Revolution Fight League: Maximum Impact Event Recap (June 30, 2009)

This past Saturday, I got the opportunity to attend a Revolution Fight League show, Maximum Impact, at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel in Southern Indiana. I had initially planned on live blogging at the event, but when I arrived I was asked to provided commentary for the event as it was being recorded. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I recruited Dusty Adams from ProMMA to help me out and the two of us commentated the entire event. However, a friend that accompanied me to the show took some notes as the event was going on so that I was able to provide this recap. Thanks to my buddy Billy Redmon for taking notes throughout the event. Full event results are after the jump.

Landon Hembree vs. Mike Fleniken

I scored the first round of this fight 10-9 Fleniken due to his overall control of the round. Fleniken landed some solid strikes and was able to control the fight on the ground preventing Hembree from effectively doing any damage. Fleniken ended the fight fairly quickly in the second round securing a rear naked choke for the win.

Mike Fleniken wins via submission (RNC) at 1:44 in Round 2.

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J.R. Hines vs. John Troyer

With Troyer fresh off a win over former MMA Big Show Middleweight Champ Billy "Mojo" Horne, both Troyer and Hines took this fight on just under a week's notice. Both guys came out swinging and Troyer quickly scored a takedown and immediately transitioned to side mount after Hines rolled out of an initial full mount attempt, working elbows from the side mount until Hines tapped ending the fight.

John Troyer wins via submission (strikes) at 1:28 in Round 1.

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Matt Mcintyre vs. Brandon Bishop

Mcintyre outlasted Bishop's repeated attempts at a rear naked choke, managing to eventually roll out of Bishop's body triangle and score some hard head shots and elbows, opening up a cut on Bishop's head. Mcintyre took Bishop's back and ended the fight with a rear naked choke.

Matt Mcintyre wins via submission (RNC) at 4:20 of Round 1.

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Josh Ball vs. Jason Jones

After landing a hard leg kick to open the fight, Jones survived a guillotine attempt by Ball to score some hard head shots and sink in the rear naked choke quickly ending the fight.

Jason Jones wins via submission (RNC) at 1:13 of Round 1.

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Erik Florez vs. Tim Cook

This was my choice for FightTicker.com Fight of the Night. Florez and Cook (sporting a custom Fight For Life USA walkout shirt) put on an excellent, entertaining performance for the crowd that saw more reversals and sweeps than I've ever seen in an entire MMA event much less one fight. Both I and my co-commentator scored the first two rounds for Cook 10-9 due to his better striking game and control on the ground. Both Cook and Florez were able to re-take the dominant position various times, but Cook was able to take better advantage of his reversals, landing some good strikes from the top position. Cook eventually ended the fight in the third round after opening up some large cuts on Florez's face due to some big elbows from the mount. The referee quickly jumped in to stop the fight when he saw blood gushing from Florez's face.

Tim Cook wins via TKO (ref stoppage) at 3:24 in Round 3.

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Josh Ferguson vs. Matt Troyer

Ferguson survived some solid triangle attempts from Troyer, including an inverted triangle to score an armbar to win the fight towards the end of the first round.

Josh Ferguson wins via submission (armbar) at 3:47 in Round 1.

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Jonathan Ivey vs. Ron Sparks

This match-up for the vacant RFL Super Heavyweight Title saw a four-round Unanimous Decision for Ron Sparks. Throughout the fight, Sparks landed a 1-2 punch combination throughout the fight while Ivey seemed content to land a leg kick now and then, spending a lot of the time playing to the ground. A few times, Ivey went to the ground, trying to goad Sparks to roll with him, but Sparks was content to stand up and ride the time out to a decision that saw both me and my co-commentator score all four rounds 10-9 for Sparks.

Ron Sparks wins the RFL Super Heavyweight Title via Unanimous Decision.

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Nick Albin vs. Marcus Kaiser

Albin quickly took control in this fight, scoring a takedown and transitioning from some ground and pound in the full mount to a brief armbar attempt to a fight-winning rear naked choke.

Nick Albin wins via submission (RNC) at 1:18 of Round 1.

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Brandon Pinkston vs. Chris Curtis

This match-up was the perfect illustration why fighters should not let the fight go to the judges. After a quick exchange, Pinkston scored a takedown and took Curtis's back when Curtis tried to spin out of the bottom position. After defending against the rear naked choke, Curtis took control of the first round, landing some quality head shots before going back to the ground and almost scoring a triangle before Pinkston slammed Curtis to shake him off. Both my co-commentator and I scored the round 10-9 for Curtis.

My co-commentator and I gave the second round to Curtis after Curtis stunned Pinkston with a big overhand right and then used that opening to work in more solid striking both standing and on the ground, including some knees to the body. Pinkston was able to reverse position toward the end of the round, but Curtis responded with a triangle attempt and then a rear naked choke attempt that saw Pinkston briefly escape before the round expired.

In the third round, Pinkston seemed to have a renewed energy and was able to control most of the round after initially being stunned by Curtis again when Pinkston went for a flying knee but was knocked to the canvas by a jumping overhand right from Curtis. Pinkston was able to control the ground game for the majority of the round and scored a big suplex but was stunned again late when Curtis landed a hard right and some knees to the body as the fight ended. My co-commentator and I both thought Pinkston narrowly scored a win in this final round, but we both also commented that we thought it wouldn't be enough for Pinkston to win the fight.

After the fight, while the Judges' scorecards were being tallied, both fighters appeared showed respect to each other, but Curtis seemed to think he had the win locked up and Pinkston looked as though he knew he lost the fight. However, when the scores were announced, the Judges' scorecards were 29-28 Pinkston, 29-28 Curtis, and 29-28 Pinkston. Apparently the crowd shared our disagreement with the decision as we couldn't hear anything other than "boos" for a few moments. A tough loss for Curtis, but a great performance nonetheless.

Brandon Pinkston wins via Split Decision.
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This was the first RFL event I attended and I'll definitely be going back. Tom Keeton put on a great show and even brought in special guests Junie Browning and Jens Pulver to hang out with the crowd and watch the fights. It was an outdoor show, but the venue was nice and I'm looking forward to the next RFL show.