AFO NEW YEAR’S REDEMPTION REVIEW
From: Old School
The Boys from the AFO, Promo Pete and Matchman Mark, hosted a truly electrifying MMA show at the Mansfield Holiday Inn Saturday night, Jan. 8th. The full house was sold out in advance, thanks in great part to headliner Steve Dunn, who had his own section reserved, taped off, and hermetically sealed (empty, but ready) well before the doors opened. The night featured nine amateur fights (3x3minute rounds), four pros (3×5 minute rounds), and two championship pros (5×5 minute rounds). With Ring Boy Chuck calling the shots and the fans starting fill up the seats, we were ready to start the amateur card…
Fight #1
155 lbs.
Anson “The Natural” Hatfield (0-0) Big Paw
Lucas “Barely Legal” Cruz (0-0) Wai Kru / Tapout
The two teenage warriors meet in the cage center and begin trading kicks, high and low. Hatfield misses with a nice spinning backfist. An accidental groin kick forces a brief pause in the action… Anson is landing punches when he is dropped by a leg kick. He is back up, but Cruz is drilling him with more leg kicks. Cruz drops Hatfield with another leg kick. (If this keeps up, Anson Hatfield’s grandkids are gonna walk with a limp!) Lucas lands some ground and pound and eventually works for the rear naked choke and gets the tap out!
Winner by RNC, Lucas Cruz at 2:57 of Round 1.
The crowd is filling up the hall. PS: Steve Dunn’s section appears to be about one quarter full.
Fight #2
170 lbs.
Will “The Insane Rhino” Marnik (0-0) Pradal-Serey
Richard White (0-0) Central NY MMA
The first round starts with White nailing a double leg to a slam, ending in top control. White passes Marnik’s guard to mount and he begins to deliver some G&P. (It’s obvious that Richard White didn’t travel from Central New York to Eastern Mass. to come in second place.) Marnik is not able to offer much defense and the G&P continues until the ref calls a stop!
Winner by TKO; Richard White @ 2:33 Round 1.
Richard White is a strong fighter who weighed in at 165 for this fight. He may become even more powerful at 155!
Fight #3
200 lbs.
Mark “The Rock” Vogel (0-0) Connors MMA
Tom Curcio (0-0) North Shore Martial Arts
This fight features two big, heavy dudes who really came here to fight! Tom was landing the better kicks, Mark the better punches until Mark catches a kick and turns it into a takedown. Mark then dictates the rest of the first round with good top control.
In the second frame, Tom takes over with a plethora of kicks, punches, and elbows, many of which came from the top position of sprawl. Tom does a lot of damage with these strikes, even though Mark closes out the round with some knees to the body following a takedown. The damage is done; the doctor stops the fight in between rounds due to injury to the eye of Mark Vogel!
Winner by TKO (Doctor Stoppage); Tom Curcio @ Round 2.
The hall is nearly full, including standing room only; Steve Dunn’s section is about half full and closing!!!
Fight #4
135 lbs.
Devin Pilkington (2-1) Rhode Island Combat
Andrew Davis (1-0) Wai Kru / Tapout
Andrew Davis (with “Doomsday” Howard in tow!) and Devin Pilkington put on a three-round battle that saw the first round end so close, I called it a tie (just because I can!). Davis seemed to be very comfortable, almost ready to bring the fight to the next level, but just a little cautious in this round.
The second round finds Davis winning a takedown to top of guard, but Pilkington finishing the round with a triangle choke and G&P from the bottom. This was another tough one to call, depending on whether you like takedown and top control or sub attempts from the bottom.
A cautious third round eventually finds Davis taking Pilkington down again; this time Davis works to the mount, where he controls the pivotal third round, adding some ground and pound to secure a unanimous decision win!
Winner by UD, Andrew Davis
I was happy to see that Davis got the win in this one. He appeared to be the better skilled fighter on this night, although Devin made the fight a close one. Both guys brought it for this fight…Kudos to Pilkington for a big effort, as he never gave in! This is FOTN so far!!!
Fight #5
145 lbs.
Matt Doherty (0-0) Pradal-Serey
Brett Morris (1-0) Rivera MMA
Brett dominated the first two rounds of this fight with good takedowns and wrestling control from the top, despite a lack of G&P or sub attempts.
In round three, Matt comes alive with kicks, a takedown, and some G&P. Brett grabs an arm bar, but Matt pulls out as Brett sweeps to top. Matt sweeps back and adds more G&P. But Brett sweeps again and wins the end of round three with good top control, as Steve Dunn’s section grows to 75% capacity!!!
Winner by Unanimous Decision, Brett Morris
I really like Brett’s wrestling takedowns and top control. When he adds G&P and submission, his game will soar. Matt never gave up in this one either, and in the final round he threw the best strikes of the fight. Real nice job by both warriors!
Fight #6
170 lbs.
Nate “The Snake” Andrews (2-2) Rockstar / United
Sean “The Ginger Ninja” Nichols (1-3) Wai Kru / Tapout
Sean Nichols is pumped up during the entrance. The first round starts with Sean throwing kicks, but Nate grabs a takedown to top control. Sean sweeps to top and the fight is back to the feet. Nate nails a slam and lands in mount, adding G&P to the mix! He works his position to rear control and locks in a rear naked choke for the tap! And Steve Dunn Stadium is at 80% capacity!
Winner by RNC, Nate Andrews @ 2:25 of Round 1
Fight #7
145 lbs.
Billy Giovanella (1-0) Connors MMA
Vychaslav Phinney (1-1) North Shore Martial Arts
Vych and Billy are each coming off recent wins. They clinch and go to the ground with Bill on top and Vych pulling him into guard. Billy starts with some G&P, working his way to full mount. The G&P continues until he works in an RNC for the tap-out!
Winner by RNC; Billy Giovanella @ 2:12 Round1.
Fight #8
170 lbs.
Gabe “The Bear Jew” Perlman (0-0) Tim Burrill
Tim “Sprinkles” Song (1-0) Wai Kru / Tapout
As the fighters start the first round, Gabe shoots for a takedown, but Tim stuffs it. They circle cautiously. As Gabe lowers to shoot again, Tim catches him with an uppercut. Gabe’s mouthpiece becomes airborne…He is OUT!!!
Winner by KO; Tim Song @ 0:37 Round 1.
Tim timed that strike perfectly. Wow! This guy has some major league power!
Fight #9
Heavyweight
Brandon Newman (0-1) Allaire MMA
James Smith (2-0) Maxx
The big guys start the first round with a clinch and some dirty boxing. Smith, who has a huge crowd cheering, gets a takedown to top mount. Newman sweeps to top of guard and moves to mount. Newman is working some G&P and he goes for an arm bar. These two big guys are moving really well! Smith pulls out and gets top control, as Dunn’s section closes in on 90% capacity. Smith works for rear control and sinks in a rear naked choke to get the tapout at the bell!
Winner by RNC; James Smith @ 3:00 Round1.
PRO CARD:
Fight #10
155 lbs.
Joe Powers (0-0) Dexter Vale Tudo
Lewis Corapi (1-0) Sityodtong
Both fighters are coming off recent wins. Joe recently won his final amateur bout with a submission of the night performance!
Round 1: The boys circle and then lock up for a long clinch. Joes finally gets a nice hip throw, but Lewis sweeps to top of side mount. After a ground scramble, Lewis rides too high and Powers gets to top of guard. They stand and Lewis gets a slam to top control and the lights go out! (No, really; the cage lights go out and it’s dark!) The ref halts the action until the problem can be fixed. The lights come back on. Fight restarted, Lewis works for rear G&P to end the round!
Lewis Corapi 10-9
Round 2: They circle with jabs, then clinch. Lewis gets a takedown to top of guard and works to mount; he adds a side order of ground and pound and the ref has seen enough! Steve Dunn’s section is at capacity; the whole venue is jammed to the rafters.
Winner by TKO; Lewis Corapi @ 1:25 R2
Lewis looks better with every fight. He looked much more confident on this one than in his pro debut.
The next event of the evening is the forced intermission due to the lack of a second ambulance crew. This drags on for almost 45 minutes, so when the fights resume it’s almost 11 PM. The fight commission has a curfew of 12:00 midnight. Although it (the curfew) is not chiseled in stone, the promoter decides to move right to the two championship fights!!! This will leave three fights in limbo!?
Fight #11
Heavyweight Championship
Mike Dexter (6-6) Dexter Vale Tudo
Shawn Gallano (7-1) Maxx
Shawn Gallano’s nickname is “Death Sentence.” His entrance music is an F-bomb sundae with swears on top.
Round 1: The round starts cautiously. Shawn stuffs a takedown and lands some G&P. Dexter works to top of half guard and the action slows as Dexter is just maintaining control from the top. BOOM!!! Out go the lights! This time they stay out, leaving the fighters in darkness for a minute or so, so the fighters stand and wait for the utility bill to be paid. The lights come back on but not for long…Somewhere there is a cord kicker in the building and we need to find him! The snafu is solved and the fighters are returned to the same position where Dexter is in top control. He begins to land knees as he works to mount while adding G&P. Dexter then sinks in an arm triangle for the Death Sentence!
Winner by arm triangle; Mike “Lights Out” Dexter @ 4:44 of Round 1.
Congratulations to Mike Dexter, the new AFO Heavy Weight Champ! Despite giving away some size, Mike won this one with technique and conditioning.
Fight # 12
Welterweight Championship (170 lbs.)
Paddy “Thunderkitten” Thompson (9-3) South Shore Sportfighting
Steve “Sandman” Dunn (7-0) Wai Kru / Tapout
Paddy has expressed a great respect for his opponent. Steve Dunn showed up with 250 of his most intimate friends. This place is rocking!!
Round 1: Dunn shoots a nice takedown and Paddy pulls guard. The Sandman is punching from the top, but Paddy is limiting the damage with good defense. Dunn is keeping real busy, but so is Paddy when the cord kicker strikes again, leaving yet another darkness delay. The crowd is very frustrated and I bet the fighters are too! Problem solved, Dunn continues to work from the top. Paddy locks in a triangle from the bottom and begins to strike with elbows and punches. He continues to pull on the leg and head, all the while striking the Sandman in the head. Finally Paddy gives it one final squeeze and he gets the tap!!!
Winner by triangle choke; Paddy “Thunderkitten” Thompson @ 4:46 Round 1.
Congratulations to Paddy on another defense of his belt. Normally, this would mark the end of the night, but the fight order change means that we have more action. The interviews will have to wait. We now move on to the three fights from the main pro card that were delayed.
Fight #13
Heavyweight
Tyler King (0-0) Connors MMA
James “Chainsaw” Quelle (3-2) Wai Kru / Tapout
King starts the round with a takedown to top of guard. The former NFL’er is controlling well and eventually passes guard and works to mount. King postures up for some G&P and then switches to side control G&P and then back to the mount for some huge G&P until the ref steps in before the cops do!!! Wow!
Winner by assault and battery; Tyler King @ 4:06 Round 1.
Tyler King wins his pro MMA debut and Steve Dunn’s section is empty!
Fight #14
135 lbs.
Chris Rowley (1-2) Dragon Fire MMA
Sean Patrick Brady (0-0) Greg Swanson
I have never seen Chris Rowley in a boring fight. His top shelf conditioning, infectious smile, magnetic personality, and I just love the 70’s hair style says “I wanna be like Clay Guida when I grow up”!!!
Round 1: Chris Rowley slides in for a nice shot and a take down. He lands in top of side mount and begins to methodically work to rear control. He is digging for a RNC and finally gets it, slick as a smelt! Brady is forced to tap and it’s lights out! (Not the cage lights this time, just regular “lights out”!)
Winner by RNC; Chris “Clay Guida” Rowley @ 0:52 Round 1.
Hey Chris, ask and you shall receive. Old School.
Fight #15
185 lbs.
Francisco “The Floor Man” Ferreira (1-0) Tim Burrill
Chris Paolini (0-0) Spirit Fighting
Francisco hasn’t fought in 3 ½ years. It’s good to have him back.
Round 1: Ferreria clinches and scores a takedown to top of side mount. He works hard to take the mount and then begins landing huge right hand strikes as if Paolini owes him money and the ref has to stop the action! Wow, this kid can hit!
Winner by KO; Francisco Ferreria @ 0:33 Round 1.
Paolini was out for a long time. He left the cage on a gurney and was taken to the hospital! Get well soon Chris. We pray for you. Old School.
Because the fight order had to be juggled last minute, the two belt holders were not in the building when the fights were over, so I was not able to hook up for an interview. We’ll get’em next time.
This event put fannies in the seats. There isn’t any fun happening when the hall is half empty. This place was jamming.
Pete and Mark really handled the ambulatory delay well; way to stay light on your feet! No, I really mean light… you know…on your feet. Seriously, these AFO guys did put up a good show.
And now for the awards:
Fight of the Night: Devin Pilkington and Andrew Davis
Knock Out of the Night: Tim Song
Submission of the night: Chris “Clay Guida” Rowley
Snafu of the Night: AFO Electrical LLC
Most Handsome Corner: Tie between Waikru and Dexter. (I really don’t want to upset either Josh Diekman or John Howard!)
Well folks, that’s all. Remember: Keep it real
Keep it Legal
Keep it in the cage
Fighting solves everything
Old School
great review … sounds like the fighters really put on a great show
By far one of the best night of fights i have ever seen in Ma
So proud of both james and Shawn representing TEAM MAXX
btw … who won fighter of the night … great prize
Slick like a smelt… I kind of like that
Thank you so much for this great review.. It was an awesome night and congratulations to all the fighters that were on the card. I had many calls asking about Gabe and Chris and they are both fine!! As for fighter of the night I will be releasing it on Thursday, with the show being as busy as it was I didn’t get to see all of the fights… For those that didn’t know the fighter of the night gets to go out to the Hit Squad for 3 weeks in IL to train with Robby, Hughes and everyone else out there, I think I know who won but need to check 2 more fights….
Thank you to Chuck for Stepping in, you did a great job on that mic… Vinny Shamara did awesome with the Anthem and ALL the fighters stepped up and put people in seats!!
A lot of talk about Steve and all his fans but I gotta point out Mr James Smith!! This guy also packed the place and did a great job in the cage!
I loved that this was the show that opened up the new year for the AFO – Our Next event will be March 4th in Mansfield and we have some great things lined up for that too
I had this linked emailed to me. Its another review, not as good as this one but a good read non the less…
http://www.8countnews.com/news/125/ARTICLE/3192/2011-01-10.html
Your write ups are entertaining. Nice work Denny. I especially like the sign off, lol!
Nice write up. It was a great show to be at.
There was a big guy coaching fighters from what looked like an officials table on the side of the cage. I think it was the same guy that refferees other events. The big guy with the tribal tattoos. The more I see from the local regulating body the less I like them. How can they let one of their refferees openly coach fighters from their officials table?
Sounds like Gary Foreman. He manages some guys so thats probably why he was coaching them. I guess if he’s not refereeing his own fighters, the commission doesn’t have a problem with it, and he bought a ticket to the show like everyone else there is no rule per se being broken. From the officials table though……that probably shouldn’t happen.
great show, ton of energy. I really liked that rowley kid, glad to see him back in the cage. as for forman there is always the chance he’s doing something he shouldn’t be but I guess thats what we all come to expect from him
he was cfx for a while but they are out of business now cause they didnt pay a bunch of there supplyers
I heard that too about the suppliers but didn’t know they went out of business. I went to their New Hampshire a while back and then heard they weren’t welcome back there.
Fighter of the night is Dicky White out of NY… Mike Dexter is one that we thought about giving it to but wanted to go with Dicky as he is starting off his career. Mike was very ill coming into this fight, he actually called the morning of asking if it could be re set.. He only weighed 218 that morning so with all that going on and then being able to pull off a win against a very tough Galano I thought he’d be a good pick..
BUT Dicky White came down from NY for his 1st ammy fight and was one of the biggest 155′s I’ve seen in some time.. The kid has great power and was a real nice kid to work with. When he entered the cage it was all business.
Dicky won the trip down to IL to the hit squad for 3 weeks…
We will be giving the same award on our next show March 4th and you’ll start to see some squad fighters coming up here to the AFO as well to compete.
that’s a good move Pete … keep up the good work
Mark and Pete,
Nice choice in Dick White; He traveled a long way and fought really well. I hope all goes well for him with the Hit Squad. I was very impressed with mike Dexter. Hearing the rest of the story only impresses me more. Watching him fight makes me wonder how he has 6-6 record coming into this fight. He is obviously doing the right things.
Thanks to all the readers for the good feedback, not only on the posts but at the shows as well. I’m a former high School “C” English student just doing what I love.
Thanks, Matt Bessette…I’m glad to be your good side, Bro!
Oh yea, Chris “Clay Guida”, it is truly entertaining watching you fight. Your time is coming…you don’t take easy fights, you always bring it, and you obviously enjoy what your doing. Give me a call some time if your gonna be down this way (Cape Cod) . I’d love to train a few days with you.
Denny
Thanks for the positive feedback. You have to love it when you are compared to Clay Guida’s style. However, I dont know if it is possible to replicate the kind of energy that that mad man has from his entrance to the end of his fights lol.
Great review of what I understand was an awesome night of fights. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the show, and was disappointed about RI Combat Club fighter Devin Pilkington losing the decision, but I received several emails from other teams fighters and coaches all saying how impressed they were with Devin Pilkington’s performance. That kid has tons of heart and potential, I see him doing really well with the AFO organization. Then to learn that his fight received Fight of the Night awards, well, that just made everything better.
I’m really proud of Devin and all the RI Combat Club fighters. I am officially stepping down as coach of the team, as I am moving to another state to pursue a job opportunity and to be closer to my family. I had a great time coaching these guys, I think we finished with a 4-6 record, but not bad for really not knowing what we were doing .. lol.
We were new to the game, and got a lot of help and encouragement from Pete DiLorenzo, Mark Vaz, and others like Bill Mahoney from South Shore Sport Fighting, the Allaire MMA crew, Andre and Ruben from Team Rockstar, Keith Allan, Greg Swanson, and others that I’m probably forgetting.
Best wishes to the AFO organization and all the work Pete and Mark do for the group, for the fighters, etc. I expect to see nothing but huge successes for this group.
Thanks John, it was great working with you this year and I know you’ll be at another AFO show and I’m sure in the corner of a fighter too.. Being a Rhode Islander you see more than some how much we love the industry and what we are trying to do in it. Best of luck to ya out west (mid west anyway) and again I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon. .. Who knows maybe out there doing a show
hey john i hope evrything goes well for u man…gonna miss ya and see u soon in the future hopefully!
To the childish, moronic fools posting hearsay , lies and innuendo . Please, please , please back up your slander with hard facts….. names, invoices, …. amounts ??? Anything . Scan them and post them , what you got ? Show the world ,or Northeastmma.net anyway ,true statements of fact . Put Up or Shut Up! Or log off Moma’s computer and return down the stairs to the basement and wait for Momdukes to call you up for dinner!