UFC 108 Evans v Silva - DVD Review

It’s time for one of those strange occurrences again, a DVD review of a pay-per-view I’ve already reviewed, and this time it’s the turn of the two disc UFC 108: Evans v Silva.

Disc one begins with the prelims, starting with Rafaello Oliveira against John Gunderson in the lightweight division.

This was a dominant performance from Oliveira. While Gunderson’s attacked seemed somewhat one dimensional, Oliveira’s performance was such that he completely overwhelmed Gunderson, going for a number of submission attempts. He would surely have got the win had it not been for Gunderson’s defensive work.

The judges decision - unanimous in favour of Oliveira, so no great surprise there.

It was up to the welterweight division for the next fight as Mike Pyle faced Jake Ellenberger.

Another fight that featured some great ground work saw Ellenberger score with a couple of impressive takedowns. However, Pyle was able to frustrate him for most of the round, although he ended it by saying he’d broken a rib.

Round two didn’t last that long. A big right dropped Pyle, and Ellenberger quickly followed him down for the ground and pound, with the referee quickly calling a halt to the proceedings and giving Ellenberger his first UFC win.

Action from the middleweight division followed as Mark Munoz went up against Ryan Jensen.

This was an impressive performance from the man from the Philippines. As soon as he took the fight to the ground Munoz was in control, and as soon as he took the dominant position he unleashed with the ground and pound. Jensen actually had to tap out twice before the referee eventually stopped the onslaught and gave Munoz the TKO win.

Then it was back down to the lightweight division with Cole Miller and Dan Lauzon.

This was a great back and forth affair. Lauzon rocked Miller early on with a left hook, but Miller was able to come back strongly with some impressive ground work, wrapping his legs around Lauzon’s head and neck and getting the submission with a kimura from a reverse triangle. A really great performance from Miller here.

Back up a division for the next fight as Martin Kampmann faced Jacob Volkmann.

Another of those back and forth affairs saw Volkman get in some good shots, but he was rather reckless in doing so because Kampmann was able to counter with strikes of his own.

The second time this happened Kampmann took control and soon got the submission win with a guillotine. An impressive comeback for Kampmann after his previous defeat.

The main show began with the big boys of the heavyweight division as Junior Dos Santos went up against Gilbert Yvel.

Dos Santos proved once again what a great striker he is. Although Yvel got in a couple of good shots Dos Santos was on top throughout, with a big left sending the Frenchman to la-la land momentarily. A few seconds of ground and pound later and Dos Santos had another great win.

A second Miller came out to play next as Cole’s brother Jim faced Duane Ludwig in the lightweight division.

Miller was just as impressive as his brother. A right hook sent Ludwig down. Miller quickly followed and went for an arm bar. Ludwig tried to fight it but tapped out a few seconds later.

Speaking of brothers, Dan Lauzon’s brother Joe followed, taking on Sam Stout in another lightweight encounter.

This was a great example of a grappler versus striker battle Lauzon controlled the early part of the first round with his takedowns, and he opened up a nasty cut above Stout’s left eye with an elbow.

But from there the majority of the fight belonged to Stout with his superior striking. He clearly out fought Lauzon, whose only other notable moment of offence came in the third when he went for a guillotine. This didn’t last long though as Stout was able to escape and get back to his feet.

No surprises with the decision here as all three judges scored in favour of Stout.

The big welterweight encounter saw Dustin Hazelett facing Paul Daley.

Semtex certainly lived up to his nickname here. After a feeling out period Daley unleashed with a left hook that sent Hazelett crashing. Two seconds of ground and pound later and Daley had the knockout win.

This was a really impressive performance from Daley. It’s just a shame the way his UFC career turned out the way it did.

The main event saw Rashad Evans taking on Thiago Silva in the light heavyweight division.

This battle of former champions was certainly worthy of it’s spot on the card. Evans controlled the first two rounds, using his boxing to set up numerous takedowns, one of which saw him barge Silva from one side of the cage to the other.

Silva came back towards the end of the third. After a bit of showboating he rocked Evans with a big right. But unfortunately he just didn’t have enough energy to finish the job, showboating even more as Evans recovered.

Once again the judges were called into action as they gave Evans the unanimous decision.

Disc two is where you’ll find all the bonus features, the interviews and other stuff.

In conclusion - well folks, this was full of great fights. There wasn’t one bad encounter on in this DVD set, and it was nice to see all of these encounters again.

But there are still down points on these DVD releases, including no introductions from Goldberg and Rogan, and no fight introductions from the legend that is Bruce Buffer until the main event.

So once again a good DVD release from the UFC. But remember, if you saw this show when it was on television be prepared for a few edits.

UFC 108: Silva v Evans is available to buy online at www.fightdvd.co.uk.

Strikeforce Challengers Del Rosario v Mahe on Bravo 2 - TV Review

Strikeforce returned to Bravo 2 screens this past Monday here in Britain with their latest Challengers show, headlined by the heavyweight clash between Shane Del Rosario and Lolohea Mahe.

The show began with action from the light heavyweight division as Abongo Humphrey squared off against Mike Kyle.

A very exciting fight saw Humphrey put on an excellent display of ground work in the first round as he went for a number of guillotine attempts.

Humphrey kept this momentum going into the early part of the second, but as he began to tire Kyle took control, and it wasn’t long before he took his man’s back and locked in a rear naked choke for the submission win. An impressive outing for both men here.

Then it was down to the welterweight division as Cory Devela took on Bobby Voelker.

A nice technical battle saw Devela putting on a great performance on the ground. Voelker looked game at times, especially with the striking exchanges, but Devela was able to keep up with him in this respect.

With the fight going the distance the judges were called into action as they gave the split decision to Voelker, a decision that didn’t sit too well with the crowd, and with me, as I was sure that Devela had done enough to win.

The only title fight on the show saw Sarah Kaufman defending the Women’s Lightweight title against Roxanne Modafferri.

This may well be one of the best fights I’ve seen in recent times. Modafferri looked great in the first round, controlling the fight on the ground, while Kaufman came back well in the second with some tremendous striking.

But this fight will be remembered for it’s highlight reel moment towards the end of the third. As Modafferri went for an arm bar Kaufmann lifted her up and slammed her to the ground, knocking her out in the process, giving her the title retaining knockout win and keeping her unbeaten record intact.

The main event saw Shane Del Rosario facing Lolohea Mahe in the heavyweight division.

Despite giving away over twenty pounds Del Rosario really took the fight to his opponent with his superior striking.

A borderline knee to Mahe that was ruled a low blow stopped him momentarily, but in the end Mahe just had no answer to Del Rosario’s attack, and it was a series of knees in a muay thai clinch that saw Mahe slumping to the ground, with the referee quickly stepping in a giving Del Rosario the TKO win.

In conclusion - after British viewers were left disappointed when they didn’t get to see a certain Russian losing Strikeforce made up for this with a great show as the lesser lights once again showing that they’re ready to step up to the main stage. Although given the performances of Sarah Kaufman and Shane Del Rosario the term lesser lights may seem a little inappropriate.  So in all another good show from Scott Coker and his crew. Very enjoyable.

ROH From The Ashes - DVD Review

Ring of Honor is on the agenda again as we take a look at the DVD release of their March 26th, 2010 show From The Ashes, headlined by the Briscoe Brothers defending their Tag-Team titles against former Champions the American Wolves. There’s also an appearance from a former WWE Diva!

The show began with six man mayhem, featuring Shawn Daivari, Joey Ryan, Johnny Goodtime, Rasche Brown, the Human Tornado and Colt Cabana.

Fast-paced action was the order of the day in this usual ROH-style opener. There were great performances all round, and it was great to see Cabana break out the comedy moments, something we haven’t seen since he got involved in the Kevin Steen/El Generico situation.

There was also the usual mass brawl, with all six men either flying through or over the top rope, before Cabana got the win after Goodtime tapped out to the billy goat’s curse.

Then it was on to tag-team action as Scott Lost and Scorpio Sky faced the newly-reformed Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.

This is the first time I’ve seen Hero and Castagnoli together as a team since their CZW days, and it looks like they’ve just taken up where they left off a few years ago.

This was more or less a warm-up match for the Kings as they awaited their upcoming shot at the titles, while west coast regulars Lost and Sky were looking to gain a permanent spot on the roster.

This made for a very enjoyable match, with the Kings underestimating their opponents, before Hero pinned Lost after they took him down with the KRS-1. Good stuff.

The first singles match of the show saw Alex Koslov facing Rocky Romero.

The lucha libre style was all over this one, but then again that was to be expected considering these guys ply their trade in AAA.

This may have been relatively short but it was still highly entertaining, with tons of fast-paced action and great moves, and a very good ending with Koslov pinning Romero after countering his hurricanrana.

Next up, Bison Smith faced Necro Butcher.

Now this actually wasn’t a match. Smith and the Butcher spend most of their time brawling around the arena and hitting each other with anything that wasn’t nailed down.

It basically sucked, and was another example of how the Necro Butcher wasn’t that good, and in the end the match that wasn’t a match was awarded to Necro when Bison’s fellow Embassy buddies stopped him from doing more damage.

Thankfully normal service resumed with Kevin Steen took on Kenny Omega.

This all-Canadian affair proved to be a very entertaining battle. Omega was looking to capitalise on the great momentum he achieved in his previous match with Davey Richards, and her certainly put in another worthy performance.

Steen, for his part, is really growing into the role of the hated heel after his split from El Generico. He’s still pulling off the same moves, but doing so with the aggression turned all the way up to eleven.

In the end Steen’s heinous tactics proved too much for Omega. After failing to take his man out after a low kick and the package pile driver, Steen finally secured the win when Omega tapped out to the cross face, ending another good match.

Then it was on to the big grudge match as Steen’s buddy Steve Corino went up against El Generico.

This was a really enjoyable match, and what made it special was Corino’s performance. His psychology was spot on, and the way he used a foreign object reminded me of Jerry Lawler in his prime. This guy really is a master of what he does.

This was a great way of continuing the feud. The masked one looked like he was going to get the pin until Steen arrived on the scene and pulled the referee out of the ring as he was making the count.

Steen’s distraction continued as Generico was about to put his man away, with the King of Old School scooping up Generico and pinning him with his feet on the ropes.

Needless to say that the Generic Luchadore was none too pleased, and it took his buddy Colt Cabana to calm him down before they set up their big tag-team match. The perfect way of setting up the big event.

It was then on to the Personal Gauntlet Challenge, featuring ROH Champion Tyler Black, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong.

It was Black against Aries first, and Aries was accompanied to the ring by none other than Sunny herself, Tammy Sytch. Once again they put on a great back and forth affair. A-double, despite his awful wrestling attire, is still one hell of a performer.

Not even Tammy’s distraction as she offered Black a little mature action could stop him from getting the win with a roll-up. Aries continued his attack after the bell, doing further damage to Black’s left arm.

Ironically Black was saved by Strong, his next opponent. Strong quickly sent Aries packing before turning his attention to the champion.

This was just as good as the first part of this gauntlet. Strong look as solid as ever, one of those guys who can have a good match with anyone.

Black thought he had the win in this one when the referee made the three count. But then the official noticed that Strong’s foot was on the ropes. Seconds later Strong took Black down with the Gibson driver for the three count, ending a very good series between the champion and his two main contenders.

The penultimate match saw the ever-reliable Jerry Lynn taking on rising star Kenny King in a no disqualification match.

Once again Lynn defied the years and put on a tremendous hardcore encounter with King. The toys came into play early on as Lynn brought a chair out with him, but it wasn’t long before tables and ladders came into the equation, with Lynn bleeding for his art.

Despite being put through a table in the corner Lynn was able to come back strongly, and despite the table not breaking when he tried to power bomb King from the corner it soon broke when he took him down with his trademark cradle pile driver, ending another awesome performance from the wily old veteran.

The main event saw Jay and Mark Briscoe defending their ROH Tag-Team titles against former champion the American Wolves, Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards.

These two teams have had quite the storied rivalry over the past couple of years, and this was another fine example of the work they put in together.

This was tag-team wrestling at it’s finest, over twenty minutes of hard hitting back and forth action. The chemistry these had was incredible, and I really can’t speak too highly about the performances of all four men in this match. It was simply awesome.

In the end it was the Briscoes who took the win, with Jay pinning Edwards after the brothers took him down with their version of the doomsday device. You know, these two may not be the most exposed teams in wrestling at the moment, but they’re certainly two of the best.

Bonus features come in the form of two editions of the ROH Video Wire, so, sadly, no bonus match here.

In conclusion - take out the once again poor Necro Butcher performance and you’ve got another great ROH release. There really are some tremendous performances here, with the Briscoes/Wolves match the highlight of the show for me.

So once again I’m happily able to recommend another Ring of Honor DVD release.

With thanks to the powers-that-be for supplying a copy of this release. ROH From The Ashes can be purchased online at www.rohwrestling.com.

YouShoot with Maria Kanellis - DVD Review

I’ve never really enjoyed shoot interviews from people who have been in the wrestling business for the proverbial five minutes, so when I saw that the latest in the Kayfabe Commentaries “YouShoot” series featured former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis I have to admit that I had as to whether this would be as entertaining as other releases in the series.

So thinking that this would be nothing more than Sean Oliver engaging in a girly chat I sat down in front of my television, and I was pleasantly surprised.

From the opening few minutes it’s obvious that we’re not dealing with the air-headed bimbo who entertained us with her backstage interview segments. This is a highly intelligent woman, passionate about the business she used to make her living in.

Maria comes across extremely well, and the ideas she puts forward as to how the Divas should have been handled made complete sense, although it shouldn’t surprise you that the powers-that-be didn’t think they’d get any mileage out of them.

The questions posed by the various fans across the internet are intelligent and thoughtful - for the most part. There are a few dumb ones, most notably about her previous relationship with a certain straight edge superstar, so let’s just say that I was never interested in his sexual prowess or the size of the gifts our lord gave him.

But in all this is a very entertaining interview, so it will come as no surprise to you that this Kayfabe Commentaries release comes highly recommended, and is the perfect addition to their ever growing range.

With thanks to the powers-that-be for supplying a copy of this release. YouShoot with Maria Kanellis can be purchased online at www.kayfabecommentaries.com.

WCL Season 2 Episodes 13-16 - DVD Review

It’s time to step into the world of hybrid kickboxing as we return to the second season of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, as we take a look at the play-offs with episodes 13 through 16.

Texas Dragons v Oklahoma Destroyers
The first Western Conference play-off was another of those one-sided affairs as Thomas Longacre, David Taylor and the always impressive Anthony Njokuani racked up three wins for Oklahoma.

Texas took a share of the spoils as Mike Sheppard drew with Jesse Lawrence, but the Destroyers got back to winning ways when Jeri Sitzes defeated Angela Hayes for the third time. The Dragons’ only first half win came when Lawson Baker defeated Alex Beck.

The second half followed the same pattern, with further wins for Taylor, Longacre and Njokuani. With three fights remaining Texas needed knockouts to stay in the match, and although Mike Sheppard beat Randy Blake there was no knockout. So when Lawson Baker drew with UFC 2 runner-up Patrick Smith Texas had no chance of making the finals, with Oklahoma winning 163-116.

New Jersey Tigers v St. Louis Enforcers
This was an incredibly close contest. New Jersey began the first half well when Uriah Hall got a stoppage win against Dusty Miller. But with St. Louis taking the next three fights Jerrell Miller’s win over John Turlington brought the Tigers back into it and evened the scores, although the Enforcers’ Tim Connors took them to a six point half-time lead when he defeated Shennen Maceo.

With Fernando Calleros and Jennifer Han winning the first two second half fights for the Enforcers New Jersey knew they had to really up their game to stay in the contest, and this they did, winning the next three fights, with the highlight being John James’ knockout win over Samir Seif.

It all came down to numbers in the final fight. John Greubal had to defeated David Gonzalez by eight clear points to give St. Louis the win, and although he dominated for the most part Gonzalez’s performance was just enough to give the Tigers the two point win, 133-131, and entry into the Eastern Conference final.

Los Angeles Stars v Denver Fury
This Western Conference play-off between the top and bottom teams was a one-sided affair.

As soon as Jason Bourelly knocked out Denver’s Gabe Walbridge in the first minute it was obvious that the Stars were going through to the final.

Denver won only one fight in the first half, trailing by forty-one points at half time, even though their luck changed in the second half when Matt Callahan earned a disqualification win over Donald Vickers and Colby Snyder knocked out Jack Felton.

But by the time Raymond Daniels sent El-Java Abdul Qadir down for the count Los Angeles had already won by a massive margin, gaining victory by 151-102.

New York Clash v Miami Force
Miami were supposed to walk over a team who had never won a match in WCL history. New York hadn’t read the script though.

The most enthralling play-off saw the Clash and the Force trading wins until Craig Oxley and the impressive Armin Mrkanovic built up a good lead for Miami. However, New York ended the first half when their best fighter Jennifer Santiago returned from injury to defeat Jessica Bednark.

The pattern continued in the second half, with Leo Valdivia’s win for the clash against Mark Spaziano evening the scores at 91 apiece. The teams remained tired when Terry Bullman and Rick Cheek contested a draw.

But with the teams trading the next two fights Miami went into the final fight four points ahead, needing reserve fighter Kelli Cofer to get the win. Jennifer Santiago was standing in her way though, and another impressive win for her sealed the deal for New York as they won 137-132.

In conclusion - this DVD box set continues to impress me. There were a ton of great fights on this fourth disc, all of which were really enjoyable.

However, and this is my only criticism of the WCL so far, the play-off format was a little perplexing, mainly because all eight teams were entered into the draw, making the regular season results slightly irrelevant, especially when you’ve got a team that didn’t win in the regular season going over a team that was undefeated.

But apart from that this slice of WCL action gets the thumbs up.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the WCL for supplying a copy of this release. These episodes form part of the WCL Season Two box set, which can be purchased from the usual online retailers.