King of the Cage "Drop Zone"

Mt. Pleasent, Michigan

Aptly named “Drop Zone,” the level of entertainment for Saturday’s King of the Cage at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort dropped faster than coins in the casino’s slot machines. The under card was littered with mismatches and unproven talent, while the main card saw Mac Danzig (Pictures) and James Lee successfully defending their lightweight and light heavyweight weight titles, respectively. Danzig, defending his title for the first time after dismantling Takumi Nakayama (Pictures), won a unanimous judges decision against a game Jason Ireland. Danzig looked tentative as the scrappy Ireland pressed the action early in the first round. Controlling the distance with his jab and leg kicks, the southpaw Ireland kept Danzig on his heels. Hoping to improve his situation, Danzig attempted a hip-toss only to have Ireland counter and land a belly-to-back of his own. After a brief scramble on the ground, Ireland landed a straight left that crumbled the Millenia Jiu-Jitsu fighter. Ireland, searching for a quick finish, pounced on Danzig, who was able to recover from the punch only to find himself locked in a tight guillotine choke. Danzig escaped, passed guard and worked to get his hooks in just as the first round ended. Wanting to push the stand up action, Danzig opened the second frame with a flying knee that connected, but resulted in Danzig on his back. The Irish Tornado then peppered the legs of the butt scooting Danzig. Ireland lowered himself into Danzig’s guard with a right hand that brought that Ireland-friendly crowd to their feet. Once Danzig was able to establish the top position on the ground, he quickly forced Ireland to give up his back. Ireland’s strength and grit would not allow Danzig to improve on the dominate position, as referee Herb Dean (Pictures) was forced to stand the action shortly before the end of the second round. The third stanza saw Danzig prove his mettle by dominating all aspects of the fight. He opened up with two hooks, a shot to the body and a double-leg takedown and then quickly cut through Ireland’s guard. Once in mount, Ireland did not want punches rained down so he gave up his back. As Danzig worked for the choke, referee Dean confusingly halted the action and requested the fighters to stand. After a brief exchange, Danzig secured the challenger’s back again, this time with a leg triangle. With Danzig still working to finish the fight, Dean again warned of an imminent stand up. Appearing to be comfortable on the ground, Danzig attempted an armbar, then transitioning to a Kimura and then heelhook and Ireland deftly defended. When it was clear the heelhook would not finish the fight, Danzig attacked the knee, forcing the leg past 180 degrees. Ireland, showing the heart of a warrior, refused to tap as the round came to a close. Danzig, who was very apologetic after the fight for not finishing his opponent, showed tremendous character being able to come back and control the fight after being dropped with a punch. Ireland proved that he can be a force in the future at 155 pounds. James Lee, with a horde of the MASH team in his corner, improved his record to 18-2 by walking through a haggard-looking Brian Hawkins (Pictures). Hawkins, who has lost a step or four, was outclassed quickly. Lee landed a hard right hand that would have finished the fight, but the champion quickly advanced and locked up the clinch. Had Lee not engaged, Hawkins would have dropped. Lee muscled the fight to the ground, where he ended the action with a heelhook 24 seconds after the opening bell. Charles Bennett (Pictures) attempted to bring his out-of-the-ring flair into the cage, only to get choked out cold at the hands of Buddy Clinton (Pictures) 18 seconds into the bout. As referee Dean gave the fight instructions, Bennett used the opportunity to sniff Clinton like a rabid dog. Straight out of the movie The Matrix, Bennett parried Clinton’s overhand right so deftly that both fighters spun to the ground. Clinton used this chance to lock a deep rear-naked choke. The consummate combatant, Bennett refused to tap while slipping from consciousness. Matt Shaw impressed the crowd by pulling a sneaky armbar out over Derrick Keesley one minute into the second round. The bout was action packed, with both fighters showing quick hands and strong ground work. After calmly fending off a opening flurry by Joe Voisin, Jason Dent forced a tap 4:50 into the first round with a guillotine choke. Brendan Seguin (Pictures) won a unanimous decision over Thomas Russell by controlling the fight with a strong wrestling base. Josh Taibil reigned down punches from the mount after escaping a sloppy armbar attempt from Josh Martin. The strikes induced a referee stoppage at the 2:15 mark. Using his 40-pound weight advantage, Don Richard (Pictures)s armbarred Allen Weikart 1:55 into the first period. Wearing a singlet, a fighter announced to the crowd as “Count Blackula” used a karate style to confuse Tony Forgione early in their bout. However, once the “Count” ate a punch, he ran away attempting to keep Forgione at bay with sidekicks. Forgione danced through the snap kicks and landed some meager punches that compelled “Blackula” to verbally submit two minutes into the bout. Brian Harper choked out Kevin Brent 32 seconds into the opening bout of the evening. Sorry but do to the photographer pulling a no show we have no pictures.Written by:by John Hanlon

North League Extreme Kickboxing 8

Cleveland, Ohio

Once again we returned to McCarthy's Ale House to compete at Extreme Kickboxing 8. This time around we had one debut and two of our veterans making their return. Below you will find the results of this event and see that we ended up going 2-0-1. Our guys fought very hard, very smart, and made me and the rest of our team very proud. Here is a quick breakdown of our guys fights. 1st up was Juice who made short work of his opponent with his viscious knees. 2nd was Anton who looked awesome and nobody could hardly believe it was his debut fight. Anton and his opponet matched up well and it was a very exciting fight. 3rd up and last but not least was Thundercat, Ben looked great and dominated every round. Not many people know this but Ben was actually battling a cold all week and for him to go out there and perfom like that was just awesome. Until the next time !Written by:Jason DentXK 8 Results:Cruiserweight - Ben "Thundercat" Parks (Team GriffonRawl, Cleveland, OH) over Dustin Holbrook (Peak Submission Fight Team) - Split DecisionSuper Heavyweight - Lorenzo Kane (Aharta Inner Power) vs. Anton Jackson (Team GriffonRawl) - Draw155 lbs - Aaron "Juice" Veverka (Team GriffonRawl, Cleveland, OH) over Rob Murden (Kimly's Martial Arts - Columbus, OH) - TKO rd 2For info on the next Extreme Kickboxing event call 330-324-3034 or McCarthy's Ale House at 216-344-9099.

Gladiator Fighting Series "Caged Vengeance"

Cleveland, Ohio

The Gladiators Fighting Series made a triumphant return to Ohio with "Caged Vengeance" on Saturday, February 18th as 32 Mixed Martial Arts warriors put on a show for the ages in front of a capacity crowd at the historic Gray’s Armory in downtown Cleveland.Gladiators Amateur MMA set things in motion with seven explosive bouts featuring some of the top amateurs in the region. Pennsylvania’s Josh McBride made an impressive “Gladiators” debut as he out-muscled a very tough Scott Bickerstaff of Michigan’s Team Shoot in a fight that included one of the best “body slams” of the night from McBride.Home town fighter A.J. Pulling of Team GriffonRawl improved to 3-1 with a strong performance en route to a first round armbar win over a game Carl Miller of Big Rapids, Michigan, who was making his MMA debut, while New York’s Dustin Bloom of team Air-Gadfly escaped early trouble to submit John Myers of Vander Fighting Systems, Dover, Ohio, in a grappling "chess match." Delphos, Ohio's Peak Submission Fight Team made its mark early in the night with two back-to-back wins on the amateur undercard. First, Thomas Russell bounced back from his only career loss to beat Kickboxing champion and Cleveland native Taiwon Howard in what was a very heated match-up. Look for these two to meet again sometime down the road.Then came Peak Submission's second victory as Dustin Holbrook earned a second round TKO over PA’s Matt Barth in a very competitive, action packed bout.Fan favorite Jason Freeman representing Vander Fighting Systems out slugged the previously unbeaten from Ohio's Team Next Level Josh “The Sandman” Stansbury, in what was no doubt the best fight of all the amateur bouts.Both warriors showed tremendous will as neither would give in to the other's take down attempts and battled to the closing seconds of the opening round until a brutal right hand from Freeman ended things for Stansbury who definitely will be heard from again. Freeman meanwhile is considering making his Gladiator's pro debut in June when "Fight Nite in the Flats 2" rolls in to Cleveland for one of the year's biggest MMA events. In the Pro Gladiators MMA ranks, Team GriffonRawl’s Mike “The Bull” Russo put on what may have been his best performance as a professional with a first round submission victory over previously undefeated Chad Truckovich of Ohio's Wreckroom Athletics.Team BOF’s Torrance “The Tyrant” Taylor won his second straight fight in Cleveland as he made his pro debut in the Lightweight division. Taylor's Team HammerHouse opponent Derrick Collins would not make things easy as he fought off the Tyrant's early barrage of knees, while looking for chance to take things to the ground, but in the end it was too much Tyrant as referee Steve Whitehurst called the match midway thru the first round.Peak's Brandon Lee looked to made it three straight wins with a victory over HammerHouse slugger and former high school wrestling champion Richy Karst. Lee came out the aggressor early as he took the fight to Karst in a very fast paced opening minute.After a Karst take down, Lee was able to maneuver his way into an ankle lock which nearly ended the fight, but Karst would not be denied. Eventually both fighters got back on their feet where Karst tried to do his best to get to the now confident Lee.The second round saw much of the same as each fighter took his shot at various submission attempts. Lee would not give up as he continued to work the ankles and legs of a now aching Karst. With nearly a minute left in the second round Karst would not be able to continue and the bout was called giving Lee a hard earned win. Team Strong Style’s Arman Loktev of Cleveland won his third straight fight to start his professional MMA career in an epic battle with Next Level's Luke “The Apostle” Spencer. Loktev showed a well rounded attack as he aggressively looked to engage early and often.Standing for the first minute of the round, each fighter took his shots and looked to score from their feet, but Loktev eventually found an opening and went for the shoot. Once on the ground, Spencer showed great heart as he defended an onslaught of Loktev forearms as the first round ended, but the stage was set for what was to be an action packed second round.The scrappy Spencer opened the second with a nice flurry of right hands that hit their mark, but were unable to slow down the now hungry Loktev. With two minutes gone in the second Loktev finished the fight with strikes from the mount.Pittsburgh’s Jason “Steeltown” Taylor is looking to make a home in Cleveland. A Team BOF standout and 2-0 in bouts taking place in Northeast Ohio, Taylor took on HammerHouse product Tommy “Gun” Ridenbaugh who has taken on all comers early on in his pro career.After battling the unbeaten John Freidland (7-0) and Patrick Horner (13-0) in his previous two bouts, Ridenbaugh now set his sights on the undefeated Taylor (3-0) who came to town with a posse of yellow "Terrible Towel" waving Steeltown fans, which needless-to-say set the tone for a very intense match-up.Taylor opened the fight with a surprise, flying right punch which nearly connected and immediately drew Ridenbaugh's attention. After a brief exchange Taylor was able to get the back of Ridenbaugh and sink in a rear naked choke ala Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg part one.While giving Steeltown fans the one-fingered salute on his way down, Ridenbaugh struggled to fight off the Taylor choke and the fight was stopped much to the dismay of Ridenbagh. Look for a possible rematch between these two warriors in June if both parties can agree on the terms.Next up was hometown product John Soeder of Team Strong Style who looked to settle the score with Black Dragon’s Chris Larkin. This was a rematch of a fight that took place in December of 2005 which was scored a draw and both were anxious to finally decide things for good. In a very strategic battle, Soeder edged out a split decision win over Larkin as each fighter came ready for a war which was exactly what the fans got. . . a war. A well deserved standing ovation was accorded both fighters in a classy move by the C-town fight fans. Look for both fighters to be back on upcoming GFS shows.Wreckroom's Josh Hendricks made it five straight wins with a twenty second KO over KNT Jiu-Jitsu's “Madman” Rick McChristian. Hendricks, a former collegiate all-American wrestler showed off his stand up with a quick combination that put down the 260 lb. McChristian and put himself in the GFS Heavyweight title hunt. Hendricks will likely fight for the championship belt in either June or September and is looking forward to the chance to take the next step in what may be a very successful career in the Heavyweight division.Peak Submission’s Allen Weickert took out the chiseled Matt Hershberger in another exciting LHW match-up. After a quick start by Hershberger, Weickert opened up the arsenal with an impressive display of hand speed which stunned Hershberger who was now backed up against the cage.After a barrage of damaging forearms and hammer fists the fight was stopped and Weickert awarded the TKO win. “Weickert is an extremely talented fighter and has proven himself worthy of a title shot,” said event co-promoter Duke Roufus. Weickert will likely be fighting for the #1 contender slot in June's "Fight Nite in the Flats 2" in Cleveland. In the evening's main event, hometown hero, Jason "Dynamite" Dent, Team GriffonRawl (15-6), took out a very stubborn Clint Zeedyk in a Lightweight showdown. Peak Submission's Zeedyk, who made the jump down from 185, would not go quietly as he fought off an early surge of Dent strikes, but the lack of experience on a pro level showed as Dent was able score with a variety of weapons.Dent finished the first round strong with an overhand right followed by a flying knee that stunned Zeedyk, but was unable to finish him as the bell sounded to end the round. The second round opened with a brief exchange, but once again the more experienced Dent was able to dictate the tempo and wear down the tiring Zeedyk. With just under two minutes left in the second round a quick right connected and dropped Zeedyk and Dent immediately pounced to end the fight. Dent could now be considered the Gladiators Fighting Series # 1 ranked MMA Lightweight and has his sights set on a title shot. Look for Dent and Steeltown to meet down the road with Loktev also making noise amongst the exciting LightweightsSome notable names in the fight game made appearances at Caged Vengeance, including Forrest Petz, Jeff Cox, Ryan Madigan and Dan Bobish who announced his plans to fight this June in Cleveland. Duke Roufus, a lifelong student of the martial arts and 4 time kickboxing world champion, served as the ring announcer for the evening."Caged Vengeance" is proudly sponsored by the SportstalkNetwork.com, McCarthy's Ale House, Progressive Martial Arts Training Center, Ohio Motorcycle/Yamaha, House of Pain, Total Fitness Concepts, HF Screen Printing, Sounds Crazy DJ Service, Combat Sports International and the world wide leader in MMA gaming BetonFighting.com.Gladiators Fighting Series "Fight Nite in the Flats 2" MMA show is set for Saturday, June 10th at the Scene Pavilion in Cleveland. Confirmed fighters will include Dan Bobish, Josh Hendricks, Jason Dent, Allan Weickert, Jason Taylor, Jason Freeman and Torrance Taylor among others.Complete "Caged Vengeance" Results:Pro Card Co-Main Event Results Jason Dent (Team GriffonRawl, Cleveland, OH) over Clint Zeedyk (Peak Submission Fight Team, Delphos, OH) - TKO 1:40 Rd 2Allan Weickert (Peak Submission Fight Team, Delphos, OH) over Matt Hershberger (HammerHouse - Ohio) - TKO 1:19 Rd 1 Josh Hendricks (Wreckroom Athletics, Ohio) over Rick McChristian (KNT Jiu-Jitsu, Ohio) - TKO 0:20 Rd 1Pro Card Feature Bout ResultsJohn Soeder (Team Strong Style, Cleveland, OH) over Chris Larkin (Black Dragon Martial Arts, Ohio) - Split DecisionJason Taylor (Team BOF, Pittsburgh, PA) over Tommy Ridenbaugh (HammerHouse - Ohio) - RNC 1:26 Rd 1Arman Loktev (Team Strong Style, Cleveland, OH) over Luke Spencer (Team Next Level, Ohio) - TKO 2:05 Rd 2Brandon Lee (Peak Submission Fight Team, Delphos, OH)over Richy Karst (HammerHouse - Columbus, OH) - TKO 3:27 Rd 2Torrance Taylor (Team BOF, Cleveland) over Derrick Collins (HammerHouse, Ohio) - TKO 0:56 Rd 1Mike Russo (Team GriffonRawl, Cleveland, OH)over Chad Truckovich (Wreckroom Athletics, Ohio) - Guillotine 1:58 Rd 1Preliminary Amateur Bout ResultsJason Freeman (Vander Fighting Systems, Dover, OH) over Josh Stansbury (Team Next Level, Ohio) - KO 2:43 Rd 1Dustin Holbrook (Peak Submission Fight Team, Delphos, OH) over Matt Barth (PA) - TKO 0:26 Rd 2Thomas Russell (Peak Submission Fight Team, Delphos, OH) over Taiwon Howard (Rising Dragon Martial Arts, Cleveland) - TKO 1:14 Rd 1Dusitn Bloom (Team Air-Gadfly, New York) over John Myers (Vander Fighting Systems, Dover Ohio) - Guillotine 2:20 Rd 1AJ Pulling (Team GriffonRawl, Cleveland, OH) over Carl Miller (Big Rapids, MI) - Submission (Armbar) 0:49 Rd 1Josh McBride (North Eastern Pummeling Den, PA) over Scott Bickerstaff (Team Shoot, MI) - Submission (choke) 1:05 Rd 1Daniel Cliff (WingLam Fight team, Cleveland, OH) over Brody Arnold (Akron, OH) - Submission (choke) 0:46 Rd 1Found on:http://www.prokarateweekly.com/

Dan "Tanis" Rawlings Muay Thai Seminar

Mentor, Ohio

I must say with Dan Rawlings living in Florida and all, we were very lucky to get him up here to do a seminar for us in the middle of February. It was definitly an honor being able to fly Danny up here to teach for us at a full seminar. Danny put on a fantastic four hour Muay Thai clinic that covered everything from footwork, head movement, blocking, striking, clinching, etc. A few of us veterans have trained with Danny before but it was nice to introduce him to all of our new students. To sum up this story the seminar was a HUGE SUCESS in many ways, we got to have Danny up here to train with us, everybody learned alot, and we got to raise a good amount of money towards our future mats. We most definitly are looking foward to having Dan back sometime in the future to do another seminar for us.Good luck to Dan on March 4th as he prepares to do battle in a Pro Muay Thai fight on the Shin Do Kumite fight card down in Florida. Written by:Jason Dent

North League Extreme Kickboxing 6

Cleveland, Ohio

Congrats to Ben "Thundercat" Parks for another dominating perfomance. Ben finally had a fight that lasted a little while. Great fight by Ben and another solid victory for our team.Complete ResultsLee "The Kid" Kreisher over Jimmy "The Hammer" Hughes - Majority DecisionElonzo "Hollywood" Harvey over Brandon "The Blade" Arnold - KO rd1Ricky "The Thriller" Miller over Jason Cadle - TKO rd3Jason Freeman vs Darren Cassidy - Exhibition DrawBen "Thundercat" Parks over "Bad" Josh Barden - TKO rd3Found on:http://www.prokarateweekly.com/

International Combat Events 19

Fairfield, Ohio

Following class late Thursday night on January 19th I got a phone call from Monte Cox looking for fighters to fill his card. Apparently there had been lots of drop outs due to injuries and guys backing out and they were in danger of not having enough fights to have there show. To make a long story short I asked Ben and AJ if theye wanted to fight Saturday night and without hesitation they jumped right at the opportunity. AJ and Ben both finished there opponents in round 1 of their fights. AJ won by rear naked choke and Ben won by verbal submission after delivering a nasty right body kick to his opponents mid section. I am so proud of both of these guys performances and ability to perform so well on such a short notice. Also Cheyenne got to be a corner woman and did a fantastic job assisting me in preping and cornering are guys. Great road trip and one I'm sure we will remember for quite a while.Complete Results:Thomas Baber Def Eric Lovelace TKOScott Zink Def Steve Tyrell SubmissionRich Belanich Def Mike Swank Decision AJ Pulling Def Reno Dahli SubmissionDustin Winterholt Def Gerald Pearson Decision Ben Parks Def Jimmy Flanders SubmissionSteven Banks Def JP Wilson DecisionWritten by:Jason Dent

King of the Cage "Raging Bull"

Cleveland, Ohio

Below you will find the results of all the bouts that happened at this show. Our team fighters will be in bold print. I love the home shows the best because we always get tons of support from our academy members and friends showing up. A BIG Congrats to Dominic on his win at this show he took out a guy who was an undefeated 5-0. Mike looked awesome early and nearly had like 3 submissions but it just wasn't his night and he will be back as he loves to fight. Complete Results1. Jeremy Johnson vs. Rob KewinWINNER: Jeremy Johnson via Kimura Rd 1 @ 1:532. Josh Schockman vs. Keith McIntoshWINNER: Schockman via TKO (Strikes) Rd 13. Loren Bradley vs. Dominic QurazzoWINNER: Qurazzo via TKO Strikes Rd 24. Josh Martin vs. Sesshoumaru TamashiiWINNER: Martin via TKO @ 1:16 in Rd 15. Jerry Spiegel vs. Sean SalmonWINNER: Salmon via Unanimous Judges Decision6. Terry Martin vs. Ron FieldsWINNER: Martin via Guillotine Choke in Rd 2 @ 2:527. Jimmy Boyd vs. Mike RussoWINNER: Jimmy Boyd via TKO in Rd 1 @ 3:468. Brendan Seguin vs. Trevor GarrettWINNER: Garrett via Ref Stoppage (cuts) Rd 2 @ 4:039. Matt Masterson vs. Rex HolmanWINNER: Masterson via Rear Naked Choke @ 3:01 in Rd210. Jake Ellenberg vs. LaVerne ClarkWINNER: Ellenberg via Triangle @ 3:06 in Rd 211. Derek Keasley vs. Jeff CoxWINNER: Keasley via Triangle Choke @ 4:07 in Rd 112. Joey Smith vs. Dan BobishWINNER: Bobish via Tap Out on Strikes in Rd 1Write up and Pics found on:http://www.prokarateweekly.com/

North League Extreme Kickboxing 5

Cleveland, Ohio

Extreme Kickboxing made its highly anticipated debut in Cleveland last Saturday as XK5 took center stage at McCarthy’s Ale House in the Flats. Cheered on by a boisterous standing room only crowd, ten of the regions up and coming young kickboxers put on a show Cleveland fight fans will not soon forget. Leading off was a welterweight clash between XK veteran Lee “The Kid” Kreisher and newcomer Brody “The Irish Wolf” Arnold of Team Project Pain. Arnold and Kreisher wasted no time and immediately went to war with both fighters exchanging scoring blows. In the end, it would be Kresiher’s experience and tenacious attack that proved to be too much for the very game Brody Arnold. Kreisher went on to win by late first round TKO.In the night’s second bout, it was Team GriffonRawl’s “Big” Ben Parks taking on Pete “The Madman” Beamer of Dover, Ohio. Parks showed much improvement since his last appearance in the XK ring and used his reach advantage to score early and often. After nearly connecting with a right leg high kick, Parks showed his versatility by ending the fight with an overhand right in the second round.Next up was Macedonia’s Brad “The Mind Killer” Kidd taking on Rising Dragon Karate’s Alonzo “Hollywood” Harvey. In what would be the fight of the night, both fighters battled in a grueling five round war which saw non stop action from the opening bell. Harvey was able to knock down Kidd several times during the course of the fight but to Kidd’s credit, was never able to finish him. Kidd has several good flurries of his own ending the second and fourth rounds however Harvey, who seemed to feed off the crowd’s energy, used his quickness to avoid any serious damage and went on to win a unanimous decision.Aaron Veverka added another win to his XK resume with a third round TKO over The Pit’s John “The Lumberjack” Myers. Both fighters did most of their scoring early on from the clinch as the more experienced Veverka looked to chip away from the inside. After recovering from an inadvertent low blow, “The Juice” took control of the fight and opened the third round with a flurry of knees and right hands that prompted referee Lorenzo Scott to stop the fight. The main event featured home town favorites Dominic Qurazzo and Mike Perry in a battle of XK heavyweights. Perry would open strong in the first with a variety of jabs and stiff punches that temporarily slowed Qurazzo’s usual aggressive attack. Qurazzo countered with combinations of his own capped off by devastating low kicks which would take their toll as the fight went on. The pace slowed in the third as Qurazzo would come out with a sense of urgency and looking to end the fight while continuing to pepper the left thigh of Perry. One final low kick was the synching blow as Qurazzo went on to win via third round TKO. Look for both of these great young heavyweights to be back on future XK show soon!Extreme Kickboxing six is set to return to McCarthy’s Ale House on January 28th, 2006. Tickets go on sale soon and will not last long. Reserve yours today by calling 330-324-3034.Write up and Pics found on:http://www.prokarateweekly.com/

Extreme Combat Challenge "Halloween Havoc 2"

New Castle, Indiana

Team GriffonRawl warriors A.J. Pulling and Dominic Qurazzo both made successful MMA debuts in devasting fashion. Niether one of their first opponents made it out of the first round. A.J. ended up being placed in a four man tournament while Dominic would have been happy to do the same but they only had one opponent for him on this night. The trip was a pleasure as everyone got along great and made the five hour drive seem like like two. Below you will find some details on both of our guys fights.A.J. - His first match was under 30 seconds long. A.J's match ended with A.J. sprawling on his opponent then delivering a nice knee to the head and quickly spinning taking his opponents back getting his hooks in and raining down bombs to get the ref stoppage. Not only did A.J. fight once but he entered the cage again for a second time on this night in an attempt to capture a 4 man tourney. A.J. ended up getting caught in a chicken wing from the side mount and was forced to tap out. I think A.J. would crush this guy in a rematch as he is way better all around and just got caught. Dominic - Dominic's fight also ended in round 1 as his opponent came out throwing some leather in which Dominic countered by showing off his takedown skills by quickly getting the take down. Dominic showed great body head combos from within the guard and was then able to pass and get side mount on his opponent. Dominic unleashed some nasty ground and pound and right at the end of the round Dominic opened up with a nasty flurry of punches that were badly hurting his opponent and was very close to getting ref stoppage but the bell sounded. His opponent stood up and almost fell right back down he was so rocked. As you would guess the guy didn't want anymore punishment and was unable to answer the bell for round 2. Great job guys win or lose stepping in that cage/ring takes a lot of courage which most people never have. Written by:Jason Dent

Relson Gracie Nationals Tournament

Columbus, Ohio

The BJJ Gi & Nogi tournament down in Columbus was a great time. Combined with the Griffonrawl team, we had 10 competitors. Here are the results as I remember them: Jason Dent: Jason won his blue belt gi division with some hard fought matches and an exciting final ending with Jason finishing his opponent with a guillotine. Mike Russo: Mike went 2 and 1 for the day, if I remember correctly, catching his final opponent with a nice footlock from the bottom. Mike took the bronze in his blue belt division. AJ: AJ looked great in his no-gi division and after posting a nice win, had an absolute war with Jamie Toney, who went on to win the division. Lucas Beatty: Lucas had a great tournament. He won the silver in his gi division (though he should have won the gold. . . hooray for unfair refs. . .). Lucas also competed in the no-gi 155 and under division and easily dispatched of his first two opponents to reach the quarterfinals. Lucas bowed out in the next round to Jason Fox, an RGDA brown belt who runs our Indiana affiliate. Darren Branch: Darren took the gold in his gi division and showed some serious takedowns that were the talk of the tournament. He also competed in the no-gi 155 and under division (weighing 135) and lost by sub to Robert Bihn, who ended up taking the division. Pete Sherer: Pete took silver in his first tournament ever. His were some of the most exciting matches of the tournament. Pete came from behind in his first match (he was mounted) and spun for a nice armbar from the bottom to finish the match. Not bad for a 250+ lb'er with only a few months of experience. Steven Grubkin: With only 2 months of training, Steven showed a great deal of heart and awesome defense in his gi and no-gi matches. Everyone was proud to see Steven stay cool under pressure and mount some exciting offense as well. Greg Wallace and Bobby Gilliam: Greg and Bobby both lost their first round matches to very game opponents. Donald Park: I entered the no-gi 155 and under division. I won my first four matches against some tough opponents and ended up facing Robert Bihn in the finals. Robert is a great grappler who runs Gracie Barra Cincinnati. Robert showed great defense against my guard attacks and the match ended up 0-0 after regulation. A sudden death overtime was called and Robert scored the takedown as I was jumping guard, giving him the win. Again, everyone did really well at the tournament and it was great to join forces once again.Written by:Donald Park