An Unbiased Breakdown of WFA: King of the Streets Part 2

nyhcloyalty · 07-23-2006, 05:32 AM

Lightweight: "Razor" Rob McCullogh vs. Harris Sarmiento

Everyone expected this to be a stand up war, and that it was. By war, I mean Razor imposing his will, and Harris standing there and taking it. I was surprised, as this is the second time they fought, I expected more from Sarmiento knowing the style Razor Rob was going to bring to the ring, but it almost looked like he didn't want to be there. McCullogh's Muay Thai was astoundingly crisp as usual, throwing vicious leg kicks and devastating knees inside the clinch that punished Harris. Neither fighter was ever in any serious danger, but there was some damage done to both sides. Round 1 was slightly the Razor's as the leg kicks earned him the most points, but no serious pain inflicted. Round 2 was pretty much off the same, with no fighter really looking to tee off on the other one, just circle from a distance and try to land jabs. After Round 2, Sarmiento's corner pleaded with him to try and take down McCullogh, but not listening to his corner, you guessed it, Round 3 was the same. Midway through round 3 you could tell Razor Rob knew he had the fight in hand, so he really didn't make any attempts to finish the fight, just ride it out to decision and play it safe.

Winner: "Razor" Rob McCullogh via Unanimous Decision

I was honestly not impressed with Sarmiento at all, as not only did he offer little to no offense, he did not try to impose his game plan on Razor Rob. Rob looked good as usual, but this was somewhat of a lackluster fight. Although what did impress me was the way that Rob used leg kicks in his combinations, and not only in the beginning and the end, but throughout. Also, Harris has a tendancy to move North South, and not side to side, so he became a very easy target for the precise Muay Thai striker Razor.

Light Heavyweight: Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Lyoto (WHO?) Machida

I think everyone coming into this fight was expecting it to be a fast paced brawl...but that's not what we got. Machida came out standing extremely slim and making himself a very hard target to hit, as per his discipline, Karate, states. Tiger really didn't know what to make of the awkward stance of Machida, so throughout rounds one and two he would try to push the pace, only connecting with a couple of jabs and straights, never doing much damage. Lyoto was acting as the counter puncher in this fight...only he forgot the puncher part. It could be he had some nerves being his first fight on US soil, but I was not impressed. Vernon White is a very experienced fighter, so it may have been that Machida didn't want to over commit to anything, and was more comfortable picking his shots few and far between and trying to make them count. After two long rounds of booing by the fans, Vernon decided it was in his best interest to flip them off, so that was a nice gesture. The end of round two saw White take down Machida, but to no avail as the round was close to over. Round 3 was much of the same as the first two, rather lackluster, with neither fighting wanting to commit. About halfway throught the round Machida took down White and attempted a couple of submissions, but being the veteran he easily fended them off, but took a couple of shots in the mean time. Machida then took Vernon White's back, which honestly, is probably what won him the fight. Vernon regained control and got top guard position, but never did much with it, and we go to a decision.

Winner: Lyoto Machida via Unanimous Decision

A very boring fight, in all honesty, and it takes alot for me to call a fight boring. I was upset neither fighter pushed the pace, as both were lacking in aggressiveness, and played it very cautiously. Hopefully Machida got the first US fight jitters off and is now more comfortable in the states, because we all know his past (OMGZZ HE PWNED RICH FRANKLIN!!?!) and what he is capable of, and it was a shame that we didn't see it tonight.

Light Heavyweight: Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Lodune Sincaid

Whenever Mayhem is fighting, it's going to be exiciting. Miller is coming off a 43 second fight against the Giant Stefan Gamlin, so hopefully this fight goes a little longer. Mayhem immediately comes out pushing the pace, standing Karate style, and throwing wild knees and kicks. Immediately you can tell who the superior fighter is, as once Mayhem got the clinch, that was the end of that. Miller delivered some nasty knees to the face and to the stomach, one of which dropped Sincaid to 4 point stance (hands and knees), and from there it was all about working for the choke. Mayhem seemed to have some trouble once on Lodunes back, while Lodune never showed any offense, he did have a great submission defense. Mayhem sprawled Lodune out a number of times, as it took about 3 minutes for Miller to work the choke. Eventually he sunk in the rear naked choke and forced Lodune to tap just as the round was about to expire, with 30 or so seconds left.

Winner: Jason "Mayhem" Miller via Rear Naked Choke

Once again Jason "Mayhem" Miller continues to impress against quality opponents. He showed a plethora (that's right Goldberg, I can use that too) of skills against Sincaid, showing his superiorty all over the octagon. Sincaid never did get to show his skills, but he is no slouch, and will see more of him in the future. Mayhem on the other hand is defintely going to be wearing some gold in the future, I'm not sure whether it's gonna be at 185 or 205, but there will be some more platinum than just his grill.

Middleweight: Art Santore vs. Ivan Salaverry

This is the fight that I was most looking forward too. While early on Santore was pushing the pace, it was clear that Salaverry was the more technical striker, and landed some cleaner shots than Santore. The first round was very entertaining, as it was pretty much a bang fest with Santore pushing the pace, but walking into many shots along the way. Santore was wearing a brace on his lead knee, so immediately Ivan capitalized and put a bulls eye on it with leg kicks. Art got in the octagon looking to bang, but I don't think he expected the kind of striking Ivan had prepared. Santore scored with a few shots in round one, but definitely ate more than he threw, as Salaverry would use leg kicks in his combinations to pepper the injured leg. The two continued exchanging punches with Salaverry attempting a few high kicks before round 1 ended. Round 2 came out and Art was pushing the pace even harder, attempting to throw Ivan off of his game. Once again Art was walking into alot of stiff left jabs and it was taking a toll on his face. Art began landing a few good shots, and after a slip from Salaverry, they hit the ground. Salaverry locked him up in closed guard and held until a stand up. Once the stand up, Ivan took over. Salaverry looked like he was really hoping to score with the high kick, while Santore was setting up his punches with some body kicks/punches. Salaverry hurt him with a right body kick that took the wind out of him, but Santore pressed on until he was caught with a nasty right high kick that landed directly on the jaw, and would have knocked out a lesser man. Art stumbled back and was caught with a vicous left hook that dropped him, and Salaverry continued to mount and finish the fight.

Winner: Ivan Salaverry via KO

What an exciting fight this was. We know Art's strengths were Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling coming from Team Quest, so I wish he would have tried to take this fight to the ground, and use his GNP skills. Yet, Ivan was able to keep the fight on his feet where he was simply just more dominant, and more technical. Art is far from done as this was probably the most exciting fight of the night, and afterwards his blood covered face and smile made for a front page sherdog photo op. Salaverry continues to impress me, as I would personally like to see him fight Mayhem at the next show. WFA, hear that!

All in all, I believe this was one of the best things the WFA could have hoped for. The main event was so close it begs for a rematch, and some starts were made tonight, and some were etched in stone. We can only hope that Bas Rutten can return to 100% and make a sincere HW title run. We have some MW and LHW contenders in Machido, Salaverry, and Miller, as well as a pretty much guaranteed rematch of what was one of the more exciting fights of the year.

All that being said, I will definitely be watching the next ppv in October.

Score - 7.5/10