“Razor” Rob wins WEC lightweight title; O’Brien upsets Herring at UFN 8
With a sold-out Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas as his backdrop, “Razor” Rob McCullough defeated Kit Cope by submission due to strikes to become the new WEC lightweight champion on Saturday, January 20th inside “The Joint.”
After dropping Cope with a right hand early in the first round, McCullough jumped into the guard of the Muay Thai specialist and landed some heavy ground-and-pound. After withstanding an omo plata and kneebar attempt, the “Razor” landed a fight-ending elbow that damaged Cope’s ribs and caused the tap out at 2:53 of the first round.
With millions of viewers watching the live telecast on Spike TV, undefeated heavyweight “Irish” Jake O’Brien pulled off a huge upset at Ultimate Fight Night 8 with a unanimous decision victory over Pride star Heath Herring on Thursday, January 25th at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
A 3-to-1 underdog heading into the fight, O’Brien used repeated takedowns and ground control to frustrate Herring (26-12 record), easily passing from guard to half-guard to full-mount throughout the fight. O’Brien also took Herring’s back several times with his hooks in, but was unable to secure the rear-naked choke.
O’Brien, from Indianapolis, IN, is now 3-0 in the UFC and a perfect 10-0 as a pro.
In other MMAagents news, Falaniko Vitale dropped a controversial split decision to Jeremy Horn in an IFL SuperFight on Friday, January 19th at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Despite the feared ground game of Horn (79-15-5), Vitale attempted numerous submissions in this matchup of middleweight contenders. Most notably, Vitale secured a deep armbar at one point that nearly ended the fight. Vitale, from Honolulu, HI, now holds a pro record of 21-7.
In other IFL action last Friday, heavyweight Vince Lucero, from Casa Grande, AZ, lost to Roy Nelson by referee stoppage in a team matchup between Frank Shamrock’s San Jose Razorclaws and Ken Shamrock’s Nevada Lions. Lucero, representing the Razorclaws, was unable to stop Nelson’s early takedown attempt. With Lucero in a bad position on the ground taking punches, the ref jumped in and quickly stopped it.
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Posted January 30th, 2007 l 208 views
