Carvalho, Slovenian trio shines at WFC 9

24.12.2009

Carvalho, Slovenian trio shines at WFC 9

Close to 5,000 excited spectators at the buzzing Hala Tivoli joined 57,000 eyeballs on the live broadcast at 24ur.com in witnessing the ninth installment of the biggest mixed martial arts event series in southern Europe – WFC 9 “Restart”. In the total of ten bouts, slick submissions alternated with brutal ground and pound and clean knockouts as only four of the fights went the distance on a very diversified night of fights.

In the co-main event, Bruno Carvalho finally got strapped in MMA after taking more than fifty titles in Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Wrestling. The Brazilian who fights out of Gothenburg, Sweden, dominated the bout against French PRIDE veteran with his powerful punches, explosive takedowns and slick groundwork. After nearly finishing the fight in the first couple of minutes, Carvalho shifted back a gear in the second round, before mounting a huge closing offense in the third stanza.

Following another cracking takedown, the GBG MMA fighter hit Lenogue with numerous knee strikes to the ribs and to the head before transitioning into the backmount position. Wasting no time, he cinched the rear-naked choke submission. The Parisian, who hadn’t been stopped in over five years, struggled to get free, but there was no escape. Tapping too late, he went to sleep, giving Carvalho the win and the flamboyant championship belt made from baby zebra.

Headlining the K-1 portion of the card, Slovenian national hero Miran Fabjan had little trouble with short notice replacement Evan Valerii. The Italian was given the count twice in the first round already and after another knockdown in the second round, referee Grant Waterman had seen enough and stopped the bout. Fabjan was joined by Slovenian Taekwondo national team member Ivan Budimir and Vale Tudo Ljubljana fighter Marko Drmonjic as triumphant domestic fighters on the card.

In perhaps the most highly anticipated confrontation, Greece’s Andreas Kraniotakes took on Nandor Guelmino from Austria. “Big Daddy” Kraniotakes, entering the ring in a Spartan helmet and red cape, had to take some heavy punches early and survive a scare being mounted. Seasoned and blessed with an unbreakable fighting spirit, Kraniotakes managed to sweep the 230-pound Guelmino before unleashing some powerful ground-and-pound on the “Hun”, prompting referee Waterman to halt the action midway through the first round.

On the undercard undefeated German Pascal Krauss snapped the unbeaten streak of Serbian national wrestling champion and judo black belt Srdjan Sekulic with another dominant performance. The “Panzer” as Krauss is called due to his bruising style, dictated the action with his strong boxing in the standup and easily stuffed all of Sekulic’s takedown attempts, punishing him with knee strikes from the Thai clinch. Midway through the second round it was the 22-year-old German who put the Serb on his back with a double-leg takedown, mounted and pounded for the technical knockout.

The bout between “Serbian Fedor” Aleksandar Radosavljevic and young Croat Dino Kusic ended in anticlimactic fashion when Kusic was hit with a devastating blow below the belt in the second round. When the MMA Vienna fighter was unable to continue after a five minute rest period, the fight was sent to the judges to decide the winner per WFC rules. Two had Radosavljevic winning, one had it a draw, giving “Rodja” by technical decision.

Complete results:

01. Jetmir Emruli def. Yannis Jacquet – Unanimous Decision

02. Ivan Mussardo def. Dorian Pridal – Submission (Armbar) R1 3:06

03. Pascal Krauss def. Srdjan Sekulic – TKO (Punches) R2 2:24

04. Muamer Tufekcic def. Grigor Aschugbabjan – Unanimous Decision

05. Marko Drmonjic def. Alan Carlos – Unanimous Decision

06. Aleksandar Radosavljevic def. Dino Kusic – Majority Technical Decision

07. Andreas Kraniotakes def. Nandor Guelmino – TKO (Punches) R1 3:37

08. Ivan Budimir def. Srdjan Spirk – Unanimous Decision

09. Bruno Carvalho def. Jean-Francois Lenogue – Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) R3

10. Miran Fabjan def. Evan Valerii – TKO (Knee) R2

by Tim Leidecker (tleidecker@gnp1.de)