Last Friday, I.C.E hosted “Hostile Take Over” at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Worcester. The venue was sold out and had a similar setup as to the Holiday Inn. There were several Muay Thai fights, a grappling match, and even a stick fight, where two combatants beat each other silly with sticks; hence the name. Here is how the MMA fights went.
Dan Lopez (Extreme) vs. Dominic Warr (Wai-Kru) 160lbs
Round 1: Lopez teeps and the two trade leg kicks. Lopez slips and Warr rushes in and the two clinch. Lopez lands a right hand that drops Warr. Warr is able to shoot for a double and gets the take down while Lopez attempts the guillotine. Warr is able to pass the guard, mounts and lands a few strikes.
10-9 Warr
Round 2: The two briefly trade and Warr gets the single leg. Warr mounts and attempts an armbar. He gets it secure on his second attempt.
Winner: Dominic Warr by armbar 1:35 of Round 2
John Ortolani (Dragon Warrior) vs. Ray Shawdee (Blazing Sun) 170lbs
Round 1: Ortolani shoots in for the single, picks up Shawdee and gets a big slam. Shawdee is able to stand up and answer back with his own single. The two scramble on the floor and Shawdee takes the back and sinks in the RNC.
Winner: Ray Shawdee by RNC 1:52 of Round 1
Mike DiFalvo (BMAC) vs. Evan Parker (MMA Training) 145lbs
Round 1: The two trade strikes sparingly. Parker seems to be the better striker landing a few. The round ends with the two clinching trade shots to the body.
10-9 Parker
Round 2: The two trade strikes, Parker gets a takedown but stands right back up. The two clinch with Parker landing several knees. DiFalvo tries to jump guard a few times with no luck. DiFalvo falls back looking like he doesn’t want to fight anymore and the ref stops the fight. After some confusion, they allow the two to fight again. DiFalvo tries to jump guard again but Parker keeps standing up. DiFalvo does not answer the bell for the 3rd round.
Winner: Evan Parker by TKO 4:00 of Round 2
Saul Almeida (Dragon Lair) vs. Jacob Irons 155lbs
Round 1: Irons tries to rush in and swings wildly. Irons attempts a takedown, tries for some ankle lock and gets Almeida in his guard. Almeida is moving from guard to side control with his hand/forearm across Irons’ neck. Irons taps saying he’s unable to breathe from the hold.
Winner: Saul Almeida by choke 1:43 of Round 1
Joe Rodriquez (Chaos) vs. Tony Lugo (Elite) 255lbs
Round 1: Rodriquez tosses a leg kick and the two clinch. Lugo tosses Rodriquez to the floor and mounts. He punches Rodriquez twice which makes him tap.
Winner: Tony Lugo by TKO 1:32 of Round 1
Joe Brennan (Extreme) vs. Emmanuel Reveira (EWKK) 125lb
Round 1: Brennan gets the takedown and takes the back. Brennan loses it but establishes guard. Reveira tries an arm choke while in Brennan’s guard.
Round 2: Brennan gets the takedown and Reveira attempts a guillotine. Reveira lets go and attempts a triangle. Brennan escapes and goes for a heelhook then transitions to a toe hold.
Winner: Joe Brennan by toe hold 2:52 of Round 2
Steve Butler (Dragon Warrior) vs. Nick Evangelis (Fenix Fight Club) 155lbs
Round 1: Evangelis catches a mid kick from Butler and gets the takedown. Butler is able to stand back up and the two clinch. Evangelis gets another takedown and he mounts and attempts an armbar. Butler defends but gets caught in a triangle. The round ends with some confusion as to whether Butler tapped before the bell or after.
Winner: Nick Evangelis by triangle choke 2:59 of Round 1
Mandela Kponou (Dragon Lair) vs. John Clarke (Wai-Kru/Simmler BJJ) 185lbs
Round 1: Kponou tosses a 1,2 kick combo. Clarke catches the kick and gets the takedown. Kponou establishes guard and tries to stand back up while Clarke punches away to the body. Kponou stands back up and attempts a head kick but slips. Clarke rushes in and keeps Kponou on the ground.
10-9 Clarke
Round 2: Kponou kicks and Clarke catches and gets another takedown. Kponou works hard landing several shots and attempts a triangle. Clarke slips out of the triangle and Kponou stands. Clarke ankle picks Kponou and lands several shots. Kponou stands right back up and as Clarke attempts to stand he eats a kick right to the face. Clarke claims he was a down opponent (he had one arm on the ground) but the referee just looks at him blankly for awhile before letting the fight continue. The round ends with the two standing.
10-9 Kponou
Round 3: Clarke shoots in for the single, passes the guard and attempts for a kimura. He lets go to attempt an americana. Kponou fights both attempts and is able to stand back up only to get taken down again. The round ends with Clarke mounting and punching away.
10-9 Clarke
Winner: John Clarke by UD (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
It was an interesting night of fights. Some of the fights were entertaining especially the stick fight. However, the referee needed to be a little more assertive since there was confusion several times in the ring when the fight was stopped and he allowed the fight to continue. Also, it was somewhat hysterical to see the promoters advertise their after party at Hurricane Betty’s (it’s a strip club) when there were several kids/families in attendance.
Doak8
on Apr 15th, 2009
@ 8:51 PM:
Steve Butler never tapped. He was choked unconscious and the Ref stopped the fight.
As far as the event itself. Absolutely no control over the crowd. I was sitting in $45 reserved seating. Once the fights began, everyone in the standing $30 GA section rushed into the empty $60 reserved seats. Wouldn’t have been a big deal but they all stood up blocking the view of the $45 section. It almost erupted into fisticuffs a few times as angry seated folks were screaming at the standing folks. Could have easily been controled if Security had any clue as to what they were doing.
Also, the fights started 45 minutes late. They had two unneccessary intermissions and the raffle was painful to watch as nobody cliamed the prizes and they just kept calling numbers. I think the same kid won every prize. Apparently, MMA fans dont care about a signed photo of Zdeno Chara.
greg
on Apr 15th, 2009
@ 10:01 PM:
I felt like a player that night so I went big for a $60 seat (high roller). Kind of a waste cuz Doak8 is right… people pretty much went and sat wherever they wanted. Every once and a while an event dude would come by and move someone out. But still kind of pisses you off when you plunk down extra cash for no reason.
The closest thing I saw to a fight in the audience was when D-Lauzon jumped over me to get his seat. I thought to myself, “oh no he didn’t” and briefly considered throwing down right there. But since he knocks dudes out professionally and the best I can do is get my ass handed to me virtually on xbox, I backed down. Nah seriously… the crowd at the crowne was pretty calm. Wholesome entertainment for the entire family.
Stick fighting has some room to grow as a sport before it makes it onto showtime. ShoStick?
The pizza at the concession stand looked marvelous but I went for the popcorn instead.
-g
Bonnell
on Apr 16th, 2009
@ 8:12 AM:
not to be disrespectful but, Manny get it together. Your shows are getting better. the John Clarke /Mandela Kponou fight was nice. but other than that it sounds like people are complaining about the simple things. Keeping people in their seats and the flow of the show is the easy part. Hire your security instead of offering a free tshirt to stand guard. These are ticket buyers complaining about the show. try hiring some fighters to work security, they can scout the fights and work security at the same time. and most of them wont have a problem asking someone to move back.
bdouglas
on Apr 16th, 2009
@ 10:22 AM:
Congrats to Clarke….guy is a beast and will do lots of big things in the local scene.
Keith F
on Apr 16th, 2009
@ 12:12 PM:
I’ve been to a few of Manny’s shows. Never as a spectator, always as a corner guy. My only complaint is with one ref (skinny, bald guy) that he always uses. The man litterally puts fighters in danger with his ignorance of the ground. He looks completely lost out there and is never in control of the fight.
greg
on Apr 16th, 2009
@ 8:58 PM:
bdouglas —
agreed on clarke. but he definitely got tagged good a few times on the feet. the cage was pretty small too, which didn’t leave kponou that much room to get away. i think that worked to clarke’s advantage.
would be good to see him focus on his stand up game to complement the really solid ground work.
Kevin the Ref
on Apr 17th, 2009
@ 1:25 PM:
“skinny, bald guy”. Pheww! that rules me out:)
Keith F
on Apr 17th, 2009
@ 3:50 PM:
Ha. Definitely not you Kev. You are the best in the biz.
C G
on Apr 21st, 2009
@ 4:33 PM:
I beleive Mike DiFalvo was hit in the face with one knee on the ground,
although both corners had agreed to no ground and pound.
this means no strikeing to the head or face if the fighter is on the ground.
Most people including the doctor not being aware of this thought the fight was being stopped .
mikeg87xx
on Mar 5th, 2010
@ 11:36 AM:
Hey, I’m Mike Difalvo”"…they go tmy name wrong, it’s Disalvo…haha anyways, for that fight what had happened was the first round started off OK. He landed some good punches and I landed some good kicks, good clinch work from both of us etc. Second round was confusing, my opponent hit me in the back of the head about 5 times, maybe 6, I have it on film I’ll have to dig it up and re-watch it for an accurate count but anyways, I dropped down to a knee, which constitutes as being on the ground, and I still repeatedly took blows to the back of the head, then the ref broke the fight up and told me Such and such just happened the doctor came and looked at me, I wanted to continue so they let me, I was extremely dizzy otherwise but I wanted to continue. After the second round ended someone from my corner apparently told the doctor to stop the fight. He came to inspect me after the second round, I said I didn’t want to stop but John one of my corner men kept saying “Stop the fight stop the fight”. Either way, I’d definitely do a rematch. ::shrug:: OH!, And no, I did not get kneed in the face on the ground just the back of the head shots…