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Rampage's Blog:
Rampage - Referees

Referees
We were finally in control, and I damn sure wanted to keep it and get some wins because Team Brownnose had been on a roll. I thought Gerald was one of our best fighters, so I wanted to put him out there. Gerald's wrestling is very strong, which could neutralize Amir's kickboxing. He fights kind of like me, takedowns and ground and pound, and his cardio was pretty good, so going in, I thought he could take Amir down and win via TKO or grind out a decision.

Round 1 went EXACTLY how we wanted it to. Gerald dominated Amir with some great double leg takedowns, brutal slams, and ground and pound when the fight got to the mat. It could not have gone any better short of a TKO, and I just KNEW we were going to win it. Between rounds, I just told him to keep doing what he was doing, because it was working.

Round 2, Gerald was still getting his takedowns, but they were not as easy. Amir did an excellent job to make Gerald work for the takedowns, and when he did get down, he'd get back up to his feet and countering. He fought very smart in the second round. Still, I thought Gerald was ahead in that round, and was on his way to winning a decision...until Amir hit him with that knee.

When he went to the mat, Gerald made the mistake of going for a single leg instead of covering up, and the referee stopped the fight. I didn't think Gerald was out, but the referee's job is to protect the fighters. I couldn't get upset, who knows what is going through the ref's mind? I've never been a referee, ya know? Whatever happened, we lost, and Team Rampage's spirits were definitely down. We had just gotten control, Gerald was winning the fight, and it got taken away from us right quick. It was tough. I mean, I thought when we were picking teams that him and CB could meet in the finals. Just didn't go that way.

Gerald was really upset, but he'll bounce back. He is actually a really good fighter, and if he works on his standup, I think he has what it takes to be a champion in this sport in a few years. He reminds me of me when I first started MMA but a better wrestler. I think he'll be back in the UFC.

Forrest's teams named the last two matchups, Pat vs Cale and CB vs Nick. First up was Pat vs Cale.

We were hoping that it would just be a standup war because Pat has no ground game at alllllll. We figured Pat had a good chance of winning because Cale likes to stand up, too. We didn't think Cale was that tough either, because of the way he won his fight to get in the house -- the guy he fought had to cut a lot of weight and Cale barely beat him when the dude gassed.

The first round, Pat did everything I told him to do: he unleashed his striking and, when he did get taken down, he got back up quickly.

The second round was totally the opposite. Cale dominated it from start to finish; he didn't want any part of Pat standing up after the first round, so he took him down and kept him there. He didn't do much damage, but he definitely controlled that round.

We all thought it was going to a third round, and I still do after watching the fight again.

I'm glad it didn't, though; Pat broke his hand in the beginning of the second round, and after that, there wasn't a whole lot he could do. It was broken pretty bad, I think he had to get pins put in and all that. He could have really messed it up had they kept going.

After that was done, I was just frustrated. I was really proud of Pat and he fought hard and I thought he deserved a 3rd round. I yelled out that I'd bet my whole purse that my fight with Forrest won't go to a decision, because if those are the same judges that didn't give us a 3rd round there, and gave Dante the win over Mohawk, I'ma make sure that my next fight isn't in their hands. If I lose, I want to lose because I lost, not because some judge thinks I lost. In July, we won't need judges for our fight, I promise. They could take a break that night.