 |
By Jim Terwoord
The wide open Georgia Mountains Center provided the backdrop for an exciting night of combat sports action on Saturday evening, January 26th in Gainesville. Promoter Lane Collyer did another excellent job of match making, taking second place only to the efforts of his staff, who ran the entire evening with an easy, efficient style. Martial arts fans responded with another sell out for Collyer, who really ought to show other promoters how to run an event.
The night included a full card of twelve matches, including eight mixed martial arts matches, two Muay Thai throwdowns and a couple Low Kick contests for good measure. It even had gals behaving badly with Stephanie Stafford and Jeri Mansur locking up in a whirlwind slugfest. And the fans got their action fix – only three of the contests went to the judges in a night that also saw six submissions, two TKO’s and an LC (for the uninitiated – that’s lost contact!)
The main event featured Scott Sarratt vs. Justin Underwood for the Southeastern U.S. MMA Welterweight Championship. Sarrat, who appeared the crowd favorite, trains at Alpha Fighting Systems in Hiram, while Underwood does his rasslin’ at World Shootfighters in Snellville. Sarrat appeared to win the first round, taking down Underwood early and spending most of the round in his guard or half guard. The second round was a different story. Underwood quickly gained top control with a suffocating ground attack that caused a Sarrat surrender via head and arm triangle at 2:15 of second round. Hail to the Champ!
GAMMA Fight of the Night honors went to bantamweights Jeremy Boyd (Pophams Athletics) and Keith Jardine clone Jason Freeborn (never mind the 70 pound difference!) fighting out of One Life Krava Maga (now there’s a mouthful) in Roswell. Freeborn, who must have brought most of the crowd with him, had a tough first round. Boyd took him down quickly and had his back the entire opener, clearly winning the round. Freeborn, fueled by his posse, was having none of it in the second, winning an early takedown and dominating the round. Boyd was saved from an arm bar by the bell. Freeborn fired off another takedown at the outset of third, winning by submission soon after with another arm bar. Great fight guys!
Dante Jones (Alpha Fighting Systems) and Markus Fletcher (Team Exodus) locked up in the first of two Low Kick Rules events. Taller, fitter and with a huge reach advantage, Jones dominated the fight which ended in a referee stoppage at 1:40 of the second round. The second Low Kick contest featured two tough gals without a “back off” bone in their bodies. Stephanie Stafford (Greubels MMA) and Jeri Mansur (Haymore’s United Karate) treated the crowd to a 3 round “no surrender” slugfest. The difference was Mansur’s nasty jab and combinations that reddened Stafford’s face and bloodied her nose, earning her a unanimous decision. Great fight ladies! Oh – and GAMMA knows how old you are – but your secret is safe!
The evening’s festivities started with a bantamweight MMA fight with David Zavala (Pophams) squaring off against Brian Bloodworth (now there’s a great fighter name) of LA Boxing. Bloodworth managed to pull off a triangle choke wearing shin guards, winning by submission at 1:09 of the first round – although Zavala appeared to later contest the tap.
Russell Benes (Alpha) and Andrew Ballinger (Contemporary Martial Arts) faced off in a Muay Thai mangler that got a tad messy. Ballinger, with a HUGE reach advantage, bloodied Benes in the first and the red flowed freely. But Benes wouldn’t back off and continued the attack, earning him a second round shot from Ballinger that sent a bloody spray across the ring, causing a TKO by referee stoppage at the 1:55 mark of the second round.
Ethan Watts (Alpha) and Luke Neyland (X-3 Sports) got it on next in a bantamweight MMA contest. Neyland quickly took down Watts in the first round, gaining his back and sinking in a deep rear naked choke, earning a submission at 1:18 of the opening stanza. Another “quickie” followed. Ryan Peace (Contemporary MA) overcame a really bad fighter name to earn a quick submission victory via arm bar over Kenny Yearwood (Pophams), thirty three seconds into the first round. Congratulations Ryan – but see Bloodworth about that name!
Josh Echegaray (Budakon Sports) and Gabriel Beachy (Monroe Martial Arts) tussled in middleweight MMA match that saw Beachy gain a quick takedown in the first that Echegaray quickly reversed. Echegaray knocked Beachy down later in the round, forcing a standing count. In the second, Echegaray scored another TD, gaining full mount and going on to earn a submission victory via arm bar at 1:05 of the second.
Lance Dickson (Team Rodriguez) took on Sid Bargo (X3) in a lightning fast lightweight event that saw Dickson come close to throwing Bargo through the ropes with his initial attack. Able to take down Bargo at will, but not much else, Dickson won a unanimous three round decision.
The second Muay Thai match of the night had Tim “The Hitman,” Hart (Bulldog Kickboxing) going up against Andy Sullens (Team Exodus). GAMMA had the first round, featuring lots of hitting and combinations by both fighters, a draw. The second and third saw the “Hitman” steadily pull away with faster, more accurate shots and solid defense, earning him a unanimous decision victory.
An eye injury cost Jesse Shepeard (Exodus) dearly in a TKO loss to Steele McCall of X3 Sports. While we were advised that this was a loss of a contact, Jesse Shepeard advised that he suffered a scratch to his eye during the bout not the loss of a contact.
Extreme Fight Night VI was one exciting evening of action. The fights were great and the crowd was so into the festivities that a couple clowns, who had obviously enjoyed the adult beverage table a bit too much, tried to call out a couple fighters on their way back to the locker rooms. Luckily for them, the warriors weren’t interested. The only way Lane Collyer could improve XFN VII is to have these nuts on the card next time!
Jim Terwoord for GeorgiaMMA.com
|
