A GRUDGE Explosion Hits Hollywood Florida for WSOF 8
Not since Western Europe in 1939 have we seen such explosions preceding a genuine Blitzkrieg like the one we saw Saturday night, here in Florida. Tyler Stinson exploded at the end of the second round and the beginning of the third to knock out a stocky and able Valdir Araujo 14-5 and raise his record to 27-9 with 25 of those wins coming via knockout or submission. He raised an already impressive knockout/submission percentage to 92.5%, WOW! Tyler started out slowly, losing the first round and according to the announcers the second round as well. I thought the way he finished that second round at least earned him a draw but either way he went into the third and final round behind and probably needed a knockout to win. Explosion is the only word to describe his huge, intense, eruptive outburst that knocked his opponent out. The fight ended with Tyler landing a perfect left hand to the throat and the ref immediately stopping it. He possibly could have stopped it sooner.
Almost two hours later Justin Gaethje launched a complete Blitzkrieg, from the opening bell to the right elbow knockout of Rich Patishnock at 3:53 into the first round. We will get back to Tyler’s amazing comeback after we talk about Gaethje’s frightening domination of a stout, tough and talented Patishnock. Several things stood out Saturday night in this first title match for the “Human Highlight.” Firstly, not quite 30 seconds into it, and after Justin took Rich down, he cautiously and patiently held his opponents head and neck down, basically immobilizing him while Justin got to his feat and calmly set his feet exactly where he wanted them before launching more of his devastating offensive Blitzkrieg, landing multiple punches, elbows, kicks and knees almost at will. Lastly just before it ended Justin took his eyes of Patishnock and stared at the ref as if to say “Do I have to kill this guy or are you going to end it?” I couldn’t have agreed more as I don’t care to see someone maimed, hurt, or worse. Justin landed one last elbow to the head before the ref finally ended this one-sided championship victory for Justin Gaethje.
Make no mistake, Justin’s opponent was a worthy and an extremely tough guy type fighter who, barring any career ending injuries will win plenty of fights; he’s not going to face anyone of Justin’s abilities unless he fights him again so there is that. To take some of the Gaethje shots that he took and still be on his feet was extremely impressive. He also landed a beautiful left hand to Justin’s face early on but Justin seemed totally unfazed, he merely ducked the following right hand and went right back to attacking and overwhelming his opponent. I thought it was a very good shot that Rich threw early on and even though he couldn’t faze Justin he kept fighting after most guys would have tapped out. Rich fought a fearless fight and was no slouch opponent for Justin even though Gaethje was the favorite. At 11-0 and going undefeated as an amateur, Justin is always going to be the favorite until and if someone, somehow beats him.
Justin’s offense was a mirror image of the German Blitzkrieg of 1939-1940. It began with an aerial attack, Justin tapped gloves, took a few seconds to settle and then, just like the Axis’s aerial attacks, he launched, faking a right kick and landing a left kick to the head as well as a right elbow to the head. When he leapt after faking a right leg kick, it appeared he reached between 3&1/2 to 4&1/2 feet off the ground, almost coming down and landing on his opponent, simultaneously landing the left kick and the right elbow that went unnoticed by the announcers. I had to slow down the replay to even see both the left leg kick and right elbow. Then after being three to four feet off the mat with the aerial attack he loosed the heavy armor, landing elbows, knees, kicks, and punches-all came in bunches! He never gave what looked like a bigger Patishnock a chance to regroup or catch his breath, continuing to attack, attack, attack! Tora, Tora, Tora!
Just before the 4 minute and 20 second mark of the first round, Justin showed all of us watching this fight just how good an athlete he is with a jaw-dropping spin move that landed a (SPINNING) right elbow to what appeared to be the temple area of his opponent. It happened very quickly and believe me when slowed down to ¼ time it is even more impressive. This blow found Rich temporarily holding on to Justin, trying not to go down.
Only counting the punches, kicks, elbows and knees that landed is very telling. Justin landed seven elbows to Patishnock’s head, all were devastating blows but that’s not all. He had four takedowns and landed four or five kicks and four or five knees as well. His pugilistic prowess was on display all night, he landed seven beautiful right hands to go with seven scoring uppercuts and most of these were star punches, the type we often see people knocked out by. If you combine these with the four or five left hands landed, we get at least 28 solid blows landed in just 67 seconds, meaning that Rich Patishnock took a solid shot, and most were to the head, every two and one quarter seconds for a minute and ten seconds! The miracle here is that the fight lasted as long as it did. After looking bewildered towards the ref and throwing one last solid right elbow Justin headed towards his corner a new World Champion!
Congratulations Justin, you have fought a lifetime for the right to be called Champion and no fighter has ever been more deserving! Justin was humble accepting this lifelong goal, thanking his family, twin brother Marcus, his team and gym (GRUDGE) and his top-of-the-line coaches and trainers. It was nice to see his friend and soon to be fellow champion Tyler Stinson celebrating with him at the end.
Speaking of Tyler Stinson, Tyler had started this Grudge explosion a couple hours earlier. This match was bumped from National television at the last minute and could be seen by streaming only. It appeared for the first two rounds Tyler had allowed this huge disappointment to get to him and effect his fighting. Tyler was cautious that first round but as he tried to figure things out Valdir Araujo was landing what looked to be painful and devastating kicks. Tyler’s back and sides had some pretty bright welts and kick marks proving Valdir was landing many of his kicks.
I had to depend on the announcers until only one minute in the second round was left because my streaming connection was jumping and I missed most the action. According to the announcers Valdir had won the first round obviously and according to them the second as well, despite the fact that with one minute left in the second round Tyler woke up and began doing what he does best, punching. He had a beautiful flurry that last sixty seconds and I thought he’d earned a draw for the round but even if he had he was still behind entering the third and final round.
I cannot honestly report too much about the second round but finally, at the four minute mark Tyler showed signs of life and my streaming finally quit jumping so I could watch too. He landed two beautiful left hands and a left kick to the head at the twenty second mark and at the ten second mark he landed a nice kick to Valdir’s right leg and followed it up with a right jab and then a nice right hand so through ten minutes of this huge fight all of the Tyler Stinson fans finally had reasons to cheer and hope. It seemed Tyler had awakened and had finally figured his opponent out.
I think it’s important to remember despite all the natural athleticism that Justin Gaithje and Tyler Stinson both possess and despite the tremendous work ethic and amount of workout time they spend each week that we don’t lose sight of or forget the fact that both of these guys are extremely high I.Q. guys. They both have high fight I.Q.’s as well but first and foremost they are both really highly intelligent individuals. If for whatever reason either man struggles in a fight, rest assured, these guys are going to figure it out. If they don’t beat you physically they’re going to outthink you and end up beating you mentally. The days of fighters being portrayed as dummies are long gone and to win in 2010’s plus, you have to be smart also. Dumb fighters are non-existent, cliché, trite, and untrue, now we see a majority of fighters with college degrees. Back to the important stuff-
As bad as things may have looked Saturday night for Tyler after two rounds, I had high hopes as the final round began. Tyler’s defense had looked better in the second round but he still seemed to be holding back offensively for that first minute and a half of the final round. Ninety seconds in and Tyler seemed to relax and find his rhythm. He literally exploded just before the three minute plus mark. He landed back to back left hands and remember, Tyler’s a southpaw so these were both knockout type punches and as tough as Valdir was I think these two punches stunned him. He followed them up with another sweet left hand and then landed a left kick and Araujo was hurt and tried to take the fight to the mat. Tyler obliged him for awhile but was on the offensive and on top of Valdir the entire time. He threw a flurry of punches and elbows that further stunned his opponent.
Tyler got back on his feet just seconds after the announcers warned him to do so, as if he’d heard them. Once on his feet and just past the three minute mark Tyler exploded again with three beautiful left hand smashes. The first was to the face and was a star punch if I ever saw one, the second was to the head and solid, but the third left hand, (and probably the first time all night that Tyler exploited his reach advantage) was a direct hit just below Valdir’s chin and landed squarely on his Adam’s apple. The ref correctly ended it right then and there and Tyler had stunned the suddenly silent casino crowd. Of course no one who knows or follows Tyler Stinson was a bit surprised by the sudden offensive explosion. We were all just patiently waiting for him to figure things out.
Tyler’s seventy second explosion followed by Justin Gaithje’s Blitzkrieg were two of the greatest seventy seconds of fighting I’ve ever had the extreme privilege of witnessing. I include all disciplines in this assessment and for those who have either of these two fights on DVR, I highly recommend watching both fights again in slow motion, to get the full effect and impression. The athletic abilities of these two men that showed in those short bursts of time are classical and will likely become teaching tools for fight generations to come! Obviously whoever pulled Tyler’s fight from national television made a grievous error, for it was nearly as exciting as Justin’s fight. But none of that matters now, Tyler overcame that huge disappointment, showing the powers that are exactly how worthy he is for a shot at the belt.
This night was just another feather in the old Grudge cap, by now that cap looks more like an Indian Headdress than a cap and both fighters were quick to credit and thank Trevor Wittman, Jacob Ramos, and Marcus Gaethje who now make up one of the WORLD’s best MMA corners. Justin comes home with a brand new, shiny, blingy, beautiful championship belt and Tyler comes home deserving a title shot in his next fight. Congratulations fellas, what a great job you two heroes did in Florida, further cementing Grudge Training Center as one of the top gyms in the World!
If you want to ask either fighter or myself any questions, I will do my best to get them answered one and all, ringwrap56@gmail.com. Until next time, Mark D. Kilburn