Ken Shamrock’s Lions took three out of the five fights on Friday night, edging out brother Frank Shamrock’s San Jose Razorclaws in front of a crowd of just over five thousand at Oakland’s ORACLE Arena. Marco Ruas’ Southern California Condors topped the Seattle Tiger Sharks by the same 3-2 margin to win their IFL debut, and Jeremy Horn put to rest retirement rumors with a five-round decision victory over a tough Niko Vitale.
Riding victories by John Gunderson, Roy Nelson, and Pat Healy, the Lions looked like the much sharper squad in their first IFL match. The Razorclaws garnered their only two victories of the night from a highly questionable stoppage in the alternate bout between the Lions’ Joe Martin and the Razorclaws’ Clint Coronel, and a TKO victory by Brian Foster over Dan Molina.
Though both Shamrocks initially tried to downplay the personal importance this team match up held for them, trying instead to keep focus on their individual fighters, as the night wore on it became apparent just how badly each man wanted to beat the other in team competition.
“Pat (Healy) came up to me after it was all over and said, ‘That meant a lot more to you than you let on,’” Ken Shamrock said in the post-fight press conference. “He was right. I just didn’t want to see the focus get put all on me and Frank. In the end it comes down to these guys and what they do in there.”
Particularly impressive for the Lions was lightweight Gunderson, who dispatched Iraq War vet Josh Odom fairly easily with a first round submission via triangle choke. Though many had predicted the bout would be the best fight of the night, Gunderson said afterward that he had always expected it to be over too quickly for it to claim that title.
Asked if he considers himself to be one of the IFL’s best lightweights, Gunderson replied that the Lions’ match up with the defending champion Silverbacks would go a long way toward deciding that question.
“We’ll find out in April when I go against Bart (Palaszewski),” said Gunderson. “I want this real bad, and we’re going to find out how badly he wants it. I only had three weeks on Ken’s team since the tryouts to prepare for this. Now I’ll have eleven weeks with him. Bart’s really well-rounded, and he is probably the best lightweight in the league right now, but anybody can get caught.”
The Condors, who many expected to struggle in their first IFL season, did anything but against Maurice Smith’s Tiger Sharks. Riding wins by Antoine Jaoude, Danny Suarez, and Jeremy Williams, the Southern California-based team looked sharp right out of the gates.
Williams was the biggest surprise for many, as he returned to action after a four-year layoff to face Bristol Marunde. Williams came out as the aggressor early on, attempting a guillotine choke, and then transitioning to a triangle choke after Marunde escaped.
Though Marunde initially looked to have the choke defended, the wily Williams sunk it deeper and deeper until Marunde appeared to lose consciousness and the referee moved in to stop the bout at 1:13 of round one.
“In the past I think I’ve been a little too calm and too patient in there,” said Williams after his victory. “This time I went in there and did exactly what Marco (Ruas) told me to.”
Also impressive for the Condors was heavyweight Antoine Jaoude, who pressed the action for three rounds to win a unanimous decision over Curtis Crawford. Though Crawford appeared to be the better striker, Jaoude defended well on the feet and landed some shots of his own before taking the action to the mat.
“He had me in trouble a couple of times, and I was a little worried,” admitted Jaoude, an Olympic Freestyle wrestler from Brazil. “I took him down, but he also had a good guard. I was surprised.”
Many observers were surprised to see Condors light heavyweight Justin Levens not only take a fight out of the first round for the first time in his career, but also to a decision, where he lost on the judges scorecards to the Tiger Sharks’ Reese Andy.
“He won. He’s a good wrestler, but I don’t think he’s a good fighter,” said a frustrated Levens. “I was a little overconfident. I should have used my knees and kicks some more. I tried to guillotine him a couple of times, but the guy doesn’t have a neck.”
This team contest was also mired by an early referee stoppage, as Adam Lynn had his bout stopped just as he was attempting to battle back from an early knockdown against the Tiger Sharks’ Shad Lierley.
Lierly dropped Lynn with a hard right hand in the first minute, and though Lynn looked capable and aware as he defended against strikes on the ground, the referee halted the bout at 0:44 of the first round.
“I was definitely rocked, but I felt it was an early stoppage,” said Lynn. “MMA is a sword fight, and I realize that. You can get hit once it can be over, but I was defending myself.”
In the climax of the night, Jeremy Horn downed Niko Vitale with a split decision victory in the event Superfight. Vitale landed some hard shots on the feet that looked to shock Horn early on, but the veteran stayed calm and was able to stifle Vitale’s stand-up game for much of the fight.
Though it was Horn who looked like he had sustained an uncharacteristic amount of damage after the fight, he acknowledged that the fight was an important win for him, as well as a necessary one, personally.
“This was big for me. It was a big turning point to see if I still wanted to fight. The Lindland fight, my focus wasn’t there. I had some things in my personal life taking away my attention. Now I’m focused again and I want to fight.”
Otto commented after the fight that this win marked Horn’s ninety-eighth career match, an unheralded feat in MMA, and he hoped Horn would stay in the IFL through his hundredth bout.
Horn looked as gutsy and sharp as ever against Vitale, who admitted to being disappointed with the decision. Even in defeat Vitale looked like an extremely tough striker with a crafty submissions game, even coming close to securing a key lock on the jiu-jitsu specialist Horn.
I thought I won the fight. I’ve got to move on,” said Vitale. “Now I just want to watch the tape of the fight and see what I did wrong so I can learn from it.”
