The 11-bout ShoXC: "Elite Challenger Series" event that aired on Showtime last night from Chumash Casino Resort at Santa Ynez, Calif., is officially in the books.
Muay Thai phenom Malaipet and MMA veteran Thomas "Wildman" Denny were featured in the main event of the evening, in addition to four other televised bouts.
Here are the detailed results of the main card action in case you missed it:
Malaipet vs. Thomas Denny (160 pounds)
Denny scored an early take down and sunk in a deep rear naked choke. Somehow Malaipet escaped but landed right in Denny's full mount. Denny pounded Malaipet for a couple minutes before Malaipet escaped again, this time landing a big knee followed by three devastating illegal elbows to the back of Denny's head.
Referee Herb Dean was forced to pause the action and Denny was obviously hurt from the elbows. The ringside doctor asked Denny if he could continue to fight aeffectively and Denny said he could not.
That was it and Thomas Denny won the fight due to disqualification.
It's a shame the fight ended like that. Denny was executing his gameplan to perfection and was dominating the first round, but the way Malaipet kept escaping had me believing the rest of that fight was going to be a war. There's no doubt in my mind we'll see these two fight each other again.
In fact, Denny is interested in mixing it up again real soon:
"I'm sorry because I came here to fight, but this is MMA and you have to follow the rules. I may have been dazed but I wasn't knocked out. One thing I could not do, however, was move my neck.... Malaipet was tough because I thought I had him with the rear naked choke. But I will definitely fight him again. I was totally dominating.''
However, if Denny wants to rematch it will have to be at 150 pounds, according to Malaipet. And if Denny could defeat him at that weight, Mailepet indicated that he would retire from Muay Thai.
Here's a snip:
"I definitely want to fight him again. If he wants to do it at 150 pounds, I'll fight him any time, any place. This wasn't my type of fight. But there was no way I was ever going to tap out."
Hopefully, we see this rematch real soon. This bout could have been a back-and-forth barn burner if it were no for the early stoppage.
Marlon Mathias vs. Conor Heun (160 pounds)
Mathias tried to overwhelm Heun early with punches and aggression, but Heun weathered the storm, scoring a late take down and surviving the first round.
The second round was pretty close with Mathias winning most of the stand up, but was again taken down and this time controlled for most of the round.
Mathias landed a lot of heavy left hands and Heun proved he could take a lot of punishment and still execute his gameplan as he won the third round and the decision in a great fight. Heun improved to 7-2.
Jaime Fletcher vs. Aaron Rosa 205 pounds
Fletcher stayed aggressive throughout the fight, shooting for take downs, using sporadic punch and kick combinations, and was always moving forward. He floored Rosa in the third with a big right hand. He wasn't able to finish the fight, but that knockdown secured the decision in a relatively uneventful three-round fight. He goes to 6-3.
Shane Del Rosario vs. Analu Brash (265 pounds)
Del Rosario scored an impressive win with a first round referee stoppage. He was able to get an early takedown with a hard leg kick and from there worked the ground and pound until Herb Dean had to step in. He moves to 4-0.
Mark Oshiro vs. Chris Cariaso (140 pounds)
Oshiro improved his record to 10-1 as he scored the knockout of the night with a sick overhand right in the first round. He was in a bad position early, as Cariaso tripped him and took full mount. Oshiro rolled over giving up his back, but was able to scramble back to his feet where he ended the fight in highlight reel fashion right away.
Now here are the quick results for the nontelevised bouts:
- Kenny "The Poet" Johnson defeated Michael Penafiel via unanimous decision
- Steve Gable defeated Eric Jones via technical knockout in round one
- Lyle Beerbohm defeated Vince Guzman via submission (rear naked choke) in round two
- Devin Howard defeated Mark Kempthorne via submission (rear naked choke) in round one
- Brandon Tarn defeated Jason Williams via submission (rear naked choke) 0-1) in round two
All in all it was another solid show put on by EliteXC and Showtime despite the controversial ending in the main event.
The next ShoXC event will be live April 5 on Showtime from the Table Mountain Casino Event Center. It will feature a main event between light heavyweights Jared Hamman (9-0) and Poai Suganuma (8-1).
That should be a great fight -- don't miss it!
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