Bobby Lashley, Jeff Monson victorious at MFA 'There Will Be Blood'
by Jesse Holland on Dec 14, 2008 6:45 AM EST
35 comments
Looks like Brock Lesnar isn't the only WWE import making some noise in the heavyweight division.
Former WWE superstar and three-time collegiate national champion wrestler Bobby Lashley made his long awaited mixed martial arts debut last night at Mixed Fight Alliance: "There Will Be Blood" from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.
The American Top Team rookie needed just 41 seconds to dismantle boxing and jiu-jitsu fighter Joshua Franklin, who was not allowed to continue after ringside doctors examined a cut that was opened during the initial onslaught.
Lashley (1-0) is currently under contract with the American Fight Leauge (AFL), but was permitted to make his MMA debut under the MFA banner because the AFL has decided to hold off on its first event until Spring of 2009.
Lashley is 32 years old, which isn’t young in today’s mixed martial arts world, so he’ll have to keep booking fights if he hopes to build up a resume impressive enough to get him to his ultimate goal: The Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The soft-spoken Lashley has not been shy about announcing his desire to fight under the Zuffa Banner and names none other than Brock Lesnar as an opponent he hopes to face somewhere down the road.
But first things first. Lashley still has a lot to prove. His background in wrestling along with his size and strength should be an advantage against most opponents. Then again that all goes out the window if the big man can't take a punch.
We shall see.
In main event action, former UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson avenged a loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 35 back in 2002 with a dominating unanimous decision win.
"Suave" (34-10) has battled drug, alcohol and weight issues throughout his career, but he’s been very active in the professional fight game over the past year and a half. Since last July, he’s competed in ten different matches, producing a record of (7-3) during that time, including a current five-fight win streak.
A streak "The Snowman" ended last night.
Monson has also put together a few wins recently on the smaller circuit. He competed in a "Beatdown" event two months ago in North Dakota, recording his second victory of 2008 with a first round submission over Jimmy Ambriz. His only loss of the calender year came at Sengoku: 'Second Battle' back in May where he was beaten on the scorecards by top five heavyweight Josh Barnett.
At one point in his career "The Snowman" had recorded 16 straight wins, including three inside the UFC’s Octagon. His only losses since the turn of the century have come to Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Pedro Rizzo, Tim Sylvia, Ricco and Barnett.
Don't be surprised to see more of Monson -- and Lashley -- in early 2009.
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I was going to go to this event last night, but i couldnt find anyone else that wanted to go. So instead of going by myself (which would have been pretty lame) I just stayed home and watched the TUF finale. Ticketmaster was giving away a free Miami Heat ticket with every MFA ticket purchased. Not a bad deal.
by the_mexicutioner on Dec 14, 2008 6:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I wasn’t all that impressed. The guy he was facing was making his MMA debut as well and was able to stand up the fight after being taken down. The GnP was quick and furious while it lasted but I still am not convinced. Not a hater by any means. I hope he does well. Brock Lesnar has added a ton of excitement so I would love to see Lashely do some big things. I doubt the UFC would sign him as of right now though. Maybe if he is able to do something big in his next fight.
On a side note, I rolled my car tonight. I was driving, dodged a moose and the ice took me into the ditch. I’m okay but my car might not be so lucky… LAME! I HATE MOOSE!
by RyanHobbs on Dec 15, 2008 4:23 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Brock would destroy Lashley. He is still a lot stronger.
by elstiko on Dec 14, 2008 8:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Maybe but he’s not going to destroy Jeff Monson and the “Snowman” is probably headed back to the UFC.Ricco needs to see a top strength and conditioning coach to try and get his body back in shape unless he’s content fighting in the smaller shows because even out of shape he’s going to beat these heavyweights fighting on the smaller circuit.He still has a skilled submission game for a big man.
by tyler on Dec 14, 2008 10:59 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Meh, I dunno, Lashley is laser fast, and alot stronger than you might think. Not to mention he’s thick as a brick shithouse. I still want to see him take a few punches… did that guy land any?
by Sirchokemout on Dec 14, 2008 12:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
what did Lashley weigh in at? Anyone know the size of this guy?
by Anthony on Dec 14, 2008 6:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I’d like to see more WWE superstars transition to real fighting. There’s always that air of phoniness, and “it’s not real” that goes with the WWE. But these guys are genuine athletes, and as we’ve seen with Brock. Talented fighters..Could the end of Pro-Wrestling be on the horizon? I want to see them all fight for real.
by KJ Mack on Dec 14, 2008 9:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Some of these guys are tremendous athletes. Some are just humongous nonathletic slugs. I can see some of the guys making it that have wrestling backgrounds (the real wrestling) but most would get submitted by most C level guys.
by halljam2 on Dec 14, 2008 10:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I was at the event last night and it had more downs than ups, one vicious knockout, and the production / slash presentation needed ALOT of work. Ricco fought semi hard but his body (particularly his stomach hanging over his shorts) is so out of condition it takes the attention away from anything he does in the ring. The Lashley fight last 21 seconds and was extreme disappointment – Lashley tackled the guy and before you know it the fight was over. I would have called it a power tackle more than a fight. Two other fighters had to be carried out of the ring because of some mysterious back injuries that they sustained. One of which didn’t make it more than a minute in the fight. Another fight was called when one of the fighters slipped on a wet spot in the ring and fell to the ground and had to cover up. The announcer was the absolute WORST! This should have nothing to do with fights but his timing and presentation was so bad that he ruined the excitement of the prefight preparation, introduction of fighters, and SUCKED as a post fight interviewer. And him yelling “There will be blood!” was stupid. Major issue the MFA needs to fix.
MFA should pick a better catch phase for the event. MMA is having a hard enough time getting licensing and promotion – with a phase like “There will be blood” makes those involved sound like blood thirsty animals and give material to claim the sport is nothing more than human cockfighting.
Aside from that a couple of good fights did emerge – The Last Dragon fight was great and a couple of new first timers put on a good show… Not sure if MFA will live to see another event.
by TD on Dec 14, 2008 10:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Or it just sounds like they ripped their name off from a movie
by the_mexicutioner on Dec 14, 2008 12:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
hehehe, wonder how many people caught than?
by chefdaddy on Dec 14, 2008 3:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You were obviously too drunk to notice the nasty elbows Lashley was landing. Lashley displayed some serious skills as an mma fighter! The show was a terrible production but I was only there to see Lashley debut anyway. He needs to move on to a different organization.
by robert on Dec 14, 2008 12:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Wasn’t drinking – I must have missed the elbows because he was facing away. All the folks in our section were asking what happened. And there were no replays of anything which sucked.
by TD on Dec 14, 2008 12:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Can you really show serious mma skills in 41 seconds? Who knows what kind of an overall fighter he is?
by naturalshadow on Dec 14, 2008 3:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
After watching the replay; Lashley threw less than 10 punches and the one that caught Franklin was an off balance swing – but it should be interesting to watch him in the future to see if this guy develops….
by TD on Dec 14, 2008 3:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I would tend to agree NS, even though I didn’t see the fight. In one’s first fight, that lasts less than a minute, it hard to judge overall skill (normally). But it’s definitely something I want to check out. I just get a little worried about a possible influx of WWE stars. Don’t get me wrong, if these guys can fight for real, by all means they deserve a chance. I just don’t want to many guys who, due to inexperience, rely on brute power and size. Maybe if guys like Lesnar and Lashley continue to succeed, a superheavyweight division would be nice.
by chefdaddy on Dec 14, 2008 3:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You can usually assume his progression as a fighter will be just like Brock. However his BJJ skills will probly come in faster since he’s at ATT and gets to experience a wide range of grappling styles from 18 black belts. Hands usually come last for wrestlers so won’t be good anytime soon. His wrestling is probly the best at ATT so you won’t see him make the necessary adjustments for MMA as fast as Brock who works with mostly wrestlers here in minnesota.
by NameNotRequired on Dec 14, 2008 4:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Does lashley have to cut to make heavyweight?
by johnny on Dec 14, 2008 12:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think he has to cut steroids, then his weight is not an issue.
by naturalshadow on Dec 14, 2008 3:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
if he did that, he wouldn’t be much bigger than most guys on here.
by chefdaddy on Dec 14, 2008 3:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Lashley fight lasted 41 secs by the way.
by robert on Dec 14, 2008 12:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
i was there last night and it was a definite dissapointment. At least half the rounds ended in the first round and the production crew had to add an extra 3 intermissions. I did however enjoy the last dragons fight as well as “the hulk’s” roundhouse kick that completely destroyed his opponent in 23 seconds (there was a puddle of blood with really dark tissue in it, idk wtf that was).
by victor on Dec 14, 2008 1:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
by Bill Espreston Esquire on Dec 14, 2008 1:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Lashley looked pretty decent. It looked like he had quick hands and obv sick take down. The announcer said he was 251 pounds, Lesnar would dominate him right now.
by fokman on Dec 14, 2008 2:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Thanks for the footage. Too hard to tell what kind of a figher his, or even what kind of a fight that would have been if it wasn’t stopped so soon.
by naturalshadow on Dec 14, 2008 3:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
stopped way too soon. ri-dam-diculous! Thanks for the link.
by the_mexicutioner on Dec 14, 2008 7:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Freakshow Lashley’s debut should be good.
by Syd[a.k.a. "The Negation"] on Dec 14, 2008 3:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
man, Bobby Lashley is HUUUUGE and very fast! it would be awesome to see him against Brock Lesnar..
by RoB on Dec 14, 2008 3:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Lashley should have jump off the top rope at least once with a flying elbow then he could have finished Franklin with a power bomb.
by tyler on Dec 15, 2008 1:27 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Anyone have pictures of this event or know where I can see them?
by Carlos on Dec 17, 2008 9:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I was there taking a bunch of pics…if anyone want , let me know!
by Lorena on Dec 17, 2008 7:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
What happened to the guy the Hulk kicked in the Jaw…?….Did he make it?…Didnt look like he was gettin up fo ra while…I know he went to Jackson Memorial..Looked like he wasnt breathing on the canvus though..
by Fan on Dec 17, 2008 10:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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