Grishin impressive in US debut at NAAFS

Due to venue issues NAAFS Caged Vengeance 12 wasn’t webcast as a pay-per-view on GoFightLive but the results were nonetheless of impact with Maxim Grishin making his US debut and Zac Gobel almost stealing the show.  The event took place October 20th at the Z-Plex Sports Bar in Streetsboro, OH.

Maxim GrishinThe big news was with the US debut of Grishin who came into this fight with a 12-6 record mostly in Eastern Europe for M-1 Challenge among others.  His opponent Bill Hill’s confidence seemed to be smashed with the first hard punches from Grishin and Hill spent the rest of the fight trying to take Grishin to the mat.  Hill however had enough takedown defense to stay in striking positions no matter where the fight went, finally getting the TKO when Hill offered no more defense while pinned against the cage.

Nick DuellFormer NAAFS welterweight champion and BFC vet Nick Duell had more of a battle in the co-main event as Jay Buck started out the aggressor, scoring strikes while Duell seemed to be finding his range.  The turnaround came about half-way through the round when Duell landed a solid knee to the head of Buck.  Duell fired off a head kick but slipped, going down against the cage with Buck attempting to finish until an upkick from Duell caught Buck square on the chin for the KO.

Zac GobelArguably the most impressive fighter of the night was Zac Gobel, a relative unknown from West Virginia who was taking on crowd favorite Elonzo Harvey.  Gobel quickly took down Harvey, fired off an elbow to the face, and quickly secured a rear-naked choke for the win in just over thirty seconds.

NAAFS’s final show of the year takes place November 10th in Columbus.  Look for that one to air on GoFightLive.

Amateur fights:

James Rankins def. Jason Olson 2:23 R2 by rear-naked choke
Dan Stevenson def. Matt DiCesno by split decision
Nick Halkides def. Tony Dipiero 1:07 R1 by armbar
Fadi Shuman def. Isaiah William 2:48 R2 by triangle choke
Nick Browne def. Kenny Jackson 1:20 R3 by rear-naked choke
Shane Valko def. Jordan Baldwin by unanimous decision
Dominic Mazzotta def. Eric Gifford 1:56 R1 by armbar
Jerrell Hodge def. Ryan Arce 2:09 R1 by armbar
WW Amateur title: Josh Lasich def. Emmanuel Kangah by unanimous decision

Pro fights:

Joe Heiland def. Jon Washington by unanimous decision
Zac Gobel def. Elonzo Harvey 0:33 R1 by rear-naked choke
Nick Duell def. Jay Buck 3:02 R1 by KO
Maxim Grishin def. Bill Hill 3:57 R1 by TKO