By Nicholas Bailey (nbailey@mmaratings.net)
This event had a serious case of the Mondays. It just never got going or, aside from a few moments of brilliance like Jorge Santiago’s rolling heel-hook, had the sizzle and crackle of a deliciously bacon-y fight card like we want from a japanese promotion.
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Jorge Santiago
Siyar may not have much to offer on the ground, but Jorge truly has elite-level finishing ability on the feet and on the ground. In his fight with Nakamura he showed improved gas, and the standup portion of his finishing prowess.
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Yuki Sasaki
What a garbage fight. Nakamura is solid, Sasaki doesn’t know what to do with himself in there.
Bang Seung Hwan vs. Jorge Masvidal
This was a very close fight, I thought. You could easily make the case that Bang won, which is interesting given that he was a very large underdog. Masvidal seemed tentative, either still worried about his knockout loss to Damm, or just afraid of Hwan’s power.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Moise Rimbon
Not really an impressive fight for Nog. He looked to be much bigger than Rimbon, who ran from him the bulk of the fight, but Nog failed to really get after it in the fight and aggressively look to finish.
Fabio Silva vs. Mohammed Lawal
Lawal is the real deal here. Silva is no ground ace, but Lawal was able to put him down whenever he wanted, and still posture up for some nasty ground and pound. Lawal is a natural fighter, with natural instincts about when and how he can do damage to his opponent. The one disappointing thing was that Lawal showed no desire to pass Silva’s guard, which is too bad.
Takanori Gomi vs. Sergey Golyaev
Gomi really need to start showing up prepared for fights, even against less-skilled opponents. He’ll probably be undervalued against Kitaoka and a good betting opportunity.
