Lion Fight 11 took place tonight at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, NV. The night’s main event featured Cosmo Alexandre vs. Nampon PKMuaythai in what was a slow methodical fight. Alexandre returned to Muay Thai action after two years away from the ring to focus on MMA and he was clearly the stronger of the two fighters, but seemed content to score just enough to steal each round. Nampon didn’t offer much in way offense and when he did Cosmo answered with kicks or punches. It was a technical performance by Cosmo, but probably not one the fans will be talking about. He apologized in his post fight interview for his performance.
The night’s co-main event between Kevin Ross and Tetsuya Yamato stole the show. Yamato came out looking sharp in the first round landing some big right hands that seemed to have Ross hurt. At the end of the first round he blitzed Ross and cornered him landing several elbows that seemed to have Ross in serious trouble. Some cuts on the nose of Ross were opened up as well as one behind his head, Ross turned things around in the second round and pushed the pace mixing up his punching and kicks well.
Ross started the third round strong but Yamato started to come on late in the round. In the fourth and fifth round Yamato went to work with more elbows opening up more cuts on Ross, this time over his eye. Ross was a bloody mess but continued to push forward showing nothing but heart. Yamato accurately countered and in the fifth round seemed to have Ross in some more trouble. It went to the judges and the damage Yamato caused with his elbows nullified the aggression that Ross fought with as two of the three judges awarded the fight to Yamato. This was an excellent fight as Yamato and Ross made sure the fans got their money’s worth.
MMA powerhouse Cris “Cyborg” Justino was moonlighting in Muay Thai and she had no problem dealing with Jennifer Colomb. From the opening bell until the referee stopped the fight in the third round this fight was all Justino. In the third round some heavy body shots finally put Colomb down and the referee jumped in and stopped the fight. Credit to Colomb for taking the fight on short notice, but Justino was too strong and aggressive.
The night’s co-main event between Kevin Ross and Tetsuya Yamato stole the show. Yamato came out looking sharp in the first round landing some big right hands that seemed to have Ross hurt. At the end of the first round he blitzed Ross and cornered him landing several elbows that seemed to have Ross in serious trouble. Some cuts on the nose of Ross were opened up as well as one behind his head, Ross turned things around in the second round and pushed the pace mixing up his punching and kicks well.
Ross started the third round strong but Yamato started to come on late in the round. In the fourth and fifth round Yamato went to work with more elbows opening up more cuts on Ross, this time over his eye. Ross was a bloody mess but continued to push forward showing nothing but heart. Yamato accurately countered and in the fifth round seemed to have Ross in some more trouble. It went to the judges and the damage Yamato caused with his elbows nullified the aggression that Ross fought with as two of the three judges awarded the fight to Yamato. This was an excellent fight as Yamato and Ross made sure the fans got their money’s worth.
MMA powerhouse Cris “Cyborg” Justino was moonlighting in Muay Thai and she had no problem dealing with Jennifer Colomb. From the opening bell until the referee stopped the fight in the third round this fight was all Justino. In the third round some heavy body shots finally put Colomb down and the referee jumped in and stopped the fight. Credit to Colomb for taking the fight on short notice, but Justino was too strong and aggressive.
In a fight that was another mismatch Malaipet Sasiprapa defeated Caio
Urugai in less than one round. As soon as the fight started a crisp
right hook from Malaipet knocked Urugai down and he was in complete
survival mode after that. Two more knock downs followed the last due to a
right hand that hurt Urugai which Malaipet followed up with an elbow.
The referee started the count but Urugai’s corner threw in the
towel giving Malaipet his fourth consecutive win.
Angela Hill and Monique Travis both made their pro debut on the night and both put on a solid performance. The difference in the fight was Hill’s work in the clinch; she clearly had the advantage when they clinched. Both were pretty even when not fighting in the clinch, but when they locked up the taller Hill used her leverage well to control the clinch and deliver knees and elbows. Hill was awarded a unanimous decision and starts her pro career with a win.
Scotty Leffler and Jose Palacios met in a re-match that went the distance after their first fight lasted only 25 seconds. It seemed Palacios was on his way to win a decision due to some crisp counter striking and move to 2-0 against Leffler, but to the surprise of many Leffler was awarded the unanimous decision. Before the fight Leffler had announced he would retire after this bout and for now he rides of into the sunset with a victory.
In the nights first pro bout Josh Shepard defeated Jonathon Wyderko by majority decision. With the win Shepard improves to 2-0 as a pro.
Results:
Cosmo Alexandre def. Nampon PKMuaythai via Unanimous Decision
Tetsuya Yamato def. Kevin Ross via Split Decision
Cris “Cyborg” Justino def. Jennifer Colomb via (T)KO at 0:54 of Rd. 3
Malaipet Sasiprapa def. Caio Urugai via (T)KO (Corner Stoppage) at 1:52 of Rd. 1
Angela Hill def. Monique Travis via Unanimous Decision
Scotty Leffler def. Jose Palacios via Unanimous Decision
Josh Shepard def. Jonathon Wyderko via Majority Decision
Angela Hill and Monique Travis both made their pro debut on the night and both put on a solid performance. The difference in the fight was Hill’s work in the clinch; she clearly had the advantage when they clinched. Both were pretty even when not fighting in the clinch, but when they locked up the taller Hill used her leverage well to control the clinch and deliver knees and elbows. Hill was awarded a unanimous decision and starts her pro career with a win.
Scotty Leffler and Jose Palacios met in a re-match that went the distance after their first fight lasted only 25 seconds. It seemed Palacios was on his way to win a decision due to some crisp counter striking and move to 2-0 against Leffler, but to the surprise of many Leffler was awarded the unanimous decision. Before the fight Leffler had announced he would retire after this bout and for now he rides of into the sunset with a victory.
In the nights first pro bout Josh Shepard defeated Jonathon Wyderko by majority decision. With the win Shepard improves to 2-0 as a pro.
Results:
Cosmo Alexandre def. Nampon PKMuaythai via Unanimous Decision
Tetsuya Yamato def. Kevin Ross via Split Decision
Cris “Cyborg” Justino def. Jennifer Colomb via (T)KO at 0:54 of Rd. 3
Malaipet Sasiprapa def. Caio Urugai via (T)KO (Corner Stoppage) at 1:52 of Rd. 1
Angela Hill def. Monique Travis via Unanimous Decision
Scotty Leffler def. Jose Palacios via Unanimous Decision
Josh Shepard def. Jonathon Wyderko via Majority Decision
The review is right on. Just have to say that Cosmo is much better than people think. Unlike in MMA, not many Brazilians dominate Muay Thai, but Cosmo is the real deal. He actually fought Yodsanklai twice. After being defeated by TKO the first time he returned a second time to only be outpointed by the Thai legend in Thailand, showing great improvements. Along the way he also defeated Naruepol Fairtex, John Wayne Parr, and Madsua all by low-kicks TKO. He also actually demolished an older Sakmongkol but lost by a very bad decision by incompetent judges. So when people voted Nampon to beat Cosmo I thought they didn't really know Cosmo. The fight may have been boring because two good fighters engaged and it was harder to deliver punishing strikes.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Kevin Ross vs Yamato - awesome, awesome, awesome! It shows that the event could be extremely exciting even without big name Thais.
Malaipet vs Caio - classic match-up between older more experienced Thai and ayounger fighter. This time, the older guy took the young guy to school. Sometimes the older guy runs out of gas, but not tonight.
Cyborg - geez! Well, too bad Tiffany Van Soest is not in her weight class. Wow!
What's next? Well, here is my matchmaking proposal:
1. Cosmo Alexandre vs Chike Lindsay
2. Tetsuya Yamato vs. Matt Embree
3. Kevin Ross vs. Michael Mannaquil
4. Ognjen Topic vs Rungravee Sasiprapa
5. Miriam Nakamoto vs Germaine de Randamie (women's match)
Keep it going LionFight!!!