Jordan Denny vs. Jose Rodriguez rematch slated for Gladiators 49 UPDATED

Amateur fighters’ Jordan Denny and Jose Rodriguez recently fought each other at Combat USA: Seasons Beatings on December 22, 2007 and look to do battle again at Gladiators 49 on February 16. Jose “The Crazy Rican” Rodriguez took the fight on short notice and came up short on the judges cards (29-28). All three judges scored the bout a unanimous decision in favor of Jordan Denny of Team Vaghi/Fox Valley Grappling Club located in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Jose Rodriguez fights on Team Fighting Irish, which fights out of the new Waukesha MMA gym headed by Reese “Old Man” Shaner. Rodriguez sports a (2-2) record as an amateur with two first round victories via rear naked choke against Casey Liederbach and Robert Mondloch. His other loss came at the hands of Mark Severtson at Gladiators 47 in October of 2007, who pulled out the win via unanimous decision.

The bout was a classic matchup of grappler vs. striker.

Round 1

Early in the first round Rodriguez took the back of Denny. Unable to get the rear naked choke, Rodriguez pulled a nice transition to armbar underneath the ropes. Somehow he ended up falling off the canvas and onto the floor, hitting his head. Denny claimed in his post fight interview that Rodriguez never let go of the armbar even after hitting the floor. The fight resumed again on the feet with Denny landing a right high kick followed by some taunting and a spinning backfist that missed its mark. Denny proceeded to take Rodriguez down but Rodriguez instantly wrapped up a triangle choke followed by an armbar attempt. Denny managed to escape, unleash some ground and pound, but was quickly stuck in another arm bar. With another escape he landed some big knees to finish out the round.

Round 2

Early in the second round Denny stalked Rodriguez around the ring, and maintained ring control. Rodriguez threw a left body kick, which might have been the only strike he landed throughout the entire fight. Denny threw the flying knee as Rodriguez dove in for a takedown that missed. Rodriguez capitalized on a second attempt, but was quickly stood up by referee Al Wickerson for not ground striking or attempting a submission. Denny would lands some knees and get another takedown taking it into Rodriguez’s world again. Realizing his mistake, Denny stands back up and lands some decent striking. Rodriguez manages to toss Denny to the canvas, latch onto an Americana before transitioning into an armbar. It appears that Denny was saved by the bell; but it might have been to little, to late, for Rodriguez.

Round 3

The fight in my eyes is a round apiece going into the third with Rodriguez winning the first round and Denny winning the second. Rodriguez looks tired early in the third and his takedowns are not what they were earlier. Denny catches Rodriguez with a big right hook that sends Rodriguez falling into the ropes. Instead of stopping the fight, the referee allows Rodriguez to get back up. Denny makes the mistake of taking Rodriguez down, who quickly reverses Denny and takes his back. Denny is able to defend the rear naked choke attempts before ultimately escaping and raining down blows until the bell rings.

Denny improves his amateur record to (1-0) with a win over Jose Rodriguez. Had this fight had taken place in a cage I don’t think it would have gone the distance and either fighter could have taken it; Rodriguez by submission or Denny by TKO/KO. Their first bout was listed as a featherweight matchup of 145lbs, while the future matchup is slated to be a bantamweight matchup of 135lbs.

I’m not sure why Jordan Denny is taking this fight again in that he has nothing to gain from it other than experience. It is now up to Jose Rodriguez to prove the doubters wrong and show that his loss was a fluke, due to short notice, lack of preparation. My prediction is that, in a cage, there is no way this fight is going to go the distance. I assume Jose Rodriguez is going to work more on his ground striking and Jordan Denny will be cognizant about takedowns and keep the fight out of Rodriguez’s world of grappling and submissions. Good luck to both of you, I hope we get another fight of the night.

UPDATE: I talked to the promoter this afternoon after hearing from Jordan Denny. He confirmed there was a mix up on his list and this fight is not happening at Gladiators 49. Jose Rodriguez is more than likely going to fight on the card but against a different opponent. I'm sure these two will fight again but it will be somewhere down the road. Sorry for any confusion.

This article was originally posted on http://www.wicombatsports.com/ on 01-04-08