GAMMA - The Rise of the Juggernaut

[batsnumbereleven]

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Sean Morrison's run of underwhelming title defences has now come to an end. Not because this defence was particularly exciting, because it wasn't, it was a very poor contest, but because Bud Brockett shocked the long time champion with a deserved unanimous decision victory (49-46, 48-47, 48-47).

 

Morrison appears once again to have either underestimated his opponent or have overestimated his own skills, as Brockett controlled the fight neatly when it mattered. The fight started off as Morrison had no doubt planned it, with a successful takedown, and parity in the striking, but Brockett was able to initiate a scramble that saw both men back standing. In the second, during which the crowd actively booed the defending champion, Brockett outstruck him 54-30.

 

The middle round saw another bout of ducking and weaving and very little contact – the significant strikes counted were more-or-less even, but in the fourth Brockett persisted in attempting to take Morrison down and succeeded at the third attempt. An eventual scramble saw Morrison on top by the end of the round, but he had been controlled on his back for most of it. The final round was just as dire as the rest of the fight. Well up on the scorecards, Brockett got a takedown and controlled position for the remainder of the fight. He took the back and made several attempts to cinch in a rear naked choke, but without success, despite getting both hooks in.

 

Given Brockett's relative low profile, it isn't clear who his next defence would be against. Morrison certainly doesn't appear to deserve a re-match based on his performance here and in his most recent defences, and whilst the legend that is Sukarno demonstrated his clear superiority a couple of weeks ago, it was against a distinctly inferior opponent. Brandon Sugar may be first in line, once he recovers from his neck injury.

 

Whomever is next to challenge, GAMMA appear to have lost out on a potential bonanza pay day of having Sukarno and Morrison meet up, at least for the time being, and that isn't going to please investors or fans.

 

 

20-year-old Chinese fighter Pai Cheng put on a fine display of boxing as he landed 275 strikes on veteran Boston-based fighter Leon Banks across their fight, to take 30-27 scores on all three judges' cards. Banks tried to fight fire with fire but was singularly unable to keep up with Cheng's output, and the Chinese capped the performance with a take down in the second as well. Cheng moves to 6-0 with the win and will be looking for another name opponent next, as his striking is likely to cause most fighters a serious problem.

 

In the Middleweight division, Buddy Garner put on a ground wrestling clinic as he overpowered Dexter Darling and eventually finished him with an arm triangle at 2:39 of the second round. Garner took Darling down in both rounds, and Darling was at his limits in fighting off a series of Kimuras, Americanas, Leglocks and Triangle attempts before Garner finally secured the submission he was able to cinch in most tightly, and put the victory away. Garner will be looking to re-establish himself as one of the top Middleweights after rebounding from his GAMMA 30 loss to Patrick Thomas.

 

Josh Aldarisio showed his dominance in the stand up game against Bobby Brubaker, outstriking him 231-79 across the three rounds, and topping off the performance with a slam down in the final minute. The judges scored it 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Aldarisio, though in truth it was a fairly dull affair. The Lightweight fight between HM Menzel and Jamie Hewiit stayed standing for the full three rounds, and there was relatively little action. Menzel took the unanimous decision (30-27 twice, 29-28) on the basis of the better volume and diversity of strikes, though there was little to separate them.

 

Gregg Grable and Bobby Castillo put on an excellent bout in the opener, with the two Featherweights bringing the crowd to their feet at times with their striking. The judges awarded all three rounds to Castillo, but Grable could justifiably feel robbed, as he certainly had the better of the striking on the feet in the second and third rounds. Perhaps the judges were swayed by the ease with which Castillo shrugged him off his back in the first round, when it looked like he might be posed to attempt a choke, or with the way that Castillo finished the fight, putting Grable in big trouble with ground and pound after dropping him with a big right hand. Either way we look forward to seeing both these men fight again soon!

 

GAMMA 39 Quick Results

 

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Pick Results

 

TheSnake101 - 5/6 (41/55)

CageRage - 5/6 (66/97)

[batsnumbereleven]

I don't know a ton about GAMMA, or I'd be predicting more -- I wanted to drop in to say I love the work you're doing. From an in-game standpoint, this should've been held in Asia -- Sukarno is a huge draw (pretty much High International against anyone) there -- Teeptum probably draws best there and Hyuk Shim-Lim is probably still more over there than in the States.

 

Anyway, looking forward to the future -- some great backstage stuff, etc.

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

To be honest I wasn't looking to run any shows outside the USA at the moment (still at Low Level National), and whilst I probably would have thought about running it in Asia if I had been bigger, like the UFC do, for the purposes of the diary it wasn't something I was looking to do at this point.

 

Besides... look at that Commercial Rating, even holding it in Nevada

[batsnumbereleven]

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Lance Decker

 

And that was why we should never have put Brockett in there – clearly Sean was going to be disadvantaged by facing yet another new opponent – you could see from his previous defence that having such a short time to build his gameplan meant that he struggled in a fight where he was clearly the superior competitor. They should have pulled the card and stacked a later one to bring in more revenues.

 

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Michael Frankley

 

Lance Decker can defend Sean Morrison's performance at GAMMA 39 all he wants and blame it on lack of preparation time, but there was nobody to blame for it other than Sean himself. He'd been coasting through his previous two defences, and thought he was being given an easy opponent yet again – he badly underestimated Brockett and thought his own skills were more than enough for the task, and he treated him with disrespect by not training with full intensity for the fight.

 

In my view he got what he deserved, and GAMMA was the worse for it because it was a poor fight, and cut off the immediate matches with Sukarno or Sugar, which would have been high profile money makers for the company.

 

It was about this time that I think the board decided that we were going to have to change our strategic direction once again, and I was starting to come around to their way of thinking to some extent. We wouldn't see that come into effect until the following year though.

 

 

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Sean Morrison

 

What did they expect – again, I'd been building up to face Sugar, and we had a last minute switch of opponent. Of course I was the better fighter, I just wasn't focused enough on the day, and got caught off guard. I demanded an immediate rematch, of course!

 

 

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Bud Brockett

 

Sure I'd've given Sean a re-match straight up. I figured as such a long-term champion, GAMMA would want to see if he could win the belt back, you know, give him the added motivation of having to chase it instead of defend it.

 

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Michael Frankley

 

Morrison wasn't getting an immediate re-match after that performance. he'd have to earn it. It did free him up nicely for another opportunity though...

 

 

 

 

 

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GAMMA 40 Card for picks

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Jeff Carlton (c ) (34-7) v Tank Manu'a (19-5)

Co-main

Lightweight - Fiyero Lermontov (12-0) v Luke Hilton (9-0)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (14-4) v Fatuma Roy (20-10)

Light-Heavyweight – Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-6) v Jerry Bogdonovich (5-1)

Welterweight – Tyler Lass (5-2) v Evan Gardner (4-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Britt Dickering (2-0)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Jeff Carlton (c ) (34-7) v Tank Manu'a (19-5)

 

Co-main

Lightweight - Fiyero Lermontov (12-0) v Luke Hilton (9-0)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (14-4) v Fatuma Roy (20-10)

Light-Heavyweight – Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-6) v Jerry Bogdonovich (5-1)

Welterweight – Tyler Lass (5-2) v Evan Gardner (4-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Britt Dickering (2-0)

[CageRage]

GAMMA 40 Card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Jeff Carlton (c ) (34-7) v Tank Manu'a (19-5)

 

Co-main

Lightweight - Fiyero Lermontov (12-0) v Luke Hilton (9-0)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (14-4) v Fatuma Roy (20-10)

Light-Heavyweight – Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-6) v Jerry Bogdonovich (5-1)

Welterweight – Tyler Lass (5-2) v Evan Gardner (4-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Britt Dickering (2-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Jeff Carlton made the first defence of the GAMMA Heavyweight title successfully, but it appeared to be harder work than it should have been for the -700 favourite coming into the fight. This was yet another in a string of poor main events put on by GAMMA over recent months, and someone at the top of the organisation needs to be thinking about how to break that run before the fans lose patience with the style of fights that are being presented at the top level. On this day, it was lucky that the undercard provided some excellent recompense with exciting work and quick finishes, because the title fight was neither exciting nor tight.

 

Neither Carlton nor Tank Manu'a showed explosion or extra effort throughout the fight, but Carlton took the first three rounds fairly easily before backing off in the latter stages and standing and trading at an even pace with the challenger. Carlton's best rounds were the second and third, in which he twice lifted and slammed the big Samoan, but even though he managed to pass to mount in the second round he wasn't able to do anything further with it. A barrage of heavy punches from half-guard in the third was defended really well by Manu'a, who received 15 power punches whist on his back in that round, but survived with little difficulty.

 

The judges scored it 50-45, 50-45, 49-46, which was a fair reflection of the fight, though Manu'a seemed a match for Carlton on the feet in the latter stages.

 

 

After an excellent GAMMA debut, beating Truck Gleeson by submission, Fiyero Lermontov found Luke Hilton to be a much tougher opponent. Despite taking a knee to the face in the clinch that broke his nose, halfway through the first round, Hilton showed amazing tenacity to stand in with the Russian and absorbed a great number of strikes. The second and third rounds both saw Hilton on his back after great strikes from Lermontov, but he defended extremely well against the ground and pound, and Lermontov seemed reluctant to attempt any submissions, despite having top position for large periods of the fight. There was no doubt that the 30-27 recorded by all three judges was well-justified, and Lermontov will looks for a high calibre opponent next, whilst Hilton shouldn't lose heart after what was an excellent effort on his part, outscoring his opponent on the feet in terms of number of strikes, but lacking the explosiveness to make those punches count. Hilton breaks his two-fight winning streak, but matches up well against a number of Lightweight contenders, and we could see him against the likes of Sukarno, Brandon Sugar or Sean Morrison, depending on where the organisation wants to go with those key performers..

 

Raul Hughes must have wondered what happened to him, after two disastrous defeats in his previous two fights (against Jeff Carlton and John Rivero), but he made up for it here, knocking out GAMMA veteran Fatuma Roy in the second round. Hughes' looked excellent in the first round, scoring a hard knock down with a big left hand, but Roy was able to pull him into guard and weather the brunt of the ensuing shots until the round ended. No such luck for the Samoan in the second round though, as Hughes scored with a fantastic left cross that had Roy's eyes back in his head, and he was out without any further intervemtion required. Roy has lost his last three and could be in danger of getting cut by GAMMA in the near future, though the quality of his opponent has been high, having faced Jack Cobblepot and James Foster in that period, and that may earn him a reprieve for now.

 

Jerry Bogdonovich added to Bryan Van Den Hauwe's poor recent record by punching him out in the second minute of their Light-Heavyweight clash. Bogdonovich scored with a big right hand that put Van Den Hauwe down hard, and followed it up with such brutal hammerfists that referee Stanley Wright jumped in to stop it quickly. Bogdonovich improves to 6-1.

 

At Welterweight, Evan Gardner handed Tyler Lass his third straight defeat. Garner put Lass down with a fantastic right cross in the first that broke Lass's nose, but was unable to put him away with ground and pound. In the second round he made up for it, though, with a flurry of punches that concluded with a crunching straight right that knocked Lass out, putting Gardner back on track after his close decision loss to Darin Blood back in January.

 

To open things up, Mexican Blas Suarez made everyone stand up and take notice as he put aside Britt Dickering in 1:46 of the first round. Wrestling the Raleigh, North Carolina native down to the ground at his second attempt, Suarez unloaded with heavy hands and Kyle Crisp was forced to step in.

 

 

 

 

GAMMA 40 Quick Results

 

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Pick results

 

 

CageRage - 6/6 (72/103)

TheSnake101 - 4/6 (45/61)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Lance Decker

 

Fights like Carlton versus Manu'a were exactly why James Foster should have been in there. You could see that Carlton basically phoned it in after the first three rounds when he figured he was far enough in front on the scorecards, and that never makes for a good fight.

 

 

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Jeff Carlton

 

I resent any implication I wuz phonin' it in. Sure, I wasn't going quite as hard at him in the last round, but hell I'd bin fightin' for 20 minutes by then, and it wuz hard work!

 

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Tank Manu'a

 

I felt I was still in it for most of the fight, even getting' taken down twice. There was no way he was gonna finish me, and if anyone reckons I can't fight 25 minutes then they're gonna get a real surprise.

 

 

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Michael Frankley

Tank outscored Jeff in the final two rounds, but he would have had to do much more to take the fight, and he never looked close to doing it – no takedown attempts, and none of his big shots landed, so Jeff was always in control, and got the scores he deserved from the judges, even if it wasn't the most exciting encounter we've seen.

 

Criticism of the excitement provided by our recent main events was fair enough, but criticism of the quality wasn't – we'd done our best to put the best fighters out there we could, the ones that the public expected to see in main events, and generally, fights that people said they wanted to see. Sure we had to mix a few around, and injuries and contracts have never helped with that, but there was plenty of enthusiasm in the fan base, and tickets were really starting to take off, wherever we staged events.

 

Things got even more tense when Norbert Vinkus was forced to pull out of his match at GAMMA 41 against Randall Donnelly with an arm injury. There really was nobody else who I could bring in, either to fight Randall or as a new match, just on seven days notice, so we had to try and run the event with five fights. Instead we re-arranged things for Norbert to fight on a later card, and found Randall his own different opponent at GAMMA 45.

 

 

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GAMMA 41 Card for picks

 

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (15-0) v Jin Katou (18-2)

 

Co-main

Middleweight – Neil Napier (16-1) v Dwayne Alleyne (6-1)

Undercard

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-9) v Seth O'Breen (14-0)

Welterweight – Diego Arteta (2-0) v Louis De La Torre (3-0)

Featherweight – Foggy Lee (7-1) v Manish Khan (8-2)

[CageRage]

GAMMA 41 Card for picks

 

Main Event

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (15-0) v Jin Katou (18-2)

 

Co-main

Middleweight – Neil Napier (16-1) v Dwayne Alleyne (6-1)

 

Undercard

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-9) v Seth O'Breen (14-0)

Welterweight – Diego Arteta (2-0) v Louis De La Torre (3-0)

Featherweight – Foggy Lee (7-1) v Manish Khan (8-2)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Anthony LeToussier and Jin Katou finally proved that GAMMA main events don't have to be dull as ditchwater, as they pulled out an exciting an entertaining elimination battle for the Light-Heavyweight contendership. Katou's heavy striking was the key to his victory, but his naivety in trying to finish the fight with a guillotine, not once but twice, was exposed, and could potentially have cost him the shot.

The fight started with LeToussier getting the better of the striking until a big right hook from Katou broke his nose. Although only a total of 20 strikes landed in the rounded, the fans loved it and gave the two fighters a big cheer as they went back to their respective corners.

 

Katou landed his next big haymaker in the second, a right hook that staggered LeToussier, but by dragging him down into a guillotine, and then not securing it, the Japanese fighter found himself controlled against the ground for the remainder of the round, with LeToussier gaining time to recover his wits and landing some good shoulder smashes.

 

The third round again saw LeToussier on his back, put down by a right hook, and Katou secured top position instantly. The Canadian's defensive ground positioning was good though, and several times when Katou attempted to improve his position he awa able to scramble and reduce the control instead, eventually making it back to his feet. The fourth round was almost an exact replica of the second – Katou dazed LeToussier with a right cross and again attempted the guillotine, only to lose his grip and end up under a smothering half guard for the remainder of the round.

 

The end came when Katou landed a heavy right hook just as LeToussier was landing a left roundhouse kick to the body. A second vicious right hand from Katou was enough to put LeToussier out of his misery as he was off balance. This clearly cemented Jin Katou as the next contender for Marlon John's Light-Heavyweight championship, whilst showing that LeToussier has a lot of fight left in him.

 

 

 

In the co-main, there was little to separate Middleweights Neil Napier and Dwayne Alleyne, with veteran Napier perhaps just managing to get a little more force into one or two of his best punches. Napier got a good takedown in the second and looked to improve position, but had only just made it into mount when the end of the round halted things. The third round was characterised by Alleyne's success in preventing any further takedowns from Napier, and probably outstriking his more experienced opponent, but it looked as though it was too little, too late for the 24-year-old to take the fight. Napier took the unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), and Alleyne continued his tendency of alternating victories and defeats.

 

Highly touted Irishman Seth O'Breen found Bruce Steven very persistent with his takedowns in their fight, but after a couple of failed attempts Steven was able to get a trip and end the first round on top. The pattern was repeated in the second, but this time it was O'Breen who was repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to get the fight to the mat, and Steven also wound up with the greater volume of strikes. O'Breen finally got his trip takedown in the third, after stuffing a couple of Steve's attempts, but was able to do little with it, and a close fight ended with the two men grinding up against the cage. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 to O'Breen, but it could have gone either way.

 

At Welterweight, two undefeated youngsters went at it, but Louis De La Torre proved the better on the night as he took the fight to the ground and pounded out Diego Arteta for the KO win, whilst in an entertaining opener, Manish Khan was lucky to come away with a split-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Foggy Lee. Khan had the better of the first round, which stayed on the feet, but was taken down towards the end of the second, and Lee showed some slick passing and was in mount at the buzzer, then in the third was taken down again, and though Lee rocked him a couple of times Khan was able to cover up well. Blurcat.com scored the fight 29-28 to Lee.

 

 

GAMMA 41 Quick results

 

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Pick results

 

CageRage - 3/5 (75/108)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Michael Frankley

 

It was a little bit of a relief that Anthony and Jin put on a good fight, as some of the media were starting to get a bit antsy about the lack of entertainment that the main events we'd put on were providing, but there wasn't much we could have done about it anyway – we were aiming to put on main events that people would want to see, in terms of the two fighters getting into the cage, rather than worrying too much about whether they matched up stylistically.

 

 

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Anthony LeToussier

 

I had no complaints after the fight – Jin deserved to be next in line for a title chance as he'd proved that he was ready for it. It wasn't like he was coming in from another company and getting a shot straightaway.

 

 

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Lance Decker

 

After three straight wins in GAMMA, I would have expected LeToussier to have been given a title shot anyway. He was 15-0 and was the obvious contender, but Frankley didn't see it that way, and built the fight with Katou up as an eliminator, rather than putting them into title fights in turn, which I thought would have much better served our needs. Katou had lost twice in ALPHA-1 recently as well, trying to take their Light-Heavyweight title. I was very wary of putting him up against our best, when if he came out with our title it made our guys look weak by comparison with the Japanese guys.

 

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Michael Frankley

 

Who better to prove himself against? And although Anthony lost, he was still a viable future title contender if he could win one or two more fights in the interim. It wasn't as though we had ditched him in favor of Jin Katou, it was simply that we needed a way to determine who would get the first shot at Marlon. Kitabatake was an absolute hotshot over in ALPHA-1, and I didn't think that losing to him was much of a blotch on Katou's record.

 

 

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Marlon John

 

To me, Jin was always gonna be more dangerous. Both men are real top level fighters, but Anthony really loved his kicking, man, and I allus knew he would give me opportunities to take him down when he opened up. Katou didn't focus on that much. He was just as dangerous in other areas – his takedown defence was stronger and he'd give me fewer chances to beat him.

 

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Michael Frankley

 

GAMMA 42 was a chance for us to see whether John Rivero had what it takes at Heavyweight to be a real contender. He'd already shocked a lot of people with his win over Raul Hughes, but Foster was a completely different type of fighter, and he matched up a lot more closely with Rivero's own grappling skills that either way the winner of the fight was in a good position to be looking at a title chance very soon. Of course, Foster didn't exactly see it like that.

 

 

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James Foster

 

So, I'd beaten Fatuma and I thought that would have been enough for them to put me straight back into the title picture, even if it was Carlton who was now champ and not Boyer. I'd had the nod from Decker that I was still considered the go-to guy, but it seems that Frankley wasn't as keen on me.

 

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Lance Decker

 

James is exaggerating a little, maybe. I'd told him that he was still our number one draw, which was utterly true, but I had no say by that point over who he would fight or whether he fought for the title – the board, theoretically, still made that decision, though they'd never yet rejected the fights put forward by the chief matchmaker, which was Frankley – and if he didn't win other fights he had made in the meantime, he wasn't going to get back into contention however much I might think that he deserved it for his long and dedicated service to the company OR that it would make GAMMA the most money.

 

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James Foster

 

And now they had me filling in, whilst Carlton sat and waited. They put me up against Rivero, which was a joke to start with. The guy had been a Light-Heavyweight for three years and had missed weight in about half his fights – about the only thing I agreed with Frankley on was that he should have to fight at Heavyweight instead – but he had no commitment to cutting enough weight then, and even after beating Hughes he should never even have been given the chance to get in the same cage as me.

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Michael Frankley

 

Foster was pretty distainful towards the threat that Rivero posed him, but nevertheless he agreed to the fight.

 

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Lance Decker

 

The undercard looked pretty poor to me. Only one fight featured two guys who had been with GAMMA any length of time, and Patinkin and Watson were both coming off losses, which pushed their credentials right down the list.

 

 

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Card for picks

 

GAMMA 42

 

Main Event

Heavyweight – James Foster (33-5-1) v John Rivero (13-3)

 

Co-main

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (17-2) v Houston George (2-0)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Chuck Dooley (4-1) v Sam Hoynes (2-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (14-3) v Mike Watson (10-1)

Featherweight – Brian Claremont (5-1) v Dule Bayliffe (1-0)

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro (2-1) v Rogelio Quesada (3-0)

[CageRage]

Card for picks

 

GAMMA 42

 

Main Event

Heavyweight – James Foster (33-5-1) v John Rivero (13-3)

 

Co-main

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (17-2) v Houston George (2-0)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Chuck Dooley (4-1) v Sam Hoynes (2-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (14-3) v Mike Watson (10-1)

Featherweight – Brian Claremont (5-1) v Dule Bayliffe (1-0)

Lightweight – Goncalves Cassaro (2-1) v Rogelio Quesada (3-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

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After several years of wallowing around at Light-Heavyweight and struggling to make weight, John Rivero showed tonight that at Heavyweight he is a serious contender for a title shot, and he showed the kind of ruthless instincts needed at the highest level in a first round submission victory over former GAMMA Heavyweight champion James Foster.

 

Initially struggling to find his range, Foster was able to be pulled into the clinch by Rivero and was muscled up against the cage, but the former champ didn't allow himself to be overpowered and got himself in control of the grappling, taking Rivero to the mat, where the Puerto Rican was able to pull guard. Looking to demonstrate his reputation as “The King of Ground and Pound”, Foster looked to get working with some small shots to Rivero, but Rivero was able to weather them fairly easily.

 

At the first opportunity, Rivero showed his threat off his back, as he looked to control an arm, and with it secured tightly, applied an armbar. Foster had no hesitation in tapping out instantly, to end the fight at just 2:21. Rivero was naturally delighted by the result, over such a legendary name in the sport, but refused to be drawn on whether this would mean a GAMMA Heavyweight Title fight next time out.

 

Foster was much more subdued, as one would expect, and swore to come back a much better and more prepared fighter next time around, though here at Blurcat we would not be surprised if the former champion takes some time off to reconsider whether he still wants to fight in GAMMA. Given the recent wrangles over his contract terms and the way that Foster has appeared to have fallen down the GAMMA pecking order, it might be time for him to move on and take the benefit of his experience elsewhere. Failing that, a proper break from MMA could be on the cards so that he can come back revitalised ready for another crack at the best Heavyweights around in due course.

 

At 33, he might even decide to call time on what has been an illustrious career that has reached the heights of MMA. Does Foster have anything left to prove, to himself or anyone else?

 

At Welterweight, Rufus Stephens showed his clear superiority over Houston George controlling large parts of the fight up against the cage in something of a dour struggle. In the third, Stephens also managed a takedown, and kept his opponent pinned to the floor for the remainder of the contest, and quite rightly took a 30-27 scorecard from all three judges.

 

Unlike the opening bout, the Heavyweight fight between Chuck Dooley and Sam Hoynes was not appreciated by the crowd at all, despite both men scoring with more strikes than the two Lightweights managed in total. The first two rounds were evenly split, with Hoynes getting the better of the first with greater volume of strikes and Dooley the second with some solid takedown defence that saw Hoynes go 0/4 in attempts during the round. The third was clearly Hoynes' as he managed to complete the takedown he was looking for, and threatened Dooley with several different submission attempts. A late scramble saw both men back to their feet, and the round ended with Dooley grinding Hoynes up against the cage. Hoynes took a split decision 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.

 

Junior Patinkin and Mike Watson both came into GAMMA 42 with something to prove after defeats in their most recent respective fights. Patinkin had an edge in the striking, but in the first and third rounds opted to pull Watson to the ground and into guard, for some reason. Patinkin did manage to complete a sweep a couple of time to get into top position, but Watson scrambled much better and was able to get back to his feet without suffering any damage at all. By the third round, Watson had clearly got the tactic scouted, and Patinkin was unable to sweep him at all, effectively conceding top position for the remainder of the round. The scoring in this one was particularly curious, with two judges giving 30-27 to Patinkin, and the third 30-27 to Watson. There was no way that either fighter won all three rounds though, with Patinkin controlling the first fairly comfortably, and Watson certainly having the better of the third. Blurcat.com scored in 29-28 Patinkin, so at least we would say that the right man got the decision, even if it was reached in unorthodox fashion.

 

Brian Claremont showed off his powerful striking with a first round stoppage of Memphis, Tennessee's Dule Bayliffe at 145lbs, a clean right hand putting Bayliffe down and a barrage of punches on the ground forcing Christian Maugham to intervene at 2:55. Claremont took home substantial bonuses for KO of the Night and Fight of the Night as a result. The Lightweight opener was something of a conundrum, with the crowd well into the fight despite the lack of action – there were no takedown attempts in the first two rounds, and only 62 strikes landed across the fight. Rogelio Quesada clearly took the third round, taking Goncalves Cassaro down twice and threatening with submission attempts, but two of the judges gave Cassaro the verdict on the basis of his crisper striking in the first two rounds, and he took a split decision win (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) that Blurcat felt should have gone the other way.

 

 

GAMMA 42 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%2042%20results.png

 

 

Pick Results

 

CageRage - 2/6 (77/114)

[batsnumbereleven]

<p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MichaelFrankley.gif</span><p> </p><p>

<strong>Michael Frankley</strong></p><p><strong>

</strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

The crowd in El Paso was a weird one – they were loving the Lightweights, who I thought did very little in the way of entertaining, and were happy enough with the co-headliner, but absolutely hated the Heavyweight contest, which I felt was much more exciting, had plenty of striking and grappling alike and felt like a proper fight. There's no accounting for taste, I suppose, but it just goes to show how difficult it is to get a handle on what's going to get the fans cheering, and what sort of fights they want to see. It's something that we never stop working on, even if there's no definitive solution!</p><p> </p><p>

The main event basically showed me that James Foster was a spent force as far as the very top of MMA was concerned, but that he still had a great deal of value to GAMMA as a gatekeeper for the top of the Heavyweight division. Rivero found a way to get by him and would be deserving of a title shot if the timing worked out, but I felt this proved that I had been right all along not to give Foster a re-match with Tim Boyer when he lost the title.</p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>

<span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/JamesFoster.gif</span></p><p> </p><p>

<strong>James Foster</strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

I felt like such a mug for accepting the fight in the first place. But then I went and lost concentration and let an arm get taken. I've been doing this for nearly fifteen years and I don't think I've been caught out in such a completely rookie way for the last fourteen of those. I demanded an immediate re-match, but of course Frankley was having none of it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MichaelFrankley.gif</span><p> </p><p>

<strong>Michael Frankley</strong></p><p><strong>

</strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

I don't know why Foster thought he was due a re-match at all – he'd just been decisively beaten and the guy he lost to was on an upward trajectory. He was more likely to get his long-awaited re-match with Boyer than he was with Rivero at that point, but he seemed to think that he was still next in line for a title shot despite losing two of his last three.</p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>

<span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/LanceDecker.gif</span></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

Lance Decker</strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

Of course, by then the board were completely behind Frankley. He'd made the company a ton of money in the first two years and his decisions all seemed to be going well. They were distracted as well, because this was when Fezzik's contract with ALPHA-1 came due, and they put all of their efforts into signing him away.</p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>

<span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MarkWallace.gif</span></p><p> </p><p>

<strong>Mark Wallace</strong></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>

Hassan Fezzik was the king of kings, the be all and end all of MMA, according to the media. Foster found that one real hard to stomach, because he always thought of himself as the king of MMA, especially in the Heavyweight division. There wasn't even a moment's hesitation in pursuing contract talks. There was big money to be made in getting Fezzik over to America.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

<em>Over in Japan, it seemed that ALPHA-1 bosses had also realised that the time was coming where they might lose their #1 star and needed to start looking at potential replacements. And so the merry-go-round with the contract of Aleksander Ivanov kept moving – having originally extended his deal with SIGMA for another 18 months, he had also signed up to fight for new Russian promotion TOP, and at the start of October 1999 defended their Heavyweight crown successfully against another SIGMA stalwart Lefter Oktay. He was then immediately stripped of the belt as he signed for ALPHA-1 the same day.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

</p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>

<span>http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Thomas%20v%20Ballard.jpg</span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

</p><p><strong>

GAMMA on ECT5 Card for picks</strong></p><p> </p><p>

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

</strong>Middleweight – Patrick Thomas (17-4) v Ashley Ballard (11-2)</p><p>

</p><p><strong>

Co-headline</strong></p><p>

Light-Heavyweight – Spencer Rubenstein (14-5) v Christian Mountfield (13-4)</p><p> </p><p>

<span style="text-decoration:underline;">Undercard</span></p><p>

Middleweight – Adam White (9-0) v Danny Akabaro (2-0)</p><p>

Heavyweight – Tim Boyer (25-4-2) v Gary Sampson (16-7)</p><p>

Featherweight – Lito Alcala (3-0) v Heiko Pander (3-0)</p>

[CageRage]

GAMMA on ECT5 Card for picks

 

Main Event

Middleweight – Patrick Thomas (17-4) v Ashley Ballard (11-2)

 

Co-headline

Light-Heavyweight – Spencer Rubenstein (14-5) v Christian Mountfield (13-4)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Adam White (9-0) v Danny Akabaro (2-0)

Heavyweight – Tim Boyer (25-4-2) v Gary Sampson (16-7)

Featherweight – Lito Alcala (3-0) v Heiko Pander (3-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Thomas%20makes%20compelling%20case.jpg

 

 

 

Patrick Thomas used his defeat of Ashley Ballard tonight to send out a statement to the rest of the Middleweight division that he is still relevant and still dangerous. The Shreeveport, Louisiana native showed no ill effects from his controversial GAMMA 38 split-decision reversal against Petey Mack, and put on a display that must have put the roster on notice.

 

After a first round of feeling out, in which both fighters demonstrated some creative striking, Thomas took advantage of a wild swing from Ballard to land a couple of right jabs and a massive left hook to the jaw that wobbled Ballard and sent him to the mat. Immediately securing mount on his dazed opponent, Thomas pounded away and Harry Bierce came close to stopping the fight before Ballard showed enough recovery to turn and give up his back instead. Thomas got hooks in and attempted to finish with a Rear Naked Choke, but Ballard defended against it well and when Thomas went back to attack with his hands, Ballard held on through to the end of the round, though there was a strange stand-up by Bierce with two seconds remaining.

 

Thomas was able to finish things cleanly in the third round though. Again setting up the big left hand with two right jabs, he backed Ballard up with a couple of powerful shots, then scored with a huge left hook that turned the lights out on his opponent. Both men picked up a generous $75,000 bonus for Fight of the Night. Already ranked GAMMA's #4 Middleweight prior to this victory, Thomas must be in contention for an eliminator fight next time out, against an opponent like Neil Napier or Adam White,, with the winner of next month's title fight as the prize.

 

 

Spencer Rubenstein bounced back from losing the GAMMA Light-Heavyweight title to Marlon John with a unanimous decision victory over Michigan's Christian Mountfield. At times this dragged nastily, with periods where both men were content to work up against the cage with close-quarters grappling and dirty boxing, but in between times both men showcased some clever footwork and striking to keep the crowd interested. The third round saw Mountfield successfully take Rubenstein down at the second attempt, but he was unable to do anything with top position bar smother the former champ, and all three judges viewed it as insufficient to win the round, with Rubenstein coming out ahead 30-27 on all three scorecards. Rubenstein called out the impressive Jin Katou in his post-match interview, but Katou is likely to be a challenger for the title soon, so it's unlikely that the match-up will be made in the near future.

 

In an entertaining Middleweight contest, Adam White proved to be the better of Danny Akabaro on both feet and mat, outstriking the British-based Nigerian 2-to-1 across the three rounds, and making the most of a good slam takedown in the second, launching into some impressive ground and pound that saw referee Roger Bennett looking very closely at Akabaro at times to see if he was still fighting back. Akabaro survived though, and White had to be content with taking a unanimous decision victory (29-28 on all three cards)

 

Gary Sampson fell to his third straight defeat in a rather tepid effort against former GAMMA Heavyweight champion Tim Boyer. Sampson was unable to land a single blow in the first round, nor did he attempt a takedown, leaving fans in some doubt whether he wanted to be in the cage at all. Boyer kept him at distance with some good jabs and long kicks. Boyer put everyone out of their misery midway through the second, with a tight muay thai clinch enabling him to hit a powerful right knee to Sampson's jaw, which knocked him clean out. Boyer gets back on the winning track once more after dropping the title to Jeff Carlton back in January at GAMMA 34.

 

In the battle of the young undefeated Featherweights, Philippino Lito Alcala came out on top, with his takedowns and control proving vital in overcoming Heiko Pander's more impressive striking. With takedowns in both the first two rounds and threats of finishing via Kimura, Alcala deserved the 29-28 verdict on all three cards, and indicated a desire to fight Britain's Manish Khan in his next bout.

 

GAMMA on ECT 5 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%20on%20ECT%205%20results.png

 

 

Pick results

 

CageRage - 3/5 (80/119)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MichaelFrankley.gif

 

Michael Frankley

 

Spencer must have known that he wasn't going to get to fight Katou next, because barely a week after calling him out he was in touch with the office to say that he was taking an indefinite break from MMA. At 29 this was a bit of a surprise, but also having lost the title, I guess he felt it was an appropriate time to take stock of his career and decide what he wanted to do next. He still had 2 years on his contract, so I wasn't particularly worried – either he would come back and fight for GAMMA when he was ready, or he would see out his contract, and if he saw out his contract it would be tough getting back in at the top level.

 

The GAMMA 43 headliner Humphreys against Chambers was one of those fights that just sold itself. Both guys were loud-mouthed trash-talkers, but both were real top-level fighters as well, who could back up their words with what they did in the cage. Whether they could do that against one another remained to be seen, but we expected it would be a fun ride one way or another. Having the title on the line was just the icing on the cake, because I don't think Chambers matched up very well against Regueiro, so this made much more sense for him to get the opportunity he was begging for.

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/NathanChambers-1.gif

 

Nathan Chambers

 

Sure'z hell it was! This wuz the big time and I wasn't gonna let the chance slip away. That jackass Humphreys reckoned he wuz da big man after beatin' Regueiro, an' now he hadda show me some respect as well. Two decisions in a row wasn't fright'ning me at all.

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/JackHumphreys.gif

 

Jack Humphreys

 

I know I've a tendency to say things like I see 'em, but Chambers was always a loud-mouthed asshole. To be fair, he'd earned the right to a shot, 'cos he'd beaten most everyone put up against him, but I was a better wrestler than him and a better striker, and there was no way that he was going to be able to beat me. I predicted that I'd win by 2nd round KO, but that was mainly just to shut him up about what he'd done and what he reckoned he deserved.

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Humphreys%20v%20Chambers.jpg

 

 

GAMMA 43 card for picks

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) (24-6) v Nathan Chambers (18-1)

 

Co-main

Light-Heavyweight – Toby Sorkin (4-0) v Hyun-Shik Lim (11-1)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Buddy Garner (14-1) v Kadonomaro Deguchi (3-0)

Lightweight – Gregory O'Hara (2-0) v Tarcisio Dantas (3-0)

Heavyweight – Jutaro Honma (1-1) v Giovanni de Matos (1-1)

Featherweight – Hetcher Durante (3-0) v Duey Rickert (6-2)

[CageRage]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) (24-6) v Nathan Chambers (18-1)

 

Co-main

Light-Heavyweight – Toby Sorkin (4-0) v Hyun-Shik Lim (11-1)

 

Undercard

Middleweight – Buddy Garner (14-1) v Kadonomaro Deguchi (3-0)

Lightweight – Gregory O'Hara (2-0) v Tarcisio Dantas (3-0)

Heavyweight – Jutaro Honma (1-1) v Giovanni de Matos (1-1)

Featherweight – Hetcher Durante (3-0) v Duey Rickert (6-2)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Humphreys%20Downs%20Chambers.jpg

GAMMA looks to be back on track, as Jack Humphreys ended the battle of the big mouths in the fourth round with a stunning right hook that turned Nathan Chambers' lights out and saw him retain his GAMMA Welterweight championship.

 

Despite there being long periods when the fight involved the two combatants grinding up against the fence and grappling, and dirty boxing, with referee Kyle Crisp twice having to bring the fighters back to center cage to get some action going, the two men thrilled the fans with some awesome striking and some entertaining scrambling on the floor.

 

Humphreys was largely in control of the fight from the first round, taking Chambers down and forcing him to cover up to defend against the ground strikes, but Chambers eventually made it back to his feet. The second round was dominated by close-quarters grappling and dirty boxing, but neither man had a decisive advantage, and the dominant position changed regularly. The third seemed to be headed in similar fashion until Humphreys broke free then stepped in with two left hands and a vicious right cross that put Chambers on his back. Humphreys hammered away with punches, but Chambers was able to cover up and survive the remaining 30 seconds of the round without Crisp looking likely to step in.

 

The end came via Humphreys' big right hand just 23 seconds into the fourth, and with this win Humphreys took his third straight victory, and looks set for a re-match with former champion Julio Regueiro next time out, subject to the Spaniard keeping his own position. Chambers shouldn't be disheartened by the loss, and here at Blurcat.com we don't think it will make much of a dent in his seemingly unending depths of self-confidence, but this wasn't the best match-up for him, and he may well find that he gets another chance down the road against an opponent more suited to his strengths.

 

 

A great battle in the co-headlining spot was rather spoiled by a judging decision straight out of the blue that gave Korean Hyun-Shik Lim a split decision verdict over Toby Sorkin by a score of 30-27, 29-28, 28-29. Whilst the first round was a very tight striking battle that could have been a warded to either man, the second and the third were highlighted by takedowns from Sorkin that saw him control large portions of the rounds, and although Lim was able to fight off a number of submission attempts from Sorkin, there was little doubt that he had come off the worst in both those rounds. Sorkin was uncharacteristically phlegmatic about the decision afterwards, but Blurcat.com would be surprised if GAMMA doesn't largely ignore the result and continue to give Sorkin a decent standard of opponent going forwards, as there was little that he did wrong here. We scored the contest 30-28 to Sorkin

 

Floridian Buddy Garner's good run in GAMMA appears to have come to a screeching halt as he suffered his second reverse in the last three fights last night, with Japanese wrestler Kadonomaro Deguchi taking a deserved victory via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29). A close first round saw Deguchi the more active striker, and it is likely there that the fight was decided. The second saw Garner get a takedown with Deguchi backed up against he cage, but despite a number of attempts to secure leglocks and armbars, Deguchi was able to successfully fight him off and survive to the end of the round. In the third it was Deguchi who was able to get the fight to the mat first, and was able to control things from there, remaining in top position through to the end of the fight despite a number of scramble attempts from Garner. Garner is thought to be considering a return to the wrestling ring with INSPIRE after this latest reverse but indicated that he would take some time to make a careful decision before quitting the cage.

 

At Lightweight, Tarcisio Dantas and Gregory O'Hara put on an interesting contest, following on from their respective wins against established GAMMA fighters last time out, but Dantas was the clear winner, successfully taking O'Hara down in the first round and knocking him down in the second with a wicked right uppercut, but on both occasions ran out of time on the ground to secure a finish. O'Hara did well to scramble and reverse the position in the first round, but had to hang on rather more in the second. The third was more cagey stuff from both fighters, with few strikes actually hitting their mark. The judges gave it 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

 

Jutaro Honma got the better of Giovanni de Matos in their Heavyweight bout, with generally the better movement and crisper striking, but not before he survived a scare in the second round. Evading a big right hand from Honma, de Matos scored with a left jab and a stiff head kick that put Honma on the mat, and allowed de Matos to easily gain side control. Honma was able to defend well against the Brazilian's ground and pound though, and countered his attempts to make mount relatively comfortably. Honma took the unanimous decision 29-28 from all three judges.

 

A very close Featherweight contest opened up the evening's entertainment, with Cleveland's Hetcher Durante edging out a split decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) over Englishman Duey Rickert, and advancing his unbeaten record for a fourth fight. Despite the disparity between the scorecards, there is no criticism of the judging, as all three of the rounds could have gone to either fighter, in an entertaining striking battle.

 

GAMMA 43 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%2043%20results.png

 

 

Pick Results

 

CageRage - 2/6 (82/125)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Giovanni%20de%20Matos.gif

 

Giovanni de Matos

 

I had no excuses, I was just outwrestled by the better wrestler, and I knew it. It was an area that I knew I would have to work on going forward if I was to be one of GAMMA's top Heavyweights, especially with rumours of new signings coming into the company again.

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/JackHumphreys.gif

 

Jack Humphreys

 

A knockout I predicted, and a knockout I delivered, even if it wasn't in the second round. I didn't think it was the prettiest of fights with all the grappling, but the fans seemed to absolutely love it, even more so when I put the asshole on his ass.

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/NathanChambers-1.gif

Nathan Chambers

 

I obviously wasn't getting' the right trainin' at Bear Pit, so ah quit 'em.

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MichaelFrankley.gif

 

Michael Frankley

 

We couldn't really lose here – either man winning gave us a guy who drew the crowds at Welterweight, so we were going to be happy whatever the outcome. It was nice to get a clean finish though, as there weren't any others on the night, and both the top two fights really seemed to get the fans on their feet, which was nice to see given the criticism we'd been receiving in some quarters for the lack of entertainment at the top of the card.

 

With two fighters failing drug tests at ALPHA-1's latest event we waited with bated breath for the results to come back from GAMMA 43, and were grateful to see that they were all clean.

 

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Lance Decker

 

It was round about this time that I started getting word that the Board as a whole weren't entirely happy with the company's performance. I could have told Frankley that it was clear that making money wasn't the be all and end all of running an MMA company, and that he needed to make the company progress and bring in new audiences, but in November 1999, after nearly two years of Frankley being in charge, Blurcat.com were still ranking GAMMA as the 2nd Best in the World, falling further and further behind ALPHA-1, and still ranked as “Low Level National”, not the “International” standing that the board had aspirations towards.

 

I didn't expect to be the one taking the fall for the lack of progress though, but it seemed that they felt I was a negative influence on GAMMA, not backing Frankley enough.

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/MichaelFrankley.gif

 

Michael Frankley

 

GAMMA 44 was a bit of an odd card once you got past the Title match. Brandon Sugar was now available to fight, but there wasn't really anyone in the top echelon that was also ready, with Morrison, Sukarno and the new champion having all fought so recently. Cabral was about the only guy who looked willing to take on someone of Sugar's caliber, and to be fair, following two good wins over GAMMA Lightweight stalwarts he deserved a jump in class to see if he was going to be one of our future stars. I wasn't sure if Sugar was a step too far, too soon though.

 

Villar and Sarkisian were basically here just to keep them busy, as both were potential future Championship contenders, but at a moment when there wasn't an obvious opportunity for them to be fighting for the title. There were others higher in the pecking order at Light-Heavyweight, and Sarkisian still needed to win the fans over at Heavyweight, despite his obvious ability.

 

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Dean%20v%20Mack.jpg

 

 

GAMMA 44 Card for Picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Middleweight Championship

Matthew Dean (c ) (33-5) v Petey Mack (12-2)

Co-main

Lightweight – Manoel Cabral (5-0) v Brandon Sugar (25-4)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar (25-2) v Mark Cohen (35-8-1)

Heavyweight – Armen Sarkisian (25-3) v Tony McCall (33-11)

Welterweight – Dana Delaney (8-3-1NC) v David Allen (14-3)

Featherweight – Joshua Goldberg (1-0) v Jefferson Mndawe (2-0)

[CageRage]

Main Event

GAMMA Middleweight Championship

Matthew Dean (c ) (33-5) v Petey Mack (12-2)

 

Co-main

Lightweight – Manoel Cabral (5-0) v Brandon Sugar (25-4)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Affonso Villar (25-2) v Mark Cohen (35-8-1)

Heavyweight – Armen Sarkisian (25-3) v Tony McCall (33-11)

Welterweight – Dana Delaney (8-3-1NC) v David Allen (14-3)

Featherweight – Joshua Goldberg (1-0) v Jefferson Mndawe (2-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

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The end of Matthew Dean's GAMMA Middleweight Title reign came with a little more controversy than the GAMMA veteran probably deserved, despite the efforts of Petey Mack in taking the title away from him. A closely fought contest with good striking battles throughout was difficult to score, but any scores that demonstrated how close it was would have been acceptable. Two of the judges saw it that was as well, both scoring the fight 48-47 to Mack, but the third judge scored the fight 50-45 to Dean, which was a staggering decision. Blurcat.com scored the contest 48-47 to Dean, but would not argue with the same score the other way.

 

The first two rounds showcased the striking skills of both men, with Mack perhaps just slightly having the edge, but with little to choose between them. The first takedown attempts occurred in the third, with Mack failing to wrestle the Champion down from the clinch, and had to settle for some grappling up against the fence, which Dean probably got as much joy out of as Mack did. The fourth round was characterised by some grappling up against he cage from both men, with quick switches and some dirty boxing interspersed with plenty of action to keep Kyle Crisp on his toes, and right at the end of the round Mack successfully wrestled Dean to the ground. Dean tried to lock up an arm from the bottom, but wasn't able to secure it, but the round ended before any further action could take place.

 

The final round remained on the feet, and both fighters looked much more weary. The action largely took place up against the fence, and Crisp had to intervene a couple of times to get the action re-started, but neither man showed any sort of dominant advantage, and it was left to the judges to render their decision. Dean certainly doesn't lose a lot from this defeat, and there is an argument for a re-match if no contender is immediately available for Mack, but Dean may feel the need for another fight in the interim in order to re-establish himself. GAMMA management have tended to go that way of late, rather than booking re-matches.

 

 

Brandon Sugar's potential lucrative fights with the likes of Sean Morrison and Sukarno took a big hit this evening, as he failed to overcome Brazilian youngster Manoel Cabral in the co-headliner. In what was a close striking battle for the most part, with neither man having a distinct advantage, the judges were likely more impressed with Cabral's willingness to take the fight to the mat, with the less experienced man hitting on all three of his takedown attempts, whilst Sugar didn't try at all. Once on the ground, Cabral seemed to be able to do little more than maintain control, but he did at least show his dominance, and prevented Sugar from getting back to full guard in a number of ground position battles throughout the fight.

 

The closest we came to a finish of an enthralling contest that rightfully took Fight of the Night honors, was in the third, as Sugar grabbed a guillotine as Cabral completed his takedown. Sugar has finished a number of previous opponents in that fashion, but Cabral was able to pull his head free on this occasion, and Sugar was once again unable to successfully escape from bottom position. All three judges scored the contest 29-28 in Cabral's favor, which was a fair reflection of the fight. Sugar will need to re-establish himself before he gets a big fight now, whilst Cabral could be a good shout for replacing Sugar if the right fight comes along.

 

Potential Light-Heavyweight contender Affonso Villar escaped his fight with Mark Cohen by the skin of his teeth and only thanks to some generosity on the part of the judges scoring the contest. Seemingly determined to win the fight from bottom position, Villar countered Cohen's early attempts to wrestle him up against the cage by pulling guard. From there, however, he was unable to sweep the veteran American, and although he controlled Cohen's posture well with double underhooks, he was unable to prevent him passing to half guard before the round expired. Apparently not learning from his inability to make anything happen from the bottom in round one, Villar repeated the trick in round two, much to the same lack of effect. In fact, when a scramble did ensue, Cohen was able to keep him trutled up under him and force him to eat some heavy shots that rocked the Brazilian. With Villar eventually able to get back to his feet, Cohen broke away, but in the subsequent grappling exchanges, Villar pulled Cohen into guard yet again.

 

Surely down by two rounds at this stage, Villar must have known that he needed to finish the fight, and Cohen seemed to be of the same mind, trying to keep the fight up against the cage, where his grappling prevented any bog shots from landing. Referee Kyle Crisp only endured a certain amount of this, and with half the round remaining reset them in center cage. Villar immediately showed the striking skills that had been evident in his three previous Knock Out wins, landing two nice left jabs, and then a beautiful right uppercut that sent Cohen sprawling to the mat. Villar dropped down into side control and was able to hit a couple more stinging blows, but Cohen covered up nicely and was able to withstand the blows from an apparently exhausted Villar until the end of the round. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 in favor of Villar to give him a split decision victory that was more than he deserved. Blurcat.com scored the fight 29-28 to Cohen.

 

Following the fight, Villar used his interview to call out GAMMA Light-Heavyweight Champion Marlon John, saying that he thought it would make for a good fight, but on tonight's performance you might think he would have to go away and look at his strategy before committing to the cage again, as he seemed to forego what should have been his strength in order to try and nullify his opponent. Mark Cohen, perhaps realising that he had given his all and still not come out with a victory that should probably have been his due, announced that this was his last fight. Blurcat.com wishes the first GAMMA Heavyweight Champion a long and happy retirement, and no doubt there will be tributes pouring in over the coming days as to Cohen's impact on MMA in America.

 

In the Heavyweight division, Armen Sarkisian took his second straight victory since defecting from ALPHA-1 with a smooth submission win over GAMMA veteran Tony McCall. Sarkisian shot for a takedown early in the round, going under a McCall high kick and going into his guard. With McCall easily covering up to defend some initial shots, Sarkisian moved to side control with relative ease, and then showed off his slick ground skills by slipping quickly into mount, slapping on an armbar and tightening up. MacCall's tap came quickly at 3:07 of the first round. Sarkisian will be one of those looking at Jeff Carlton's GAMMA Heavyweight title as his next fight, though if the rumours around the signing of Hassan Fezzik are true he may have to wait for that chance.

 

Gilbert, Arizona's David Allen returned from a fifteen month absence from the cage to submit Dana Delaney at just around the two minute mark of the first round of their Welterweight fight. Evading Delaney's jab, Allen took control of the clinch early in the round, and used it to slam Delaney down to the mat and ride his back, rolling him over into side control. From there he quickly secured mount and had no hesitation in going to an arm triangle that force a quick tap out. Delaney has now not won in his last three (his last fight was ruled a no contest after Rich Robinson failed a drugs test) and he may be on his way out of GAMMA.

 

Jefferson Mndawe made short work of opponent Joshua Goldberg in the Featherweight opener, a left jab followed by a powerful straight right putting Goldberg down and Mndawe hammering down with punches that forced Leo Behan to step in and stop the fight after just 58 seconds.

 

 

GAMMA 44 Quick Results

 

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Pick results

 

CageRage - 4/6 (86/131)

[batsnumbereleven]

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Petey Mack

 

I couldn't believe the 50-45 scorecard, and it was the first one announced, so I was concerned for a moment that all three judges might have seen it that way, which would have been an absolute travesty! I knew it was much closer than that, and I thought I'd done enough to win, but you never know when you leave it in the hands of the judges, and that card just goes to show what can happen.

 

 

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Matthew Dean

 

I probably made a mistake in not trying to take it to the mat myself, but I thought I'd done enough in the stand-up, especially against the fence, to win three or four of the rounds. The first scorecard was a bit of a surprise – we knew it was closer than that. Fair play to Petey though – he fought well and he fought me at my game, so I was thinking that I might get a chance to have another go at him down the line.

 

 

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Mark Cohen

 

I was robbed! No, really! Nah, I figured that was about as good as things were gonna get. Leaving it all in the ring against a guy like Villar who looks like he could be a legend someday was the way I woulda wanted to go out, and it wasn't like I was gonna get a more high profile opponent any time in the near future, so it was the right time. I'd had a good run and had won my title, faced some pretty stiff competition over the years. Was getting' older and it wasn't so easy to cut to 205 anymore either. Some of these young guys pack a heck of a punch for a Light-Heavyweight too.

 

 

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Michael Frankley

 

Mark was a true gent about the whole thing, even though we all knew he should have been given the decision. But he dealt with it like a proper pro, and spent a lot of time over the following months talking about his career. Guy was a legend, really, as far as GAMMA went, and it was a shame to see him go out in such controversial fashion, but he was right that we didn't have anyone we could match him up against that would generate the sort of interest he thought would be worth going through another camp and another weight cut for. Fair play to him. He rarely got the dues from people for what he did, and with his career winding down in 1999, he was going too soon to have made his fortune from the business, so we expected to see him stick around a bit longer.

 

Then we got the news of the drug testing – Tony McCall tested positive for PEDs, which was a huge surprise. He'd been a GAMMA guy for years, and had 45 fights under his belt, and suddenly he was using drugs? It was difficult to believe, and Tony protested his innocence, but there was no doubting the results. It certainly hadn't made much difference to his performance, as far as we could see.

 

And then, as if we didn't have enough problems, Neil Napier, on a two-fight winning streak, pulled out of his fight at GAMMA 46 with Dexter Darling, and we had to arrange a new opponent. Finding someone appropriate wasn't too much of a problem, but we knew that the big issue would be whether that opponent had the same sort of draw that Neil would have, and that was a much trickier proposition.

 

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Lance Decker

 

For the first time we had a non-title main event that actually felt like a main event, with Regueiro and Aldarisio going at it. Meanwhile poor Norbert Vinkus was finally getting the sort of match-up he should have been given all along, against another low-key novice instead of a high profile veteran.

 

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GAMMA 45 Card for Picks

Main Event

Welterweight - Julio Regueiro (22-1) v Josh Aldarisio (17-2)

Co-main

Middleweight – Maarten De Vries (16-7) v Ethan Sutton (5-1)

Undercard

Heavyweight – Norbert Vinkus (2-2) v Guy Broom (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Jiromoen Hasegawa (4-0) v Jericho Stewart (2-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-3) v Bobby Brubaker (10-6)

Middleweight – Bill Russell (1-1) v Dwayne Alleyne (6-2)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

Welterweight - Julio Regueiro (22-1) v Josh Aldarisio (17-2)

 

Co-main

Middleweight – Maarten De Vries (16-7) v Ethan Sutton (5-1)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Norbert Vinkus (2-2) v Guy Broom (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Jiromoen Hasegawa (4-0) v Jericho Stewart (2-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-3) v Bobby Brubaker (10-6)

Middleweight – Bill Russell (1-1) v Dwayne Alleyne (6-2)

[CageRage]

GAMMA 45 Card for Picks

Main Event

Welterweight - Julio Regueiro (22-1) v Josh Aldarisio (17-2)

 

Co-main

Middleweight – Maarten De Vries (16-7) v Ethan Sutton (5-1)

 

Undercard

Heavyweight – Norbert Vinkus (2-2) v Guy Broom (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Jiromoen Hasegawa (4-0) v Jericho Stewart (2-0)

Lightweight – Aaron McBroom (9-3) v Bobby Brubaker (10-6)

Middleweight – Bill Russell (1-1) v Dwayne Alleyne (6-2)

[batsnumbereleven]

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The long-awaited clash between Julio Regueiro and Josh Aldarisio might have disappointed those out for absolute entertainment, but for fans with some knowledge of the sport and who have followed the careers of the two Welterweights, tonight was an enjoyable climax to a rivalry that many thought would only be settled with the GAMMA Welterweight title on the line.

 

The fact that it was not doesn't take away any of the prestige or importance of the way that Regueiro won the fight, and it surely lines the Spaniard up for another shot at being GAMMA's top dog in the division before too long. Aldarisio doesn't lose a lot in defeat, but will have to reset again, just as he did after his failed title challenge against Jack Humphreys a year ago, but that doesn't look beyond his capabilities, and we may yet see this fight repeated somewhere down the line.

 

The fight started off as expected, with Regueiro looking to take his opponent down, but Aldarisio's sprawl enabled him to control the clinch and push Regueiro back against the cage, only to be reversed and some judicious grabbing of the cage that went unspotted by referee Christian Maugham was the only thing that kept Aldarisio on his feet. Regueiro eventually got his man to the ground, with Aldarisio turtled up under him, but only for the round to end almost immediately. The second and third rounds followed a similar pattern – Aldarisio was able to get Regueiro back to the cage but was unable to keep him there, and although Regueiro was able to gain control of the grappling, he was unable to get the fight to the mat. Again, the American managed to assist his balance by grabbing the cage, and again it went unnoticed by the official, who was patient in allowing the fighters to work, but brought the contest back to the center of the cage in the middle of each round when the work slowed down.

 

Regueiro altered his tactics slightly in the fourth, and kept on the outside to use his striking without getting involved in the grappling game, and he looked the better fighter for it. With more space to work in his striking looked crisp, and he was eventually able to make an opening to take Aldarisio to the canvas. Aldarisio worked hard to reverse the position, and a scramble saw him come out on top, but as we have seen in many of his previous fights, bottom position is where Regueiro is at his most dangerous, and despite Aldarisio working hard to stifle and using shoulder strikes, the Spaniard managed to secure an arm and was able to lock in an armbar that forced Aldarisio to tap out.

 

 

 

At Middleweight, an entertaining battle between veteran Maarten De Vries and Canadian Ethan Sutton went Sutton's way via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). The first two rounds stayed on the feet with both men showing a good pace of striking, and some excellent movement. Sutton had slightly the better of both rounds, though there wasn't a lot of advantage. The Canadian made sure in the third, though, countering a leg kick with a nice jab and then a vicious right cross that put De Vries on his backside. Sutton battered De Vries with some punches until the Dutchman gave up his back, and although Sutton was unable to procure the finish with a Rear Naked Choke attempt, he remained dominant and in control for the remainder of the round.

 

Any excuses about the level of opponent that Norbert Vinkus had previously faced were put to rest here, likely along with his GAMMA career, as the former NFL linebacker was decisively beaten by Chicago's Guy Broom. Broom outstruck Vinkus in all three rounds, and took him down in the first and third, to emphasise his dominance. The end came with Broom having taken back mount on Vinkus, and although Vinkus was able to stop him getting hooks in and going for a submission attempt, he wasn't able to prevent Broom landing some heavy shots. Referee Kyle Crisp spotted Vinkus going limp after a barrage of punches and correctly called the fight off.

 

Vinkus' previous defeats could perhaps have been excused by his lack of experience, but to fall to a third in a row, and against such a relatively unknown and untested opponent must surely be ringing alarm bells with GAMMA management, who ought to be considering this a failed experiment, even with the name value that Vinkus brings to the promotion.

 

Two undefeated Light-Heavyweights put their streaks on the line, and Japanese wrestler Jiromoen Hasegawa came out the victor by armbar submission in the first round, having taken Jericho Stewart down with a single leg, then passed swiftly into a dominant ground position. Hasegawa moves to 5-0 and will be eyeing a more experienced opponent next time out.

 

After three straight defeats at Welterweight, Bobby Brubaker's Lightweight debut started well, putting Aaron McBroom down on the mat with a solid right hook, but he was unable to capitalise on the ensuing mat struggle. He put him down again with a right high kick in the second, and initially tried to lock in an armbar, but McBroom fended it off well, and defended against Brubaker's ground and pound well enough that Harry A. Bierce was forced to stand the fighters back up for lack of progress. The third round stayed standing, and McBroom had the better of it as he went all out to win from two rounds down, but the fight went the full 15 minutes and Brubaker picked up the decision on all three cards (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

 

A technical striking contest saw Dwayne Alleyne dominate Puerto Rican Billy Russell at Middleweight, with Alleyne significantly outscoring his opponent throughout the fight. Somehow one of the judges found a way to score a round to Russell, but Alleyne deservedly took the unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28).

 

 

GAMMA 45: Quick Results

 

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Pick results

CageRage - 5/6 (91/137)

Thesnake101 - 5/6 (50/67)