WCF 6 Review

A fun night of fights from WCF with a new champion crowned, a marriage proposal, Rampage in the house and the best national anthem I’ve ever seen at an MMA show. Gary Hoey (http://garyhoey.com/biography/) started the night off with bang by playing the national anthem on his guitar, and the place went absolutely crazy. WCF 6 was officially underway.

Josh Mellen (USMMA) vs. Jeff Remick (Guy Chase)

These two let it all hang out and it looked like a street fight at times with both refusing to quit and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at their opponent. As the first round was coming to a close Jeff locked in a triangle choke just in time and got the win with only 7 seconds left in round one.

Jay Fortier (Burgess) vs. Robby Roberts (Bruteforce)

Both landed some shots in the stand up, and Robby ended up in Jay’s guard. Robby landed punches from the top but Jay was able to secure an arm and finish the arm bar for the win.

Nick Evangelous (Fenix Fight Club) vs. Dymitry Shevchenko (Guy Chase)

Both guys dealt with some last minute opponent changes and weren’t wasting any time when they hit the ring. Nick was able to get top position and he dropped back for a heel hook and finished it pretty quickly. Nick moves to 3-0 and a likely showdown with Rodrigo Almeida, his original opponent who was forced to pull out with an ankle injury.

Rick Hawn (Sit Yod Tong) vs. Billy Flynn (SSSF)

Rick won the “coolest entrance music” contest for the night, entering the ring to “Superbeast” by Rob Zombie. His fight with Flynn was fantastic (albeit quick) too. Flynn landed a crisp right hand that rocked Hawn and nearly dropped him, and Flynn was able to avoid the trips from Hawn early on, and right as it looked like Hawn was going to really struggle, he landed a right coming off the clinch that dropped Flynn and he followed up with a flurry on the ground to earn the stop.

Nik Patnaude (Burgess) vs. Jimmy Grant (Bombsquad)

Jimmy’s wrestling looked to be on another level that most of the 145ers out here. Everything he did looked smooth, fast and powerful. He looked to be the smaller of the two, but he was able to pick Nik up a couple times and make it look easy. There was some pretty good stand up in this one too with both guys landing bombs. Jimmy also landed some hard shots on the ground too. Jimmy won via UD, and after the fight referee Kevin MacDonald mentioned that he was amazed that neither got got KO’d because both were throwing hammers and both got hit very hard a few times.

Travis Coyle (USMMA) vs. Ryan Quinn (ATT)

This fight was a battle with Ryan controlling most of the fight from top position. Travis landed some big shots in the stand up, one of which was a big head kick. These two beat the hell out of each other for two rounds and sent it into overtime. Ryan controlled the OT and earned the decision, but both guys showed a set of brass balls in this one.

Chris Grandmaison (Sit Yod Tong) vs. Anthony Leone (Bombsquad)

If you’re a hardcore fan and understand BJJ, this was one of the best fights of the night. Tons of back and forth action, tons of smooth transitions, and both guys worked their asses off from bell to bell. The wrestling and BJJ displayed by these two was pretty awesome. Leone ultimately won via UD 20-18 on all cards.

During the intermission, they had their usual parade of stars in attendance, except this time the ring was jammed packed. Several UFC, WEC, Affliciton and stars of the boxing world joined the fun. I’m sure I’ll miss someone, but I can remember Rampage Jackson, Jorge Rivera, Marcus Davis, John Howard, Kenny Florian, and Jon Jones from the UFC, Mike Campbell and John Franchi from the WEC, Dan Lauzon from Affliction, and Irish Mickey Ward and Norman Stone from the boxing world.

Scott Rehm (USMMA/Florian Martial Arts) vs. Stephen Stengel

This fight was quick and left the crowd with a somber feel for the rest of the night. Stengel locked up a standing guillotine and Scott countered with a slam and Stengel landed very awkwardly. The fight was stopped almost immediately after and Stengel was in obvious pain. He was taken out on a stretcher, but begged the EMT’s to let him off the stretcher because he was ok. After a trip to the hospital, we’re happy to hear that Stengel has no serious injuries.

Jose Lopez (Ravenous) vs. Damien Trites (Wai-Kru)

I thought for sure these two were going to bang it out, and they did for a quick second, then Lopez took him down. Trites has solid BJJ, and quickly locked up a triangle choke for the win.

John Benoit (Renzo NH/Sit Yod Tong) vs. Glenn Brown (Green Mountain Boys)

Benoit looked to have the better stand up in the early going of this one, but Glenn was able to get inside and work the takedown. He controlled most of round one from top position but was unable to land any big shots on Benoit or really improve his position. Round two was more of the same with both guys spending some time on top but not being able to hurt the other. At the end of the round, after a scramble Glenn was able to take John’s back and land a few shots as time expired. Glenn won via UD.

I also want to mention that when I say that neither guy was able to really hurt the other, it’s not that they were fighting boring or not trying to. It just seemed that both were good enough defensively to nullify the other from the bottom, but both were so good from the top the bottom guy couldn’t get away.

Greg Rebello (USMMA/Sit Yod Tong) vs. Shawn DePaul (MSA/Mickey Ward)

Great fight between these two. Shawn threw a few shots in the opening seconds, and the rest of the round was fought either from the clinch, with both guys landing knees, or fought on the ground with Shawn on top landing some little punches here and there. Round two was a war with Greg landing the majority of strikes in the stand up, but Shawn held his own and was firing back. Greg was working a takedown and one point and Shawn was warned for holding the ropes, and after he held the ropes again, he lost a point. In the closing seconds of the round Greg landed the head kick from hell as Shawn was coming in to shoot, and it was one of those shots that looked to land perfect…thrown hard, landed flush as the opponent was coming forward, but Shawn basically ate it, and finished the takedown and started punching Greg on the ground. The judges had it 19-19, but with the loss of a point, the score cards were all 19-18 in favor of Rebello.

Mike Dolce (Wolf’s Lair) vs. Nuri Shakir (Bucket Brigade)

The crowd got on these two a bit in round one, but both guys were landing here and there, typically one shot at a time. The feeling out process went for most of the round. Round two had more action with both guys hurting the other. Nuri was able to land a big shot that cut and wobble Mike. He pressed the action and Mike fired back. Shortly after Mike landed a big punch that looked to break Nuri’s nose, and Nuri was also wobbled. Mike rushed in for the finish and landed some bombs up against the ropes and the fight was stopped.

Dan Bonnell (Sit Yod Tong) vs. Dan Ferrer (Santos)

Ferrer looked great. He took Bonnell down right away, passed and worked a kimura for what seemed like an hour. He’d crank it, but when he couldn’t get Bonnell to tap, he’d let go with one hand and punch him in the face or stomach, then improve his position an inch or so, crank it as hard as he could again, and then repeat. Bonnell never was able to escape, and after a few attempts Ferrer was able to get the submission at 2:52 of round 1. Ferrer looks great at 135.

After Ferrer did his interview ringside, and the crowd cleared out, Bonnell brought his girlfriend into the ring and proposed. She said yes.