THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne – now in it’s 10th year!
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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A first for The Two Sheds Review as I take my first look at an Australia MMA show with Impact FC’s second show, The Uprising, shown live on Primetime in the early hours of this past Sunday morning here in Britain.
The show began with action from the middleweight division as Murilo Bustamante faced Jesse Taylor.
This proved to be a good show opener. Round one was a great and forth battle with Bustamante pulling off a couple of good submission attempts before Taylor reversed the positions.
Taylor kept that momentum going into the second, scoring with a take down and getting in some good ground and pound shots.
The end came after referee John McCarthy stood the fighters up. Bustamante looked unsteady on his feet and soon went to the ground, verbally submitting, unable to carry on because of a dizzy spell, giving Taylor the win with a very unfortunate ending.
Action from the first IFC show followed as Josh Barnett took on Geronimo Dos Santos in the heavyweight division.
A good performance from Barnett saw the former UFC Champion get the early take down, and although they soon returned to their feet the fight quickly went back down, with the referee stepping in when Dos Santos failed to respond to Barnett’s ground and pound.
The regular action resumed as Murilo Rua went up against Jeremy May in another middleweight encounter.
What a fast paced battle this was. Ninja was giving up a lot of height and reach to May, who used that advantage to good effect early on when a left/right combination sent Rua crashing.
But instead of going for the ground and pound May looked for an arm bar, and that proved to be his undoing. Ninja was able to recover, and it wasn’t long before he pulled guard and took the submission win with an in-arm guillotine. A very good fight, very enjoyable.
Yet more middleweight action followed as Denis Kang took on Paulo Filho.
The first fight of the show to go the distance had a somewhat cagey start until Filho invited Kang to join him on the ground.
From there we had a great back and forth ground battle, with both men putting on good performances, each having their moments with various submission attempts.
So with the fight going the distance the judges were called into action. One scored for Kang, one for Filho, with the third scoring it even, and the fight declared a draw. A pretty fair result. I couldn’t separate them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if these two were matched together again sometime in the future.
More action from the first show followed as Carlos Newton faced Brian Ebersole in the welterweight division.
This battle of the wrestlers saw both men going against type as they engaged in a highly entertaining striking battle.
Both men had their chances to shine in what looked a pretty even contest, and when they attempted to take the fight to the ground the take downs were easily defended.
So we went to another decision, with Ebersole getting the unanimous verdict from the judges.
The big boys of the super heavyweight division were up next as Brad Morris went up against Soa Palelei.
This all Australian affair was a hard hitting fight, with Palelei dominating from the start, rocking Morris with some big knees in the clinch.
When the fight went to the ground it wasn’t long before Palelei locked in a kimura for an impressive submission win.
It was back down to the welterweight division for the next fight as Paul Daley, fresh off his cheap shot against Josh Koscheck, took on Daniel Acacio.
Semtex looked back to his best here after his recent problems as he put on a great striking display. Acacio had a few good moments on the ground with a couple of submission attempts in the second round.
The end came in the third. Daley delivered a big elbow on the ground that opened up a nasty cut above Acacio’s eye, and that was it was the Brazilian verbally tapped to give Daley the well deserved win.
The main event saw UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock taking on Pedro Rizzo on a heavyweight clash.
Rizzo had a massive thirty-plus pound weight advantage in this one, and he used his size and power advantage to good effect with some crisp striking and hard right kicks to Shamrock’s left leg.
Eventually the kicks began to take their toll, with the final kick buckling Shamrock’s left as he slumped to the ground. That was it for Shamrock as the referee stepped in and stopped the right, giving Rizzo the impressive looking win. As for Shamrock, he was once again disappointing.
With the main event finishing early, filler material from earlier in the show followed in the form of a heavyweight encounter between Jim York and Peter Graham.
A very intriguing fight saw York dominate the former K-1 Oceania Champion on the ground, going for a guillotine early on before getting the submission win a couple of minutes later with a rear naked choke.
In conclusion – Primetime’s second excursion into the world of mixed martial arts proved to be a highly entertaining affair.
From the opening Bustamante/Taylor fight right through to the main event every fight delivered, even though, as I said before, Ken Shamrock’s performance was very disappointing as he looked every one of his forty-six years.
So kudos once again to Primetime for giving British MMA fans the chance to see shows we wouldn’t normally see. Well done all round.
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