Erik Paulson made his return to mixed martial arts on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center following a seven-year layoff. He found success in the main event in the debut of Mark Cuban’s new HDNet Fights promotion.
After feeling the sting of a few stiff jabs from Jeff Ford, Paulson quickly shot in on him and took the fight into his comfort zone, the ground.
“The shot I took on him (to get him down) was because I didn’t want to stand with him anymore. He hit me with one shot and my eyes got all cloudy,” said Paulson after the fight.
Once he took the fight to the ground, he wasted no time snagging Ford’s arm and locking on an armbar for the submission.
“I was happy to know that there was grappling in that fight,” commented Paulson. “If it was a kickboxing match, I wouldn’t have won.
“It’s been seven years and it’s very emotional to come back.”
Paulson highlighted the headline bout, but the fight of the night had to go to Freddie Epsiricueta and Jason House.
House started strong, outstriking Epsiricueta in the first round, looking like he was going to run away with the fight. But citing Frank Shamrock's mantra of “cardio, cardio, cardio,” it was Epsiricueta who appeared to grow stronger as House faded and ended up peppering him with punches and kicks throughout the third en route to unanimous decision.
UFC veteran Drew Fickett weathered one of the toughest fighters he’s ever faced in relative newcomer Anthony Lapsley. He made it tough on Fickett, but Lapsley, as many fighters have, eventually succumbed to a Fickett rear naked choke late in the first round.
Pete Spratt, another UFC veteran, avenged his last loss and ended a three-fight skid with a crushing knockout of T J Waldburger. Just under a minute-and-a-half into the bout, Spratt dropped Waldburger with a straight right that put him out on his back, followed him down and landed three more rights before the referee could step in.
“I wanted to prove to the world that even though I’m 36 years of age, I still have some good fights left in me.”
No doubt about it, the standout of the earlier bouts was two-time All-American collegiate wrestler CB Dollaway. He wasted know time dropping Hans Marrero with a knee to the temple before following him down and finishing him off with punches in just 1:07 of round one.
It was a good night for the 41-year-old Paulson and several other fighters, but in reality, a fairly average night of MMA overall for HDNet Fights’ first go around.
To be fair to the fledgling promotion, Cuban did state on Friday that this first show was a “Beta test” and he wasn’t expecting to put on a show rivaling the more established promotions in the sport.
“This is where we are going to learn,” he said. “I’m not looking to fill the American Airlines Center (on Saturday night). I want to get 3,000 people there to fill the lower bowl.”
He may not have been looking for it, but he make out better than expected. According to an HDNet Fights representative, initial estimates appeared to put attendance in the 6,000-7,000 range. The crowd seemed rather subdued however.
Known for reviving the “party atmosphere” surrounding his National Basketball Association team, the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban and the rest of HDNet Fights still have some work to do before that same atmosphere permeates his MMA events.
One area where the promotion definitely scored high marks was with the fighters. Talking with several of them, they all had good things to say about the way they were treated by HDNet Fights and the promotions attention to detail.
HDNet Fights president Guy Mezger revealed that the promotion would return, with a bigger budget, to the American Airlines Center in December for round two.
Saturday night’s fights will premier on Cuban’s HDNet television network on Friday, Oct. 19.
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