OTM was live at HDNet Fights – Reckless Abandon on Saturday, December 15th at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.OTM was live at HDNet Fights – Reckless Abandon on Saturday, December 15th at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas and provides all the play-by-play and action that went down in Mark Cuban’s second installment of HDNet Fights, which featured a co-main event between top 10 middleweight Frank Trigg and TUF 4 veteran Edwin Dewees, as well as a rematch between the always entertaining Jason “MayheM” Miller and the decorated Army Ranger, Tim Kennedy. The undercard also featured some big names, such as UFC veterans and Texas natives Yves Edwards and Pete Spratt, as well as a plethora of up-and-coming local and national talent. Needless to say Mark Cuban and his matchmaker Guy Mezger are putting together all the right ingredients for a great MMA organization, as stars such as Matt Lindland, Randy Couture, Oleg Taktarov, Ken Shamrock, Andrei Arlovski, Dan Henderson, and many more showed up to show their support at the weigh-ins on Friday and the fights on Saturday night.
Lee King vs. Marcus Lanier (Lightweight Bout)
–5 rounds of 3:00 minutes each–
Round 1:
Marcus Lanier wearing the red gloves seems tentative as he shoots for a single leg on Lee King who is wearing the blue gloves. He pushed him up against the fence and continues working for the single leg. King defends well and gets an underhook. Lanier throws a right and some knees. The ref finally breaks them up due to lack of action. King throws a wild right and drops Lanier. Lanier recovers and secures the single-leg takedown as the round ends. OTM scores the round 10-9 for Lanier.
Round 2:
Lanier lands a left kick to the body and both men clinch in the center of the cage. Lanier controls and pushed King up against the cage. King reverses and jumps on Lanier’s back looking for the RNC. As Lanier defends he falls to his guard with King on top. Not much action from this position. Lanier looks for a guillotine and transitions to set up a triangle as King defends. Lanier then gets the crowd on its feet by securing a leg, picking King up over his shoulders, and slamming King in the center of the cage with a powerful lateral drop. King is hurt from the slam and Lanier takes his back and begins blasting him, as King looks to spin into Lanier. Lanier transitions from mount into a painful armbar. King taps out from the armbar, right as time expires. Excellent skills exhibited by Lanier.
Official Results: Marcus Lanier via armbar (2:58 of Round 2).
Liam McCarty vs. Jason House (Middleweight Bout)
–5 rounds of 3:00 minutes each–
Round 1:
This is a battle of two Dallas natives in the “Battle of Big D”. Jason House is in red shorts and red gloves and Liam McCarty is wearing black Muay Thai shorts with blue gloves. Both men touch gloves and look to strike. McCarty throws a solid leg kick and House returns the favor moments later. Nice stiff right hand from House keeps McCarty at bay. 1-2 from McCarty doesn’t do much, but secures a pretty double-leg takedown and lands inside House’s guard. McCarty begins peppering House’s sides as House looks for an armbar. Both men stand momentarily as McCarty takes House down again and begins some ground and pound. House is able to control the damage with his closed guard. OTM scores the round 10-9 for McCarty.
Round 2:
Both men begin teeing off in the center of the ring, as House is able to get the takedown. McCarty begins working from the bottom of half-guard as House looks to advance pass. McCarty reverses with a Jeff Glover’esque half-guard sweep, but can’t control as House stands and reverses. Very odd exchange of reversals as both men appear to be tangled up with McCarty on to but facing House’s feet. The round ends with McCarty inside House’s guard. OTM scores the round 10-9 for McCarty due to aggression and activity.
Round 3:
Both men meet and clinch with House looking to take McCarty’s back against the cage. House gets the takedown and gets both hooks in and is looking for the RNC. McCarty defends well and spins into House’s guard. McCarty then inexplicably demonstrates his lack of grappling experience as he falls back into a sloppy ankle lock from the top position, allowing House to reverse and get on top. The referee stands both men up and both men are showing their fatigue. McCarty gets the takedown and lands an elbow inside House’s guard opening a cut above House’s left eyebrow causing the referee to stop the fight due to Doctor’s Stoppage.
Official Result: Liam McCarty via TKO – Doctor’s Stoppage (4:10 of Round 3).
Jay White vs. Patrick Castillo (Heavyweight Bout)
Round 1:
Jay White, fighting out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada will be facing a local product in Patrick Castillo who is fighting out of Copperas Cove, Texas. White wastes no time in slamming his much smaller opponent to the canvas as he is enjoying a 25 lb. weight advantage. He looks to secure a quick Kimura and uses it to transition into a beautiful belly-down armbar. White showed awesome fluid submission skills for a big man, much like Frank Mir, and finishes the armbar for the tap out victory in just 50 seconds. Randy Couture and his team from Xtreme Couture joins him in the center of the cage to celebrate.
Official Result: Jay White via Submission – Armbar (0:50 of Round 1).
Freddie Espiricueta vs. Nissen Osterneck (Middleweight Bout)
Round 1:
Freddie Espiricueta is wearing blue Muay Thai shorts and red gloves and is a native of Dallas, Texas. Nissen Osterneck is a native of Hawaii fighting out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and brings his undefeated 4-0 MMA record into the cage. Osterneck is explosive out of the gate and rushes Espiricueta into the side of the cage looking for both underhooks. He lands an inside trip takedown and easily passes to side control. Espiricueta escapes and gets back to his feet where Osterneck lands a big knee and throws a high kick. Osterneck keeps after it and gets another takedown and passes to side control again, where he looks for a keylock. He decides to go to mount where he begins teeing off, picking his shots. He then pours on the strikes, which includes an elbow. The referee finally does his job and stops the brutality at 2:30 of the first round. Later in the night, the fans in attendenace would vote Osterneck the winner of the “TKO of the Night” award.
Official Result: Nissen Osterneck via TKO – Strikes (2:30 of Round 1).
Corey Mahon vs. Chris Bowles (Lightweight Bout)
Round 1:
Chris Bowles has a 7-1 record and has won all of his fights via submission. He is a native of Dallas, Texas training under HDNet Fight’s president Guy Mezger. He takes on a scrappy undefeated fighter (6-0) from Columbus, Indiana in Corey Mahon. Bowles is wearing black trunks and red gloves with Tre Telligman in his corner. Mahon is wearing old school white taduntaduns and blue gloves. Both men look to bang as the bell rings. Bowles lands a stiff right hand that drops Mahon in the center of the ring and gets on top looking to finish. Bowles begins raining body shots, as he works to pass Mahon’s half-guard. Mahon gets to full guard and Bowles begins striking as Mahon looks for a guillotine. Bowles defends and starts dropping shots as Mahon looks for an armbar. It doesn’t come close and both men stand. Mahon looks fired up and throws a big right hand that misses badly. At 36, Bowles is 15 years older than his 21-year-old counterpart and looks a lot more composed and methodical with his striking. Bowles keeps circling and picking his shots as Mahon continues to move forward. OTM scores the round 10-9 for Bowles.
Round 2:
Bowles lands a good body shot to start the round and Mahon returns a hard head kick, which is mostly blocked. Bowles secures a takedown and starts to pass Mahon’s half-guard. Mahon recovers to a full closed guard. Bowles throws some heavy leather from inside Mahon’s guard, but slows down, so the fight is stood up. Mahon explodes after the stand up and lands some hard knees followed by a takedown. Bowels’ face is battered and bleeding from the exchange, as Mahon passes to side control and gets Bowles’ back with both hooks in. He looks for the RNC and throws some shots as Bowels does a great defending and spins into Mahon’s guard. However, Bowels leaves his arm extended and Mahon locks on a picture-perfect armbar from the guard for the win. Very impressive skills demonstrated by Mahon. Mahon shows a lot of respect for Bowles and thanks Mark Cuban for treating everyone like professional fighters. He also mentions he’d like to come back and fight at his natural 145 pounds.
Official Result: Corey Mahon via Submission – Armbar (4:22 of Round 2).
–The crowd explodes with cheers as the commentators, Matt “The Law” Lindland and Ron Kruck, announce a big welcome to Randy “The Natural” Couture. Randy talks about his fighters Frank Trigg and Jay White, the upcoming Sport Fight event (that he and Lindland founded) that HDNet will be airing at the end of the month, and his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko, who’s fight on New Year’s Eve will also be broadcasted on HDNet. Couture went on to state, “Unless the UFC wants to do a co-promotion with M-1 and make the Fedor fight happen, I’m going to have to wait ’til my contract expires. “I have no intention of breaching that contract; that expires in July. My employment contract expires with them in October. So I would assume the soonest you’d see me fight Emelianenko would be in October.”–
Tristan Yunker vs. Pete Spratt (Welterweight Bout)
Pete “The Secret Weapon” Spratt is one of the premier strikers in the sport of MMA and always a Dallas favorite, as this Texas native has fought in the UFC, TKO, and participated on the UFC’s fourth installment of The Ultimate Fighter. He faces a tall welterweight at 6’3” in Tristan Yunker, who has wins over UFC veterans Clay Guida and John Halverson, as well as the host of “The Human Weapon” Jason Chambers. Tristan Yunker failed to make weight and will be enjoying a favorable size advantage as Spratt accepted the fight with 25% of Yunker’s purse coming his way.
Round 1:
The fight starts with Tristan Yunker coming forward and Pete Spratt landing a big right hand to Yunker’s left eye. Yunker is hurt and gets out of danger by using his wrestling skills by shooting in for a takedown on the Texas native Spratt. Once on the ground, Yunker goes to side control and looks to take Spratt’s back, but Spratt stays cool and is able to reverse the position and spin into Yunker’s guard. Once inside the guard, Spratt drops two big bombs that cuts Yunker’s injured left eye badly. Spratt lands a few more effective strikes inside Yunker’s guard that cause the referee to stop the fight after Yunker mentioned that he couldn’t see. Mentioning blood in your eyes or not being able to see is the same thing as asking for the fight to be stopped, and that is exactly what happened at 1:34 of Round 1. Impressive win for Spratt, who has now strung two impressive TKO wins in the first two HDNet Fights.
Official Result: Pete Spratt via TKO – Strikes (1:38 of Round 1).
–The commentator announces a welcome to Ken Shamrock, as Ken begins talking about the evolution of the sport and how he helped Edwin Dewees get ready for his fight tonight against Frank Trigg. He mentions how Dewees hasn’t fought since participating on The Ultimate Fighter 4 and feels that his fight against Trigg will be the fight of the night. His IFL coach counterpart, Matt Lindland, agrees and the crowd cheers.–
Robert Villegas vs. Kyzysztof Soszynski (Light-Heavyweight Bout)
Round 1:
Robert Villegas is a home state native of Corpus Christi, Texas and is an obvious ground fighter having a black-belt in Judo and a brown-belt in Jiu-Jitsu. He faces off against Kyzysztof “The Experiment” Soszynski who is a Polish-Canadian fighter, who has been training with Dan Henderson and Team Quest in Temecula, CA. Soszynski who is a seasoned veteran of the IFL comes out looking to bang, as Villegas returns some leg kicks. Soszynski tries to clinch, but Villegas pushes him off. Soszynski, who has fought at heavyweight, appears to be the more powerful of the two fighters and keeps throwing combos right down the pipe. Villegas keeps dropping his hands in an old-school jiu-jitsu manner and pays for it with a hard right kick. Villegas deliver a low blow to Soszynski’s groin and lands two shots after the referee motioned to give Soszynski time to recover from the low blow. This prompts boos from the crowd toward Villegas, as he acts like he did nothing wrong. Soszynski is ready and appears pissed and turns this into a boxing match, where he obviously has the advantage. The round ends with Soszynski lands another right hand. OTM scores the round 10-9 for Soszynski.
Round 2:
Soszynski starts the second stanza by taking Villegas down, but immediately stand up as Villegas looks for a guillotine choke. As Soszynski stands Villegas goes for a heel hook, but Soszynski stays calm and spins out. Back on their feet, they feel each other out briefly, as Soszynski lands another takedown and stand up delivering kicks to Villegas’ legs until the referee stands him up. After being stood up, Villegas then sits to his butt, begging Soszynski to join him on the ground. The referee gives him a warning and Villegas is reluctant to stand back up. He stands and Soszynski lands more shots, which prompts Villegas to sit on his butt again. The crowd is understandably upset and rains boos down at Villegas as he appears to be showing no sign of wanting to fight. The referee gives Villegas a final warning and then waves off the fight, as Villegas refused to stand up and fight. Soszynski wins via DQ as Villegas showed no heart and refused to fight after getting beat up on the feet. To the many in attendance, seeing Villegas flop to his butt and refuse to fight when the ref asked him to stand was like watching a baseball player refuse to take his next at bat after striking out the inning before. Terrible effort on Villegas’ part, but Soszynski was okay about picking up the win.
Official Result: Kyzysztof Soszynski via DQ – Refusal to Fight (3:15 of Round 2).
Alonzo Martinez vs. Yves Edwards (Lightweight Bout)
Round 1:
The former UFC #1 contender Yves Edwards will be fighting in his home state and brings his substantial 29-13-1 record and plethora of UFC, Pride, Bodog, and EliteXC experience to the ring against Omaha, Nebraska native Alonzo Martinez who has made a name for himself compiling a 20-8 record while fighting mostly in smaller Midwestern shows. Edwards and Martinez start by trading heavy leather in the center of the ring, as Edwards’ “thug-jitsu” gets the better of the exchanges. Edwards gets the takedown and goes to side control, where Martinez reverses the position. Edwards now uses his butterfly guard and lands a beautiful Sim Go’esque sweep from the butterfly guard. Edwards starts working from inside Martinez’s guard and pushes him up against the fence. The referee wants more action and stands both men up. Martinez pushed Edwards up against the cage, but Edwards briefly controls with double underhooks. Edwards gets the takedown and Martinez reverses and works from inside Edwards guard as the round ends. OTM scores the round 10-9 for Martinez.
Round 2:
The round starts with Martinez looking for a flying-knee that misses. Edwards counters by dropping Martinez with a hard left hand and pounds on Martinez from inside his guard. Martinez recovers and Edwards looks to pass to side control. He passes the half-guard to side control and mounts. Edwards starts dropping some heavy hands from the mount, which causes Martinez to turn and give up his back. Edwards wastes no time getting both hooks in and breaking Martinez down, turns him over and skinks the RNC for the tap out victory. Yves shows his colorful personality and sportsman ship, thanks his family, and his new team American Top Team in south Florida.
Official Result: Yves Edwards via Submission – Rear Naked Choke (3:04 of Round 2).
Edwin Dewees vs. Frank Trigg (Middleweight Bout)
Round 1:
Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg is wearing blue shorts with Randy Couture in his corner. Edwin “Bam Bam” Dewees is wearing black camo shorts with Ken Shamrock in his corner. Both veterans touch gloves as a sign of respect and then begin trading hands. Trigg throws a hard left kick, which Dewees catches and uses it to land the takedown. Trigg then locks on a tight Kimura from the bottom of half-guard and begins cranking it on the jiu-jitsu specialist Dewees. Trigg sticks the Dewees’ hand all the way to the middle of his back and the crowd is moaning in discomfort from seeing Dewees’ arm getting cranked. Dewees gives the ref a thumbs up, but Trigg uses the Kimura to sweep Dewees. Now from the top position, Trigg finished the Kimura and Dewees taps out giving Trigg a surprising submission win over the submission specialist Dewees! After the win, Trigg showed a lot of class by thanking his cornerman and coach Randy Couture, who he thanked as the reason why he was there fighting tonight. He also thanked HDNet Fights for putting together a great show and said he was eager to come back and fight for them in February.
Official Result: Frank Trigg via Submission – Kimura (Round 1)
Tim Kennedy vs. Jason “MayheM” Miller (Middleweight Bout)
Jason “MayheM” Miller shows his hilarious sense of humor in the pre fight video by dancing and giving props to Kennedy (a decorated Army Ranger) for being a true American hero. Then he starts dancing some more and declares that the warlords in the jungles of Africa sent him on a mission to be the King of HDNet Fights. MayheM’s entrance, which is always eagerly anticipated by his fans, was equally as funny as his pre fight video. He was wearing a Mexican pro wrestling mask and cape with skintight silver shorts that were stuffed with a sock in the front. He threw off the cape and shimmied down the steps to cheers. As he reached the entry to the ramp, one of his corner men held up a piñata, which he roundhouse kicked into the crowd. Then his other corner men jumped out with an even bigger piñata, which he karate chopped in half. Soon candy was being thrown everywhere as MayheM took off his mask and raced to the ring. Once at the cage, he quickly changed shorts and was all business and ready for war.
Round 1:
Jason “MayheM” Miller thaws a high kick that lands, but Kennedy recovers and secures a takedown off Miller’s other legs. Working from the top, Kennedy throws a knee to MayheM as both are on the ground, prompting the referee to stop the fight and warn Kennedy. MayheM looks confused from the illegal attack and both men stand up. They start trading strikes and MayheM looks to get a Sakuraba’esque standing Kimura. Thy break away and Kennedy gets the takedown, as MayheM begins working his butterfly guard. Kennedy gets to MayheM’s back and begins raining punishment and locks on an RNC that MayheM fights off valiantly. The round ends with Kennedy dropping more punches. OTM scores the round 10-9 for Kennedy.
Round 2:
Kennedy gets the takedown and again gets MayheM’s back, dishing out more punishment and looking for the RNC. MayheM spins into Kennedy’s guard where he starts working to pass the guard while throwing some blows. Kennedy is backed up against the fence, but uses it to stand back up, where he starts looking for another takedown. MayheM changes levels and lands inside Kennedy’s guard off the takedown. MayheM’s bony elbows break open a nasty cut on the bridge of Kennedy’s nose, which causes a break in action as the doctor checks it. The crowd cheers, as Kennedy is able to continue and both men collide and trade blows in the middle of the ring. MayheM is working for a takedown from behind as the round ends. OTM scores the round 10-9 for MayheM.
Round 3:
Both men throw punches as MayheM scores a pretty Judo throw, which is a credit to his time training with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Ryo Chonan (both Judo black-belt) at Team Quest. MayheM starts working to the top of Kennedy’s half-guard against the cage and then rubs his chin, as if pondering his next move. This causes the crowd to laugh, as Kennedy looks to escape. MayheM lands more punches and Kennedy’s face is bleeding pretty bad, which causes another break in action. The doctor cleans him up and the fight continues. Kennedy gets the takedown and MayheM reverses. Kennedy looks for a triangle and then an omoplata, which MayheM almost taunts him about as he easily escapes. From side control MayheM starts raining huge knees from the side, which he appears to be over-emphasizing by pushing up on his hands to land aerial knees from side control. The bloody fight comes to an end with the sound of the bell with monstrous cheers from the crows. OTM scores it 10-9 for MayheM. The official scores are 29-28 from all three judges for Jason “MayheM” Miller, giving him the hard fought Unanimous Decision. MayheM’s coach Dan Henderson and the rest of Team Quest swarmed MayheM in the cage to celebrate his win.
Official Result: Jason “MayheM” Miller via Unanimous Decision.
After the win, Jason showed a lot of class by announcing to the crowd that he only plays a hero on TV and that Tim Kennedy is the real deal as an Army Ranger fighting for our freedom over seas. When asked about a possible rematch against Frank Trigg, who was also victorious in the co-main event, MayheM gave a resounding “Hell Yeah!” and followed up by saying that he wouldn’t mind fighting HDNet Fights owner Mark Cuban as well with whatever’s in their wallets on the line. The ring interviewer questioned him by asking, “I’m not sure you wanna do that”, to which MayheM insisted, “Sure I do.” Before leaving the cage, MayheM gave a shout out to all his monkeys worldwide with his trademark monkey noise into the microphone before he left the cage. This was easily the fight of the night and sets up a possible rubber match, which both men appear eager to serve up somewhere later in 2008.
HDNet Fights – Reckless Abandon (December 15, 2007)
Match Winner Loser Method Round Time
1 Marcus Lanier over Lee King Submission (Armbar) Round 2, 2:58
2 Liam McCarty over Jason House TKO (Cut) Round 3, 3:00
3 Jay White over Patrick Castillo Submission (Armbar) Round 1, 0:50
4 Nissen Osterneck over Freddie Espiricueta Submission (Verbal) Round 1, 2:37
5 Corey Mahon over Chris Bowles Submission (Armbar) Round 2, 4:22
6 Pete Spratt over Tristan Yunker TKO (Cut) Round 1, 1:38
7 Krzysztof Soszynski over Robert Villegas DQ (Refusal to Fight) Round 2, 3:15
8 Yves Edwards over Alonzo Martinez Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 2, 3:04
9 Frank Trigg over Edwin Dewees Submission (Kimura) Round 1, 1:40
10 Jason Miller over Tim Kennedy Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00