G1 presents Sovereign Valor: Team USA vs Team Japan

MMA has come to Coushatta. The card features 11 fights featuring 4 professional bouts. Amateur fights are three 3 minute rounds, while professional fights are three 5 minute rounds. The professional fights feature fighters from Japan against American fighters. As a bonus, one of the referees tonight was UFC veteran, Rich Clementi. After a peformance by the First Mate dance crew, the show opens to the entrance of the two competing teams in the cage. As one may guess, the crowd has a noticeable bias. With the teams facing off in the cage, their respective national anthems play. At the conclusion of the anthems, the crowd goes wild in anticipation.

Note: Our appologies to the amateur fighters! We were not able to sit cageside and it took a while to find the right settings to get good quality action pics with a new lens.

Fight 1 Amateur 170 lbs

Steven Boulet (Performance Evolution) vs Alvin Jordan (Gladiator Academy-Lafayette, LA)

Round One:
They circle and trade punches. They joust against the fence...then separate. Jordan is more aggressive but gets caught with a looping overhand right by Boulet that ends Jordan's night early.

Winner: Steven Boulet at 1:04 Rd 1, KO.

Fight 2 Amateur 205ish lbs.

Derek Baines (Urban Jungle-Houston, TX) vs Jeremy Hardy (Bushi Ban-Pasadena, TX)

Round 1:

Hardy opens with leg kicks. Then they both start trading leg kicks. Hardy is clearly winning the battle of the leg kicks, as redness shows and Baines begins favoring his left leg. Hardy gets a front head lock and begins pushing Baines against the cage while landing some knees to the head. The fighters separate, and you can see that Baines is bloodied. Hardy drops him with a hook. He quickly gets mount and rains down big shots. Baines rolls over and Hardy sinks the rear naked choke forcing the tap.

Winner: Jeremy Hardy 2:06 Rd 1 by submission (rear naked choke)

Fight 3 Amateur 140 lbs.

Martin Walker (TX Top Team-Beaumont, TX) vs Mike Bruno (Gladiator Academy-Lafayette, LA)

Round 1:
Bruno shoots in and gets the takedown, advancing to half-guard. Walker regains full guard. He then goes for a triangle. He locks the legs. It is tight. Walker then transitions to armbar. Bruno appears to be in all kinds of trouble, but then he gets his head out and escapes. Walker is very impressive with his skills off his back. He then catches his own leg for rubber guard. While pushing on Bruno's face he looks for a gogoplata. Bruno counters. The round ends with Bruno tied up in Walker's guard.

Round 2:
Bruno shoots again and pushes Walker against the cage. He lands a big slam and gains side control. Walker works to get half-guard and then guard. They scramble, and Bruno winds up in the mount. He lands some punches. Walker escapes and looks for a triangle from his back. The round ends. Both of these fighters are displaying some fine grappling prowess and skill.

Round 3:

Walker opens the round with a leg kick. Bruno answers with a quick shot and gets the takedown in side control. Walker moves his hips to gain half-guard. Bruno changes the temperature by trying to soften Walker up with some punches. This gives him the opportunity to advance to side control, and after that the mount. At this Walker turns over, giving his back. Bruno lands a flurry, and the ref stops the fight. While both fighters were impressive, it was Bruno's heart and tenacity that won him the fight.

Winner: Mike Bruno by ref stoppage due to strikes, Rd 3.

Fight 4 Amateur 205+ lbs

Gary Harling (Houston, TX) vs Everitt Sims (Gladiator Academy-Lafayette, LA)

Round 1:

They immediately clinch. Sims takes him down and wastes no time working for the mount. Once there Sims rains huge punches down. Harling rolls over and Sims gets the choke. Sims was just too big and mean for Harling.

Winner: Everitt Sims at 1:11 Rd 1 by rear naked choke.

Fight 5 Amateur 185 lbs

Ryan Spann (TX Top Team-Beaumont, TX) vs Corey Manuel (Lake Area BJJ-Lake Charles, LA)

Round 1:

Manuel shoots immediately at the glove touch, grabs a leg, and goes for the takedown. Spann gets under the chin with a guillotine as he defends the shot. He adjusts his grip, and it is deep. Manuel continues to drive for the takedown, but after a couple of steps goes out on his feet. Spann drops his limp opponent as the ref steps in.

Winner: Ryan Spann :16 seconds by standing guillotine, Rd 1.

Fight 6 Amateur 125 lbs.

Will Spidle (TX Top Team-Beaumont, TX) vs Dat Tran (Gladiator Academy-Lafayette, LA)

Round 1:

Tran comes out real aggessively with punches. They tie up at the cage. Spidle has double underhooks. Tran gets caught with an errant low blow and takes some time to recover. Upon the restart Tran charges in. Spidle gets a takedown and lands in side control. Tran recovers back to guard and goes for an armbar. Spidle defends it well. He then pushes Tran up against the cage. Tran rolls his legs up trying to escape, and Spidle pounces with a flurry of strikes. Tran turtles up and waits for the stoppage.

Winner: Will Spidle at 2:33 Rd 1 by referee stoppage.

Fight 7 Amateur 155 lbs

Nkosi Campbell (Bulls Gym-Alexandria, LA) vs Taylor Montgomery (TX Punishment Crew-Beaumont, TX)

Round 1:

Campbell leads with a superman punch. They clinch, and Campbell lands some big knees to the body. He then bullies Montgomery to the ground. Montgomery escapes, and they scramble. Campbell lands in side control. Montgomery gets guard, and then makes a beautiful sweep into mount. Unfortunately the moment was short lived, as Campbell reversed him right back into guard. Montgomery goes for a triangle, and just as he locked his legs Campbell picks him up and power bombs him to unconsciousness. Campbell was a pit bull in the cage. He came in 10 pounds over, and his strength proved to be the deciding factor in the fight.

Winner: Nkosi Campbell at 2:30 in Rd 1 by knockout

Fight 8 Professional 135 lbs

Tashiro Nishiuchi Akai 16-7-13 (Team Japan) vs Lewis McKenzie 12-9 (Team USA)

Round 1:

McKenzie comes out with aggressive strikes, making great use of his reach advantage. He throws some nice combos of kicks and pucnhes. He pushes Nishiuchi to the cage. They separate. McKenzie gets the clinch and executes a nice hip throw. Nishiuchi quickly gets back to his feet. McKenzie lands a good one two. They trade more. McKenzie's frantic pace is beginning to wear himself out. His defense and movement slow, and Nishiuchi capitalizes by landing two good punches. Nishiuchi follows up looking to finish and eats a spinning back fist. His legs buckle, and the crowd goes nuts. McKenzie pushes him to the ground, and they scramble. Nishiuchi ends on top, and McKenzie gives his back. Nishiuchi goes for the choke, but McKenzie escapes. The round ends with Nishiuchi attempting to sink the choke. This was a super exciting round. McKenzie is a little wild, but he uses his range well to work multi-level combos. Nishiuchi seems a little off balance, but he is being patient and looking for his openings.

Round 2:

McKenzie lands some good punches. His right keeps scoring. Now Nichiuchi lands a few in return. McKenzie looks tired again and shoots. He gets Nishiuchi against the cage. Nishiuchi's nose is bloody. He's taken a lot of punishment, but he seems to have a pretty good chin. They separate off the cage and exchange more punches again. They are both landing. McKenzie gets caught, he shoots lazily, and Nishiuchi takes his back. The choke is sunk, and McKenzie has no choice but to tap. This was a very exciting fight, and McKenzie was very impressive considering he has no formal training in mma.

Winner: Tashiro Nishiuchi at 2:31 Rd 2 by rear naked choke

Fight 9 Professional 185 lbs

Yoshihito Kuroki 2-1-4 (Team Japan) vs Eric Scallan 8-3 (Team USA)

Round 1:
Scallan throws the first combo. He follows it with a solid mid-kick, and Kuroki shoots. Scallan stuffs it and ends in side control. Scallan advances to the mount and seamlessly transitions to the armbar, getting the immediate tap. This was a dominating performance with flawless execution.

Winner: Eric Scallon at 1:05 Rd 1 by armbar.

Fight 10 Professional 155 lbs

Kota Okazawa 10-5-4 (Team Japan) vs Derek Campos 8-2 (Team USA)
Derek Campos recently signed with Bellator.

Round 1:

They immediately start trading some quick punches and Okazawa goes down. He quickly recovers and shoots on Campos. It is easily stuffed, and Campos stands up. Campos throws some solid punches, changing levels, Okazawa shoots again, as he is getting picked apart. Campos stuffs the attempt again. Okazawa pushes him into cage, and he finally gets the takedown. Campos has him in butterfly guard. He goes for the omaplata on Okazawa. They scramble, and Campos gets on top. Okazawa then goes for a kimura, but Campos defends well. Campos tries to pass Okazawa's guard, while working some solid ground and pound to the body. The round ends. Okazawa was outclassed standing and didn't seem to do much better on the ground.

Round 2:
Campos lands a stiff counter and Okazawa buckles. He lands another hook, and Okazawa drops into a shot. Campos stuffs it. He then works to get the back. He gets it and flattens Okazawa out. He lands a couple of shots and keeps him flat. He lands more shots to the head. Campos steadily works for the choke and eventually forces the tap. Campos was just too fast and skilled on the ground. This guy showed why he is going to Bellator. Campos turned in a very strong performance.

Winner: Derek Campos at 3:46 Rd 2 by rear naked choke


Fight 11 Professional 155 lbs

Yoshiaki Takahashi 7-1-2 (Team Japan) vs Adam Schindler 9-3 (Team USA)
They have an intense staredown.

Round 1
Schindler leads with a good leg kick. Takahashi kicks in answer, but Schindler catches it and drives him to the ground. Schindler is really aggressive and in the scramble takes Takahashi's back. He immediately flattens him out and rains down punches to the sides of the head. Takahashi is tough and makes a valiant effort to escape, but Schindler's top control is too good, and Takahashi is flattened out again. Eventually the non-stop punches start to wear on him, he stops defending himself, the lack of defense and accumulation of punishment forces the referee to stop the fight.

Winner: Adam Schindler at 2:55 in Rd 1 by TKO stoppage

I have to say that this card surpassed my expectations. No fights went the distance, and a few fighters really impressed me. As a bonus, the representative for Team Japan was none other than Funaki of WWE fame.


The real action for me, however, was outside the cage, as the entire media row got threatened by some drunken, redneck assholes because we were working during the national anthem and didn't have a media table to put our gear on in order to stand. They were very vocal and belligerent about it, and I actually thought we would be forced into an altercation. But if those certain someones are reading this, I have a piece of friendly advice. If you love your country as much as you appear to, then perhaps you should put more effort into learning the lyrics to the anthem as you do in policing what everyone else is doing.