The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

“Stay ‘unreasonable.’  If you
don’t like the solutions [available to you], come up with your
own.” 
Dan Webre

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PURPOSES ONLY.

Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.

Superfight 4: Rumble in the Octagon III

A Post-Combat Report by Danny Rowell

Saturday Night’s alright for fighting.  That’s what the man
said, and at the “Rumble at the Octagon,” he was dead on. On a recent Saturday
night, fight fans of Boise, Idaho were treated to one final Christmas gift
courtesy of John Holsman LLC in partnership with Mike Stegemann of TKO Gym. 


Superfight 4 was truly a rumble that rocked the
house!

The show got started about 30 minutes later
than was advertised due to seating adjustments.  The security staff at the

Big Easy Concert House had to readjust their normal
seating pattern (which fits a square ring) to fit the cage.  This wasn’t
really a problem, as it allowed more time for the late arrivals to get in, get
some frosty refreshment, and mingle in with the crowd.  I had the opportunity
to chat with quite a few people in the Mixed Martial Arts community. 

To begin the show, the promoter announced the
planned events, highlighting the co-main event and the Super Bantamweight
Championship Main Event.  To get things really geared up, however, the fans
were granted a special “how to” session for MMA.  The head referee of the
evening, Scott Marker, guided two fighters through a demonstration of the
rules and common tactics & techniques used in competition.  This was quick and
to the point.  For those of us who are huge MMA fans already, it was old hat.
To my mate sitting with me, however, it was very informative.  It’s always
more fun when you know what’s going on. Now if I can just find someone to
explain icing in Hockey…

The first fight featured Todd Lundbohm
(Independent) squaring off against Team Hard Core member Scott Alloway. 
These two guys battled it out for 3 rounds.  The pace of the fight was
even, as each fighter had a great respect for his opponent.  The action was
mostly on the mat, but several times the fighters slowed a bit so the ref
stood them back up.  These two were closely matched in an endurance game of
battle chess.  At the end it was a tough call, but Alloway came away
with the unanimous decision.

The second fight was a unique treat.  Instead
of MMA, we were presented with some “Cage Boxing” between William Pancoast
(Independent) and Spencer Bueller (Sidekicks Martial Arts).  This
was a straight up Western Boxing match.  The boxers went right at it, and
intensely!  There was no waiting – these two were full-on from the bell.  Each
fighter had good technique and each was working hard.  Pancoast was caught by
a hard shot to the head and went down after an exchange.  As the ref counted,
Pancoast didn’t appear to be getting up.  It seemed that the shot caught
Pancoast in the eye and he was in pain.  He was counted out and the
knockout was awarded to Bueller at 1:11 in round 1.  During the
announcement, Pancoast had shaken it off and was none the worse for wear.

Fight number three was back to mixed fighting
between Cruiserweights Shawn Bgornier (Independent) and Jordan
Delgadio (TKO Gym).  These two were champing at the bit to mix it up. 
Delgadio reminded me of a younger Randy Cotoure.  In keeping with the spirit
of the night, the fighters went right at it.  It looked for a bit like
Bgornier would be able to hold his own, but Delgadio was the hungrier
of the two and locked Bgornier into a Juji gatame Arm Bar for a TKO at
1:30 in round 1. 

At this point, intermission was called and we
were able to take a break from sitting on the edge of our seats.  Time passed
quickly and the action kicked off after what seemed to be only a few minutes.

Welterweights Dan Davison (Independent)
and Joe Ramos (Sidekicks Martial Arts) battled it out in fight number
4.  This was the first fight of the night, totally dominated by striking.  The
fighters clinched and ended up on the ground, but they were trading ferocious
heavy blows.  Ramos reversed a bad position and mounted Davison about 1:15
into the fight and started raining heavy strikes.  Davison covered up in
defense and then rolled to his front.  It looked like he was taking
punishment.  Referee Dean Heilman stopped the fight at 1:22 in the first
round, as Davison wasn’t fighting back.  Davison was then up and ready to go,
obviously frustrated by the stoppage.  He took the loss with good
sportsmanship as the TKO was awarded to Ramos.  The moral of the
story: keep fighting back.  Heilman did the right thing, as it looked
like Davison was hurt badly.

The fifth fight was an MMA exhibition match. 

These two were fighting for pure love of combat!  Matt May
(Sidekicks Martial Arts) faced off against Nate Dunnam (Snake River
Fighting Team).  Once again, the gladiators were evenly matched.  May
rocked Dunnam for most of the first round with hard headshots.  Dunnam worked
patiently for the takedown.  The battle went to the mats several times, each
fighter scoring some and the advantage changing constantly.  In the second
round Dunnam worked into the clinch and set up May for a body slam.  May was
slammed, but set up Dunnam for a perfect front choke.  Dunnam tapped at 0:56
in the second round, giving May the TKO victory. 

Fight number six featured the “Boise
Bad Boy,” Jason Shifflett (Independent)
versus Guam Native Eddy Belen (Zoicamp). This fight was almost
exclusively a grappling contest, as both men worked for superior position. 
This fight was also the shortest of the evening.  At 0:56 in the first round,
Belen was caught in a tight spot and guillotined.  The TKO was awarded
to Shifflett and Belen was taught anew a valuable lesson. All you have
to do is make one mistake in MMA for it to be game over, baby.  Belen was a
game fighter and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him again soon.

“Bam, Bam, Bam, and out go da lights.”  That was the message
in the Co-Main Event featuring Treasure Valley’s Jimmy Wallace (Team Hard
Core) and Magic Valley’s Lee Anderson (Peak One). Wallace took the
fight straight to Anderson.  Both men let the hammers fly.  The fight went to
the ground and superior skill soon took over.  Anderson worked from guard to
mount to back mount and started dropping bombs all over Wallace.  Jimmy was a
game opponent and worked hard to defend against Lee’s attacks, but it was just
a case of Anderson TV: All Lee, All the Time.  Wallace was out
as the ref stopped the fight at 1:34 in the first round, awarding the TKO
to Anderson.

I’m not sure, but I think 90% of Fairfield Idaho was
ringside at the Big Easy that night cheering for Lee.  The whole area where I
was sitting erupted every time Lee made contact.  Them ol’ boys in Fairfield
hit hard, man.  They hit hard.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get better, we hit the
Main Event. Brandon “Big Dawg” Shuey (Team Hard Core) defended his
Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight titles against the number one contender
Manny Mendez (TKO Gym).  Mendez cut weight from the lightweight division
to meet Shuey at Super Bantamweight.  After the Anderson/Wallace fight I
didn’t think it could get more intense.  I was wrong.

Shuey and Mendez touched gloves, reset, and went after
each other.  These warriors were chiseled outta stone and the fury was
unleashed from the start.  Manny seemed to be in control early as he took
Shuey down, but then Shuey gained advantage.  It seemed that Mendez was locked
up, but he was able to pick Shuey up and slam him down to affect an escape. 
The fighters battled it out on the ground trading strikes and looking for
submissions.  Mendez was taking it to the champ, but as always, one small
mistake and the Big Dawg starts to howl!  Mendez tapped out to a cross body
arm bar at 1:28 of round one.  Shuey retained his belt with the TKO
win.

Personally, I want to thank all fighters for the best MMA
fights I’ve seen.  To a man, each combatant left it all on the mat.  As Mendez
stated in the post fight interview, somebody’s gotta win, and somebody’s gotta
lose. But golf is not a warrior’s sport. Throughout the night, each fighter
displayed courage, sportsmanship and, most of all, respect – respect for the
sport and for each other.

Props to the fight staff, the officials, and especially the
venue, the Big Easy Concert House.  If you missed a minute of the action you
missed a lot.  Don’t worry however. Word on the street says that Superfight 5
will be back again in the spring!

DR Out!