|
|
  - ALESSIO, ROSE WIN; COUTURE EMERGES FROM SHADOW
Saturday, June 21, 2008 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com (Photos by Scott Petersen)
LAS VEGAS – Boxing promoter Banner Promotions and the Thomas & Mack Center combined for a unique night of combat in Sin City on Friday night. Not only did they present a fight card that was half boxing, which aired on ESPN, and half mixed martial arts, which they were unable to secure a television deal for, but they gave away all of the tickets to the event for no charge.
Though they issued a reported 18,000 tickets to “Free For All, A Night of Combat,” most estimates at ringside put the attendance somewhere between 8,000-10,000 at its apex.
Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans John Alessio and Pete Spratt headlined the event, capping the 10-bout fight card, five of which were MMA. Following a slow back-and-forth opening round, Spratt seemed to shift gears in round two, finding a comfortable range to start landing head kicks, which he did several times.
Alessio, in the first fight since his departure from World Extreme Cagefighting, weathered Spratt’s kicks, and when the opportunity presented itself, he climbed aboard a standing Spratt’s back and started working for the rear naked choke. Spratt defended well for a time, but Alessio eventually sank the choke and Spratt fell to the ground, succumbing to the submission.
Though Alessio and Spratt headlined, the main event for most of the Las Vegas fans that attended was the professional debut of hometown favorite Kim Couture. Her opponent, Kim Rose, also made her professional debut on Friday night.
It was Rose that wasted no time establishing herself. As the bout opened, she came storming in with an overhand right that found its mark and crumbled Couture to the canvas. She immediately followed with a flurry of hammer blows, but Couture somehow held on and weathered the storm.
Little did anyone know at the time, Couture not only suffered a broken nose in the exchange, but the bone-crushing overhand right, according to her Xtreme Couture teammate Brice Ritani-Coe, actually split her lower jaw bone in the middle of her chin.
As the fight wore on, Rose continued to find her mark with a head-snapping left jab and more solid right hands, leaving Couture’s face a crimson mask at times. Couture wasn’t without her moments, despite the severity of her injuries, executing a couple of fluent leg trips, but was unable to do much offensively to her downed opponent.
In the end, it was Rose that easily dominated the judges’ scorecards, winning her professional debut by unanimous decision.
Kim Couture left the Thomas & Mack Center in an ambulance on Friday night, perhaps battered and broken, but she also left with a fighter’s heart well intact. It may sound odd considering she lost her professional debut, but in the manner that she battled on through her injuries just to finish the fight, she emerged from the shadow of her famous husband to become not Randy Couture’s fighting wife, but Kim Couture, fighter.
In earlier MMA action, Team Quest (Oregon) fighter Dave Jansen utilized his reach advantage over Dennis Davis long enough to win a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. Xtreme Couture featherweight Kui Gonsalves weathered a broken nose en route to a unanimous decision over Colorado fighter Ricky Johnson. In a super heavyweight fight, New Zealander Brice Ritani-Coe scored a TKO stoppage over Nebraskan Rob Mitchell late in the opening round.
-John Alessio def. Pete Spratt by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:07, R2
-Kim Rose def. Kim Couture by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Dave Jansen def. Dennis Davis by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Kui Gonsalves def. Ricky Johnson by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Brice Ritani-Coe def. Rob Mitchell by TKO (Strikes) at 4:33, R1
BACK TO THE NEWS
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Related Articles :
- - JOHN ALESSIO A FREE AGENT, FACES SPRATT FRIDAY (Monday, June 16, 2008)
John Alessio looks to get back on his winning ways Friday night. Alessio, who’s fought in a variety of shows throughout his career, will be fighting “The Secret Weapon” Pete Spratt in Banner Promotion’s “Free for All” event in Las Vegas ...
- - KIM COUTURE LOOKS TO BE AFL BOUND (Thursday, June 12, 2008)
Kim Couture makes her professional debut next Friday at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, but she tells MMAWeekly.com that she may then be AFL bound ...
Copyright 2009 MMA Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of MMA Weekly content is expressly prohibited without expressed written consent of MMA Weekly. MMA Weekly will not be liable for any errors in content or any action taken in reliance thereof.
|
|
|
|
