Seth Baczynski vs Lance Benoist

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Fuck FuelTV. I know that I say this every time they show MMA, but it’s unacceptable in this day and age not to broadcast this shit in HD. I just was watching the Yankees game and the head guy from Fox Soccer was there. He said they have two channels for soccer. Two channels! For soccer!

Why can’t they run all the fights on an HD Channel? Because Fox is trying to get cable companies to carry it. My brother won’t even watch Bellator because it isn’t in HD. I won’t watch it cuz the fights are usually shitty. Still, the cable companies and the networks are a bunch of fuckers for pulling this shit. Live updates after the jump:[[MORE]]

Round 1: Big kick from Lance Benoist, but Seth Baczynski ducks under it. Seth with another head kick against the shorter Lance. Lance rips a body kick. Lance ties up Seth and works a trip, but Seth locks him in the closed guard and is landing some sharp motherfucking elbows. If I’m a judge, I’m scoring this for Seth so far. He is devastating from his back with those elbows. Partly because he’s so much taller, he has room to maneuver.

Seth tries to stand up, but Lance rips a knee to the head while he’s still on both his knees. The ref seems confused, for a second it looked like he was just going to let them keep fighting. The ref doesn’t take a point away from Benoist. That’s bullshit. That was a massive knee to the face of an opponent on both his knees. Not even close to legal. Mazzagati took a point for an upkick that barely even landed last week.

Seth comes back and rips a head kick. Seth with two punches that knock Lance off his feet. Seth comes at Lance, who jumps on Seth and tries to get an arm triangle. But Lance loses the grip and now he’s just holding on for dear life, because there’s no choke to get from this position. Seth gets him off and lands another elbow.

Nice spinning back-kick from Lance. Lance shoots, but Seth ends up on top with a minute left to work. Lance’s left eye is fucked. Seth to the crucifix position and has his arms in position for a guillotine choke, but lets it go. Seth stands up and then comes back into Lance’s guard. Seth dropped a nice punch on Lance there, but the round ends.

10-9 Seth, close round comes to the guy who isn’t throwing illegal knees.

Round 2: Lance Benoist with a punch-kick combo. Seth comes forward, Benoist lands a left and a right. Seth goes down to his knees and Lance rips him with another knee to the face while he’s down. That was much less illegal than the first one, as Seth’s knees were hitting the ground just as the Lance’s knee was hitting his face, but it did way more damage. I think Seth might have been concussed before that hit.

I can’t believe the ref would stop the action twice for face kicks and not take at least one point. No point taken away again. That’s horrifying. Terrible reffing. When are you going to take a point, you dumb fuck? He must be waiting for a soccer kick or some eye-gouging, I guess.

Seth is fighting well despite eating two illegal knees straight to the teeth. Lance ties Seth up and gets a takedown, but Seth has him locked up again in the closed guard. If I’m Lance, I stay out of this man’s guard. He’s too dangerous. Seth changes to a high guard looking for a triangle, but Benoist slips out and lands a punch. Seth stands up and Lance eats an upkick as he falls back into Seth’s guard.

Lance stands and tries to get in, but Seth is fighting him off from his back. Lance postures up and lands a huge punch. Seth comes in with a huge flying knee and then ties up an injured Lance with a minute left. Seth lands a great elbow. Seth lands a huge punch and follows it up as the round ends. They cut away immediate on this shitty channel, and I am robbed of the chance to see whether Lance popped up or not. Instead, a motherfucking Adam Sandler commercial is playing. This movie looks like shit.

I score it for Lance 10-9.

Round 3: Lance lands a big left and a knee. Seth has a Thai plum locked in and is throwing knees. Lance ties up the body and gets a takedown. Lance is bleeding furiously, one of those knees must have landed flush. Benoist has top position and is covering Seth with blood. Seth locks up the knees, lands a big knee, and an elbow. Seth locks in a guillotine and pulls guard, but Lance slips out. That was fucking stupid, but Seth apparently likes to be on his back.

He’s doing a lot of damage there, but this fight is close, and it’s not going to look good for the judges if Seth fights from his back for the final two minutes. Seth is owed some points by the ref for both those illegal knees. Seth has the body locked in and the ref stands them up without a warning. I don’t agree with that either. Lance was actually throwing a punch when he was stood up. At least tell the guys to work or something. I think Lance Benoist stopped punching for all of five seconds.

Benoist locks up Seth, but Seth throws him off. Lance teeing off from the top position and trying to end the fight with seventeen seconds remaining. Seth has a nice sidemount and is teeing off, but the round ends again.

I score it 10-9 Seth

I have it 29-28 Baczynski, but I doubt the judges have it that way since he spent almost the whole fight on his back. That fight was definitely marred by illegal kicks.

Judges score it 30-27 Benoist, 29-28 Seth, and 29-28 Seth. Seth Baczynski by split decision. Great decision by the judges. I’m glad they gave it to him, because the ref was trying his best to steal that fight. Huge disparity on the judge’s cards, but all the rounds were pretty close.

So the first kick, Seth was working to his feet, but he was clearly still on his knees when it landed, and it landed hard. Was it illegal? Yes, the ref stopped the fight because of it. Did it do a lot of damage? A knee to the face while you’re on your knees? Yeah, it did damage. That’s the sort of strike that changes a fight and you need to deduct a point.

The second kick was a lot closer, because Seth was just falling to his knees when it landed, but again, it landed huge. I think you have to take off a point after the second kick, no matter how close it was. That shit was fucking brutal.