WSOF lightweight champ Justin Gaethje isn’t cocky enough to say there’s absolutely no way he can be submitted by Nick Newell, but he certainly doesn’t think it’s likely.
“I’m a Division I All-American – he’s not going to grab my neck and choke me out,” Gaethje told MMAjunkie Radio. “He could easily rock me with an elbow, a kick, or a knee, and then choke me out. That’s a possibility.
“But he’s not going to wrestle me to the ground and choke me out. That’s impossible.”
In July, Gaethje (11-0) attempts the first defense of his belt against the popular Newell (11-0), who’s known for trapping his opponents in armbars and guillotine chokes despite having only one fully formed arm.
Gaethje respects Newell and his career accomplishments, but can only fathom one scenario where he might find himself in a situation to tap out. As much as Newell has been able to buck the odds in 11 professional fights, Gaethje believes his upcoming opponent hasn’t really been challenged in the cage.
“Nick Newell has never fought a wrestler,” Gaethje told MMAjunkie Radio. “Nick Newell has almost never fought anyone with any kind of grappling skills. So I don’t know what he’s going to do when he can’t take me down.”
Both fighters carry an identical record at 11-0, but the majority of Gaethje’s wins are by knockout, while Newell has submitted most of his opponents. Naturally, Gaethje plans to keep the fight on its fight, where he believes Newell is at a severe disadvantage.
“He can’t stop a right hand or a right head kick,” Gaethje said. “That’s what I’m going to throw, over and over.”
Gaethje’s nonstop approach to striking offense already has paid dividends, earning him the WSOF belt in January after a bruising performance against Rich Patishnock. Since debuting for the NBC Sports Network-televised promotion, he’s won four straight bouts, finishing all of his opponents.
Such success leads eventually leads to the UFC, where the sport’s top lightweights reside. Gaethje has four fights remaining on his contract and wants to help WSOF grow, but he said he ultimately has his eye on bigger things.
“At some point I have to fight the No. 1 lightweights in the world, and they’re not in the World Series right now,” he said. “If they’re not in the World Series when I can take those opportunities, then [I have to sign with the UFC].”
Right now, though, Gaethje has at least another year with the WSOF. Provided he can escape Newell’s submission attempts, he could be on his way to lightweight stardom.
Content Provided by Brad Gustafson FightParrot.com
Grudge Note: Melvin spent time training with Justin Gaethje and now makes it clear wants his WSOF lightweight belt.
Lightweight veteran Melvin Guillard has signed with World Series of Fighting following his recent release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The news was announced by Guillard and the organization Monday evening.
Melvin commented on signing with his new home via Twitter: “Just signed with WSOF it feeling good to be apart of something different its time to make some real money
Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard (31-13-2 (2)) is currently 5-2-1 in his last 8 fights, the worst stretch in his career after posting 5 straight wins from 2010-2011 under the tutelage of Greg Jackson. Guillard was last seen suffering a unanimous decision loss against former Blackzilians teammate Michael Johnson last month in London. Known for his explosive fighting style, Guillard has always been a crowd favorite and entertaining fighter to watch.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Melvin has spent time training alongside current World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gathje at the Grudge Training Center in Colorado. This could be an interesting potential match up in the near future.
No opponent or date has been set for Guillard’s WSOF debut, but Executive Vice President and Match Maker Ali Abdel-Aziz hinted on Twitter that we might be seeing Guillard fight in July at WSOF 11, a summer event featuring lightweight champion Justin Gaethje’s first title defense against Nick Newell.
Content provided by MMA Corner and writer Trey Downey
Tyler Stinson will fight this Saturday night in Las Vegas for the World Series of Fighting. The thing is, the Strikeforce and Bellator veteran still doesn’t know, with absolute certainty, the identity of his opponent. As of right now, he is scheduled to face UFC veteran and former WSOF title challenger Josh Burkman. In a funny twist of fate, though, Stinson could end up with a title shot against Steve Carl instead.
Carl’s scheduled challenger, Rousimar Palhares, is still awaiting results from a Nevada State Athletic Commission-mandated drug test. Those results won’t be available until Friday, the day before the event. If Palhares doesn’t pass that test, Stinson will step in and get his shot.
“I’m still planning on fighting Josh,” Stinson told The MMA Corner. “If the title fight comes, then great. But it would be foolish of me to cross my fingers and hope that Palhares doesn’t pass his drug test.”
Regardless of his opponent, Stinson will end up in a big fight that will be featured on the main card of World Series of Fighting 9, which takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and airs live on the NBC Sports Network on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET.
This will be Stinson’s second fight under the WSOF banner. He is coming off a third-round TKO victory over Valdir Araujo in January. Leading up to that fight, Stinson took to social media to try to get himself featured on the main card. Certain television deals prevented that from happening, but Stinson believes that whole situation contributed to the spot that he finds himself in now.
“I think there are a couple of things that played into it. One was the performance—I took him out and finished him,” Stinson explained. “Also, all of my crazy fans started tweeting World Series and saying that they wanted me on TV.”
A vocal fanbase is a big deal for any fighter who is trying to work his way through the ranks and become a bigger star. Stinson certainly doesn’t take that for granted.
“I think one of the reasons everyone starts fighting is to have fans,” he said. “Whether it is one person or the whole place cheering for you, it is an amazing feeling.”
Stinson also understands the power of social media and what it has done for his career.
“I’ll be sitting at home playing video games and I’ll see someone talking me up on social media,” Stinson said. “For someone to take the time out of their day to do that is just amazing.”
That fanbase, along with his current four-fight winning streak, has led him to his big fight with Burkman this weekend. It’s not his first flirtation with the big time, though. Stinson had a brief stint in Strikeforce, but back-to-back losses to Tarec Saffiedine and Jordan Mein meant that Zuffa did not bring him over when it merged the Strikeforce roster into the UFC.
His streak of four finishes started with his first fight—a clash against Zac Kelley at C3 Fights Armageddon 2012 that Stinson won via first-round knockout—after he left Strikeforce. Stinson credits a move to Grudge Training Center in Colorado as part of what has turned his fortunes around. He feels more at home with the team. The guys at the camp try not to get complacent, and they aren’t afraid of a little change of pace.
“We will go fishing or go to the arcade,” revealed Stinson. “We are just a bunch of big kids. It doesn’t have to always be in the gym. We just find ways to keep this sport fun.”
Stinson has had fun recently with all of those finishes. Now, he is looking forward to fighting Burkman.
“He’s good everywhere,” Stinson said of his upcoming opponent. “But I know in every part of my stand-up game, I’m better than him.
“He’s going to try and take me down, and I’m going to try and punch him in the face really hard. He says he is going try and stop me? People have tried not to get hit. They are just trying not to lose, and a lot of them have lost consciousness.”
If Stinson removes Burkman from consciousness, then even bigger things could be waiting for him in the near future. A convincing win could earn Stinson a title shot…if he doesn’t end up fighting for gold on Saturday.
Stinson knows there are bigger names than him right now in the WSOF. Palhares, who was released by the UFC, is getting the title shot in his first fight with the organization. Although Stinson doesn’t necessarily believe Palhares, with his checkered past, is the best representative for the sport, he understands that it is a business decision and that Palhares will bring more eyeballs to the sport and the promotion. Jon Fitch is also a big part of the WSOF welterweight division. Fitch, despite a 1-1 mark in WSOF competition, is even considered the current No. 1 contender. Stinson would like to change that.
“I know Jon Fitch is in line,” Stinson said “But I’m looking to go out there and put on a performance that is so impressive that I leapfrog Fitch.”
If Stinson does earn that title shot, he certainly wouldn’t mind if the current champion is the one waiting for him. Stinson and Carl have fought once before. In that bout, which was contested inside the Bellator cage, Carl got the best of Stinson by submission.
“I would love to get another shot at Steve,” Stinson admitted. ”I want him to win, not only because I want to fight him, but he’s also my friend and I think there is a story to tell there.”
Stinson is only 28 years old and is entering the 37th fight of his pro career, a fight that he considers to be the biggest yet in his tenure as a fighter. Whether he ends up across the cage from Burkman or Carl, he still knows how he hopes the fight will end.
“It is going to end with him on his back looking up at the lights [and] wondering where he’s at,” Stinson predicted. “I love the straight left, but whatever way he gives me, I’ll take it.”
That is certainly an ending that would send Stinson’s rabid group of supporters flocking to social media to discuss.
Tyler would like to thank all of his coaches and teammates at Grudge Training Center. He would also like to thank his sponsors: Grudge Fight Wear and Husky Liners. Finally, Tyler would like to thank all of his friends and family back home and his fans all across the country. Follow Stinson on Twitter:@SteeMon84
Content provided by fox sports and writer Damon Martin
Leave it to former UFC fighter Pat Barry to find a way to help save a woman trapped in her hotel room just 48 hours before he’s scheduled to make his return to kickboxing.
The incident went down last Thursday night in Virginia where Barry is staying ahead of his fight on Saturday. Barry recently exited the UFC following a tough stretch of fights and decided to go back to his first love and focus on kickboxing instead.
It was late in the evening and Barry’s manager Brian Butler from Suckerpunch Entertainment had just left his client so he could get some sleep ahead of his fight. Minutes later, Barry heard a strange scratching sound coming from somewhere down the hall on his floor, and his curiosity peaked as to what was going on exactly.
“Really, I thought it was a cat, but I kept hearing it,” Barry told FOX Sports. “Opened the door and I could hear that it wasn’t a cat but a woman screaming help. I found the door and right before I went through it, I heard her say she was trapped in the bathroom. When I realized she wasn’t being murdered, I decided this isn’t a major threat so I called management first.”
The lady in the room was trapped behind her bathroom door for more than an hour and resorted to screaming ‘help me’ until someone finally arrived. That someone just happened to be Pat Barry.
Barry was more than happy to spring into superhero action to help the lady trapped in her room, but once he knew she wasn’t in grave danger he decided kicking in the door was probably better left to the professionals.
Or maybe not…
When the management team arrived, they weren’t able to get in the room either due to the extra hotel lock being closed on the door and once again the options were limited. Seeing as they had a brutish fighter standing right by the door with the kind of kicks that have been known to tear down opponents from head to toe, it only took a single look for Barry to know what he had to do next.
“They couldn’t get past the metal latch so they looked at me and I looked at them and they just gave me ‘the nod’,” Barry said.
Needless to say the path was clear for the woman to be rescued, but Barry’s job wasn’t finished yet. The bathroom door really was jammed to the point where no one was able to open it either, so Barry put in one more kick for the evening and that door came down as well.
The woman in the room was fine outside of some serious panic after being trapped there for more than an hour as claustrophobia started to set in just a bit.
Barry got a hardy thank you from the hotel staff for the assist, but when it was all over the former UFC heavyweight was a little disappointed in his performance. Looking back on the situation, he knows there was a better way to get the job done.
“As usual, now that it’s over of course I think of cooler ways to do it,” Barry said. “If I could go back in time, I’d have used a spinning side kick!”
Champ Credits Punching Power to Copper Miner and Mexican Roots
To put Justin Gaethje’s iron fists and thrilling blitzkrieg style into their proper – and stunning – historical perspective, let’s play a brief game of trivia. Off the top of your head, name some amateur wrestlers who transitioned to MMA and became knockout artists. At the top of that list, of course, are marquee names such as Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson and Johny Hendricks. Let’s even throw Shane Carwin in there for good measure since, though often overlooked, the former top-ranked and now-retired heavyweight contender possessed an uncanny knack for first-round knockouts.
Now ponder this: Out of Liddell, Henderson, Hendricks and Carwin, how many of them scored more knockouts and/or TKO’s through their first 11 pro fights than Justin Gaethje?
The answer – none. That’s right, the unbeaten WSOF lightweight champion boasts 9 T(KOs) after only 11 fights, an incredible pace that trumps heavy-handed wrestler converts such as Hendricks and Carwin (6) and Liddell (4).
In fact, through his first 11 pro fights Gaethje’s 9 T(KOs) also best certified Hall of Famers like Wanderlei Silva (8), Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo (both tied at 6). Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (9) is one of the few all-time greats who equals Gaethje’s stoppage via strikes rate over that 11-fights window. But no one in major MMA over the past two years has consistently finished quicker than Denver-based Gaethje, a protege of Trevor Wittman. No serious fight fan can resist watching this guy work; the fighter who Bloodyelbow.com ranks as the No. 3 best young prospect in the game is as must-see as it gets. The former Division I All-American wrestler (Northern Colorado) stopped UFC veteran Drew Fickett in a mere 12 seconds; he waltzed through Adrian Valdez in 19 seconds; he needed less than half of the first round to steamroll highly-regarded Gesias Cavalcante; and Gaethje relentlessly overwhelmed Rich Patishnock in just 69 seconds to claim the inaugural WSOF 155-pound title.
Part of Gaethje’s explanation for bringing so much fury and a mesmerizing sense of urgency into the cage sounds downright comical: “It gets me out of the cage faster,” the 25-year-old said, “which reduces my parents nerves faster and puts them at ease.”
Um, yeah. Mom’s anxious about Gaethje fighting so he storms across the cage and goes for broke. Priceless.
But assuaging the fears of mom and dad is only part of the story. Gaethje’s epic willingness to risk everything with each and every punch he throws, to daringly take big risks every second of every fight, to always charge forward and sit on his punches, might be traced back to his small town days in Safford, Ariz.
“I was pretty much born and raised there through high school,” Gaethje said. “My dad has worked in the copper mines for 30 years. My brother works in the mines. Both of my grandfathers (on both sides) worked in the copper mines and retired there. And all of my friends work in the mines, too.”
For many years now, mining (particularly coal mining) has been widely regarded as one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. Gaethje, who fights with a ferocity few would dare to, comes from a long-line of workers doing the work no one else wants to.
“I worked on the copper mines for one summer and it was very draining emotionally and physically,” Gaethje said. “It’s definitely really tough work. I was working on the biggest open pit copper mine in the United States, so it wasn’t underground. We were working with huge machinery and haul trucks. We were pretty much just driving around on shelves – and if you fall off the edge, you’re dead. I was working with a shovel that scoops up the dirt and fills up the haul truck with one scoop. These things are like 100 tons. It’s just ridiculous.”
America has long advertised itself as the land of opportunity. Implicit in that promise is the expectation that children will live at least a step above their parents. Given that, did Gaethje’s parents want him to break the cycle of their kin working on the mines?
“My father never specifically said he didn’t want me to work in the copper mines,” Gaethje said. “But he definitely gave me every opportunity to not be a miner. He gave me every opportunity to wrestle in every tournament and to go to college and wrestle. So he made it very apparent that I would have the opportunity to not work in a copper mine.”
Big punchers are intriguing case studies because, unlike an in-his-prime Mike Tyson, they often do not look physically imposing or impeccably chiseled. They often don’t look the part. Liddell, for instance, sported a grossly protruded stomach – a pot belly of sorts for an athlete. And Dan Henderson, well, if you weren’t aware of Hendo’s world-class wrestling pedigree then you would never imagine him being so ridiculously strong. In street clothes Henderson looks like nothing special – on the thin side, in fact. But if you push against the guy, as I have, you suddenly realize the guy is dense as a brick. Gaethje, whose musculature to the naked eye isn’t going to awe anyone, fits neatly into the Henderson mold. Only Gaethje is a five-fold more aggressive than Hendo.
It begs the question, of course, where does Gaethje’s firepower come from? Might some of it be owed to all of that strenuous manual labor of his miner heritage?
“Definitely,” he said. “There’s some weird muscles that miners build. They work so hard on huge machinery so it makes you really strong. My grandfather on my dad’s side boxed in the Army … I’m also half-Mexican on my mom’s side and gained a lot of athleticism from that side of the family. The Mexican side of my family is helping me a ton. My mother’s maiden name is Espinoza.”
A Division 1 All-American at 157 pounds during his tenure at Northern Colorado, Justin Gaethje complements the wrestling skills you’d expect from a decorated and highly athletic collegian with a vicious striking repertoire. Superficially, he fits neatly into the category of the standard MMA wrestle-boxer, but that’s not really his game; instead, he’s almost like a nineteenth- or early twentieth-century boxer, with his emphasis on rapid forward movement to close the distance, diverse clinch game, and exceptional ability to inflict enormous amounts of damage at close range. Out of all the prospects on this list, Gaethje has beaten the most credible competition: J.Z. Cavalcante, Dan Lauzon, Brian Cobb, and Drew Fickett all number among his victims, with all of those victories by stoppage. Gaethje has developed rapidly under the experienced eye of Grudge’s Trevor Wittman, showing substantial improvement from bout to bout, and if he continues to get better there’s almost no limit to how high he can rise.
Let’s start with striking. As I mentioned above, it’s possible to categorize Gaethje as a wrestle-boxer, but that label substantially distorts the nature of his game: range striking isn’t Gaethje’s strength, though to be clear he’s still pretty good at it. If you’re looking for a clean, technical, jab-heavy boxing style, Gaethje’s not your man; if you want to see brutal knockout punches that send opponents flying like something out of a 1960s Batman episode, however, Gaethje might be the guy for you. His ruthless right hand is his strong suit, which he’ll throw as a cross, uppercut, or most often, as a sledgehammer overhand, but he also packs quite a wallop in his left hook. He’s one of the most gifted punchers I’ve ever seen: he does a great job of keeping his feet under him as he throws, which means that every punch carries his full bodyweight behind it. This is a learned skill, to be sure, but it seems to come naturally for Gaethje. Watch his feet in this GIF:
The uppercut that finishes the fight isn’t thrown with the kind of heat-seeking intensity of the overhand that precedes it, but look at the way it snaps Dan Lauzon’s head back: that’s the product of proper weight transfer. In addition to his arsenal of punches, Gaethje throws mean low kicks – he stopped Brian Cobb in the third round with them, and absolutely brutalized Lauzon the Younger throughout their fight – but he could stand to improve his timing, setups, and technique a bit. They’re brutally hard, some of the hardest in the sport, but he actually turns his hip over just a touch too much, which throws off his balance and makes him slow to recover his stance. Gaethje will also throw the occasional flying knee and spinning backfist when his opponent’s back is to the cage: they suit his athleticism and explosiveness quite well, and the contexts in which he throws them show his polish as a striker.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the negatives, namely Gaethje’s defense. He tends to bull his way forward with his chin tucked and hands a bit low, and relies on his toughness to eat shots as he works his way into range. He’s vulnerable to combinations, and he can be baited into leaning into his opponent’s strikes This works against the quality of competition he’s faced so far, but it won’t fly forever; he doesn’t need to suddenly morph into Anderson Silva, but some semblance of head movement would be an improvement. All told, however, Gaethje’s exceptionally dangerous at range, even if it isn’t the best facet of his game.
Gaethje’s wheelhouse is infighting and the clinch, and his game at distance, however effective, is mostly a bridge to get him to close range. Once there, he’s an absolute monster, and does a fantastic job of integrating his positional grappling with clinch strikes: he’ll move from over-under to the double collar tie, unload a knee or two, and then switch to the single-collar tie for a stream of hard uppercuts. He consistently looks to throw elbows on clinch breaks – that’s how he opened a cavernous cut on JZ Cavalcante’s head that led to the doctor’s stoppage – and more generally, is exceptionally effective at delivering offense in transition. He also uses his wrestling base in creative, MMA-specific ways: he’ll throw knees from the double collar tie, snap his opponent down and transition to the front headlock, and then continue the unrelenting barrage of vicious clinch strikes. As far as wrestling goes, he doesn’t look for takedowns all that often, though it’s possible that his offensive wrestling might re-emerge when he starts to fight opponents in the top echelon of competition. He does have a knockout by slam on his record, and when he gets his hands on an opponent and decides to take them down, they tend to land hard. Defensively, he’s quite sound, with a quick sprawl, good technique against the single-leg, and excellent balance and awareness in the clinch. He can be taken down when his striking (especially his kicks) gets wild, which happens from time to time, but by and large his wrestling base is good enough to keep him on his feet.
We frankly haven’t seen much of Gaethje’s ground game, given his wrestling base and the fact that he generally wants to stand and trade. If he does get taken down, he doesn’t have much to offer from the bottom, and he has a bad habit of giving up his back as he stands back up; this repeatedly got him in trouble against Brian Cobb. In the brief periods where we’ve seen him in top position, he maintains a heavy base and demonstrates the same ridiculous power in his ground and pound that he possesses on the feet. He’s also an excellent scrambler, as his athleticism would suggest, which lessens the risk inherent to his wild technique. Again, however, it’s likely that top-flight competition could make him pay dearly if he doesn’t close up these gaps.
Gaethje’s future looks bright. He’s trained by a brilliant coach with a long track record of success, Trevor Wittman, and has access to fantastic training partners like Brandon Thatch and the rest of the crew in the talent-rich greater Denver area. He’s shown substantial improvement from fight to fight, slowly adding more tools at range and in the clinch (the elbows are a relatively recent development). Gaethje also possesses outstanding physical tools. He’s explosive and covers distance quickly, which helps to minimize the effects of his porous defense at range; he scrambles well; and then there’s the brutal, crushing power in his strikes. Nobody on this prospect list hits harder than Gaethje, and that kind of power can only partially be taught.
Most promisingly, Gaethje is only 25, with less than three years of professional experience, so he’s a long way from being a finished product. The fact that he’s beaten this level of competition so early in his career suggests that there are big things in his future. He’s currently tied up in WSOF – he signed a five-bout deal prior to the Patishnock bout – so he probably won’t hit free agency until some point in 2015 (I doubt that contract includes a champion’s clause), assuming he stays healthy and is able to fight regularly. At that point, he’ll be only four years into his career, still in his physical prime, with a boatload of hype and possibly an unbeaten record. If he tightens up some of the wildness in his game, Gaethje could legitimately challenge for a title in the UFC, and at the worst become a mainstay of the top 10. He’s practically there already.
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
Content Provided by Chuck Mindenhall MMAFighting.com
Justin Gaethje is quickly becoming something to behold. It wasn’t just that he handled his lightweight title bout against Richard Patishnock like a man with a strict curfew, it was the grace under fire. It was the general alacrity to inflict pain, swiftly and without nonsense. It’s his continued, unnerving poise while freelancing on offense. As a matter of fact, it’s that he freelances so well on offense.
And even for all that, his Colorado-based coach Trevor Wittman says he’s nowhere near his actual potential. He calls the 25-year old Gaethje “green.” Which might be the deep green of a copper patina, from the looks of it.
Like he did with Gesias Cavalcante and Dan Lauzon, Gaethje pressured Patishnock from the opening bell at WSOF 8 in Hollywood, Florida. Patishnock — who was a late replacement for Lewis Gonzalez, though was realistically just a target — gamely threw down in the opening moments. Gaethje willingly took a few to land start the landslide, though. And sixty-nine seconds later, after Patishnock was rocked by knees, pocket punches, spinning things and short temple-smashing elbows, referee Troy Waugh coolly peeled Gaethje away from the scene.
Patishnock, smiling a bloody smile, simply had no answer. Just like Cavalcante didn’t, and Lauzon didn’t. It’s great for any promotion when the top guy presents himself as unsolvable.
“All the years are paying off right now,” Gaethje, who began wrestling at four years old, said afterwards. “We haven’t worked one elbow all camp, to tell you the truth. Coach [Trevor Wittman] is just always telling me to have fun out there and stay creative.”
Creativity is what makes Gaethje the face of the World Series of Fighting…a promotion that after its eighth installment still looks like Mount Elbert compared to Mount Everest (the UFC).
But you know what? Good fighters cast their own shadow.
Gaethje, who is not a castoff nor a retread nor a resurrection story but a gem that the WSOF discovered all on its own, is the cornerstone to identity. If the WSOF is smart, they dump truckloads of the best 155ers they can find in the cage with Gaethje (11-0) and then high tail it out before they get caught in the maelstrom. They should do everything in their power to keep the Grudge fighter long-term and market their inaugural champion with gusto, because right now — as far as the WSOF concerned — he’s their Jon Jones. He is Jones circa UFC 100, when the quiet kid from Endicott was trying out the full bouquet of artisan striking.
Gaethje, like Jones, makes it look easy as he finishes people.
Too much hyperbole? Not if you’re WSOF. There’s no such thing as too much hyperbole in the fight game. Mythmaking is what makes the thing go round. And Gaethje, with no associations to other organizations, is a hypeable commodity. He’s ripe to be put some aura around. More so than Marlon Moraes (who has been dominant of late in the WSOF decagon) and Tyrone Spong (a dualist who moonlights with WSOF when not kickboxing in Glory) and Anthony Johnson (who is now a free agent, and could be on his way back to the UFC). Gaethje is synonymous with WSOF, and — from a promotional standpoint — he’s the guy to build around.
Of course, whether or not WSOF can truly groom a star remains to be seen. There is a potential big fight down the road between Gaethje and Nick Newell, the one-armed convention-buster who holds a similar star quality. Or they can match Gaethje up with “JZ” Cavalcante again, since the first fight was stopped due to a cut. Or they could start picking and choosing from the surplus of 155ers and let Gaethje do work.
Whatever the case, Saturday night was another showcase for Gaethje. It might have slipped under the radar for a lot of fight fans, but the WSOF inaugural lightweight champ looks like the real deal. Now it’s a question of whether or not the WSOF can make him into an event.
