'Barn Cat' Dominated the 'Assassin' at UFC 87

With all the press and bright lights on the Lesnar and GSP fights it was easy to overlook the very good prelim fight between Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory (10 -1/6’4”/170lbs.) and Luke “The Silent Assassin” Cummo (9-5/6’0”/167lbs.) Cummo is known from his start on the Ultimate Fighter Series Season 2. ‘Barn Cat’ McCrory, although losing by arm bar to Akihiro Gono at UFC 78, has choked out Nuri Shakir and Pete Spratt and continues to show that he is a growing force to be reckoned with.

At the beginning of the fight McCrory looked almost pale and lanky like a thin version of Forrest Griffin. Not very impressive. Cummo on the other hand looked healthy and well balanced physically, with a better center of gravity given his weight and height. He also is more experienced in the UFC going back almost two years. He had had impressive wins against Josh Haynes in UFC 69 and Edilberto Crocota on UFC Fight Night last year.

 But looks can definitely be deceiving , “It goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover. A year ago, everyone was like "what are you doing? You're not going to make it". Said McCrory on UFC.com. “…I have a lot of pent up rage from being the nerdy kid, and I wanted to unleash some of that.”  When the fight started you not only realize McCrory is bigger and has a much longer reach than Cummo but he’s more aggressive.

In the first round it was all McCrory with good in-the-clinch punches, he landed several rights and an uppercut. After several take down attempts he finally put the stubborn Cummo to the mat and worked for a near fight ending rear naked choke that had Cummo struggling for survival. McCrory pushed the fight the entire way and he was definitely not sitting back and waiting to counter. The round ended with Cummo escaping an arm bar and throwing weak elbows in the guard that wouldn’t have hurt a child. You have to give credit though to Cummo, who trains under Matt Serra, for making it to the next round at all.

In the second round McCrory again set the pace and took down Cummo and worked for another rear naked choke with Cummo demonstrating good defense and barely escaping. McCory eventually gave up on the chokes and started trying arm bars that Cummo somehow was able to slide out of. Cummo was constantly twisting and turning and somehow slid out of every submission McCrory attemped. He should change his name from ‘The Assassin’ to ‘The Snake’. Despite Cummos tactics McCrory was able to land a couple of good punches before the round ended.

In the final round they started out swinging and it looked like McCrory was stunned or couldnt find his footing. Cummo got a takedown but McCrory escaped. McCrory attempted a Judo throw, but Cummo was slick, and so he settled for a wrestling takedown. Eventually McCrory gained side control and tried for another arm bar with Cummo again escaping only to be taken down again in a few seconds.

In the final moments Cummo went for a desperate triangle choke but McCrory powered his way out of it with a Rampage style slam. The fight ended with McCrory in a dominating position.  Judges scored it 29-28/30-27/30-27 in favor of McCrory.

I thought it was a great fight. A lot of action mixed in with some great submission attempts and escapes. It reminded me of an old Pride fight between Carlos Newton and Sakuraba. By the end of the 3^rd round Cummo was clearly exhausted and I thought McCrory dominated 98% of the fight and showed that he can beat a more experienced fighter. “I knew going into this fight [Cummo] had never been [submitted],” stated McCrory. “…I wanted to prove that I could do it…I had a little ring rust but I trained hard for 13 weeks.” 

Whose he going to fight next and how long before he takes on GSP no one knows. But at 21 years of age the ‘Barn Cat’ has the kind of home grown personality that fans can root for and he could be shaping up to be a dominating force in the welter weight division.