Legends of Fighting Championship 47: Big Dawgs Coverage
Thursday June, 16, 2011 - “The Weigh-Ins”
Being my first event covering the LFC, I honestly had no clue what to expect going into these weigh-ins. There was a lot of positive that I personally saw for the company going into this event. I had the chance to speak with both owners of the company, Scott McCorkle and Scott Sims. I also spoke with event manager, Matt Gunning as well as match-makers Eddie Mirabella and Donald Hoover. I spoke with many of the fighters and to be honest, it was a blast all around. I even drank a beer or two or NINE while I was there. I got to the weigh-ins around 5:30 and didn't end up leaving until around 9:30, when there was only few of us left.
The first thing that I would like to mention is the excitement overall at these weigh-ins. There was quite a bit of excitement at the event. The fans that were around were excited and the ownership seemed to be excited. Quite a few of the fighters themselves also seemed excited. There were some VERY POSITIVE things to result from this weigh-ins and there were only a few things off. I do want to say that for a company such as the Legends of Fighting Championship, some of the fighters seem to take their careers serious, and some obviously did not. I will touch on that a bit later.
One of my first interviews of the night was with match-maker Donald Hoover. He had some very solid words to say in regards to the event and even Chris Price. Donald Hoover later went back and forth on whether he wanted me to edit the interview or not, which made all of us laugh around the table. I am not going to throw the names of the people laughing into this piece, but lets just say that some of the higher ups believed that Hoover had just made a mistake. They informed me to keep it real and NOT edit the footage. With that being said, I decided to NOT edit the footage. After already putting the footage together, I got a message however from Hoover today telling me to edit the footage. Hoover, you know I got love for ya, but its already done sir. Let's just hope that Chris doesn't see it bro ;)
One thing that I have to say is that these fighters need to take these weigh-ins a lot more serious. Scott McCorkle and Scott Sims, I am sure do not want to be promoting unprofessional MMA fighters and I did unfortunately see quite a bit of that last night. There were quite a few fighters that missed weight and also, there were fighters I believe that never even showed up. I was there four hours, and when I left, there were still people that they were waiting for to show up. My advice to some of these fighters is to seriously get your sh*t together if you intend on making this sport a career. The LFC is far to solid of an organization to have that sort of black cloud over it. When the LFC speaks of the fact that they are re-building, it is issues like this that is the reason. Some of these fighters out here need to honestly grow up and take this job seriously. Especially if you are on the main draw as a professional fighter.
Other than some of the lack of professionalism from the fighters, I would say that the weigh-ins were great. They were a little unorganized in my opinion with fighters weighing in separately at different times, but then again, that's just my opinion. The higher ups of this show put a lot into the events, so I truly believe that none of that is their fault. Overall, it was a great experience and the buildup and hype going into the show was amazing. The interviews went off great as did the entire weigh-ins as a whole. The owners of the company were very reachable despite previous reports from others saying that I would not be able to talk to them. You all know me out there! I am gonna squeeze in where I can get in and try to get things done. I told Scott McCorkle that I need to head up his marketing online and that lead into an interesting conversation and me getting his personal e-mail to further discuss this.
One of the other things that I enjoyed was meeting the man that runs Cage Craze. For some reason, he did NOT want to be on camera and that was a little odd to me, but overall, he was great to talk to and I definitely think that him and I can work together in the near future. I personally enjoyed speaking to him for the short time that I did and I can't wait to speak with him on further occasions.
The weigh-ins left me and my wife with one thing in our heads. “GOD DAMN, we can NOT wait for LFC 47: Big Dawgs! Tonight at the 8-second saloon in Indianapolis, Indiana. These weigh-ins were at Bubbaz Bar and Grill on the south side of Indianapolis. The fight's themselves at the 8-second saloon are at 111 N. Lynhurst. The doors will be opening at 6pm for the show. Me and my wife will be car-pooling with Dan Stephens of Inner Beast Sportswear. I look forward to the event without a doubt and expect some great action. Make sure you all get out there to the show as we expect to see a HUGE EVENT!
The Main Card
Heavyweight Fight: Rob Barnett vs. William Penn II
Bantamweight Fight: Darnell Davis vs. Carson Gainey
Featherweight Fight: Justin Ford vs. Aaron Miller
Bantamweight Fight: Chris Johnson vs. Matt Wilson
Amateur Card
Amateur Featherweight Championship: Luis Guerra vs. David Burnas
Kevin Groff vs. Kenny Day
Chad Wilson vs. Justen Dowset
Demar Gibson vs. Dewayne Castillo
Jeremy Baughman vs. ???
Joe Lyle Jr. vs. Jason Tancreti
Daniel Blackburn vs. Mike Moon
Lloyd Thornton vs. Jake Beals
Lamonte Dixon vs. Demarcus Spencer
KeAndre Howard vs. Cody Gamble
Johnny Neville vs. Joe Rainey
Jason Stroud was supposed to meet Eddie Christer, but the fight was cancelled after Eddie came in too far UNDER WEIGHT.
There are many, many, many more fights as well. I believe they have put together a 14 or 15 fight card for the evening! Make sure you get out there and CHECK IT OUT!
THE SHOW
First off, I want to say that the show itself and its production was as good as it gets. I still do NOT understand why there isn't more coverage of the LFC. The truth is that you fans in Indiana need to get your asses off your couch and get to the 8-second saloon to start supporting this show more often. I was able to sit CAGE-SIDE with Cage Craze. This was something new to me since the commission and the judges were right next to me. I had to be very careful, which was fun in itself. I was given full access to everything and trust me, I took advantage of it and enjoyed a few drinks AWAY from the cage side area as well. That is the rule, you cannot drink alcohol or smoke at the media/judges area next to the cage. You must go four feet back (lol) to the VIP seats. Great setup without a shadow of a doubt.
Like I said, I was sitting next to Cage Craze.com and we enjoyed the show. It was great to talk to him and his people about the show and MMA in general. He stayed working and I realize that we truly are not competition because we are two DIFFERENT types of MMA journalist. We handle it in very different ways. He is more of a results/video guy, whereas, I go hands on physically and interview the fighters and give my arrogant smart ass opinions.
The first fight of the night was VERY GOOD as Chad Wilson stepped in there with Justen Dowset. I believe this fight was in the lightweight division. Wilson was 2-0 going into this fight and Dowset was making his debut. This was an amazing fight as it ended up going to the judges. I will say this about the beginner, Dowset...You couldn't tell that this was his debut. He transitioned well and put up a hell of a fight for Chad Wilson. I honestly scored the first round for Dowset and then the final two rounds for Chad. Chad was on his back for most of the first round and to be honest, Justen missed out on some serious opportunities to take the fight. The judges gave Chad the win as this fight was a perfect start to the night.
Following this fight, Lloyd Thornton (3-1) was able to get a great arm bar win at the 2:25 mark in the first round over Jake Beals in the Bantamweight division. Beals fell to 0-2, but he was just completely out matched in this fight. I think that Lloyd looked extremely good here and Beals will have to go back to the drawing board. Either way, it was a solid fight and I was pretty excited about it.
Following this amazing start to the night was a match-up that was made due to Lamonte Dixon not being able to fight. Kevin Groff (22-15) stepped into the cage with Demar Gibson (0-1). You would think that this was a mis-match, but that’s just on paper. Demar was ready and that was something I could tell at the weigh-ins. I scored this fight 30-27 for Demar as it went to the judges. He indeed got the win, but let me make it clear that I respect both men here. Their fights were cancelled and they stepped in there with each-other short notice. I am very proud of both men and look forward to seeing them compete in the future. Both men made a fan out of me in this fight as it was definitely a three round war! Great job to both men here in the lightweight division. My advice to Mr. Groff however is to make sure he takes advantage of weight. He came in at 151 I believe and those three or four pounds made a difference.
Following those amazing three fights to start the show, we had Jonny Neville (0-3) and Joe Raney (0-2) in the battle of the win-less records. Wow, Jonny pulled it off with what seemed like an effortless rear-naked choke 1:53 into the fight. I would like to say that Joe Raney seems like someone that can definitely improve. Much respect to both men and I am glad to see Jonny get his first win. Joe Raney will make a comeback and get a win though. He has the look of a fighter in my opinion and he just needs to improve his technique. I got respect for the man and look forward to seeing him improve.
In the final amateur bout of the evening, we saw a CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT for the LFC Amateur Featherweight Championship. The champion, whom I admit I picked against, Luis Guerra (2-1) stepped into the cage with golden-glove boxer, David Burnas (12-5). I really thought that experience was going to be a difference here and boy, was I wrong. This was an amazing fight in which I scored for Guerra 50-45 to be honest. I think David Burnas will be a HELL of a pro when he turns pro and will see many different titles, but tonight just wasn't the night. Guerra was on the money all night and stayed on point. His entire camp called me out for my pick and I loved every minute of it. He definitely earned a fan out of me. I am not ashamed to say that Luis and his camp are my favorites as of right now. I would love to train with these guys and see what I can do in the near future. In the end, he defended his title and I had no choice but to get back there and interview the Champ!
Following that great Amateur Card, were the Professional Fights. Now, before we get into those fights, I am going to speak on this amateur card for a second. The lack of professionalism by the fighters makes me sick. For people to come in off weight time and time again. The way that they conducted themselves with no professionalism at the weigh-ins and no organization speaks volumes about a lot of their futures. Was it the match-maker? A lot of people believe so and since the event, Donald Hoover has indeed been let go from the organization. People missing weight by like 50 lbs and shit is just unacceptable. The ways that the amateurs will handled was very poor and unworthy of the reputation of the Legends of Fighting Championship. I would like to see these amateurs take this sport seriously all the way from the weigh-ins through the card. I think that the LFC needs to just start making it clear that if these assholes don't wanna make weight nor conduct themselves in an organized manner at the weigh-ins, they should never be allowed to fight for the LFC again. 315Lbs for a 265lb fight? Give me a god damn break people. You wanna be professionals later? START NOW DICKS! There were supposed to be 10-11 amateur fights and there was only 5. Is that the LFC's fault? HELL NO. I blame it on the fighters themselves.
Now that I am done with that rant, onto the first professional fight of the evening which was also a battle of win-less records...Chris Johnson (0-4) stepped into the cage with Matthew Wilson (0-7) and this fight was pretty fucking exciting if I may say so myself. Wilson was split open on his chin I believe pretty early in the fight, but still managed to pull off the TKO win at the 2:52 mark of the first round. I told everyone that Johnson was gonna have trouble after I saw him at the weigh-ins. He had a lot of trouble making weight and due to that, I did not believe that he was going to be 100% in this fight. He looked weak at the weigh-ins, in the locker room, and out there. Is it because he is weak? HELL NO, he is a beast out there, but his weight cut seemed to really hurt him. I would love to see Chris get a decent training camp and not have so many weight issues going into the fight. I think he can get that first win if he has a solid weight cut. Big ups to Matt Wilson though for pulling it out! I was shocked that the fight was stopped and that Chris was done so soon, but that’s just proof right there that weight cutting is an art that must be perfected. GREAT JOB by both men and I look forward to seeing what is next for both of them.
Next up was a fight that I thought was going to be fight of the night. It was NOT the fight of the night as it only lasted 30 seconds. OK, this was a fight between Aaron Miller (1-0) and Judo Justin Ford (2-0). First off, Judo Justin Ford is a fucking weirdo and I would like to make that clear from the jump. He is a great fighter and good guy, but he is an odd ball. This dude came out to Spice Girls “Do you wanna be my Lover” with some very pink and feminine looking shorts. I do NOT know if it was about playing mind games, but I was laughing my ass off. With that being said, there was nothing feminine about him as he locked up Aaron Miller in an arm-bar submission 30 seconds into the fight. Wow, this was just an amazing performance for Justin Ford. I look forward to seeing where both of these men go from this point on. Justin Ford is a TRUE CONTENDER and that is obvious. Aaron Miller will be back full throttle as well and I can guarantee that. I can't wait to see both of these men back in action.
Next up was potentially the actual fight of the night between the undefeated “People's Champ” Darnell
Davis (4-0) and Carson Gainey (3-5). Now, considering the fact that Darnell Davis is the so-called “People's Champ”, I am sure that I will get a lot of hatred for what I am about to write in this review. First of all, let me make it clear that this fight was just great to watch. At the weigh-ins, I met both men and Gainey was real easy to deal with, whereas Davis seemed like he didn't even wanna speak with me. I asked him about the People's Champ moniker and he just seemed very uninterested. I took the fact that he cut wait and had a huge fight ahead of him and didn't really think much about his demeanor. I did however mentally note to myself that I did NOT think that Davis seemed to like me very much. Also, with Gainey's relative calmness at the weigh-ins, I picked Gainey to win the fight. I honestly just thought that Gainey was ready for the upset. I do NOT know if Davis heard this or not and just didn't like me because of that or what. So, going into the fight night, Gainey still seemed very confident and motivated and Davis seemed quiet to me.
The fight started and Davis won round one in my book. I scored it for him 10-9. Hold up, before I continue, let me make it clear that most fighters showed me love on their way into the cage and gave me some dap. Darnell Davis looked right at me and my out reached fist and just walked right by me. Yes, that pissed me off. That made me look like a bitch in front of my wife and it officially made me not only pick Gainey, but I actually began to ROOT ON Mr. Gainey. There is a serious lack of professionalism if my PREDICTION against him made him dislike me that much. Now, I do NOT know for sure if that’s the case, but it just seemed like that to me. Maybe he was just focused, I do not know. I also would like to say that some of the so-called “People's Champ's” fans were extremely disrespectful towards Carson Gainey throughout and after this fight. Overall, I just did not get a positive feeling from Darnell. However, where he WAS good at was in the CAGE. Darnell Davis is a FUTURE STAR in this sport. God damn, he is good and that is something that I CANNOT deny. Like I said, I scored round one for Davis, but Gainey took over in rounds two and three with his wrestling including a great north south choke that almost looked like it was going to finish it. Gainey took round two in my book 10-9 as did he round three. He secured some solid take-downs and I had him winning the fight 29-28. The judges felt the same way which sent Davis's fans into a huge booing contest. Gainey got on the mic and they disrespected the hell out of this great warrior. Davis looked extremely disappointed in losing the fight and shocked at the same time. I do not know for sure how he felt, but it looked like he took his first loss pretty hard.
I hope that he took the time to actually congratulate Carson, because he deserved it. Carson Gainey used his shit load of experience and wrestling ability to grind out this very impressive decision win. He was very humble afterward and told the crowd that he wanted to give them a war. The Davis fans booed the shit out of him and the judges which in my opinion was a disgrace. I commend BOTH fighters for their performance in this fight and think that they BOTH have great futures. The truth is however that due to age, Carson needed this win. Davis has PLENTY of time to succeed and trust me, he will. Carson Gainey needed this huge win and now he will be making sure he has another pay day. I would love to even see a rematch here and I’m sure that we will. Darnell Davis, if you are reading this, please do not take my criticism the wrong way. I think this loss will be the best thing for your career and your talent is endless. You will be a great professional and I honestly think that if you can stay getting better, you are UFC bound some day. This is my job and sometimes you are not going to hear what you want to hear.
In the main event, we saw the battle of two heavyweights in Rob Arnett (3-1) and former Bellator veteran William Penn (3-3). William Penn was another man that seemed to have serious attitude tonight. He had one of the best weigh-in interviews and I knew he was going to be ready for this fight. He blew me off on my dap as well, which pissed me off again. This fight went to the judges and I honestly gave this fight to Penn 30-27 as he dominated all three rounds. Arnett seemed to forget about using his wrestling pedigree which is odd to me. He is now 0-2 against Penn as the judges also gave Penn the rematch win. I will say this...BOTH MEN GASSED early as hell in this fight and there were loads of animosity and shit talked in this fight and after this fight. Oh yea, I wanted to comment on how much William Penn actually looks like Brett Rogers from Strikeforce. This fight was a slugfest for all three rounds, but like I said, it bothered me that both men gassed so early in the fight and Arnett refused to use his wrestling.
After the fight in the back, Penn was layed out on the floor for about 30 minutes talking shit non-stop to Arnett. Eventually the two men got into it and had to be broken up. William Penn has one of the biggest mouths that I have ever seen from a fighter. He had no respect for Arnett even after picking up the win. I admit that Penn can back it up, but Jesus there was a lot of shit talking. Penn kicked that ass though, so its hard for me to comment negatively against it. I waited around for a post-fight interview from Penn, but he just layed on the ground talking shit in the back. With that being said, I just moved on and eventually went home. Part of me felt bad for Arnett getting his ass kicked and then so much shit talked to him, but that's just the nature of the sport. These two men had SERIOUS animosity for this rematch and it showed. It was a great main event however and I look forward to seeing both of them in action again.
Overall, this show was a HOME RUN despite having a lot of changes in the card due to these fighters. The LFC showed that they can make chicken salad out of chicken shit (Brock's catch-phrase) by taking a card that was filled with changes and making it a great show. The ring announcer had the most pimping suit I’ve ever seen and the entire event was just great. My first ever event for the LFC impressed me like I never imagined. I can't wait for the next one on August 17, 2011 in which it is already being talked about as a SUPERCARD! IF you have not seen a LFC event in Indianapolis, I suggest you get there because they TRULY are the best promotion in the MIDWEST in my opinion. And being KING JB, my opinion is all that matters...Just kidding, but trust me, take my advice and get to their show!
KING JB
MMA Kingdom/MMA Affiliates Radio
Thursday June, 16, 2011 - “The Weigh-Ins”
Being my first event covering the LFC, I honestly had no clue what to expect going into these weigh-ins. There was a lot of positive that I personally saw for the company going into this event. I had the chance to speak with both owners of the company, Scott McCorkle and Scott Sims. I also spoke with event manager, Matt Gunning as well as match-makers Eddie Mirabella and Donald Hoover. I spoke with many of the fighters and to be honest, it was a blast all around. I even drank a beer or two or NINE while I was there. I got to the weigh-ins around 5:30 and didn't end up leaving until around 9:30, when there was only few of us left.
The first thing that I would like to mention is the excitement overall at these weigh-ins. There was quite a bit of excitement at the event. The fans that were around were excited and the ownership seemed to be excited. Quite a few of the fighters themselves also seemed excited. There were some VERY POSITIVE things to result from this weigh-ins and there were only a few things off. I do want to say that for a company such as the Legends of Fighting Championship, some of the fighters seem to take their careers serious, and some obviously did not. I will touch on that a bit later.
One of my first interviews of the night was with match-maker Donald Hoover. He had some very solid words to say in regards to the event and even Chris Price. Donald Hoover later went back and forth on whether he wanted me to edit the interview or not, which made all of us laugh around the table. I am not going to throw the names of the people laughing into this piece, but lets just say that some of the higher ups believed that Hoover had just made a mistake. They informed me to keep it real and NOT edit the footage. With that being said, I decided to NOT edit the footage. After already putting the footage together, I got a message however from Hoover today telling me to edit the footage. Hoover, you know I got love for ya, but its already done sir. Let's just hope that Chris doesn't see it bro ;)
One thing that I have to say is that these fighters need to take these weigh-ins a lot more serious. Scott McCorkle and Scott Sims, I am sure do not want to be promoting unprofessional MMA fighters and I did unfortunately see quite a bit of that last night. There were quite a few fighters that missed weight and also, there were fighters I believe that never even showed up. I was there four hours, and when I left, there were still people that they were waiting for to show up. My advice to some of these fighters is to seriously get your sh*t together if you intend on making this sport a career. The LFC is far to solid of an organization to have that sort of black cloud over it. When the LFC speaks of the fact that they are re-building, it is issues like this that is the reason. Some of these fighters out here need to honestly grow up and take this job seriously. Especially if you are on the main draw as a professional fighter.
Other than some of the lack of professionalism from the fighters, I would say that the weigh-ins were great. They were a little unorganized in my opinion with fighters weighing in separately at different times, but then again, that's just my opinion. The higher ups of this show put a lot into the events, so I truly believe that none of that is their fault. Overall, it was a great experience and the buildup and hype going into the show was amazing. The interviews went off great as did the entire weigh-ins as a whole. The owners of the company were very reachable despite previous reports from others saying that I would not be able to talk to them. You all know me out there! I am gonna squeeze in where I can get in and try to get things done. I told Scott McCorkle that I need to head up his marketing online and that lead into an interesting conversation and me getting his personal e-mail to further discuss this.
One of the other things that I enjoyed was meeting the man that runs Cage Craze. For some reason, he did NOT want to be on camera and that was a little odd to me, but overall, he was great to talk to and I definitely think that him and I can work together in the near future. I personally enjoyed speaking to him for the short time that I did and I can't wait to speak with him on further occasions.
The weigh-ins left me and my wife with one thing in our heads. “GOD DAMN, we can NOT wait for LFC 47: Big Dawgs! Tonight at the 8-second saloon in Indianapolis, Indiana. These weigh-ins were at Bubbaz Bar and Grill on the south side of Indianapolis. The fight's themselves at the 8-second saloon are at 111 N. Lynhurst. The doors will be opening at 6pm for the show. Me and my wife will be car-pooling with Dan Stephens of Inner Beast Sportswear. I look forward to the event without a doubt and expect some great action. Make sure you all get out there to the show as we expect to see a HUGE EVENT!
The Main Card
Heavyweight Fight: Rob Barnett vs. William Penn II
Bantamweight Fight: Darnell Davis vs. Carson Gainey
Featherweight Fight: Justin Ford vs. Aaron Miller
Bantamweight Fight: Chris Johnson vs. Matt Wilson
Amateur Card
Amateur Featherweight Championship: Luis Guerra vs. David Burnas
Kevin Groff vs. Kenny Day
Chad Wilson vs. Justen Dowset
Demar Gibson vs. Dewayne Castillo
Jeremy Baughman vs. ???
Joe Lyle Jr. vs. Jason Tancreti
Daniel Blackburn vs. Mike Moon
Lloyd Thornton vs. Jake Beals
Lamonte Dixon vs. Demarcus Spencer
KeAndre Howard vs. Cody Gamble
Johnny Neville vs. Joe Rainey
Jason Stroud was supposed to meet Eddie Christer, but the fight was cancelled after Eddie came in too far UNDER WEIGHT.
There are many, many, many more fights as well. I believe they have put together a 14 or 15 fight card for the evening! Make sure you get out there and CHECK IT OUT!
THE SHOW
First off, I want to say that the show itself and its production was as good as it gets. I still do NOT understand why there isn't more coverage of the LFC. The truth is that you fans in Indiana need to get your asses off your couch and get to the 8-second saloon to start supporting this show more often. I was able to sit CAGE-SIDE with Cage Craze. This was something new to me since the commission and the judges were right next to me. I had to be very careful, which was fun in itself. I was given full access to everything and trust me, I took advantage of it and enjoyed a few drinks AWAY from the cage side area as well. That is the rule, you cannot drink alcohol or smoke at the media/judges area next to the cage. You must go four feet back (lol) to the VIP seats. Great setup without a shadow of a doubt.
Like I said, I was sitting next to Cage Craze.com and we enjoyed the show. It was great to talk to him and his people about the show and MMA in general. He stayed working and I realize that we truly are not competition because we are two DIFFERENT types of MMA journalist. We handle it in very different ways. He is more of a results/video guy, whereas, I go hands on physically and interview the fighters and give my arrogant smart ass opinions.
The first fight of the night was VERY GOOD as Chad Wilson stepped in there with Justen Dowset. I believe this fight was in the lightweight division. Wilson was 2-0 going into this fight and Dowset was making his debut. This was an amazing fight as it ended up going to the judges. I will say this about the beginner, Dowset...You couldn't tell that this was his debut. He transitioned well and put up a hell of a fight for Chad Wilson. I honestly scored the first round for Dowset and then the final two rounds for Chad. Chad was on his back for most of the first round and to be honest, Justen missed out on some serious opportunities to take the fight. The judges gave Chad the win as this fight was a perfect start to the night.
Following this fight, Lloyd Thornton (3-1) was able to get a great arm bar win at the 2:25 mark in the first round over Jake Beals in the Bantamweight division. Beals fell to 0-2, but he was just completely out matched in this fight. I think that Lloyd looked extremely good here and Beals will have to go back to the drawing board. Either way, it was a solid fight and I was pretty excited about it.
Following this amazing start to the night was a match-up that was made due to Lamonte Dixon not being able to fight. Kevin Groff (22-15) stepped into the cage with Demar Gibson (0-1). You would think that this was a mis-match, but that’s just on paper. Demar was ready and that was something I could tell at the weigh-ins. I scored this fight 30-27 for Demar as it went to the judges. He indeed got the win, but let me make it clear that I respect both men here. Their fights were cancelled and they stepped in there with each-other short notice. I am very proud of both men and look forward to seeing them compete in the future. Both men made a fan out of me in this fight as it was definitely a three round war! Great job to both men here in the lightweight division. My advice to Mr. Groff however is to make sure he takes advantage of weight. He came in at 151 I believe and those three or four pounds made a difference.
Following those amazing three fights to start the show, we had Jonny Neville (0-3) and Joe Raney (0-2) in the battle of the win-less records. Wow, Jonny pulled it off with what seemed like an effortless rear-naked choke 1:53 into the fight. I would like to say that Joe Raney seems like someone that can definitely improve. Much respect to both men and I am glad to see Jonny get his first win. Joe Raney will make a comeback and get a win though. He has the look of a fighter in my opinion and he just needs to improve his technique. I got respect for the man and look forward to seeing him improve.
In the final amateur bout of the evening, we saw a CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT for the LFC Amateur Featherweight Championship. The champion, whom I admit I picked against, Luis Guerra (2-1) stepped into the cage with golden-glove boxer, David Burnas (12-5). I really thought that experience was going to be a difference here and boy, was I wrong. This was an amazing fight in which I scored for Guerra 50-45 to be honest. I think David Burnas will be a HELL of a pro when he turns pro and will see many different titles, but tonight just wasn't the night. Guerra was on the money all night and stayed on point. His entire camp called me out for my pick and I loved every minute of it. He definitely earned a fan out of me. I am not ashamed to say that Luis and his camp are my favorites as of right now. I would love to train with these guys and see what I can do in the near future. In the end, he defended his title and I had no choice but to get back there and interview the Champ!
Following that great Amateur Card, were the Professional Fights. Now, before we get into those fights, I am going to speak on this amateur card for a second. The lack of professionalism by the fighters makes me sick. For people to come in off weight time and time again. The way that they conducted themselves with no professionalism at the weigh-ins and no organization speaks volumes about a lot of their futures. Was it the match-maker? A lot of people believe so and since the event, Donald Hoover has indeed been let go from the organization. People missing weight by like 50 lbs and shit is just unacceptable. The ways that the amateurs will handled was very poor and unworthy of the reputation of the Legends of Fighting Championship. I would like to see these amateurs take this sport seriously all the way from the weigh-ins through the card. I think that the LFC needs to just start making it clear that if these assholes don't wanna make weight nor conduct themselves in an organized manner at the weigh-ins, they should never be allowed to fight for the LFC again. 315Lbs for a 265lb fight? Give me a god damn break people. You wanna be professionals later? START NOW DICKS! There were supposed to be 10-11 amateur fights and there was only 5. Is that the LFC's fault? HELL NO. I blame it on the fighters themselves.
Now that I am done with that rant, onto the first professional fight of the evening which was also a battle of win-less records...Chris Johnson (0-4) stepped into the cage with Matthew Wilson (0-7) and this fight was pretty fucking exciting if I may say so myself. Wilson was split open on his chin I believe pretty early in the fight, but still managed to pull off the TKO win at the 2:52 mark of the first round. I told everyone that Johnson was gonna have trouble after I saw him at the weigh-ins. He had a lot of trouble making weight and due to that, I did not believe that he was going to be 100% in this fight. He looked weak at the weigh-ins, in the locker room, and out there. Is it because he is weak? HELL NO, he is a beast out there, but his weight cut seemed to really hurt him. I would love to see Chris get a decent training camp and not have so many weight issues going into the fight. I think he can get that first win if he has a solid weight cut. Big ups to Matt Wilson though for pulling it out! I was shocked that the fight was stopped and that Chris was done so soon, but that’s just proof right there that weight cutting is an art that must be perfected. GREAT JOB by both men and I look forward to seeing what is next for both of them.
Next up was a fight that I thought was going to be fight of the night. It was NOT the fight of the night as it only lasted 30 seconds. OK, this was a fight between Aaron Miller (1-0) and Judo Justin Ford (2-0). First off, Judo Justin Ford is a fucking weirdo and I would like to make that clear from the jump. He is a great fighter and good guy, but he is an odd ball. This dude came out to Spice Girls “Do you wanna be my Lover” with some very pink and feminine looking shorts. I do NOT know if it was about playing mind games, but I was laughing my ass off. With that being said, there was nothing feminine about him as he locked up Aaron Miller in an arm-bar submission 30 seconds into the fight. Wow, this was just an amazing performance for Justin Ford. I look forward to seeing where both of these men go from this point on. Justin Ford is a TRUE CONTENDER and that is obvious. Aaron Miller will be back full throttle as well and I can guarantee that. I can't wait to see both of these men back in action.
Next up was potentially the actual fight of the night between the undefeated “People's Champ” Darnell
Davis (4-0) and Carson Gainey (3-5). Now, considering the fact that Darnell Davis is the so-called “People's Champ”, I am sure that I will get a lot of hatred for what I am about to write in this review. First of all, let me make it clear that this fight was just great to watch. At the weigh-ins, I met both men and Gainey was real easy to deal with, whereas Davis seemed like he didn't even wanna speak with me. I asked him about the People's Champ moniker and he just seemed very uninterested. I took the fact that he cut wait and had a huge fight ahead of him and didn't really think much about his demeanor. I did however mentally note to myself that I did NOT think that Davis seemed to like me very much. Also, with Gainey's relative calmness at the weigh-ins, I picked Gainey to win the fight. I honestly just thought that Gainey was ready for the upset. I do NOT know if Davis heard this or not and just didn't like me because of that or what. So, going into the fight night, Gainey still seemed very confident and motivated and Davis seemed quiet to me.
The fight started and Davis won round one in my book. I scored it for him 10-9. Hold up, before I continue, let me make it clear that most fighters showed me love on their way into the cage and gave me some dap. Darnell Davis looked right at me and my out reached fist and just walked right by me. Yes, that pissed me off. That made me look like a bitch in front of my wife and it officially made me not only pick Gainey, but I actually began to ROOT ON Mr. Gainey. There is a serious lack of professionalism if my PREDICTION against him made him dislike me that much. Now, I do NOT know for sure if that’s the case, but it just seemed like that to me. Maybe he was just focused, I do not know. I also would like to say that some of the so-called “People's Champ's” fans were extremely disrespectful towards Carson Gainey throughout and after this fight. Overall, I just did not get a positive feeling from Darnell. However, where he WAS good at was in the CAGE. Darnell Davis is a FUTURE STAR in this sport. God damn, he is good and that is something that I CANNOT deny. Like I said, I scored round one for Davis, but Gainey took over in rounds two and three with his wrestling including a great north south choke that almost looked like it was going to finish it. Gainey took round two in my book 10-9 as did he round three. He secured some solid take-downs and I had him winning the fight 29-28. The judges felt the same way which sent Davis's fans into a huge booing contest. Gainey got on the mic and they disrespected the hell out of this great warrior. Davis looked extremely disappointed in losing the fight and shocked at the same time. I do not know for sure how he felt, but it looked like he took his first loss pretty hard.
I hope that he took the time to actually congratulate Carson, because he deserved it. Carson Gainey used his shit load of experience and wrestling ability to grind out this very impressive decision win. He was very humble afterward and told the crowd that he wanted to give them a war. The Davis fans booed the shit out of him and the judges which in my opinion was a disgrace. I commend BOTH fighters for their performance in this fight and think that they BOTH have great futures. The truth is however that due to age, Carson needed this win. Davis has PLENTY of time to succeed and trust me, he will. Carson Gainey needed this huge win and now he will be making sure he has another pay day. I would love to even see a rematch here and I’m sure that we will. Darnell Davis, if you are reading this, please do not take my criticism the wrong way. I think this loss will be the best thing for your career and your talent is endless. You will be a great professional and I honestly think that if you can stay getting better, you are UFC bound some day. This is my job and sometimes you are not going to hear what you want to hear.
In the main event, we saw the battle of two heavyweights in Rob Arnett (3-1) and former Bellator veteran William Penn (3-3). William Penn was another man that seemed to have serious attitude tonight. He had one of the best weigh-in interviews and I knew he was going to be ready for this fight. He blew me off on my dap as well, which pissed me off again. This fight went to the judges and I honestly gave this fight to Penn 30-27 as he dominated all three rounds. Arnett seemed to forget about using his wrestling pedigree which is odd to me. He is now 0-2 against Penn as the judges also gave Penn the rematch win. I will say this...BOTH MEN GASSED early as hell in this fight and there were loads of animosity and shit talked in this fight and after this fight. Oh yea, I wanted to comment on how much William Penn actually looks like Brett Rogers from Strikeforce. This fight was a slugfest for all three rounds, but like I said, it bothered me that both men gassed so early in the fight and Arnett refused to use his wrestling.
After the fight in the back, Penn was layed out on the floor for about 30 minutes talking shit non-stop to Arnett. Eventually the two men got into it and had to be broken up. William Penn has one of the biggest mouths that I have ever seen from a fighter. He had no respect for Arnett even after picking up the win. I admit that Penn can back it up, but Jesus there was a lot of shit talking. Penn kicked that ass though, so its hard for me to comment negatively against it. I waited around for a post-fight interview from Penn, but he just layed on the ground talking shit in the back. With that being said, I just moved on and eventually went home. Part of me felt bad for Arnett getting his ass kicked and then so much shit talked to him, but that's just the nature of the sport. These two men had SERIOUS animosity for this rematch and it showed. It was a great main event however and I look forward to seeing both of them in action again.
Overall, this show was a HOME RUN despite having a lot of changes in the card due to these fighters. The LFC showed that they can make chicken salad out of chicken shit (Brock's catch-phrase) by taking a card that was filled with changes and making it a great show. The ring announcer had the most pimping suit I’ve ever seen and the entire event was just great. My first ever event for the LFC impressed me like I never imagined. I can't wait for the next one on August 17, 2011 in which it is already being talked about as a SUPERCARD! IF you have not seen a LFC event in Indianapolis, I suggest you get there because they TRULY are the best promotion in the MIDWEST in my opinion. And being KING JB, my opinion is all that matters...Just kidding, but trust me, take my advice and get to their show!
KING JB
MMA Kingdom/MMA Affiliates Radio
No comments:
Post a Comment