Moosin MMA: Sylvia Shuts Down Pudzianowski

May 22nd, 2010

Driving through Downtown Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday, you’d see teenagers clad in tuxedos, formal dresses and clown make-up accounting for the Insane Clown Posse concert and prom taking place in the area respectively. However, you’d also notice a significant number of people heading to the DCU Center clad mostly in Tapout shirts and the colors of the Polish flag for the hottest ticket in town: the debut of Moosin: God of Martial Arts, a South Korean owned MMA promotion making its American debut headed by the promotional team of pro fighter Eric “Butterbean” Esch and Corey Fischer.

In the main event, former two time UFC heavyweight champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (26-6, 17 KO’s, 3 submissions) defeated former five time world’s strongest man Mariusz Pudzianowski (2-1, 1 submission) after the former strongman competitor tapped out due to strikes at 1:43 of the second round.

Sylvia, a Maine native fighting in his home region of New England for the first time since 2002, proved to be too skilled and conditioned for the MMA neophyte and Polish hero Pudzianowski, who had a loud and raucous fan base that made up a large part of the 6,000+ in attendance.

In the opening seconds of the fight, Pudzianowski charged Sylvia and used his strength and will to eventually impose a single leg takedown. However, Sylvia quickly made it to his feet and periodically initiated muay Thai clinches through the remainder of the round setting up knees to the head of his defenseless opponent.

Sylvia punctuated the opening round with a takedown of his own as he threw the rapidly fatiguing 273 pound Pudzianowski to the ground like a rag doll. Ground and pound capped off the round for Sylvia.

In the second, Sylvia went right back to doing things the way he did in the opening frame. He clinched and threw knees. Eventually Pudzianowski, unable to mount anything offensive and failing at a few takedown attempts, fell over as a result of fatigue and Sylvia’s aggression. Sylvia then got the former world’s strongest man in side mount and after realizing things weren’t getting better, Pudzianowski tapped out.

“After one round, my coach told me to go get him because he was gassed”, Sylvia said afterwards, “Once he failed on his takedown attempts I knew I had him.”

Sylvia hopes to use this win as a springboard to bigger fights after suffering a first round TKO at the hands of the world’s #1 MMA heavyweight Fedor Emelianko within 30 seconds and another less forgivable 1st round TKO to former heavyweight boxing Olympian Ray Mercer, who at age 48 was making his pro debut when he defeated Sylvia with a single punch KO.

“I’m back”, he said emphatically.

For Pudzianowski, it was a learning experience after facing his first significant MMA opponent after winning his first two pro bouts.

“It’s not a mistake to take this fight after having fought just twice”, Pudzianowski said through a translator, “It was by design and a part of the learning curve.”

Sylvia summed it by saying, “It was experience. Could I beat him in a strongest man competition if I tried to compete with him today? Not a chance in hell. Same goes for him trying to fight me after I’ve had 37 pro fights and he’s had three.”

The evenings co-feature was short and sweet. Amidst an exchange, Minnesota’s Travis “Diesel” Wiuff (61-14, 17 KO’s, 22 submissions) rocked Indiana’s Josh Barnes (7-4, 5 KO’s, 1 submission) with a left hook and a follow up flurry to the still dazed Barnes put him down for good. Wiuff administered a relentless ground and pound to his downed opponent and the series of unanswered blows was enough. Official time of stoppage was 0:24.

In an upset, New York based Brazilian middleweight Rafael “Soto” Natal (12-2, 3 KO’s, 7 submissions) knocked out UFC Alum and “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Travis Lutter (10-6, 1 KO, 7 submissions) at 4:12 of the first round. A few glancing blows put a winded looking Lutter on the canvas and a ground and pound assault forced the referee to stop the contest. The victory represents a career best for Natal.

In lightweight action, Boston’s Mike Campbell (9-2, 4 KO’s, 2 submissions) got back in the win column after going 0-2 in the WEC by earning a unanimous decision over Yves “The Texas Gunslinger” Edwards (37-16-1, 15 KO’s, 15 submissions). Campbell used kicks high and low to his advantage in the first and second rounds. However, Edwards certainly had his moments including a huge takedown in the seconds round and a power bomb like pro wrestling maneuver in the third that had the crowd jumping out of its seat. In the end, all three judges scored the fight for Campbell 29-28.

Breaking away from the testosterone fueled male violence, female 130 pounders Roxy Madafferi (15-5, 1 KO, 4 submissions) and Tara LaRosa (18-2, 3 KO’s, 10 submissions) engaged in a competitive and tough to score 3 round rematch. After a close opening few minutes, Modafferi dropped LaRosa with a straight right hand towards the end of round one. Larosa regrouped in round two scoring a takedown and appearing to get the better of the striking. The third and final round was fairly even with LaRosa scoring a takedown, but Madafferi increasingly getting more submission attempts. In the end, the judges gave Modafferi a split decision and their scores reflected the difficulty in scoring the fight as one judge had Roxy winning a shutout 30-27, one had her winning by 29-28 and another gave the bout to Larosa 29-28. Modafferi avenged a 2006 unanimous decision loss with the victory.

Adding an international flavor to the undercard, Polish heavyweight Lukasz “Juras” Jurkwski (15-9, 4 KO’s, 6 submissions) put the many Polish descendant’s in attendance into a frenzy with a first round KO of South Korea’s Ho Jin Kim (7-7, 3 KO’s, 1 submission). After most of the round consisted of the two fighters being tied up in a clinch, Jurkowski broke free and put Kim on the canvas with two right elbows to the temple and followed up with a brief but effective ground and pound that left the South Korean fighter dazed on the mat. Official time of the stoppage was 2:22.

In the TV opener, Cleveland’s Forrest “The Meat Clever” Petz (18-7, 8 KO’s, 4 submissions) earned a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten hometown favorite Ralph Johnson (4-1, 4 KO’s) in a three round welterweight fight. Johnson started off strong getting the better of the striking in the opening round. However, Petz was the aggressor from there on out and Johnson’s attempts to engage were few and far between, and ineffective at that. Official scores were 30-27 and 29-28 for Petz. 8countnews.com scored the fight for Petz 29-28.

Off TV fights

In a fight between two Massachusetts’ welterweights, Worcester’s Matt Lee (12-9-1, 4 KO’s, 1 submission) did away with Bridgewater’s Brett Oteri (5-1, 2 KO’s, 3 submissions) within two rounds. Both fighters traded takedowns in the first, before Lee dropped Oteri with a right hand he seemingly walked into late in the frame. Oteri would spend the remainder of the round on his back trying to pull Lee into his guard and kicking away at him avoiding any significant ground and pound. In the 2nd, a beaten Oteri was put down with a flurry of punches while on the retreat and referee Kevin McDonald called a halt to the bout at 1:40 of the round.

In a middleweight match up, Indiana resident Anthony Lapsley (18-4-0, 7 KO’s, 11 submissions) made quick work of Rockland, Massachusetts' Fred Belleton (6-3, 4 KO’s, 1 submission) via a kneebar that cause Belleton to tap out at 0:59 of the first round.

In the opening bout of the evening, Cleveland’s Stipe Miocic (2-0, 2 KO’s) stopped Paul Barry (3-1, 3 KO’s) of nearby Rockland in the 2nd round of a heavyweight bout. In the opening frame, Miocic bloodied Barry’s nose with straight punches and took away his movement with leg kicks. In the 2nd, Miocic took Barry down and put on a textbook display of ground and pound that left Barry with the only option of covering up until referee Gary Foreman intervened. Official time of the stoppage was 1:32.