Jason Dent and George Comer Added to Fight Night in the Flats 8

Jason Dent and George Comer suit up the same night for GriffonRawl to take on tough opponents at NAAFS 8^th annual Fight Night in the Flats.

Comer makes his second outing as a pro against the 2011 lightweight amateur champion, Khama Worthy (8-2) who is on a 4 fight winning streak. Those 4 fights have all been in NAAFS, surprisingly, they have no opponents in common. This will be Worthy's pro debut, and Comer's first fight since August 2011.

Jason makes his first appearance in a NAAFS cage since last June, and will take on a very dangerous striker named James Warfield (22-10). Warfield makes his NAAFS debut looking to reverse a 3 fight losing streak (all decisions) and get back in the win column going against the most accomplished opponent of his career in UFC vet in Jason Dent.  Look for Warfield to try and escape the 'decision to a loss' pattern and return to the 10 fight winning streak of KO's that opened his pro career with an aggressive first round attack.

Tickets for the event are available at GriffonRawl from either Jason or George. We encourage you to buy from them, it's an important part of how they get paid. Please support the fight team! (440-358-9371 )

For the full fight card, event time & date and maps, please see the Event listing

James Warfield v Ted Worthington

Video streaming by Ustream

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Two Belt Promotions at GriffonRawl

Brad Bentley and Matt Vaccariello have been steadily improving their jiu-jitsu skills, and head of the Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy at Team GriffonRawl took notice. On Wednesday night after class Jeff Starr promoted Brad Bentley to the rank of Purple Belt and Matt Vaccariello to the rank of Blue Belt

Matt and Brad's hard work and dedication earned them their promotions. Consistency in training is the key to progress. Take a moment to congratulate Matt and Brad when you see them at the academy. Congratulations again, Matt and Brad

Written by:  Bob Donaghy

Four GR Grapplers Place at the Kumite Classic

Congratulations to four GR Grapplers who traveled to Pittsburgh, PA this weekend to participate in the Kumite Classic and brought back enough awards to start their own Wall of Fame.

Ryan Lose and Joe Callari closed out both Gi and No Gi in their weight class.  Jon Reeves and Cody Lewis placed in their classes as well.

Details from Joe Callari: Ryan went 4-0 in gi he won the first 3 by points then beat me in the finals at a rear naked choke, I went 3-1 in gi.  I won first by points, second by armbar, third by points then lost to Ryan in finals. Cody went 1-1 won by triangle choke then lost the next one by armbar. John went 0-2 in gi lost by points then lost by triable to Cody. In no gi Ryan went 3-1 one first by anaconda, won second by armbar, won third by points then lost to me in finals by darce choke. I went 4-0 in no gi won first by kimura, second by armbar, third by guillotine choke then beat Ryan in finals with darce choke. Cody went 2-1 won first by armbar second by armbar. lost in finals by points. Jon went 1-1 lost by triangle then one by rear naked choke.......... Ryan came in first in gi and second in no gi..... I came in second in gi and first in no gi..... Cody came in second in gi and no gi..... John came in second in no gi

Next year it would be great to send an even bigger group down, and collect some more gold!

For videos, try Joe Callari's YouTube Channel here

Written by Bob Donaghy

Dent Drops a UD in PA Show

After winning in Iowa on 4/7, Jason Dent was looking forward to a fast turn around with a 4/20 debut fight in Bellator. When his opponent withdrew within days of the event, there was no time to locate a replacement and the fight was scratched from the card.  In keeping with his resolve to keep busy in 2012, Jason quickly located an alternative.

Pure MMA, a fledgling promotion in Eastern, PA, had a show coming up in 10 days.  His opponent would be Rustam Khabilov, a complete unknown here. Some research showed Khabilov had more than just a 12-1 record, he was also the 2009 M-1 Challenge World Lightweight champ, and the World (and Russian National) Combat Sambo champion. His last MMA fight was a UD win against Rodrigo Roberio (World Lightweight BJJ champion) in Jakarta, Indonesia. What was this guy doing in a small show in Wilkes-Barre, PA? Ask his coach, Greg Jackson.

Khabilov has been a Greg Jackson special project for about 6 months. In that time he's fought and won three times. This was his US debut and Jason Dent was his first outing against a UFC vet.  Like most Greg Jackson game plans, it went well.

Jason came out fast and pushed the pace hard in all three rounds, but his pressure was met with precise strikes and Sambo trips. All three rounds went to the ground quickly and ended with Jason on the bottom defending strikes. The judges saw it as a Unanimous Decision for Khabilov.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Matt Porter Makes Blue Belt

At the begining of class tonight GR Black Belt Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Jeff Star's students had the pleasure of watching a well earned Blue Belt awarded to Matt Porter. Congratulations Matt on your hard work and achievement. This shows the benefit of attending classes on a regular basis.

Make sure the next time you see Matt you congratulate him on his accomplishment. Anyone else looking to obtain rank should attend classes consistently and stick around to free roll when you can. Getting ranked requires you to be training and rolling in a gi during classes. Jeff looks at your skill but also your attendance. The more time you put on the mat the better you will get.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Carabello Over Walker at Bellator

For those of us unable to go to the IX Center last night, it was frustrating to watch the live stream on the Internet. The stream started late, and picked up the action about a minute into the 4^th round of Donny's Walker's fight with Frank Carabello.

What we saw was Carabello controlling the distance in the fight with his right, and Walker trying to get inside. From the comments of the announcers, that had pretty much been the fight up to that point. Carabello had controlled the action, and had won the first three rounds.

At 2:25 of the 4th Carabello over extended himself and Walker stepped inside to deliver a left, Carabello countered with a flying knee that caught Walker flush on his chin and he dropped.  The announcers sid Carabello had been using that combination all through the fight, and finally changed it up once he had Walker's timing down.

The rest of the results follow:

MAIN CARD RESULTS

• Eddie Alvarez def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:14
• Andreas Spang def. Brian Rogers via knockout (punches) - Round 2, 3:34 - middleweight tourney semifinal
• Maiquel Falcao def. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29) - middleweight tourney semifinal
• Rick Hawn def. Lloyd Woodard via KO (punch) - Round 2, 0:10 - lightweight tourney semifinal
• Brent Weedman def. Thiago Michel via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) - lightweight tourney semifinal
  

PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

• Jessica Eye def. Anita Rodriguez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• John Hawk def. Marcus Vanttinen via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Attila Vegh def. Dan Spohn via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Frank Carabello def. Donny Walker via knockout (flying knee) - Round 4, 2:25
• Julian Lane def. Joe Heiland via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 2:49
  

Written by: Bob Donaghy

New Jason Dent Interview up on YouTube

Jason completed a very frank and revealing phone interview on April 19th with Mike Radich. He talks about his time in TUF in detail, and the effect it had on his fight career. He covers his fights with George Sotiropoulos, Chris Lozano, Paul Bird and goes into his fight plans for 2012 and beyond.

If you want to know what's going on in the head of GR's Head Coach, give a listen




Thanks to Mike Radich for posting the interview. See Mike's other interviews here:




Written by: Bob Donaghy

Jason Dent on Sherdog Jones v Evans

Sherdog has a recurring article in which they poll professional fighters on upcoming events.  GR's Jason Dent is a frequent contributor. 

Edited from Sherdog:

On Saturday night in the Philips Arena down in Atlanta, the UFC’s most marketable grudge match will finally take place. Former training partners Jon Jones and Rashad Evans haven’t exactly been the closest of friends over the years, and after multiple postponements and a landfill worth of trash talk, the two light heavyweights will be able to prove which is superior.

Champion Jones has been on an absolute tear ever since his debut in the UFC, and there appears to be no sign of him slowing down. However, Evans, a former champion at 205, is going to be Jones’ stiffest challenge to date. An illustrious wrestler who has become an upper echelon-level striker, Evans could be the lone man thus far to not only give the champion problems -- he could beat him.

Jones is a terrific wrestler in his own right, and his unorthodox striking -- coupled with his tree branch-like reach – makes hi m the slight favorite entering the contest. He’s determined to keep the title around his waist and prove that it is he, not his adversary, who is the king of the light heavies. The bout’s outcome realistically is a toss-up, but Sherdog.com has found quite a few experts on the subject. Read on to see how dozens of professional fighters and trainers picked Jones vs. Evans:

Jason Dent: I'm picking Jon Jones to win by referee stoppage in round three. I would love to see an upset here, and my heart is with Rashad, but my mind says Jones. Jones is just too gifted in every aspect. He has the height and the reach advantage on just about everyone in the division and his confidence is at an all time high, which makes him very dangerous as well. Plus, he trains out of Jackson’s.

Link to the article on Sherdog

Written by Bob Donaghy

Dent v Bird Fight Video

Jason won his fight in Iowa on April 7th by kimura. Paul Bird has just posted the video to his YouTube channel. We may not get to see Jason fight in Bellator this weekend, but this is pretty good too.

Enjoy



Written by Bob Donaghy

New GRTeam Board Shorts in Stock

New GR Board Shorts now available and in stock in our Team colors. They are available in both kids and adult sizes. Stop by the Pro Shop before they're all gone!