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First of all, Bridgett "Baby Doll" Riley is my favorite
female fighter right now. She is a great fighter and also quite beautiful.
She originally wanted to be a gymnast but changed her mind when she went
with her brother to a martial arts tournament. She became a kickboxer and
trained at the Jet Center with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez's sister and former
kickboxer, Lily Rodriguez. She fights in a peekaboo style with lots of bobbing
and weaving.
I've seen two of her fights in their entirety, and highlights from another.
The first bout I saw her in was against Gina "Fireball" Hayes. Here is how
I saw the fight:
Round 1: Hayes came out aggressive in the first round and pushed Riley
back to the ropes but Bridgett took over the round with counter-punching
and landed several techniques to different parts of Hayes' body. Her best
attack came at the end of the round when she landed a ball kick followed
by a left hook that hurt Hayes. (Riley 10-9)
Round 2: Hayes again came out aggressive but, once again, she got
caught by Riley's counter punching. Riley landed a huge ball kick to Gina's
face that really hurt her midway through the round and another one with about
30 seconds left that stunned her again. Surprisingly, Hayes survived the
round without going to the canvas but I gave a two point round to Bridgett
because she dominated the action. (Riley 10-8)
Round 3: Riley hurt Hayes with leg kicks in this round and Gina started
limping with about 30 seconds left in the round. Most of the damage came
from kicks to the inside of Hayes' left thigh. Hayes went down with about
17 seconds in the round from an accumulation of punishment to the legs. She
would have definitely gotten knocked out if the bell hadn't rung right as
the referee restarted the action as she could barely walk back to her corner.
(Riley 10-8)
Round 4: Hayes appeared to be pleading with her corner to continue
and did answer the bell, surprisingly still with a little bit of bounce left
in her step. Riley dominated the action again, mostly with punches and kicks
to the inner left thigh of Hayes. She also landed a kick to the chest that
made Gina fall back into the ropes. (Riley 10-8)
Round 5: The fight didn't last long after this. Riley came right out
with a kick to the head and then bombarded Hayes with leg kicks until she
finally went down from one to the inner left thigh. Hayes still wanted to
continue after this, but could barely walk and her corner correctly decided
to throw in the towel for her. Hayes showed a tremendous amount of courage
and just wouldn't quit, but Riley was way too much for her on this occasion.
Next, Riley fought an unbeaten blonde Canadian fighter, named
Olivia Gerula
(5-0, 5 KO's). Gerula came out aggressive, like Hayes, but Riley's counter
punching was, again, superior. This time, Riley used mostly her fists to
get the knockout. She stunned Gerula with a straight right hand which stopped
her from coming forward. Riley then landed a tremendous right-left combination
staggering her opponent and the referee gave her a standing eight count.
Gerula was dazed and it didn't take Riley long to finish her off. About four
punches (the best being a hard right hand) knocked Gerula down, where she
stayed for a while. Riley showed some concern for her fallen opponent who,
thankfully, was able to recover.
After this she defeated Bonnie "The Cobra" Canino,
who she lost to early in her career, over 12 rounds for the IKKC and IFCA
women's world junior featherweight titles:
Round 1: Riley got off to a quick start jumping on Canino from the
opening bell. After missing a ball kick to the head she went downstairs and
started peppering Canino's legs. She then landed a hard left hook and a left
leg roundhouse to the head, setting the pace for an intense fight. She continued
to dominate the round by slipping Canino's punches and delivering her own
attacks. Canino did attempt her most well known attack, the spinning backfist.
She hit Bridgett towards the end of the round with it but landed with the
elbow, making it an illegal blow. She got a warning for this and for head
butting in this round. (Riley 10-9)
Round 2: Another great round for Riley. She did most of the damage
in this round with her left hook. Whenever Canino tried to get aggressive
charging in with her lead left hand, Bridgett would simply duck under it
and fire a left hook. (Riley 10-9)
Round 3: Slower round in which Canino was able to be a little more
aggressive, and she was able to land her lead left early in the round. Perhaps
a slight advantage to Bonnie in this round, but not enough to win it in my
opinion. (Even 10-10)
Round 4: Riley picked up the pace and landed a monster left hook that
hurt Canino very early in the round. She immediately followed up with a leg
kick and several punches that had Bonnie on the ropes. She looked very wobbly
and probably would have gone down if Riley hadn't slipped to the canvas while
attempting a kick. After the Riley slip, Canino seemed to regain her composure
and actually finished the round pretty strongly, considering how hard she
was hit by "Baby Doll," but did receive another warning for landing the spinning
backfist with the elbow. (Riley 10-9)
Round 5: Bridgett opened up the round with a hard right and was again
able to win the round by ducking under Canino's lead left and countering
it with a left hook. She also was able to successfully clinch to stop Canino
from fighting inside. (Riley 10-9)
Round 6: Riley again landed a good right at the beginning of the round
but she seemed to take the rest of the round off. Canino took advantage of
the slower pace in this round and scored with a couple of good punches late.
(Canino 10-9)
Round 7: Riley picks up the pace again and is on the attack early
landing with several good hooks. She occasionally let Bonnie attack, only
to turn her away with punches to the head. Once again, she would simply duck
the left lead and come back upstairs with the hook, as she had done earlier.
However she did take a couple of head butts from Bonnie in the process. By
the end of the round, as a result of these butts combined with the several
spinning elbows Canino had landed, Bridgett's face was swelling badly above
and around her left eye. (Riley 10-9)
Round 8: Bridgett's best round of the fight. As she often does, Riley
opened the round with a ball kick, this time landing to the chest of Canino
and stopping her in her tracks. She continued by nailing Bonnie with several
straight right hands in the early part of the round. Later, she hammered
Canino with a hard left, and scored again with the left to open up a combination
of punches and kicks with Canino on the ropes. Bonnie did not go down from
the punishment she took in this round, but looked totally exhausted as Bridgett
continued to land at will. Canino did land with a spinning backfist late,
but otherwise was completely dominated by "Baby Doll." (Riley 10-8)
Round 9: Riley opened with a ball kick to the head, but then concentrated
more on the body, with leg kicks and punches to Canino's belly and rib cage.
(Riley 10-9)
Round 10: Canino took advantage again of a slower round by Riley.
She landed with a pretty good uppercut, a strategy she maybe should have
used more of. The only two times she threw this punch she was successful
with it. (Canino 10-9)
Round 11: Canino's best round. She was able to dodge Riley's early
attacks and landed her best punch of the fight, a good right hook that snapped
Riley's head to the side, early on in the round. Bridgett appeared to be
a bit worn out, which was understandable considering the furious pace she
fought at for the entire bout. (Canino 10-9)
Round 12: Both fighters threw everything into their punches for this
final round. Bridgett caught Canino with a good left hook midway through
the round and took the initiative to attack in the second half of the round
landing with punches and kicks. A pattern started to develop as the fighters
would clinch, be broken apart, Riley would land a couple of punches, and
then clinch again. This happened several times before the final bell ended
a great fight. (Riley 10-9)
My final scorecard: Riley 117 - Canino 111
The Judges' scorecards: Riley 116 - Canino 112, Riley 113 - Canino 115, Riley
117 - Canino 111
So, Riley won the fight on a split decision. I don't know how the second
judge had the fight scored for Canino. I thought Riley won the fight
convincingly, as did the announcers. The only reason I can think of is that
the massive swelling on Bridgett's face may have persuaded him to give the
fight to Canino. But at any rate, the overall decision was correctly awarded
to Riley and that's all that matters.
Overall, I thought that this was a very good, exciting fight, but not one
that begs for a rubber match. Riley is just too fast for Canino, who seems
to be past her prime, especially after the recent defeat to Gogarty in New
Orleans.
The second Canino fight brought her kickboxing record to 20-2 (I can't imagine
anyone beating her).Riley also owns a seven round decision over Australian
Stephanie Curtiss and a nine round split decision over Russian Natalia
Larionova. Riley on the other hand appears to be very much in her prime.
She has dominated her last four fights and has not lost since Lily Rodriguez
took over as her trainer.
I did not know that Kathy Long was considering returning to the ring to face
Bridgett. That would be a tough fight to predict but I believe Bridgett would
probably come out on top. Both fighters do a great job of mixing up their
attacks. Long has tremendous speed, but I think that Riley is just as fast
and probably more powerful.
Looking at the common opponents (at least the two that I know of), Riley
and Long defeated Denise Taylor. Kathy did it twice, but Taylor went the
distance both times and was rarely truly in danger of being knocked out.
Riley was able to knock out "Sweet" Denise when they fought. The other common
opponent is Bonnie Canino. While both Riley and Long went the distance and
won over Canino, Long's was a fight that could have gone either way while
Riley dominated in her latest fight with Canino, although she did lose to
Canino earlier in her career. The punch she landed in the forth round of
the second Canino fight staggered Bonnie in a way she was never staggered
in the Long fight. Obviously, Canino was older for this fight than the Long
fight, but it's something to consider.
Riley is also into traditional boxing, which she says has really sharpened
her hands. According to Black Belt Magazine, she owns a six round decision
over Yvonne Trevino and a second round TKO of Robyn Lopez, who's nose was
broken by Bridgett in their fight. These were Riley's only two times in the
traditional boxing ring. She is more into kickboxing than the sweet science,
but she says "I just love to fight."
All of the Riley fights I have seen on TV have been shown on Fox Sports West
1 or 2. They are put on by In-Sync Productions, who run the Legends of Kickboxing
website. I get these channels over my DSS satellite. Unfortunately, if you
just have regular cable, you probably have to live in California to see these
bouts. It's too bad the other Fox Sports stations haven't picked up the series
because they televise some great fights.
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