Brian
Halquist Productions latest CageSport at the Emerald Queen
Casino saw it all with 10 pro fights featuring knockouts,
submissions, and slugfests that went to the judges. A
number of MMA celebs were in the house: Strikeforce
Champion Miesha Tate, MMA Veteran Matt Lindland, Season 14
TUF cast member Bryan Caraway, Season 13 TUF Alumni
Len Bentley, Strikeforce fighter Sterling Ford, and UFC
Fighter Dennis Hallman (who was working as one of the
night's referees).
(L-R)
Miesha Tate, Bryan Caraway, Sterling Ford, Len
Bentley, Matt Lindland
Referee
Dennis Hallman
In
the main event, Team
Quest's Daniel Stewart utilized effective takedowns and
top control while weathering the standup attack of AKA's
Kyle Keeney to take home a 5 round unanimous decision win
and the CageSport XVI Heavyweight Title. Stewart actually incurred
more damage from the fight, especially in the fourth round
as Keeney found his range throwing some nasty elbows that
cut Stewart in two spots and required a total of 8
stitches after the fight. However, except for the fourth,
Stewart was able to use his wrestling and size advantage
to take down Keeney and keep him there.
In
the semi-main event, Team Quest's Tyson Nam and the White
Buffalo Warriors' Chanti Johnson duked it out for 3 rounds
in a fast paced bout that saw both fighters eat some hard
shots while dishing out punishment. The fight was a
rematch between the two, with the first fight only lasting
20 seconds and ending in a somewhat controversial TKO win
for Nam that Johnson's camp said was due to an eye poke.
In this fight however, there was no mistake as Nam
outscored Johnson over three rounds and came out the
winner with 2 judges seeing it 29-28, and the third
30-27.
One
of the fastest rising stars in the NW, and one that fight
fans should pay attention to, is Sam Sicilla, fighting
with Lyle Beerbohm's Fancy Pants Fight Team. Sicilla came
out fast and ended it fast in a 160 lb catch weight bout
with AKA's Josiah Mitchell. Sicilla had Mitchell on the
defensive from the start with accurate punches, a knee, a
body kick and finally a right that dropped Mitchell and
had him seeing stars. Sicilia moves to 8-1 with the win.
Another
barn-burner of a fight was the 155 lb matchup between
Yakima MMA's Julian Erosa and NW Elite's Ernesto Toscano.
The fight started with Toscano trying for the takedown,
but Erosa would have none of it showing good defense
against the cage before freeing himself to land some
punches. After that, it was all on the feet with Erosa
using his size and reach advantage to score on Toscano,
picking up steam as the fight went on. Toscano for his
part never showed any quit and was able to throw some nice
counters and kicks, but in the end the judges gave all
three rounds to Erosa. With the win, Erosa is 4-0 as a pro
with all his victories coming at CageSport.
In
185 lb action, AMMA's Robert Malphrus looked to be in
danger from Byron Sutton's furious opening attack but
survived and then, as the round wore on, the lanky
Malphrus threw numerous kicks, mixed in with some accurate
body shots and punches that wore Sutton down. Sutton
looked to be done near the end of the first but made it to
the bell. In the 2nd, Malphrus came out strong and in an
exchange Sutton looked to be hurt from an inadvertent eye
poke. He went off to the side of the cage and as Malphrus
moved in, referee Dennis Hallman waved off the fight. The
crowd wasn't happy with the ending but Malphrus, who had
not fought in well over a year, will take the W and moves
to 5-1 as a pro.
NW
Elite's Tyson Johnson became the first fighter to win 5
times at CageSport with a 1st round TKO of Justin Gardner.
Johnson landed early in an exchange, took Gardner to the
ground, and then poured it on against the cage with ref
Steve Newport stepping in at just 1:16 of Rd 1. Johnson
snaps a 2 fight losing streak with the victory.
Fancy
Pants Fight Team fighters Mike Chiesa & Ryan Mulvihill
both had quick victories via Rear Naked Chokes. Chiesa
took out NW Training Center's Darrell Fenner with ease at
just 45 seconds in their 185 lb bout and remains
undefeated as a pro. Mulvihill beat Yakima MMA's Brad
Prather at 1:54 of their 145 lb contest, getting the choke
after a nice reversal. Mulvihill has won 3 in a row, all
by RNC.
In
other action, Sean Villalva and Harrison Bevens both
picked up wins in their pro debuts. Villalva, fighting out
of the United Training Center, threw submission attempt
after submission attempt at opponent Jorey Taylor in their
125 lb bout but Taylor did well to escape, in one instance
getting out of a nasty looking armbar that made the crowd
roar in approval. However, midway through the 2nd round,
Taylor finally succumbed to a Triangle Choke. Harrison
Bevens, now training at the Academy of Brian Johnson in
Olympia, took out the "Carbomb" Brad Nordquist
in textbook fashion by getting him to the ground,
maintaining top control while landing some nice body
shots, and then working Nordquist into a fight ending arm
triangle.
Halquist
Productions will hold their next CageSport event at the
EQC on December 2nd. Meanwhile, on November 5th, Battle at
the Boat 84 will go down with the main event featuring the
biggest boxing matchup that the NW has seen for a long,
long time. In it, Federal Way's "Vicious"
Vincent Thompson (9-0) will take on Tacoma's Jonte
"Rock Solid" Willis (8-1) in a 10 round affair
to determine who is the best Heavyweight in the Northwest.
This is a fight not to be missed!
Vincent
Thompson (l) and Jonte Willis (r) square off
