Kansas Tornado from Colorado Blows into Tampa!

Tyler ‘The Evolution’ Stinson blew into the octagon in Tampa, Florida, Friday night like a Tornado straight from the plains of Kansas. He dominated the last two rounds of the fight, totally broke down his opponent until the final two minutes of the match when he was literally stalking and chasing Jose Figueroa around the cage. Tyler blew into Tampa with his good friend and fellow fighter Justin Gaithje and trainer Jake ‘The Big Snake’ Ramos, and they obviously had a great fight plan that Tyler enacted and executed to near perfection raising his record to 29-10!

Somehow to my chagrin and the probable shock of ninety percent of the people watching, Tyler did not win a unanimous decision, he won a split decision. Sadly, it appears that we fans must simply be grateful if the judges manage to get the correct decision, disregarding minor inconveniences like whether it was a split decision or unanimous one.

ROUND 1:

Tyler was the more experienced fighter and that became obvious as the fight continued. Both men stood six feet three inches and weighed within a pound of 170lbs. Tyler had a very slight reach advantage and at 28-10 had fought in double the fights of his opponent. This welterweight bout would go the distance which was the standard three five minute rounds.

Tyler immediately began kicking Jose’s left leg with his right as the fight commenced and continued to attack that leg until the fight was essentially over. The first two rounds had Tyler landing so many blows to that left leg that it both slowed Jose’s ring movements and made the leg begin to swell. Tyler landed a couple nice left hands but also took a solid left hook in the first two minutes of the fight, and a wild, out-of-control diving attempt by Jose to take Tyler down proved futile, another theme that would be repeated throughout the bout.

At the two and a half minute mark, Figueroa landed a huge left hand that knocked Tyler both back and down, as he went down, he spun himself out of danger as Jose charged what he thought was an injured fighter. Tyler is a natural athlete, an elite one who starred in four sports during high school, and although in real time it looked like Jose had knocked Tyler down and knocked him into a 360 degree spin, slow motion clearly showed the spin was a deliberate move, getting Tyler out of harm’s way with his back against the chain link. Tyler came back with two scoring lefts with a surprised Jose again awkwardly lunging towards Tyler, attempting to tackle him and force the fight to the ground. This move never worked with Tyler escaping easily each and every time.

After a brief exchange of left hands, Tyler immediately locked his opponent up and the two men grappled while standing, each seeking an advantage. Tyler outmuscled Jose and with one minute left landed a solid left to the body, had a nice slip and then at 34 seconds landed a huge roundhouse left that stunned and hurt his opponent. Again with a hint of desperation Jose launched a wild, telegraphed right hand, that Tyler avoided and partially blocked, leaving his opponent vulnerable. Tyler did not waste the opportunity, he immediately landed his best punch of the round, another big and vicious roundhouse left that left Jose wobbly legged, and stunned.

Using the Trevor Wittman scoring system that states your opponent wins any and all close rounds we will generously give round 1 to Figueroa, despite the fact that all the Television guys said although close they felt Stinson had edged Jose out.

ROUND 2:

The round begins with the announcer stating that not only did Figueroa fall off his stool between rounds but that his trainer had to help him get back on it. This was an ominous omen for Jose, indeed on this Halloween night. But just twenty seconds into the second round Jose landed his best combo of the evening, one that at first glance appeared to put Tyler in harm’s way.

At the 4:43 mark Figueroa landed that best combo of the night, Tyler had just landed yet another kick to Jose’s left leg when Figueroa launched and landed a beautiful 2-1 combo, partially switching to a southpaw stance, his right hand jabbed and set up his left, nailing Tyler in the face, full force. I thought that Tyler may have been in trouble but like he did all night long he answered all assaults with more offense. Showing how much heart he has, Tyler bounced of the cage and answered with two scoring left hands, proving he was unfazed by Jose’s barrage or that he was running on pure adrenalin.

Tyler was able to turn his offensive game on each and every time Jose appeared to finally have something going offensively, answering any threat, real or perceived with combos and a continual attack on his opponent’s left leg. At the 3:19 mark, Tyler got a left to Jose’s chest then followed it up with another big left roundhouse that knocked Jose to his knees. Figueroa could only grab and hold on as he tried to regain his senses.

The only grappling in this fight was when both warriors were standing with either fighter leaning on the chain link. Tyler always got the better of Jose when they locked up, Tyler, as if listening to the announcers, began to push his opponents head down, which forced Jose to break and when he did-Boom, a Kansas tornado entered the ring in the form of Tyler’s right hand! Three minutes left and Tyler scores another knockdown, forcing Jose to hold on once more as the two men grappled from the standing position. Tyler took advantage of this all night long, this time working to get his left hand free and when he did an explosion must have gone off in Jose’s head because Tyler landed a near-perfect left elbow to the right side of Jose’ head.

This was the first of three devastating elbows thrown by Stinson, this one knocked his opponent backwards and as he reeled he looked wobbly and disorientated. Tyler did exactly what his coaches wanted him to do, follow it up with another offensive burst. He landed a couple more power kicks to Jose’s left leg, which by now is swelling and causing Jose discomfort at the bare minimum!

Tyler backed Jose up against the cage and landed the best kick of the night, a left to the face of Jose, followed by a scoring straight left hand, and both seemed to hurt the now bleeding Figueroa. Jose is a wounded combatant but wounded fighters can still be dangerous, and with less than a minute it appeared that Jose landed a huge kick with his sore leg that at first look seemed to land full power, on Tyler’s head. In slow motion however, we can see that it hit Tyler’s back first and by the time his foot reached Tyler’s head it had lost most of its momentum and did no damage.

ROUND 3:

Stinson, in typical Grudge fashion, is now pursuing, tracking, and stalking Jose around the ring. He’s been coming forward the entire fight but now it is even more pronounced as it becomes obvious Jose has little left in his tank. Tyler, training at close to 6000 feet of altitude appears to still have more than enough left in his.

Just before the 3 minute mark, Tyler took a left to his cheek before answering with a left of his own that once again sent Jose to his knees where he again tried futilely to tackle and hold on to Tyler’s legs. This was one of the few times both men were on the mat but Tyler popped right up, still light on his feat while Jose was slowing down even more.

With only a minute left a thoroughly beaten Jose managed to slow Tyler with a thumb to the eye and a knee to the stomach. This managed to slow Tyler down, but only for a few seconds. Like he’d done all night long, Tyler answered with offense, Locked together and with his back to the cage Tyler scores his third wicked elbow of the night sending his opponent backwards once more. He followed that elbow with a powerful knee shot to Jose’s gut, further hurting his opponent as it landed directly on the solar plexus. Jose made a final dive at Stinson, desperately trying to take the fight to the ground. The move left him open and Tyler capitalized with a stunning straight left hand to the chin of Jose.

Another left to the chin by Tyler with less than thirty seconds left put an exclamation point on the round and the fight, finishing in total command.

Jose was beaten, bleeding, and beat-up, and all that was left was the judges’ decisions and it was certainly a shocker that one of them, Don Balis, could score this fight 29-28 in Figueroa’s favor?

This was the best fight of the night, two warriors standing alone, giving everything they had to give, for fifteen long, grueling minutes, and the best we can do is hire a judge who comes up with a grossly negligent decision. I rest my case with the fight film, watch it a few times and the split decision grows more and more derelict. I am always grateful when they at least get the correct decision but if the fighters gave as poor an effort in this fight as the judge, proclaiming Figueroa as the winner they’d be booed out of the ring, why should we fans be forced to put up with such a poor job of judging?

Congratulations Tyler! This was the best fight of the night by far and even Don Balis’s rotten decision cannot take away from Tyler’s huge and overpowering performance. Here’s the final scoring-Dan Torres 29-28 Stinson, Christling had it the same, 29-28 Stinson and inexplicably Balis had it 29-28 for Figueroa while the ring announcers and ‘experts’ had Stinson winning all three rounds. Any layman could have gotten this fight right just by looking at Jose’s face.

Lastly, once more a huge hurrah for ‘The Evolution’ and a superb performance and game plan carried out to near perfection by Tyler, Bravo!

Mark D. Kilburn   ringwrap56@gmail.com