Night of the Gladiators: Bowman Scores Win Over Curby
By Jim Terwoord
The beautiful ForumCivicCenter in downtown Rome provided the setting for an explosive night of mixed martial arts action on Saturday, June 28th. While it may not have been the Roman Colosseum, there were plenty of skilled gladiators on hand to entertain the crowd. But unlike the Roman emperors, the audience gave the action a solid “thumbs up.”
To the delight of the fans, the night’s nastiness got off to a “bang – bang” start with two KO’s in less than two minutes of slugging. In a welterweight contest, Ian Stephens dropped Preston Crowder with an atomic right hand that left Crowder in a twitching heap by the fence. It took Crowder about five minutes to return from the netherworld, but he’ll fight another day.
Trying hard not to be outdone, Aaron “Tex” Johnson, from Team Knuckle Up, dropped Chris Kirkland of Rome for the count with a huge right hook at 1:20 of the first round of their 190 pound amateur contest. With two fights over in under two minutes, the crowd began to think they were going home early. But they forgot the Tony Metcalf masterpiece main event.
Pro welterweights Blake Bowman and David Curby locked up in the best main event brawl on the local landscape in quite awhile. The tall, angular Bowman, who appears all elbows and knees, was taking on the undefeated Curby, who although shorter, has proved his mettle against bigger, taller opponents in the past.
The first round was a seesaw battle with the action all over the cage. Bowman opened with a takedown attempt that Curby, the master scrambler, was able to counter, instead taking down Bowman. Bowman escaped and returned the favor, taking Curby down. And so it went, first one fighter - and then the other – struggling for an advantage. I called the first round a draw.
The second round opened with Curby trying to takedown Bowman with some good old fashioned backyard rasslin’. Bowman wasn’t hearing it and resisted, only to eat a Curby grenade blast of a shot that almost ended the fight. With Curby laying the wood to him along the fence, Bowman hung on, desperately trying to clear the cobwebs. And hang on he did, managing to land several vicious elbows on the Curby cranium, one of which appeared to open a cut during the round. But in the humble opinion of this corner, Curby clearly won the round.
The third stanza opened with Bowman taking Curby down by the fence and gaining full mount. Again, the cool Curby kept his act together by sinking in a partially successful G choke that kept Bowman occupied and off his face. Always a scrambler, the agile Curby tried to shake Bowman loose as we’ve seen him do with other opponents, but this time Bowman had him figured, sinking in pesky hooks from Curby’s back that let him control much of the action in the round.
The judges called it unanimous – 30 to 27 - for Bowman, across the board. Although I think Bowman won the fight, largely as a result of a strong third round, there is no way he won the second round. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. But nothing can take away from the strong, gutsy performance by both of these talented warriors. I hope to see lots more of them.
In a light heavyweight pro event, C.J. Haggerty (LA Boxing) and Sean Kilgus (Knuckle Up) exchanged unpleasant greetings in a classic boxer-rassler free-for-all that was a rematch of an earlier win by Haggerty. It was quickly apparent that Haggerty wanted to rock, letting his opponent up off the canvas about a half dozen times, while Kilgus wanted to roll. This time the steady, plodding efforts of Kilgus won the fight. Following a takedown to start the second round, Kilgus was able to gain a submission win via clever keylock. After the fight he promised Haggerty a rematch – and we’re cool with that!
Carrying his Marine Corps flag to the cage in front of Capt. Brian Stann, ex-Marine and WEC light heavyweight champ, proved to be good mojo for local lad – and Marine - Darrell Parodi. Facing Marcus Fletcher, who took the fight on two days notice, the two put on a little jewel of a fight. This was unarmed combat at its best for 2 minutes and 34 seconds, ending when Parodi caught Fletcher with a “military” knee that left him in an alternate universe. I believe this was Parodi’s pro debut and we hope to see more of him.
The first pro event of the evening featured lightweights Mike Thomas (Brutal Fight Team) and Corey Ranic (Bellicose MMA) in a short, violent tussle. Thomas opened a nasty gash over Ranic’s eye that caused a referee’s stoppage when Ranic indicated he couldn’t see. One lame brained fan expressed his displeasure over the finish by tossing beer into the ring, delaying the event. (Note to fan: the rules are there for a reason and the officials follow the rules. If you don’t like them, please stay home next time and let the rest of us enjoy ourselves – JT.)
A fast paced match that had “140 pounders” written all over it, saw Brandon Ryals and Jason Hamilton lock up in a lively, free flowing tangle. Hamilton, who appeared to be winning after two rounds, sneaked in a warp speed armbar in the third that was so fast you missed it if you blinked, winning at 1:57 of the final stanza.
Clay Ward and Justin Barnwell (RushMMA) got it on in a 145 pound amateur clash. The bout was highlighted by a lightning quick series of moves and counters on the canvas early, with the slender Barnwell getting the upper hand in the exchanges. Barnwell claimed a win via armbar submission at 2:37 of the first round after Ward hung on the fence to try and save himself.
Following the fireworks in the two opening fights, Tim Hollingsworth and Woody Underwood tangled in the first battle of the evening to go to a judge’s decision. The lightweight contest saw Hollingsworth, who performed better across the board, win a unanimous decision victory.
Tim Ryals (Brutal Fight Team) and Greg McGee (Bellicose MMA) rolled around in a 185 pound amateur event that had the crowd clamoring for more action. McGee, the better grappler, took Ryals down at will, but then couldn’t do much with it and the crowd got restless. It didn’t get much better after the ref stood them up and the judges awarded a majority decision went to McGee.
I got home from Rome at 2:00 AM – I decided to skip the spectacle of Tony Metcalf with wing sauce all over him at Freeborn’s – or it would have been much later. But the Battle of Rome V was a blast and the gladiators were for real! Be sure to be at Cowboy’s in Kennesaw on July 25th as Metcalf has another night of MMA mischief on the schedule.
Jim Terwoord for GeorgiaMMA.com
JT@georgiamma.com
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