So ONE FC just concluded their second show, and here's a quick round-up and immediate thoughts after attending the event:
- Not that it surprised me that flyweights would bring the most excitement, but the Fight of the Night for me, was definitely the undercard bout between Team Lakay's Geje Eustaquio, and Alex Silva of Evolve MMA. Silva took a lot of hard shots, and was heavily bleeding throughout the fight, but the guy kept on coming. Geje fended off several very near submissions, and grinded out an exciting back and forth bout that had the Filipino fighter winning most of the striking exchanges.
- The main event bout between Ole Laursen and Felipe Enomoto was very very entertaining as well. First round went back and forth with Laursen winning most of the stand up exchanges. On the second round, I'm not sure if it was just fatigue, too much show-boating, or a mixture of both... But Laursen had his hands down when that head kick dropped him, and led to being choked out.
- I really enjoyed the leg kicks and strikes from the clinch that Laursen threw, but Felipe proved to have an excellent chin though, taking all those hard shots throughout the fight.
- I also want to see how the video from Yasubey Enomoto's GoPRO camera turned out. If you didn't notice, Felipe's brother and cornerman (who is an M-1 Champ), was wearing a camera on his head and was recording their entire fight.
- As for Bob Sapp... Well, he got his paycheck, and I don't think a lot of people are surprised.
More thoughts, and maybe a few weird rants after the jump.
- CFC Champion Gustavo Falciroli, who is a 2nd degree BJJ blackbelt, did what a more decorated BJJ champ in Leandro Issa couldn't, which is to submit Soo Chul Kim. Great win, and it solidified his slot as one of the most promising bantamweights to watch.
- Soo Chul Kim is extremely young, and he's a very good fighter with tons of potential, so he has more than enough time to turn things around. I think ONE FC should stop booking him against very very tough and experienced fighters though, so they can let the 20-year-old fighter develop properly.
- Bae Young Kwon got a great win over Honorio Banario. Much like the finish from Falciroli against Kim, the Filipino made a small mistake, and Kwon took advantage by quickly transitioning to the back for the choke.
- Rodrigo Ribeiro is a very tough and durable fighter with excellent BJJ, but from what I saw, I think that BJJ-first mentality might have played a part on his decision loss. I'm not sure if it's just me, but it seemed like he wasn't really looking to get up at the times that he had the chance, and he seemed too content on dropping for guillotines and pulling guard. That kept him on the bottom, constantly eating punches from the Sambo champ in Rustam Khabilov for majority of the fight.
- Khabilov lived up to what people have been expecting of him though. I'm really interested to see how he does moving forward.
- Jessie Rafols looked a bit more tentative than normal, and he looked to have lost confidence after his takedowns got stuffed. Irshaad Sayed deserves his props though for a very impressive victory. He looks big for the weight-class, and he possesses very good stand up skills much like his teammate in Vuyisile Colossa.
- The Indonesian fighters on the undercard didn't seem to know much BJJ from what I saw on their bouts. At one point on that Pete Davis fight, I think I saw his opponent attempt one of those schoolyard headlocks.
- Not really related to the event, but one of the weirdest things I saw on the night, was from one of the "media" members wearing a cage-side photographer's pass, constantly taking pictures of himself MySpace-style. He has his own camera pointing to himself, and showing off his pass with his other arm, and the cage on the background. Weird.
- You may have heard the announcer mention that people were getting in late cause of the traffic. It's true. I thought Manila traffic was bad, but it doesn't even compare to Jakarta's.
- I read that Leland Roling and BE's scouting report got mentioned on the broadcast? Interesting.