Slow Start Doesn’t Stop WEC Champ Franca
Josh Gross Oct 13, 2006
LEMOORE, Calif., Oct. 12 — During the opening frame of his WEC
lightweight title defense Thursday at the Tachi Palace Hotel &
Casino, it looked like champion Hermes Franca (Pictures) was fighting Nick Diaz (Pictures) from Stockton, Calif., not the
UFC veteran’s younger brother Nathan.
But perhaps we need to get used to a line of lanky, tough Diaz’s from the Central Valley of California, because for five minutes it appeared that the 21-year-old Nathan was headed for the biggest win of his career.
Moving forward off the bell, Diaz made Franca uncomfortable by
using his sizeable reach advantage. Diaz worked Franca from the
outside, but the challenger didn’t remain in one range; he darted
in and out against the sluggish, flat-footed champion — somewhat
reminiscent of his first two rounds against Jamie Varner (Pictures) in August, though instead of
being beat on the floor he was having it taken to him on the
feet.
“I was a little bit nervous in the first round,” said Franca, offering a somewhat surprising reason for his poor performance in the early going.
“The second round I came strong,” the 155-pound WEC champion said. “I knew, my corner told me ‘Oh, you have to win, you lost the first round.’”
Franca made a brief attempt at guillotine choke while they worked against the fence, but the crafty-beyond-his years Diaz defended easily.
Against a veteran like Franca, however, sometimes one mistake can be too many.
Momentarily meddling in Franca’s guard, Diaz didn’t so much leave his left arm available for submission as much as Franca simply took it. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt fighting out of Jupiter, Fla. made wonderful use of his hips and elevated them as he yanked Diaz’ glove-covered hand towards his chest.
Though Nick yelled for Nathan, now 5-2, to free himself, the fight-ending tap was inevitable and Diaz bowed out of the fight at 2:46 of the second period, making it seven wins in seven tries this year for Franca (17-5).
The name was familiar. So was the lanky build and from-the-hips boxing style. And like his 23-year-old brother, Nathan Diaz (Pictures) will undoubtedly return to make life difficult for future opponents.
WEC North American light heavyweight champion Terry Martin (Pictures) had little trouble with Keith Berry, stopping his Sacramento, Calif.-based challenger at 2:52 of the first.
Berry came out fast with winging, wild strikes, but Martin remained calm and forced the Californian into the fence. A lack of action on the floor motivated referee Josh Rosenthal to stop the fight and return Martin, who recently began train in his native Chicago with Andrei Arlovski (Pictures), and Berry (3-1) to their feet.
During another sloppy exchange, the powerful Martin (13-2) scored with a clubbing left hand that drew an expression of shock across Berry’s face. The challenger fell to the canvas and Martin went in for the finish, forcing an end just past the midway point of the opening round.
Sometimes fighters are just made for one another. In the case of Olaf Alfonso (Pictures) and John Polakowski (Pictures) — who tonight fought another exciting contest capping a trilogy of bouts that must rank amongst this promotion’s best — they’re a perfect mesh.
The wild Alfonso offers an unorthodox mix of grappling and striking. He’s not the quality of wrestler that would dominate Polakowski (2-1), a kickboxer quickly making the transition to mixed martial arts. And the Mexican lightweight can take a shot to the chin, meaning for a third time he’d have to deal with the many pin-point though not terribly powerful strikes Polakowski brings with him.
Following three exciting rounds, judges at ringside disagreed on the winner. Jon Schorle saw it two rounds to one for Alfonso (5-6), while Ralph McKnight and Abe Bellardo scored it 29-28 for the winner, Polakowski. Sherdog.com agreed with the call for Polakowski, 29-28.
Alfonso started incredibly well, pumping his right hand from all angles to Polakowski’s head and body. The usually straight-ahead Alfonso circled to his right, away from the kickboxer’s power. Over and over he beat Polakowski to the punch, and it appeared as if he’d devised a perfect game plan against the John Hackleman-trained fighter.
But as active as Alfonso was by throwing his lead hand in the first, that plan off attack disappeared in the middle period. Off the defense of a single-leg takedown, Polakowski connected with separate rights, scoring his first significant blows of the fight.
“Coming into this fight I really worked on my takedown defense, my wrestling, making sure I don't hangout on the bottom too long,” Polakowski said. “That was the whole goal: keep the fight standing.”
Against the fence, the crooked-nose Alfonso daringly went for an arm-drag takedown, but failed terribly and found himself on the bottom. The Polish fighter took advantage, slugging away as time allowed.
Round three was a back-and-forth closing chapter. Alfonso capitalized via ground-and-pound when Polakowski slipped, and roles reversed after referee Herb Dean (Pictures) decided to bring the fighters to their feet.
With his corner — which included Antonio Banuelos (Pictures), who sounded as if he’d lost his voice after 15 minutes, and Chuck Liddell (Pictures) — imploring him to drive down shots, Polakowski effectively struck within Alfonso’s guard, so much so that Banuelos spontaneously yelled, “Oh my God, he can ground-and-pound!”
Fittingly, the third fight’s final moments played out on the feet. Toe-to-toe, the two lightweights unleashed a torrent of strikes, though most glanced off their intended targets until the bell sounded.
“I think this is it,” Polakowski said after the fight was decided. “Me and Olaf are good friends and I think this is gonna be the last one.”
Veteran heavyweight Justin Eilers (Pictures) made easy work of New London, Conn.’s Josh Diekman, defending the WEC North American belt he won in June against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures).
Eilers enjoyed a quick start with a digging right hand that landed square to Diekman’s forehead, opening a dime-sized welt that bore blood from its center. The Boise, Idaho-based Eilers, a one-time challenger for the UFC heavyweight belt, countered a trip takedown to land on top in the half-guard. Soon the fight made its way along the fence, where Eilers (14-5-1) pummeled Hawes (4-1) until referee Herb Dean (Pictures) intervened.
Poppies Martinez (Pictures) (8-2, 1 NC) capped his rivalry with Robert Breslin (Pictures) (2-6-1, 1 NC), submitting the eccentric lightweight by guillotine choke 52 seconds into the first round. With the victory, Martinez, a local star and longtime veteran of the WEC, earned the vacant WEC North American lightweight belt.
Training with John Hackleman and Chuck Liddell (Pictures) paid dividends for Brazilian Glover Teixeira (Pictures) tonight, as the improving light heavyweight scored an excellent stoppage over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.
From the opening bell, Teixeira and Sokoudjou traded. It was Team Quest’s Sokoudjou, an expert judo player, who showed himself to be a competent striker, bobbing and weaving his way past Teixeira’s early offerings. But the Brazilian hung tough and though he missed badly on several attempts, strikes soon found their mark.
After Sokoudjou (2-1) easily defended a single-leg takedown, Teixeira (5-2) backed him into the cage fencing and strung a series of punches together that dropped the dread-locked 205-pounder face first to the canvas at the 1:49 mark.
“I had to get better with the hands. I get knocked out in the gym everyday,” Teixeira quipped.
Returning to light heavyweight, a division for which he is undersized but nonetheless has been kind to Justin Levens (Pictures), “The Executioner” ended a three-fight losing streak tonight, pounding Justin Hawes to a no-doubt-about it knockout 88 seconds after the opening bell.
“That’s what I like to do, knock people out in the first round so I can go home,” Levens said.
Levens slipped to the canvas after an early high kick and briefly played from the bottom before fighting from the top. With Awes (3-4-1) on his back, Levens, now 8-3, stood and eventually passed guard to his right while unloading a heavy right hand that stroked his opponent’s chin.
Awes was in no shape to defend the three heavy strikes that followed to his head, including a brutal elbow to cap it off, before referee Josh Rosenthal moved in to protect him. Awes laid back first on the canvas for several minutes before walking out of the cage under his own power.
Though Mike Moreno (2-1) was the fresher combatant at fight’s end, David Terrel’s efforts over the first two rounds resulted in each of the three judges at ringside to score it 29-28 for the Las Vegas-based welterweight, who raised his record to 4-0.
After surviving what appeared to be a deep rear-naked choke from MMA newcomer Patrick Kaase (0-1), Jarrod Kwitty (1-1) reversed position to pound out a stoppage at the 2:30 mark of round two.
But perhaps we need to get used to a line of lanky, tough Diaz’s from the Central Valley of California, because for five minutes it appeared that the 21-year-old Nathan was headed for the biggest win of his career.
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“I was a little bit nervous in the first round,” said Franca, offering a somewhat surprising reason for his poor performance in the early going.
Like in the Varner bout, Franca turned it on when he had to.
Looking energized as action moved to the second period, Franca
forced Diaz to his back and fired down mean punches to the
youngster’s head that made blood appear for the first time.
“The second round I came strong,” the 155-pound WEC champion said. “I knew, my corner told me ‘Oh, you have to win, you lost the first round.’”
Franca made a brief attempt at guillotine choke while they worked against the fence, but the crafty-beyond-his years Diaz defended easily.
Against a veteran like Franca, however, sometimes one mistake can be too many.
Momentarily meddling in Franca’s guard, Diaz didn’t so much leave his left arm available for submission as much as Franca simply took it. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt fighting out of Jupiter, Fla. made wonderful use of his hips and elevated them as he yanked Diaz’ glove-covered hand towards his chest.
Though Nick yelled for Nathan, now 5-2, to free himself, the fight-ending tap was inevitable and Diaz bowed out of the fight at 2:46 of the second period, making it seven wins in seven tries this year for Franca (17-5).
The name was familiar. So was the lanky build and from-the-hips boxing style. And like his 23-year-old brother, Nathan Diaz (Pictures) will undoubtedly return to make life difficult for future opponents.
WEC North American light heavyweight champion Terry Martin (Pictures) had little trouble with Keith Berry, stopping his Sacramento, Calif.-based challenger at 2:52 of the first.
Berry came out fast with winging, wild strikes, but Martin remained calm and forced the Californian into the fence. A lack of action on the floor motivated referee Josh Rosenthal to stop the fight and return Martin, who recently began train in his native Chicago with Andrei Arlovski (Pictures), and Berry (3-1) to their feet.
During another sloppy exchange, the powerful Martin (13-2) scored with a clubbing left hand that drew an expression of shock across Berry’s face. The challenger fell to the canvas and Martin went in for the finish, forcing an end just past the midway point of the opening round.
Sometimes fighters are just made for one another. In the case of Olaf Alfonso (Pictures) and John Polakowski (Pictures) — who tonight fought another exciting contest capping a trilogy of bouts that must rank amongst this promotion’s best — they’re a perfect mesh.
The wild Alfonso offers an unorthodox mix of grappling and striking. He’s not the quality of wrestler that would dominate Polakowski (2-1), a kickboxer quickly making the transition to mixed martial arts. And the Mexican lightweight can take a shot to the chin, meaning for a third time he’d have to deal with the many pin-point though not terribly powerful strikes Polakowski brings with him.
Following three exciting rounds, judges at ringside disagreed on the winner. Jon Schorle saw it two rounds to one for Alfonso (5-6), while Ralph McKnight and Abe Bellardo scored it 29-28 for the winner, Polakowski. Sherdog.com agreed with the call for Polakowski, 29-28.
Alfonso started incredibly well, pumping his right hand from all angles to Polakowski’s head and body. The usually straight-ahead Alfonso circled to his right, away from the kickboxer’s power. Over and over he beat Polakowski to the punch, and it appeared as if he’d devised a perfect game plan against the John Hackleman-trained fighter.
But as active as Alfonso was by throwing his lead hand in the first, that plan off attack disappeared in the middle period. Off the defense of a single-leg takedown, Polakowski connected with separate rights, scoring his first significant blows of the fight.
“Coming into this fight I really worked on my takedown defense, my wrestling, making sure I don't hangout on the bottom too long,” Polakowski said. “That was the whole goal: keep the fight standing.”
Against the fence, the crooked-nose Alfonso daringly went for an arm-drag takedown, but failed terribly and found himself on the bottom. The Polish fighter took advantage, slugging away as time allowed.
Round three was a back-and-forth closing chapter. Alfonso capitalized via ground-and-pound when Polakowski slipped, and roles reversed after referee Herb Dean (Pictures) decided to bring the fighters to their feet.
With his corner — which included Antonio Banuelos (Pictures), who sounded as if he’d lost his voice after 15 minutes, and Chuck Liddell (Pictures) — imploring him to drive down shots, Polakowski effectively struck within Alfonso’s guard, so much so that Banuelos spontaneously yelled, “Oh my God, he can ground-and-pound!”
Fittingly, the third fight’s final moments played out on the feet. Toe-to-toe, the two lightweights unleashed a torrent of strikes, though most glanced off their intended targets until the bell sounded.
“I think this is it,” Polakowski said after the fight was decided. “Me and Olaf are good friends and I think this is gonna be the last one.”
Veteran heavyweight Justin Eilers (Pictures) made easy work of New London, Conn.’s Josh Diekman, defending the WEC North American belt he won in June against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures).
Eilers enjoyed a quick start with a digging right hand that landed square to Diekman’s forehead, opening a dime-sized welt that bore blood from its center. The Boise, Idaho-based Eilers, a one-time challenger for the UFC heavyweight belt, countered a trip takedown to land on top in the half-guard. Soon the fight made its way along the fence, where Eilers (14-5-1) pummeled Hawes (4-1) until referee Herb Dean (Pictures) intervened.
Poppies Martinez (Pictures) (8-2, 1 NC) capped his rivalry with Robert Breslin (Pictures) (2-6-1, 1 NC), submitting the eccentric lightweight by guillotine choke 52 seconds into the first round. With the victory, Martinez, a local star and longtime veteran of the WEC, earned the vacant WEC North American lightweight belt.
Training with John Hackleman and Chuck Liddell (Pictures) paid dividends for Brazilian Glover Teixeira (Pictures) tonight, as the improving light heavyweight scored an excellent stoppage over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.
From the opening bell, Teixeira and Sokoudjou traded. It was Team Quest’s Sokoudjou, an expert judo player, who showed himself to be a competent striker, bobbing and weaving his way past Teixeira’s early offerings. But the Brazilian hung tough and though he missed badly on several attempts, strikes soon found their mark.
After Sokoudjou (2-1) easily defended a single-leg takedown, Teixeira (5-2) backed him into the cage fencing and strung a series of punches together that dropped the dread-locked 205-pounder face first to the canvas at the 1:49 mark.
“I had to get better with the hands. I get knocked out in the gym everyday,” Teixeira quipped.
Returning to light heavyweight, a division for which he is undersized but nonetheless has been kind to Justin Levens (Pictures), “The Executioner” ended a three-fight losing streak tonight, pounding Justin Hawes to a no-doubt-about it knockout 88 seconds after the opening bell.
“That’s what I like to do, knock people out in the first round so I can go home,” Levens said.
Levens slipped to the canvas after an early high kick and briefly played from the bottom before fighting from the top. With Awes (3-4-1) on his back, Levens, now 8-3, stood and eventually passed guard to his right while unloading a heavy right hand that stroked his opponent’s chin.
Awes was in no shape to defend the three heavy strikes that followed to his head, including a brutal elbow to cap it off, before referee Josh Rosenthal moved in to protect him. Awes laid back first on the canvas for several minutes before walking out of the cage under his own power.
Though Mike Moreno (2-1) was the fresher combatant at fight’s end, David Terrel’s efforts over the first two rounds resulted in each of the three judges at ringside to score it 29-28 for the Las Vegas-based welterweight, who raised his record to 4-0.
After surviving what appeared to be a deep rear-naked choke from MMA newcomer Patrick Kaase (0-1), Jarrod Kwitty (1-1) reversed position to pound out a stoppage at the 2:30 mark of round two.
