The Weekly Wrap: Sept. 11 - Sept. 17

Shark Fights

The fledgling Texas-based Shark Fights promotion made a buzzed-about pay-per-view debut on Sept. 11, presenting a card that saw recent UFC castoff Keith Jardine falter in his stated journey to win his way back into the leading promotion’s ranks and suspended indefinitely for an action during his walk to the ring.

Trevor Prangley, who holds Shark Fights’ light heavyweight title, took the first two rounds from “The Dean of Mean” toward a split decision victory in a non-title affair. The South African Olympic wrestling alternative veteran shook up Jardine with a knee in the first round and took him to the mat, and rocked Jardine with a right in the second. Jardine took some two-and-a-half minutes to get going in the third, but brought the crowd to their feet as he started winging punches and knees on a tired Prangley. It was his sixth straight loss.

Jardine’s tough luck was compounded as he was suspended indefinitely by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations following the bout. Jardine incidentally pushed a commission official as he was walking to the cage and felt a person pull on his shirt. It was not clear if the suspension will prevent other states’ commissions from sanctioning future Jardine fights.

Jardine was reportedly initially proposed a fight with Houston Alexander in a rematch of a memorable UFC 71 clash. The intense Alexander still saw action, pulling another dramatic assault on Rameau Thierry Sokoujdou that sparked chants of “Houston! Houston!” from the Amarillo, Texas crowd. The charismatic 38-year-old survived a hazardous series of punches in the first to pump a left jab in the second that backed up the Cameroonian and left him prone for a barrage of mean punches for the stoppage. Both fighters were awarded $2,500 performance bonuses for having the night’s best fight.

Paul Daley and Jorge Masvidal followed the track Jardine sought to a higher-profile MMA contract coming off the event. Daley, who missed weight by less than a pound, defeated Masvidal by unanimous decision. Later in the week, Strikeforce announced it had signed Daley to a multi-fight deal. Masvidal reportedly also signed a deal for six fights with Strikeforce after the fight. Shark Fights has single-fight contracts.

Also picking up wins at Shark Fights 13 were Danillo Villefort (unanimous decision over Joey Villasenor); Tarec Saffiedine (unanimous decision over Brock Larson); Paul Bradley (first-round rear-naked choke over Johnny Rees); Ronnie Mann (unanimous decision over Douglas Evans); Aaron Rosa (unanimous decision over Devin Cole); Daniel Straus (unanimous decision over Karen Darabedyan); and Eric Davila (second-round guillotine choke over Pete Spratt).

Mann took Shark Fights’ featherweight title with his win. Undercard fights streamed live on Sherdog.com.

While an attendance for the event was not reported, Shark Fights has made some noise in the market drawing 10,000 people to its cards. It hyped the pay-per-view well though on a limited platform, premiering a well-produced countdown show on HDNet the night before that did a particularly good job of humanizing Houston Alexander, a father of six. Promoter Brent Medley told SI.com the promotion was hoping for 30,000 to 50,000 buys for the event.