CESAR vs WILL MURPHY

CESAR BARROS Vs WILL MURPHY

         Barros starts the fights off with a leg kick and a flurry; Murphy clinches but is pressured into the ropes. Barros gets space and lands some hard punches to the face and the body; Murphy attempts to clinch again, and breaks it with a left hand. Barros attempts a high kick that misses, but lands a leg kick; both fighters are throwing leather, with Barros getting the better of the exchange. Barros clinches Murphy into the corner; Barros lands some nice knees to the legs. Murphy lands a real hard knee to the gut; Barros rushes him across the ring while clinched, into the corner. Barros gets the body-lock takedown into side mount; Barros punishes the body with punches as Murphy holds on tight to the head. Barros gets space, landing a few right hands to the face; Barros mounts and unloads with punches. Murphy bucks him off and stands up; he attempts to take Barros’ back standing. Murphy lands a pair of lefts and right, and then clinches; Barros looks tired as he missed with a high kick. Barros lands a right hand and clinches; Murphy lands some nice knees to the legs, and a nice one to the body. The two remain clinches against the ropes as the round ends.

Barros seems to have his wind back as he nails Murphy with a high kick and several punches. Barros continues to flurry; Murphy wisely clinches. Murphy knees to the legs, very close to the groin, but Barros isn’t complaining. Barros messes up a takedown and Murphy briefly mounts and lands several hard rights; Barros powers out and the two are standing again. Barros barely connects with a leg kick and shoots; Murphy sprawls and attempts a guillotine. Barros gets out and trips Murphy, into his half guard. Barros mounts and lands a plethora of punches to Murphy’s face; Barros attempts a keylock but Murphy toughs it out. The two are close to the ropes, so referee Steve Rita stands them up and restarts them standing! I feel a rant coming on….

I don’t mean to personally criticize anyone, but let’s face it; there are only two refs that are offenders of this, the afore-mentioned ref, and Gary Eblin (Evans? I don’t know). Why would you stand up the fighters when Barros is clearly in full mount? There’s no question as to the position – if you know anything about the ground. The position was clear and beyond simple to re-create in the center of the ring. Fighters work very, very hard in order to gain dominance on the ground – and you steal that position from them. How dare you change the course of a fight like that? Shame on you and any other referee who shows such disrespect and ignorance for the ground game in an MMA fight. I don’t rant like this to insult a referee, judge, promoter, etc. – I write this to let you know how the majority of people feel. I had several fighters and fans come up to me and ask if I was going to trash you-know-who because of this decision. Anyhow, let’s get back to the fight.

OK, so both fighters are stood up – Barros lands a kick to the body, but eats a lot of right hands from Murphy – despite taking the brunt of the damage, Murphy seems to have better stamina. They clinch again; Murphy punches to the head and Barros punches to the body and the round ends.

Winner: Cesar Barros
Unanimous Decision

As many of you saw or heard, Will Murphy collapsed and had what appeared to be a seizure in the ring following the decision. I was told that Will is diabetic, and missed insulin shots, which resulted in the collapse. We at MassMMA are glad to hear Will is fine – and thank the fans at Combat Zone for behaving appropriately while the fights were delayed. Description