- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Beyond the Octagon: Former UFC contender Joe Stevenson returns, TUF’s Jesse Taylor faces Seth Baczynski
- Updated: September 7, 2016
A solid batch of results for you MMA die-hards this week, with notable TUF alumni and a UFC title challenger turning in performances in smaller shows around the world. But first, let’s check in with a former IFL champion.
13-year MMA veteran Matt Horwich (29-24-1, 7-4 IFL, 0-2 UFC, 0-2 Bellator) has had something of an up-and-down career. He owns victories over the likes of Thales Leites, Jake Rosholt, and Benji Radach (the last of which earned him the IFL middleweight title) but as of late he’s struggled to establish lasting success. 2011 – 2012 was a particularly fallow period, with Horwich going 2-4 before drastically slowing his competition schedule; he’s fought only three times in the last four years, the last time being just last week, under the banner of Fightspirit Championship in Kolpino, Russia.
Horwich faced the hard-hitting Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (29-5, 1-1 Bellator), who was fresh off a closely contested bout with Alexander Shlemenko. Fans of the champion of the multiverse will be disappointed to hear that he wound up losing, though it may be some small consolation that the loss came by unanimous decision rather than KO. In fact, Horwich has only been knocked out once in his entire career. “Suave” has now dropped three straight, while Vasilevsky successfully rebounds from his loss to Shlemenko and improves to 2-2 for the year. Horwich is scheduled to fight in Poland’s PLMMA this November.
Watch Matt Horwich go shopping with Mayhem Miller at Target here.
Vasilevsky vs. Horwich here.
And in the main event of NFC 86 in Atlanta, Georgia, Dave Vitkay (18-12-1, 3-0 Bellator) took a unanimous decision over Jared Gooden (6-1-0), handing Gooden the first loss of his career and taking the organization’s welterweight title in the process.
Vitkay isn’t a household name by any means, but the arc of his career is something I was thinking about while dragging myself out of bed the other …
