(Image via Sharon Richards Photographics)
The debut Roshambo event ended in an entertaining five round battle between New South Wales fighter Alex Volkanovski and Anton Zafir from the Whitsundays gym in what was a battle for the Roshambo Welterweight Title. Unfortunately the whole event was held front of a disappointing low crowd for the new promotion whom will need to re-evaluate what went wrong,
The event was held at the Chandler Arena in Queensland on Saturday night.
Alex Volkanovski (pictured) walked away with the title fight, stopping a game Anton Zafir with punches midway through the fourth round.
The fight started off with both exchanging early strikes before they clinched, where Volkanovski was able work the fight to the ground. From there he was able to move into side-control position and transitioned to back-control as Zafir stood-up. Zafir though remained calm, and bucked Volkanowski off. From there, both fighters scored with takedowns but neither could control it on the ground long enough to land any significant strikes however Volkanowski was throwing some big hay-makers looking for that knockout finish. As the round came to an end, Zafir looked to be close in locking up a rear-naked choke submission.
Zafir attempted a flying knee in the second round as Volkanowski looked to counter with a big hook that narrowly missed. Zafir got an early takedown but Volkanovski got to his feet and landed a nice hook before securing a takedown of his own. As Zafir scrambled back to his feet, Volkanovski unloaded with some quick punches that found their mark. Zafir came back with a takedown, before an illegal knee to a downed opponent as Volkanovski positioned to get back to his feet cost Zafir a point. The constant takedowns from both fighters continued in between a flurry of shots while the pair where standing.
There were signs that Volkanovki started to tire by the third round, but the Freestyle MMA team member stayed on the front foot and started to connect with more strikes. Zafir looked for a guillotine however his opponent escaped. It would be Zafir though who finished the round stronger, getting the back control before Volkanovski turned back-around and getting half-guard back. Zafir throwing short elbows as the round ends.
As the championship rounds began, Volkanovski took control by landing a solid right that rocked Zafir. The referee noticed water on the canvas in one of the corners and Zafir also looked over to the ref as Volkanovski came in to finish the fight. Referee halted the action immediately to towel down the canvas much to the frustration of Volkanovski. It was restarted with both fighters throwing heavy leather, but Volkanovski’s punches were landing the cleaner as he started to hunt down Zafir. The barrage of shots continued against the cage, and with Zafir not doing enough to defend himself the referee rescued him for any further damage.
The end came at 2:19 of the fourth round, as Volkanovski moved his record to 7-0. No doubt his toughest fight to date against Zafir who moved to 2-1 in a battle he will no doubt take a lot way from. Expect bigger things to come from both guys.
In the semi-main event, lightweight fighter Greg Atzori (pictured left) came up against American Cody Stevens training out of the Tiger Muay-Thai gym with Brian Ebersole. Atzori had a huge reach advantage over Stevens, but could not deal with American’s constant wrestling and was ultimately submitted in the second round.
As the fight began, the fighters clinched and Atzori landed a nice right as the two separated before Stevens landed the first of many takedowns. He immediately was able to progress to mount early. Atzori scrambled and eventually managed to work back to his feet before another takedown only to be met by another takedown from Stevens. Stevens came close with an armbar attempt, which allowed Atzori to escape and get the top position. Atzori immediately fired away with punches before Stevens reversed and ended up in side-control. Atzori regained guard and Stevens finished the round with a big punch from the top.
Stevens started the second round with a single-leg takedown. Atzori kept scrambling trying to find space to escape, but Stevens was staying tight on top and matching him move for move. Atzori did get a break and attacked a single but Stevens locked up the guillotine choke to get the tap at 2:49 of the second round.
Atzori admitted post-fight that he will need to get back in the gym and work on his wrestling following the loss, which was his third in four fights. Stevens though looked impressive in victory and post-fight said that it was a dream of his to come and visit Australia. Hopefully won’t be the last time we see him compete here and he can return to take on some other recognised lightweights in Australia.
Exciting prospect Chris Lokteff made his heavyweight debut against Peter Kennedy from Western Australia and didn’t wast no time, calmly dispatching of Kennedy with strikes in the first round. Noticeably bigger, Lokteff came out swinging with punches that were glancing off his opponent. Kennedy attempted to find his distance with kicks, however the barrage of shots continued from Lokteff who rocked Kennedy and finally dropped Kennedy with a knee. Lokteff comes in to finish as the referee halted the contest only 1:20 into the fight. With the win, Lokteff takes his professional record to 9-1.
In an entertaining bout that was awarded Fight of the Night honours, local fighter Grego Penaloza came up against Ben Nguyen who was another American coming from the Tiger Muay Thai & MMA gym in Thailand. After an early exchange, Nguyen had Penaloza in trouble early by securing a deep guillotine however the Integrated Martial Arts fighter managed to escape. Nguyen started to control the ground battle, as Penaloza struggled to implement his own game. He constantly looked for a submission from the bottom, however Nguyen stayed savvy and was able to cause some damage with punches. Penaloza did land a spinning back fist but it would be Nguyen’s round as he finished it in mount landing big shots.
Penaloza landed a nice right to start the second right, however Nguyen quickly got the fight to the ground where he was able to control the action. Penaloza constantly stayed active off his back, but the punishment was starting to take it’s toll as a decent size cut opened up under the right eye of Penaloza. Just like in the first, Nguyen finished the round landing big punches and elbows from mount.
In between rounds, the doctor was called in to examine cut and the fight was called off to give Ben Nguyen the stoppage victory. 2 from 2 for Brian Ebersole’s fighters on the card. Penaloza stayed game and was constantly moving but in the end outmatched against an experienced opponent who according to the sherdog database made his MMA debut nearly a decade ago.
Also on the card, Dominic Campbell stepped up on late notice to take on Craig Martin and looked good early landing a couple of takedowns and attacking with submissions when on the bottom. Martin on the other hand never looked in serious danger either and while on top was landing short strikes. The fight ended early though as Campbell was unable to continue due to a knee injury giving Martin the victory at the end of the first. It was later revealed that Campbell had recently torn the miniscus in his knee and recently started training again however looks like he will now be sidelined for a bit longer to repair the injury.
Integrated fighter David Greaves (pictured below) showed great composure, even stopping mid-fight to point out to the referee that the fight is actually being contested under ‘A’ class rules. The fight started with both exchanging leg kicks before battling for position against the cage. Greaves separated and landed a nice right before securing the takedown. Coleman survived the rear-naked choke submission but succumb to the head-arm choke shortly after as Greaves got the tap 4:04 into the fight to take his professional record to 4-1.
(Image via Sharon Richards Photographics)
Shani Marsh stepped up on very late notice to give her team mate Helen Malone a match-up after Belinda Sedgwick was forced to withdraw due to personal reasons. Both girls were hesitant to exchange early but as the fight went on, Malone took control and was able to lock up the rear-naked choke submission at 2:58 of the second round.
In the opening battle of the night, Aden Hawke wasted no time in locking up the guillotine submission to choke out unconscious his opponent Ben Bruin. The end came only 19-seconds into the fight.
No doubt a stumbling block for Roshambo with the attendance not being anywhere near what they expected, but actual production level wasn’t bad and there were signs that the promotion could fix things up. Hopefully the promotion can recover and return to hold another show.
