Trigg vs. Takimoto, on paper it should be a rout for “Twinkletoes” but there’s not really a Japanese judoka that’s entered MMA that’s not a double tough SOB. They typically get thrown in over their head without the opportunity to “work their way up”. Classic example is the great Hidehiko Yoshida, who fought Don Freakin’ Frye in his MMA debut–and won!
ROUND ONE:
Trigg moving nicely and appears to be in great shape, but when is he not? He takes down Takimoto but the judoka ends up on top and works inside Trigg’s guard. Trigg excellent fighting off of his back. Trigg is a tough dude to keep down and he scrambles back to his feet. Knee to the body by Trigg and he lands a couple of nice punches–looks like he’s been working on his boxing as he’s putting together his punches very nicely. Trigg gets the takedown now and is beating on the side of Takimoto’s head but the judoka doing a nice job defending. People forget how good Trigg is–he enters this contest 16-6 with his six losses coming to an insane level of competition–try Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, GSP, Matt Hughes (twice) and Hayoto Sakuri on a Shooto show.
Fighters exchanging punches and Trigg gets an easy takedown. Trigg had a top mount but the wily judoka grabbed a leg and looked for a knee bar causing “Twinkletoes” to relent. Round wins, a clinic by Trigg so far as he looks very sharp…
ROUND TWO:
Fighters exchanging strikes, Trigg gets the best of it and now he takes Takimoto down and finds himself in side control. He’s looking to pass, softening up his opponent with knees to the breadbasket in the process. Trigg floats over his opponent and is in something of a modified half guard now. He doesn’t like having a judo badass with his legs and arms all intertwined around his so he smartly gets up and starts landing ground and pound power shots with his long arms. Trigg an exceptionally smart fighter–he’s shown a tendency at times in his career to get cocky (and sloppy) when a fight is going his way but he’s razorsharp tonight. He’s working now inside Takimoto’s guard, landing a lot of heavy elbows, forearms and fists. Takimoto gets up, and partially connects with a nasty haymaker that at the very least gets Trigg’s attention. Trigg pulls guard and finds himself in a bad position with the judoka working for a kimura with just under a minute left. Trigg’s powerful arms are all that’s saving him at the moment, along with less than perfect positioning and leverage for Takimoto. Trigg trying to defend the kimura on one arm while pounding Takimoto’s midection with the other. He’ll survive the round now and for good measure escapes and lands a few knees as the round ends. Another nice round for Trigg, who’s looking sharper than he has in some time. If Affliction is looking to bolster their lighterweight classes maybe they should start with this guy?
ROUND THREE:
Trigg, of course, was one of the announcers at Affliction: Banned. He’s done a lot of broadcast work and does a good job at it. Camera shows the great Hidehiko Yoshida in the crowd. Perhaps motivated by the sight of the judo legend, Takimoto gets a takedown and a big knee but Trigg reverses and is working inside a tight guard. Trigg is so powerful for the weight its scary. He sure doesn’t look like a 36 year old fighter as he’s had his way with his much younger opponent so far. Anyway, not sure why Affliction hasn’t approached Trigg to fight yet–he’s clearly got a lot left in the tank, he’s an intelligent, entertaining fighter that has a good rapport with the fans, he’s got a great pedigree and has only lost to the absolute top of the food chain. Trigg briefly in trouble as the judoka grabs his arm but he gets out of it. Trigg was very visible among the media at the Affliction show and was a complete gentleman, cordial and happy to talk to everyone even though he’s something of a “big deal” in the sport. That’s always been a big deal for several of our staffers–we get the opportunity to meet quite a few famous people and there’s nothing that impresses us more than someone who is cool in real life and doesn’t have to be. Trigg rocked for a moment by a couple of big wild punches–he’s not really worried about Takimoto’s power and his hands were really low when he got caught.
Back to the celebrity thought as the bell rings for what should be a unanimous Trigg decision as he helps his opponent up and shakes hands with his entourage before Jacob “Stitch” Duran towels his face off…lets get the decision first….
FRANK TRIGG WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION
No argument there as it was a clinic. Takimoto, like seemingly every Japanese judoka that goes into MMA, was a tough SOB but he was on defense for the entire fight. Trigg speaking now giving a lot of love to the Japanese fans saying its the “best venue, best crowd and best atmosphere” for a professional fighter. Hard to argue with that. Trigg looked really sharp and he indicated a desire to come back and there’s no reason he won’t be.
Anyway, we’ve had the opportunity to meet quite a few celebrities and know a number of close associates that have as well. Some of the big ones are pricks just like you think they’d be–Barbra Streisand, who famously had her assistant send out a memo to the entire MGM staff that they weren’t to speak to Babs nor even make eye contact were they to encounter her. No big surprise there–a bigger surprise is noted actor/director/anti-Semitic and misogynist drunk driver Mel Gibson is pretty much as big of a prick as Babs. He showed his true colors with his ranting slurs when pulled over drunk, but he’s a guy who at least *pretends* to be a “good guy”. Guess again–when he was in Charleston, SC filming “The Patriot” he sent out a similar memo to Babs–that staffers were basically to ignore him if they saw him, not to speak to him or make eye contact with him if they had the privilege of serving him and to do whatever they could to keep other guests out of the sight of Mr. Gibson. On top of everything, he was an awful tipper….
Oprah Winfrey rolled into Charleston quite a bit as well–she thinks she’s the queen of the universe and expects everyone to grovel at her feet but at least she’s a good tipper. We heard from a number of sources that her boyfriend/significant other or whatever Steadman Graham, meanwhile, was incredibly cool to everyone–probably because he sympathizes with them having to do Oprah’s bidding 24/7. Oprah’s the type that expects stores to open when they’re closed (as she famously did at a Hermes store in Paris, then tried to suggest that they were “racist” because they wouldn’t let her and her entourage in after hours), expects stores to run off other customers so she can shop alone and so forth. Now, Oprah is a big deal to be sure but we’ve always looked to Frank Sinatra for guidance in these matters–there’s no bigger deal past, present or future than Francis Albert and while he definitely had a temper he also went out of his way to treat what many celebrities would consider “peons” with respect–he was famously kind to busboys, dishwashers, valet parking attendants, etc. He was also a notoriously generous tipper, with a ton of stories about tipping shoeshine boys and parking lot attendants hundreds of dollars. So Oprah needs to come correct–if Sinatra isn’t too big to treat service workers with respect neither is she…
Anyway, more on this after the main event…
