Cleveland, Ohio
Nautica Pavilion
Dan "The Daredevil" Jones (155lbs) was pitted against Instigator Fight Team's Zack Sutek at the region's biggest promotion and event, NAAFS "Fight Night in the Flats." Dan, coming off three straight losses, rededicated himself to training for this fight. As he said prior to the fight, "Whatever happens, I've never trained harder for this fight...I just have to win."
Whatever nerves were present prior to the bout escaped Dan as he entered the cage. He was more patient than ever before, throwing hard and accurate shots to start the contest, but never over-extended himself. He was able to stop an initial few takedown attempts from Zack and when the fight finally hit the ground, Dan was able to get back to his feet quickly. Wanting to strike with Jones, the two premier lightweights were toe-to-toe when Dan hit a nice upper-cut followed by another upper-cut and then a left hook/right straight combination that sent Zutek to the floor, forcing the referee to call a stop to the contest at 1:44 of the very first round.
Dan put an amazing effort into this fight and the training showed in the cage. In his post fight interview, Dan took time to thank EVERYONE at GriffonRawl MMA Academy for a team effort victory. With the win over the previous once-defeated Sutek, Jones has made his presence known once again in the NAAFS lightweight division.
