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Local fighters make most of "Mayhem" matches
Only two of the four local fighters involved in Saturday night's "Mardis Gras Mayhem" cage fights got their hands raised in victory. But following the gutsy performances of the two men who came up on the short end of the stick, the local contingent came out looking like winners.
The story of the night was Ringside Fitness's Alex Charrier, who lost to Cody Galloway in the last 10 seconds of his fight via triangle submission, but fought with enough heart to impress his trainer and fight promoter Alan Gray as well as the crowd.
"Alex looked like Rocky Balboa out there," Gray said. "This kid was born to do MMA. He found a way to get out of every bad position and overcome every adverse situation."
Those situations came quickly, as Charrier sustained a broken nose within the first 30 seconds of the bout.
Undeterred, a bloodied Charrier managed to tough out three rounds and was ahead on the cards when he finally succumbed to Galloway's triangle choke.
"That was with six months worth of training," Gray said. "Can you imagine him in a year? The sky's the limit for him. No, Alex didn't get to get his hand raised at the end of the fight and didn't get to do the interview, but I guarantee you everyone in that building had a new respect for him after that show of heart."
That respect was shown with an extended standing ovation, something that could have also been given to Ringside fighter Rudy Rudisil, who took a fight on less than 30 minutes notice, literally during the show.
Rudisil fell via first-round submission to Lenny Vitullo, student of former UFC fighter Guy Mezger (who was on hand for the fights), but earned respect from the fighters in the back."Lenny's fighter backed out at the last minute," Gray said. "He came up during the show and said he had an injury and wasn't fighting. Lenny had come all the way from Dallas for a fight so we wanted to get him an opponent. Rudy stepped in with about 30 minutes worth of preparation, no fight camp or anything, and gave it his all. He showed the heart of a warrior."
Not all victories were moral victories for local fighters, though, as Ringside's Robert Agee and Steven Brooks were able to notch convincing wins in their matches.
Agee, competing in his final amateur bout, improved to 2-0 with a second-round rear-naked choke submission win over Shad Jenkins.
"I felt good tonight," Agee said. "I know there's still plenty of room for improvement, but I was happy with my performance. I got into a few bad spots, but I got out of them and got the win."
Brooks, making his debut, was able to manhandle independent fighter Bailey Bobbitt in a ground war for two rounds and eventually secure a win via technical knockout when the fight was stopped due to excessive strikes.
"I was just trying to work inside of his punches," Brooks said. "He had reach on me. My coaches at ringside were telling me to try to get in on him and try to take it to the ground. I think at this weight class I can pretty much match power with anybody so we set it up. I didn't go for the kill with one shot, I set everything up and grounded and pounded it out."
Gray said he expected the entire Ringside contingent to return for his next show, which is slated for August.
Both Agee and Brooks confirmed their intentions to be at the summer show, which will also be the evening of Agee's pro debut.
"Lenny's fighter backed out at the last minute," Gray said. "He came up during the show and said he had an injury and wasn't fighting. Lenny had come all the way from Dallas for a fight so we wanted to get him an opponent. Rudy stepped in with about 30 minutes worth of preparation, no fight camp or anything, and gave it his all. He showed the heart of a warrior."
Not all victories were moral victories for local fighters, though, as Ringside's Robert Agee and Steven Brooks were able to notch convincing wins in their matches.
Agee, competing in his final amateur bout, improved to 2-0 with a second-round rear-naked choke submission win over Shad Jenkins.
"I felt good tonight," Agee said. "I know there's still plenty of room for improvement, but I was happy with my performance. I got into a few bad spots, but I got out of them and got the win."
Brooks, making his debut, was able to manhandle independent fighter Bailey Bobbitt in a ground war for two rounds and eventually secure a win via technical knockout when the fight was stopped due to excessive strikes.
"I was just trying to work inside of his punches," Brooks said. "He had reach on me. My coaches at ringside were telling me to try to get in on him and try to take it to the ground. I think at this weight class I can pretty much match power with anybody so we set it up. I didn't go for the kill with one shot, I set everything up and grounded and pounded it out."
Gray said he expected the entire Ringside contingent to return for his next show, which is slated for August.
Both Agee and Brooks confirmed their intentions to be at the summer show, which will also be the evening of Agee's pro debut."It's back to the drawing board for me. My first pro fight is in August and that's against a real tough opponent, so I'm going back to training. I'll be going back to California for the next few months to train with Jason Pietz and Glen Cordoza at Stand Alone MMA in California and try to get better. Those guys have helped me tremendously."
Cordoza, an accomplished author who has kept company with MMA greats such as Randy Couture and BJ Penn, was the featured fighter of the night and came up victorious in the main event over Nathan Murdoch.
Cordoza won his fight via arm bar, despite being dropped directly on his head by the taller Murdoch. A fitting end, Gray said, for the evening.
"To be honest I am elated," Gray said. The venue was great, the fighters came from far and wide and they brought it. It will be hard to follow this show, but we will follow it. We will surpass it. It won't be easy, we'll have to do a lot of work to improve on this but we will find a way "ยป Overall it was a product I am proud to have my name on."
Sam "The Alaskan Assassin" Hoger, a former UFC fighter who attended the show, agreed with Gray's assessment, going so far as to call Gray's promotion the "UFC of the South."
"As far as production value, fighter treatment and quality, I think this is one of the best shows I've seen," Hoger said. "Louisiana has a bunch of tough guys and the fans here have an attitude of breeding success through hard work. I think the display those fighters put on last night was something any fan could appreciate."