Perosh bounces back at Rize 3

by Chris Postupalski

One of Australia’s fastest growing promotions, Rize held their third show at the Mansfield Tavern, on the 5th of December in what ended being a smooth running, fan-friendly and auction free event.

Unfortunately though, due to VISA issues former UFC fighter Ricco Rodriguez did not come to the event. Rodriguez a former UFC Heavyweight champion, was scheduled to take on New Zealand heavyweight Sam Brown.

Anthony Perosh who no doubt is still hoping of securing a fight at UFC 110 in Sydney, made quick work of South Australian fighter Kym Robinson in the main event. Perosh who was coming off a loss to Jamie Te Huna earlier this year, took the fight to the ground and from there, Kym Robinson had no answer to the superior grappling skills of Perosh. Once the fight went to the ground, Perosh secured the crucifix, trapping Robinson’s arms from the top position and pounding away before referee Peter Hickmott had to call a stop to the fight, 3 minutes into the first.

Rodriguez’s replacement Michael Van Der Vlist had a huge upset victory in the semi-main event against New Zealand powerhouse Sam Brown in what was one of the fights of the night. Brown had early intentions to get the fight to the ground, but Van Der Vlist showed great sprawls, flicking his hips and legs back mid-air to avoid the takedowns. In the second round, Van Der Vlist took control, as he completed two takedowns from which he was able to swing the fight in his favour, with solid ground and pound. Both fighters looked exhausted as they came out for the last round. Brown was looking for the big KO punch, while Van Der Vlist’s confidence grew as the last round went on, throwing head kicks and spinning back kicks. Despite never giving up, the big KO punch did not come for Brown, and it was Van Der Vlist from the Penrith Elite gym who took the decision. A great performance by Van Derl Vlist who took the fight on a week or two notice, and was fighting at a catch-weight, a few kilograms above his usual weight.

The night also featured the first round of the RIZE 4 Lightweight (under 70kgs) tournament which featured Rob Hill, Patrick Conroy, Ken Yasuda and Daniel Hooker.

Rob Hill from Lange’s MMA was too much for Patrick Conroy who had come to the fight via the Tiger Muay Thai camp based in Bangkok, Thailand. Once it hit the floor, the end was near, as Hill immediately took mount where he rained down with punches for the victory.

In the other semi-final bout, Daniel Hooker from the Fight Centre Gym in Auckland took on Ken Yasuda from Shooting Gym in Japan. The fight would end unfortunately as Yasuda suffered an eye injury midway through the first round. It is unknown if the injury came from an accidental poke in the eye or from an actual strike

Rob Hill who is fighting is way back up the ranks will now take on Daniel Hooker in 2010.

The other tournament on the night featured the first round of the 84 kilograms four man tournament featuring Sinosic-Perosh up and comer Steve Micallef taking on Pat Crawley and in the other match-up coming off a massive KO victory at RIZE 2, we had Ross Dallow taking on Leigh Allwood.

Micallef in his bout against Crawley came out strong and immediately took the fight to the ground where he mixed up the ground and pound with submission attempts. To the credit of Crawley, he never looked seriously in danger and did well to escape any submission attempts Micallef tried. Micallef came out look gassed in the second round as Crawley took control, picking his shots well. In a see-sawing last round both fighters left it all in the ring in what was a battle of superior conditioning. In the end the judges awarded the fight to Micallef via a split points decision.

Dallow continued his impressive return to MMA, with an armbar submission over Leigh Allwood from the Penrith Elite Gym early in round one. Dallow will now meet Micallef in the tournament final at a future RIZE show in 2010.

In one of the upsets of the night Dave Nicholls upset Integrated Martial Arts up-and-comer Tony Rossini, when he snapped on his signature knee bar submission at 1:01 in the first round. Rossini drops his first fight of his career, while Nicholls continues to impress with his second consecutive win in the RIZE promotion.

In under-card action, Ian Bone required three minutes to defeat Faith MMA fighter Sam Fiamatai by rear-naked choke submission while in a female bout Claire Fryer proved too much on the ground, as she won a unanimous decision against kickboxing champion, Jessica Tolhurst. Youngster Tyson Kroehn from Rings Toowoomba survived and escaped  fight-ending submissions in the first two rounds, to come back and knock out Stephen Cornish at the beginning of the last round. Cornish knowing he needed to stop the fight to get the victory, came out in top gear and landed a nicely timed head kick, which he followed up with punches to get the victory.

With the way Rize holds the tournaments, MMA fans in Australia can look forward to some very interesting match-ups when the promotion returns in 2010.