MMA is back to full capacity in Texas, Fury FC 44 took place at the Bayou City Event center in Houston, TX and this was the first event for Fury on UFC FightPass. I’m so glad that its on FightPass because paying for some of the Fury events can be rough… I mean the fights are good, but some of the production can be absolutely horrible. With the FightPass deal, the production is significantly beefed up
This show had Prelims and Postlims, in between those, the main event showcased CJ Vergara vs Jacob Silva for the Fury FC Flyweight title. These two top level flyweight had a war, and CJ Vergara captured the Fury FC Flyweight title, by TKO in the 3rd round, in one of the best fights I’ve seen across any promotion, this year, so far. Check out my Best in Texas post
UFC FightPass Main Card
Main Event
CJ Vergara vs Jacob Silva – Flyweight
Round 1
Silva comes out with a flying knee, and puts the storm on Vergara. Silva drops Vergara bloodies his nose, and IMO the fight was close to being stopped. Vergara slowly got his composure back as the round went on
Round 2
Madness in this round with both guys hammering each other, towards the end of the round, you can tell the tide of this fight is changing
Round 3
Vergara begins to march down Silva, Vergara threw footwork and technique out the window and is just looking to break Silva. Vergara knocks Silva down with a straight and finishes him on the ground with strikes.🚩 CJ Vergara wins by TKO
This was a great fight, I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of bad blood between these two, and I really hope that all this is solved now. These guys should be training together. This was less of an MMA display and more of a raw blood and guts fight, Vergara showed once again that he has fantastic kicks. Vergara’s kicks are easily his best weapon, and Vergara also showed that he is a dog as well. I expect Vergara to get a call from the Contender Series this summer after a performance like that, and with the UFC talking about going to Texas in 2021 hopefully Vergara can keep his weight down for a short notice call, if he isn’t too injured. Silva has had some tough fights and some bad breaks, he probably needs to get a couple more wins under his belt before he can look for another big fight.
Leomana Martinez vs Casey Jones – Bantamweight, Martinez missed weight, so he was ineligible for the title
Round 1
Martinez throws a few feints and then drops Jones with a straight right and finishes him on the ground. 🚩 Martinez wins by TKO
Jones got a gift from the judges in his last fight, and he fought a very naive opponent, in his fight before that, he did not deserve to fight Leomana Martinez. Martinez was not pushed at all in this fight.
Gabriel Macario vs Cameron Graves – Featherweight
Round 1
Macario drops Graves and beats him up on the floor. They stand and Macario does some damage on the feet.
Round 2
They box and then Graves hits Macario with a big left head kick out of no where.🚩 Cameron Graves wins by KO
Macario’s boxing looks very weak, Cameron Graves is flat-footed. Graves has a good record, but I really dont see any big names on his resume. I think this win could get him a Contender Series call though. Macario? He started off well, but then it went down hill, he’s too plodding and not dynamic enough
Gabriel Echavarry vs Francisco Obando – Bantamweight
Round 1
Echavarry clinches, they clinch and they grapple and Echavarry gets the takedown and does some serious damage on the floor
Round 2
Obando clinches and Echavarry throws some big knees. They separate and Echavarry is very patient and gets a takedown
Round 3
Obando starts brightly. Echavarry gets the takedown and does work on top.🚩 Echavarry wins by unanimous decision
Obando is a dog. A D-O-G but the thing is, he’s not technical, he just has heart. Hopefully Obando can get some technical work. If he can get with the right people and get a little technical wrestling under his belt and some good striking, I see him doing very very well. His canvas is good for the fight game. Echavarry is good, he imposed his physicality on Obando, and he also played a very technical game with a less technical fighter. I’m interested to see where both guys go from here
Paris Moran vs Dean Fraire– Featherweight
Round 1
Moran winning. Clinches. Fraire is throwing more kicks
Round 2
Moran is crisper on the feet. And Moran dives in for the takedown
Round 3
Moran managing the distance using his jab, Moran isn’t following up on strikes. Fraire gets a takedown and stays in the guard for the whole round. 🚩Moran wins by unanimous decision
I dont know if Moran regressed or if he’s fighting cautiously. Its strange, he seems to just be counter-striking, and he seems to want to wrestle at times when he doesn’t need to wrestle. Its like he cant really put the MMA game together. He’s skilled but he’s very apprehensive. Fraire’s striking doesn’t look that great. Fraire needs a lot of work
Rusty Turley vs Kolton Englund – Lightweight
Round 1
Turley is counter-fighting and looking good. Englund is pressuring, and both guys are planting their feet and swinging. right before the bell, Englund gets a takedown and locks up a tight armbar. 🚩Kolton Englund wins by submission
Turley is a good fighter, but he’s young in his career. Englund looked calm and composed, and he looked like he had a gameplan. That armbar was super tight, I’ll be looking to see more from Kolton Englund
Carlos Calderon vs Jordan Plutin – Featherweight
Round 1
Plutin lands a huge left hand and grapples, and gets a takedown. They stand, Calderon is striking with his hands down. Plutin gets a big takedown and takes the back, Calderon finishes the round on top
Round 2
Plutin takes a low blow in the clinch. 🚩Fight is a no contest
Plutin didn’t look bad, Calderon’s hands aren’t very good, he has very good scrambles on the ground though
Facebook Prelims
Izzaya Delgado vs Luke Guillen – Ammy – Flyweight
Round 1
Delgado is 17 years old and comes out counter-fighting well
Round 2
Delgado is counter-fighting in a very pedestrian boxing round
Round 3
Guillen is looking to hurt Delgado, and it seems as though Delgado just wants to score points. 🚩Delgado wins by unanimous decision
Delgado didn’t even really get to fight offensive. Everything was a counter, and Guillen didn’t even push the 17 year old. But they’re Ammys for a reason
Josh Thawng vs Americo Garcia – Ammy Flyweight
Round 1
Thang drops Garcia and Garcia recovers and lays and prays on Thawng
Round 2
Thwang puts a flurry on Garcia and Garcia wrestles
Round 3
Thwang is cutting the cage off well, and throwing big strikes, he drops Garcia twice. 🚩Thwang wins by Unanimous decision
Garcia had nothing for Thwang but a wrestling game. Garcia needs to work on a lot. I think Thwang did well to get to his feet and I think Thwang has a very good work-rate, he worked out of some tricky wrestling situations. I’m very interested to see how Thwang develops. And kudos to the judges for getting the scores right. More and more, lay and pray fights are getting correctly judged
Facebook Postlims
Zach Lowery vs Justice Torres – Ammy Featherweight
Round 1
Lowery grapples and pushes Torres against the cage. Lowery then gasses out after 2 minutes and Torres hits Lowery with a big kick
Round 2
Lowery puts his hands down and is just street-fighting
Round 3
Torres puts the storm on Lowery and finishes him by strikes.🚩 Torres wins by TKO
Lowery looks like a non-training amateur, fresh off the couch. Torres is a respectable amateur that showed good composer. I’ll be looking to see more from Torres
Tyler Magallon vs Lalo Balderas – Ammy – Featherweight
Round 1
Balderas puts the storm on Magallon
Round 2
Magallon puts the storm on Balderas
Round 3
Magallon is able to put a big flurry on Balderas and get the finish. 🚩Magallon wins by TKO
Balderas seems just a little more technically sound, but Magallon just has heart and endurance. Magallon is an Ammy with a high quality canvas, if he can get a little more technical, he can be great. Hopefully talented Ammys like him find a good gym-home. Balderas is good as well, he probably should’ve game planned more for Magallon’s toughness
Cameron Smotherman vs Mario Bastidas – Bantamweight
Round 1
The round starts out with Bastidas going for a glove touch and Smotherman giving no glove touch. Bastidas then clinches and gets a big takedown, they work their way to the feet, and Bastidas gets another big takedown. They wrestle on the ground with Smotherman doing well defensively. They stand and Smotherman puts a storm on Bastidas. Bastidas gets knocked down, and Smotherman tells him to get up. Mario Bastidas complains to the referee that his leg is injured, but the referee tells him to get up anyway. Bastidas gets up. Smotherman gets Bastidas down, gets on top and throws some good ground and pound. The Bell sounds… the referee doesnt know the round is over. The referee is able to separate the fighters and tells Smotherman to get to his corner. THE REFEREE PHYSICALLY HELPS BASTIDAS UP, between rounds. Keep in mind that Bastidas’ leg is injured. Bastidas cant make the 2nd round.🚩 Smotherman wins by Retirement
Garbage refereeing. I was informed on twitter that this referee is Joe Solis, the same referee that gave Jon Jones the 49-46 score over Reyes. How can he not know the rules of MMA. Helping a fighter up is a no-no. Cameron Smotherman is now 1-0, and I think he needs to be on TV. I think people should find some way to get him on LFA, on FightPass, wherever, because I think he’s one of the most talented Bantamweights in Texas right now
Jonathan Davis vs Chase Eastham – Flyweight
Round 1
Eastham starts off by running across the cage and throwing a drop kick, Davis gets out of the way, gets in Eastham’s guard and starts beating him up on the floor. Davis then works to get to the back and locks up the RNC.🚩 Jonathan Davis wins by submission.
All I saw from Eastham was poor IQ. Davis showed a very nice ground game
CJ Vergara and Cameron Smotherman were unbroken at Fury FC 44