UCL Postscript - "Night of a Thousand Headbutts"

HDNet's Inside MMA came out to yesterday's installment of the Underground Combat League, and if they were hoping to capture some of the grittiest, nastiest, gnarliest fighting ever, they had to have been happy.  There were TKOs and submissions, trash talk and bad blood, and in the main event - which took place under vale tudo rules (i.e., almost anything goes) - there were enough concussive headbutts to make former Senator John McCain's "human cockfighting" derogatory phrase seem like the understatement of the millennium.  Highlights of the event included:

• The blazing battle between UCL vet Jerome Mickle and newcomer Jarro Israel.  Though they seemed evenly matched at first, Mickle's fists began poking holes through Israel's defenses, until finally he dropped the rookie with a right and TKO'd him on the ground with another right.
• The no-nonsense Daniel Ramos, who handled his business with Jeet Kune Do stylist Justin Smith with a slam and choke at 21 seconds.
• The technical war between Nico Augusto and Matt Ward.  Displaying a shitload of ability and heart, Ward escaped some seriously inescapable finishing holds.  Eventually, though, Augusto caught him, with the end coming via rear naked choke in the second round.
• Donning his traditional gi and black belt for the marquee bout, promoter Peter Storm stepped into the ring to face veteran fighter Jonathan Rodriguez in a match-up that was colored with a ton of bad blood.  Things got ugly and they got ugly quick, and they got even uglier when Storm started headbutting - a turn of events that prompted both men to exchange the taboo technique like Wall Street brokers trading stocks on the New York Stock Exchange floor.  At the end of the first round Storm almost caught Rodriguez with a heelhook, but Round 2 saw things come to a violent conclusion, with Rodriguez stunning him with a headbutt and pounding him out for the TKO on the ground. Ten years of covering the UCL, and this one was clearly the nastiest bout of all time (accidental leg breaks aside).