GAMMA - The Rise of the Juggernaut

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/1999%20Awards.png

[batsnumbereleven]

Chapter 3 – Expansion and Growth 2000-2002

 

 

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

 

Mark Wallace

 

At the end of 1999, we'd come to the conclusion among the investors that Frankley was doing a good job, but that the company was still being held back. The previous two years had made GAMMA a hell of a lot of money, and we felt it was time for that money to go to work. The MMA media still considered GAMMA to be a fairly low-key organisation, despite the crowds we were getting and the revenues that we were drawing through PPV, and we needed to make changes to ensure that the perception of GAMMA became more positive, and more mainstream.

 

 

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

 

Lance Decker

 

That wasn't the entire truth – Mark and his colleagues saw it that way, yeah, but I was always keen to look for a different approach. I didn't think that Frankley had done all that good a job, to be honest, and although the company was profitable, it wasn't using its assets as well as it could – fighters like James Foster and Sean Morrison were being dicked around and not given the respect they were due, and the way that they were promoted didn't utilise them as best we could.

 

My vote was that we should have sacked Frankley and let me go back to running the business.

 

 

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

 

Mark Wallace

 

Decker was part of the problem, really. He'd been loudly critical of Frankley ever since we had put the guy in place, and wasn't shy of making his differences with us or with Michael known to the MMA media – they jumped on him as a source of entertaining speculation and insider information about potential problems and arguments within GAMMA, and that wasn't something that we could continue to put up with.

 

He'd also been outspoken in favour of the longer-standing members of the roster, like James Foster and Sean Morrison, and could see no further than them at the top of the card. Whilst both guys had made GAMMA good money over recent years they had also taken out a decent chunk themselves before we were in such as strong financial position as we had arrived at in 2000, and neither of them was putting on the sort of performances that were going to continue to draw crowds in from anything other than their name. Foster had seemingly lost the advantage he had had over previous opponents – perhaps others were catching up to him, or were younger, fitter or had better training regimes – whilst Morrison had seemed to have lost interest and was content, generally, to grind out his fights and expect to take the victory anyway.

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

I wasn't really aware of disputes in the boardroom, other than I knew that Decker was continuing to be a pain in the ass, as he'd been to me ever since I came in. I know that there was an argument that it was better to have him inside the tent pissing out, but from what I could see he was simply availing himself of the shelter of the tent and pissing inside it anyway.

 

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

 

Lance Decker

 

I made Wallace an offer to buy me out – I figured that with enough money I could probably set up my own organisation and compete with GAMMA pretty easily, the way things were going, though I didn't get quite as much out of it as I would have liked. If I pitched things right, I reckoned I had the ear of enough of the stalwart GAMMA guys that I would have some fairly easy big name signings once their contracts came up.

 

 

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

 

Mark Wallace

 

Decker might think he got a bad deal, but he took more than $40million out when he left, which wasn't bad considering his overall investment had been less than $3million in the first place.

 

He seemed keen to start up his own MMA company to compete with us, and that meant we had to take a more aggressive approach to hiring.

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

I was called to a board meeting on the first Monday of January, and told we had to change our approach. No longer was there any bar on hiring, nor any block on poaching from other organisations. I was told that now was the time when GAMMA had to make big strides forward in popularity, and that meant hiring all the best fighters we could from around the world, and making sure that we packed our cards with as many fights as was reasonable.

 

I was a little taken aback by the sudden change in policy, but I didn't know about Decker's plans at that time.

 

First name on the list was, of course, Hassan Fezzik. We had been in contact with him as his contract with ALPHA-1 came to an end as a matter of course, but now it was time to make the move and get him signed up, along with as many other top names as we could. I can tell you, my air miles went through the roof following up on scouting reports, in order to get as many big names signed to GAMMA as I could.

 

 

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

 

Mark Wallace

 

With the checkbook wide open, there would be no excuses, and we indicated to Michael that we expected to see the MMA media talking about GAMMA as an International level organisation within 5 years, but in the interim, at least be ranked by Blurcat.com as High-level National, or very close to it, by the end of 2001.

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

I wasn't sure how realistic those ambitions were, but I was certainly prepared to give it a shot. Key to new signings was that they had a recent good record – it didn't matter if they lost once they were in GAMMA as long as they were doing well to start with. Between that and the big names, I hoped we would have a good enough roster to meet the requirements that the board were setting.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Notes

 

*I have set up Mean Machines Cagefighting to open in April 2000 with $10,000,000 and Low Level National popularity in the USA as Lance Decker's new organisation.

 

*I have also now released the block I had put on GAMMA going above Low Level National, which was designed to give Lance Decker something to beat Michael Frankley with. Decker has now left GAMMA.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

Although Morrison losing the title took a little bit of the lustre off the match-up with Sukarno, it was still a big name fight that MMA fans everywhere had wanted to see, so there was no hesitation from my perspective in still going ahead with it. A win either way automatically made the victor a potential title contender later in the year, and it was just the sort of thing that would boost the mainstream appeal and profile of GAMMA. In line with the board's wishes we also expanded the card to eight fights.

 

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Morrison%20v%20Sukarno.jpg

 

 

GAMMA 46 Card for Picks

Main Event

Lightweight – Sean Morrison (29-4) v Sukarno (25-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (15-4) v Pai Cheng (6-0)

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Dag Kreuger (5-1) v Derek South (15-4)

Welterweight – Alan Kendall (13-5) v Evan Pizzarro (2-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Bobby Castillo (4-0)

Middleweight – Stuart Strange (17-3) v Dexter Darling (17-4-1)

Heavyweight – Nate MacReary (4-0) v Oliver Fiderer (4-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Christian Mountfield (13-5) v Ricky Heath (14-5)

[Dolphin81]

Main Event

Lightweight – Sean Morrison (29-4) v Sukarno (25-0)

 

Morrison is seemingly unstoppable, I don't think Sukarno will be able too avoid the smothering.

 

Co-main

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (15-4) v Pai Cheng (6-0)

 

Cheng needs to focus on control, in the 3 rounds I can see him working Hughes against the cage.

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Dag Kreuger (5-1) v Derek South (15-4)

Welterweight – Alan Kendall (13-5) v Evan Pizzarro (2-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Bobby Castillo (4-0)

Middleweight – Stuart Strange (17-3) v Dexter Darling (17-4-1)

Heavyweight – Nate MacReary (4-0) v Oliver Fiderer (4-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Christian Mountfield (13-5) v Ricky Heath (14-5)

[CageRage]

Main Event

Lightweight – Sean Morrison (29-4) v Sukarno (25-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight – Raul Hughes (15-4) v Pai Cheng (6-0)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Dag Kreuger (5-1) v Derek South (15-4)

Welterweight – Alan Kendall (13-5) v Evan Pizzarro (2-1)

Featherweight – Blas Suarez (3-0) v Bobby Castillo (4-0)

Middleweight – Stuart Strange (17-3) v Dexter Darling (17-4-1)

Heavyweight – Nate MacReary (4-0) v Oliver Fiderer (4-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Christian Mountfield (13-5) v Ricky Heath (14-5)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Morrison%20defeats%20Sukarno.jpg

 

 

After several fights where Sean Morrison had seemed to be disinterested and unmotivated, tonight he finally showed what he could really do when it came down to fighting the best in the world, turning in a great performance in a fight that the fans loved.

 

Sukarno was supposed to be the greatest threat that Morrison could ever come across, but that notion was given short shrift when Morrison phoned in a poor performance against late substitute Bud Brockett and lost the GAMMA Lightweight championship. Now, faced with someone who he respected, Morrison found the motivation and desire that had been lacking for so long.

 

Both fighters enjoyed some success in the first round, which saw Morrison outstrike Sukarno 67-32, but the key for the American was hie effective control up against the cage, where he utilised his dirty boxing to very good effect, and kept the Indonesian legend trapped for a good period. Morrison was again the more prolific in the second round, though there was less action from both men.

 

In the third, Morrison completed a trip takedown at the second attempt, and immediately took Sukarno's back. The Indonesian fought off Morrison's efforts to get hooks in for a long while, but was unable to prevent him getting a Rear Naked Choke tightly cinched in, forcing Sukarno to tap and face defeat for the first time.

 

With Morrison once again showing some signs of life, you would have to think he would be a prime contender for a title shot later in the year, to see if he has the motivation to regain the title he lost in such facile fashion. For Sukarno there are a number of options for future fights, and it might be that GAMMA take their show to Asia to make the most of his fan base in the orient.

 

 

The rehabilitation of the career of Raul Hughes came to a shuddering halt in the co-headlining bout, as Chinese wrestler Pai Cheng showed that he had other dimensions to his game as well, comprehensively outstriking the veteran American and scoring the only takedown of the fight. Cheng racked up over 200 strikes against the formerly highly ranked Heavyweight, whose specialty is supposed to be striking, and you have to wonder if a performance like this indicates that Hughes is on his last legs as a fighter.

 

Neither man ever looked in serious trouble by with Cheng's volume and accuracy being much greater it was no surprise that he was given the unanimous decision verdict (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). Cheng moves to 7-0, with four good victories in GAMMA, and you would think he would be getting another high quality opponent for his next fight.

 

Dag Kreuger rebounded from his defeat to Affonso Villar with a solid performance against veteran GAMMA light-heavyweight Derek South. Kreuger had the better of the striking throughout and won the battle of takedown attempts in the third round, and was in a dominant mount position when the buzzer sounded for the end of the fight, though without looking as though he was going to force a finish. Kreuger probably deserved the unanimous decision verdict (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) and he will be looking for a higher profile opponent next time out.

 

The Welterweight fight between Evan Pizzarro and Alan Kendall was intriguing without ever raising the pulses of the fans, and although Pizzarro got the judges call (split decision 30-27, 29-28, 28-29), any score could have been awarded. Pizzarro was certainly the more tenacious in attempting and succeeding with takedowns, completing 3 of 4, but although he was able to remain in control from half guard, he was unable to stop Kendall's excellent scrambling when he tried to pass, and twice Pizzarro found himself on the bottom as a result. Kendall wasn't any more successful on the ground though, and it was probably the right result.

 

Blas Suarez gave Bobby Castillo a boxing clinic in their Featherweight fight, scoring with 265 punches over the three rounds to take a fully justified 30-27 score on all three judges cards. Castillo worked hard as well, with over 100 strikes of his own, but he had no answer to the speed and movement of the Mexican, who moves to 4-0.

 

Two former GAMMA Middleweight contenders met with both men coming off recent defeats. It turned out to be a poor contest. Stuart Strange took the early advantage, taking Dexter Darling down with relative ease one he took control of the clinch, but trying to pass to mount proved to be Darling's opportunity to escape, and he wound up on top in the scramble, but couldn't do anything with it. The second round stayed standing, with Strange out-striking Darling, and the third saw Darling stuff several takedown attempts before finally succumbing to being wrestled down in the clinch. This time Strange could do nothing with it and they ended the fight there. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 in favor of Darling, though he may consider himself a little lucky to get the decision. Blurcat.com scored it 29-28 for Strange.

 

Unbeaten Heavyweight Nate MacReary extended his run with a first round stoppage of Oliver Fiderer. Hitting a beautiful right uppercut to put Fiderer down on the mat, MacReary came down into side control and rocked the Utah native with some solid shots, before locking in an arm triangle that forced the tap.

 

Christian Mountfield continued his tendency to alternate wins and losses with a fantastic second round submission victory over Ricky Heath at Light-Heavyweight. Mountfield took Heath down in both rounds, controlling the body of his opponent easily, and appeared to have complete confidence in his top game, blocking sweeps and transitioning nicely. The stoppage came when he slipped from half guard straight into mount and started landing some big shots that forced Kyle Crisp to step in.

 

GAMMA 46 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%2046%20results.png

 

Pick results

 

Dolphin81 - 5/8

CageRage - 4/8 (95/145)

[batsnumbereleven]

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

Sean Morrison

 

And did I get any credit for beating the guy who's supposed to be a legend, the best in the world, some kind of superstar? No, of course I didn't. I didn't even get a fight night bonus! All the media wanted to talk about was why I couldn't perform like that against the lesser opponents I'd faced over the previous couple of years, and none of them wanted to talk about my excellent takedown, and my brilliant submission skills, and the way that I easily outboxed Sukarno throughout!

 

 

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

Raul Hughes

I was close to calling it a day after the Cheng fight. There was no way I shoulda bin losing to a rookie like him. I could stomach going down against Carlton, cuz he was a vet and real class, but Cheng? No way!

 

 

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

Michael Frankley

 

With Bud Brockett being much less well known than Morrison, we decided that his first defence should be on TV rather than on PPV, so that people might get a chance to see him without him having to be the big headliner that Morrison was supposed to be. Fiyero Lermontov was a dangerous opponent for him, but not one that the American MMA audience had much exposure to, so from my perspective it was a win-win situation. Whoever won it was likely that they would face Morrison next. To cap things off we bolstered the show by having James Foster fight in the co-headliner spot. Even if he wasn't winning any longer he still had recognition value.

 

 

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

James Foster

 

I was getting more and more impatient with Frankley – not only was I not headlining this card, I was taking second billing to guys who'd never drawn a dime. And it wasn't even on PPV, so the payday we'd get out of it was limited as hell.

 

On top of that, I ended up carrying most of the media commitments, because everyone really wanted to see me, not Brockett or Lermontov, which should have made it clear that I was the one who deserved star billing for the card instead of the Lightweights, even if their title was on the line.

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Brockett%20v%20Lermontov.jpg

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 6: Card for Picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Lightweight Championship

Bud Brockett (c ) (9-1) v Fiyero Lermontov (13-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - James Foster (33-6-1) v Leon Banks (33-11)

Undercard

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (18-2) v Felix Mattherson Jr. (4-0)

Featherweight – Alejandro Laguera (1-1) v Markus Waller (1-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Emil Karlsson (1-2) v Nilton Fantoni (4-1)

Heavyweight – Duke Aiona (13-5) v Sylvester Collins (3-2)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Lightweight Championship

Bud Brockett (c ) (9-1) v Fiyero Lermontov (13-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - James Foster (33-6-1) v Leon Banks (33-11)

 

Undercard

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (18-2) v Felix Mattherson Jr. (4-0)

Featherweight – Alejandro Laguera (1-1) v Markus Waller (1-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Emil Karlsson (1-2) v Nilton Fantoni (4-1)

Heavyweight – Duke Aiona (13-5) v Sylvester Collins (3-2)

[CageRage]

GAMMA on ECT 6: Card for Picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Lightweight Championship

Bud Brockett (c ) (9-1) v Fiyero Lermontov (13-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - James Foster (33-6-1) v Leon Banks (33-11)

 

Undercard

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (18-2) v Felix Mattherson Jr. (4-0)

Featherweight – Alejandro Laguera (1-1) v Markus Waller (1-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Emil Karlsson (1-2) v Nilton Fantoni (4-1)

Heavyweight – Duke Aiona (13-5) v Sylvester Collins (3-2)

[smurphy1014]

Main Event

GAMMA Lightweight Championship

Bud Brockett (c ) (9-1) v Fiyero Lermontov (13-0)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - James Foster (33-6-1) v Leon Banks (33-11)

 

Undercard

Welterweight – Rufus Stephens (18-2) v Felix Mattherson Jr. (4-0)

Featherweight – Alejandro Laguera (1-1) v Markus Waller (1-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Emil Karlsson (1-2) v Nilton Fantoni (4-1)

Heavyweight – Duke Aiona (13-5) v Sylvester Collins (3-2)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Brockett%20retains%20title.jpg

 

 

Bud Brockett successfully defended the GAMMA Lightweight Championship with a split decision victory over Russian Fiyero Lermontov that was more clear-cut than the scorecards suggested (49-46, 49-46, 47-48).

 

Brockett demonstrated good control of the clinch and was easily able to force Lermontov back up against the fence where he could engage with his dirty boxing to good effect. The Champion also got takedowns in the first and second rounds that Lermontov only matched with one in the fourth, and only the regular intervention of referee Leo Behan forced Brockett back to the center of the cage.

 

Lermontov did show some signs of what he is capable of in the third round, when he started the round by staying well clear of Brockett's clinch, and he displayed some solid and creative striking that made him look much more of a threat than when the two fighters wrestled, but he wasn't able to stay out of Brockett's grappling range for long enough during the fight for his striking advantage to be used to good enough effect.

 

Brockett will likely now face off against Sean Morrison in a re-match, whilst there are several options for Lermontov, including a potentially interesting match-up with Brandon Sugar, previously a lock for a championship bout who seems to have fallen by the wayside after his surprise defeat to Manoel Cabral at GAMMA 44.

 

 

Legendary former GAMMA Heavyweight Champion James Foster bounced back neatly from his recent quick defeat to John Rivero by inflicting the same humiliation on Leon Banks, who has now lost two in a row. Getting a quick trip takedown, Foster used side control to position himself for an Arm Triangle that finished the fight after just 58 seconds of the first round. Foster must now be looking to see when Hassan Fezzik will be free for him to fight.

 

Rufus Stephens took his third victory in a row in the Welterweight division and must now be looking towards a title shot in the near future. Stephens was far too good for Felix Mattherson Jr this evening and made short work of him, taking control of the clinch, getting the takedown and forcing the turtled-up Puerto Rican to give up his back. He had no trouble getting the hooks in and an arm under Mattherson's chin, and flattened him out for the Rear Naked Choke just past the halfway point of the opening round.

 

In a battle of 24-year-old Featherweights with 1-1 professional records, Markus Waller easily got the better of Alejandro Laguera, taking the Californian down in the clinch at the second attempt and swiftly moving to secure a submission. An initial arm triangle attempt was defended, and Laguera got his arm free, only for Waller to slickly switch to a Kimura, which had Laguera tapping very quickly at 3:25 of the first round.

 

After a fairly uneventful first round, Nilton Fantoni showed great power and speed in taking Emil Karlsson down in the second round of their Light-Heavyweight clash, and once in top position demonstrated some slick guard passing to get into mount, then applied a tight armbar that forced Karlsson to tap.

 

Canadian Heavyweight Sylvester Collins made progress after two losses by comprehensively beating veteran Hawaiian Duke Aiona in the opener. Collins took Aiona down in all three rounds, and although he was unable to pose a threat to finish he did get to mount in two of the rounds before the buzzer sounded. The judges all scored the fight 30-27 to Collins.

 

GAMMA on ECT 6 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%20on%20ECT%206%20results.png

 

 

Pick results

 

TheSnake101 - 5/6 (55/73)

CageRage - 4/6 (99/151)

smurphy1014 - 4/6

[batsnumbereleven]

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

 

James Foster

Finishing Banks that quickly was always on the cards. He was a one-dimensional slugger that wasn't even in my league, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been if it had been the main event of the evening. As it was I had to go on before the Lightweights, and they just don't have the same pulling power I do.

 

I was starting to think once again that I would be going somewhere else once my contract was up.

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Bud%20Brockett.gif

 

Bud Brockett

 

Getting through Fiyero was a great boost to my confidence. Being able to push him around physically was a real bonus and made me feel like I could do it to anyone. I had to make sure he didn't pop and run, because I knew that his strength was his striking, and I had to find a way to neutralise that.

 

Looking back at the previous month, I was really happy that Morrison had beaten Sukarno. Having beaten Morrison once I was confident I could do it again, despite the way he had beaten Sukarno, whereas Sukarno I wasn't anywhere near as sure about, because he still had an aura about him, and his submission skills were supposed to be something special.

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

Rivero and Boyer was essentially an eliminator fight, even with other candidates like Sarkisian and Fezzik around, and if you'd said that about John Rivero eighteen months earlier nobody would have believed you.

 

The Heavyweight division was actually starting to stack up quite nicely, with the new additions, and the likes of James Foster would really have to grab our attention before we considered them to be in line for a title shot any time in the near future. When you added in the likes of Pai Cheng and Nate MacReary, who looked like they had the potential to be real stars, I felt really comfortable with the division.

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

GAMMA 47 card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) (25-6) v Darin Blood (16-4)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - John Rivero (14-3) v Tim Boyer (26-4-2)

Undercard

Featherweight – Lita Alcala (4-0) v Brian Claremont (6-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Mike Watson (10-2) v Lawrence Herringbone (13-2)

Lightweight – Luke Hilton (9-1) v Carl Chenoweth (1-1)

Middleweight – Stephan de Winter (3-0) v Bill Brown (2-0)

Heavyweight – Randall Donnelly (13-6) v Jutaro Honma (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Linfield Ballard (20-9) v Ken Peters (8-2)

[CageRage]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) (25-6) v Darin Blood (16-4)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - John Rivero (14-3) v Tim Boyer (26-4-2)

 

Undercard

Featherweight – Lita Alcala (4-0) v Brian Claremont (6-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Mike Watson (10-2) v Lawrence Herringbone (13-2)

Lightweight – Luke Hilton (9-1) v Carl Chenoweth (1-1)

Middleweight – Stephan de Winter (3-0) v Bill Brown (2-0)

Heavyweight – Randall Donnelly (13-6) v Jutaro Honma (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Linfield Ballard (20-9) v Ken Peters (8-2)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Welterweight Championship

Jack Humphreys (c ) (25-6) v Darin Blood (16-4)

 

Co-main

Heavyweight - John Rivero (14-3) v Tim Boyer (26-4-2)

 

Undercard

Featherweight – Lita Alcala (4-0) v Brian Claremont (6-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Mike Watson (10-2) v Lawrence Herringbone (13-2)

Lightweight – Luke Hilton (9-1) v Carl Chenoweth (1-1)

Middleweight – Stephan de Winter (3-0) v Bill Brown (2-0)

Heavyweight – Randall Donnelly (13-6) v Jutaro Honma (2-1)

Light-Heavyweight – Linfield Ballard (20-9) v Ken Peters (8-2)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Humphreys%20Retains%20in%20Borefest.jpg

 

The cream of the crop on the GAMMA roster appears to be afflicted with an unfortunate inability to make a title bout entertaining, as we saw once again last night as GAMMA Welterweight Champion Jack Humphreys ground out a split decision victory over challenger Darin Blood in a dull contest (49-46, 48-47, 47-48).

 

The fight was characterised by Humphreys' smothering ground game and unwillingness to take any risks from top position, which saw much of the fight being booed by the fans and referee Leo Behan having to re-start it with the two men on their feet half a dozen times.

 

The closest that the fight came to a finish was in the first round, when Humphreys' successful takedown saw him take Blood's back and cinch in a Rear Naked Choke, but Blood was able to defend the choke and prevent Humphreys getting his arm under his chin to complete the submission. Rounds two to four were particularly dull, with Humphreys in control of the clinch, and Blood unable to force the fight into an area he was more comfortable with.

 

It was something of a surprise, therefore, when in the final round, Humphreys didn't attempt to clinch at all, but was happy to trade strikes at distance, though both fighters struggled to make much in the way of meaningful contact that might have excited the fans. The scoring from the judges was rather dubious, as it was clear that the champion had controlled all five rounds, but GAMMA needs to find better fights than this to headline on pay-per-view if it hopes to expand its fanbase, as expounded by CEO Michael Frankley in recent interviews.

 

 

John Rivero showed once again what progress he has main since his move up to the Heavyweight division by submitting veteran Tim Boyer in the second round. The first round was characterised by Rivero's attempts to take Boyer down, but the tall Canadian showed some excellent sprawling, and managed to rock Rivero with some hard knees when the Puerto Rican tried to snare a leg. Both fighters also exchanged some torrid dirty boxing up against the cage in what was a very entertaining fight. And it was the cage that came to Rivero's aid in finally getting his takedown in the second round, despite Boyer's defence. Once Rivero had the fight on the mat, he passed smoothly into side control and locked in a tight Kimura that brought about the submission. Rivero will now be considered one of the top contenders for a title bout later in the year, or potentially a match-up against Turkish ALPHA-1 legend Hassan Fezzik.

 

In the Featherweight division, Lito Alcala took out the striking of Brian Claremont by the simple means of losing the distance and engaging the clinch early. Alcala got a takedown at the second attempt with a neat trip and immediately took Claremont's back, flattening him out for a Rear Naked Choke. Claremont again exposes his weakness to grapplers and wrestlers when they aren't willing to stand and trade with him.

 

An underwhelming Light-Heavyweight bout saw Lawrence Herringbone take down Mike Watson in all three rounds, but then, after some attempts at ground and pound in the first round, where he landed more than 40 shots, his strategy seemed to do little more than smother the Canadian. Referee Leo Behan finally got tired of this by the third round and stood the fighters back up, but this was too little, too late, and it inevitably went to the judges. Two judges scored it 30-27 to Herringbone, which tallied with the view of Blurcat.com, but one judge score it 29-28 to Watson, perhaps crediting him with numerous successful defences of takedowns, but apparently not taking into account Herringbone's almost total control of top position. Watson has been disappointing of late and is now running a three fight loss streak.

 

Luke Hilton dominated his fight with Carl Chenoweth, outstriking and out-grappling the Bostonian with relative ease. He took Chenoweth down in each of the first two rounds, and landed some solid ground and pound to boost. In the third the striking was more evenly matched, with Chenoweth perhaps displaying more variety, but Hilton deserved the unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

 

At Middleweight, Stephan de Winter stretched his unbeaten record to 4 fights with a unanimous decision victory over California's Bill Brown. Brown's tactics seemed particularly strange, as he twice pulled deWinter into guard, but was able to do nothing from the bottom position except eat shoulder smashes and cling on. He was successful in scrambling a couple of times towards the end of those two rounds, but that only ended with both fighters back on their feet. All three judges scored it 29-28 to deWinter

 

In a poor Heavyweight contest, Randall Donnelly did well to fight through a broken nose that occurred in the very first minute of the fight courtesy of a big right hand from Jutaro Honma, but was unable to pick up the victory. Honma got a takedown in the first, and Donnelly only survived six or seven vicious shots because Harry Bierce seemed reluctant to step in and call it. Donnelly outstruck Honma in the second, but the pattern was reversed in the third and Honma took the unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

 

Ken Peters ended a two-fight skid with a first round submission victory over erstwhile title contender Linfield Ballard. Peters muscles Ballard up against the cage and used it to help his takedown, leaving Ballard seated with his back trapped against the fence. He slapped a guillotine on, and with the tight confines Ballard had to tap at 1:41.

 

 

GAMMA 47 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%2047%20results.png

 

 

Pick results

 

TheSnake101 - 5/8 (60/81)

CageRage - 3/8 (102/159)

[batsnumbereleven]

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

 

Jack Humphreys

 

I kept tellin' y'all that there wasn't anyone around that compared to me for skills in the Welterweight division – there was no way that Blood took three rounds off me, no matter what that one judge might've reckoned. I took the fight to him and beat him at his own game just like I did with Chambers. This boy wasn't anything like the threat Chambers was. Assholes can boo all they like but this ain't Sean Morrison they're watchin'

 

 

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

 

Darin Blood

 

Fair was fair. He made sure that he kept things where he could control them, and he was the better guy on the night and able to impose himself on me.

 

 

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

 

Lance Decker

 

I was glad I was out of there. Another crappy effort in the main event yet GAMMA was still pullin' in money. It reminded me of that wrestlin' promotion that traded on its fans' expectations and loyalty for so long but never delivered the main event they were looking for.

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

The co-main and the preceding Featherweight match-up set the bar high for the Welterweight Title contest, and it wasn't the sort of fight that was going to deliver entertainment in quite the same way. It was much more of a chess match, with the guy demonstrating their skills at nullifying their opponent proving to have an advantage.

 

John Rivero was really shaping up to be a contender and it was unfortunate that the timing of his recovery from the previous fight ruled him out of a title fight straightaway, but this win meant it was likely we'd be holding off from making a title bout until he was ready to face the winner of Carlton and Sarkisian who were due to meet a couple of months down the road.

 

For GAMMA 48 we were taking a little bit of a risk that I hoped would be justified having seen the performance of the Featherweights on the previous show. Having Takeuchi and Khan go on in the co-main spot wasn't the most popular option either internally or among the fans, but it enabled us to showcase two really hot prospects for a shot at the title, and when we could find a good match-up for Easton Frye, or Philip Ziskie who we'd lured away from XCC, I could see either of these guys being a solid opponent for them or for the likes of others in the division like Alcala or the impressive Nuno Valentino. With the big Light-Heavyweight title clash going on last though, I felt we could afford to experiment a little with the co-main and see what reward the risk brought.

 

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/John%20v%20Katou.jpg

 

GAMMA 48 – card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Light-Heavyweight Championship

Marlon John (C ) (13-0) v Jin Katou (19-2)

Co-main

Featherweight - Tomohiro Takeuchi (19-2) v Manish Khan (9-2)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Jethro Munter (13-6) v Jon Silvers (9-0)

Heavyweight – Chuck Dooley (4-0) v Tank Manu'a (19-6)

Middleweight - -Jakuchu Abe (1-1) v Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-7)

Welterweight – Delroy Rhodes (6-0-1NC) v Gideon Navarro (2-1)

Lightweight – Rogelio Quesada (3-1) v Ian Linderman (7-3)

Light-Heavyweight – Guillermo Morales (9-0-1) v Jerry Bogdonovich (6-1)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

GAMMA Light-Heavyweight Championship

Marlon John (C ) (13-0) v Jin Katou (19-2)

 

Co-main

Featherweight - Tomohiro Takeuchi (19-2) v Manish Khan (9-2)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Jethro Munter (13-6) v Jon Silvers (9-0)

Heavyweight – Chuck Dooley (4-0) v Tank Manu'a (19-6)

Middleweight - -Jakuchu Abe (1-1) v Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-7)

Welterweight – Delroy Rhodes (6-0-1NC) v Gideon Navarro (2-1)

Lightweight – Rogelio Quesada (3-1) v Ian Linderman (7-3)

Light-Heavyweight – Guillermo Morales (9-0-1) v Jerry Bogdonovich (6-1)

[CageRage]

GAMMA 48 – card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Light-Heavyweight Championship

Marlon John (C ) (13-0) v Jin Katou (19-2)

 

Co-main

Featherweight - Tomohiro Takeuchi (19-2) v Manish Khan (9-2)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Jethro Munter (13-6) v Jon Silvers (9-0)

Heavyweight – Chuck Dooley (4-0) v Tank Manu'a (19-6)

Middleweight - -Jakuchu Abe (1-1) v Bryan Van Den Hauwe (15-7)

Welterweight – Delroy Rhodes (6-0-1NC) v Gideon Navarro (2-1)

Lightweight – Rogelio Quesada (3-1) v Ian Linderman (7-3)

Light-Heavyweight – Guillermo Morales (9-0-1) v Jerry Bogdonovich (6-1)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/John%20Holds%20On.jpg

 

Marlon John staved off a very serious threat to his title last night, but how much the fight was impacted by a broken hand for Jin Katou early in the contest can only be for us to guess at. The Champion looked in trouble in the second round, after a right hand broke his nose and Katou looked as though he was going to take him apart with his striking, but the broken hand must have put a stop to Katou's attempts as his boxing was much less potent as the fight went on.

 

This is not to say that John's own strategy was flawed. Having realised that he was not going to be able to outstrike his opponent, John made sure to close distance quickly and use his wrestling to take Katou to the floor on a number of occasions and to ensure that when the fight was standing he was in control of the clinch, regularly forcing Katou backwards and against the cage where both men went to work at close quarters.

 

Referee Herbert Osborne stepped in a number of times to keep the fight moving, but this wasn't a dirge of a cage fight with both men holding on in the clinch, as both were keen to try and progress things and keep the strikes coming. John's superiority in that form of the game essentially made the difference in the fight. Katou will certainly find easier fights as he attempts to position himself for a re-match down the road, but at present there are several other worthy challengers waiting in the wings, and he will have to bide his time and show he is worthy of a second chance where he could demonstrate what he might do with a fully functioning right hand.

 

Ultimately the fight went to the judges, who scored it 49-46 to John on all three cards, clearly taking note of the Champion's control of the fight over lengthy periods. Blurcat scored it 48-47 to John, with Katou taking the first two rounds.

 

 

An entertaining fight at Featherweight saw Tomohiro Takeuchi make his debut against Britain's Manish Khan, and the key to the fight was the Japanese fighter's ground skills. Taking Khan down at the third attempt in round one, he was able to get to mount, but the earlier delay in getting the fight to the mat cost him the chance to take any further advantage. In the second Takeuchi again got a a takedown and got himself into good position, but was thwarted by some good pass defense on the ground by Khan, and the clock again running out on him. The final round saw Khan keeping the fight standing, but was a lot more cagey and it was quite an even striking battle between the two. All three scorecards read 30-27 in favour of Takeuchi, which was the right decision in our eyes.

 

In the Light-Heavyweight division, the fight between Jethro Munter and Jon Silvers started off at a frenetic pace, with Munter landing nearly 100 strikes in the first round. In the second the pace slowed somewhat, and the fight took place mostly on the ground: Munter got a trip takedown and advanced to side control, but lost position in the scramble and had to pull guard. A second scramble saw Munter gain control again, with a waist lock, but the round ended before he could take it any further. In the final round Munter got a takedown from the clinch, but neither man did much one the fight went to the ground. Munter deservedly got a 30-27 score in his favour from all three judges, and indicated an interest in fighting Guillermo Morales next, which might make for an entertaining bout.

 

Canadian Chuck Dooley made the most of a step up to face former title challenger Tank Manu'a, as the Samoan was unable to keep up with Dooley's rate of striking. The fight stayed standing for all three rounds, though there were a few brief takedown attempts towards the end of the second, and Dooley's additional class in the boxing game shone through. There wasn't much in the way of a likely finish, though Dooley got through with a couple of powerful rights in the final round. Dooley took a unanimous decision 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. Blurcat.com scored it to Dooley 30-27.

 

Bryan Van Den Hauwe's decision to drop weight and compete at Middleweight didn't prove to change the results he's been getting as he succumbed to his fourth straight defeat, this time by Rear Naked Choke to young Japanese jiu jitsu artist Jakuchu Abe. Abe wrestled Van Den Hauwe to the mat and although an Arm Triangle wasn't successful he was able to take the American's back, and with a tightly locked in body triangle flattened him out for the tap at 2:46 on the first round.

 

At Welterweight, Gideon Navarro put the disappointment of taking Rufus Stephens the distance but not getting the decision behind him as he worked his magic on previously undefeated Delroy Rhodes. Getting a single leg takedown in the first round, Navarro showed off his slick skills in transitioning from one submission attempt to another, but Rhodes showed some good defence and was able to roll through an armbar attempt late in the round to gain top position, though he was able to do little with it. In the second, Navarro again go the fight to the mat, but although Rhodes was able to block a kneelock attempts, he was powerless when Navarro switched to a Kimura, and had to tap.

 

Rogelio Quesada showed some good scrambling as he beat Ian Linderman via Rear Naked Choke. Having already taken “The Cobra” down, things were at something of a stalemate with Quesada in half guard when the scramble started, and although both men ended standing, Quesada essentially took Linderman straight back down again from behind, flattening him out and getting a quick choke. A step up in class seems appropriate for the Mexican after such a dynamic performance.

 

Unbeaten Cuban Guillermo Morales (10-0-1) extended his streak with a resounding victory over Jerry Bogdonovich, taking the American down in all three rounds and threatening to finish with strikes at one point, including gashing Bogdonovich with a slicing elbow. 30-27 on all three cards was fully justified.

 

 

GAMMA 48 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%2048%20results.png

 

Pick Results

 

TheSnake101 - 8/8 (congratulations!) (68/89)

CageRage - 6/8 (108/167)

[batsnumbereleven]

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

Marlon might have gotten a little bit lucky with his opponent's injury, but he too was fighting injured, with a broken nose sustained early in the second round, and cleverly adapted his strategy to ensure his grappling strengths were prominent. I thought we would see a re-match at some point, but both men certainly had plenty of viable opponents in the meantime.

 

Our other gamble also paid off, with Takeuchi and Khan putting on the Fight of the Night, and making sure that press and public alike were happy with the show.

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Marlon%20John.gif

 

Marlon John

 

I still wuzn't totally happy with ma performance. Sure that I could do better. Just needed to get things sorted and get the right opponent. Always said Katou would be difficult to beat.

 

 

April 1st saw Lance Decker's new promotion, Mean Machines Cagefighting open, and to the owners of GAMMA it certainly wasn't considered to be a joke of any kind. By mid-April they had made a slew of low level signings, like Collins Lundie, Joe Hinchcliffe, Nick Detroit, Trevor Murray, Alex Cole and Christopher Sharp, all with decent records in local competition and experience in the cage, but none of whom were recent winners in any prominent organisations. Sharp was probably the pick of the bunch, and would be expected to have an impact in their Openweight structure, as he was the #22 ranked Heavyweight at the time, but even he had only been fighting on the local scene during the past three years and was already approaching his fiftieth fight in all.

 

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

 

Mark Wallace

 

We were lucky to a certain extent that we knew that it might be coming. It allowed us to make sure we had all our key fighters under contract, and that we could make the move to chase after some of the big names in the industry, rather than being more careful about where we picked them from. We knew that Decker would have no compunction in raiding anyone and everyone he could, based on his attitude while he was with us in GAMMA, so we kept on full alert whilst he was assembling his team and making his signings.

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

I was under a lot of pressure to make sure that Decker didn't end up signing fighters that would have been of use to use in GAMMA – that bloated our roster somewhat as it meant offering deals to some guys that we thought might be good later on but were, at best, a speculative punt at this stage, and who had little or no following from fans in America.

 

On the other hand it took the brakes off the board's handing out of finances for new contracts, so it wasn't necessarily all bad, and I doubt we would have signed some of the great Brazilians and European fighters we did if that change in policy hadn't been forced upon us.

 

Nonetheless, there were still cuts to be made as well. Bryan Van Den Hauwe had lost four in a row, and even the recent drop in weight to fight at 185lbs hadn't sparked a return to form, so it was time to let him go.

 

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Napier%20v%20White.jpg

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 7 – Card for Picks

 

Main Event

Middleweight – Neil Napier (17-1) v Adam White (10-0)

 

Co-headliner

Light-Heavyweight – Hyun-Shik Lim (12-1) v William Harrison (4-0)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (15-3) v Valentin Taneyev (7-0)

Heavyweight – Jacco Landeweerd (3-1) v Ozzy Bintley (1-1)

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-10) v Truck Gleeson (21-6-1NC)

Heavyweight – Kanezane Fujii (3-0) v Sam Hoynes (3-0)

[CageRage]

GAMMA on ECT 7 – Card for Picks

 

Main Event

Middleweight – Neil Napier (17-1) v Adam White (10-0)

 

Co-headliner

Light-Heavyweight – Hyun-Shik Lim (12-1) v William Harrison (4-0)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (15-3) v Valentin Taneyev (7-0)

Heavyweight – Jacco Landeweerd (3-1) v Ozzy Bintley (1-1)

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-10) v Truck Gleeson (21-6-1NC)

Heavyweight – Kanezane Fujii (3-0) v Sam Hoynes (3-0)

[Thesnake101]

Main Event

Middleweight – Neil Napier (17-1) v Adam White (10-0)

 

Co-headliner

Light-Heavyweight – Hyun-Shik Lim (12-1) v William Harrison (4-0)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (15-3) v Valentin Taneyev (7-0)

Heavyweight – Jacco Landeweerd (3-1) v Ozzy Bintley (1-1)

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-10) v Truck Gleeson (21-6-1NC)

Heavyweight – Kanezane Fujii (3-0) v Sam Hoynes (3-0)

[eskimo38]

Just read through the story to date - love the retrospective approach!

 

GAMMA on ECT 7 – Card for Picks

 

Main Event

Middleweight – Neil Napier (17-1) v Adam White (10-0)

 

Co-headliner

Light-Heavyweight – Hyun-Shik Lim (12-1) v William Harrison (4-0)

 

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Junior Patinkin (15-3) v Valentin Taneyev (7-0)

Heavyweight – Jacco Landeweerd (3-1) v Ozzy Bintley (1-1)

Lightweight – Bruce Steven (15-10) v Truck Gleeson (21-6-1NC)

Heavyweight – Kanezane Fujii (3-0) v Sam Hoynes (3-0)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/White%20Remains%20Unbeaten.jpg

 

 

In a fight that looks likely to set up the next GAMMA Middleweight title challenger, Adam White got the better of Neil Napier by split decision (49-46, 48-47, 47-48) in a fight that saw the two men largely cancel one another out and provide a rather disappointing finale to the evening.

 

Both the first and second rounds saw White complete a slam takedown on Napier, but each time, Napier was able to secure a tight guard and even threatened to take an arm from his back, whilst White was unable to progress his position. The third saw Napier's first successful takedown, but he was left behind by White's scrambling and unable to secure top position long enough to have any effect. Again in the fourth, White's takedown was largely nullified by Napier's good guard, and in the final round it was Napier with the takedown, but the round ended before he could take advantage.

 

Throughout the fight White has the clear advantage with his striking, so it makes one wonder why he didn't try to keep the fight standing rather than take Napier to the mat, where his defence was very strong. Nonetheless, the judges rewarded White for his forward movement on the feet and for his successful takedowns when rendering their decisions.

 

White moves to 11-0 with his victory and surely has to have his ranking improve from it's previous lowly 18th among GAMMA Middleweights as a result. Champion Petey Mack fights Patrick Thomas for the belt next month, and White would surely be one of the prime contenders for a shot, despite the recent recruitment of foreign stars like Braulio Moura, Heiji Endo and Fjodor Kanchelskis.

 

 

William Harrison showed off some good power in the co-headliner to rock Hyun-Shik Lim a couple of times during their Light-Heavyweight clash, but was unable to finish the Korean off. Lim took some big shots from Harrison, notably a hard right uppercut in the first that put him to the floor, and some heavy fists on the floor in the second after Harrison had effected a neat trip takedown. Lim's durability saw him through to the end of the fight, though all three judges correctly awarded 30-27 cards to Harrison to give him the unanimous decision victory.

 

Unbeaten Light-Heavyweight Valentin Taneyev finally came unstuck at the hands of the experienced and savvy Junior Patinkin. After trading (failed) takedown attempts for most of the first round, Patinkin eventually got his man to the mat, and repeated the trick in the second and third, but did little more that maintain top position on each occasion, which made for a less interesting fight thn we thought was in store. Taneyev had little answer to Patinkin's smothering ground game, and it was unfortunate that we didn't see more of his own from an attacking position, but Patinkin was just too good on the night to let that happen. The judges scored it 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, and Patinkin was keen to challenge Affonso Villar in his post-match interview, though it;s likely that Villar is in line for a title shot before that happens and Patinkin may need to look elsewhere in the short term.

 

English Heavyweight Ozzy Bintley showed the benefit of a good takedown defense, as he denied all four of Jacco Landeweerd's attempts to get him to the mat, then landed one of his own. Bintley's solid sprawl forced Landeweerd to change tactics and try trading strikes in the second round, but this proved hi undoing, as Bintley twice rocked him with straight rights, and once on rubbery legs was finished off by another beauty of a right hand from Bintley, who took the KO with nine seconds remaining in the second round.

 

Two guys with recent struggles met up at Lightweight, with Bruce Steven coming out on top of John “Truck” Gleeson, after taking him to the mat and securing an armbar from mount. Gleeson has now lost three straight, and it shows the lack of depth there has been in the division that before tonight's contest he was ranked as GAMMA's #7 Lightweight. Steven walked away with $150k in bonuses for Submission of the Night and Fight of the Night.

 

The opener saw a controversial call, with referee Harry Bierce taking a point from Texan Sam Hoynes for grabbing the fence to prevent being taken down in the third round, which seemed harsh given that it was his first infraction and we have recently seen a number of fence grabs go unpunished. After two rounds in which Hoynes had the better output in his striking than opponent Kanezane Fujii, he will also have had a gripe with the judges, who scored the fight a majority decision in favour of Fujii, 29-27, 29-27, 28-28. The scoring seemed a little arbitrary, and whilst Fujii certainly won the third round, Hoynes seemed to have had the better of the first two, and even with the deducted point, Blurcat.com scored it 28-28.

 

 

 

 

GAMMA on ECT 7 Quick Results

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/GAMMA%20on%20ECT%207%20results.png

 

Pick scores

TheSnake101 - 5/6 (73/95)

eskimo38 - 4/6 - thanks very much for the comments

CageRage - 3/6 (111/173)

[batsnumbereleven]

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Sam%20Hoynes.gif

 

Sam Hoynes

 

Too right I felt badly done to by the ref - that was a complete and utter stitch-up! And I felt even worse after hearing the scores – there was no way I'd lost either of the first two rounds!

 

 

 

 

MMC announced their first event, to be headlined by Christopher Sharp and Carl Ratcliffe facing off for the MMC Openweight Title. Despite Lance Decker's criticisms of GAMMA's lack of fights per card, MMC1 initially advertised just five fights. MMC also revealed a deal with America Sports 1 for TV shows, the same company who host ALPHA-1 and German promotion SIGMA, and with Pay-per-View outlet North America Prime Select, giving Lance Decker a huge platform for his new company.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Michael Frankley

 

Whilst Decker was setting up MMC, we had a Heavyweight Title bout in hand, and Vegas were making the challenger a hot favourite to take the title away. The problem from our perspective was that you never knew what you were going to get with Sarkisian – sometimes he put on the greatest show out there, but others he would just grind away for the result. Carlton, on the other hand, was coming off a pretty poorly received first defence of the title against Tank Manu'a.

 

On the undercard we had a swathe of new fighters, but some of them I had high hopes for. Former BCF Heavyweight Rav Kapur had looked a class above in his European appearances, and Niko Soldo had been criminally underused in SIGMA.

 

 

 

 

 

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy352/batsnumbereleven/Carlton%20v%20Sarkisian.jpg

 

 

GAMMA 49 card for picks

 

Main Event

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Jeff Carlton (c ) (35-7) v Armen Sarkisian (26-3)

Co-headliner

Middleweight – Buddy Garner (14-2) v Matthew Dean (33-6)

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Niko Soldo (15-1-1) v Marku Mikkola (5-0)

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (15-1) v Kendall Tracey (9-2)

Heavyweight – Rav Kapur (10-0) v Paulo Sergio Parente (6-3)

Welterweight – Evan Gardner (5-1) v Gus Fitzpatrick (1-0)

Lightweight – Dana Delaney (8-4-1NC) v Xavi Castillejo (1-1)

Featherweight – Britt Dickering (3-1) v Gonkuro Miyagi (2-1)

[KnowYourEnemy]

GAMMA Heavyweight Championship

Jeff Carlton (c ) (35-7) v Armen Sarkisian (26-3)

Armen... shouldn't be in Heavyweight at all. He's money at SUPER Heavyweight, not just regular heavyweight. He steamrolls Carlton probably with a quick knockout to the chin.

Co-headliner

Middleweight – Buddy Garner (14-2) v Matthew Dean (33-6)

Going with my C-Verse fellow Garner here -- just a feeling -- 39 fights in is a whole lot of wear and tear.

Undercard

Light-Heavyweight – Niko Soldo (15-1-1) v Marku Mikkola (5-0)

Mikkola has a really cool nickname -- but little else.

Light-Heavyweight – Anthony LeToussier (15-1) v Kendall Tracey (9-2)

Heavyweight – Rav Kapur (10-0) v Paulo Sergio Parente (6-3)

Welterweight – Evan Gardner (5-1) v Gus Fitzpatrick (1-0)

Lightweight – Dana Delaney (8-4-1NC) v Xavi Castillejo (1-1)

Featherweight – Britt Dickering (3-1) v Gonkuro Miyagi (2-1)

Pretty sure most these guys are re-gens -- got no idea who they are, but going based on records here.