Askren Sweeps Lima; Don King on Pacman and Floyd Jr.
Ben Askren Retains Welterweight Crown; Sandro, Marx, Nakamura Advance at Bellator 64
By Brian Knapp
Brian writes for the fantastic mma website www.sherdog.com
Ben Askren did what Ben Askren does, and Douglas Lima was helpless against it.
Askren (10-0, 7-0 BFC) utilized takedowns, his uncanny scrambling ability and a suffocating top game, as he retained his Bellator Fighting Championships welterweight crown with a one-sided unanimous decision over the Brazilian in the Bellator 64 main event on Friday at Caesars in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Booed lustily by fans who desired more action on the feet, Askren swept the scorecards by identical 50-45 counts.
“If you don’t like the groundwork, there’s a sport they call boxing … it’s not as fun, though,” he said. “I suggest you keep on coming here and watching my ass whoopins.”
Outside of a few right hands, sporadic punches from the bottom, occasional submission attempts and a slick first-round sweep, Lima (21-5, 3-1 BFC) did little of note from an offensive standpoint. At the end of two rounds, he looked lost and discouraged, his considerable repertoire utterly neutralized by an Olympic-caliber wrestler.
Askren struck for takedowns in all five rounds, tagged the American Top Team Atlanta representative with punches, hammerfists and elbows from inside his guard and scrambled away from danger whenever it surfaced. The 27-year-old Roufusport product tried to finish Lima with a third-round brabo choke but released the hold when it became clear it would not be successful, settling back into his routine and cruising to another decision.
Sandro Gets Split Verdict
Sandro narrowly made the finals.Former Sengoku champion Marlon Sandro scored with combinations, as he mixed in low kicks, overhand rights and left hooks en route to a split decision over countrymen Alexandre Bezerra in the Bellator Season 6 featherweight tournament semifinals. All three judges ruled it 29-28, David Therien and Gregory Jackson for Sandro, Jason Rodgers for Bezerra.
A winner in eight of his past 10 fights, Sandro (22-3, 5-1 BFC) will face either Mike Corey or Daniel Straus in the 145-pound final. They meet at Bellator 65 on April 13.
Sandro banked two rounds on two scorecards, as he landed his punches at a higher rate and kept Bezerra (13-2, 5-1 BFC) off balance with kicks to the outside and inside of his lead leg.
In the third round, “Popo” found another gear and zeroed in on his opponent’s head. He struck for a takedown, briefly took Sandro’s back and floored him with a right hand with roughly three minutes remaining in the fight. The finish he needed, however, never materialized, and Sandro walked away the victor.
Marx Upsets World-Ranked Ueda
Marx outworked Ueda.Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts export Travis Marx recorded the most significant victory of his 22-fight career, as he upset the world-ranked Masakatsu Ueda by unanimous decision in the Bellator Season 6 bantamweight tournament quarterfinals. All three cageside judges scored it for Marx (19-3, 1-0 BFC) by matching 29-28 counts.
Marx stuck the former Shooto champion with straight lefts and worked his way into advantageous positions on the ground. Ueda (15-2-2, 0-1 BFC) was limited to second- and third-round takedowns, crisp body kicks and the occasional submission attempt. However, he could not overcome a visible size and strength advantage against the three-time Utah state high school wrestling champion, though he did raise a nasty swelling beneath
Marx’s left eye.
“The opportunity to fight a guy like Masakatsu was enormous for me,” Marx said. “I never perceived myself as the underdog — from day one.”
Nakamura Decisions Lima in Quarters
Nakamura slipped by Lima.Takedowns, top control, stellar submission defense and occasional ground-and-pound carried Shooto veteran Hiroshi Nakamura to a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Rodrigo Lima in the Bellator Season 6 bantamweight tournament quarterfinals. All three judges scored it the same: 29-27 for Nakamura (15-4-4, 1-0 BFC).
Nakamura scored with takedowns in all three rounds, as he repeatedly coaxed the aggressive Brazilian into his clinch. Lima (10-1, 0-1 BFC) was plenty active from his back, trying for everything from omaplatas, triangle chokes and armbars to heel hooks, foot locks and kneebars. None were successful, however, and his activity did not do enough to sway the judges to his side.
Having benefitted from a one-point deduction for low blows in the second round, Nakamura did his best work in the third despite suffering a cut near his left eye. The Japanese standout racked up points from top position and answered many of Lima’s submission attempts with some of his own.
Richman KOs Horodecki
Richman lamped Horodecki.Mike Richman delivered a stunning first-round knockout against World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Chris Horodecki in a preliminary featherweight encounter. Horodecki (18-4-1, 1-1-1 BFC) fell to the mat unconscious 1:23 into round one.
Richman wobbled the Canadian twice before an uppercut sent him backpedaling into the cage. From there, Richman (12-1, 1-0 BFC) unloaded with a series of uppercuts that brought the bout to an abrupt and violent conclusion. The 26-year-old Minnesotan has rattled off three straight wins.
Laprise Triangle Submits Taveirne
Laprise tapped out Taveirne.Chad Laprise kept his perfect professional record intact, as he submitted Maximum Fighting Championship veteran Josh Taveirne with a first-round triangle choke in their undercard duel at 170 pounds. Taveirne (2-3, 0-1 BFC) asked out of the match 2:48 into round one.
Laprise (5-0, 1-0 BFC) succumbed to a pair of takedowns but lured the Canadian into his guard. He went first to the triangle, transitioned to an attempted triangle-armbar and returned to the original hold for the finish. Laprise has closed out all five of his opponents inside one round.
Tristar’s Taleb Extends Streak
Taleb bested Secor.Tristar Gym representative Nordine Taleb posted his sixth consecutive victory, as he captured a unanimous decision from Matt Secor in a preliminary welterweight matchup. All three cageside judges scored it for Taleb (7-1, 1-0 BFC): 30-27, 30-27 and 30-24.
Secor (1-1, 0-1 BFC) was outclassed from the start, as Taleb grounded him repeatedly and attacked effectively while standing, from a distance and in tight quarters. The Ring of Combat veteran dominated so thoroughly that one judge, Mark Porliev, awarded him three 10-8 rounds.
Fischer Moves to 3-0
Fischer dominated Solomon.Mash Fight Team representative Jason Fischer remained undefeated in his promotional debut, as he rendered Taylor Solomon unconscious with a third-round rear-naked choke in an undercard tilt at 155 pounds. Solomon (3-4, 1-1 BFC) went to sleep with one second left in the fight.
Fischer (3-0, 1-0 BFC) controlled all three rounds, as he scored with takedowns and delivered the more consequential strikes. In round three, he finally broke through the exhausted Solomon’s guard, transitioned to his back and cinched the choke. The Canadian refused to tap, electing to go the route of unconsciousness.
Lastly, in a 159-pound catchweight bout, Kyle Prepolec submitted Lance Snow with a first-round armbar at the 2:54 mark and Elias Theodorou scored a verbal submission win against Rich Lictawa after Lictawa suffered an eye injury at 0:33 of the third frame. Scheduled to be a middleweight bout, Lictawa missed weight by six pounds on Thursday.
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Don King shares why Mayweather and Pacquiao isn’t made
By Michael Woods | ESPNNewYork.com
He is 80 years old, and if I get to that place, and I told this to his face when he was in Brooklyn watching the ring action at the Aviator Complex on March 24, I do hope I am close to as vibrant, as with it, as in the game, as Don King still is.
Yes, boxing’s Barnum isn’t as busy as he once once. He runs shows few and far in between, none of them the blockbusters which he put his stamp up, like the The Thrilla in Manilla and the Rumble in the Jungle. His wife passed away in late December 2010, and we hear periodic stories of his own health woes, but in the flesh he is still a considerable and magnetic presence.
NYFightblog asked The Don what brought him to Brooklyn as we waited for ex heavyweight titlist Sergei Liakhovich to stride to the ring, where he would take the kind of whupping which makes man consider a new vocation, ASAP, at the hands of Bryant Jennings.
“I’m with this young man Vernon Paris, I want to see if the transition is going to take place, the old going on and the young taking their place, coming on,” King told me. Alas, his man Paris showed himself to not be quite ready for prime time, as Judah, faster, stronger, more seasoned and skilled, stopped him out in round 9.
When I referenced ole PT, King said it was a pleasure to be referred to at all, and noted he didn’t take umbrage at being lumped in with the man (erroneously) credited as living by the credo, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
“The mere fact that they call my name is compliment to me,” King said. “I feel good about that. I’m a promoter, of the people, for the people, and by the people.”
It was Barnum who used to say, “Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!”…and I was reminded of that saying as I pondered the sad possibility that megastars Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao might never give the people what they want, and sign on to fight each other. King has taken periodic stabs at aligning himself with Mayweather, and injecting himself into the equation as a lubricant to getting the deal done. But he’s had no success. So I asked him why. Why hasn’t the Super Bowl of the sport, which would be the top-grossing fight of all time, been booked?
“Give the people what they want and they will respond,” he said. “It’s about two things: inclusiveness, and respect. That’s why they’re losing the ballgame. They’re arguing about money, as if money is more important than the fighters. Respect the guy, and you’ll get him in there for less. When you disrespect them, it don’t even be about money…They’re too busy worrying about their feelings being hurt, and being talked to condescendingly, and patronizingly, rather than respectfully.”
Money isn’t the be-all, en- all, King said. “People are the most important asset.”
Whenever I see King, I try to tease him about his political leanings. He backed George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and helped tip crucial Ohio, which Bush won by three million votes, to the incumbent with his stumping. In 2008, he backed Obama, and in Brooklyn, he exulted in the win for racial harmony that was Obamas’ 2008 victory. He noted that “we aren’t there yet,” however, and the subject of the slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin came up. “For the man who shot him, right or wrong, to be still free, it’s like the old Western days. It’s very sad,” he said, before shifting to an upbeat conclusion about the racial strides the US has made.
It’s good to see King, yes somewhat humbled by the great equalizer that is time, still in the game. We’ve lost so many legends and icons and characters lately, Joe Frazier, Angelo Dundee, Bert Sugar just a day after I chatted with King, that I find myself embracing the remaining cast-members a little bit more fiercely.
