GAMMA - The Rise of the Juggernaut

[batsnumbereleven]

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After all the rushing around that GAMMA have had to do in the last fortnight to secure an opponent for Sean Morrison, you might have expected that the main event of GAMMA 32 would be a one-sided foregone conclusion. In one sense you would be right, because Morrison took a relatively straightforward unanimous decision on the judges cards, but it was far from the entertainment that we might have expected.

 

The GAMMA Lightweight champion demonstrated his strength and kept Bretton pinned with his back against the cage for more than three minutes of the first round, and then when referee Stanley Wright brought them back to the center, he followed up with an immediate slam takedown and secured half-guard quickly before the round came to an end.

 

In the second, an exchange of strikes was followed by Morrison trying repeatedly to get a muay thai clinch, but Bretton was able to defend successfully. The champion reverted to smothering Bretton up against the cage until they were re-started. A couple of good strikes from Morrison was followed up by once again pushing his opponent back against the cage, where the round concluded.

 

The third was a bit of a snoozer, with Morrison again taking advantage of his strength and forcing Bretton back to the cage, where they exchanged dirty boxing for a while. Bretton had a little more success this round in turning Morrison around, but there was relatively little action to get excited about. The following round was a repeat, until the last thrity seconds, where Morrison secured a quick takedown against the cage and got himself into side control, but was unable to work any further before the buzzer.

 

In the final round, Morrison seemed content to repeat the dose, having tried and failed to get a muay thai plum again, he simply ground Bretton down against the cage for the best part of the five minutes, with Stanley Wright bringing the two fighters back to the center twice.

 

No real surprises with the judges' scores (50-45, 49-46, 48-47) though I'm not sure how Bretton managed to pick up two rounds on that one card. However, the real concern has to be with the performance of the champion, who looked one-dimensional and risk averse throughout the fight. The mess of preparing for a third different opponent is unlikely to be the reason for the lackluster display and, with all respect to Nicholas bretton, who took this fight on a week's notice, when Morrison finds himself pitted against a more worthy challenger he is going to have to step up at least a couple of gears if he is to maintain his grip on the GAMMA Lightweight championship.

 

 

Regueiro Puts The Exclamation Point on Halvorsen's In-ring Career

 

Julio Regueiro's return to the cage for the first time since losing the GAMMA Welterweight title to Jack Humphreys went about as smoothly as he could have hoped for. He easily outclassed and outworked veteran opponent Dan Halvorsen on the feet in the first two rounds, with the crisper and more varied striking, and scored after just 30 seconds of the final round with a huge right cross that sent Halvorsen to the mat. The referee had no hesitation in calling it as a KO.

 

As has been the case fairly often in recent months, Halvorsen took the opportunity in his post-match press conference to announce that he was retiring from MMA and would be concentrating his efforts on his world-class gym to prepared other fighters. Meanwhile, we would expect Regueiro to be back in contention for another shot at the title in fairly short order.

 

 

On the Undercard

 

Ashley Ballard showed that he remains a force to be reckoned with at 185lbs with a fantastic performance against New Yorker Mac Fuller. The first round was very close, with both men landing an even number of strikes, though Ballard's were the ones that landed with power a couple of times. Ballard made light work of his opponent in the second though, scoring with a neat right high kick that staggered Fuller, before diving in to smash a right hand into Fuller's face that turned the lights out immediately. Ballard makes up for his Split Decision loss to Adam White back in January, and will no doubt be taking on a top ranked opponent again next time out, his call out of Sutton Ripley, post-match, notwithstanding.

 

At Welterweight, another fantastic contest saw Bobby Brubaker put the Russian former GAMMA champion Yengeni Sipatov down on the mat with a hard left to the solar plexus, but was unable to capitalise on top position during the remainder of the round, with Sipatov using his grappling expertise to control position and reduce his opponent's effectiveness. He came to regret this in the second as Sipatov scored early with a takedown and was able to pass into mount with relative ease and pounded away on Brubaker until referee Jonathan Churchill stepped in.

 

In the opener, China's Pai Cheng scored a dominant victory over Heavyweight opponent Jutaro Honma, as he took the Japanese sumo wrestler down with ease in the first round, passed guard into mount and started pounding. Honma could only escape by giving up his back, and Cheng took advantage of the opportunity to sink in a Rear Naked Choke for the win.

 

GAMMA 32 Quick Results

 

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Pick Results

 

CageRage - 4/5 (40/59 Total)

Scottie - 4/5 (9/11)

TheSnake101 - 3/5 (6/11)

Cyclops - 3/5

[batsnumbereleven]

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Michael Frankley

 

After the main event I wasn't sure whether to congratulate Nick for making a fight of it, or give Sean a complete roasting for basically treating the title defense with contempt. It was a really poor match, and we'd been counting on him to send the fans home happy with a decisive victory, but a 25-minute grind wasn't what we had in mind, and I think a lot of folk think he should have finished it early.

 

 

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Sean Morrison

 

Like I said, a title defence is a title defence. There was no taking Bretton lightly, just because he'd been shoe-horned into the match at the last minute. I had to make sure that I wasn't the one with the egg on my face afterwards if I'd taken a risk and lost, so there was no way I was taking any risks. I was loads stronger and made sure I controlled things so that I never got hurt. Sure the fans want to see some fancy striking and exciting submission attempts, but this is about winning. When you're the champion you only have to win, you don't have to impress anyone to get a title shot, the belt's already yours. Why would I put that at risk?

 

I was more cheesed off by the old promo shot that Blurcat.com used to lead their headlines page.

 

 

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Lance Decker

 

And Frankley's policy on running regular events came back to bite him in the ass, because he had nobody spare with any talent to go up against Sean when Brandon Sugar dropped out.

 

 

 

 

 

But with GAMMA 32 behind him, Michael Frankley was looking forward, rather than back, and had a new challenge ahead of him – who to target to make GAMMA an even bigger success.

 

 

 

 

 

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Michael Frankley

 

A whole bunch of contracts started to come up for renewal on 1st December, from all around the world. We had about twenty of our own whose deals would lapse at the end of the year if we didn't renew, and the contracts team were quickly involved in trying to make sure as many of them as possible re-signed. I had no interest in losing fighters who had only fought once or twice for me in GAMMA, when we had much wider and distant possibilities open.

 

Equally pressing was the need to consider which fighters we could bring in who would make GAMMA an even better company. After talking with the board and the financial manager, they were happy enough that we had budget room for some new signings, even though I'd spent half the year bringing in youngsters to provide some depth and excitement, but they weren't in favor of an all-out spending spree, and I was told we would target 5 signings, and to prioritise my list for them to work on.

 

That was the last I heard of it until the contracts started appearing on my desk for information, but I was delighted that three of the top names on my list would be joining us, whilst two others that were good, high-priority signings for us also agreed to come on board.

 

 

 

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Mark Wallace

 

What Frankley didn't know was that the Board and the Finance Committee had decided that we weren't going to annoy other companies just for the sake of it, so there was no way we were going to take multiple fighters from them at this point. It was risky enough with FLB and XCC that we were taking a champion away from each of them!

 

 

 

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GAMMA 33 card for picks

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) v Josh Aldarisio

 

Co-main

Light Heavyweight – Mike Watson v Toby Sorkin

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Leon Banks v Guy Broom

Middleweight – Ethan Sutton v Bill Brown

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro v Sid Morgan

Welterweight – Dana Delaney v Rich Robinson

[BigRedMachine]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) v Josh Aldarisio

 

Co-main

Light Heavyweight – Mike Watson v Toby Sorkin

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Leon Banks v Guy Broom

Middleweight – Ethan Sutton v Bill Brown

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro v Sid Morgan

Welterweight – Dana Delaney v Rich Robinson

[Cyclops]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) v Josh Aldarisio

Co-main

Light Heavyweight – Mike Watson v Toby Sorkin

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Leon Banks v Guy Broom

Middleweight – Ethan Sutton v Bill Brown

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro v Sid Morgan

Welterweight – Dana Delaney v Rich Robinson

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) v Josh Aldarisio

 

Co-main

Light Heavyweight – Mike Watson v Toby Sorkin

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Leon Banks v Guy Broom

Middleweight – Ethan Sutton v Bill Brown

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro v Sid Morgan

Welterweight – Dana Delaney v Rich Robinson

[CageRage]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) v Josh Aldarisio

 

Co-main

Light Heavyweight – Mike Watson v Toby Sorkin

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Leon Banks v Guy Broom

Middleweight – Ethan Sutton v Bill Brown

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro v Sid Morgan

Welterweight – Dana Delaney v Rich Robinson

[batsnumbereleven]

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GAMMA officials and fans alike will be wishing for the swift return to title action of Julio Regueiro, as current GAMMA Welterweight Champion Jack Humphreys picked up a split decision victory over Josh Aldarisio in one of the least entertaining title fights in GAMMA history.

 

It would be difficult to fault any of the judges for their scoring (two scored it 49-46 to Humphreys and one scored it 48-47 to Aldarisio), in a fight that was very difficult to assess, partly due to the lack of action. In the end, Humphreys success with takedowns (4 of 6) might have outweighed Aldarisio's more active striking (57 strikes to 33), but it is difficult to make a definitive case either way.

 

Humphreys started out the fight by looking to grapple with Aldarisio, but the challenger was more than a match for him and was able to turn him against the fence and then effect the takedown. From side control Aldarisio tried some strikes but with little impact, and a scramble saw Humphreys come out on top in half guard.

 

The second round saw a similar start, but Aldarisio was unable to get his takedown, and it was Humphreys that sent him to the mat with a neatly executed leg sweep. The rest of the round passed with the champion in Aldarisio's guard, but with little further progress from either man.

 

Some inconclusive grappling began the third, and takedown attempts from both fighters were stuffed. At the half-way point, Humphreys grappled Aldarisio to the floor but couldn't get past the Michigan-native's guard. A scramble saw both men back to their feet and Aldarisio driving the champion back against the cage, where he wrestled him to the ground and was able to take his back. A few strikes followed, but the end of the round came swiftly enough to prevent the challenger making any serious threat.

 

The first minute of the championship rounds saw Humphreys trying to wrestle Aldarisio back against the cage, but not being able to do so, and it wasn't until he changed tactics that he was able to get the fight to the mat, where Aldarisio pulled guard. Humphreys was able to do little from top position though, and a scramble saw Aldarisio come out on top, in guard, where the situation remained stalemated until the buzzer.

 

The final round saw the same action once again. Humphrey, unable to force Aldarisio back against the cage, took him down instead, but couldn't pass guard and Leo Behan was forced to stand them up. A minute later, and without any significant action, the fight was, thankfully, over.

 

 

Sorkin Shows His Class

 

A bright start between Mike Watson and Toby Sorkin saw some very entertaining and frenetic early exchanges, before Sorkin backed Watson up against the cage and went for his first takedown about halfway through the round. Watson managed to stuff it, but only by grabbing the fence and referee Leo Behan was unnecessarily quick to deduct Watson a point without any warning. The rest of the round passed with Sorkin smothering Watson against the cage.

 

Sorkin spent most of the first half of the next round trying and failing to get Watson off his feet, eventually managing it with a trip at the fourth attempt. He took his time, but eventually passed into mount, where he tried to ground and pound his way to victory, but Watson seemed untroubled and worked some good strike defence from the bottom. Sorkin again got a takedown midway through the final round, and this time did manage to land a few hefty blows that had Watson in trouble, but again Watson's defence off his back was very good, and only briefly did Sorkin look like he might get a stoppage.

 

Scores of 30-26, 30-26 and 29-27 were reflective of the dominance that the Floridian demonstrated, but the point deduction in the first round was unnecessary and over-officious. Sorkin will be looking for another high-profile scalp next time around as he tries to build up his resume – he called out Dag Kreuger in his post-match rant, though I think he might aim rather higher than that - and this was a solid, if not exciting, performance against a well-regarded opponent at Light-Heavyweight.

 

On the undercard

 

Leon Banks followed up his split decision victory over Rick Stanley with a much stronger performance against Chicago's Guy Broom, landing a vicious left hand to the body two minutes into the first round that stopped Broom in his tracks, and sent him sprawling to the canvas, unable to continue. Banks will be looking at a top opponent next time out on the basis of this performance.

 

A stand-up battle at 185lbs saw a very even contest between Ethan Sutton and Bill Brown, with Sutton making contact more frequently, but Brown having the few moments where his punches looked to cause his opponent any trouble. It went to the judges, who scored it in favor of Brown (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

 

The first two rounds of the Lightweight clash between Goncalves Cassaro and Sid Morgan were very closely contested with both men hesitant to come forward. A right uppercut early in the third from Cassaro put Morgan on his back, and he tried a quick arm triangle but Morgan was able to defend successfully. With neither man able to make progress on the ground Harry Bierce stood them up with a minute remaining in the bout, but there was minimal further action before the buzzer. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 to Cassaro, who called out Rogelio Quesada afterwards.

 

In the Welterweight division, GAMMA newcomer Rich Robinson demonstrated the skills that saw GAMMA snap him up so quickly with a first round TKO of Yonkers' Dana Delaney, taking him down midway through the round and then forcing Leo Behan to step in and stop the fight with some heavy punches.

 

 

GAMMA 33 Quick Results

 

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Pick Results

 

BigRedMachine - 4/6 (Total 21/30)

Thesnake101 - 4/6 (10/17)

Cyclops - 4/6 (7/11)

CageRage - 3/6 (43/65)

[batsnumbereleven]

End of Year Awards, 1998

 

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[batsnumbereleven]

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Michael Frankley

 

The new year brought with it new challenges and new opportunities. More top-level fighters' contracts were coming due, but we hadn't yet debuted the last batch, and the Finance Committee weren't keen on overloading us with new commitments, so we ended up passing on the chance to sign the likes of Ichisake Miyagi, ALPHA-1's Welterweight Champion.

 

Again, this partly goes back to what I was saying earlier about not simply cherry picking the best talent from other companies to make our new stars from.

 

ALPHA-1 were also opening up a new Super-Heavyweight division for guys over 265lbs, which we considered for GAMMA too, but there were few real stars out there who would fight at that sort of weight and still look like the sort of athletes we would want to represent GAMMA – there were a few Heavyweights in GAMMA who certainly pushed that definition, and by allowing them to fight at a weight of their choice, God only knows what they would look like. So we put that on the back-burner for now.

 

 

 

That didn't mean that GAMMA was standing still, though. From January 1999, GAMMA began running a series of shows “GAMMA on ECT” on the East Coast Today TV network, and with coverage in Europe as well, to supplement the GAMMA Futurestars Reality show that had been airing. The first show was due to be highlighted by the final from Futurestars, but TV Executives had insisted on there being some name stars from GAMMA on the card as well, to make it worth people tuning in for.

 

Things got off to a bad start on that front when the intended headlining bout, between the two series coaches Adam White and Petey Mack had to be pulled from the show when Mack came down with an ankle injury at the end of December that ended his training camp. At such short notice there was nobody to replace him, and this left the show precariously place two weeks out, with just four fights on the card.

 

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Lance Decker

 

Again, this showed the short-sightedness of Frankley's approach to booking – with such frequent shows he was left with no one he could call on to make up an extra fight, and certainly nobody that had the sort of name value that Petey and Adam had built up. I'll say one thing for Futurestars, it gave some of the established guys a great platform to get themselves known as coaches.

 

 

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Michael Frankley

 

With just two weeks notice we were always behind the eight ball. We moved a fight between Lawrence Herringbone and the debuting Affonso Villar into the headlining spot, and hoped for the best. I was just relieved we got through to fight night without any further injuries, otherwise we would have had to cancel the event, which would have been a disaster when it was the first one!

 

In the meantime we got news from the Athletic Commission that Welterweight Rich Robinson had tested positive for recreational drugs after his fight against Dana Delaney – not the sort of publicity we were looking for.

 

 

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Rich Robinson

 

I still say there must have been some kind of mistake. I never took anything I wasn't supposed to, but they slapped a 12-month ban on me and overturned the result! How gutted can you get!

 

 

 

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 1

 

Card for Picks

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar v Lawrence Herringbone

 

Co-main

GAMMA Futurestars Final:

Featherweight – Heiko Pander v Marcus Waller

Undercard

Heavyweight – Gary Sampson v Randall Donnelly

Welterweight – Alan Kendall v Tyler Lass

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar v Lawrence Herringbone

 

Co-main

GAMMA Futurestars Final:

Featherweight – Heiko Pander v Marcus Waller

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Gary Sampson v Randall Donnelly

Welterweight – Alan Kendall v Tyler Lass

[Cyclops]

<p>Main Event</p><p>

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar v<strong> Lawrence Herringbone</strong></p><p> </p><p>

Co-main</p><p>

GAMMA Futurestars Final:</p><p>

Featherweight – Heiko Pander v<strong> Marcus Waller</strong></p><p> </p><p>

Undercard</p><p>

Heavyweight –<strong> Gary Sampson</strong> v Randall Donnelly</p><p>

Welterweight – <strong>Alan Kendall</strong> v Tyler Lass</p>

[CageRage]

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar v Lawrence Herringbone

 

Co-main

GAMMA Futurestars Final:

Featherweight – Heiko Pander v Marcus Waller

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Gary Sampson v Randall Donnelly

Welterweight – Alan Kendall v Tyler Lass

[batsnumbereleven]

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VILLAR AND HERRINGBONE HIGHLIGHT A POOR CARD

 

GAMMA got themselves out of jail last night on their début on network television, as Affonso Villar and Lawrence Herringbone put on a great fight that sent the punters home happy, after a night when everything else looked particularly disappointing.

 

Starting off with the fact that the card had been reduced to four fights, with the withdrawal of Petey Mack due to injury and subsequent cancellation of his “coaches fight” with Adam White, the deck looked stacked against GAMMA, and many cynics were pointing to the policies of year-in-the-job CEO Michael Frankley as the reason for this. The middle part of the evening's so-called entertainment appeared to bear this out, with dire contests at Heavyweight and Featherweight, but Mr Frankley can thank Villar and Herringbone for putting on something of a barnstormer in the main event that disguised plenty of the flaws on the rest of the card.

 

In the main event, things started off heatedly, as Herringbone took offence at Villar's refusal to touch gloves and drove immediately into a takedown attempt. Although he couldn't get it, he drove Villar up against the fence and only an un-spotted grab of the cage kept Villar on his feet. They exchanged short shots for a while, with Herringbone controlling Villar's position, and Villar again prevented a takedown with judicious cage-grabbing. Eventually Villar was able to reverse their positions and get the fight back to the middle of the cage, where they exchanged fists for while before Herringbone again used the threat of a takedown to get Villar backed up. Another break away by Villar saw him miss with some wild and vicious swings as the buzzer sounded.

 

The second round started off as a striking battle, but by the mid-point Herringbone again has the Brazilian backed up against the fence. After a minute or so, referee Leo Behan brought them back to the center of the cage, where Villar was definitely the more effective, hitting some nasty leg and body kicks before the round was through. More kicks to the leg in the third saw Herringbone starting to limp as he circled, and Villar definitely began to start getting the upper hand, with the fight remaining in the open where he wanted it. Herringbone attempted a takedown at the end of the round, but Villar was able to stuff it fairly easily.

 

The fourth saw Herringbone try to regain some of the advantage by circling away from Villar's kicks and successfully getting a takedown. After nearly three minutes in top position, he couldn't get any further than half-guard, though, and Villar looked comfortable on his back, though no threat to attempt any submissions.

 

Into the final round, and Herringbone continued to struggle with his movement; various exchanges seemed to see Villar with the upper hand, and he landed a couple of nice straight rights and left jabs before connecting with a beautiful right uppercut that sent Herringbone sprawling. Leo Behan took one look at the downed fighter and called the fight off.

 

Villar will pleased with his début performance in GAMMA, though he will have to work on his wrestling to prevent being controlled the way he was for large periods against the fence, and might consider himself lucky that the referee didn't notice his blatant cheating. Had the fight gone the distance it would have been a close call, and a point deduction for blatant cheating might well have swung the result. Herringbone shouldn't be too disheartened by the loss, given Villar's reputation, and it is likely that he will come back stronger and continue to be a good test to the best fighters in the division.

 

 

GAMMA Futurestars Not Shining Much Light

 

The first ever Featherweight fight in GAMMA history saw Heiko Pander and Marcus Waller competing for the right be be called the first GAMMA Futurestars winner, and well as making their official cage debut for the organisation. Pander took control of the clinch and forced a takedown early in the first, but was unable to take advantage of top position, despite landing a number of shots, and after referee Kyle Crisp stood them back up, they were very hesitant to strike.

 

The second round saw more activity, with Pander significantly out-landing Waller, but losing some momentum at the end of the round as Waller was able to get him to the mat. The final rounds saw a similar lack of action, and again Pander was the more active but gave up a takedown in the final minute, and by the buzzer Waller had worked his way into the mount.

The judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 to Pander, but you have to wonder whether Waller might have been better suited to attempting more takedowns than he did – he went two for two there, but was outstruck by his opponent by 59 to 29.

 

 

Elsewhere on the card

 

A dull Heavyweight encounter saw Randall Donnelly take down Gary Sampson in each round, and prevented the Arizona native from landing any strikes at all across the fifteen minute contest. Donnelly took a 30-27 victory on all three cards.

 

In the opener, Alan Kendall looked like he had the better of things to start with against Welterweight foe Tyler Lass, with the crisper striking, but Lass was able to wrestle him to the ground at the end of the first round. Lass repeated the dose early in the second, but Kendall's game off his back was too good for Lass, and he took advantage of an arm left in to pick up the submission via armbar.

 

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 1 – Quick Results

 

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Pick results

 

CageRage - 2/4 (Total 45/69)

Thesnake101 - 2/4 (12/21)

Cyclops - 1/4 (8/15)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Lance Decker

 

GAMMA 34 should have been a showcase event for us, with the Heavyweight championship on the line, but Frankley opted to fill the undercard with fights that nobody would have paid to see, to take advantage of the fact that it had been a full year since the Heavyweight title had last been defended. It put a lot of pressure on Boyer and Carlton to deliver, since that was the only fight that fans were really putting their money on the line for.

 

 

 

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Michael Frankley

 

And this was exactly how we would get name recognition for guys who would become stars for GAMMA in the future. As it happened, all bar one of the scheduled fights featured guys who were in the company before I was appointed, so there's really no truth to the argument that I was putting unknowns out there.

 

I would have liked to have had the Heavyweight title fought for some months earlier, to build on the momentum that Tim Boyer had coming off his shock dethroning of James Foster, but neither he nor challenger Jeff Carlton would fight any sooner.

 

 

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Tim Boyer

 

I didn't want to rush into my first title defence, and we originally thought that it would be September or October when I would take Carlton on, but his recovery time and camp time pushed it back further.

 

 

 

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Jeff Carlton

 

I was ready whenever Boyer was. Getting closer to retirement meant that I had to fight as often as my body would let me if I was to leave a legacy. I sure wasn't holding anything up at my end of things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GAMMA 34 card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Tim Boyer (c ) (25-3-2) v Jeff Carlton (33-7)

 

Co-main

Welterweight - Darin Blood (14-4) v Evan Gardner (4-0)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Osmosis Benn (15-0) v Isaiah Monroe (4-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-2) v Luke Hilton (8-0)

Heavyweight – Tank Manu'a (18-5) v Jacco Landeweerd (3-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Jericho Stewart (1-0) v Matthew Michael Kirby (1-0)

[CageRage]

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Tim Boyer (c ) (25-3-2) v Jeff Carlton (33-7)

 

Co-main

Welterweight - Darin Blood (14-4) v Evan Gardner (4-0)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Osmosis Benn (15-0) v Isaiah Monroe (4-0

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-2) v Luke Hilton (8-0)

Heavyweight – Tank Manu'a (18-5) v Jacco Landeweerd (3-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Jericho Stewart (1-0) v Matthew Michael Kirby (1-0)

[BigRedMachine]

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Tim Boyer (c ) (25-3-2) v Jeff Carlton (33-7)

 

Co-main

Welterweight - Darin Blood (14-4) v Evan Gardner (4-0)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Osmosis Benn (15-0) v Isaiah Monroe (4-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-2) v Luke Hilton (8-0)

Heavyweight – Tank Manu'a (18-5) v Jacco Landeweerd (3-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Jericho Stewart (1-0) v Matthew Michael Kirby (1-0)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Tim Boyer (c ) (25-3-2) v Jeff Carlton (33-7)

 

Co-main

Welterweight - Darin Blood (14-4) v Evan Gardner (4-0)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Osmosis Benn (15-0) v Isaiah Monroe (4-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-2) v Luke Hilton (8-0)

Heavyweight – Tank Manu'a (18-5) v Jacco Landeweerd (3-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Jericho Stewart (1-0) v Matthew Michael Kirby (1-0)

[Cyclops]

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Tim Boyer (c ) (25-3-2) v Jeff Carlton (33-7)

 

Co-main

Welterweight - Darin Blood (14-4) v Evan Gardner (4-0)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Osmosis Benn (15-0) v Isaiah Monroe (4-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-2) v Luke Hilton (8-0)

Heavyweight – Tank Manu'a (18-5) v Jacco Landeweerd (3-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Jericho Stewart (1-0) v Matthew Michael Kirby (1-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Jeff Carlton continued his streak of Knockout victories against Tim Boyer last night and deservedly won the GAMMA Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

 

After demonstrating his strength by pushing the champion back and pinning him against the fence for much of the first round, Carlton also showed off his dirty boxing in the clinch and put Boyer on the back foot from the very start of the fight.

Even though referee Christian Maugham brought the fight back to the cage when both fighters were actively fighting, Carlton didn't let that deter him, and finished off the round in a similarly dominant position.

 

The second round saw Carlton again dominate Boyer in the clinch, this time using a big knee to the body. He managed to get Boyer up and slam him down, falling neatly into half guard, then extract his leg and pass to mount with little trouble. He wasted no time in delivering a series of massive right hands that saw Maugham rightly jump in to stop the fight inside two minutes of the round, as Boyer was getting a complete pasting.

 

Carlton's next challenger will be a brave man on this performance, with rumours swirling in Atlantic City after the end of the fight that a big money match-up against former champion James Foster might be on the cards, though whether the former champ deserves such a rapid chance to regain his title might be in some doubt, despite his recent convincing victory over Fatuma Roy. A case might be made for the talented Leon Banks to get a shot at Carlton first.

 

Blood made to work by Gardner

 

Darin Blood was a strong favorite in the Welterweight co-main against Evan Gardner, but made hard work of things on his way to a unanimous decision victory (29-28 on all three judges' cards). Gardner was able to match Blood strike for strike in the first two rounds, and Blood only prevailed through his wrestling, taking his opponent down in each of the first two rounds, though losing out in a scramble in the second. In the third round Gardner showed an improved awareness of Blood's wrestling and was able to stuff his takedown attempts, and showed what he could do on his feet, significantly outstriking the veteran to take the third round.

 

Blood will have to up his game if he has notions of challenging for the Welterweight title any time soon. He called out former champ Julio Regueiro in his post-fight interview, which might be a little premature on this performance.

 

 

On the undercard

 

At 185lbs, Osmosis Benn and Isaiah Monroe exchanged takedown attempts in the early going, before Monroe landed one near the end of the round and had gotten himself into mount by the buzzer. Benn persisted with the takedown attempts in the second, but couldn't get past Monroe's excellent defence, and Monroe was again the one to score. This time Monroe landed some venomous ground-and-pound that forced referee Stanley Wright to jump in and call a halt to proceedings.

 

Unbeaten Lightweight Luke Hilton extended his streak to nine with a clinical knockout victory over Fort Lauderdale's Aaron McBroom in a fantastic fight. Having gotten much the better of some extensive trading of punches in the first round, Hilton struck with a big right hook two minutes into the second that turned McBroom's lights out. Hilton looks like he's one fight away from a potential match-up with the champion.

 

In a second Heavyweight contest, Jacco Landeweerd outstruck Tank Manu'a during the first round, whilst the second was more even, with Manu'a perhaps landing the more effective strikes. The final round saw Manu'a get a knockdown with a hard right, but couldn't do enough from top position to secure the victory inside the time limit. Manu'a picked up a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 unanimous verdict, and then called out Jeff Carlton for shits and giggles.

 

Finally, the opener saw two Light-Heavyweights making their GAMMA debuts and putting on a good show for the fans. After a very even first round, Jericho Stewart scored with a wicked upper cut in the second to put Matthew Michael Kirby on his back, but despite a couple of good shot was unable to put him away with ground-and-pound. In the third, he repeated the trick with a stunning right hook, and despite forcing Kirby to give up his back to avoid strikes, he couldn't get a submission locked in. Stewart took a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27).

 

GAMMA 34 Quick Results

 

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Pick Results

 

Thesnake101 - 5/6 (Total 17/27)

Cyclops - 3/6 (11/21)

CageRage - 2/6 (47/75)

BigRedMachine - 2/6 (23/36)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Michael Frankley

 

It would have been the obvious choice to have Foster come back in to face Carlton – it was a guaranteed moneymaker, for starters, and there was a feeling in some quarters that Foster deserved a shot to regain the title as soon as possible. The question was, how soon would Carlton be willing to fight again, because Foster was looking for a fight in the summer, and if Carlton was ready by then, that would be great...

 

...on the other hand, coming off a win, Foster would be able to main event against almost anyone in the division, and if there was an opportunity to get someone else that sort of exposure, it might be worth our while.

 

 

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James Foster

 

It was starting to piss me off, to be frank. I should have had first shot at a re-match against Boyer, which they gave away to Carlton, and then when Carlton kicked his ass, I should have been immediately offered the match. Instead we had a pissant Samoan calling him out before he'd even won the title, and Frankley and his buddies were buggering about trying to decide when Carlton would have to defend.

 

 

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Lance Decker

 

James was being treated pretty badly, in my view. There was no way he should have been usurped as the first challenger after he'd lost the title, and the matchmaking discussions after Carlton took the title from Boyer were plain demeaning to a fighter of James's stature within the industry. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd taken the opportunity to sign for ALPHA-1 when his contract came due.

 

 

 

 

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Michael Frankley

 

Fortunately, our second appearance on Network TV came off with a lot less hassle that the first. Anthony LeToussier needed a solid opponent whilst he waited for the outcome of the Light-Heavyweight title fight that was coming up a couple of months later, and with any sort of win would be positioned as the next challenger, despite the newcomers in the division – he was the only one with two wins under his belt in the past year, and even if they had both been decision victories over opponents he was favoured to beat, he did what we had asked of him.

 

Meanwhile, this time out we had nobody withdrawing from fights or getting injured, and I was hoping that as well as the main event, some of the other fights would nicely showcase some of the talent that we had brought into the organisation at that point.

 

 

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Anthony LeToussier

 

Every fight is a risk, and in taking another fight when I was probably the number one contender anyway I knew it could backfire on me, but I was confident that I would get the job done anyway.

 

 

 

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GAMMA on ECT 2: LeToussier v Heath

 

Card for picks

 

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (14-0) v Ricky Heath (14-0)

 

Co-Main

Light-Heavyweight – Derek South (14-3) v Jin Katou (17-2)

Undercard

Lightweight – Truck Gleeson (21-5-1NC) v Fiyero Lermontov (11-0)

Middleweight – Neil Napier (15-1) v Woody Fierstein (10-3)

Welterweight – Datuk Ong Ka Ting (5-1) v Delroy Rhodes (6-0)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (14-0) v Ricky Heath (14-0)

 

Co-Main

Light-Heavyweight – Derek South (14-3) v Jin Katou (17-2)

 

Undercard

Lightweight – Truck Gleeson (21-5-1NC) v Fiyero Lermontov (11-0)

Middleweight – Neil Napier (15-1) v Woody Fierstein (10-3)

Welterweight – Datuk Ong Ka Ting (5-1) v Delroy Rhodes (6-0)

[BuddyGarner]

This Diary is sooo goood.

 

Predictions:

 

Main Event

Your Readers

 

Co-Main Event

Your Readers

 

Undercard

Your Readers

[BigRedMachine]

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (14-0) v Ricky Heath (14-0)

 

Co-Main

Light-Heavyweight – Derek South (14-3) v Jin Katou (17-2)

 

Undercard

Lightweight – Truck Gleeson (21-5-1NC) v Fiyero Lermontov (11-0)

Middleweight – Neil Napier (15-1) v Woody Fierstein (10-3)

Welterweight – Datuk Ong Ka Ting (5-1) v Delroy Rhodes (6-0)

[CageRage]

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (14-0) v Ricky Heath (14-0)

 

Co-Main

Light-Heavyweight – Derek South (14-3) v Jin Katou (17-2)

 

Undercard

Lightweight – Truck Gleeson (21-5-1NC) v Fiyero Lermontov (11-0)

Middleweight – Neil Napier (15-1) v Woody Fierstein (10-3)

Welterweight – Datuk Ong Ka Ting (5-1) v Delroy Rhodes (6-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

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On a night when Anthony LeToussier once again did exactly what was asked of him in defeating Ricky Heath handily, he may well have come up against yet another obstacle in his path to a shot at the GAMMA Light-Heavyweight championship in Jin Katou, whose demolition of Derek South stamped a firm claim of his own to being the next challenger.

 

LeToussier's night went about as well as it could in the ring – he bullied Heath around in the first round, landing many more strikes than the Californian, including a nice right head kick right on the buzzer. In the second he pursued that advantage yet further, and after trading some shots that seemed to do little damage, put Heath on the mat with a big right hand. Referee Harry A. Bierce might well have stopped the fight shortly after, as LeToussier landed some nasty punches to the downed man, but before he had chance, Heath recovered sufficiently to pull LeToussier into half guard, and was able to stave off the Canadian's submission attempts over the second half of the round.

 

Le Toussier made no mistake in the third round though, hitting another beautiful right high kick that struck Heath neatly on the temple and sent him sprawling to the canvas. He managed to get several more heavy shots in to Heath's face before Bierce dived in to call a stop to proceedings at 1:07 of the 3rd round.

 

Le Toussier has a genuine claim to be facing the winner of Spencer Rubenstein and Marlon John, who meet in April, but events earlier in the night may prove his undoing, as Jin Katou brought his A-game to his first GAMMA outing, and showed American fight fans exactly the sort of caliber of fighters the Japanese MMA scene is producing. Katou has been beaten by ALPHA-1's light-heavyweight phenomenon Sho Kitabatake twice over the past year, both times by decision, but Gotham City's Derek South was nothing like a match for the Japanese tonight.

 

Katou wasted no time in delivering a fantastic right cross to complete a wonderful combination of strikes, and it sent South wobbling to the floor early in the opening stanza. The subsequent ground and pound was incidental to the stoppage, as South was in no position to continue, and Harry Bierce rightly stepped in to stop the American taking any more punishment. Despite the result in tonight's main event, Katou would almost certainly make the most worthy challenger to the Light-Heavyweight champion later this year.

 

 

On the Undercard

 

In the Lightweight division, Russian debutant Fiyero Lermontov had no cage-nerves as he swept aside veteran John Gleeson with almost contemptuous ease. Taking control of the clinch early on, Lermontov got the takedown, and although Gleeson was able to pull half-guard, the Russian had little difficulty in passing into mount, from where he set up and delivered an arm bar and Gleeson had to tap at just 1:38 of the first round.

 

Neil Napier was far too good for Woody Fierstein, taking him down against the cage early in the first round and setting up a good top position with some small strikes. Napier moved straight from half guard to mount and applied an arm triangle, then shifted to the side to force Fierstein to tap with alacrity, with 30 seconds remaining in the first. Napier was on good form in his post-fight interview, calling out Dexter Darling and threatening to “seriously kick his ass.”

 

The night started off with a resounding victory for Welterweight newcomer Datuk Ong Ka Ting, whose takedowns were far too swift for Denver's Delroy Rhodes. The first round saw Rhodes working determinedly off his back to fight off several attempts at an Arm Triangle from the Malaysian, but was straight back on the mat at the start of the second, and Ong Ka Ting switched his tactic and went for a kimura instead, which Rhodes had no answer to, tapping at 1:06 of the round.

 

Overall this was a good showcase for GAMMA, with wins for a couple of established stars and three more for newcomers to the organisation, but fight fans will be left wondering when they will start to get better value for their money, with only five fights on the card. Still, this is good progress from GAMMA, and we hope to see more of the same in the near future.

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 2 - Quick results

 

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Michael Frankley

 

All the talent in the world did us no good with Datuk Ong Ka Ting, as we found out a week later that he failed his fight night drug test, testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

 

 

 

Pick results

 

Congratulations to all pickers, as you all got the full five out of five. And thanks to BuddyGarner for the kind words.

 

Totals now stand at:

 

CageRage - 52/80

BigRedMachine - 28/41

Thesnake101 - 22/32