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Surface: It aided many takedowns. I like the idea but I think fighters have to get used to it.
Format: The 1 5-minute round format is terrible. For instance, in Ricco/Bush I'm positive that Ricco was in more pain after that fight than Bush was. All Ricco did was get 3 takedowns (BTW he couldn't keep Bush down even though he's a black belt in BJJ and outweighed Bush by 35lbs). Then, in Wiuff/Ricco, Wiuff basically does to Ricco what Ricco had just done to Bush. In the final, Wiuff/Tesherrer, we finally got to see some trading of strikes due to both men being too tired to go for takedowns.
Fights: I thought the fights were OK. They did stand the fighters back up quickly in most cases. Unfortunately, most of these guys were from a wrestling background. Smith/Bean was good. Bean is finally showing his age as he had a difficult time connecting with that right hand. If it would have landed Smith would still be sleeping. Smith looked nasty. I realize Bean isn't known for his defense but Smith looked to be in great shape and fought smartly.
Fighters: I like stand-up so I think they should do a better job of picking stand up fighters. George Bush seemed to be the only striker in the tourney. I've sparred with him and know how powerful and quick he is. It would be nice to see Oleg vs. Smith next as both men looked good.
Overall: It was worth the $35. BTW, I thought the announcer had style.
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THEBOZ 
"DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI"
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