Jeff Monson won a close three-round decision, 29-28 on three cards, in an evenly matched battle between two of the best grapplers in the world.
“I wanted to go on the ground,” Monson commented. “I kept right with him. It was a big win. Roy’s a tough guy.”
Nelson didn’t agree with the final decision. “I got robbed,” he claimed. “It was a boring fight on the ground, but I was controlling the fight and that usually determines the winner. Only in Florida does Roy get robbed (referring to his controversial loss to Andrei Arlovski).”
Former WWE star Bobby Lashley was able to win all three rounds against tough veteran Jason Guida. Guida nearly pulled-off a major upset early in the third round with a guillotine choke, but the powerfully built Lashley was able to pop his head out of the hold.
“I thought I had him,” Guida noted as he shook his head in frustration when the scores were announced.
“He had it on tight and deep,” Lashley remarked. “But I held on and got out. I didn’t use all of my wrestling skills. This is a sport where we’re gentleman and fighters. His talk got to me a little but my corner helped me keep my mind strong. I’m going right back to the training room.”
Featherweight Din Thomas’ scored a first-round technical knockout of Gabe Lemley at 4:13 . Thomas’ series of powerful strikes led Lemley to try and shoot underneath Thomas (23-8), who countered with a picture perfect Muay Thai-knee, sending Lemley down, face first, as the referee immediately halted the action due to the force of the impact.
“Yeah,” Thomas explained, “I set him up with my punches. I had a lot of fun here; I love Pensacola. Boxing is a major part of MMA and was glad to be part of this (boxing/MA event). I took advantage of my experience. I can fight in a cage, ring or parking lot – I don’t care.”
Sixty-three fight MMA veteran Dennis “Superman” Hallman (49-12-2) didn’t miss a beat despite having his first fight in 16 months as he locked-in a rear naked choke from the back, forcing welterweight Danny Ruiz to tap-out at 1:50 of the opening round.
“I guess the layoff didn’t hurt,” Hallman said after the fight. “It took a few seconds for me to get going, but once he hit me I knew I was in a fight and got going.”
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