Sunday, May 27, 2007

Art of War 6 Report (fights 8 to 12)

read the first part of the report

8th fight: Il Kwon Kim (Korea) vs Dai Shuanghai


Dai Shuanghai came out wearing the traditional mongolian wrestling outfit, a leather shirt with feathers, which would look a little ridiculous if not worn by such a badass (his nickname is "the fire wolf king"). He also did the traditional mongolian dance, symbolising an eagle spreading its wings and flying around. It was pretty exciting to see the spirit of hundreds of years of wrestling tradition chanelled all the way into an MMA bout.
Dai Shuanghai got a quick takedown, and then ground and pounded Il Kwon Kim with knees and elbows from side mount. Il Kwon Kim displayed either a huge heart or a complete lack of ground experience, as he took it all without tapping or defending, even when Dai Shuanghai transitioned to mount and started pouding him with forearm strikes.
Dai Shuanghai finally got the tap with an americana from side mount.

9th fight: Mario "token big white guy" Mazzocca vs Zhao Zilong

Not much was known about Mario Mazzocca except that he's Italian, big, and looked more than a bit out of shape. Maybe that's why Sanda champion Zhao Zilong underestimated him. In any case, after getting the better of the exchanges (even unloading a pro wrestling style grabbing the ropes sidekick) he got a little bit too cocky and had no answer when Mario unloaded with a flurry of punches that caught him square on the jaw and dropped him. Mario won the fight by knock out, scorring the upset of the night, and proving to everybody that he was more than just another big foreigner guy put there to be steamrolled by the chinese athletes.

10th fight: Sang Min Lim (Korea) vs Saiyinjiya


Saiyinjiya got all the takedowns on his korean oponent, but the Korean didn't loose heart, and used a fresh start after a stand up to overwhelm his oponent and drop him with strikes.
He then threw his trunks in the public (he was wearing a second pair under, thankfully). Some disgusted guy picked them up and threw them back on the ring.

11th fight: Robert "token crazy black guy" Sothman (Canada) vs Bao Ligao

Robert Sothman's ring entrance was pretty intense. He came out to heavy metal, yelling, even kneeing one of the ring posts. Bao Ligao on the other hand came out calm and didnd't seem phased by his oponent's antics. Once in the ring, he immediately knocked down his oponent, and then proceded to soccer kick him while he was in the process of standing up. Sothman's corner threw in the towel, but neither the fighters or referee saw it. It was finally pointed out to the referee, who had to stop the fight even though Sothman appeared to be able to go on.

12th fight: Alan Fernandes (India) v Ao Hailin

The last fight featured China's answer to Genki Sudo, Ao Hailin, a charismatic fighter with blond hair and jaguar trunks. Fernandes went for a takedown, but Ao Hailin's wrestling experience showed when he promptly reversed the takedown and landed in north south. As his oponent was getting up, he proceeded to knee and soccer kick his head, which prompted the referee to stop the fight even though the Indian fighter was still able to defend.
This bad call provoked an uprising in the public, and everybody, including the fighters, demanded that the fight go on. The organiser finally decided to overturn the ref's call and let the fight go on. This didn't change the outcome, as Ao Hailin quickly got a takedown to mount, and then after some g'n'p got his oponent in a tight armbar. It wasn't clear if he tapped or not, but his arm was already hyper extended, so the ref stopped the action to prevent any harm to the fighter.

2 comments:

Yuxian09 said...

Thanks for the report of the matches. Sound like an awesome event and great leap forward for MMA in China (pun intended).

Is there a dvd available of the event? Or full event video clip floating somehere?

Anonymous said...

I definitely didn't like the Sothman fight. I felt he got robbed