Category Archives: Team Link
Boss’s Bellator 98 review (pictures by The Artist)
The Artist and I were fired up for this one!! Bellator, the #2 in the MMA industry was coming our way, and they were stacking their card with some of our favorite, and some of the best fighters of, New England! Rico D, the Sityodtong 135lb killer was making his debut…The Mangler was back again to prove he’s got what it takes…Nader was stepping up to fight an undefeated beast…and the 185lb tourney had 3 of new England’s best, in Torrey, Filkins, and Ward..and to top it off, they were back at the beautiful Mohegan Sun Casino in near by Ct!
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| Glenn Allaire being strapped to a stretcher. |
We left town a tad later than we wanted, as we had to wait for CityBoy to get home so we could borrow his car. Big thanks for the wheels CityBoy! The weather was beautiful and traffic was light. We made it in decent time but still arrived a few minutes late. We walked into the arena to the ring announcer stating that Rico was now 1-0 as a Pro with a 1st rd knockout victory! As we made it to our seats, his opponent still hadn’t made it off the canvas. I heard it was a vicious knockout followed by a few extra elbows and the Ref was a little late getting there. Hoping Glenn Allaire is OK. The Artist made it to his cage side perch and I to my spot in the Media section and settled in for the fights. Onto the rest of the card:
Fight 2-145 lbs. Nick Piedmont vs. Matt Bessette
Rd1- The fighters come forward and meet in the center of the cage. Matt throws a couple of low kicks and looks comfortable on the feet. Nick wants to clinch and he presses Matt against the cage. Matt’s landing some nice knees in the clinch and he pushes to separate. Mangler comes forward throwing hard and smashes Nick with a heavy overhand right that drops him. Matt pounces and finishes Nick off with a serious of lefts. Nick is stiff and the Ref pulls Mangler off for the TKO stoppage.
Winner- Rd1 TKO Ref Stoppage to strikes Matt Bessette
Fight 3- 155 lbs. Brylan VanArsdanlen vs. Ryan Quinn
Rd1- They circle and trade punches. Ryan shoots in and gets the take down and quickly takes his back. Brylan stands with Ryan still on his back looking for the rear naked choke. Brylan works his way out and starts to look for a take down against the cage. As he searches for the take down, Ryan ends up up-side-down on Brylan’s back looking for a triangle. Brylan again works his way out of this position but Ryan is relentless with his BJJ and again takes the back, this time sinking the choke for the victory.
Winner- Rd1 Submission Rear Naked Choke Ryan Quinn
Fight 4- HW Josh Diekman vs. Parker Porter
Rd1- The big boys circle and begin to box in the center of the cage. Parker is utilizing his kicks and Josh and just missing with some big punches. Parker is unfazed and presses forward throwing a right that backs Josh up. Josh fires back and hits Parker with a big shot and he drops. Parker grabs a leg in desperation looking for a take down. Josh smashes hammer fist from the top and the ref has to stop it.
Winner- Rd1 TKO Ref Stoppage to Strikes Josh Diekman
Fight 5- LHW Jeff Nader vs. Mike Mucitelli
Rd1- Mike comes out and throws a body kick, Jeff catches it and drops Mike with a right overhand punch. He calls him back to his feet and Mike clinches against the cage. Nader is the smaller guy, but he turns Mike around on the cage and separates. Nader again drops Mike with a punch that I didn’t see and he tries to swarm on top for some ground and pound. As Mike defends, he innadvertenly pokes Jeff in the eye and the ref stops the fight. Nader looks hurt, he’s squinting his eye and pretty concerned. After about 5 minutes the doctor confirms that the fight can’t go on and it is declared a no contest.
At this point it is 8pm and we are going live on Spike TV. The place is packed and the fans are loud and ready for the live card.
Fight 6- 155 lbs. Derek Anderson vs. Patricky Pitbull
Rd1- Fighters come out fierce swinging heavy shots and Derek gets dropped early. He pops right back up and continues to mix it up and Patricky is now down for a moment. He’s back up and the fighters continue to go back at it; there’s a lot of energy and punches and kicks are landing on both fighters. Patricky shoots and gets a take down. He passes to mount and rolls off for an arm bar. Derek defends and Patricky switches to a triangle. Derek is forced to defend this as well and they both stand as the round ends.
Rd2- They take the center again and trade more punches. Derek misses with a big high kick and slips and falls to the mat. Patricky jumps to the top and is in full guard. Derek works his way up off the cage and they are back to the center trading. Derek gets wobbled by a punch, but hangs in there and fires back aggressively. Patricky is beginning to look a bit tired as his hand are dropping and he’s swinging for the home run punch. Derek’s controlling the cage and misses with another high kick as the round ends.
Rd3- Derek comes out and is controlling the center of the cage. He’s scoring with straight punches, but Patricky begins working a nice jab of his own. Patricky tries for a take down but is stuffed. Derek’s controlling with punches and kicks as Patricky is looking more damaged and tired. as the round goes on. The round ends.
Winner- Rd3 Unanimous Decision Derek Anderson
Fight 7- 185 lbs Tournament Perry Filkins vs. Jeremy Kimball
Rd1- Jeremy comes out throwing kicks, high, low and even some nice spinning kicks of which most miss. Perry’s looking to use his boxing and aggressively coming forward looking for the big punch. Jeremy is mixing it up well and scores a take down. Perry pops right back up and they clinch against the cage. They separate and Perry wants to bang, but Jeremy scores another take down. Again he can’t keep Perry down and he pops up only to be taken down again. As quick as he went down he comes up again just to be taken down a fourth time just as the round ends.
Rd2- Jeremy comes out kicking again and punches into a clinch. He gets Perry’s back for a moment against the cage, they scramble and Perry ends up on top in guard. He’s grinding shoulder strikes and trying to pass the guard. Jeremy is calm and takes Perry’s back against the cage again. Perry faces Jeremy and finds himself fighting off a guillotine choke as Jeremy jumps guard. Perry stays on his feet and slams Jeremy out onto his back; he looks for some ground and pound here as he tries to pass guard. Standing above, he tries a spinning punch pass, the fighters scramble, Perry gets mount landing strikes as the round ends.
Rd3- Perry takes center cage, Jeremy is still mixing in kicks and stays very busy. Perry comes forward hard just missing Jeremy with a big punch. Jeremy looks for the take down, but Perry stuffs him and turns it into his own take down. He passes to side control and as Jeremy scrambles Perry takes his back and sinks in a rear naked choke for a quick tap.
Winner- Rd3 Submission Rear Naked Choke Perry Filkins
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| Jeremy Kimball’s finger was broken and bleeding early on. He fought to a decision though before heading to the hospital. |
Fight 8- 185 lbs Tournament Justin Torrey vs. Brennan Ward
Rd1- Fighters circle and Justin shoots in and they scramble against the cage. As Justin is pressuring Brennan against the cage Brennan tosses Justin with a nice Grecco throw. Brennan is on top side control looking for some ground and pound, but Justin is controlling well from the bottom. Justin sweeps to the top and starts working from side control. He’s mixing in a little bit of ground and pound and passes to the mount. He lays down some good punches as the round ends. As the fighters get up we notice Justin’s eye is badly swollen shut!!
Rd2- They come out, circle and clinch up. Brennan easily gets a take down to top position. He starts to reign down punches, as Justin begins to bleed pretty bad. Justin keeps trying to0 gain some control, but Brennan is too strong…he pins Justin down and starts to smash him in the eye with some hard shots, and the ref is forced to call a stop to the action.
Winner rd2 TKO ref stoppage to strikes Brennan Ward
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| Justin Torrey needed medical attention following this bout. |
Fight 9- 185lbs Tournament Jason Butcher vs Giva Santana
rd1- Jason is the taller fighter, and presses forward. Giva throws a low kick, then quickly shoots in and scores the take down into half guard. Both men begin to work their extensive BJJ, and it looks like a grappling only fight, as barley any strikes are thrown. Giva is looking for a position to go for an arm bar, but Jason has strong defense. Giva passes to mount, and looks to secure a head and arm choke, but doesn’t quite have the position, and Jason is out. Jason escapes and sweeps to the top as the round ends.
rd2- Jason presses forward throwing some nice punches. He clips Giva with a good shot, and he looks hurt. Jason smells blood, and moves in for the kill! Giva trys to cover up but Jason finishes him with strikes.
winner rd2- TKO ref stoppage from strikes Jason Butcher.
*After the fight Giva takes the microphone and announces that this was his last MMA fight, as he plans to retire at the age of 41.
Fight 10- 185ibs Tournement Mikkel Parlo vs Brian Rodgers
rd1- Both guys are jacked and come out swinging aggressively. Mikkel clips Rodgers, and he is on the canvas. Brian pops up quick, but Mikkel keeps the pressure on him and lands a few good punches against the cage. They separate and circle both throwing with bad intentions. Brian is mixing in jump knees with his heavy punches, as the fight is going back and forth. Mikkel lands a nice knee of his own as the round ends,
rd2- The fighters meet in the middle swinging as hard as ever. They are starting to clinch, and both men are landing knees to the body. Mikkel powers forward and takes the fight to the ground. He’s on top in half guard looking to land some heavy punches.Mikkel keeps busy with the ground and pound, trying to pass to mount, and Brian has no answer and can’t get to his feet before the round comes to an end.
rd3- Brian comes out and establishes himself in the center of the cage. He’s mixing punches with low kicks, but Mikkel presses through into the clinch where he lands a few good knees. Mikkel gets the take down into guard, and begins to work the body and head of Rodgers. Rodgers works his way back to his feet, but Mikkel is pressing on the cage, landing some nice knees to the body of Rodgers. As Rodgers trys to back out, he is caught with a nice knee to the head. Mikkel follows to the mat and is landing punches as the round ends.
winner Rd3 – unanimous decision Mikkel Parlo
Fight 11 Main Event 185lb Title Brett Cooper vs Alexander Shmelenko
rd1- The fighters come out and meet center cage and quickly trade punches and kicks. Brett shoots in for the take down, but is stuffed by Alexander, and they are back to trading on the feet. Cooper catches Alexander with a hard punch and he is hurt! Brett cant capitalize, and Shmelenko recovers. The fighters continue to trade until the round ends.
rd2- Alexander pushes forward right from the bell. He’s firing punches and lands a nice body kick. Cooper stays right in there and is countering pretty well. Alexander starts to bleed from his eye, and Brett scores a take down. Alexander works his way up to his feet off the cage and they both continue to mix it up. Both men are landing good punches, but again Brett hurts Alexander momentarily but can’t finish the tough Russian fighter. Brett scores another take down as the round ends.
rd3- Right back to trading hard punches center cage. Brett is mixing in kicks and both continue to find good patches of face for their respective fists!! This fight is amazing, as the intensity exciting the crowd!! Brett treys for a take down but cant get it and they continue to trade blows on the feet. Brett pushes forward into the cage and gets another take down. Alexander wastes no time getting back to his feet, and pushes forward as the round ends.
rd4- Alexander comes out with a new ferocity and lands a big punch that drops Brett to the canvas. Brett hangs in and fires back but there is no stop in Shmelenko!! He presses forward trying to take the head off of his opponent. Brett fires back and keeps the intensity at a crazy level until the bell sounds to end the round.
rd5- Both men again meet in the center. Alexander has bad intentions, and his punches still look extremely fast and powerful for the 5th round. He is just missing, and Brett looks for a take down pressing against the cage. They are back to trading, and Alexander is mixing in spinning elbows and punches trying to end the fight. Alexander gets a take down, but cant control, and Brett works his way back to the feet. Again they are trading hard punches and Alexander scores another take down. He is looking to smash down some ground and pound as the final bell sounds. This has to be one of the best fights i have EVER seen!!! Hats off to both of these 185lb BEASTS!!
winner rd5 unanimous decision Alexander Shmelenko
What an amazing night of fights!! Bellator truly is a top notch promotion, and it is awesome to be able to cover their shows. They always provide great seats, and great food for the media, and make sure we always have everything we need. I’m mad we had to miss Rico’s debut, but I’m very happy with the outcome. I’m sure they will have him back soon, to showcase his awesome talent in the 135lb division! The Mangler, Matt Bessette got the big finish he had been needing. I think he’s a fight away from being invited into the next feather weight tourney himself, and I can’t wait to see it! Justin Torrey looked great in his much anticipated return to the cage. I think barring the eye injury the fight would have gone on longer, but big props to Brennan ward for the big finish.Really looking forward to Brennan vs Perry Filkins in the next round of the tourney. Bellator is really looking good right now, and they are quickly becoming the one of the best promotions in the world!! Can’t wait for the next show!! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the review!
-Boss
Bellator 81 review
Hey all, it’s The Boss, aka Reep, aka Jeremy. Yesterday, Fri. Nov. 16, myself, and my WMMMA associate, The Artist, aka The Wild Ginger, aka Joe…. jumped in his Jeep and made the trek out to sunny RI, to The Ryan Center at URI, to cover Bellator 81.
We were excited for the great mma action that Bellator is known to deliver, but we were particularly excited to watch some of or favorite local guys get there chance on the “Big Stage”!! Matt The Mangler Bessette, Ruben Rukus Rey, Sloppy Joe Lamoureux, and Brennan The Irish Bad Boy Ward all had match ups on the under card. We left town around 3:35, hoping to make the 6pm start. Unfortunately, we met some pretty thick traffic in a couple areas, and missed the entire under card…Sorry Ruben, we heard you looked really good, and controlled most of the fight with a great reach and jab, big win against a tough Robbie Leroux.
However, thanks to my *Android phone, we were able to watch the entire Matt Bessette vs Paul Barrow fight on Spike.com. We both felt that Matt’s striking looked great throughout the fight. He mixed punch combos, and punch kick combos very well, scoring repeatedly. He controlled allot of the action against the cage, where he mixed some dangerous knees to the body and head doing damage, while trying to secure the take down. Matt bloodied and bruised his opponent, on his way to a unanimous decision victory!! Great fight Mangler!! Way to represent, yourself, your training partners, and your fellow fighters and fans from New England!! Keep doing what you are doing, you look good on the big show!!
Next up was Brennan Ward vs Sam McCoy. The men enter the cage, Sam is in good shape, and well muscled, and Brennan looks like his usual beastly self.. They circle, Sam shoots, Brennan sprawls, and …..my phone freezes, no more 3G ( I can hear CityBoy now,,,) We did find out that that’s mainly what continued to happen, Sam shooting, and getting stuffed by Brennan, only to end up getting KO’d trying yet another time. Brennan looks like a real contender…kid has tons of skill as a wrestler, now he’s proving he’s a real mma fighter as well!! Look out for big things from The Irish Bad Boy!!!!
We also missed the next 3 fights, the third being the Joe Lamoureux fight. Joe is one of our favorite fighters out of SSSF. He’s got a great charachter about him, real funny nice guy, but he likes to get “sloppy” in the cage!! Kid brings the fight every time…This night however, Dan Cramer proved too much, as he KO’d Joe in the first. He hurt Joe with a few big knee’s, then 3 overhand rights, each one harder than the last, to seal the deal. I’m sure Joe will be back to his winning ways real soon, hope you are ok!
At this point, we finally made it to the show, got our great media section seat, and The Artist went to his cage side perch for some sik pictures. Our good friend, and in my opinion the best mma photog around, Zak Lynch from MMAPHOTOGRAPHY.com has shown us some great helpful tips, and I think you will all agree The Artist captured some amazing mma moments tonight!!
Next up was Andrew Callandrlli from Ultimate MMA in CTvs Eric Brown from Ca at 155lbs. Rd1 the fighters circle and engage, Eric looks more relaxed on the feet, and Andrew is a bit boxy and unsettled. He starts to push for the take down, and begins to work his BJJ from the top position. later in the rd, Andrew catches Sam in a deep head and arm choke, but Sam holds out, and escapes before the round end.
In round 2 Andrew gets another take down, into mount. He looks for some ground and pound, as Sam trys to cover, Andrew takes his arm, rips it away, and gets the arm bar submission tap!! Winner Rd 2 Andrew Calandrelli submission, arm bar. I’d like to note, that Calandrelli had The man himself, Notorious Nick Newell in his corner!!
The next fight pitted German fighter Jonas Billstien vs Filthy Perry Filkins out of NH at 185lbs. Rd 1 sees both fighters looking to establish themselves with some boxing. Perry is looking for the big shots, as he’s really loading up! Jonas settles in, and starts to throw some kicks in his combos. Jonas trys for the take down but is stuffed, and Perry is on top to end the round.
Rd 2 both fighters take the center of the cage trading. The crowd is enjoying this one as am I!! They clinch up, and both are looking for take downs. They split, Jonas throws a nice faint, Perry covers up, and Jonas shoots in to score the take down before the round ends.
Rd 3 Once again they take the center of the cage and trade blows. Jonas is showing more damage however, as Perry has landed some good ones. Jonas throws a A. Silva esque front kick that pops Perry in the face. This seems to excite Fillkins as he begins to posture to Jonas as he comes forward eating punches, and delivering some big ones of his own!!Jonas trys for the take down, but Perry reverses, takes mount and rains down some vicious punches and elbows to Jonas’s head and face as the round ends. Winner unanimous decision, Perry Fillkins.
Next up we had Dustin Neace from IN vs Marlon Sandro out of Rio de Janerio Brazil at 145lbs. In his corner, were none other than UFC fighters Glover Texieria and the 145lb Champ Jose’ Aldo!! Rd 1 They engage, and Sandro is throwing HARD!!! Sandro pushes against the cage, gets the take down to top position. Neace spins and trys for a heel hook, but Sandro is patient. He escapes, a scramble ensues, Sandro takes the back, and sinks in the Rear Naked Choke for the victory!! Winner Marlon Sandro rd 1 submission, rear naked choke.
In the light weight tournement semi final we had Ricardo Tirlini from Brazil vs Dave Jansen from OR. Rd 1 starts and both men seem hungry to advance in the tourny! They are exchanging hard, back and forth and again the crowd seems to love it.. 😉 At one point Jansen gets the back of Tirloni he gets position, and gets a suplex. Ricardo rolls and is back to his feet, only to be suplexed again. Back to the feet, and they trade hard as the round ends.
Rd 2 they take the center of the cage and trade with nice combos and each fighter is connecting. The round is close as both fighters mix punches with kicks to score on their opponent. Ricardo looks to do a bit more damage, as Jansen is bleeding from a few cuts on his face.
Rd 3 is more of the same. Both men show great cardio and heart as they press the action. They are very busy and each continue to connect with nice crisp shots. Both fighters are now bleeding from small cuts. Ricardo trys for the take down, but is stuffed. In the scramble Jansen takes his back. He picks him up for another suplex and the round ends the fight. Winner rd 3 by split decision, Dave Jansen.
In the final fight of the evening, we saw the other light weight 155lb tournement semifinal match up between Marcin Held from Poland vs Rich Clementi from LA. Rd 1 They circle and trade punches. Held looks to clinch up quick and drops for a leg lock, which is his specialty!! He grabs Rich’s foot in a deep and painful looking toe hold. Rich defends after a bit of a fight, and they remain on the ground playing the leg lock game. Rich is in Held’s world, but defends very well. They scramble, and Rich grabs Held’s neck for a guillotine attempt. Held defends as the round ends.
Rd 2 Rich comes out swinging, knowing that’s his best shot.They clinch again and Rich gets a nice hip toss into half guard. Held pulls deep half guard, and instantly starts to look for another leg lock. He quickly grabs the foot again for another deep toe hold, and this time Rich has to tap. Winner rd 2 Marcin Held submission, toe hold.
After the submission, Held was elated…he got up and in his excitement, like many other fighters, threw his mouth piece into the crowd. Every time I see that, I think, ” gross…who wants to catch a mouth piece…???” Well, this time, I actually saw where it went. It landed about 10 feet from me in the hands of another guy in the media section. Dude proceeds to hold mouth piece showing it off to his buddies, then proceeds to PUT IT IN HIS MOUTH!!!!!
Even though we missed many of the fights we really wanted to cover, we had a great time. Bellator is a well run show, with allot of great production, and great top talent fighters. They provided a great media section very close to the cage, and The Artist had a sweet cage side perch to get some awesome pics. He was sad that he couldn’t get some of our local guys fighting however… Hope you enjoyed my review, let me know what you think in the comment section below.
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One Fighter From New England Looks To Fight His Way Into TUF House
We all heard the news that the new Ultimate Fighter season 16 was going to be with coaches Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson. This is set to kick off on FX on September 14th, 2012, which is a Friday. We also knew that it was going to be in the 170lb division. What we didn’t know is that New England is fortunate enough to have awesome fighters and one fighter from around here has made it! MMAJunkie.com has posted the 32 fighters who are fighting to get in the house. Jon Manley from Team Link Ludlow with a 7-1 record has made it on the 32 fighter roster and is looking to fight his way into the house. Jon has three submission victories in his career and they were all rear naked choke. He also has four decision victories in his career and his only loss was a decision to Dennis Olson at a previous CombatZone. Jon hasn’t fought since October of 2011 but being from a great school as Team Link, you know he will be ready. We at WesternMassMMA.com wish you the best of luck and we look forward to cheering you on. For the full 32 fighters that made it click the source below.
Source: MMAJunkie.com
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Premier FC 11 Fight #3 and Fight #4
http://cvp.telvue.com/player?id=T01668&video=63080&mini=1
This fight is between Josue Lopez from Gladiator BJJ and Marvin Maldonado from Bruno Tostes.
http://cvp.telvue.com/player?id=T01668&video=63081&mini=1
If You Enjoyed This Article Please Comment. Support us by following our twitter and our facebook fan page. It is the best way to stay up to date on local MMA! Any news you would like us to share email us at westernmassmma@gmail.com. Thanks!
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