Promoter Chris Jones and Guy Promotions held their 2nd fight night on Aug 14th at the Tacoma Elks with 3 pro MMA, 1 amateur MMA, and 4 pro boxing fights, including 2 title fights. UFC Fighter Dennis "Superman" Hallman, fresh off his win over Ben Saunders at UFC 117, was in the house and acted as matchmaker for the MMA side of things. Sam DiTusa was the boxing matchmaker and together they put up a evenly matched fight card that certainly satisfied the fans for its excitement factor.

 Dennis Hallman

In the Pro MMA main event at 155 lbs, Salt Lake City's James Birdsley took on Mike Joy, representing Victory Athletics and Marcelo Alonso BJJ. This fight was a tale of two rounds with the first round being all Mike Joy. Birdsley threw an early high kick that Joy ducked, taking down Birdsley and working the ground and pound game as he looked for a fight ending submission. Near the end of the first, it looked as if might sink in a Choke but Birdsley, a MMA veteran of over 40 fights, would not have it. In the 2nd round, Joy got the takedown but Birdsley was able to quickly reverse & once he got top control, he took over, connecting time & time again with accurate punches for most of the round until the fight was called with just 15 secs left in the 2nd.

In the boxing main event, 22 year old Dashon "Fly Boy" Johnson displayed grace and speed with numerous thundering body blows while outpointing 36 year old Paul Mpendo over 6 rounds to win the Washington State 147 Pound Championship. The young Johnson, who is training out of Seattle, moves to 11-2-3 and has won 9 out of his last 10 bouts, the 10th being a draw.

Kyle Keeney, representing Victory Athletics, earned a narrow Split Decision win over Nick Braker in a pro heavywight MMA matchup. Immediately after the contest, Keeney took the mic & told Braker and the crowd that Braker was robbed and deserved the decision. To be fair though this was a close fight and the 5'8" Keeney never stopped working throughout, at one point picking up and getting a nice throw of the 6'4" Braker in a crowd pleasing moment. Braker, out of 503 West Coast Jiu Jitsu in Portland, took the fight on only 9 days notice which definitely was a factor as his energy level was noticeably lower as the fight wore on.

The final Pro MMA bout on the card was an entertaining affair while it lasted and pitted 170 lb Brett Malphrus out of Charlie's Combat Club in Everett against Joel Pettit of BJJ of Olympia. The fight went quickly to the mat and both fighters displayed some excellent ground skills, gaining the upper hand only to be reversed by their opponent. With 30 seconds left in the first, Pettit was on top and leaned in to throw a punch when Malphrus caught him with a perfectly timed upkick that laid Pettit out cold. Malphrus moves to 2-0 as a pro, ending both fights by way of brutal knockout.

The other Pro Boxing title fight was for the 140 lb Washington State belt and was won by Willie Williams from Portland over Vancouver, BC's Jason Saunders. Williams knocked down Saunders twice in the first round and it looked as if the fight might end early, but Saunders gutted it out and boxed better from the 2nd round on. However, this was Williams night as he controlled the action through most of the fight and got the decision 60-52 on all three judges scorecards... plus the sweet belt too.

The final 2 boxing fights saw Mikiyas Kebede defeat Dwayne Welch via decision after an entertaining 4 rounds of action, and Janks Trotter TKO Darren Azai in the 4th round of their contest.

Guy Promotions will hold their next Pro Boxing / MMA event sometime in October. Check for updates and more info at www.guypromotions.com.