Hard Knocks 41 goes down live tonight at Century Casino in Calgary, Alberta. Featuring some great fights including Misha Cirkunov taking on Rodney Wallace for the Light Heavyweight Title in the main event. Also on the card Souksavanh Khampasath meets Jesse Arnett in a Bantamweight bout and Curtis Demarce returns from a career threatening injury to take on WEC veteran Bendy Casimir at a Catchweight of 150lbs.
If you’re not in Calgary, Hard Knocks will have an Internet PPV HERE or you can catch the last five fights live and free onThe Fight Network in Canada beginning at 9pm mountain time.
Fight of the Night – Bendy Casimir vs. Curtis Demarce
Submission of the Night – Brent Auger
Knockout of the Night – Dejan Kajic
Pro Fights:
Misha Cirkunov vs. Rodney Wallace (Light Heavyweight Title Fight)
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: These are two very powerful guys. I can’t see this making it five full rounds. Rodney lands a nice leg kick but Misha comes back with a hard one two combination. The fighters clinch up and Misha pins Rodney up against the cage. Misha attempts an outside leg trip but Rodney defends. Misha lands a huge right hook and follows it up with a high kick that knocks out Rodney. I seriously can’t believe how many epic knockouts we witnessed tonight!
Misha Cirkunov defeats Rodney Wallace by KO (Head Kick) in Round 1, 2:00
Souksavanh Khampasath vs. Jesse Arnett
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: Souksavanh lands a nice punch to Jesse’s chin that appeared to knock him out for a second but Jesse quickly recovered. I think that was a flash knockout but it could have been a slip. Souksavanh takes top position. Jesse rolled and Souksavanh takes his back. Souksavanh has both hooks in and is working for a rear naked choke and hammering away at Jesse’s head. This does not look good for Jesse. Souksavanh flattens him out and transitions to a neck crank but Jesse keeps defending well. Jesse shook off one of Souksavanh hooks then recovers guard. Jesse kicks Souksavanh off and lands an awesome kick to the body and follows up with a knee to the head. Jesse is unleashing hell’s flury on Souksavahh and is landing at will with punches. Jesse throws a knee that connects to Souksavanh’s head. Wow what a comeback! Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Jesse Arnett
Round 2: Jesse is doing a lot of damage with his kicks. He throws a flying knee that connects but Souksavanh tries to take him down and ends up pulling guard. From top position Jesse is doing a lot of damage. Jesse is dropping huge punches and elbows. Souksavanh tries to trap an arm but Jesse rips it free and keeps dropping brutal elbows down on Souksavanh face. Jesse is landing so many elbows he might gas himself out here. Souksavanh looks like he is still in the fight though. Souksavanh recovers guard but Jesse drops two huge elbows and passes to side control. Jesse is dropping King Kong hammer strikes and Souksavanh stops defending himself. Referee Adam Cheadle stops the fight. That was a great stoppage.
Jesse Arnett defeats Souksavanh Khampasath by TKO (Punches) in Round 2, 4:37
Bendy Casimir vs. Curtis Demarce
ref. Andy Social
Round 1: Curtis lands a leg kick. Bendy looks very relaxed. Curtis moves in and gets smoked by a spinning backfist. That backfist opened a cut up above Curtis’ left eye. Bendy lands a hard leg kick. Whoa another leg kick. Bendy’s strikes are incredibly powerful. Bendy lands another crushing leg kick. Bendy’s striking is clearly on another level. Curtis moves in and throws a flurry of punches. Bendy defends and manages to stay relaxed through the whole thing. Amazing! Curtis drops down for a takedown and picks up one of Bendy’s feet but Bendy manages to stay standing. Curtis takes Bendy’s back, picks him up and slams him down but Bendy get right back up to his feet and then spins around and drops down for a kneebar. Curtis defends but Bendy attempts another kneebar. Curtis defends that too and gets up and attempts a flurry of punches. That was an awesome round! Bendy was landing pinpoint strikes and Curtis was all heart. He pushed forward aggressively the whole round. It was close but Bendy clearly won the round. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Bendy Casimir
Round 2: Before the round begins referee Andy Social calls in the doctor to take a look at Curtis’ cut. He gets the ok and the round begins. Curtis is throwing down trying to win the fight by aggressively attacking Bendy to the head and body. Bendy looks relaxed and is blocking nearly everything. Bendy throws another spinning backfist that knocks Curtis out cold. Crazy!
Bendy Casimir defeats Curtis Demarce by KO (Spinning Back Fist) in Round 2, 0:40
Bendy has a real Anderson Silva vibe to him. I can’t wait to see this guy fight again!
Zac Chalmers vs. Devon Smith
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: People and whistling for Zac is so loudly that it is ear-splitting. I can’t help but cheer against him for the sake of my ears. Sorry Zac, not your fault! The fighters get close and Devon immediately wraps up a guillotine choke and pulls guard. Zac taps. Fights over. That was shocking.
Devon Smith submits Zac Chalmers by Guillotine Choke in Round 1, 0:28
Dejan Kajic vs. Justin Schmit
ref. Andy Social
Round 1: Justin lands a few punches then takes Dejan down with a double leg. Dejan move towards the fence and manages to walk up the cage and back to his feet. Justin throws a nice leg kick. Dejan is looking pretty relaxed! Justin is throwing punches but it looks like he is just trying to set up a takedown. Dejan lands a right hand that drops Justin. Dejan jumps on Justin and gets half mount Dejan passes to side control then mount and Justin sweeps him and gets back to his feet. Justin charges forward and scores another takedown but Dejan is back on his feet pretty quickly. Justin gets another takedown but Dejan bounces back to his feet and lands a flurry of right hands to Justin’s head. Justin shoots again but drops to the mat to avoid a guillotine choke. Dejan takes his back and finishes the round on top. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Dejan Kajic
Round 2: Dejan lands a leg kick then throws a high kick immediately after that knock Justin out cold. WOW! That was an epic knockout!
Dejan Kajic defeats Justin Schmit by KO (Head Kick) in Round 2, 0:09
Stephanie Essensa vs. Lynnell House
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: Stephanie looks quite a bit smaller than Lynnell. Both fighters start out with a cautious approach. Lynnell lands a leg kick and Stephanie a left straight but so far this fight is pretty slow. Stephanie lands a nice leg kick and the action really starts to pick up . Lynnell is coming in fast with bad intentions and Stephanie is waiting for that and countering. Stephanie is landing some nice hard leg kicks now as well which I think are making Lynnell a lot more cautious. Either that or her legs are already going dead on her. Stephanie is getting the better of Lynnell this so far this round with faster and crisper strikes and better movement. The women clinch up and Stephanie lands a nice combination when they break. Stephanie lands another cracking leg kick. I really think she should keep throwing those leg kicks. Lynnell rushes in with a flurry of strikes at the end of the round but Stephanie throws back and lands with a lot more strikes than Lynnell whose punches were mostly blocked. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Stephanie Essensa
Round 2: I think the leg kicks from Stephanie will start to pay dividends this round. Both fighters are starting slow down this round. Lynnell charges in and Stephanie takes her down. Lynnell starts working the rubber guard from bottom position but Stephanie pulls out and stands up. Stephanie clearly did not want to play that game. Stephanie is bleeding a lot from her nose now. Lynnell throws a huge left hand which is blocked. Stephanie keeps working the inside leg kick and is doing a great job avoiding the worst of Lynnell’s onslaught. Lynnell charges in and Stephanie changes levels and shoots for a takedown but Lynnell stuffs it. Lynnell charges in again and Stephanie shoots and still can’t take her down. Both fighters are throwing down and Lynnell’s size advantage looks like it’s starting to wear down Stephanie. Stephanie takes Lynnell down. Stephanie lands a few elbows. Lynnell attempts an arm bar but Stephanie stacks her and lands a few more punches as the round ends. This was a very close round! Intense! Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Stephanie Essensa
Round 3: Stephanie lands a couple of nice inside leg kicks then starts unleashing a flurry of them. Lynnell appears to really be slowing down because of those leg kicks. Lynnell throws a huge left hand which is blocked. Stephanie is just hammering Lynnell’s legs now. Lynnell looks bad because of the damage she is taking to her legs but she just keeps bringing it and throwing bombs back at Stephanie. Stephanie’s movement is just dominating the fight at this point and she is landing strikes at will while avoiding everything Lynnell throws her way. Stephanie lands a few cracking combinations and is pressuring Lynnell. Lynnell is digging deep but her legs are just trash by this point. At the end of the round Stephanie secures one more takedown. This round was all Stephanie. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Stephanie Essensa
Stephanie Essensa defeats Lynnell House by Unanimous Decision
Carmen Umpherville vs. Robin Hahn
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: First strike of the match was directly to Carmen’s groin. When the action resumes Robin effortlessly takes Carmen down with a body lock takedown. Robin passes to half mount and lands a few decent strikes from top position. Robin is landing some decent strikes but Carmen is doing a good job protecting himself and a bad job trying to recover guard. Robin passes to mount and drops a hard elbow. That elbow opens a cut up under Carmen’s eye and Carmen sort of half rolls over and stops defending himself completely. He was clearly hurt and referee Adam Cheadle stops the fight.
Robin Hahn defeats Carmen Umpherville by TKO (Elbows) in Round 1, 3:19
Robert Nelson vs. Keegan Oliver
ref. Andy Social
Round 1: Robert stretches out his fist for a first bump but Keegan snubs him and gets booed. Keegan attempts a takedown but Robert stuffs the attempt. Robert takes Keegan down with a hip toss but Keegan just drives forward until get gets back to his feet. Keegan locks in a choke standing without back control and Robert taps. That was a strange choke because the positioning was more typical of a neck crank but I from my position cage side I could see that it was a choke not a neck crank. It looked like standing RNC with only one hook in.
Keegan Oliver submits Robert Nelson by Rear Naked Choke in Round 1, 1:45
Amateur Fights:
Brent Auger vs. James Williams (Amateur Middleweight Title Fight)
ref. Andy Social
Round 1: The fighters touch gloves and James just cracks him one then takes him down with a head lock. Brent scrambles to his feet and James takes him down again and lands in mount. Brent rolls and James takes his back. James is working for the RNC but without strikes to the head of a grounded opponent securing it is going to be a challenge. From top position James is landing a lot of strikes to Brent’s right shoulder and side. We will see how that affects Brent in Round 2. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 James Williams
Round 2: James charges forward with strikes and attempts the same headlock takedown but this time Brent defends and takes James down with a great single leg. Brent passes into side control and is doing a great job controlling James from top position. Brent attempts and arm bar which looked like it damages James arm but James got free and took top position. Brent sweeps James and attempts a guillotine which James escapes. He attempts another guillotine and James get back to his feet. James lands a nice punch but Brent takes him again and locks in an epic arm bar and forces the tap. The arm bar looked gruesome. Definitely a sub of the night candidate!
Brent Auger submits James Williams by Arm Bar in Round 2, 2:56
Grey Patino vs. John Nguyen
ref. Adam Cheadle
Round 1: Grey rushes in for a takedown and John defends perfectly. Both fighters are keeping up a really fast pace. They land simultaneous right hands and both fighters are stunned. Grey lands a really hard right hook. John comes back with a nice combination that stuns Grey. John lands a right uppercut that hurts Grey bad. Really bad. Grey crumples down against the fence and Referee Adam Cheadle stops the fight.
John Nguyen defeats Grey Patino by TKO (Strikes) in Round 1, 1:53
Ali Wasuk vs. Tyler Kobayashi
ref. Andy Social
Round 1: Both fighters start out very cautious but Ali looks fairly confident. Tyler charges in for a clinch and Ali slowly takes him down with a body lock and lands comfortably in Tyler’s guard. Ali starts peppering Tyler with right hands to Tyler’s body. It looks like Tyler is thinking about attempting an arm bar but Ali gets his arm back fairly easy. Ali clearly won that round with his takedown and top position. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Ali Wasuk
Round 2: Ali land a nice leg kick and Tyler rushes forward to return the favor. Ali lands another leg kick then a low blow. Andy Social stops the action to give Tyler time to recover. When the action resumes Andy locks up a Thai clinch and lands a crushing knee to Tyler’s midsection. Tyler responds by driving forward for a double leg takedown. Tyler pushes Ali up against the fence but eventually Ali pushes him off. Ali lands a nice straight right and Tyler responds with a leg kick that didn’t have much on it. This was another round for Ali. His knee to Tyler’s midsection really swung the round in his favor. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Ali Wasuk
Round 3: Ali lands another low blow which to me looked totally accidental but the crowd boos him pretty hard. They boo harder after seeing the replay. Tyler takes a long, long time to recover. When the action resumes Tyler rushes for a takedown and Ali defends and manages to land a decent knee. He charges again and this time Ali wraps up a guillotine choke and pulls guard. Tyler pops out of the choke and the crowd cheers like crazy. Tyler is clearly well represented here tonight! Tyler puts his head against Ali’s chest and pounds away with body shots Ali is trying to secure a kimura from bottom but doesn’t get close to securing it. Top MMA News scores the round 10-9 Tyler Kobayashi
Ali Wasuk defeats Tyler Kobayashi by Unanimous Decision
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Hard Knocks 41 – Play-by-Play