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DAVE MENNE TOPS THE TOPS IN THE SPORT
KUWAIT SHIDOKAN JITSU WARRIORS WAR I
Hughes, Pele, Newton, Menne, some of the top talent in lightweight world traveled half-way around the globe in hopes of winning $60,000 in an 8-man tournament on Kuwaiti oil-uh…soil. No easy victory as Menne would face Canada’s Carlos Newton in the first round and then Russian alternate Maro Magob before fighting the much heavier Kareem Barklaev from Russia in the finals.
Here is a quick rundown of the fights as told to FCF via telephone.
Pele Landi vs. Matt Hughes
In the opening they locked up on their feet as they exchanged some knees, body punches against the cage for a while. Matt landed some pretty good knees to the midsection. Pele landed some punches to the side. Pele scored the first takedown, but as soon as Matt landed, Matt turned it. Matt pushed Pele into the cage, right in front of Pat Miletich [trainer], and that is where it stayed probably for 21/2 to 3 minutes, with Matt landing knees to the body, and a couple of knees to the head. Pele did a very good job scooting out, and was able to get back to his feet. Pele pushed Matt back. He was almost to the cage. Matt shot low-like for a single, and Pele came in with his left knee and BOOM, nailed him. Matt went down on his hands and knees, as referee John McCarthy stopped the bout.
Kareem Barklaev vs. Derso Lema
Barklaev had his way with Lema standing. It ended up going the distance with Barklaev getting the unanimous decision.
Dave Menne vs. Carlos Newton
It was a close one…Menne was getting the edge standing, he was landing the better shots, better punches, better kicks. Newton took Menne down first and Menne was able to get away, and then Menne took Newton down and Newton almost got an arm-bar, but Menne was able to pull out. Newton at one point was able to get mount on Dave-Newton was superior on the ground. He had the submission attempts and such and then Dave got back up and again Dave was winning the stand-up with about a minute left in the fight. Dave landed a punch and then a kick to the head and dropped Newton, put him right on his ass up by the cage and then he jumped on him and basically controlled him and punched him until the fight ended and he won by unanimous decision.
Khared Mubarak vs. Antonio [spelling of last name not available]
Antonio was winning most of the time and ended up winning the fight, but they were both so exhausted that he couldn’t go on.
Semi Finals
Kareem Barklaev vs. Pele Landi
Barklaev just beat the shit out of Pele. He punched him hard standing, pushed him to the ground, got the mount and just pounded him and pounded him. Barklaev got a figure-4 on Pele’s back and at one point Pele stood-up with Barklaev completely air lifted on his back… wrapped around him, but Pele couldn’t do anything and ended up falling to the ground. Barklaev tried a few rear naked chokes, and eventually spun over and got the mount again and punched Pele until they stopped it.
Dave Menne vs Maro Magob
Magob is a Russian Kickboxer who won the alternate in 30 seconds-he kicked his opponent in the head and the match was stopped. He came in to replace Antonio for this bout.
It was a good fight. Magob was real good. He threw a lot of power left hooks-punches like that. Menne was just better, better kicks, better punches. It went the whole 10 minutes, all on the feet, I don’t think it ever went to the ground. Dave won the striking and kicking and got the unanimous decision.
Final
Dave Menne vs. Kareem Barklaev
note about the weigh-ins
The day before the show they changed the weight limit from 85 Kilos to 90 kilos-that is a change of 11lbs. Every other fighter could have made 85 kilos except for Barklaev, who had to weigh in twice to make 90 kilos. Barklaev weighed in at 198 lbs. while Dave Menne weighed 189 lbs. Dave weighed in with all his clothes on and he had eaten breakfast-because they told us the weight class had changed.
It was an absolute war…Dave and Barklaev were exchanging punches, exchanging kicks and it was just a really close fight both ways. Barklaev was trying to take Menne down but he couldn’t. Menne took Barklaev down and landed some body and head shots, but he got up. Somewhere in there Menne lands a jumping knee to Barklaev’s head and stuns him. A minute later, Barklaev landed a big knee to Menne’s head and staggered him a little bit. It was a really close fight. I thought Menne was getting the better punching in. He started pursuing him and landing more combinations and I thought he had a little more of an edge. They warned Barklaev a couple of times for grabbing the cage. He had done it quite a bit. They got down to a minute left and Barklaev hit Menne with a hip toss, got him to the ground and got the mount with one minute left. Menne did a nice job pulling him tight and getting low so Barklaev wasn’t able to do much. What Barklaev did was grab the cage and he was punching Dave. He had already had 2 warnings about grabbing the cage and punching, so McCarthy gave him a foul that resulted in a 1 point deduction. I believe All 3 judges had it 10-10 an even round, but with the 1 point deduction, Menne won the unanimous decision.
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