EliteXC Strikeforce Street Certified review

Introduction

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This here is a review of the EliteXC event EliteXC Strikefoce Street Certified, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

EliteXC - the XC stuff stands for "Extreme Combat" - is quite recent of an mma organization, and seems to pose as a considerable partner/rival to the prime originator of all mma madness, the UFC. This here fresh addition of proving ground mayhem the EliteXC brings you unleashes it's offerings via top notch presentation appeals and a staggeringly shallow ring announcer, but, apart from this latter discomfiture, you will have a hard time resisting to follow the rankings and events taking place in the UFC and the EliteXC organizations from now on, respectively.

The latest event, Strikeforce Street Certified features a heavyweight collision between two street-hardened juggernauts, namely David "Tank" Abbot and Kimbo Slice. Oh yeah, baby. THAT Kimbo Slice you watched rip people apart on YouTube, now DIDN'T you? We had plenty of chance to hear about Tank Abbot before, as he is one of the most ancient faces of mma, ironically though, he cares little about the traditions and styles of mixed martial arts, he prefers to smash the opposition via his extremely thick, massive physique and the nuclear bombs he can regard and trust as his fists. Though many claim Abbot being over his prime period, Tank still loves a good fight, especially if he takes part in it - his collision with prior internet phenomena, now professional level mma fighter Kimbo is a lineup to answer questions about Slice's future prospects, also it is Tank's big chance to emerge triumphant over a force not many could stop to this day - and no one could since Kimbo competes on professional level. It is clear that the Slice dude takes this business very seriously, as he is training with mma Legend Bass Rutten, and even Tank put the effort into serious training prior to this match, though this is not something he was necessarily notorious of to this day.

James Thompson vs Brett Rogers

A heavyweight confrontation to start off the night, taking place between a British veteran who have seen and been through much already, even holds wins over Dan Severn and Don Fry, two of the most notable faces of earlier days of the UFC. I must say I was amazed how determined and rampant Thompson looked when the horrific ring speaker of the EliteXC announced his presence.

(Side note: I mean the presence of James "The Colossus" Thompson, it is not like the announcer announced the announcer's presence, yes?)

The little gesture The Colossus offers for the crowd prior to the beginning of the bout is what mma is all about, truly no matter if you get knocked out in a short while IF and WHEN you had the determination and self confidence to exhibit such an evident conviction in your skills and ability to ruthlessly deconstruct.

Though The Colossus's gesture to greet the audience and the opponent remains utterly amazing, he quickly, thoroughly, and quite impressively gets knocked out by Brett Rogers, a victor solidifying both his reputation and his record as being of promising prospects and nothing but wins to hold to this day. Rogers looked quite swift and cunning for his thick, massive composure, and made a definite statement about his readyness to move higher up the rankings. A warrior we want to see again, yet time hopefully arrives when The Colossus will exhibit a tremendous action sequence to support his inner determination, which is perfect and quite impressive already.

Edson Berto vs Eve Edwards

A very good ground gamer in the phenomena of Edson Berto is to take on veteran warrior Eve Edwards, a fervent individual with a quite colorful list of organizations he fought for. A cautious, rather brief feeling out process takes place just to being substituted by intense assaults, yet, though they are nicely utilized, not many deliver considerable punishment. When the two do decide to grapple for a bit, Edwards executes a quite unorthodox flying knee you or Berto could never see coming - an attack capable to wrap this confrontation up in the first round, and a very memorable that one is, redefining, widening the concept of this attack form considerably.

Kyle Noke vs Scott Smith

Australian mma promise Kyle Noke holds quite fruity of a professional history, a record worth measuring for a UFC veteran like Scott Smith, a person who had his ups and downs and now competes in the rankings of the EliteXC. An evenly paced first round unravels in which Kyle Noke exploits his significant reach advantage sanely and cunningly, yet it is but the seventh second of the consecutive round when Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith connects with a right hand of instant knockout power. The follow-up hit on the grounded opponent is probably a waste of rather good suffering, as Noke evidently resist the attack, taking a brief, peaceful stroll on the astral plane. Scott Smith has the tendency to offer memorable moments in his matches, also his attitude in the post-fight interview was very classy and respectable. He stated he though that the match might go for Kyle, seeing how smartly the Australian forms a clear advantage of his wider threat zone. Smith offers his opinion on how the match boiled down to his ability to penetrate through Noke's guard for a brief moment he could deliver stopping power from, stating though that he very well might have lost if Kyle's defense would be good enough to keep him off the danger zone.

Antonio Silva vs Ricco Rodriguez

As former K1 fighter and a warrior having no problems of transitioning the skill set to mma, Antonio Silva holds an impressive record of nine wins by the time he faces former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez. This Ricco dude is not a controversial figure, do not believe the hype, as this Ricco dude IS controversy itself. His butt quickly got kicked around when he faced Randy Couture for the heavyweight belt back in UFC 39 - The Warriors Return, so he could come back in the consecutive rounds, overwhelming Couture by a ferocious ground dominance to the point where Randy was forced to submit verbally. A new Champion was born, and a new Champion was knocked out in a superbrief fashion by Tim Sylvia when Ricco failed to pull of his first title defense the very next time he stepped into the octagon. A rather tenacious, solid fighter he is nevertheless, with a probable recent tendency to offer quite intense leisure times for himself, as he comes to this fight rather fatty, though he approaches the EliteXC proving ground with the eyes of a very mature, composed warrior.

And truly that what Ricco Rodriguez is: he puts up three rounds of intense combat against Antonio Silva, whom game proves to be solid enough to render a split decision for him as conclusion. A quite even, somewhat desperate of a bout, in which Rodriguez exhibits the bigger desire to fight and to win, yet Antonio delivers the more considerable punishment and goes further on with the W. Explanations are given then by Silva on how he was not at his one hundred percent capacity now, but he will BE next time, that, he promises us. Both warriors made an intense and enjoyable game, though the most memorable aspect of the match remains Ricco Rodriguez's unbreakable fighting spirit he revealed by the night.

Tank Abbot vs Kimbo Slice

Quick, efficient deconstruction and show of class afterwards are the main elements you probably seek, and, let me tell you: find herein. A starting round spiced by a little tint of referee intervention due to hits to the back of the head, Kimbo wastes little if any time to take the Tank apart, connecting with bombs Abbot gets quickly rocked and endangered of. As a hasty conclusion for a story starting out in a quite fast paced manner itself, Slice drops heavy duty assaults on Tank's head to knock the iconic competitor out of this bout. Kimbo's triumph is convincing and complete, denying time all chance whatsoever to let this confrontation flow into the distance. Abbot couldn't match up to the speed and the unorthodox body movement of the Kimbo Thing this time around, thus the more colorful and fluent skill set quickly emerged victorious.

Tank still remains a face of mma you can never forget if you saw for once, yet it is safe to say that he needs some focal work on his versatility and his ability to dodge attacks if to remain in top level mma competition. This man lifts 600 pounds off his chest if needed, you can watch this at YouTube. And you can watch Kimbo's early career as well, as a source of rather radical amusement until we have the chance to watch him perform again in the professional league.

EliteXC Street Certificated delivers a knockout feast to tape your eye unto, while the organization slowly and surely starts to build up a warrior palette every mma fan must relate to. Hope you had a fine evening and found the review useful - thank you for reading it, and see you next time.

If you enjoyed this here article, check out my comic: Planetseed
If you are to circulate magnificently pleasant vibrations: Buy me Beer