Silverbacks, Pitbulls Advance to IFL Finals
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, Aug. 2 -- Over 7,000 fans braved the
traffic on Thursday night to watch the International Fight League
semifinals at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Featured on the card were the four remaining teams left in the IFL playoffs, each fighting to make to the finals Sept. 20 in Seminole, Fla.
The Tokyo Sabres, New York Pitbulls and Los Angeles Anacondas all
arrived with perfect 3-0 records, while the Quad City Silverbacks
were the fourth team in the playoff hunt despite having lost to the
Anacondas back in February.
Both the Anacondas and Pitbulls were forced to limp into Thursday's fray with several key fighters missing. With names like Horodecki, Hieron, Patterson and Owings missing from their respective lineups, Pat Miletich (Pictures) and Renzo Gracie (Pictures) were left with skeleton crews made up of last minute replacements.
In fact, the story of the night went to the replacement fighters.
The playoff battle between the Anacondas and Silverbacks got off to a slow start as Alex Schoenhauer took on Mike Ciesnolevicz (Pictures) in a rematch of a fight they had ended in a split decision win for Schoenhauer in the regular season.
They started slow but in the second Schoenhauer came alive dropping Ciesnolevicz twice. The second time came late in the round and Schoenhauer finished out the round swinging violently on the downed Silverback.
Schoenhauer seemed to be the stronger fighter throughout the bout until the final seconds when he appeared to get winded. Ciesnolevicz connected with a left high kick that made Schoenhauer wobble, but the Shawn Tompkins (Pictures)-coached light heavyweight hung on and stayed on his feet to end the fight.
The Anacondas were shocked when the judges' scores were read and Ciesnolevicz was declared the winner by decision, making a devastating start for the banged up Anacondas as one of their best hopes for moving ahead had just lost. The animated Tompkins, regarded as one of the best striking trainers in mixed martial arts, looked like he might puke.
Next up were the welterweights and with Jay Hieron (Pictures) out, Chris Clements (Pictures) stepped in to face Rory Markham (Pictures). Clements was described by Tompkins as having one of the hardest chins he'd ever coached. Markham tested that chin early, as he caught Clements and knocked him down early.
Clements popped back up but was dropped again, this time with a with a left, and the hard-punching Silverback jumped on him and kept swinging until the referee stopped the bout at 1:17 of the opening round.
Clements was still coherent and, with his team when the replay was shown, was upset about the stoppage along when replays showed he wasn't getting hit by any of the parting shots.
"I was kind of shocked actually," said Clements. "I didn't even know what was going on when he stopped it because I wasn't hurt from the punch. He knocked me down. I got to give him that. I remember the punch: I didn't feel it."
Bart Palaszewski (Pictures) met Chris Horodecki (Pictures)'s replacement Harris Sarmiento (Pictures) with a chance to clinch it for his squad. Sarmiento, however, was no pushover, as he gave as good as got for most of the fight. While the Midwestern lightweight seemed to get the better of the exchanges, sometimes Palaszewski had the stick but no move. Sarmiento was able to get in some good hard shots whenever "Bartimus" kept his head stationary.
Palaszewski showed why he is one of the top IFL lightweights when he caught Sarmiento on all fours and secured a guillotine to finish the fight as the Anacondas watched their postseason hopes slip away.
"Up until the guillotine, I thought [Sarmiento] was whooping Bart's ass," Tompkins said of the veteran Hawaiian's performance.
As Benji Radach (Pictures) stepped into the ring the pressure to win for the team was no longer there, so it was just he and his opponent, Gerald Harris (Pictures), who filled in for Ryan McGivern (Pictures).
Radach came out trying to thump Gerald Harris (Pictures) with some hard shots but Harris countered by elevating Radach high over his head for a hard slam. Radach wasn't fazed and shortly thereafter, Harris came in low for a single-leg but was caught flush with a right uppercut that had him slumped face first on the mat. Radach walked away, knowing it was over.
Then Ben Rothwell (Pictures) showed once again showed why he is in a class by himself in the IFL heavyweight division by taking out Krzysztof Soszynski (Pictures) in short order. It took the "North Star" all of 13 seconds to dispatch the Anaconda heavyweight with a TKO much to the delight of the Jersey crowd -- and making one mom in the audience very happy.
"If I had tried to go out there and do it, I'd have had a three-round fight," said Rothwell, who took over Mike Dolce (Pictures)'s position as the owner of the fastest knockout in IFL history.
"You know I could be really sad and down but at the same time it's like I just saw two brand new stars come into the IFL," Tompkins said of the loss. "I think Kurt Otto is real happy with them and you know it's like I said, it's Pat Miletich (Pictures). What can you add, what can you say? He's got top guys -- there good guys -- and they are dangerous at all times."
Horodecki was on hand to root for his team. When asked about the difficulty of having to sit out tonight he said, "It was tough. I've never been more nervous for a fight than tonight and I wasn't even fighting. You know, my heart was racing the whole time and it was disappointing but we'll take it for what it is and we'll come back strong."
Once again the Silverbacks find themselves in the finals and if things go well for them, the IFL may have a dynasty in the making on their hands.
Next up was the Sabres and Pitbulls and with all the red jerseys in the arena it was easy to see which team was the fans' favorite.
Both teams had replacement fighters at middleweight taking up the slack for missing fighters. Dan Miller (Pictures) and Dave Phillips stepped into the ring and Miller wasted no time proving that he was a valid substitute for Fabio Leopoldo (Pictures).
Miller represented New York well and came out like a Pitbull. He was relentless with his attack, which ended with him choking Phillips unconscious with a standing guillotine in just over a minute in the first round.
The second fight pitted the two heavyweights against each other. There was a sizable weight difference with when Wayne Cole (Pictures) weighing in at 217 and Brian Vetell sweated it out to come in under 265. Vetell used his size advantage to lean on Cole whenever possible en route to a unanimous decision.
Vetell was physically exhausted near the end but held on to win a unanimous decision that put all the pressure on the remaining Sabres.
With his team down 2-0 Savant Young (Pictures) had Tokyo's post-season hopes on his shoulders as he faced off with the Pitbulls' last-minute replacement for Erik Owings (Pictures) at lightweight, Deividas Taurosevicius (Pictures).
It was cobra vs. mongoose for a while as each guy was a little too fast to hit the other -- that is until both ended up getting knocked down more by accident than actual shots. Rounds two and three were all Taurosevicius and he won the unanimous decision.
With their two best fighters -- Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) and Antonio McKee (Pictures) -- still waiting to fight, the Sabres amazing 2007 run was put to an end.
At 170 pounds, the most ballyhooed fight of the night was a shot below the belt for the Sabres -- literally. McKee went down and stayed down for a long time after an errant shot to the groin had him grimacing. He eventually recovered to win a split decision over Delson Heleno (Pictures), handing the Brazilian his first loss since taking a disqualification against Dennis Hallman (Pictures) over a year ago.
Afterwards when asked if he thought he had really hit McKee, Heleno said no in Portuguese and Gracie added that McKee's "future generations have been guaranteed."
The surprise fight of the night came at the end when Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) met Tim Boetsch (Pictures) of the Pitbulls. Boetsch came in last minute to fight one of the IFL's top fighters after an MCL tear forced Jamal Patterson (Pictures) out of the contest.
Tim came out on fire as he matched Matyushenko punch for punch and proved that his wrestling skills were just as good as the vet from Belarus.
In the third round Matyushenko's experience showed as he pushed the pace and wore out Boetsch before scoring a unanimous decision win.
It was clear the Sabres also suffered tonight due to rifts within the camp, primarily with their coach Ken Yasuda.
It seemed to pain them to listen to him talk in circles about his team and his development of them. With the bond the other playoff coaches seemed to have with their team, it was obvious that the Sabres didn't have the same relationship with their coach and it hurt their cause tonight.
Even so, it's impressive to see what they were able to accomplish this season.
"We exceeded our expectations," said Savant Young (Pictures). They surely did considering the Sabres were one of the worst teams in the league last year.
Now the New York Pitbulls and Quad City Silverbacks will face off in September. Hopefully both squads will be healthy and we can see the starting five back in place for both coaches. Then again, with the way the Pitbulls replacements performed there may be some healthy competition for each weight class.
Featured on the card were the four remaining teams left in the IFL playoffs, each fighting to make to the finals Sept. 20 in Seminole, Fla.
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Both the Anacondas and Pitbulls were forced to limp into Thursday's fray with several key fighters missing. With names like Horodecki, Hieron, Patterson and Owings missing from their respective lineups, Pat Miletich (Pictures) and Renzo Gracie (Pictures) were left with skeleton crews made up of last minute replacements.
At the end of the night, New York managed to handle its injury
problem, as it advanced past Tokyo. However, Los Angeles couldn't
find the key to beating the 2006 champs.
In fact, the story of the night went to the replacement fighters.
The playoff battle between the Anacondas and Silverbacks got off to a slow start as Alex Schoenhauer took on Mike Ciesnolevicz (Pictures) in a rematch of a fight they had ended in a split decision win for Schoenhauer in the regular season.
They started slow but in the second Schoenhauer came alive dropping Ciesnolevicz twice. The second time came late in the round and Schoenhauer finished out the round swinging violently on the downed Silverback.
Schoenhauer seemed to be the stronger fighter throughout the bout until the final seconds when he appeared to get winded. Ciesnolevicz connected with a left high kick that made Schoenhauer wobble, but the Shawn Tompkins (Pictures)-coached light heavyweight hung on and stayed on his feet to end the fight.
The Anacondas were shocked when the judges' scores were read and Ciesnolevicz was declared the winner by decision, making a devastating start for the banged up Anacondas as one of their best hopes for moving ahead had just lost. The animated Tompkins, regarded as one of the best striking trainers in mixed martial arts, looked like he might puke.
Next up were the welterweights and with Jay Hieron (Pictures) out, Chris Clements (Pictures) stepped in to face Rory Markham (Pictures). Clements was described by Tompkins as having one of the hardest chins he'd ever coached. Markham tested that chin early, as he caught Clements and knocked him down early.
Clements popped back up but was dropped again, this time with a with a left, and the hard-punching Silverback jumped on him and kept swinging until the referee stopped the bout at 1:17 of the opening round.
Clements was still coherent and, with his team when the replay was shown, was upset about the stoppage along when replays showed he wasn't getting hit by any of the parting shots.
"I was kind of shocked actually," said Clements. "I didn't even know what was going on when he stopped it because I wasn't hurt from the punch. He knocked me down. I got to give him that. I remember the punch: I didn't feel it."
Bart Palaszewski (Pictures) met Chris Horodecki (Pictures)'s replacement Harris Sarmiento (Pictures) with a chance to clinch it for his squad. Sarmiento, however, was no pushover, as he gave as good as got for most of the fight. While the Midwestern lightweight seemed to get the better of the exchanges, sometimes Palaszewski had the stick but no move. Sarmiento was able to get in some good hard shots whenever "Bartimus" kept his head stationary.
Palaszewski showed why he is one of the top IFL lightweights when he caught Sarmiento on all fours and secured a guillotine to finish the fight as the Anacondas watched their postseason hopes slip away.
"Up until the guillotine, I thought [Sarmiento] was whooping Bart's ass," Tompkins said of the veteran Hawaiian's performance.
As Benji Radach (Pictures) stepped into the ring the pressure to win for the team was no longer there, so it was just he and his opponent, Gerald Harris (Pictures), who filled in for Ryan McGivern (Pictures).
Radach came out trying to thump Gerald Harris (Pictures) with some hard shots but Harris countered by elevating Radach high over his head for a hard slam. Radach wasn't fazed and shortly thereafter, Harris came in low for a single-leg but was caught flush with a right uppercut that had him slumped face first on the mat. Radach walked away, knowing it was over.
Then Ben Rothwell (Pictures) showed once again showed why he is in a class by himself in the IFL heavyweight division by taking out Krzysztof Soszynski (Pictures) in short order. It took the "North Star" all of 13 seconds to dispatch the Anaconda heavyweight with a TKO much to the delight of the Jersey crowd -- and making one mom in the audience very happy.
"If I had tried to go out there and do it, I'd have had a three-round fight," said Rothwell, who took over Mike Dolce (Pictures)'s position as the owner of the fastest knockout in IFL history.
"You know I could be really sad and down but at the same time it's like I just saw two brand new stars come into the IFL," Tompkins said of the loss. "I think Kurt Otto is real happy with them and you know it's like I said, it's Pat Miletich (Pictures). What can you add, what can you say? He's got top guys -- there good guys -- and they are dangerous at all times."
Horodecki was on hand to root for his team. When asked about the difficulty of having to sit out tonight he said, "It was tough. I've never been more nervous for a fight than tonight and I wasn't even fighting. You know, my heart was racing the whole time and it was disappointing but we'll take it for what it is and we'll come back strong."
Once again the Silverbacks find themselves in the finals and if things go well for them, the IFL may have a dynasty in the making on their hands.
Next up was the Sabres and Pitbulls and with all the red jerseys in the arena it was easy to see which team was the fans' favorite.
Both teams had replacement fighters at middleweight taking up the slack for missing fighters. Dan Miller (Pictures) and Dave Phillips stepped into the ring and Miller wasted no time proving that he was a valid substitute for Fabio Leopoldo (Pictures).
Miller represented New York well and came out like a Pitbull. He was relentless with his attack, which ended with him choking Phillips unconscious with a standing guillotine in just over a minute in the first round.
The second fight pitted the two heavyweights against each other. There was a sizable weight difference with when Wayne Cole (Pictures) weighing in at 217 and Brian Vetell sweated it out to come in under 265. Vetell used his size advantage to lean on Cole whenever possible en route to a unanimous decision.
Vetell was physically exhausted near the end but held on to win a unanimous decision that put all the pressure on the remaining Sabres.
With his team down 2-0 Savant Young (Pictures) had Tokyo's post-season hopes on his shoulders as he faced off with the Pitbulls' last-minute replacement for Erik Owings (Pictures) at lightweight, Deividas Taurosevicius (Pictures).
It was cobra vs. mongoose for a while as each guy was a little too fast to hit the other -- that is until both ended up getting knocked down more by accident than actual shots. Rounds two and three were all Taurosevicius and he won the unanimous decision.
With their two best fighters -- Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) and Antonio McKee (Pictures) -- still waiting to fight, the Sabres amazing 2007 run was put to an end.
At 170 pounds, the most ballyhooed fight of the night was a shot below the belt for the Sabres -- literally. McKee went down and stayed down for a long time after an errant shot to the groin had him grimacing. He eventually recovered to win a split decision over Delson Heleno (Pictures), handing the Brazilian his first loss since taking a disqualification against Dennis Hallman (Pictures) over a year ago.
Afterwards when asked if he thought he had really hit McKee, Heleno said no in Portuguese and Gracie added that McKee's "future generations have been guaranteed."
The surprise fight of the night came at the end when Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) met Tim Boetsch (Pictures) of the Pitbulls. Boetsch came in last minute to fight one of the IFL's top fighters after an MCL tear forced Jamal Patterson (Pictures) out of the contest.
Tim came out on fire as he matched Matyushenko punch for punch and proved that his wrestling skills were just as good as the vet from Belarus.
In the third round Matyushenko's experience showed as he pushed the pace and wore out Boetsch before scoring a unanimous decision win.
It was clear the Sabres also suffered tonight due to rifts within the camp, primarily with their coach Ken Yasuda.
It seemed to pain them to listen to him talk in circles about his team and his development of them. With the bond the other playoff coaches seemed to have with their team, it was obvious that the Sabres didn't have the same relationship with their coach and it hurt their cause tonight.
Even so, it's impressive to see what they were able to accomplish this season.
"We exceeded our expectations," said Savant Young (Pictures). They surely did considering the Sabres were one of the worst teams in the league last year.
Now the New York Pitbulls and Quad City Silverbacks will face off in September. Hopefully both squads will be healthy and we can see the starting five back in place for both coaches. Then again, with the way the Pitbulls replacements performed there may be some healthy competition for each weight class.
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