Ring of Combat 38 is in the books and it was no surprise that Lou Neglia and company put on another stellar show. The preliminary card had some very well matched fights, with only one getting a finish. Frankie Perez put on a Jiu-Jitsu show and subbed Allen Cozze with a tight Guillotine in the first round. The other prelims all went to the score cards. Perez continues to impress in his young career. Expect big things from this kid.
The main event of the night and arguably the fight of the night belonged to Tom DeBlass and his Russian opponent, David Tkeshelashvili. The two fighters went to war for three grueling rounds. DeBlass controlled the pace and landed more strikes in each round. Tkeshelashvili kept coming forward in a terminator like fashion, but was bested on the feet and on the mat. The Russian proved to be a tough opponent to say the least. DeBlass had his work cut out for him, but managed to pull out the unanimous decision victory.
Tkeshelashvili obviously came to fight, but despite a few decent takedowns, seemed to be a little overmatched by DeBlass’ skill set. Tom dropped the Russian early in the fight with a quick punch and landed effective striking throughout the fight. When the fight spilled to the mat, Tom used some great Jiu-Jitsu to sweep from guard to mount and got David’s back on more than one occasion. Tom was a little frustrated after the fight as he had hoped to finish his opponent, but Tom took home the win, retained his Light-Heavyweight Title, and his unbeaten streak remains intact.
It was not such a good night for Team Serra, however, as two of Serra’s Champions were dethroned last night. Peter “Drago” Sell was knocked out in the second round by Canadian, Nordine Taleb. Taleb used some great footwork and movement to keep Sell guessing while landing some solid strikes and great combinations. Sell had no answer for the Canadian’s attack and took a few punches too many before succumbing to Taleb’s strikes. Nordine put on an impressive performance and took the ROC Welterweight Championship back to Canada.
Al Iaquinta came to defend his Lightweight Championship for the first time and despite a good start, got taken down and submitted for his troubles. Pat Audinwood brought his A game last night and after eating a big punch early on, was able to recover and land some punches of his own before scoring a takedown. From there Audinwood used his long limbs to grab a hold of Iaquinta’s arm and despite some great defense from Iaquinta, was eventually able to sink in the armbar and get the first round tapout and the ROC title.
Deividas Taurosevicus had the comeback of the night, last night. Tauro was dropped and huirt early by up and comer, Marlon Moraes. Moraes capitalized on his efforts and when the fight went to the mat, Moraes took Deividas’ back and was able to secure what appeared to be a very tight choke. However, his position against the cage prevented him from using the leverage he needed to really sink in the choke. Taurosevicus was able to escape, reversed the position, and secured his own rear naked choke and got the tap out victory near the end of the first round. It was a great performance of perseverance from Deividas and a successful title defense.
The main card also saw some highly contested bouts. Drew Puzon took a hard fought unanimous decision victory over Aung La N Sang. Brett Linebarger put on a flawless performance in his unanimous decision win over Fikret Darzanoff. Linebarger picked apart and beat the BJJ ace at his own game. I look forward to seeing Linebarger back in the cage soon. Ryan Vaccaro and Mike Prokop put on a great show for the fans, but it was the Pellegrino standout, Vaccaro, that broke his losing streak and took home the unanimous decision. Thomas English, Chris Wade, Ande Harrison, and Pat DeFranco all won their respective bouts last night as well.
I also had the privilege of shadow judging the final five fights of the night and I have to say, it was incredibly different watching the fight as a fan and as a judge. Things you might normally look past in a fight because you are rooting for one particular fighter, you cannot when you are a judge. It changes everything about the fight from the judge’s perspective. I had a blast, learned some new things, and look forward to judging again in the future. Thanks to Nick Lembo, for the opportunity and Anthony Tamburino, for letting me observe over his shoulder for those five fights. The judging in the state of NJ is some of the best around. Now I know why, first hand.
This card was filled with action and excitement. The capacity crowd in attendance was absolutely electric. Great fans and great fights are the ingredients of a great promotion. Ring of Combat is just that. Another great show and we are already looking forward to the next one. I hope to see you all there. Until then, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Here are the official results from the NJSACB:
Title Bouts—3 rounds of 5 minutes, plus one round of 5 minutes in the event of a draw.
13 Co-Main Event. 205 TITLE
Davit Tkeshelashvili (124-522) vs. Tom DeBlass (106-968)
Tkeshashvili 203. DeBlass 205
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
DeBlass wins unanimous decision in three rounds 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 Tirelli.
12. Co-Main Event. 170 TITLE
Nordine Taleb (123-498) vs. Pete Sell (102-216)
Taleb 170.5. Sell. 170
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Krawiec, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Taleb wins via KO at 0:53 of round two.
11. 145 TITLE.
Marlon Moraes (125-123) vs. Deividas Taurosevicus (105-898)
Moraes. 144. Taurosevicus 145.5
Ref Oliver
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Taurosevicius wins via head and arm choke at 2:34 of round one.
10. 155 TITLE.
Patrick Audinwood (106-014) vs. Al Iaquinta (105-390)
Audinwood 155.5. Iaquinta. 154
Ref Peterson
Judges Krawiec, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Audinwood wins via verbal tap due to armbar at 2:06 of round one.
Main Card–3 rounds of 4 minutes
9. 185. Main Card
Aung La N Sang (118-847) vs. Drew Puzon (106-488)
N Sang. 183.5. Puzon. 185
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Puzon wins unanimous decision in three rounds 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 Tirelli.
8. 185. Main Card
Brett Linebarger (106-504) vs. Fikret Darzanoff (120-205)
Linebarger 183.5. Darzanoff 186
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Krawiec, Proenza and Sanidad
Linebarger wins unanimous decision in three rounds, all three judges 30-27.
7. 147 Catchweight Main Card
Jarred Mercado (117-316) vs. Jerome Isip (101-230)
Both fighters weigh 147
Ref Peterson
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Mercado wins unanimous decision in three rounds, 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 Sanidad.
6. 155 Main Card
Mike Prokop (103-005) vs. Ryan Vaccaro (103-092)
Prokop. 154. Vaccaro. 154.5
Ref Peterson
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Vaccaro wins unanimous decision in three rounds, all three judges 30-27.
Preliminary Bouts—2 rounds of 4 minutes, plus a 3rd round of 4 minutes in the event of a draw.
5. 155. Preliminary
Allen Cozze (101-879) vs. Frankie Perez (102-979)
Cozze. 154.4. Perez. 155.5
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Sanidad, Tamburrino and Tirelli
Perez wins via guillotine at 1:09 of round one.
4. 150. Preliminary
Anthony Facchini (101-886) vs. Tom English (104-958)
Facchini 150.5. English. 150
Ref Oliver
Judges Krawiec, Proenza and Tirelli
English wins unanimous decision in two rounds, all three judges 20-18.
3. 170. Preliminary
Chris Wade (121-115) vs. Vinicius Agudo (125-458)
Wade 167 Agudo. 168
Ref Oliver
Judges Krawiec, Proenza and Tirelli
Wade wins unanimous decision in two rounds, all three judges 20-18.
2. 145. Preliminary
Alex Davydov (114-712) vs. Andre Harrison (106-337)
Davydov. 144. Harrison 145.25
Ref Oliver
Judges Krawiec, Proenza and Tamburrino
Harrison wins unanimous decision in two rounds, all three judges 20-18.
1. 170. Preliminary
Robert Gittens (114-983) vs. Pat DeFranco (117-526)
Gittens. 166.5. DeFranco. 170
Ref Miragliotta
Judges Krawiec, Proenza and Tirelli
DeFranco wins unanimous decision in two rounds, all three judges 20-17.
