Mari's Minute

Long Beach Fight Night Recap

(Professional Full Contact Mixed Martial Arts)

October 19, 2008

Long Beach City College

Long Beach, California

While Fall Sundays are usually a day for Football, if you're like me and crave more, it can make for an

interesting day looking for something to fill the void....but luckily, Topping Events Promotion made this past

Sunday exciting by bringing the second installment of Long Beach Fight Night to the Long Beach City

College Hall of Champions. Standouts in attendance included the Legendary "Judo" Gene Lebell,

announcer extraordinaire & MMA Hall of Famer Tyson Johnson, Mike Guymon, Antonio McKee, Thomas

Denny, Frank Park and Thomas Kenney just to name a few. The hundreds in attendance were treated to

nine great battles and here is how the action went down:

The United States Marine Corps had a great night as both fighters from the USMC came out victorious with

submission wins - The first win came from Ryan Rogers from Joker's Wild Fighting Academy over

Demetrice Woods from United BJJ. Woods was able to get a take down and the mount over Rogers. From

mount position, Woods connected with powerful rights to the face ending round one. Rogers came back in

round two tagging Woods with a straight left that allowed him to rush in, get the take down and work the

triangle choke that led to his submission win at 31 second of round two. Next, Sgt. Vince Ortiz got his win

in the fourth bout over Cory Johnson. Ortiz was able to connect well with strikes that led him to the full

mount which was followed by the arm bar submission at 1:44 of round two for the big W.

Another great battle came from Gazze Academy’s Tommy Lee who took on Ring of Fire’s Marlin

Gustafson. It was a good round one for Lee but then he got caught with a guillotine choke in round two.

Gustafson held it tight for the tap at 1:30 of the second round.

Then came Mitch Mellotti who gave Joker’s Wild Fighting Academy the second win for the night. Mellotti

dominated his opponent “Rumblin” Rick Jones an independent fighter from Beaumont, California. Mellotti’s

powerful body kicks hurt Jones early on leaving an imprint in his abdomen. Mellotti seemed to be landing

everything and eventually ended the bout with a powerful straight right that knocked out Jones at 2:00 of the

second round.

And Joker’s Wild Fighting Academy went for their third win of the night when Raja Shippen went up against

Chad Walter representing America Jiu-Jitsu. But it didn’t go that well for Shippen - Shippen appeared to be

controlling the pace but got caught with an arm bar at 2:31 of the second round giving Walter the win.

Other great action came from Justin Hubble over Paul Karsky - De La O Jiu Jitsu vs. Universal Grappling

Academy. Two great schools were represented well in battle giving the fans a great display of stand-up and

ground skills. And after three (three minute) rounds, Hubble took the judges unanimous decision win.

The other unanimous decision win of the night went to the Body Shop's own Maurice “Syko” Eazel who

showed some great control and strength over Eric “The Bengal” Castile from Undisputed Boxing. Eazel did

a great job listening to his corner. The highlight came in round one when Castile had Eazel in a guillotine

choke - Eazel used his strength to pick him up and carry Castile towards his corner with Castile still holding

the guillotine tight - Eazel looked at Antonio McKee (his coach) and McKee indicated to him to slam

himself backwards...and so he did - Castile hit the canvas hard....face first...and the fans loved it. Eazel was

able to dominate and take the win after three (three minute) rounds of powerful action with judges scores of

30-27, 29-28 and 30-27.

Another dominating performance came from Preston “Postal P” Scharf over Alex “Mad Dog” Rickards.

Scharf  ended the fight at 1:05 making Rickards verbally tap out after receiving a flurry of strikes to the face

from top position.

The main event saw Marcus Ajian from Ohio representing Sandusky Ji Do Kwan and Team Beatdown

defeating Dominic Verdugo representing Team Wildman.  Ajian rushed in and Verdugo was able to attempt

a guillotine choke but Ajian escaped easily. Then Ajian got his own guillotine but it didn’t go as easy for

Verdugo - He just couldn’t get out leaving no option but to tap at 1:50 of the first round.

Don’t forget fight fans, mark it on your calendar, LBFN will be back January 4, 2009.  Let’s start the year with

a bang and attend this great show.

Until next time,

Mari

(10/21/08)