One FC destiny of warriors!

The stream is going well and smooth. Exciting! Here are the undercard events.

First fight
Quek Kim hock vs Peter Davis

Round 1

They trade strikes. Peter lands a good spinning kick that staggers Quek. Quek tries to cover up but is pressed against the cage and is barraged by a flurry of knees and punches and the referee quickly steps in to stop the match. A quick and decisive win for Peter Davis.

Result: Peter Davis wins by technical knockout in the first round.

Second fight
Escobar vs Praxedes

Round 1

They run around and trade blows for a while. Praxedes scores a take down but his head is being held by Escobar. Escobar scores elbows from under. Praxedes let's him up and kicks him as he gets up but Escobar counters with a take down and lands in half guard and dominates him. Escobar strikes him to side control but Praxedes manages to squirm out and stand up. Escobar shoots for a takedown and gets it easily. Escobar passes to half guard and quickly passes to mount and pounds on Praxedes. The bell rings as Escobar is raining punches on Praxedes and the first round is over.

Round 2

Escobar quickly shoots for takedown and is stuck against the cage. He foot stomps in Praxedes and accidentally catches him in the groin with a knee. Praxedes is given time to recover. Praxedes recovers and the fight is resumed. Escobar lands a good counter punch and after some striking shoots for a takedown and Praxedes tries to defend with a guillotine. Escobar grinds him with knees and foot stomps. After being in the clinch the referee splits them and Praxedes scores a good overhand punch and knocks Escobar down and mounts him but is quickly sweep. Escobar them takes him down and mounts him and punches him furiously and the round ends

Round 3

Praxedes is quickly taken down and Escobar is striking from half guard. Escobar works a bit and scores an arm triangle and after a few moments Praxedes taps out.

Result: Escobar wins by submission in round 3

Third fight
Mitch Chilson vs AJ Pyro

Round 1

AJ scores a takedown early but Mitch gets up and then scores a takedown of his own. They wrestle on the ground a bit and then stand up again and rushes Mitch against the cage. Mitch scores some strong knees and stuffs a takedown attempt and gets the back and locks in a rear naked choke to get the tapout.

Result: Mitch Chilson wins by rear naked choke in first round.

Fourth fight
Brian Choi vs Arnaud Lepont
(Lepont comes out in some psycho killer getup, hilarious)

Round 1
The fight starts with an all out war with punches. It continues for a long time before Brian takes him down and gets out of a kimura attempt into half guard. Brian works in guard for a long time with small strikes before the ref stands them up but with little time left they stroke for a while before Brian scores a takedown at the last second of the round.

Round 2
They come out and touch gloves and laugh and hug before fighting. They trade again before Brian takes him down and almost takes the back but Lepont gets up and they get pressed up against the cage. They break and strike some more before choi takes him down once more. The striking in this fight is insane and fierce. Choi strikes from inside the guard and Arnaud makes some attempts at a triangle and an armlock but the round ends with Choi on top.

Round 3
Brian scores a heavy right hand right at the start and drops Lepont. He goes in and controls Lepont on the ground. They grapple on the ground and after a struggle Lepont manages to lock in a rear naked choke and gets the tapout major upset from the flow of the fight.

Result: Arnaud Lepont wins in round 3 by rear naked choke.

Fifth fight
Bae young kwon vs Eric Kelly

They start the match throwing hard hands and kicks. Kwon scores a great osotto gari but is immediately reversed and Eric Kelly gets on too but kwon quickly gets out of it and gets Eric's back but Eric escapes. Kwon takes him down again but Eric squirms out once more. They clinch and kwon does another beautiful throw. They grapple and kwon goes for the back again but Eric gets up into kwon's guard. Kwon goes for a triangle but Eric pops out and stands up. Eric lands some nice hits. Kwon jumps in and tries to lock in a guillotine but Eric pops out yet again. The round ends with both Trading strikes with Eric getting the upper hand.

Round 2

They start again with trading hard hard kicks and punches. Kwon scores a takedown again but Eric is too squirmy. Kwon almost gets the back but Kelly gets up and kicks kwon. Kwon scores a takedown and gets the back and works for a choke. Kwon gets a yellow card for elbows to the back of the head. The fight restarts and Eric again continues with really hard kicks. Kwon slips on a kick attempt and Kelly goes in to finish with a RNC but the round ends before he can finish.

Round 3
The round is similar to the previous two. A lot of hard striking before the takedown followed by insane grappling. The fight ends with kwon on top and striking Eric. Judges decide for Eric Kelly.

Result: Eric Kelly wins by unanimous decision.

Ok I'm going to take a break from reporting now because the fights are really exciting and I can't watch while typing.

Woo. I'm back. Glad I took a break from reporting round by round because I really couldn't keep up with the action and the typing at the same time and boy am I glad I choose to pay attention because the fights were EXCITING!

Gregor Gracie vs Adam Kayoom

This fight saw Gregor dominating in the first round. The takedowns were good and the control from the top was great. The second round saw Gregor starting off with more of the same but halfway through it became really obvious that Gregor was exhausted. The end of the second round and the whole of the third round was just Adam Kayoom punching at an exhausted Gracie. If this were scored round by round, it could possibly be Gregor's win but since it is scored as a whole fight I agree with the judges' decision to award the win to Adam Kayoom.

Leandro Issa vs Masakazu Imanari

This was a fight that I was super excited to watch. Having been taught by Leandro Issa at Evolve gym of course I would root for him. At the same time, I'm also a big fan of Imanari and his leg locks so this fight was full of conflicting feelings. I was impressed with Leandro Issa and his smart game plan. He would kick at the legs and strike cleanly and quickly. When he took Imanari down, he played it safe on the ground by striking inside the guard and all the while making sure to take away the angles so Imanari could not escape his hips. At the same time, I was also hoping Imanari would pull some ridiculous leglock miracle move. Oh well, I'm happy with the outcome either way. Decision win for Leandro Issa well deserved. Smart planning by Issa and the team at Evolve.

Zorobabel Moreira vs Roger Huerta

One of the more highly anticipated fights in this fight card, Roger Huerta is a really exciting opponent for Zoro to have. As I've definitely blogged before, Zoro is one of the instructors whose class I attend the most often and therefore I definitely hoped he would win. I even bought his walkout shirt today. Anyways, Zoro's reach advantage was amazing. They weren't kidding when they said "incredible reach". There was even one point in the fight where Zoro was holding Huerta away using an outstretched arm. Also, the soccer kick that ended the fight was EPIC! 

Ok... I'm done for tonight. I'm off to sleep now that I've been satisfied with a heapful of wonderful MMA. Oh wait, one more thing. I can't believe Lepont called out Shinya. I really hope they'll match them up and Shinya will pull out some bad-ass submissions on him. The fight between Lepont and Choi wasn't even that one-sided, in fact in my opinion Choi was very close to winning it and just slipped up at the last moment. So I don't really see how Lepont is justified in calling out anyone but I'll be happy to see Shinya submit his ass all over. Woo!

Greg Jackson Clinic

Came across this video recently. One of the big names in MMA coaching. Loved hearing the insight that he has into the omoplata but even more interesting is his insight into ground and pound. Something that looks so simple as punching downwards can actually have that level of sophistication and technique to it. Cool video.

You know you're addicted to BJJ...

When you go to sleep and the whole night you dream of nothing but landing flying armbars.
True story. The night before my exam and I'm studying myself into unconsciousness but when I wake up in the morning all I can recall is that I had a dream about doing flying armbars.

So when I got home from my exams I naturally went online to look at flying armbars and lo and behold I find a video of Shinya Aoki. This video is special though, it has SUBS. I've seen many Shinya Aoki tutorial videos but this is the first one that I've seen that is subbed. I really wish more people would go and sub the Japanese BJJ tutorial videos, I really really want to know what they are teaching.

Anyway, here is the video. Enjoy the high-flying action. BOOM!

Aoki flying armbar by snatchGTT

Shinya Aoki vs Eddie Alvarez rematch at Bellator 66

Ahhhh. Sadly I did not get to see the result I wanted. Eddie defeated Shinya in the first round. Even so, I'm still going to ardently support Shinya. I have many reasons to support him.

Firstly, he is Japanese and I really believe we need more Asians fighting in big mma events especially UFC.

Secondly, he is one of the most exciting fighters I have seen. People may say that ground game is boring and that striking is more exciting. To them I say, he is the master of FLYING SUBMISSIONS with emphasis on the flying. Furthermore I love the way he is never afraid to pop-on a rare submission such as the MOUNTED gogoplata. So impressive was that submission that people have been calling it the Aoki-plata.

Thirdly, he is training and teaching at Evolve MMA and since I've been taking lessons there I feel an attachment to every fighter who trains out of Evolve.

You can watch the video of the fight here.

Since I couldn't watch the fight due to my exams at the time, I could only go online and read about it after coming out of the exam hall. Most of the news simply stated the result that Aoki got hit by a punch in the first round and lost by TKO to punches on the ground. However, I also saw some posts on forums about the fight. A lot of people are dissing Aoki now because he lost to Eddie in this rematch. Many are saying that Aoki is over-rated and that he'll never survive in the UFC. My reply is this, one fight does not make a fighter. Essentially MMA is one complicated chess / rock-scissors-paper game. "If I throw this move and you throw the counter you could win but otherwise I win" kind of situation is pretty common from what I've seen. So basing your judgement of Shinya on just this one fight is so ridiculous. There are many big UFC names that have shock upset losses but I don't see the same kind of hate on them. Looking at Shinya's entire career, anybody who can say he is a lousy fighter is simply delusional. Even in the light of his latest loss, I still believe Shinya is one of the best lightweight fighters and will definitely prove this in time to come.

WAR AOKI!

Shinya Aoki the Baka survivor!

So shinya is going to be fighting at bellator today. In a show of support and admiration I decided to buy his walkout shirt from Evolve. Check it out! Bad-ass!

My favourite MMA fighters...

So I'm taking a break from training this week for two reasons.

One: I have this old wrist injury that keeps acting up from time to time and restricts my wrist strength and flexibility. I've felt that it really hinders me from getting good grips and good chokes while doing BJJ. So today I went with my parents to visit some Chinese doctor who helped to treat it by "unjamming my nerves" in my left wrist. As unscientific as it sounds, my wrist really feels much better after the treatment. On top of the treatment, he also told me to cut down on protein and exercise for the time being. So... no working out for a while.

Two: My exams are fast approaching. So basically I'm going to avoid training in case I get some injury that prevents me from writing. Can't wait for exams to be over so I can train harder than ever. Excited!

So since I'm taking a break from training I decided to make this blog post about my favourite MMA fighters.

Personally, I love submissions. I really really love the way submissions are set up, how they work, how awesome they are when you can dominate your opponent with one. So it's no surprise that two of my favourite fighters are Shinya Aoki and Masakazu Imanari. Love the way they can just go hard for the submissions and destroy their opponents with it. Imanari recently just fought at the recent ONE FC in Singapore and his match was spectacularly entertaining. Very very short fight but super impressive.

LEGLOCKS!

I really wonder if that spectacular kick that missed and made him fall was a calculated move or just pure fast reaction. If it was a bait, I am super impressed in his confidence and trickery. If it was reaction time, I am just as impressed at how fast he can flip around and catch the leg that was trying to kick him. What speed and what technique. Imanari and Shinya are both very polarizing fighters. People either love them or utterly hate them. I am obviously a big fan of them but those who love to see spectacular striking are always criticizing them for being one-dimensional. Personally, I think it's' fine to be one-dimensional if you are so good in that dimension that bringing them into your world leads you to victory. Do what you're good at, makes great sense to me. Although I think Shinya has become much less one-dimensional lately after he joined Evolve and upped his striking game with Muay Thai. Just look at his latest fight...

Look at that striking! Who says he can't strike? I'm definitely not going to say that anytime soon. If his striking as really improved as much as it seems to have, Shinya is going to be one damn scary fighter. Scary to go to ground with him and scary to strike with him... how are you going to fight that? 

And these two fighters are also friends and former teammates from team Roken. Here's a picture of the two fighters together at ONE FC with Shinya in Imanari's corner and Imanari giving him a jumping high-five after defeating Kevin Belingon.

UP HIGH!

To finish this post up, here are some highlight videos of these two submission masters. Shinya the Tobikan Judan and Imanari the Ashikan Judan.