At the LA Forum 03/17/2007: it was a night of 12 fights. 2 alternate fights headlined by LA’s Anacondas vs San Jose Razorclaws and Southern California Condors vs Tokyo Sabres.
Important note is Bas Rutten stepped down as head coach of the Anacondas and Shawn Tompkins took over which I believe is a better move and he has Sergio Penha as his assistant coach. For those who don’t know, Sergio Penha is BJJ god. Also Ken Yasuda is the head coach of the Tokyo Sabres. Ken has never been a fighter and has only competed in body building and his team only has 1 Japanese fighter and they are not based out of Tokyo either. I am not completely sold on the team concept either and still feels just like a gimmick because fighters are not based out of cities they represent, they don’t all train together, their team coach is not their main coaches in real life, and a lot of times the head coaches don’t even know much about MMA or cannot communicate in the same language as their fighter and an assistant coach ends up doing most of the work. But I digress…
Alternate Bouts
Conor Heun Def. Clint Coronel by Dec. (Split) R3
Heun controlled all of round 1 and took Coronel’s back. Round 2 saw a more tired Heun and took a lot of punches from Coronel. Heun still shot in with the takedowns and was the aggressor. Rd 3 saw Coronel open up more on a depleted Heun. I felt it was 2 rds to 1 for Coronel but only Cecil Peoples agreed with me.
Zach George Def. Danny Suarez Decision (Unanimous) R3
Suarez pulled guard a few times and had George in some serious problems defending chokes and armbars, but overall George controlled the fight with effective striking and take down defense. It was almost a mma striking demo sometimes with punches, body shots, low kicks, and spinning back fists.
Razorclaws vs. Anacondas
Brian Ebersole vs. Alex Schoenauer
Round 1
Ebersole has a crazy look, he looks like Heath Herring and his chest hair is shaved into a happy face. He also attempted a cartwheel kick at the opening of the round, which Shoenauer used to take him down, Ebersole reveresed and Shoenauer went for a toe hold. Stand up and Shoenaur is unloading on Ebersole which Ebersole laughs at until he is dropped by a Shoenaur punch.
Round 2
Saw Ebersole take Shoenaur down and use ground and pound and some shoulder punches to control the round.
Round 3
Some good exchanges with Alex as the aggressor once again but a lot of the clean shots are landed by Ebersole. Takedown by Ebersole, Ebersole is caught in a guillotine, he fakes a tap and confuses the crowd and the officials but the ref is on top of it and the fight continues, Ebersole escapes and finishes the round with some ground and pound.
Alex Schoenauer defeats Brian Ebersole by split decision (29-28, 29-28 and 28-29).
Brian Foster vs. Benji Radach
Radach rushes in with punches and gets a takedown. Foster tries to stand up but gets caught in a guillotine and is choked unconscious in the first round.
Josh Odom vs. Chris Horodecki
Horodecki is only 19 years old, but he is an animal with an unlimited gas tank. Odom had no answer for Horodecki’s relentless offense of strikes and takedown defenses. Horodecki never stopped punching or kicking or striking, just nonstop and won a unanimous decision.
Donnie Liles vs. Jay Hieron
Hieron takes Liles to the ground, Liles is able to reverse but ends up in a deep guillotine and is forced to tap in the first round.
Dan Christison vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
Round 1
Soszynski controlled the ring and was able to land the cleaner punches and take down Christison at will.
Round 2
Some good exchanges, Soszynski takes Christison down again but Christison gets back to his feet and takes Soszynski down and ends up taking his back and falls out to an armbar which Soszynski defends and escapes and throws bombs til the end of the round.
Round 3
Soszynski is now imposing his will on the exchanges, takes Christison down again but gets caught in a deep armbar. Soszynski shows his strength by lifting Christison up and slamming him on his head to escape and throws bombs til the end. Unanimous Decision
The Anacondas sweep the Razorclaws, 5-0.
Sabres vs. Condors
Savant Young vs. Adam Lynn
Round 1
Savant controls the stand up and gets taken down by Lynn and controlled until the end.
Round 2
Young drops and ends Lynn with a punch just 21 seconds into the round.
Antonio McKee vs. Rodrigo Ruas
Antonio McKee takes all three rounds and wins in typical McKee fashion with takedowns, ground control, and some decent lay and pray. Ruas scored with some good low kicks but was not enough to stop the takedown machine. Unanimous decision McKee.
Kazuhiro Hamanaka vs. Jeremy Williams
Beautiful jiu jitsu demonstration by Williams as he gets taken down by Hamanaka only to secure a triangle and choke Hamanaka unconscious in the first round.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Justin Levens
The Janitor is too much for the Executioner as he maules Levens and takes him down, takes his back, mounts him, and unloads with punches through out until the ref jumps in to stop the fight.
Wayne Cole vs. Antoine Jaoude
Round 1
Cole controls round 1 with a takedown and stiff punches from the guard.
Round 2
Cole is able to land more punches and harder punches, Jaoude answers back with some low kicks and catches Cole with a straight right for the KO come from behind victory.
The Tokyo Sabres win the team battle 3 to 2.
Pictures TBA
Sam “Soju” Yang
http://mma-fighter.com/forum/threads/18866-IFL-in-LA-Review-by-Sam-Yang
