn. Two hard right hands from Trempe had Breau wobbled early, but the Team Bergeron product turned it around quickly, landing a Hail Mary overhand right on the chin that dropped Trempe in a flash.

Eventually, Breau went old school, digging his fingers into Breau's eyes to slow him down. Despite Trempre being warned for the infraction, Breau finished the job himself. A brutal kick to the ribs dropped Trempe in a heap with no desire to continue at 2:38 of the opening round.

Xtreme Couture Toronto lightweight Albert Cheng ran his record to 2-0 with a unanimous decision win over Taylor Solomon. Cheng utilized his superior takedowns from within the clinch to nullify the stand-up game of his taller opponent. Apart from a late spell in the second round when Solomon took Cheng's back and unloaded punches until the bell, Cheng controlled the bout with a conservative top game en route to earning three 30-27 tallies.

In the opening bout of the evening, bantamweight Maxime Dubois took Eric Daigneault's back and pounded away until he cinched a rear-naked choke, finishing at 3:50 of the first round.

View the original article here

Prospects Villante, Weidman Impress at Ring of Combat 33

Gian Villante (top) vs. Joseph Reyes: Keith Mills | Sherdog.com

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Gian Villante captured the vacant Ring of Combat light heavyweight title in 63 seconds with a brutal ground-and-pound victory over Joseph Reyes at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino on Friday night.

Villante was just too much for Reyes at ROC 33, as he was not able to get off a single offensive move. This is Villante’s second title; he clinched the ROC heavyweight crown earlier this year.

In the co-main event, promotional middleweight ace Chris Weidman showed off his hands while successfully defending his title against a game opponent in Valdir Arraujo. A recipe of strikes, smothering takedowns and ground-and-pound was enough to keep Arraujo off balance for most of the fight.

Weidman was declared the winner by unanimous decision following three rounds.

Joseph Aviles kept his winning streak alive with a stunning right hand knockout of late replacement fighter George Sheppard to capture the ROC lightweight title at the 4:21 mark of round one.

Reminiscent of K.J. Noons’ knockout loss to Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, Aviles was hit with a right hand that sent him staggering back while Sheppard hit the deck.

Although Sheppard was completely knocked out, Aviles landed two more blows for good measure, catapulting himself into discussion as one of the East Coasts’ top prospects.

Nova Uniao standout Marcos Galvao dominated from bell-to-bell against Ryan Vaccaro to claim the promotion’s featherweight title. Galvao used a mixture of knees and a smothering ground game to keep Vaccaro uncomfortable throughout the fight. All three judges scored each round for Galvao.

In other title action, Sean Santella submitted Mikey Lovato to take the vacant 125-pound title. After a first period of mostly grappling, each fighter had their chances and appeared to be equal on the mat. However, Lovato was playing right into the AMA Fight Club product’s game and Santella secured an armbar victory at 2:56 of round two.

View the original article here

Foster, Munoz, Barboza Impress in UFC 123 Prelims

photo 1 of 110

Nik Lentz celebrates his win over Tyson Griffin during UFC123.AUBURN HILLS, MI, November 20 – Conventional wisdom would have dictated that the only way the UFC 123 prelim bout between Brian Foster and Matt Brown would have ended on the mat is if one of the two welterweight bangers got knocked out. But Foster flipped the script on ‘The Immortal’, moving seamlessly from striking to submission mode to force Brown to tap out in the second round at The Palace of Auburn Hills Saturday night.

Brown vs. Foster see the fight
“Man, I’m ecstatic,” said Foster. “I wanted this so bad.”

After the two circled each other for the first 30 seconds of the bout, Foster surprised his for with a quick takedown. The ground action didn’t last long, and when they both stood, it was Brown scoring with a takedown of his own. Brown was able to keep Foster pinned for a bit, at least until the Illinois product scrambled loose and landed some strikes. Brown got back in a controlling position, but Foster scrambled up, got in some hard strikes, and again took the fight to the mat. Brown worked free efficiently and briefly got the mount position before transitioning and locking up Foster’s arm. Despite what looked like a definite finisher, Foster got loose and began firing off strikes from the top position. At the bell, the two stood and stared at each other. See post-fight interview

As the two engaged to begin the second round, back to back low kicks from Brown momentarily stopped the action. Both fighters kept firing kicks once the fight resumed, and Foster caught one of Brown’s and slammed him hard to the mat. Taking advantage of this change in fortune, Foster landed some more ground strikes before suddenly moving in and locking up a guillotine choke. The end came moments later, as Brown tapped out at the 2:11 mark.

With the win, Foster improves to 17-5; Brown falls to 13-10.

Simpson vs. Munoz see the fight
Longtime college wrestling buddies Mark Munoz and Aaron Simpson certainly didn’t fight like friends in their middleweight bout, trading vicious punches and equally impressive ground techniques over an entertaining 15 minute battle won by Munoz via a close, but unanimous decision. See post-fight interview

Scores were 29-28 across the board for Munoz, who improves to 9-2; Simpson falls to 7-2.

Both Munoz and Simpson delivered high level action in the first round, whether it was standup exchanges, close quarters fighting or their bread and butter wrestling attacks.

There was more of the same in the second stanza, much to the delight of the crowd, and as the round progressed, it looked like Munoz’ punches had a little more steam on them. After a trip to the mat, Munoz emerged with a cut on his forehead, and to add insult to injury, he caught a low kick in an ensuing standup exchange. After a break in the action, Munoz fired off thudding kicks to the body and head, but Simpson amazingly took all of them without blinking. After a takedown by Simpson and an ensuing standup, the two locked up against the fence, with Simpson getting a low knee that brought another momentary halt to the bout. Yet after resuming, it was back to work, and as the round ended, it was clear that both were willing to leave it all in the Octagon in search of victory.

The third began with some fast-paced wrestling on the mat, enhanced by Munoz’ thudding ground strikes. After the two rose, they exchanged strikes with Simpson claiming a poke in the eye and a brief respite thanks to referee Mark Fennell. Upon resuming, Munoz attacked and closed the distance, pinning Simpson to the fence until Fennell broke them. Munoz didn’t let up, chasing Simpson and letting loose with whatever strikes were at his disposal. Simpson looked for two takedown in response, but was turned away by Munoz, who wanted to keep it standing. With a little over a minute left, Munoz lost his balance and fell, but Simpson was unable to capitalize and they stood again, battling it out at close range and going toe to toe for the final ten seconds of the bout.

Parisyan vs. Hallman
Veteran Dennis Hallman continued his resurgence, stopping returning contender Karo Parisyan in the first round of their welterweight bout. See post-fight interview

An early stalemate against the fence brought in referee Dan Miragliotta to re-start the action. That was the break Hallman needed, as he drilled Parisyan with a right hand that dropped ‘The Heat’. Still stunned, Parisyan wasn’t able to recover immediately, and a series of unanswered strikes from Hallman prompted Miragliotta to call a stop to the bout at the 1:47 mark.

With the win, Hallman – who is coming off an August win over Ben Saunders – improves to 66-13-2 with 1 NC. Parisyan falls to 26-6 with 1 NC in his first UFC bout since January of 2009.

Lullo vs. Barboza
Unbeaten Brazilian newcomer Edson Barboza’s Muay Thai attack delivered as advertised in his lightweight prelim bout against late replacement Mike Lullo, as a devastating series of kicks to the leg ended matters in the third round. See post-fight interview

“I’m very happy with my performance tonight,” said Barboza. “I didn’t get to showcase all of my talents tonight, but I’m definitely a striker and I felt I was extremely effective.”

After some crisp leg kicks to open the fight, Barboza (7-0) stunned Lullo by turning a takedown attempt into a slam of his own, drawing a roar from the crowd. After standing, the crowd got even louder when Barboza did it a second time. Lullo (8-2) kept his cool, mixing a choke and some ground strikes from the bottom position, evening the playing field in the process. Eventually, Barboza broke free with 1:15 left and got back to his feet, continuing to drill Lullo in his lead left leg.

Lullo attacked Barboza at the bell and looked for the takedown, a wise choice since every kick to the leg was producing a wince from the Illinois native. After another quick barrage, the fight went back to the mat, but this time Barboza was able to stand without taking much damage, and he resumed his chopping attack. With less than two minutes left, the fighters tumbled to the mat, with Lullo pulling out all the stops in search of a submission. Barboza wasn’t biting, and after a couple more kicks to the leg, Lullo could barely stand, even resting in the wrong corner at the bell.

Gamely coming out for round three, Lullo and everyone in the house knew what was coming, and after three more kicks to his opponent’s left leg, two of which sent him to the canvas, referee Mark Fennell halted the bout 26 seconds into the final round.

Kelly vs. O'Brien
Liverpool’s Paul Kelly got back in the win column in style, stopping game Octagon debutant TJ O’Brien in the second round of an entertaining lightweight battle. See post-fight interview

“I stayed relaxed for once,” said Kelly. “I didn’t rush my shots. I’m always a million-miles-an-hour fit. I throw a thousand punches but land every one in 10. So I did a better job of picking my shots.”

There were some solid exchanges in an opening round spent predominantly on the feet, and while Kelly’s busier workrate and aggression probably won him the round, O’Brien wasn’t far behind, as he looked very comfortable in his first Octagon bout.

Kelly appeared to be getting more confident as the bout progressed though, which was no surprise after he dropped O’Brien with a left hook early in round two. But an ensuing scramble saw Kelly mounted by his foe and in a bad way, but amazingly, Kelly fought his way free and turned the tables, locking up O’Brien’s arms as he fired away with right hands to the head. Eventually, with no way to get free, O’Brien was rescued by referee Dan Miragliotta at 3:16 of the round, though the game Iowan was clearly not happy with that decision.

With the win, Kelly improves to 12-3; O’Brien falls to 16-4.

Griffin vs. Lentz see the fight
Minnesota’s Nik Lentz remained unbeaten in the Octagon, scoring an unpopular three round split decision over Tyson Griffin in the lightweight opener. See post-fight interview

Scores were 29-28 twice and 27-30 for Lentz, who is now 4-0-1 in his UFC stint.

“I personally thought I won, 29-28, but you never know with the judges,” said Lentz. “He had an awkward striking style. He was kind of swinging wildly and that’s sometimes harder to defend than a normal boxing style.”

Lentz opened the fight with a quick takedown, but it was Griffin who controlled the rest of the frame, slamming his foe twice and keeping him pinned to the fence before a late break that saw ‘The Carny’ score with some hard body kicks in the closing stages of the round.

Starting the second round strong as he used his height and reach advantage well when it came to striking, Lentz nonetheless found himself on the wrong end of Griffin’s second half takedowns, and he was unable to pull himself loose long enough to get back to his feet or mount an offensive attack.

Early in the third, it was Griffin’s striking coming to life as he dropped Lentz twice briefly before the bout wound up on the mat. After another extended session there, Lentz got to his feet and slammed Griffin, using the advantage in position to land some strikes and even lock Griffin’s arm up briefly, apparently doing enough on the scorecards to take the victory.

With the win, Lentz improves to 22-3-2; Griffin, who has now lost three in a row, falls to 14-5.

View the original article here