MMA Beatdown III: Beatdown Cancer

So last night, I got a chance to watch the MMA fight at the Grizzly Rose in Denver.  It was the first I watched in a long time, and was still a good show.

There were 11 fighters, all male (I'd have loved to see some female fighters), competing in two weight classes: 145-154lbs, and 170-179lbs.  Three rounds per fight, or victory by submission/TKO.

Fight #1: Danny Mitchell vs. Isaiah Johnson - Mitchell defeats the somewhat shorter Johnson within 45 seconds of the first round.  It started quite slow, but when Johnson made a mistake and bent down too low, Mitchell capitalized on the opening and took Johnson to the ground.  Maintaining the upper position, Mitchell just punched and elbowed Johnson in the face until he tapped out.  I had never seen so much blood from a single minute, ever.

Fight #2: Taj Ashaheed vs. Geremy Gaskill.  Ashaheed is a very tall man, appears to be Arabic in birth or descent.  Man, he looked like he would just take the victory from the much shorter and stockier Gaskill, with that reach.  But Gaskill just kept pounding, trading shot for shot with Taj, and taking him to the ground three times.  Neither fighter would give, though.  It went all three rounds, with three of the judges scoring 30 points to Gaskill, and 27 or 29 points to Ashaheed. 

Fight #3: Kirk "The Riot" Piatt vs. Steve Johnson - The Riot is just pure action.  He did what most of the other fighters failed to do consistently: Attack.  He attacked, then attacked, then got the opening, then went ballistic.  Johnson tapped out at 1:54 in the first round.

Fight #4: Alejandro Ayala vs. Gabe Marquez - This was probably the most exciting fight all night.  The first round was the two fighters dancing, with Ayala holding the upper hand, with his equal speed and significantly greater reach.  Those crazy girls next to me who knew Marques must have supported him, because at about forty seconds into the second round, Marquez got Ayala to the ground, and just BRUTALIZED him.  Elbows, knees, punches, hammerhand strikes, etc.  Ayala tapped out at 0:59 in the second round, then had to be almost carried out.  The paramedics had the carrying gurney for him, but he limped out with the help of his trainers.  He had his head high, though.

Semi-Fight: So as Ayala was walking out of the ring, some asshole in the front row decides to say something to the fighter, which apparently pissed him off.  Ayala tried to respond physically, but his trainer restrained him.  The bouncers, however....well....they were less than pleased.  I couldn't hear what they were saying to him, but I could see they were telling him "you cannot do that", and "get out".  After saying that about seven times, two of the bouncers forcefully and quickly lifted him up - one under each arm.  They didn't just escort him out, they CARRIED him out.  He literally was not touching the floor.  We all clapped, because the guy was an asshole the entire time up until then.

Fight #5: Andrew Yates vs. Zach Valdez - This was a good knock-down brawl, but nothing real spectacular that I can recall right now.  It went the full three rounds with Valdez as the winner.

Fight #6: Gabe Marquez vs. Justin Bell - Bell got a bye in the first round, as there were only five fighters in the weight class.  Trading shot for shot, the two fighters danced around for a while until Bell made a mistake and went too low for Marquez' body.  Marquez put him to the ground and just wailed on Bell's face until he tapped out at 1:47 into the first round.

Note: Valdez was unable to fight again, despite the victory in Fight #5.  It seems he was injured.  This gave the weight class victory to Marquez, who was a first-time tourney fighter.  His official record (IIRC) is 5-3.

Gaskill must also have been injured, because he did not fight again.

Fight #7 - Mitchell vs. Kirk "The Riot" Piatt - The Riot showed his strength again as the taller Mitchell attempted to use his reach.  Piatt continued to trade shots where he could, and eventually took Mitchell to the ground.  Mitchell made a grave error: he turned his back to his opponent while on the ground.  Mitchell saw this, and spared NO time in taking advantage of it.  He wrapped his legs around Mitchell's torso, slid his arm around the neck, and began to choke Mitchell.  Mitchell fought it for a while, but he relaxed for a second, and then The Riot re-adjusted his grip.  Mitchell tapped out about seven seconds later.  It was 1:35 into the first round.  The Riot wins the heavyweight division.  He also was a first-time tournament fighter.  His record (IIRC) now stands at 5-0.