Horodecki Gets Raw Deal Draw, ‘Popo’ Potent on Bellator 57 Undercard
In front of his home province's faithful, Chris
Horodecki was senselessly denied a deserved decision victory
over Mike
Corey in their lightweight contest on the
Bellator 57 undercard at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario.
The WEC veteran started slow, giving up the takedown to St. Louis' Corey and being stuck on the bottom of half guard and eating elbows.
However, over the last 10 minutes, Horodecki's sprawl showed up,
and he used it to shut down the vast majority of Corey's takedowns.
Horodecki launched leg kicks and head kicks from range, and hit
Corey with counters when he waded into range to try to shoot.
Though the fight was competitive, Horodecki shut down a last-minute salvo from Corey in the third round, winning the late exchanges and seemingly taking a straightforward 29-28 scorecard. While judge Graham Bettes had it 29-28 for the London, Ontario native, both Dr. Gregory Jackson and Jason Rodgers gave Corey an inexplicable 10-8 opening round, making for two 28-28 scorecards and a dissatisfying majority draw.
As always seems to be the case for Bellator however, the real star of the undercard was Brazilian featherweight Alexandre Bezerra, who moved to 4-0 in the Bellator cage with a gutsy first-round tapout of UFC veteran Douglas Evans.
Evans' jab had the right eye of Bezerra closed almost immediately. Bezerra was forced to work from his back early, where he brilliantly transitioned from armbar to armbar to keep Evans off guard. As the Alaskan picked up his work rate and started pounding on the closing eye of the Sao Paulo native, Bezerra swung for a leg, grapevined it, and locked up a gruesome heel hook that forced Evans to tap out at 4:04 of the first round.
Now based out of Elkins Park, Pa.'s BJJ United, the 24-year-old Bezerra is 12-1 in MMA with 11 stoppages, eight of them coming in the first round.
In a ho-hum light heavyweight affair, Halifax, Nova Scotia's Roger Hollett took a split decision over John Hawk. Hollett used superior head movement and counterpunching to pick off the 6-foot-3 Hawk as he repeatedly charged him and clinched him along the fence for most of the contest.
Though referee Dan Miragliotta repeatedly separated the two, Hawk stuck to his game plan, tiring Hollett out and making the Rama crowd jeer. Unfortunately, the lumbering Ohioan walked into punch after punch from Hollett and his superior boxing. After three rounds, judges Graham Bettes and Dr. Gregory Jackson saw the bout 29-28 for Hollett, while Jason Rodgers reckoned 29-28 for Hawk.
With the victory, Hollett moves to 13-3 in his MMA campaign, riding a five-fight winning streak.
WEC lightweight veteran Dave Jansen showed off impressive technical wrestling and top position skills in his second-round submission of Minnesota-based wrestler Ashkan Morvari. Jansen used his defensive wrestling to sprawl, headlock and counter Morvari, repeatedly reversing to top position and threatening with chokes.
In the second frame, Morvari tried to escape from the bottom to his feet, but exposed his back to Jansen, who sunk one hook, then the choke, then both hooks. Jansen earned the tap at 2:47 of the second round.
Hazel Park, Mich.'s Eric Moon gave a poor account of himself against once-beaten lightweight Josh Shockley. Just seconds into the bout, Moon shot an ugly double-leg from the outside that Shockley easily defended. Worse, the Hobart, Ind., native grabbed a rudimentary standing guillotine that forced Moon to tap out almost instantly.
Iron Tiger Muay Thai bantamweight Denis Puric dominated Windsor, Ontario's Chuck Mady for 10 minutes. Puric savaged the left leg of Mady with low kicks, and dropped him with a brutal overhand right in round two. That punch was the likely end to the fight, as following the second frame, Mady's corner stopped the contest, suspecting their charge had a broken jaw.
In a light heavyweight contest, Matt Van Buren overcame Shawn Levesque via rear-naked choke in the first frame. Van Buren got top position and that was all the opening he needed, methodically pounding and passing until he got mount, locked up the choke and took the tap at 4:38 of the first round.
In the evening's opening bout, Iroquois MMA's Taylor Solomon stormed Mike Sledzion in their lightweight contest. An early left hook that dropped his foe got the ball rolling for Solomon, and with a heavy salvo of punches along the fence, referee Graham Bettes jumped in to rescue the still-standing Sledzion -- perhaps too soon -- just 70 seconds into the bout.
The WEC veteran started slow, giving up the takedown to St. Louis' Corey and being stuck on the bottom of half guard and eating elbows.
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Though the fight was competitive, Horodecki shut down a last-minute salvo from Corey in the third round, winning the late exchanges and seemingly taking a straightforward 29-28 scorecard. While judge Graham Bettes had it 29-28 for the London, Ontario native, both Dr. Gregory Jackson and Jason Rodgers gave Corey an inexplicable 10-8 opening round, making for two 28-28 scorecards and a dissatisfying majority draw.
After fighting to evens, the 24-year-old Horodecki moves to 18-3-1
in his career, while Corey is now 11-2-1.
As always seems to be the case for Bellator however, the real star of the undercard was Brazilian featherweight Alexandre Bezerra, who moved to 4-0 in the Bellator cage with a gutsy first-round tapout of UFC veteran Douglas Evans.
Evans' jab had the right eye of Bezerra closed almost immediately. Bezerra was forced to work from his back early, where he brilliantly transitioned from armbar to armbar to keep Evans off guard. As the Alaskan picked up his work rate and started pounding on the closing eye of the Sao Paulo native, Bezerra swung for a leg, grapevined it, and locked up a gruesome heel hook that forced Evans to tap out at 4:04 of the first round.
Now based out of Elkins Park, Pa.'s BJJ United, the 24-year-old Bezerra is 12-1 in MMA with 11 stoppages, eight of them coming in the first round.
In a ho-hum light heavyweight affair, Halifax, Nova Scotia's Roger Hollett took a split decision over John Hawk. Hollett used superior head movement and counterpunching to pick off the 6-foot-3 Hawk as he repeatedly charged him and clinched him along the fence for most of the contest.
Though referee Dan Miragliotta repeatedly separated the two, Hawk stuck to his game plan, tiring Hollett out and making the Rama crowd jeer. Unfortunately, the lumbering Ohioan walked into punch after punch from Hollett and his superior boxing. After three rounds, judges Graham Bettes and Dr. Gregory Jackson saw the bout 29-28 for Hollett, while Jason Rodgers reckoned 29-28 for Hawk.
With the victory, Hollett moves to 13-3 in his MMA campaign, riding a five-fight winning streak.
WEC lightweight veteran Dave Jansen showed off impressive technical wrestling and top position skills in his second-round submission of Minnesota-based wrestler Ashkan Morvari. Jansen used his defensive wrestling to sprawl, headlock and counter Morvari, repeatedly reversing to top position and threatening with chokes.
In the second frame, Morvari tried to escape from the bottom to his feet, but exposed his back to Jansen, who sunk one hook, then the choke, then both hooks. Jansen earned the tap at 2:47 of the second round.
Hazel Park, Mich.'s Eric Moon gave a poor account of himself against once-beaten lightweight Josh Shockley. Just seconds into the bout, Moon shot an ugly double-leg from the outside that Shockley easily defended. Worse, the Hobart, Ind., native grabbed a rudimentary standing guillotine that forced Moon to tap out almost instantly.
Iron Tiger Muay Thai bantamweight Denis Puric dominated Windsor, Ontario's Chuck Mady for 10 minutes. Puric savaged the left leg of Mady with low kicks, and dropped him with a brutal overhand right in round two. That punch was the likely end to the fight, as following the second frame, Mady's corner stopped the contest, suspecting their charge had a broken jaw.
In a light heavyweight contest, Matt Van Buren overcame Shawn Levesque via rear-naked choke in the first frame. Van Buren got top position and that was all the opening he needed, methodically pounding and passing until he got mount, locked up the choke and took the tap at 4:38 of the first round.
In the evening's opening bout, Iroquois MMA's Taylor Solomon stormed Mike Sledzion in their lightweight contest. An early left hook that dropped his foe got the ball rolling for Solomon, and with a heavy salvo of punches along the fence, referee Graham Bettes jumped in to rescue the still-standing Sledzion -- perhaps too soon -- just 70 seconds into the bout.
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