The New York Pitbulls and the Quad City Silverbacks advanced to the International Fight League 2007 Finals Thursday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey, sending home the Los Angeles Anacondas and Tokyo Sabres in front of 7,077 spectators at the Continental Airlines Arena.
Both the Pat Miletich-led Silverbacks and Renzo Gracie-coached Pitbulls avoided any drama in punching their tickets for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Sept. 20, as both squads claimed victory in their first three bouts Thursday evening. The Quad City squad cruised to a 4-1 tally, while the New York franchise dropped their final two meaningless contests to close the night at 3-2.
Pitbulls Cruise, Send Sabres Packing
Dan Miller (Pictures) (6-1-0) secured a quick guillotine submission of Dave Phillips (7-4-0), forcing a tapout at 1:30 of the first stanza as the Sabres' middleweight scrambled for position.
Bryan Vetell (Pictures) outworked Wayne Cole (Pictures) (7-5-0) on his way to an easy unanimous decision. The scorecards read 30-27 (twice) and 30-26 for the bulky heavyweight. Vetell, who upped his record to 3-2-0, went to work on Cole's left leg with knees to the inside of the thigh along with strong punching from the clinch for the duration of the contest.
Deividas Taurosevicius (Pictures) (8-2-0) secured victory for the Pitbulls with their third win in as many contests, by beating Savant Young (Pictures) (8-6-0) to the punch through much of the second and third frames. A right jab, left straight combo that floored Young sealed the deal for the Gracie-coached squad, who advanced to the fianls with scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-27, all for Taurosevicius.
After the Sabres' fate had already been decided, Antonio McKee (Pictures) (21-3-2) survived a rough third round against Delson Heleno (Pictures) (11-3-0) to see his hand raised via split decision with tallies of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27 for Heleno and Vladimir Matyushenko (Pictures) (19-3-0) controlled Tim Boetsch (Pictures) (6-1-0) for three rounds before being awarded a unanimous decision with a final count of 30-27 (two times) and 29-28.
Silverbacks Skin Anacondas, 4-1
Mike Ciesnolevicz (Pictures) picked up his fifth straight victory with a gutsy performance in the third period against Alex Schoenauer (Pictures). Ciesnolevicz, 13-2-0, landed a crisp left leg head kick in the final minute to take the fight on two of the scorecards with totals of 29-28 (twice), while one rogue judge saw it 30-27 for Schoenauer, now 12-8-0 with the defeat.
Rory Markham (Pictures) (12-2-0) didn't waste time in dispatching of Chris Clements (Pictures) (4-2-0), as a left hand followed by strikes for good measure forced referee Kevin Mulhall to stop the contest at 1:17 of the first stage.
Bart Palaszewski (Pictures) gave the Silverbacks its deciding victory with a hard fought submission of Harris Sarmiento (Pictures) at 1:06 of the third. "Bartimus," 28-8-0, slipped his arm under the chin of Sarmiento (20-16-0) after a scramble ensued following a Palaszewski takedown.
Hard hitting heavyweight Ben Rothwell (Pictures) (26-5-0) needed just 13 seconds to put away Krzysztof Soszynski (Pictures) (12-8-1) with a right hand on the chin and several hammer fists, forcing the busy Dan Miragliotta to make an executive decision in halting the contest.
UFC veteran Benji Radach (Pictures) (16-3-0) outclassed Gerald Harris (Pictures) (4-2-0) in the Anaconda's only triumph, scoring with a right uppercut that prompted Mulhall to show mercy at 3:03 of the first.
Preliminary Action
Miragliotta stepped in to pull Dante Rivera (Pictures) (10-2-0) off of Nissim Levy (2-2-0) at 1:15 of the third frame after Rivera connected with several undefended shots; Lyman Good (Pictures) (6-0-0) bested Mike Dolce (Pictures) (3-3-0) with scores of 30-27 (twice) and 29-27; Jason Palacios (Pictures) (4-2-0) forced a tapout from Joe Sampieri (Pictures) (0-2-0) with a rear naked choke at the 3:21 mark of the first and LC Davis (Pictures) remained undefeated in eight bouts by outpointing Conor Heun (Pictures), who dropped to 5-2-0, two rounds to one on each of the judges' scorecards.
