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BodogFight 4/13 Russia event results

By Zach Arnold | April 14, 2007

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Results here from Sherdog. Fight Report show review here. Also, Bodogbeat review here as well. Post your show thoughts in the comments section.

Just watched the Fedor vs. Lindland fight. First thing I took away from the match (and the show overall) is that this was a great fight crowd in Russia, they seemed to be pretty respectful and they acted like a much more traditional fight audience (as opposed to the IFL). Second, if Fedor had grabbed the ropes in the IFL or grabbed the cage in UFC the way he grabbed the ropes in this fight against Lindland, he would have at least had a point taken away. It was very clear that Fedor grabbing the ropes was an attempt to stop Lindland’s takedown attack. I almost thought I was watching an old-school pro-wrestling heel tactic there for a second. After Fedor used the ropes to stop Lindland’s attack, the guy managed to work Lindland over like a pretzel and had little trouble submitting him.

This was the kind of match that will give credence to both sides (those who think Fedor cheated and those who felt Fedor would have won no matter what happened with the rope grabbing).

Topics: BoDog, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

34 Responses to “BodogFight 4/13 Russia event results”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Haven’t seen the Fedor/Lindland fight yet, but there is huge debat on The Underground about Fedor grabbing the rope illegally and changing the course of the fight. He didn’t make any fans with his performance it sounds like.

  2. ED says:

    Lindland opened up a major cut over Fedor’s right eye in the opening seconds of the fight. I believe this is Fedor’s only weakness — his tissue paper skin. I also believe that Fedor’s thin skin is or will be a major factor in his decision as to which organization to sign with. If Pride adopts elbows or requires Fedor to fight in the UFC in the cross-promotion superfights, I can see that as a deal-breaker. Sure, Fedor would be able to defend against most elbows, but all it takes is one to connect, and then he will bleed like a stuck pig.

  3. Body_Shots says:

    He did grab the hell out of the ropes, Matt cut Fedor with the first punch he threw. Got double underhooks and was working for the takedown. As Matt was picking him up Fedor grabbed the ropes, reversed him and got top position.

  4. Duke Lissit says:

    Plain and simple – Fedor CHEATED. Intentional or not, Fedor was on his way to his back, but holding the ropes spun him around and landed on top. No matter if you think Fedor would have eventually won, Matt deserves to be beaten fairly, within the rules. Matt deserves a rematch.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    Just saw Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Eric Pele. That was a one sided butt whopping. Not even close. The announcers were horrible, acting like Pele was in the fight. Pele showed no skills, even at the lower weight.

  6. David says:

    People grab the ropes all the time. Sokojou did it against Arona to stop a takedown and I didn’t hear anyone complain. Did it help Fedor to grab the ropes? Probably. But, he is on a completely different level than Lindland on the ground, and even if Lindland had ended up on top of him, I’m pretty sure Fedor would have managed to reverse him and get on top, or use his nice armbar to sub him from the bottom, like he did to Coleman twice.

  7. Jordan Breen says:

    “Sure, Fedor would be able to defend against most elbows, but all it takes is one to connect, and then he will bleed like a stuck pig.”

    Good thing out of 158 fights in 2006, the UFC had two cut stoppages, and only one of them was caused by an elbow, or since it was Yves/Stevenson, about 30000 elbows.

    Also, Fedor Emelianenko is the dirtiest player in the game. He said he was working on leglocks recently? Pretty sure he means the figure four.

  8. The Gaijin says:

    Just one day I’d LOVE to not have to see 45 Huddle’s anti-everything not UFC rhetoric.

    Yup, Fedor the cheater lost tonnes of fans…Zuffa might as well just stay away from signing that guy – he’s a real douche.

  9. Stu says:

    Good thing out of 158 fights in 2006, the UFC had two cut stoppages, and only one of them was caused by an elbow, or since it was Yves/Stevenson, about 30000 elbows.

    It’s not just stoppages. People complain about stomps because they “look wrong”, yet everyone seems Ok with elbows that turn fights into bloodbaths. Like Sherk/Florian.

    Elbows would be Ok if some fighters didn’t intentionally look to cut their opponents.

  10. muhr says:

    Fedor wasn’t actually grabbing the ropes in the moment preceding the reversal, his hand was laying on top of the ropes. That aside, he certainly hooked and grabbed the ropes before that.

  11. The Citizen says:

    Props to Lindland he had a great opener for this fight, great punch to get into position for the takedown — however when the world champ is fighting in his hometown, he really can’t do any wrong, can he? Fedor is still great in my eyes and while there was a little rope hugging, that had nothing to do with the center of the ring arm bar. Would love to see a rematch if it could happen again. Good job to both fighters. Those announcers sound pretty crazy and the crowd sounded cool.

  12. Tomer Chen says:

    Also, Fedor Emelianenko is the dirtiest player in the game. He said he was working on leglocks recently? Pretty sure he means the figure four.

    I don’t really see how grabbing the ropes makes Fedor anymore dirty than Tim Sylvia grabbing the fence for 5 minutes against Assuerio Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira setting up his armbar when he beat Cro Cop by grabbing the ropes, Sergei Kharitonov keeping Semmy Schilt from sweeping him by grabbing the ropes and so on. Wanderlei Silva stomping half the guys he’s ever fought while using the ropes as leverage (one of the ‘best’ examples being the Yuki Kondo fight)? Is it against the rules and thus dirty? Sure. But it’s not like Fedor is the only guy who has broken the rules before, so I don’t see exactly why he’d warrant losing fans anymore than Nogueira, Silva, etc. would warrant for their own ‘cute’ actions on the ground in previous fights.

  13. Gaijin, 45 Huddle is 100% on the mark in this case. Pele was completely out of his league and the announcers were trying to sell this ‘turtle up and exhaust Aleks’ strategy that was complete conjecture and simply retarded. You should judge a post based on what’s said, not who’s saying it!

  14. Tomer Chen says:

    Personally, I’d like to see (at least) one of two things happen with regards to takedown blocking by virtue of grabbing the ropes/cage:

    1) Actual point deductions for grabbing after being warned to let go (such as in Sylvia-Silva where Sylvia held on for dear life forever with maybe 1-2 warnings).

    2) Restarting the fight from the successful takedown position so that the person attempting the takedown will not be punished for the other guy’s cheating.

  15. Mr. Roadblock says:

    This to me seems like much ado about nothing. It is unrealistic to think that if Lindland had cleanly gotten Fedor to the ground that he would have stopped him there. I think people are just pulling at straws because it is Fedor involved. Lindland grabbed the cage when he fought Jackson. I don’t like fence or cage grabbing, but it happens constantly. Lindland got absolutely dominated on the ground. He was doing all he could just to hang on to Fedor and was giving the champ trouble. But that’s it. Fedor subbed him inside of 3 minutes. Does anybody think that if Lindland got the takedown Fedor would not have escaped or swept him to establish top position. What I see in this “controversy” is a predjudice against Fedor because he is the best in the world.

  16. Jordan Breen says:

    “I don’t really see how grabbing the ropes makes Fedor anymore dirty than . . .”

    I don’t really see how you missed my sarcasm. You’re normally totally on point, Tomer. I’ll blame it on being Sunday.

    “Elbows would be Ok if some fighters didn’t intentionally look to cut their opponents.”

    Elbows are okay no matter what. If you don’t wanna get cut, move your hips and move your head. Getting slashed is part of fightsport.

    Also, Bob Sheridan was awesome for a guy who had six weeks of studying and nothing else. The rest of the commentary was God awful terrible. Lazenby sounded tweaked or something. Every strike the guy was flipping and screaming, diagnosing the recipient as nearly dead after the biggest most ferociousest viciousest attack in the history of humanity.

  17. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Fighters should definitely be punished for grabbing the ropes or cage. A fighter was deducted a point at the IFL show for grabbling the ropes 3 times in the first round. After that there wasn’t much if any rope grabbing. I think word got around the locker rooms.

    I like the idea about the fighters being placed on the ground. I think that’s perfect actually. Some people will argue that you cannot assume the takedown would have been successful and/or that the guy taken down wouldn’t have gotten the reversal. But I would argue that assume it would have been succesful is the appropriate penalty for the fighter grabbing the ropes.

    Back in Ancient Greece when MMA was called Pankration and was an Olympic event the referee had a stick and would hit a fighter who cheated and would continue hitting the fighter until he stopped cheating. Back in the old NWA/WCW refs would kick a wrestler’s arm if he held the ropes. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing MMA refs hit, slap or kick a fighter’s wrist if he were holding the ropes. I think if any of these rules were instated you would stop seeing people grab for the ropes in a few months or a year when they realized there is a penalty that could negatively impact them in the fight. Right now there is really no penalty for grabbing the ropes.

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    I agree about the point deductions. Too often (in a cage or ring) do I see a fighter grab to advance his position. Whether a point is deducted or not…. If a fighter uses this to gain an advantage, the fight should be stopped and reset back on the feet. If it happens a second time, it should be a point deduction.

    The same goes for grabbing a fighters shorts. Fighters do it because they know they won’t be penalized for it. Once they are, they will stop.

    This is one thing that will be touched upon much more if the main stream media really picks up on the sport. You just need one title fight’s outcome altered by these actions, and the press will be hounding the UFC for answers. And rightfully so. It is pathetic that these actions (in general) are allowed to happen.

    As for my comments about Pele. I don’t see how this has anything to do with the UFC. I was actually really impressed with Aleksander Emelianenko’s performance. He showed a level of professionalism in the ring that I hadn’t seen from his before. On the other hand, Pele was so unimpressive that I never want to see him fight again. He was honestly that bad.

  19. 45 Huddle says:

    I just watched the Fedor fight.

    That should have been a restart. It’s funny that I mentioned the short grabbing in my previous post, because Lindland was also warned by the ref for grabbing his own shorts to avoid the armbar. So it’s not like Lindland didn’t cheat either.

    And honestly, I hate to see cheating, but can anybody really feel bad for Matt Lindland? This is the guy who sued to get a rematch to get into the Olympics. And then beat the out of shape guy (who wasn’t training like he was) to get in. He is also the person who tapped out 2 times against Murilo Bustamante, and actually lied about tapping the first time. What goes around, comes around….

  20. Croatian Strength says:

    President Putin, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Silvio Berlusconi was a step up from Michael Clarke Duncan and Chuck Zito in the audience.

    In Pride, the outside official smack the hands of people rope grabbing – still doesn’t stop people doing it as you can get a big advantage and it’s human instinct to grab out.

  21. ukiro says:

    The whole event felt terrible. Some of the worst things were, in my opinion:

    The commentators were so awful I kept yapping away with my girlfriend most of the time just to drown them out. I literally could not stand hearing them. Often they were totally inaccurate (when a punch missed by a foot, it was a “big hit”, etc) and the outrageously over-the-top fake excitement was plain horrendous.

    The Zentsov fight looked like a work. Midoux appeared to deliberately throw super-weak punches, and at the ending where he didn’t get up he kept holding his eye and then claimed to have broken his foot. I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt, but it all looked very very suspicious to me. I haven’t been following the debate on whether bodog takes bets on its fights, but that came to mind when I saw the fight.

    The “bodog girls”. I have very little appreciation for ring girls, but I can usually muster enough tolerance to not yell at the TV when they’re shown. The DJ and dancer crap at Bodog however, was just way too ridiculous. There wasn’t even the slightest attempt at justifying them (I saw no ring girls with round signs). Why is it that so many guys are apparantly so insecure in their heterosexuality that they can’t watch men in their underwear crawling over one another unless there are lightly clad women to hoot at? Are people seriously thinking/fearing they’ll turn gay or something? What kind of value was I supposed to get out of seeing that retarded shit? And the promo clips between fights had bikini girls on beaches cut in between the knockout punches as well. For what reason? To attract the demographic guys-with-raging-homophobia-that-haven’t-been-laid-in-three-years? The whole thing with selling fights by showing semi-nude girls is revolting and drags the entire sport down to caveman levels.

    Bodog overall just feels so contrived. It feels like Calvin has bought everything with money as opposed to hard work, dedication and love for the sport – the high-profile audience members, the size of the promotion, the opinion clips of other fighters (kang, barnett) and so on. I can’t get behind something that is so obviously a product. Pride had a much more genuine feel to me, even though I intellectually know very well that it’s no less a product. But it felt like it was just more… legitimate. I think that feeling has fuelled a lot of UFC vs Pride flamewars through the years. And while I can understand fans of both those organisations, I fail to see why anyone would proclaim themselves a bodog fan. I’m not sure what should be done about it, but this event left a bad taste in my mouth.

  22. ukiro says:

    …and one more thing: What’s up with Fedors belly rash/eczema? It looked pretty big. I guess I might be able to find an answer by trawling the big forum sites, but I figued someone here might have done the job for me…

  23. Rollo the Cat says:

    I agree with you Ukiro, but at the same time, I enjoyed the PPV. I juts don’t hold Bodog to the smae standard as other organizations. I recognize that it is juts Calvin’s hobby that he is sharing with us and I juts have fun with it.

  24. Euthyphro says:

    I thought that grabbing/elbow hooking of the ropes certainly stopped several Lindland takedown attempts, but it was one incident of a larger problem — the ref-ing was horrible for most of the night. Many fights stopped too late, some stopped too early, poor choices on standups, poor decisions on not moving fighters to the center of the ring. I generally thought the refs needed quite a bit of work.

  25. Tomer Chen says:

    I don’t really see how you missed my sarcasm. You’re normally totally on point, Tomer. I’ll blame it on being Sunday.

    I blame it on GMAT prep. 🙂

  26. The Gaijin says:

    My comment had nothing to do with Aleks-Pele. I was speaking about the 1st post.** Fedor hardly lost fans or failed to make new ones b/c he instinctively grabbed the ropes – I’d be surprised if any “new fans” even knew of the PPV in the first place. Calvin Ayre should just stop…

    **My posts always get delayed going up b/c of the F%@*ing spamblocker. Lately I’ve been getting “Blacklisted IP” messages when I post…which is weird b/c half the time I post its from school on a wireless connection (which has mulitple IP’s to handle all the student users), but its also the same deal when I post from my place or my parent’s place – so who knows what the heck it is?!!

  27. iain says:

    I liked Lazenby’s commentary. Dude was excited but I found him up there with goldy.

    As for the Fedor bashing? Man, you guys REALLY hate anything that ever had to do with Pride. He was laying on it most of the time and grabbed for a fraction of a second. And like someone already mentioned lindland was grabbing his shorts.

    Now, let’s see Fedor fight Barnett or some of te ufc guys he hasn’t beaten yet.

    Absolutely right about his thin skin though, it will be the key to defeating him.

    People saying elbows should always be aloud what’s wrong with a soccer kick. Move your hips biaaaatch.

  28. Zach Arnold says:

    E-mail me, Gaijin, and I’ll explain what’s happening lately with the spam filters.

  29. JThue says:

    That pbp guy was SHAMELESSLY GOOD for an MMA-debutant. Meltzer was calling this a definite disaster going in with bodog signing a boxing announcer, but Sheridan could have taken Goldberg’s job tomorrow and improved UFC. Says more about Goldberg, but kudos to Colonel and to bodog for bringing him in!

    A VAST improvement from their December PPV on all levels. The mafia stigma with Putin, Silvio and some of the dodgy suits on the front rows was ridiculous, but then again this is Calvin Ayre we’re talking about.

  30. Rollo the Cat says:

    I don’t know what you mean by mafia stigma, I was thrilled to see those guys in attendance.

    Goldberg and the UFC announcing team is an interesting topic by itself. I don’t wish anything bad on any of them, but I am not all that sure the UFC couldn’t improve in that area.

  31. 45 Huddle says:

    I always thought it was a shame that they got rid of Jeff Blatnick. They should bring him back for the in ring interviews.

    Having Rogan always leaving the commentator booth seems so bush league to me. If you watch the baseball on TV, the guys in the booth aren’t the ones interviewing the coaches and players after the game. It is a completely different staff of people.

    I know HBO does this with Larry Merchant, and it doesn’t come off bush league there. But that is a rare thing. Most of the time it just makes the UFC look like they are too cheap to hire somebody else.

    Lately, when I watch the UFC…. I get this weird feeling that they have over grown their ability to hand such a big company. I really do get this feeling. You can just sense that the current format and production was made for 100,000 PPV Buys and 5,000 fans in the arena. They haven’t been able to transition as well as they should. And I think this will catch up with them once their popularity dies down a little bit.

  32. Rollo the Cat says:

    “Lately, when I watch the UFC…. I get this weird feeling that they have over grown their ability to hand such a big company. I really do get this feeling. You can just sense that the current format and production was made for 100,000 PPV Buys and 5,000 fans in the arena. They haven’t been able to transition as well as they should. And I think this will catch up with them once their popularity dies down a little bit.”

    I haver been saying the very same thing over and over the past few weeks. I think what we might be seeing soon is the limits of Dana’s marketing ability. I think he was perfect for the job when he started. The look and feel of the current UFC to me is not just Dan’s creation, but an expression of Dana. Question is, can he be flexible enough to change? Can he even see past his own personality? Will he listen to someone else?

    Maybe the Fertittas will pick up something form the Pride production. The UFC has a teenage fell to it, Pride was a grand spectacle, like watching Zeus and Kronos battle it out on Mount Olympus. Despite all the weird stuff, there was a sophistication and maturity to the Pride cast. Now announcer wise, i think that is what the UFC needs. Thye need to reign in the wise guy stuff a bit and get a bit more professional. Rogan is great, but he might be better in a different role than colorman. Hard to say, and it isn’t as if it has stopped working yet, so what do I know.

  33. Ultimo Santa says:

    How to solve rope and cage grabbing issue forever…two words:
    PLEXIGLASS OCTAGON.

    ‘Nuff said.

  34. JThue says:

    “I don’t know what you mean by mafia stigma, I was thrilled to see those guys in attendance.”

    Berlusconi? Putin? on an Ayre show? Hello? :S Anywhere else in Europe it’d been a huge disaster to have those guys as guests. Heck, even Silvio received some pepper from that crowd.

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