Sherdog.com Preview – UFC 53: Heavy Hitters
Paul Buentello vs. Kevin Jordan
May 31, 2005
BUENTELLO: Grants, New Mexico native Paul Buentello grew up playing
football and baseball. He trains at the American Kickboxing Academy
with UFC veterans Josh
Thomson, Tim Lajcik,
Mike Kyle and “Crazy”
Bob Cook and boxing specialist
Javier Mendez. “The Head Hunter” or “The Executioner” (he goes by
both) is 18-8 in MMA and has been fighting since 1997.
Buentello lost to UFC veterans Evan Tanner and Dan Severn in the USWF and beat PRIDE veteran Larry Parker in that event (he also beat Parker in the IFC). Early in his career Paul advanced to the final of the IFC 7 tournament, beating Jason Godsey and Rocky Batastini and losing to former UFC heavyweight contender Gan McGee.
Paul lost his King of the Cage debut bout against Ricco Rodriguez
and returned to the IFC where he was a fixture before making the
KOTC his home in 2002. While there he knocked out both stable-mate
Mike Kyle and RINGS USA
veteran Roger Neff and split
a pair of bouts with the “Bad Seed” Bobby Hoffman.
Paul is 9-1 in his last 10 fights and only one bout went the distance (the first fight with Hoffman). He came to the UFC fresh off a 45-second stoppage of Bo Cantrell in KOTC 44 and dropped Justin Eilers with strikes midway through the first round at UFC 51.
The basic tenants of Modern Combatives are “the winner of the hand-to-hand fight in combat is the one whose buddy shows up first with a gun” and “the defining characteristic of a warrior is the willingness to close with the enemy” (taken from moderncombatives.org). The style is refined from multiple martial arts including judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, Western boxing, Muay Thai, Russian Sambo and Gracie jiu-jitsu.
The students Modern Army Combatives train with Jacare’ Cavalcante for jiu-jitsu, Manu Ntoh for Muay Thai and Marc “Crafty Dog” Deny and Dog Brothers Martial Arts for weapons training. PRIDE veteran John Renken, Relson Gracie brown belt Garth Spendiff and Royce Gracie black belt Gregg Thompson are also instructors for the MAC around the country.
As for Jordan, he is 10-3 in MMA and has competed in Superbrawl, the Freestyle Fighting Championships, Ultimate Wrestling, the Xtreme Fighting Organization, the Submission Fighting Open and the Gauntlet Trials. It was in the Gauntlet Trials that he fought as an amateur and met Forrest Griffin, losing by armbar.
“The Shaman” went on to face Wesley Correira in Superbrawl 24 where he was stopped with strikes. Two months later he took on Travis Wiuff in the Ultimate Minnesota promotion and lost a decision. Last year Jordan faced RINGS veteran Kerry Schall in XFO 2 and stopped the “Meat Truck” with a rear-choke. Then last December, Jordan defeated PRIDE and IFC veteran John Dixson by decision at FFC 13.
MY PICK:
This is a tough one but one thing’s sure: it has “brawl” written all over it. It will not go the distance but I give the edge to Buentello. Jordan has won six in a row (three by decision, two by strikes) but Buentello has won five in a row (all by strikes). Paul also knocked out three men prior to the decision loss to Bobby Hoffman and he beat Hoffman in the rematch. I feel it will be Buentello by KO in the second round.
Buentello lost to UFC veterans Evan Tanner and Dan Severn in the USWF and beat PRIDE veteran Larry Parker in that event (he also beat Parker in the IFC). Early in his career Paul advanced to the final of the IFC 7 tournament, beating Jason Godsey and Rocky Batastini and losing to former UFC heavyweight contender Gan McGee.
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Paul is 9-1 in his last 10 fights and only one bout went the distance (the first fight with Hoffman). He came to the UFC fresh off a 45-second stoppage of Bo Cantrell in KOTC 44 and dropped Justin Eilers with strikes midway through the first round at UFC 51.
JORDAN: Kevin
Jordan trains out of Columbus, Georgia with SFC Matt Larsen of
the United States Combative Arts Association. He is trained by
Larsen and Santiago Sabino in Modern Army Combatives. Some of the
fighters of the USCAA include James Damien Stelly (ISCF), Keith Bach (HOOK’n’SHOOTO) and
Jeremy Brown (KFC).
The basic tenants of Modern Combatives are “the winner of the hand-to-hand fight in combat is the one whose buddy shows up first with a gun” and “the defining characteristic of a warrior is the willingness to close with the enemy” (taken from moderncombatives.org). The style is refined from multiple martial arts including judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, Western boxing, Muay Thai, Russian Sambo and Gracie jiu-jitsu.
The students Modern Army Combatives train with Jacare’ Cavalcante for jiu-jitsu, Manu Ntoh for Muay Thai and Marc “Crafty Dog” Deny and Dog Brothers Martial Arts for weapons training. PRIDE veteran John Renken, Relson Gracie brown belt Garth Spendiff and Royce Gracie black belt Gregg Thompson are also instructors for the MAC around the country.
As for Jordan, he is 10-3 in MMA and has competed in Superbrawl, the Freestyle Fighting Championships, Ultimate Wrestling, the Xtreme Fighting Organization, the Submission Fighting Open and the Gauntlet Trials. It was in the Gauntlet Trials that he fought as an amateur and met Forrest Griffin, losing by armbar.
“The Shaman” went on to face Wesley Correira in Superbrawl 24 where he was stopped with strikes. Two months later he took on Travis Wiuff in the Ultimate Minnesota promotion and lost a decision. Last year Jordan faced RINGS veteran Kerry Schall in XFO 2 and stopped the “Meat Truck” with a rear-choke. Then last December, Jordan defeated PRIDE and IFC veteran John Dixson by decision at FFC 13.
MY PICK:
This is a tough one but one thing’s sure: it has “brawl” written all over it. It will not go the distance but I give the edge to Buentello. Jordan has won six in a row (three by decision, two by strikes) but Buentello has won five in a row (all by strikes). Paul also knocked out three men prior to the decision loss to Bobby Hoffman and he beat Hoffman in the rematch. I feel it will be Buentello by KO in the second round.
