Review and Post-fight Interviews by Hadley Griffith
Photos by Mike Renouard
CageSport XXII opened up the festive month of December at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma with ten professional fights, two of them for CageSport Title belts. Plenty of MMA celebs on hand as always including UFC fighter Dennis Siver in town for his fight Dec 8th at UFC on FOX 5 in Seattle.
Also in the house was UFC fighter Bryan Caraway, former Strikeforce champ and newly-signed UFC Fighter Miesha Tate, former UFC fighters Dennis Hallman and Ivan Salverry, Bellator fighter Dave Jansen who fights for the Bellator Lightweight Championship Dec 14th, and CageSport/Bellator veteran Lloyd Woodard.
The first Co-main event, which was most definately Fight of the Night, was for the CageSport 145 lb Title and had undefeated champion Julian Erosa (Yakima MMA) facing off against challenger Drew Brokenshire (Ludus FC). Round one stayed mostly standing, with Brokenshire setting a fast and elusive pace. Brokenshire's footwork and head movement kept the taller Erosa from landing any punches in the open and he was unable to use his heavy-handed range when clinched up on the cage. Brokenshire threw knees relentlessly to Erosa's thighs while against the wall. They would spin each other back and forth, but it was Brokenshire who was landing effectively inside.
The second round Brokenshire's knee accuracy showed when he kicked Erosa's lead leg and Erosa wobbled slightly. Determined to change the pace of the fight, Erosa got the double-leg takedown off the cage and had to fight hard out of the guillotine Brokenshire captured during the shot. Brokenshire began a series of ankle lock and knee bar attempts that Erosa impressively escaped from, leaving Brokenshire working hard just to get back into Erosa's guard as the bell sounded.
With the light-footed Brokenshire still controlling the stand-up, Erosa caught a kick and took Brokenshire down. Again defending ankle locks, Erosa also rolled free of a very deep knee bar before Brokenshire popped back to his feet and finished the round by driving Erosa backwards with ones and twos down the pipe. Going into the championship rounds, the two fighters still had lots of energy to clinch and knee each other, and to trade takedowns. Both attempted good guillotine's with Erosa spinning explosively into North/South escaping Brokenshire's attempt, while Brokenshire lifted Erosa up and slammed his way out. In round five, they both dug deep and found heavy hands for each other on the feet until Erosa took Brokenshire down. When Brokenshire went to stand back up, Erosa transitioned into a D'arce choke that required talent, patience, and calm from Brokenshire as he had to continuously work to break free.
Near the end of the round, they were back on their feet and slinging leather for all it was worth. Brokenshire kept to his clean footwork and head movement to win the punch exchange against Erosa to finish out the fight. These two battled it out for 25 full minutes of non-stop action with exciting submission attempts and escapes, leaving it to the judges with all 3 declaring Brokenshire the unanimous winner 49-46.
The 2nd Co-main event - and the shortest fight of the evening in what proved to be a very long night of amazing match-ups - was for the vacant CageSport Heavyweight Title and featured Anthony Hamilton (Jackson's MMA / Lee's Martial Arts) versus William Wilder (Gladiator Fight Team California). The fight was over quickly when Hamilton worked his strong jab on his feet and then his heavy hands on the ground, prompting the ref to step in at 0:38 of the very first round.
Knockout of the Night came in the 145 lb weight class where Charon Spain (Yakima MMA) and Chanti Johnson (Ivan Salaverry MMA) met in the cage once again. Their first meeting was back in 2010 at CageSport IX with Johnson KO'ing Spain just 16 seconds in. This 2nd bout however went nearly the distance and all three rounds had both fighters circling, trying to find the best way to engage the other without leaving a dangerous opening in their own defense.
But it was the kicks that had the impact in this fight. In the first round, Spain overbalanced trying to dodge the full blow of a headkick and fell to the canvas. In the second, Johnson landed a huge side kick to Spain's midsection, driving Spain backwards to the cage wall. As Spain circled out from the cage, Johnson threw a follow-up head kick that Spain rolled neatly under just as the bell rang.
But it was at the end of the third round that Spain got his kick revenge. With six seconds left in the fight, Spain threw a head kick at Johnson who was trapped alongside the cage and knocked Johnson out. Spain went to follow up on the ground, but the ref jumped between the two and stopped the fight at 4:54 of round three.
Submission of the Night was in the exciting 155 lb battle of Travis Johnston and Josh Solis. Solis was making his pro debut, and it looked like it was going to be a short debut when he got dropped by Johnston. But he wasn't done and these two showed what toe-to-toe is all about. They had come out swinging fast and hard- no feeling out or range-finding - just pure energy and speed.
On the feet, heads were snapping back on both sides and there were great scrambles on the ground. Back and forth it went, Johnston with a huge head-and-arm throw and Solis with wicked elbows from the bottom. It was these elbows that scattered Johnston's thoughts long enough for Solis to snatch up an arm. Johnston worked hard to free himself but the tenacious Solis was able to keep the submission until he got the tap at 4:14 of round one.
The closest fight of the card was a well matched 135 lb war between Benny Vinson (SportsLab MMA) and Arjay Murphy (MABJJ/Evolution Martial Arts). While Murphy had the edge standing in the first round, moving in and out effectively, Vinson had quick shots. The first shot Vinson took resulted in his holding Murphy up and handfighting the guillotine Murphy had sunk in. Standing for a good 10 seconds, Murphy nimbly jumped away and leapt straight into a flying knee to the body before Vinson knew what was happening. The next takedown Vinson got clean and began to show his impressive wrestling skills.
Murphy responded with impressive jiu jitsu skills, climbing sneakily out from bottom and taking Vinson's back repeatedly. Murphy also blocked the strikes to his face, leaving Vinson to strike the body. In the second, they quickly resumed the ground fight with Murphy securing an armbar that he had to labor over as Vinson defended. Finally managing to get Vinson flipped onto his back and the arm fully extended, Murphy looked to have the win for a fraction of a second.
Vinson's body blurred as he sped out of the armbar and transitioned to Murphy's back. But without his hooks in, he left Murphy an exit out of the rear naked choke attempt. Murphy went for his own rear naked when he transitioned to Vinson's back, complete with hooks, but didn't have time to dig his arm under Vinson's choke defense before the bell ended the round. The third round picked right up where the second left off, Vinson with the takedown and great wrestling, while Murphy displayed the skilled maneuvering from his back to take his opponent's back. Again the round ran out as Murphy tried to break through Vinson's rear-naked choke defense. The judges were split with one for Vinson 30-27, one for Murphy 29-28, and the third had the fight as a tie 29-29. The official decision resulted in a split draw which was an unsatisfying end to two men that showed great skill and fought hard for 3 solid rounds.
In other action, Team Rock Solid's Craig Jackson spoiled Harrison Bevens undefeated record by securing a standing guillotine at 3:28 of the 2nd rd of their 155 lb matchup.
Lightweight Cory Vom Baur out of Vancouver WA looked sharp, finishing William Comstock on the ground at 3:53 of Round 2.
Heavyweight Richard Foster of Yakima MMA controlled the action for most of his matchup with Damion Martindale and was awarded the Unanimous Decision.
Foster's teammate Eduardo Torres won his pro debut via decision over Austin Arnett in the featherweight division.
And in the night's opening bout, Ivan Salverry MMA's Emanuel Russell also won his pro debut by decision in an entertaining 135 lb fight with Chris Wheaton.
Halquist Productions kicks off 2013 at the Emerald Queen Casino continuing their all-Pro boxing series with Battle at the Boat 90 on January 5th, followed by more pro MMA with CageSport XXIII on February 16th. More info at HalquistProductions.com.
CAGESPORT XXII RESULTS
Bout 1 - 135 lb MMA
Emanuel Russell (Ivan Salaverry MMA) def Chris Wheaton (Roughhouse MMA)
by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Co-main Event - Heavyweight TITLE Anthony Hamilton (Jackson's MMA / Lee's Martial Arts) def William Wilder (Gladiator MMA) by TKO (ground and pound) @ 0:38 Rd 1