HOHHOT, China – It was
fantastic finishes all around at the 2013 RUFF Super
Fight, as Wang Guan, Irshaad Sayed, Zhang MeiXuan, Rodrigo Caporal,
and Zhao ZiLong walked away with China’s first MMA
national championship belts and 1-million RMB a piece in prize money.
“Our
champions are world class,” offered RUFF CEO Joel Resnick. “People came to win
today, they had it in their minds to finish quickly. Each one of these guys who
won today earned the right to be [a champion].”
Featherweight Wang Guan
(6-0 RUFF) was in trouble early in the first round of the MMA H.E.A.T. main
event, spending the majority of the frame on his back, while absorbing heavy
grounded strikes from opponent Wu ChengJie (3-1 RUFF).
Returning to
his feet after escaping Wu ChengJie’s pressure on the mat, Wang Guan landed a
pair of devastating knees to the body that sent Wu falling to the canvas. Wang
then quickly pounced on the obviously stunned Wu, delivering an attack of
elbows and hammer fists before referee Jerin Valel called an end to the contest
at 4:22 of round one.
“I’m not
weak on the ground. My strength is standing, but I’m okay on the ground,”
commented Wang Guan. “I love
RUFF . . . and I want to thank my family and
coaches.”
In the
co-main event, Irshaad Sayed (4-1 RUFF) boxed his way past grappler Yuan ChunBo
(2-3 RUFF) to become China’s first bantamweight MMA national champion.
Sayed delivered an
impressive performance, landing significant strikes to the head and body in
high volume, while avoiding Yuan ChunBo’s
repeated attempts to bait him to the ground. Unable to match Sayed’s power and
relentless pressure, ChunBo did little damage, eating Sayed’s crisp punches,
which sent him to ground on several occasions.
Yuan ChunBo
did manage one solid ground attack in the second stanza, catching Sayed briefly
in a guillotine, even taking the South African’s back at one point. But Sayed
was too strong in the end, reversing his position to take control from the top
and land an assault of elbows to the head. With Yuan ChunBo unable to defend
himself, referee Jerin Valel stopped the fight at 4:22 of the second round.
“We knew
what ChunBo was going to do so we worked on some submission defenses to keep
the fight standing and not go into his guard,” commented Sayed. “We went to the
floor but I didn’t panic. It was a situation that we drilled.”
Meeting
for the third time inside the RUFF cage, flyweights Zhang MeiXuan (4-1 RUFF)
and Liu PingYuan (4-3 RUFF) continued where they left
off after RUFF 5,
battering each other with punches and kicks, attempting a variety of
submissions.
After Zhang MeiXuan landed a head kick to open
the fight, Liu PingYuan battled back, setting up a takedown with a punch
combination. The match quickly shifted momentum, as Zhang MeiXuan appeared to
sink in a guillotine, but Liu PingYuan escaped to take top position.
With Liu
PingYuan stuck inside half guard, Zhang MeiXuan swept to take top position, but
the contest continued to shift back and forth at a dizzying speed, and Liu
PingYuan came out of the scramble and caught Zhang in an armbar.
Refusing to
tapout, Zhang MeiXuan escaped the armbar by slamming to Liu PingYuan to the
ground, and then attempted a series of ankle locks to no avail. Unable to find
success in his submission game, Zhang MeiXuan returned to his feet before
diving back into top position to deliver a brief ground and pound.
Zhang MeiXuan
then pulled out of Liu PingYuan’s guard, dropped back, and took the ankle one
more time. Again, Liu PingYuan rolled to escape, but with no real estate
remaining in the cage, he was caught, and tapped out due to heel hook at 3:11
of round one.
“I learned
that move from my coach Vaughn Anderson,” stated Zhang MeiXuan. “He really
taught me a lot about how to fight on the ground.”
For the
fourth time inside the RUFF cage, Hong Kong-based BJJ black belt Rodrigo
Caporal (5-0 RUFF) finished his opponent, forcing Wu HaoTian (1-2 RUFF) to
tapout at 1:31 of round one.
Having
already knocked Wu HaoTian out at RUFF 5, Caporal delivered
another decisive win to capture the China’s MMA national lightweight
championship.
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