First, The new venue (FAU Campus gymnasium) was a great step up. Great seating, A/C was cranking, and the ring girls were truly first class! I only wish the food/drink lines were shorter!
Mikey Bruno -ATT took out Josh Powell in the first round by strikes.
Bruno was able to dominate the fight by taking Powell down, and keeping tight position until he was able to fire a ton of unanswered punches forcing the ref to halt the action. Nice work by Bruno!
Next up was "The Hebrew Hammer" Ben Stark - ATT.
Ben is a student of FAU and I'm sure he felt some pressure representing not only ATT, but fighting on his own campus. Ben did a great job of getting the fight to the ground where he took the mount, and patiently waited for the opening to deliver a barrage of punches (similar to Bruno's fight)until the ref stopped the bout in the first round! Nice job by the Hammer!
Jake Hetch from Wade Rome's ATT Missouri academy had a great action packed match with Manual Garcia from Spain. Jake lost the match, but gained a ton of experience. Jake showed a huge heart in getting out of 2 tight armbars and a few close triangles. Jake landed some nice knees and punches on the feet, but was unable to put "Manu" away. Jake needs to pick up the ground game, and be a little more well rounded. I'm sure he will get that from Wade(and Kiko BJJ instructor) in time.
Fan favorite Mario "Big Hurt" Rinaldi had a no contest with Kerry Schall after Mario and Kerry went through the ropes. Kerry landed hard on the floor outside of the ring. Unfortunately, Kerry couldn't continue. Looked like he hurt his knee. Not sure if he sustainted any other damage during his fall.
Prior to that, it looked like Big Hurt was on his was to controlling this fight as he got the first takedown, and stayed on Kerry's side/back where he delievered a few punches and a big knee to the body.
This fight was ruled a no contest.
Dustin Denes took on Shikou Yamashita from Japan for the SHOOTO Title. Dustin came up short in this one as Yamashita takes the belt in a unanimous decision.
Yamashita dropped Dustin in the 2nd round with a straight right that gave him a big 2 point advantage.
Good action through out the fight as both fighters choose to stand and trade blows with Yamashita coming out ahead. Tough loss for Dustin as I know he put alot of time, effort, & energy into this match. I'm sure Dustin will step back and analyze where he goes from here. Tough kid with alot of heart. Congrats to Yamashita for coming to Florida and accepting this fight and coming out with the W.
Diyah Davis (Howard Davis Jr.'s son) won his boxing match by 1st round TKO. Diyah had too much talent for his opponent who got rocked early and never recovered.
Congrats to Coach and his son!
Some great exciting matches on this card. Mikey Gomes -Tim Stout with Mikey winning by triangle.
Swiger - Vitoski with Swiger winning by a devastating KO come to mind.
Great night of fights!
Congrats to all the fighters and staff for putting on a hell of a show!