Last Friday I attended the Moosin event at the DCU Center and I have to admit, it was pretty awesome.  The place was absolutely packed, and the crowd was crazy.  I haven’t been able to get an official attendance number, but I’ve heard anywhere between 4500-7000. Bottom line is, the crowd was  big…really big. The show had the perfect mix of local talent and national/world wide talent to catch the attention of any MMA fan, and I loved the big, giant flame machines that went off when guys walked to the cage. That, combined with the video screens, lights and smoke made for a really cool event.

Paul Barry (SSSF) vs. Stipe Miocic (Strong Style Fight Team)

The ring announcer announced the wrong name for Stipe…called him Anthony Lapsley, but he eventually got it right. The first round was pretty back and forth, with Paul looking to counter. Stipe hit him with a few clean shots, but Barry didn’t look hurt, and kept composed looking to counter. He did look to be the better boxer, but never really let his hands go. I gave Stipe the first round because he landed more punches and bloodied Paul up. Early in round 2, Stipe took Paul down and just kept throwing, and throwing and throwing until he earned the TKO. It didn’t look like he landed a ton of clean shots, but he never let up and never gave Paul a chance to improve his position.

Fred Belleton (SSSF) vs. Anthony Lapsley (Wolfpack MMA)

Fred came to the ring with a knee brace on, and I immediately wondered what was up with his knee. I’m sure Lapsley thought the same, and he went right at it. He took Fred down and attacked the knee, locking up a kneebaaahhh that got Fred to tap in just under a minute. If I were a fighter, and my knee was injured, I’d try to avoid wearing a brace because while it may help your knee, it also paints a giant target on it as well.

Matt Lee (Fight Factory) vs. Brett Oteri (Team Aggression)

I forget what song Brett came out to, but I wrote down “great entrance music for Brett” so I figured I’d include that. Anyone remember what it was? Both guys looked good in round 1, with both guys taking the other down, then both worked well from the bottom to get back up. Brett started to really telegraph his kicks, and Matt was able to land counters. I’m not sure if Brett was trying to set something up, or bait Matt with the kicks, but a few of them were spotted from a mile away. Matt was able to land a big right while Brett was kicking, and he dropped Brett. He jumped on him but Brett defended well and survived the round. Matt looked extremely confident early in round two, and he started to push the pace and stalk Brett. I didn’t see what happened to start the trouble, but Brett turned away a little and Matt jumped on him, and dropped him earning the TKO. I heard a few different opinions on what caused Brett to retreat. One guy thought something landed to the body that hurt him, another said it was a punch to the eye/nose area that momentarily blurred his vision, and another guy told me it was a finger in the eye. I had a terrible angle on it and couldn’t see it on replays either. If anyone had a better look than me, please post it.

Ralph Johnson (Fight Factory) vs. Forrest Petz (Strong Style Fight Team)

This fight was one of the best ones of the night. They both beat the hell out of each other. I had Ralph winning round one by basically landing more punches. Petz tried to take him down a bunch, but Ralph kept hitting him in the clinch, and avoided the mat. Petz did land a good hook late in the roundm but I still thought Ralph won this round. Round two was almost all Petz. He was throwing more and he looked to really find his range. He wasn’t really picking Ralph apart, but he was landing more, and landing bigger. My notes from round 3 said “neither landing a ton early in round 3, Petz somehow bloody, both flurry and land a ton in the last minute…no idea who won this round, or the fight.”

That said, I have no idea how one judge had it 30-27 Petz. The other two had it 29-28 Petz. Either way, this was a big step up for Ralph and he looked to belong.

Ho Jin Kim (Jeongsim) vs. Lukasz Jurkowski (AKS Chorzow)

The crowd went nuts for Lukasz. You’d think we were at a soccer game in Poland or something. Lukasz jumped all over him, dropped him with a big knee and some punches for the TKO and the place went crazy.

Tara LaRosa (Philadelphia Fight Factory) vs. Roxy Modafferi (New England Submission Academy)

This was a HUGE fight for Women’s MMA, as both are top 10 in the world. The fight lived up to the hype with both girls dropping the other during the fight, and both attempting and fighting off submissions. The fight was packed with action and Roxy clearly won round 1, and the other 2 were close. I wish I had more play by play on this fight, but I got yelled at for watching the fight from an area other than the press area, then had to talk to the publicist and explain why I wasn’t in the press area and missed part of the action. Roxy took the unanimous decision in her biggest win to date.

Yves Edwards (ATT) vs. Mike Campbell (Sit Yod Tong)

This fight was fucking great. I had Mike winning round one because he landed more punches, and pushed the pace. Both guys were cut, and both guys kept banging. Mike also had a takedown in round one that helped earn the round for him. Round two had both guys showing flashes of brilliance. Yves took Mike’s back at one point, and also had a huge, and I mean huge slam. Yves threw a lazy headkick that nearly landed and I took a note of  “a real one would have landed” and I expected Yves to go back to it, but he didn’t. Mike was winning the exchanges and was all over Yves on the feet, but continued to try to take the fight to the ground, and continued to get in trouble when he did. In round 3, Mike is again the busier fighter, is winning the exchanges but keeps shooting. I have no idea why because Yves would always wind up on top, and had Mike in some bad spots. When they got back to their feet, Mike would go back to landing more. With about 30 seconds left Yves took Mike down and again took his back. Mike reversed him at the bell, but it was very close. All 3 judges had it 29-28 Campbell and it looked like he was given the nod because he was doing damage. Yves would take top position, and even took the back but never really did anything with it…never landed big GNP, never was close on a submission. I have to assume that played a big role in the scoring.

Travis Lutter (Lion’s Den) vs. Rafael Natal (Renzo Gracie)

Lutter was never able to get on track. Natal had enough takedown defense to keep the fight standing, and Lutter couldn’t strike with him. Natal made Lutter look really bad at times, and won by first round TKO. A big uppercut started the trouble.

Travis Wiuff (Elite Performance) vs. Josh Barnes (Wolfpack MMA)

Travis landed a perfect hook very early on and jumped on Barnes with more clean shots and ended the fight in about 30 seconds.

Tim Sylvia (MFS) vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski

Pudz had an awesome ring entrance, the place was electric and I’m not sure if all of it translated to PPV. Before the fight, I really didn’t care about it and didn’t think either guy would get me into the fight…but it was really, really cool. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen live (behind Kimbo vs. Gannon). Tim looked fat and uninterested, and Pudz looked focused and ready to kill as he was walked to the ring by a rapper. The crowd was stomping their feet, chanting and clapping and even sang the national anthem along with the polish singer. The Americans weren’t to be out done, so they sang along with the American Anthem. The fight itself kinda sucked though. Pudz landed a few good leg kicks, but most of the fight was fought from the clinch and other than Pudz throwing Tim to the mat early in the fight, it was all Tim. He was able to take Pudz down early in round two and Pudz couldn’t get away as Tim landed short punches. Pudz tapped as the referee was about to stop it. It looked a bit like Roy Nelson vs. Kimbo.

All in all, I loved the event. The pace of the event was great, and my only complaint was the security. They had some friends and family of fighters seated inside the ringside area and they kept standing up and getting in the way. I was in the 3rd row and had trouble seeing at certain points, and they stood up all around me as well, so I couldn’t even see the screens. Nobody was telling people to stop standing on their chairs, and that drives me crazy. Other than that, the event was awesome and I’ll definitely buy, or attend their next event.