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Prime Fighting V - March 14th, 2015

Clark County Event Center - Ridgefield, Washington

Photos, Recap, & Post-fight Interview by Mike Renouard


Chris de la Rocha en route to victory in the Prime Fighting 5 main event

 

On March 14th 2015, NW Fight fans filled the Clark County Event Center in Ridgefield WA to take in Prime Fighting V, featuring a solid fight card top to bottom of 4 professional and 5 amateur MMA matchups. The first ever Prime Fighting Heavyweight Championship was the evening’s main event and featured local fan favorite Chris de la Rocha out of Progressive Jiu-jitsu, taking on Everett WA’s Matt Kovacs with Catalyst Fight House. The atmosphere inside the event center was at a feverish pitch from the opening bell. Kovacs circled de la Rocha, looking for an opening for his big punching power. After a couple early feints, Kovacs rushed across the cage and barely missed with a big left hand, followed by a right that glanced off of de la Rocha. Soon after, de la Rocha moved in and took Kovacs to the canvas. Though Kovacs had a leg trapped, de la Rocha was able to work from a side mount position and punish Kovacs with some nasty elbows and hard punches. Kovacs rolled to escape but de la Rocha was on his back in an instant and a moment later Kovacs tapped to a rear naked choke from de la Rocha. The official time was 2:34 of the first round.









 

The Co-main Event featured a pro featherweight showdown between Vancouver WA’s own Austin Springer coming in at 7-0 against a tough veteran of the NW pro circuit in Spokane’s Ryan Mulvihill who entered the contest at 14-6. On the bout’s start, the fighters measured each other as they circled in the center of the cage. Mulvihill pushes Springer back with a sharp front kick. Springer lands with a nice left hook. Mulvihill slips under a Springer punch and drives forward with a takedown attempt, but Spinger deftly sprawls out and makes Mulvihill pay with a couple punches to the body before backing out. Back on the feet, Springer again finds success with his left hook, but Mulvihill answers with a big kick to Springer’s torso. They trade hard leg kicks, and then Springer scores with a combo of left hook, right kick, to spinning back fist. An outside leg kick from Springer causes Mulvhill to limp slightly. A 2nd hard kick to the same spot causes Mulvihill to crumple against the cage whereupon Springer unloads a flury of punches and elbows for the TKO ref stoppage at 4:36 of the first.











 

503 West Coast Jiu-jitsu’s Gus Bessa and Rose City FC’s Mo Abed engaged in a hard fought 3-round battle in the pro 145 division. At the start, Bessa wasted no time in shooting on Abed and getting the takedown. For most of the first round, Bessa maintained his dominant position, sneaking in elbows past Abed’s defenses. In the 2nd, Bessa shot early for a takedown and again scored with elbows inside Abed’s guard. Abed managed to escape and in the scramble took Bessa’s back and landed big punches while looking to finish with a RNC. Bessa reversed, but Abed worked for an arm triangle from the bottom and then fired off a number of elbow strikes to end the round.

In the final frame, Abed knew what was coming but was still unable to stop a lighting-fast single leg takedown by Bessa. Abed defended from the bottom while Bessa looked to score, with the ref standing them up when the fight stalled. Bessa got another immediate takedown but Abed was able to reverse with 2 minutes left in the round. Abed worked hard for the finish, raining down elbows and going for a RNC to end the round. After the 15 minutes of action, all three judges saw it 29-28 for the winner Gustavo Bessa who moves to 2-0 as a pro while Abed falls to 1-1.













 

The night’s first pro bout was at 145lbs and featured UFC Gym Hillsboro’s Damon Jordan and Impact Jiu-jitsu’s Justin Mark. At the opening bell, Jordan moved forward with punches before tieing up with Mark and taking the fight to the ground. Mark fought through a guillotine choke attempt from Jordan and got the fight back to the feet where he landed with a spinning back kick and then followed with another big kick to Jordan’s midsection, before moving in on a takedown. Jordan got it back to the feet and when Mark went for leg trip, Jordan wound up in a dominant position where he was able to take Mark’s back. From there, Jordan sunk a tight rear naked choke, getting Mark to tap at 2:51 of the first. Jordan improves to 2-2 as a pro with the win.







 

In the amateur 125 lb weight class, Steve Lantry of Team Chaos submitted Gladiator MMA’s Luke Smith via 3rd round rear naked choke. In the first round, Lantry pushed Smith against the cage and worked hard for the eventual takedown. Taking and riding Smith’s back, Lantry threw down hard punches, cutting Smith. In the 2nd, Lantry again found Smith’s back, a position from which he punished Smith to the end of the round. In the final round, the fight went to the canvas where Smith gained full mount and connected with a couple of strikes before Lantry locked on armbar. Smith was able to roll through the attempt and escaped. Smith grabbed Lantry’s leg, looking for a kneebar submission, but Lantry scrambled out and took Smith’s back again. Lantry worked in some hard punches to soften Smith up before sinking the rear naked choke at 2:11 of the third.












 

A crowd-pleasing standup fight took place in the amateur 145 lb division between Gladiator MMA’s Dylan Blakesley and California fighter Shaun Powers of the Last Stand Fight Team. The bout was characterized by Blakesley continuously moving forward throwing combos or hard kicks, while Powers would counter with hard punches of his own. As the bout progressed, Blakesley looked more and more comfortable wading into the pocket and throwing punches in bunches. Powers though remained unfazed and late in the third round, caught Blakesley with a beautiful uppercut that sent Blakesley to the mat and his mouthpiece flying. Powers moved in for the kill, getting the finish via TKO ref stoppage at 2:14 of the third round.










 

Issac Shelton out of Curt’s Ultimate Fitness remains undefeated as an amateur, garnering a unanimous decision over Gladiator MMA’s Dave Robison with all 3 judges seeing it 30-27. Robinson had success early in the first and third rounds with legs kicks, but was unable to stop Shelton’s takedowns and ground attack throughout the fight, including a couple crowd-pleasing suplexes.









 

Arsenal's Jerry Allen made quick work of independent Brady Isaacson in their 155 lb contest. The pair clinched up early with Allen landing a nice knee to the body before the fight went to the ground. There, Allen landed numerous unanswered hammerfists and punches to Issacson's head, before catching Issacson in a fight ending guillotine choke at 1:20 of the first.






 

Carl Gaul kicked off the festivities at Prime Fighting V with a 2nd round TKO of debuting Kaipo Rhodes in the amateur heavyweight division. The end came at 55 seconds of the 2nd with Gaul landing hard body shots followed by a series of big head shots that forced the refereee stoppage. With the win, Gaul moves to 3-0.







 

Prime Fighting VI is scheduled for Saturday, January 23rd 2016 at the Clark County Event Center in Ridgefield, Washington. Learn more at primefighting.com.





PRIME FIGHTING V RESULTS
Bout 1 - Amateur Heavyweights
Carl Gaul (2-0 - White Buffalo Warriors) def Kaipo Rhodes (Debut - Arsenal Combat)
by TKO (Strikes) @ 0:55 Rd 2


Bout 2 - Amateur 155 lbs
Jerry Allen (17-19 - Arsenal Combat Sports) def Brady Isaacson (6-3 - Independent)
by Guillotine Choke @ 1:20 Rd 1


Bout 3 - Amateur 145 lbs
Isaac Shelton (3-0 - Curt's Ultimate Fitness) def Dave Robison (5-1 - Gladiator MMA)
by Unanimous Decision (All judges 30-27)


Bout 4 - Amateur 135 lbs
Shaun Powers (1-0 - Last Stand Fight Team) def Dylan Blakesley (7-3 - Gladiator MMA)
by TKO (Strikes) @ 2:14 Rd 3


Bout 5 - Amateur 125 lbs
Steve Lantry (6-4 - Team Chaos) def Luke Smith (6-1 - Gladiator MMA)
by Rear Naked Choke @ 2:11 Rd 3


Bout 6 - Pro 145 lbs
Damon Jordan (1-2 - UFG Gym Hillsboro) def Justin Mark (0-1 - Impact Jiu-jitsu)
by Rear Naked Choke @ 2:51 Rd 1


Bout 7 - Pro 145 lbs
Gustavo Bessa (1-0 - 503 West Coast Jiu-jitsu) def Mohammad Abed (1-0 - Rose City FC)
by Unanimous Decision (All judges 29-28)


Co-Main Event - Pro 145 lbs
Austin Springer (7-0 - Gladiator MMA / Rose City FC) def Ryan Mulvihill (14-6 - Marcelo Alonso BJJ / Spokane Boxing) by TKO (Strikes) @ 4:36 Rd 1


Main Event - Prime Fighting Pro Heavyweight Title
Chris de la Rocha (3-0 - Progressive JJ) def Matt Kovacs (13-10 - Catalyst Fight House)
by Rear Naked Choke @ 2:34 Rd 1


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