When I walked into the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre at 7AM on a Saturday morning I had just heard of the horrific events that unfolded in Connecticut so it would be fair to say that my mood was a little somber and I wasn’t really in the mood to watch men brutalize each other in a cage.
I expected to feel like I was a thousand miles away for this event and have issues keeping my eye on the prize but the ruckus Queensland crowd and some great in-cage action quickly changed my tune.
With only a ten fight bill that carried over into the afternoon it was an easy to digest card and the thunderous ovations that echoed through the arena made it all worthwhile when the local heroes like adopted Australian Hector Lombard and Robert Whittaker earned victories.
Time for me to take the reins as armchair matchmaker and throw together a few relevant fights that I suspect to serve up a healthy dose of violence and excitement.
Ross Pearson vs. Takanori Gomi
Ross Pearson was downright nasty in his beating on his rival coach on The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes George Sotiropoulos as he floored him out four separate occasions before putting the finishing touches just seconds into the third frame when a crushing right-hand put the Geelong-born fighter down for the count.
When speaking with Pearson at the open workouts he indicated that lightweight was where he intended on staying so to re-establish his name in the murderer’s row of 155-pounds he needs to start stringing together wins.
‘The Fireball Kid’ is looking to re-assert his dominance like he did in the early-to-mid 2000’s in the heyday of the Pride Fighting Championship’s Bushido series and putting these two together would be an interesting styles clash and would determine where each stack up at lightweight.
George Sotiropoulos vs. Danny Castillo-Paul Sass loser
George Sotiropoulos was wildly popular when he marched towards the cage on Saturday morning but when the cage door closed behind them, Pearson took a strong lead and never truly let go. With this setback this leaves him winless since 2010. While a pink slip is a possibility, with his fanfare and UFC having clear desires to return down under he might keep his head off the chopping block.
Danny Castillo and Paul Sass are set to compete in February so the loser would be a fine match-up for Sotiropoulos. Either we get a tough Team Alpha Male product to test his worth or the jiu-jitsu heads will salivate at some savvy grappling from the Aussie and the Brit.
Robert Whittaker vs. Colton Smith
Robert Whittaker and Colton Smith both earned glass trophies that proved that they were the elite of their fields on The Ultimate Fighter this weekend in two separate continents.
Whittaker was calm, cool and collected as he methodically broke down Britain’s top seed Brad Scott winning every round while Colton Smith Constantly pressured the Tristar product Mike Ricci with take downs, inside strikes and slick submission attempts to convincingly took home the unanimous decision victory.
Well both win welterweight TUF titles within 24 hours and both exited without serious injury, I don’t see any harm in putting them together.
Hector Lombard vs. Alan Belcher-Yushin Okami winner
Hector Lombard is a dangerous man. Rousimar Palhares wasn’t an easy opponent by any means and the former Bellator king stampeded over the leg-lock specialist, eventually finishing with a barrage of hooks that sent the Brazilian to the ground wincing in pain.
The reaction in that building was insane, as he raised the Australian flag above his head there wasn’t a person sitting in the venue as they clapped, cheered and hollered in favor of the bloodthirsty 185-pounder.
After that setback to Tim Boetsch in his promotional debut it’s about building a yellow brick road towards Anderson Silva at this point, the winner of Alan Belcher and Yushin Okami on December 29 would be a logical next step in the food chain.
Norman Parke vs. Michael Johnson-Myles Jury winner
Norman Parke was a sizable underdog to colorful TUF character Colin Fletcher but he completely shut down the lanky fighters game with an impressive grappling game that nullified the flashy striking of the self-proclaimed ‘Freak show’ and grinded out a pretty one-sided victory.
Parke is a fine prospect with some promise at this point so matching him with some good lightweights is suitable right now, whoever gets their hand raised between Michael Johnson and Myles Jury on December 29 would be a nice challenge for the up-and-comer from Northern Ireland.
Well that wraps us up for another installment here, keep it locked to MMASucka.com for the matches to make for the TUF 16 finale in the near future.
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