JT Taylor and the Desert Dogs production team took over the Century Center in Bend OR on Sat Sept 10th to finally settle the score in a heated central Oregon rivalry between Taylor and Bend newcomer Erik Victor, head coach of Victor Submission Academy. The crowd was on fire in this outside event of Mixed Martial Arts action that had eleven fights in total - 3 Pro & 8 Amateur - with some of the ammys having pro potential. A bagpipe salute to the fallen of Sept 11 was performed after the National Anthem, and a fireshow performed by Miss Ty Fyre was done before the pros came out and took the cage!

Main event fighter, promoter, owner and head coach of Desert Dog Fight team, "The Outlaw" JT Taylor came into the main event with one thing on his mind and that was take out challenger Erik Victor... and he did just that. After the opening bell it didn't take long for the fighters to close the distance and for Taylor to immediately take control, pushing Victor on the defensive until Taylor saw an Arm Triangle that forced Victor to tap at 2:46 of the very first round.

Co-main event fighter and Taylor's teammate, Jason "Gut Check" Gybels, didn't have the same luck after facing "The Pitbull" Shorty Weikel in a fight for supremacy in the 145 lb pro division in Oregon. Shorty came out and got top position looking to use some of his aggressive ground and pound he is known for, but Gybels kept catching him in Armbars, forcing Weikel to work to defend the submission. Weikel came out in the second round very similar to the first, controlling Gybel through every scramble until he finally caught "Gut Check" Gybels in a Kimura at 2:08 in the second round to becomes the High Desert Brawl Pro 145 Champion.

Shorty's Brother Levi Weikel was also in line for a title bout - in the Amateur division - and against Desert Dog Justin Fratto. Fratto's paperwork didn't clear in time to fight and came in overweight, so the title fight was cancelled and a replacement was found in David McManis from the Desert Dog team. The bout was dubbed a Superfight and lasted just 1:35 as Weikel was too much for McManis, coming out and submitting him via Rear Naked Choke to earn both Weikel brothers victories for the night!

In a rematch between "The Nightmare" Travis Cavalli & Desert Dog Purple Belt Phil Gebauer - this time at the pro level - it seemed that Cavalli had switched up the game plan and found what he needed to get the W. Cavalli was putting together a great striking game and appeared to be on the verge of victory, when suddenly Gebauer caught him in a Arm-through Guillotine and squeezed till Cavalli tapped at 59 seconds in the second round!

In a razor close split decision title fight win "The Other Spaniard", Cody Viescas from Redneck Militia, came out and evened up the score by beating Desert Dog fighter Christian Graves who had defeeated Viescas early this year. Both fighters left everything out in the cage and this was a fight that wouldn't make me want to be a judge by any means. In the end, the judges did decide to hand a split decision win to Viescas who became the new 155 Amateur Champion.

Kobb Muay Thay fighter Jeremiah Hawn took Desert Dog fighter Mike Casner out of his zone and never let him implement his game plan. Everytime Casner tried to shoot and get the fight to the ground, Hawn sprawled, using excellent takedown defense, and kept striking and attacking the clinch frustrating Casner. Hawn won a unanimous decision victory with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for him.

Chris Teran came out in his debut MMA fight against veteran independent fighter Jeremy Free and finished the tough fighter in the first. After landing a left hook and a huge knee the fight was called at 1:46 by TKO for the Desert Dog fighter Teran.

High Desertbrawl 39 was a huge success with vendors, great fans and tough fighters. And how can you miss when it's a warm night and MMA is on your plate.

For more High Desert Brawl action, check out highdesertbrawl.com.