In last week’s installment, Chris Gruetzemacher put a beating on Sascha Sharma, leaving Team Faber firmly in the driving seat.
Following the loss, McGregor was highly critical of his fighter. He felt Sharma crumbled under the pressure and didn’t perform as he should have. Having had some time to mull it over, however, McGregor feels he may have allowed his emotions get the better of him, and that he was harsh on the young German.
“I have to just be real with myself and realise that I am going to be emotionally invested in this,” McGregor reflected. “When you see what happened with Sascha, I got frustrated with it. I just wanted to see a little bit more fire. I’m upset with the way I reacted… I was learning too once, and I made many errors in my career as well. Sascha’s a good kid, and he has skill, and he has good work ethic. I shouldn’t have got so wound up over it.”
With the win, Team Faber moved to 2-0 and retained matchmaking control. For this week’s bout, they have lined up Tom Gallicchio against “The Polish Zombie” Marcin Wrzosek. According to Gallicchio, he played no small roll in the matchmaking process.
“My coaches did not select this matchup,” said Gallicchio. “I told them I wanted to fight Marcin, and they said if that’s what you want, that’s the right fight for you.”
Gallicchio, who demonstrated impressive back control and pulled off a first round rear-naked choke to earn his place in the house, plans to take the fight to the mat and earn the submission one more time.
Wrzosek is no slouch on the ground either, though. “The Polish Zombie” also earned his spot in the house with a rear-naked choke victory, after dominating his Dutch opponent Djamil Chan (19-2) on the mat.
Both fighters make the 155lb weight limit and the fight is official.
Tom Gallicchio (19-8) vs. Marcin Wrzosek (10-2)
The bout opens with some tentative striking exchanges, as both fighters try to find their range. McGregor keeps calling for a “jab, right hand, left hook” combination. After about a minute, Gallicchio catches a kick, uses it to drag his opponent to the mat, and quickly takes the back of “The Polish Zombie”. Wrzosek is on all fours, trying to shake Gallicchio off, but the American uses a body triangle to stay in position. Wrzosek controls his opponent’s left hand and lands shots to his face, as Gallicchio rides high on his back. Wrzosek eventually manages to shake the American off and begins to tee off from on top. As Gallicchio gets to his feet, McGregor shouts, “his legs are dead!”, and that appears to be the case. As Gallicchio staggers around the cage, Wrzosek picks his shots and tries to take his opponent out. Gallicchio manages to complete a takedown and works his way to full mount with about 30 seconds remaining in the round. Wrzosek escapes the mount and lands a few hard shots from inside his opponents guard as the round ends.
At the opening of the second frame, McGregor is calling for that “jab, right hand, left hook” combination once again. Wrzosek is getting the better of the stand-up exchanges, but after about 30 seconds, Gallicchio executes a takedown. From there, the American quickly works his way to mount and begins raining down elbows and fists. Wrzosek manages to escape the mount once more and lands a few shots from Gallicchio’s guard before the Team Faber representative stands back up. Wrzosek catches his opponent with a shot that sends him to the mat, and he lands a few shots from on top again. They are back on their feet now, and with about two minutes remaining, Wrzosek looks the fresher fighter. Wrzosek is getting the better of a spent-looking Gallicchio now. With a few seconds remaining, Wrzosek hits a takedown and lands a final flurry of shots from top position.
As the result is announced, McGregor, who was animated throughout, is ecstatic. Wrzosek, McGregor, and Team Europe are jubilant.
Having won matchmaking control, McGregor selects Saul Rogers (10-1) of Team Europe to take on Florida native Billy Quarantillo (6-1) in next week’s eliminator.
Tune in to SevereMMA.com next week to see if Team McGregor can level the scores.
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