PAT MILETICH GETS SECOND ROUND K.O. OVER DENNY

In a performance reminiscent of his glory days, 40-year-old Pat Miletich (29-7-2) dominated opponent Thomas Denny (26-18) in the main event of Thursday night's Adrenaline MMA II in Moline, Ill.

But while "The Croatian Sensation" earned 18 of his first 28 career victories by submission, it was a stunningly quick set of hands that earned Miletich the knockout victory.

"They say the last thing to go when you're old is your power," Miletich told ring announcer Ron Kruck following the bout. "That's all I was looking for was to land heavy shots and hurt him."

Miletich dropped Denny twice in the opening frame, but was unable to capitalize on the position. Denny held Miletich close from the guard, and the hometown favorite was unable to advance his offense.

It wouldn't matter. A series of right hands early in the second frame left Denny dazed, and a final flurry from Miletich in his first fight in over two years left the outcome unquestionable just 50 seconds into the round.

Following the bout Miletich said he was satisfied before the bout ever began.

"It just feels good," Miletich said. "To be honest with you, win, lose or draw I was saying to myself backstage, 'I accomplished something just getting back in to the shape I am.' I'm an old guy, but these young guys motivate me. I love every one of them at my gym."

The bout was Miletich's first since emerging from the second retirement of his career. His first trip back to active fighting was a one-night gig, but Miletich said this time might be different.

"Actually I'd like to fight somebody like Antonio Tarver or 'Winky' Wright from the boxing world," Miletich said.



Top-ranked heavyweight Ben Rothwell (30-6) rebounded from a July loss to Andrei Arlovski by earning a first-round win over Chris Guillen (13-11).

While undoubtedly effective in victory, "Big Ben" was far from aesthetically pleasing. Rothwell worked the fight to the floor quickly, but then passed on any ground and pound opportunities in lieu of a possible submission. Unable to capitalize after taking Guillen's back, Rothwell would eventually lock in a slow-developing arm bar.

Unhappy with the position, Rothwell transitioned out of the hold and began to rain down elbows and forearms to the head of Guillen forcing the smaller fighter to tap out from the punishment. The loss was Guillen's fifth straight.

The crowd seemed apathetic to the effort, and Rothwell pleaded his case after the bout.

"I hope everybody can appreciate the whole aspect of our sport," Rothwell said. "I've got to keep upping my game and bring all aspects -- show that I'm more than just a stand-up fighter.

"I love to get knockouts, but at the same time I've got to make sure I can fight another day. I tried to do this in the most exciting fashion I could. I hope you appreciate some elbows to the head."

Heavyweight prospect and Adrenaline MMA veteran Mike Russow (11-1) wasted little time in dispatching an overmatched Braden Bice.

Russow shot in quickly for a single-leg takedown and Bice tried to leap out of his grip. The result was a gravity defying slam to the mat with the two heavyweights crashing to the floor. Russow moved quickly from side control into North-South control and applied the choke that would force Bice to tap.

Following the bout, Russow told Kruck the bout went according to plan.

"That's my style, and that's what I work hard on everyday," Russow said. "Keep your hands up, get in close, get the takedown and then search for the submission."

Now on a seven-fight win streak, Russow said he hopes next year will be his chance to break into the sport's biggest shows.

"We're hoping next year is the big year," Russow said. "I've just got to keep training hard and just living my dream."

Earlier in the evening Mike Ciesnolevicz (16-3) weathered an early storm from the less-experienced Derrick Mehmen (2-1) en route to a second-round win.

Mehmen opened up with an offensive outburst -- starting with a brief taunt from the opening touch of gloves. The assault continued, and Mehmen held a 20-1 advantage in strikes landed at one point in the opening round. However, the opening flurry took its toll on Mehmen and the tide quickly turned.

Ciesnolevicz went on the offensive in the latter stages of the first round and nearly earned a knockout in the opening five minutes. The win would have to wait for the second stanza, and Ciesnolevicz took advantage of a lazy takedown attempt by Mehmen to lock in a fight-ending guillotine at 1:46.

Following the bout, the IFL, King of the Cage and Extreme Challenge veteran said he was ready for bigger fights.

"I just want to keep fighting and stay busy," Ciesnolevicz said. "I'm ready to fight anybody. There's not a fight out there at 205 pounds that I would turn down."

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Pat Miletich def. Thomas Denny via knockout (punches) -- Round 2, 0:50
Ben Rothwell def. Chris Guillen via submission (strikes) -- Round 1, 3:40
Mike Russow def. Braden Bice via submission (North-South choke) -- Round 1, 1:13
Mike Ciesnolevicz def. Derrick Mehmen via submission (guillotine choke) -- Round 2, 1:46
Dan Loman def. Gabe Lemley via TKO (punches) -- Round 2, 1:54
Ryan McGivern def. Geno Roderick via submission (rear-naked choke) -- Round 1, 1:27
Pat Curran def. Ramiro Hernandez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Jesse Lennox def. Ryan Williams via submission (triangle choke) -- Round 1, 3:41
L.C. Davis def. Billy Kidd via submission (side choke) -- Round 1, 2:52
Danny Rodriguez def. David Fuentes via submission (rear-naked choke)

PAT MILETICH ANSWERS A FEW NEW QUESTIONS

Sherdog says,when you’ve been in the game as long as Pat Miletich has, you need to be either training yourself or training someone else for a fight. If you’re not, you feel like something is not right, that the rhythm of life is disrupted. That’s part of why the 40-year-old Miletich (28-7-2), the UFC’s first welterweight champion and founder of the once-dominant Miletich Fighting Systems camp, took a fight against Thomas “Wildman” Denny. The fight on Thursday night will headline the latest offering from Monte Cox’s “Adrenaline” promotion, which airs live from Moline, Ill., on HDNet.

Two years after a swift loss via guillotine choke to Renzo Gracie in the IFL, Miletich, one of MMA’s most tenured sages, spoke to Sherdog about his return, Brock Lesnar, the illness at UFC 35 that allegedly caused accidents and hallucinations in the cage, and the future of his heralded camp.

Q: What moved you to take a fight now?
A: Well, it’s a couple of different reasons. I’m tired of not competing, something I’ve done since I was five years old. It basically drives me insane to not have goals and not work towards things. I love the adrenaline, love fighting, love the crowd, the fans, things like that. I love the camaraderie of training with a lot of guys and everybody working toward a goal.

Also it’s Monte Cox, who has been my manager for my entire career, doing the Adrenaline shows. It’s nice to be part of that. The show probably wouldn’t have taken place here in the Quad Cities, my hometown, had I not fought on the card. And so that would be one less fight that my guys get. It’s a televised bout, it gives those guys more exposure, so hopefully it will help those guys be seen by more eyes and get some contracts for those guys. They’re all very tough, world-class fighters on the card from my gym. I want to see those guys’ careers move on and do great things.

Q: Why Thomas Denny?
A: It was just something that Monte came up with. He just said, “Thomas Denny’s an exciting guy, he comes out, he gets after it, he sells tickets and puts on a good show, and I think you guys can go out and get after it right away and make the crowd stand up,” and I said that’s fine.

Thomas and I have known each other for years. He and I have always been real friendly toward each other. I never, ever had an issue with him. We always have gotten along real well. As far as his fighting style, I think he’s a pretty well-rounded guy. He got two takedowns on Nick Diaz, which isn’t easy to do. And he slugged with him. That first round was going at a pretty high pace. I’m kind of expecting the same type of thing out of him for this fight, to come out and get after me right away. Which is good, because it will wake me up and make me snap out of my ring rust right away.


Renzo’s a guy that I really, really like a lot. Every time I see him we give each other a hug. He’s just that kind of guy. Punching him was actually … he was one of those few people where you’re like, “I really don’t want to hit this guy.” But with Thomas, even though we get along real well, Thomas is the kind of guy that’s going to stand and trade with you. So I’m not going to have a problem hitting Thomas. And I expect to hit him a lot.

Q: Who are your main training partners these days?
A: Jesse Lennox, Ryan McGivern, L.C. Davis, Junior Hernandez, who is an incredible boxer, really good at grappling. I’ve also had the help of Pedro Silveira and Rodrigo Uzeda, both very good jiu-jitsu black belts who have been coaching me on the ground and grappling with me a lot, getting me back to basically the way I used to flow on the ground. I used to feel like I could hang with anyone on the ground.

I’ve never really had anyone coach me and train me for a fight ever in my career. I’ve just been part of a team basically and kind of led the practices and all that sort of stuff as a coach. Kind of like Paul Newman in the movie “Slap Shot” so to speak, kind of a playing coach, a fighting coach. It’s been nice to actually have people spending the time coaching me. It’s something that I’ve never experienced really in MMA.

Q: What’s the state of Miletich Fighting Systems in the wake of some of its top names leaving, like Matt Hughes, Robbie Lawler and Jens Pulver? It seems like its dominance has waned.
A: Well, we just have a second generation of monsters who are coming in now who are very well-rounded, very good fighters. Ben Rothwell, Ryan McGivern, Mike Ciesnolevicz, L.C. Davis, Junior Hernandez, Jesse Lennox. Those are the guys that are going to be the champions of tomorrow. It’s just a rebuilding type process. The younger guys are just taking over as the leaders. I was wondering when that was going to happen. I kind of sat around and I waited for it. I did nudge a little bit and tell guys that they need to step it up and become leaders. They’re doing that now. That’s pretty cool to see.

A lot of the older guys have moved on and gotten financial gain from opening their own places and things like that, which you can’t blame people for, for wanting to move out on their own. I mean those guys, all of them were basically with me for 10 years. I was sad to see those guys go, but at the same time guys have to go out on their own. That’s just the natural process of things, and it doesn’t bother me. Matt (Hughes) and I just e-mailed each other the other day and talked and he’s going to be coming up to the Adrenaline fight here in the Quad Cities and hang out with us and stuff. It will be nice see him and Robbie (Lawler).

VADIUM FINKELCHTEIN RESPONDS TO DANA'S " CRAZY RUSSIANS"

For over a year now UFC President Dana White has used an open forum to label the management of Fedor Emelianenko, led by M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, as “the crazy Russians.”

For much of that time, White has influenced the United States media to reflect his beliefs, as Finkelchtein tended to urgent matters of business — namely promoting his M-1 Challenge and managing fighters such as Fedor and Aleksander Emelianenko and Gegard Mousasi - instead of engaging in a war of words.

However, during a recent M-1 Challenge event, Finkelchtein responded to White’s statements in an interview conducted by M-1 executives Joost Raimond (serving as Finkelchtein’s translator) and Jerry Millen (serving as the interviewer).


Thanks to a three-part YouTube series, members of the U.S. MMA media are finally being presented the other side of the story so that they can form an opinion for themselves.

During the interview, Finkelchtein was asked by Millen what he thinks when he’s referred to in the press by White as a “crazy Russian.”

“Dana White has a tendency towards arrogance and everything not Dana White is either crazy or stupid,” Finkelchtein began to respond through Raimond.

“All this stuff about us not wanting to work with UFC is just utterly and completely untrue,” he continued. “We’ve always been completely open to basically working with anybody, including the UFC, because our goal has always been to put the greatest fighters against each other. And if the greatest fighter is a part of the UFC, fine, let’s put him up against our best guy and see how they do.”

Raimond added that Finkelchtein indicated that the UFC is very protective of their market share but that M-1 isn’t looking to take the UFC’s “pie” away, that his promotion simply wants to share some of it.

Finkelchtein also responded to a question from Millen regarding comments made by White during a November press conference in Toronto to promote UFC 94. In the interview, which can be seen on YouTube, White responds to a question from a fan regarding Fedor fighting for the UFC by stating at one point that he has never even met Fedor.

White’s claim that he has never met Fedor is accurate, but it’s also a situation that Finkelchtein is more than willing to rectify.

“The invitation is right there,” Finkelchtein expressed through Raimond. “If Dana wants to sit down at the table, he can come to St. Petersburg — he is very welcomed here. He can meet up with (me), he can meet up with Fedor. It’s not a problem at all.”

Finkelchtein indicated during the interview that he has traveled to Las Vegas in the past to meet with White. And if White does not have time to travel to Russia, Finkelchtein extended him an open invitation to meet the WAMMA heavyweight champion in Anaheim, California before he competes against Andrei Arlovski on Jan. 24 just prior to Affliction and M-1’s “Day of Reckoning” event.

“We’re not going to eat the UFC pie, but we want to share,” said Finkelchtein. “The invitation stands. They are welcome at any point in time, and definitely at the Jan. 24 event. We’ll talk about it (and) discuss it. We’re open to any kind of deal.”