Weekend Rundown: TUF Winner Escudero Scores Submission

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero submitted Jeremy Larsen with a third-round armbar in the Rage in the Cage 148 headliner on Saturday at the Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler, Ariz. Escudero finished it 3:21 into round three.

A surprising roster cut casualty following his defeat to Brazilian prospect Charles Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 22 in September, Escudero has since rattled off back-to-back wins. The 25-year-old MMA Lab representative burst on the scene in 2008, when he defeated Ido Pariente, Shane Nelson, Junie Allen Browning and Phillipe Nover to win “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.

Other winners at Rage in the Cage 148 included journeyman Shannon Ritch (first-round knockout over Scott Guenther) and Arizona Combat Sports product Jade Porter (unanimous decision against Ruben S. Gonzales).

Canadian Martial Arts Centre representative Jordan Mein sprang the upset at Wreck MMA “Strong and Proud” on Friday at the Casino de Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, as he stopped UFC and Strikeforce veteran Joe Riggs on second-round punches. The end came 4:30 into round two.

Mein floored Riggs with a right hook and followed him to the canvas, where he polished off the 28-year-old Phoenix native. The defeat halted a two-fight winning streak for Riggs, who had not been finished by strikes in more than four years. Mein has posted five wins in his past six appearances.

Meanwhile, UFC exile Mark Holst submitted Markhaile Wedderburn with a second-round rear-naked choke in the co-main event. Holst, who had previously announced plans to retire following the match, finished the job 4:56 into round two. The 25-year-old was cut by the UFC in wake of losses to John Gunderson and Paul Sass.

Finally, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 semi-finalist Kalib Starnes won for the third time in four outings, as he coaxed a tapout from Matt MacGrath with a rear-naked choke 3:14 into round two of their encounter. Starnes, 36, has now secured nine of his 12 career victories by submission. He will meet fellow UFC veteran Patrick Cote in the Ringside MMA 10 main event on April 9.

Former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Cole Escovedo put away Steven Siler with a first-round triangle choke in the Showdown Fights “New Blood” headliner on Friday at the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah. The victory brought an end to a two-fight losing streak for the 29-year-old Escovedo, who was forced into semi-retirement in 2007 by a staph infection that left him partially paralyzed.

Meanwhile, once-beaten prospect Radley Martinez took a unanimous decision from UFC veteran Brian Cobb at the event. Spawned by the same Victory MMA camp as “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 winner Court McGee, Martinez has won eight fights in a row.

Other winners at “New Blood” included Jeremy Horn protégé Travis Marx (split decision over Trevor Mellen) and undefeated welterweight prospect Jordan Clements (unanimous decision against Eddie Rincon).

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UFC hall of famer Dan Severn captured the Elite 1 MMA heavyweight championship with a second-round arm-triangle choke submission over Scott Fraser at Elite 1 MMA “Tapping Out” on Saturday at the Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. The 52-year-old Severn, owner of 97 professional victories, will carry an eight-fight winning streak into his next appearance … Mikel Bronzoulis posted his third straight win, as he stopped Bellator Fighting Championships veteran Joe Christopher on punches 3:34 into round three of their Legacy Fighting Championships 4 main event on Saturday at the Houston Arena Theater in Houston … UFC veteran Diego Saraiva submitted Joe Elmore with a second-round armbar in the Wild Bill’s Fight Night 33 headliner on Saturday at Wild Bill’s Atlanta in Duluth, Ga. A 28-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Saraiva snapped a two-fight losing streak with the victory … “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 runner-up Vinny Magalhaes submitted the previously unbeaten Robert Scott with a second-round armbar in the MMA Xplosion “International Team Challenge” main event on Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The end came 3:51 into round two … Justin Salas earned a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 alum Robert Emerson at Full Force Fighting Championships 1 on Saturday at the Paramount Theater in Denver. Emerson entered the matchup on a two-fight winning streak.
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Sherdog’s Submission of the Year

Fabricio Werdum vs. Fedor Emelianenko | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

A definitive win compressed into a mere 69 seconds, Fabricio Werdum’s triangle of Fedor Emelianenko on June 26 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., was a reminder that every fighter is beatable when caught up, long enough, in the other guy’s world.

With Emelianenko carrying into the bout the gold standard of career consistency and the mantle of the world’s best heavyweight, Werdum’s finisher resonated across the mixed martial arts world, making it Sherdog’s “Submission of the Year” for 2010.

Werdum’s triangle did more than just snap Emelianenko’s 10-year unbeaten streak. The submission made the most intimidating and overwhelming fighter in the history of the game look thoroughly human.

“I’ve been training that position since I was a white belt,” said Werdum. “It’s a position I’m very comfortable with.”

Werdum added that switching back and forth from the triangle to the arm bar, while a basic technique taught in early jiu-jitsu training, is not something that is acquired overnight.

As a former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships winner in the heavyweight bracket, Werdum’s grappling credentials are top-notch. And going into the bout, his preparation and revamped diet had him weighing a trim 238 pounds, with his confidence soaring.

“The mental and physical preparation came together perfectly,” said Richard Wilmer, Werdum’s manager. “Fabricio was already convinced he won the fight as camp started.”

It could not have played out any better for Werdum.

“I put Fedor in trouble with my best weapon -- my triangle. I took away his balance,” he said. “And when he went in my guard, I knew I was going to win the fight.”

Werdum, like most other top heavyweights, could practice for 10 years and never generate the concussive power Emelianenko generates when unleashing his fists. Outside of a select few heavyweights, few will ever possess the combination of spatial awareness and body control the Russian demonstrates in seemingly wild exchanges, whether it is trading blows or hitting the mat to seize dominant position.

Werdum has basically trained his whole life for people to play the jiu-jitsu game with him, which is why MMA remains the ultimate equalizer and proving ground for combat athletes. He knew he could deliver the upset if only the fight went into his pre-selected groove, on his back, hunting for an opening, a limb, anything available. It happened in the opening moments of the bout, off a sequence that seemed like disaster was unfolding for the seemingly outmatched Brazilian.

As the two began the bout, Emelianenko crept forward, then unleashed six punches, so fast that even on replay it was hard to tell what landed clean and what missed. Werdum fell to his back, but that was part of the plan, he explains. Get it down to the mat, and lure Emelianenko into his world. Play his aggression against him.

“I used it as a setup to pull the fight to the ground,” Werdum said. “With Fedor, you can’t start the fight with a shoot. I felt the right hand come, and then I sat down. His right punch didn’t hit me. Then I dropped and pulled him into my game.”

Emelianenko obliged, diving into Werdum’s guard and making the kind of tiny error that differentiates between great submission artists and everyone else. His left arm was deep in Werdum’s guard, and the Brazilian pounced. Seizing the limb as Fedor attempted to counter an obviously developing triangle-armbar setup, Werdum held tight, rolling underneath the circling Russian to re-establish the critical angle he needed.

“When I feel Fedor was going to try and escape, when he posted up, I could switch the submission to the arm. If he went to down, I could work the triangle,” Werdum said. “I train, so it works out that it puts him in trouble either way.”

After dropping down to the canvas following Emelianenko’s opening-moments salvo, Werdum, who insisted he was not hurt, felt a surge of excitement as the former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder powered ahead into his guard.

“I just dropped down and pulled him into my game,” he said. “A lot of guys fight with Fedor, and they try and exchange. I wanted to put this into [a] jiu-jitsu [contest].”

At that point, even casual fans knew Emelianenko was in serious trouble. Finally, after the triangle was cinched deep, with Werdum yanking down on his head and extending his arm to increase the futility of the position, the great Russian tapped once in a gesture that was understated and humble.

With his penchant for rallying out of bad spots -- whether it was being slammed on his head by Kevin Randleman, drilled into doing the stanky-leg dance against Kazuyuki Fujita or bloodied and thumped up by Brett Rogers -- Emelianenko’s prescription in dealing with such rough spots was always the same, and it was as inevitable as death and taxes.

I’ve been training
that position since
I was a white belt. He simply stormed back and overwhelmed opponents. All the more reason why the Werdum fight was equal parts sobering and stunning, as Emelianenko, for once, never got a chance. Werdum found his opening and pounced, sticking the knife in deep for the kill before Emelianenko could formulate a response.

While other Submission of the Year winners -- 2009 winner Toby Imada’s reverse triangle over Jorge Masdival comes to mind -- have won due to their exotic appeal, this was not one of those. It was a reminder of what an unbeaten streak like Emelianenko’s means in terms of consistency and execution on a fight-by-fight basis. With a record of 32-1 entering the bout, Emelianenko’s high-wire act stood on its own in terms of dodging the inevitable. The fight was a prime example of how many ways there are to lose in a sport where nobody can be the best at the multiple disciplines involved.

Finally, after years of steamrolling opponents and rallying through the occasional dramatic rough spot with his trademark fury, the great Emelianenko was beaten.

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Kheder Decisions Franca at XVT 5; Gunderson Scores Submission

Ferrid Kheder handed former UFC lightweight title contender Hermes Franca his fifth consecutive defeat in a controversial decision at Xtreme Vale Todo 5 on Sunday at the San Luis Gonzaga Gymnasium in Cartago, Costa Rica. The event streamed live on Sherdog.com.

A 13-time national judo champion in his native France, Kheder (Pictured) has rattled off six straight wins. Franca, whom many observers believe won the match, took his foe’s back twice in the third round and threatened to finish him with a rear-naked choke. The ring announcer named Franca as the original winner -- the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt even had his hand raised -- before switching gears and delivering the news Kheder had won. Franca, who fought Sean Sherk for the UFC lightweight crown in 2007, has won only one of his seven bouts since.

Meanwhile, UFC alum John Gunderson submitted Alejandro Solano Rodriguez with a first-round kimura in a featured lightweight tilt. Released by the UFC following his unanimous decision defeat to Yves Edwards at UFC Fight Night 22 in September, the 31-year-old has now secured 24 of his 31 career wins by submission.

Finally, former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Alberto Crane submitted Ludwing Salazar with a first-round ankle lock. Crane, a UFC veteran who has held titles inside King of the Cage and Ring of Fire, snapped a two-fight losing streak with the victory.

Other winners at XVT 5 included Erinaldo Pitbull (decision over Bendy Casimir), Bryan Rafiq (second-round guillotine choke submission against Sydney Machado) and Mehdi Baghdad (first-round technical knockout over Randall Jimenez).

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Ferreira, The Submission Machine

"When they said, 'You'll be facing Matyushenko,' I only thought of destiny, but this time it’s for real. He's a courageous fighter, goes forward and I sincerely think he's very tough and has faced top guys." Brazilian newcomer Alexandre 'Cacareco' Ferreira will step into the Octagon at UFC 122 this weekend to face a man that he should have met on two separate occasions earlier in his mixed martial arts career, Vladimir Matyushenko.  

This light heavyweight showdown was first scheduled to happen 10 years ago in the WEF and then eight years later in the IFL, but fate ended up sending both fighters to very different paths in their careers.       
Since that first scheduled meeting, Matyushenko – now in his second stint with the UFC - became a world title challenger and captured the IFL light heavyweight belt. Ferreira, only the third Brazilian to fight inside UFC with a black belt in Luta Livre, had matches in Japan, USA, Portugal and England, compiling a overall record of 18-6, with more than 90% of his victories coming by submission. Yet strangely, he had many reasons to retire after 16 years of martial arts, as you'll read below.
2010 put the Brazilian on track for what he thought was his final attempt to keep himself active as a professional MMA fighter. Scheduled to square off against Renzo Gracie protégé Jamal Patterson in May at Shine Fights in North Carolina, he saw his return fall apart due to the event being cancelled.  After that, no more news came for the Chute Boxe member, and he started thinking deeply about the end of his career as a fighter until a chance to replace Jason Brilz at UFC 122 appeared for him.    
"I didn't have anything in mind besides plans for a new type of life, but deep inside I knew something would happen," Ferreira said with a smile. He adds that while he saw other fellow Brazilians signing with the organization prior to him, it didn’t upset him; it only gave him a new perspective. "My time didn't come yet, so I left all in God's hands; the end of 2010 was in His hands."    
Before that, the reasons why Ferreira hadn’t made it to the mainstream a few years ago were pointed in many directions. Some said it was the lack of a good manager, others said that it was because he changed teams often, not a common occurrence in Brazilian culture, and during his career it prompted former teammates to wish 'bad luck' to the absolute runner-up of ADCC 2003. Representing Hugo Duarte Team, Ruas VT, Gracie Barra Combat Team and Brazilian Top Team, Ferreira had in mind that if he didn't pursue better conditions for himself, who would do it for him?   
"I think I made some bad and good choices, but they weren't to offend anyone, I just wanted to work - a few understand, others don't," Ferreira said. "The athlete in Brazil needs to be a super hero to keep himself well. Without any support everything is doubly worse." 
And no one would like to hear ex-coaches like former UFC stars Marco Ruas and Murilo Bustamante, former UFC and Pride fighters Hugo Duarte and Pedro Rizzo and legends Roberto 'Gordo' Correa (BJJ) and Beto Leitao (Wrestling) saying that you have a bad reputation. Ferreira claims that was never his intention and if once he was seen as an untrusted pupil, everything was eventually resolved.  
"They don't have bad feelings for me anymore,” he said. “Because I'm a man to admit to my attitudes and a man to apologize for any kind of deception I may have caused to them. It’s all part of my past, that's done, and nowadays they're my friends."       
If on one hand, switching teams generated distrust for Ferreira, on the other it elevated his game, especially on the ground, to the highest levels. The man enters the UFC with a winning streak of seven fights, all by submission and all inside the first round. That's something very significant for one of the biggest representatives of an underestimated martial art that receives little credit, Luta Livre. Nowadays, Ferreira also has a black belt in BJJ, and with the progress of MMA nobody says much about one style, but for a competitor who already lived on the streets due to a lack of proper conditions, being a Luta Livre black belt is a source of pride and a way to show what his idols didn't reach.
"Nowadays guys have background in this or that, but having only one style isn't relevant like in the 90s, the overall game is what’s important," he says. "But I was the first guy to go toe-to-toe against BJJ black belts in grappling competitions and I submitted them. Under the tutelage of my former coach, Leitao, I proved that Luta Livre guys were worthy. All I have now is because of my faith in God and due to the Luta Livre training. But it’s funny that after some struggles against BJJ, I became a BJJ black belt under PRIDE veteran Jose Mário Sperry, showing the sport’s evolution.”     
"People mentioned that I can surpass the story of legendary Luta Livre guys like UFC vets Duarte and Eugenio Tadeu, because they didn't shine in the big show. I'm going to do my job there, and what's going to happen only God knows. These guys were great for the sport and it's tough to say something about them. I just compare them to soccer player Zico, he was excellent, won several tournaments, but he was unable to get the World Cup with the National squad of Brazil." 
For his fight against Matyushenko, the development of the sport will be seen in Ferreira. The fighter now is a Chute Boxe member and has his main coach in Rudimar Fedrigo, the man who introduces the world to high-caliber guys like Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and Anderson Silva, among others. That's a signal that the powerhouse is pushing his standup game to the same level of his high-level ground ability.
"Fedrigo said he'd do this and that for me and now I'm an UFC fighter," he says. "The Chute Boxe training is very tough, as around 50 very good guys in Muay Thai are sharpening my striking every single day. It’s a war that I'm enjoying because it prepares me more for the fight against Matyushenko."
From the time he was only knew as 'Cacareco,' a moniker he got during the short period of time that he trained capoeira and played a broken berimbau (a capoeira instrument), Ferreira just wants to recover the time he lost and erase his past disappointments. Titles in Luta Livre, MMA and submission tournaments served to forge the reputation of the Rio de Janeiro native, and now destiny puts him on a collision course with an opponent who should have been in front of him 10 years ago. 
"When they said, 'You'll be facing Matyushenko,' I only thought of destiny, but this time it’s for real,” he laughs. "He's a courageous fighter, goes forward and I sincerely think he's very tough and has faced top guys. But I'm going to put my effort into getting a bonus over him with a 'Submission of the Night.' You know, the end of the year is approaching and that gives me a great chance to give a good present to my 12-year old daughter."

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