ODDS & ENDS HOUSE CARD

(Results: Simguy; Writing: OddManOut)

Posted by OddManOut on November 16, 2012, 5:30 pm.

Before: Foxfire scouts out in force tonight as contrasting contenders for the lightweight crown step to. Anna a textbook, fundamental lightweight. No trademark maneuvers or glittering innovations, but no real weaknesses either. Combination has quietly put her on a Hall-of-Fame pace in a not-quite four year career. Adriana has shown a remarkable ability to both give and take punishment this year, resulting in mad, unpredictable bouts that aren’t over till they’re over. With three knockouts in a row under her belt, the former Ice Hotel queen has to be more than a blip on Rachel Nichol’s radar.

Black bikini for Anna, white gloves, hair shoulder-length and loose. Adriana wearing a purple and white cow-spot bikini, wet hair slicked into a skull-cap and stuck over her left shoulder, red gloves.

R1: Adriana comes out headhunting, jabbing for power. Anna keeps it on the perimeter, feeling out this new look from the Brazilian beauty. Lima’s doing all the punching this round, but Torv’s not letting her close enough to do any damage as she trades Adriana the shutout for the information.

R2: Anna’s seen enough from the outside, now she comes inside. Both fighters disdaining the jab for more forceful fare. Hooks begin to light up both women’s ribcages. Torv continues to break off before things can get too spirited. Adriana’s whiplash delivery carries the round when it lands cleanly, Anna taking her time to make an informed decision.

R3: Anna the more capable fighter on defense, and it begins to pay dividends as fighters come inside again. Both women are throwing about the same number of punches, but while Adriana’s are harder, Torv’s are landing more frequently. Cumulative effect becomes evident as Lima wraps them up in the first clinch of the fight in the final minute. Anna continues to play this thing big girl, walking them around in the clinch.

R4: Pattern of this fight becomes clear, as blonde and brunette battle in a phone booth. Nothing flashy, body work to stiffen the legs, then working upward to head and chest. Both fighters now issuing clinches, but Adriana seeking it more frequently as she absorbs the greater punishment again.

R5: The reduction of Adriana Lima continues. Adriana still issuing the hardest blows of the round, but punch-by-punch, second by second, Anna is pulling ahead in the brutal battle of attrition. Both fighters absorbing a fearful pounding, rotating mid-ring as they batter each other, rattling four punch comboes climbing up their already pink torsos.

R6: Lima starts to crumble under the constant body assault. She takes a knee in the first minute, up at 6. Back into the phone booth, Adriana doing more sponging than hitting at this point. Anna stays with fundamentals, not getting ahead of herself and giving Lima the opening she needs to put herself back on even footing.

R7: Results a foregone conclusion at this point. Adriana not answering back with either the volume or intensity she showed earlier, no longer holding canvas. Her back hit the ropes for the first time at the end of the opening minute. After almost a minute of unanswered pounding from Anna, the ref’s seen enough. TKO7 Anna Torv in brutal, all-or-nothing slugging.

After: Hard-hearted slugging finds both victor and vanquished getting their ribs taped in the aftermath. Talking to reporters, Anna is understandably concise, "Nobody who's gone inside with Adriana is going to call the experience pleasant, but if you let her use the leverage she can generate on the outside, she's shown this fall that she can put ANYBODY out with one punch. On the outside, you have to be perfect. Inside, there's a bigger margin of error."