Kick
Down 8: Redemption
01-21-2004
Denver,
Colorado
Fight
Review - By Jason Martinez
Photo
by Peter Lockley.
This
is Jason Martinez bringing you, the fans of the greatest sport in the
world, another Ringside Report. We venture into the Professional realm
of MMA/NHB, with a solid card of five amateur, and six Pro fights; the
same mixture of MMA/NHB and Modified Muay Thai.
In
attendance, Matt Lindland with his fighter's from Team Quest, and Trevor
Prangley with a newly established Lion's Den/Team Idaho. Pat
Smith, who will be in King of the Cage next Saturday, the 24th. Of Jan.
Mike
Van Arsdale, and Keith Wilson, both from AKA (Frank Shamrock/Bob Cook),
also avid supporters of Bloodline Fight Team based out of Colorado
Springs, Colorado. Will, and Billy Hendricks from Pancrase USAA. Keith
Schmelzer, and Vic Brabo from Team Freedom Fighters. Jerome Locke was
our 3rd. man in the ring for several of the MMA/NHB, as well as Matt and
Billy, from above. For All Standup Matches Keith was our ref. Without
further ado let’s get to the action!!!
O.J.
Martinez (May-Tec, Denver) was first up to defend his Kick Down (KDC)
NHB lightweight Title against Jose Luis Murillo (Bushido, C/S, CO. The
bell rang, and these two were trading punches. Into a clinch, O.J. lands
good knees, as Murillo is looking for the take down. Murillo attempts a
sweep, O.J. transitions to land in a side guard position and looks to
take the back. Murillo does a wonderful job of not giving up top
position while getting O.J. back under him. Now in O.J.'s guard, Murillo
lands some pounding punches, but is eventually stood up due to lack of
action. O.J. still game, lands the better punches, which have Murillo
attempting a hip toss. Back in guard, there is another standup by the
ref. While in the exchange, O.J. steps behind Murillo. What I thought
was to be an O.J. throw, ends up being Murillo dropping down for a knee
bar. At 2:14 of the first round that is exactly how Murillo defeated O.J.
to become our new Lightweight NHB Title holder.
Matt
DeWolf (Dynamic Martial Arts, SD.) was our next belt holder with his
first Defense of his Middle weight Title, against Rob Graff(The Defense
Institute, C/S, CO. Again, as in the 1st. fight these two waist no time
as Rob flicks the right punch out. Matt, in for the clinch, has Rob pull
guard. There is a stand up from the ref, and we go back at it. Rob
throwing strikes, clips Matt's nose with a solid right punch, and then
catches him in a guillotine. Standing in the choke for at least 20sec,
Matt finally slams Rob into guard. Matt stands and slams Rob again into
guard getting enough room to clear his chin from the choke. With 10 sec.
left Matt mounts Rob but is unable to finish Rob. This match is stopped
by the doctor due to a fractured nose. Rob was awarded the belt, and the
battle was over... the war although, has just begun! Look to see these
two to fight again in 2004!!!
Third
fight, third Title bout of the evening. Fino Soltero (May-Tec,
Denver) Holds the Men’s Heavyweight Kickboxing Belt, and would put it
up for grabs against Corey Terry (3D,Denver). Corey works his left jab,
while Fino starts in with right low kicks to the thigh. Corey finds his
right thigh kick as well, Fino Counters with a stiff left jab. Fino has
strong knees in the clinch, Corey striking upstairs; break by ref. Fino
lands a left, right punch combo, for an eight count. Fino finishes
strong with a kick to the head of Corey.
2nd.
round, Fino has a mouse under his eye, and a trickle of blood from the
nose. Corey has put together his punches and kicks well, and counters a
few glancing blows as Fino comes in for the clinch. At this time there
is an unintentional groin shot, and Fino receives time to recover. Round
ends.
Round
3, Fino steps up with a left punch counter of his own that floors Corey
for another 8 count. Fino comes in firing off the l,r,l punch combo and
an exchange of right punches before the bell. Unanimous for Fino.
We
go back to MMA/NHB for Randy Mitchell (May-Tec, Denver), against Tom
Johnson (Innovative Martial Arts, Aurora, CO.). Randy is May Tec's up
and coming warrior 3-1 NHB, 3-0 Standup, who was willing to take on a
master of some arts and practitioner of others. Tom owns his own school,
but has not actually been in the ring for four years. This fight started
with some trading on the feet and soon went to the ground. Tom attempts
a triangle, Randy escapes and calls Tom back to his feet. Randy lands
good combos, which have Tom clinching. Randy out working Tom in the
clinch has Tom pull guard with a guillotine attempt. Randy attains side
mount, but there is a standup for no action. Randy again combos with a
left right punch followed with right kick to the sternum. The round ends
with Tom landing a kick to the head.
Round
2: Randy is still dominate on the feet as he lets fly a few more combos
before he walks into/Slips into a short left punch which is followed up
with multiple strikes. The Ref steps in at 0:48 of the R2. Whatever
happened these two gentlemen showed true Championship heart, as each
good shot was acknowledged by each other. Here is another rematch in the
making!!!
Mark
Korzeniowski (Kongo Do, C/S, CO.) would put his Middleweight Kickboxing
belt up against Colorado Springs rival Shale LaPage (The Defense
Institute). Shale was the aggressor as he came flying across the ring,
with a few combos, on the other side Mark used his height advantage to
land kicks to the head at will. Aside from the head kicks, Mark began to
follow them up with accurate combos himself.
2nd.
round, Mark again starts with high kicks to the head of Shale followed
with punches. A standing 8 as a high kick floors Shale, who just seems
not able to find his reach. Shale lands a right hook, followed by some
good clinch work that puts Mark on the defensive as he starts to chop at
the left outer thigh of Shale. Two consecutive outer thigh shots have
Shale down once more before the bell.
3rd
rd. Mark continues to chop the leg, which has Shale taking a knee most
times he is kicked there. Mark follows, or leads with a jab to assure a
unanimous victory which keeps the title at Kongo Do!
Now
for the first time ever, we witness 6 pro fights at a KDC!!! Jeff Barney
(High Desert Martial Arts), who holds an amateur kickboxing belt with
KDC, stepped in with a 1-1 record in pro MMA. On the opposite side of
the ring stood Paul Weseman (Team Idaho/Lions Den). Paul struck first
with a solid left punch, into a clinch. Trading in the guard, Paul hip
tosses Jeff, who quickly gains guard. Jeff trading from his guard
finally gets stunned, and swiftly catches an arm for an armbar. Paul
able to escape, lands back in guard, and Jeff attempts another armbar
before the bell.
2nd
round, Jeff catches Paul with a (God Bless Lisa Dergan) Knee kick. Paul
went for the shoot at the same time Jeff threw a left kick. Because of
Paul's position, Jeff's knee connected and staggered Paul! To Paul's
credit he recovered quickly, but it was one of the fierce strikes I have
seen (although it was unintentional). They clinch, exchange, and finally
are back in Jeff’s guard. Paul gains the mount by finally listening to
his corner, which was screaming, "POP AND PASS, POP AND
PASS!!!" from the 1st. round. I mention this because your corner is
very important to listen to while in the heat of battle! There is a
restart due to an unintentional point of elbow strike. Paul hip tosses
into side mount, into mount, with Jeff's arm covering his own face,
until the ref stops it at 2:10 of the 2nd.
After
a short intermission, the action continued with Modified Muay Thai
between Drew Lawrence (Bloodline Fight Team, C/S CO.) and Victor
Hernandez (DeLuca Academy, NM). Drew landed a right kick to the body,
and then to the head before Victor came in for a clinch, where both
worked knees to the body. A low knee landed, Victor given the warning,
Drew getting the rest. Drew comes out with more kicks, but is again
kicked in the groin on accident. Victor receives a second warning, and
Drew another rest.
Round
2, Drew continues scoring with head and body shots, while Victor begins
to string a few combos together. While clinched, both are still landing
knees. Victor does catch a good left jab, right hook, before the bell.
Round
3. Drew lands a solid right punch that puts Victor down for an 8 count.
Drew starts to work knees to the head while clinched, Victor not liking
the treatment, breaks the clinch several times through out the round.
Victor ends with another combo.
Final
round, Drew is getting the better of Victor with knees to the body and
head. There is a final low blow which cost Victor a point. Drew is
awarded the judges decision.
Trevor
Prangley (Lions Den/Team Idaho) was next to face Shane Schartzer (DeLuca
Academy, NM). I returned to my seat to see Trevor taking Shane's back.
At 1:31 Matt Lindland stopped the bout due to tap out. There were talks
of Trevor having a rematch against Brett Shafer, who lost to Prangley in
Mexico last year. Brett is on a three win streak, with his last fight
being at King Of The Rockies NHB Championships, that took place in
Colorado on January 3rd. "The Wrecking Ball" was in
attendance, and Trevor did agree to a rematch in the near future. Brett
is possibly looking to fight at Trevor's up and coming show in Idaho. It
is highly doubtful that it would be against Prangley however.
The
9th fight was Hank Weiss (The Defense Institute); against Team Quest's
hot gun Ryan Schultz. Ryan was quick to get the take down and land in
Hank's guard. Not finding a decent position Ryan stands back up. Wasting
no time, Ryan explodes with strong right punches that have our ref
breaking the action at 2:17 of the R1.
Tony
Mendoza (Dynamic Martial Arts), and Brandon Mihajcic (Team Quest) was
the final stand up bout on the card. Tony showed good left punches with
nice clinch work. Brandon had a good left kick right punch. The problem
was every time Tony landed his left Brandon would turn his back. Keith
(our ref) finally gave Brandon a standing 10 count, followed by a
warning that the fight would be stopped if he kept turning.
Round
2, Tony caught Brandon in the corner and began to punish him with
flurries of punches. Brandon took all he could before the ref stepped in
to stop the fight. I did not get an exact time for this fight.
Our
main event!!! The rematch of John Cronk (Warrior Dojo, Denver), against
Eric Heinz (Gold's Gym, Denver) from the main event at the 3rd. Ultimate
Athlete show in Denver August of 2002. Cronk starts with a kick to the
head, then clinching. Eric starts some leg work in the clinch, and
finally slams Cronk, landing in side mount. Cronk doesn't take long to
get into guard, but Eric lands some heavy leather while they transition.
Eric wanting to go back to the feet, stands up. Cronk still on the
ground does a cover girl pose, which I would love to have a picture
of!!!
Round
2, Eric delivers a few knees before Cronk is able to catch an arm.
Looking for the kimura, Cronk drags Eric to the ground. Cronk is in a
turtle position, still working for the submission. Eric is able to
escape, which has the action back on the feet. Cronk lands another kick
to the head, then takes Eric's back. At 2:32 of the second round, Cronk
again secures victory, this time via rear naked choke.
Look
for KDC 9: in February, will we will return to thee best amateur show in
Colorado!!! Questions, comments, or corrections, please email me at...
jason4mma@yahoo.com.
