The first ever Triad Combat event took place last night from the Triller promotion with a mixed-rules show that pitted MMA fighters against boxers.
Essentially this was a boxing event, but taking place in a triangular ring with a few MMA-specific moves like spinning backfists, superman punches and punches from the clinch being allowed, but everything else from kicks, knees and elbows to takedowns, submissions and ground-and-pound still being illegal.
So, that set of rules still favors the boxers, but against the odds the MMA fighters actually won the night overall on points, but it wasn’t all good news though as in both the main and co-main event it was the boxers who beat their counterparts.
Frank Mir had a particularly tough night in the main event against Kubrat Pulev, an active pro-boxer who fought Anthony Joshua for the heavyweight title last year.
The 42-year-old Mir attempted to get his clinch game going early in the opening round, but when they were at boxing range Pulev’s power punches quickly took a toll on the former UFC heavyweight champion, who seemed stunned even before a big right hand to the temple followed by a thunderous left hook resulted him staggering unsteadily around one corner of the ring.
For some reason referee Dan Miragliotta didn’t immediately wave off the fight despite this being one of the most clear-cut cases of being out-on-your-feet that you’ll ever see, but thankfully Pulev didn’t immediately pounce on his glazed-eyed opponent and the fight was waved off, going down as a TKO win for the boxer.
MMA veteran Matt Mitrione also lost out in the co-main event against Alexander Flores, but though the scorecards turned out to be strongly in the boxer’s favor (68-64 x2, 67-65), the ex-UFC and Bellator fighter gave a very good account of himself.
In fact, Mitrione actually floored the 18-3-1 Flores in the second round and then later sought to use clinch work to battle his way to victory. There didn’t seem to be much in the rounds, but Flores was perhaps a little more active at times and did knock out Mitrione’s mouthpiece in the dying stages of the final round during a combination. It felt like Mitrione had a respectable chance to win on the scorecards, but in the end it was Flores who got the unanimous decision nod.
Beyond that though it turned out to be a surprisingly strong night for the MMA fighter. Recently released UFC fighter Mike Perry was knocked down during his fight with Michael Seals, but never stopped pressing the action and landed good shots of his own en-route to a split decision win (67-65, 67-63, 66-44).
Bellator fighter Derek Campos also emerged victorious in his fight with Brian Vera, who holds a 24-5 boxing record. Campos dropped his opponent in the opening round and did so again in the second, though his MMA instincts kicked in as he landed a blow while Vera was grounded, which resulted in him being deducted a point. It became a competitive fight after that, leading to Campos claiming a majority decision win.
Former UFC fighter Albert Tumenov gave a strong account of himself with a convincing unanimous decision win (70-63 x3) over Scott Sigmon, an experienced boxing pro with a 36-16-1 record.
Invicta FC fighter Alexa Culp is only 2-1 in her MMA career to date, but she now holds an impressive win in the boxing ring too after she swarmed on Angelina Hoffschneider early in the opening round with a flurry of punches and TKO’d her after just 42 seconds. It should be noted that her opponent is winless in five fights as a boxer though.
Opening up the night Team Boxing had picked up a win with the 9-3 Harry Gigliotti edging out a split decision win over Jacob Thrall, an MMA fighter with a 6-5 record.
So, overall MMA fighters won 4 of the 7 bouts on the night, while based on the points system devised by Triad Combat, Team MMA won by 14-11 (5 points for a KO, 3 points for a decision, 1 point for a draw).
Results:
Kubrat Pulev def. Frank Mir by TKO at 1:59 of round 1
Alexander Flores def. Matt Mitrione by unanimous decision (68-64, 68-64, 67-65)
Mike Perry def. Michael Seals by split decision (67-65, 65-67, 67-65)
Derek Campos def. Brian Vera by majority decision (65-65, 67-63, 66-64)
Albert Tumenov def. Scott Sigmon via unanimous decision (70-63 x3)
Alexa Culp def. Angelina Hoffschneider via TKO at 0:42 of round 1
Harry Gigliotti def. Jacob Thrall via split decision (48-47 x2, 47-48)
