Evan Tanner -155
Robbie Lawler +125

Renato Verissimo -145
Frank Trigg +115

Ivan Salaverry -140
Tony Frylund +110

Minotauro didn’t miss it

For those that missed EUPHORIA MFC’s opening round of lightweight and heavyweight tournament offerings, a chance was lost to see the borders’ impeding international crossover action temporarily fade and make way for a gripping night of action.

Keeping their word to import a slew of foreign characters rarely seen in the U.S., EUPHORIA promoters paid a great service to the sport with their efforts, and an estimated attendance of 2,000 plus seemed to be in full agreement.

There were no big surprises for tonight’s results, although the evening had its share of intrigues performance nonetheless. Advancing on to the next round for the lightweights: Yves Edwards, Joachim Hansen, Rich Clementi, and Hermes Franca. In the heavyweight brackets, Travis Wiuff, Kerry Schall, Jeff Monson, and Antoine Jaoude.

Clemente cinches up a trangle on Matamoros

To kick off the first of the four lightweight brackets, Rich Clementi rang in a commanding performance over a game, but overmatched Henry Matamoros. Matamoros seemed in trouble early on when Clementi landed some solid shots, and had to scramble to save himself with some dives for takedowns, but even on the ground, Clementi’s superior positioning kept him in the lead on the judge’s cards. Landing continuous body kicks that Matamoros couldn’t defend fast enough and even catching the Costa Rican fighter in a triangle choke at one point of the bout, Clementi scored a well-deserved unanimous decision over the under-prepared Matamoros.

The formidable Brazilian Top Team was out in full force to support newest addition Hermes Franca in all his 47 seconds of glory over an out-classed Phil Johns. Surprising some by immediately going for a single-leg takedown, Franca hopped from guard to mount and before Johns knew it, had his back for the rear naked choke.

Hansen choking Goliaev

Strong, scrappy, yet skilled Norwegian Joachim Hansen showed excellent ring control as he steamrolled a tentative Red Devil Sergei Goliaev on the ground for his rear naked choke win. Goliaev, who impressed all with a tight stand-up demonstration at the last EUPHORIA event, never got the chance to land a single punch tonight, and was easily taken down by the well-rounded fighter who will give whoever his next opponent may be a worthy challenge.

Yves Edwards’ signature move — the very high right kick — again sealed the deal for him tonight in his victory over ground specialist and ZST rep Naoyuki Kotani. Kotani surprised a bit by trying to stand with Edwards, which only seemed to charge the Texan more to unleash some fancy hand work in the form of uppercut-fueled combos. For the brief stint on the ground, Kotani could do nothing to slow down his adversary, who emerges the favorite in this stacked lightweight tournament.

Wiuff beating on Magomedov

At the top of the heavyweight list, Minnesotan wrestler Travis Wiuff has shown marked improvement in his four years on the circuit with his unanimous decision victory tonight over a tough Ibragim Magomedov of the Red Devil team A main event mainstay for various small to mid-size shows across the country since losing to Vladimir Matyushenko back at UFC 40, Wiuff has quietly amassed a 17-fight winning streak in the last year and a half, including his most well-rounded performance to date tonight that even saw the usually striking-light fighter connect with a powerful right straight. Magomedov made Wiuff work for it, though, thwarting numerous takedown attempts early on with sheer strength and persistence, while almost catching Wiuff with a guillotine in one of their corner exchanges. In all three rounds, Wiuff secured full mount, but Magomedov fended off punches enough from the bottom until the last when he gave his back and Wiuff was just seconds shy of a rear naked choke as the bell sounded.

Ouch! Schall takes one in the chops

American Top Team rep Jeff Monson secured a definitive win over local Philadelphia fighter and fellow wrestler Pat Stano. Stano, a last-minute replacement for Team Quest’s Brian Stromberg, faired better than expected with a nice reversal and scramble off of Monson’s first takedown attempt, but the match-up slowed considerably for the majority of both rounds, as the men were in a virtual clinching stalemate along the ropes. Monson eventually landed a knee to the body that sent Stano down for the stoppage.

In a down-and-out slugfest, Canada’s Ulisses Castro showed a tough chin and punching power as he gave and took all the experienced Kerry Schall could handle. The two duked it out full-throttle on at least three separate occasions, one of which Castro was deducted a point for a low blow on a knee that temporarily stopped the action. Taking part of his requisite five minutes to recover, both men finished the round strong with continued shots. Castro’s right eye was swollen and closed by round two, while Schall was showing the first signs of fatigue, yet just 20 seconds in, Castro landed a second questionable low blow, a solid kick that sent Schall to the mat in agony. Canadian referee Yves Lavigne disqualified Castro for the illegal shots, and Schall will move on to the second round.

Kerry Schall Castro’d

In preliminary action, Team Quest lightweight Ryan Schultz proved too much for visiting Spaniard David Gaona of the S.H.O.O.T Spain team. Schultz held a superior command of the stand-up over counter-striker Gaona who always seemed a swing behind in his efforts to connect. From a flooring straight cross, Schultz easily got mount and pummeled an overwhelmed and profusely bleeding Gaona for a referee stoppage that was a good minute too late.

In the heavyweight alternate bout, recent Miletich addition Ben Rothwell fended off a sloppy Jonathan Wiezorek’s charging attempts to land a few distinct punches to his opponent. Wiezorek did little to block the shots, and was quickly stopped with two (almost) consecutive uppercuts that buckled his knees and had him in obvious trouble. The referee jumped in just as Rothwell landed an unintentional, but illegal blow to the back of Wiezorek’s head as he began to crumble to the mat.

EUPHORIA "The Road to the Titles" Results

Opening Round: 8-Man Lightweight Championship Tournament
Rich Clementi (Team Extreme, USA) def. Henry Matamoros (Pedro Sauer Jiu-Jitsu, USA)- Unanimous Decision [26-30, 27-30, 27-30]
Hermes Franca (Brazilian Top Team, Brazil ) def. Phil Johns (Silverbacks, USA)- Rear Naked Choke :47 Rd 1
Yves Edwards (Third Column, USA ) def. Naoyuki Kotani (Rodeo Style, Japan)-
Joachim Hansen (Team Scandinavia, Norway) def. Sergei Goliaev (Red Devil, Russia)- Rear Naked Choke 3:24 Rd 1
Lightweight Alternate Bout:
Ryan Schultz (Team Quest, USA) def. David Gaona (S.H.O.O.T. Spain, Spain)- TKO referee stoppage (strikes) 2:17 Rd 1

Opening Round: 8-Man Heavyweight Championship Tournament
Kerry Schall (Team Extreme, USA) def. Ulisses Castro (Freelance, Canada)- Disqualification (low blow) :20 Rd 2
Travis Wiuff (Team Extreme, USA) def. Ibragim Magomedov (Red Devil, Russia)- Unanimous decision (30-27 all)
Jeff Monson (American Top Team, USA) def. Pat Stano (CORE Martial Arts, USA)- TKO referee stoppage (knee to body) 3:11 Rd 2

Antoine Jaoude (Ruas Vale Tudo, Brazil) def. Roman Zentsov (Red Devil, Russia)- TKO referee stoppage (Zentsov could not continue due to rib injury) 3:30 Rd 1

Eastman will now fight UFC newcomer Travis Lutter (6-1-0) from Dallas, Tex., in the pay-per-view card’s other light heavyweight match.

In another card change, Middleweight Trevor Prangley has been forced to withdraw due to injury and will be replaced by Tony Fryklund (11-3-0) from Las Vegas, Nev., in his scheduled match against Ivan Salaverry (8-3-1) from Seattle, Wash. UFC officials also announced that the heavyweight fight between Tra Telligman (15-4-1) from Ft. Worth, Tex., and John Marsh (12-4-0) from Redondo Beach, Calif., has been dropped from the card.

The feature bout on the seven-fight card will be for the welterweight title as former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes (37-4-0) from Hillsboro, Ill., attempts to regain the belt against undefeated Georges St. Pierre (7-0-0) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The main event now pits Cote, a power puncher with a knockout reputation, against Ortiz, the former UFC light heavyweight champion who dominates opponents with a devastating grappling and ground/pound style. It did not take long for the war of words to start.

"Tito has no chin and I have already knocked out the two fighters with the best chins in Canada with one punch each. If he thinks Chuck Liddell hit him hard, he will realize he hasn’t seen anything yet," Cote said.

"Big words for a little man," Ortiz responds. "Sounds like he needs to learn some respect, which will happen next Friday. Stand up or on the ground, he gets a beating."

The Fryklund-Salaverry bout now matches two well-rounded fighters with excellent stand-up and ground fighting skills. Although he now fights out of Las Vegas, Fryklund is part of the Miletich Fighting Systems team from Davenport, Iowa, one of the top MMA clubs in the world. But, Salaverry also is a world-class fighter who always puts on an exciting show.

Lutter is an excellent grappler and submission fighter who has earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under the tutelage of legend Carlos Machado. But, he will get a real introduction to the UFC from the veteran Eastman, a quick striker with an extensive wrestling background. In his UFC debut, Eastman stepped up at UFC 43: Meltdown and took on former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. But, with that loss now a distant memory, Eastman looks to position himself in the incredibly talent-laden weight division.

UFC On FSN, 5 p.m. Local Time, This Sunday, Oct. 17

The first of four, one-hour UFC^® fight show specials on FSN (Fox Sports Network) will air at 5 p.m., local time, this Sunday, Oct. 17. "Ultimate Fighting Championship" will re-live the epic battle between top light heavyweight contenders Liddell and Ortiz, and the action-packed welterweight battle between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler at UFC 47: It’s On! from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Future fight shows will be announced.

"Ultimate Fighting Championship" will air quarterly during the next year following a recent agreement signed between the UFC and FSN.

UFC 50: War Of 04 will be available LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EDT on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, Echostar, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $29.95.