King of the Cage Soboba

Sunday March 20, 2005 San Jacinto, California

First up was “Tall” Paul Karsky vs Russ Miura. Now Paul wasn’t on the fight card that I was given at the front gate so I was surprised to see him walking down the ramp. It seemed that Miura’s scheduled opponent had backed out and Karsky had stepped up to fight instead. Its not clear when the switch was made but it must have been that day, as Paul’s name wasn’t even on the card that was printed out an hour before the show. Karksy was quickly taken down, then kneed to the head and body from the sidemount before tapping out to a kimura at 1:45 in the first round.

Jerry “Batman” Davis came out swinging against Alan Wood, who was happy to trade punches with the superhero. Batman seemed to be getting the better of the brawl by hitting Woods with several heavy lefts. The fight went to the ground briefly when Davis got a single leg, but the fighters were quickly stood up due to inactivity. Woods seemed to tire late in the first round but wouldn’t go down as Batman peppered his opponents face with lefts and rights. Woods couldn’t even keep his hands up to defend himself as the first round closed so his corner wisely called the fight. Davis wins at the end of Round 1 by corner stoppage.

My 'KO of the night' award was given during the Ray Lazama vs Aaron “Slam” Witherspoon fight. Witherspoon came out looking like a specimen, but he would have his hands full for his first fight with the more experienced Lazama. Lazama and Witherspoon traded a few blows with while Aaron would try to close the distance to gain the clinch. Lazama landed a few punches and some knees to the body before he was eventually taken down by Witherspoon, who executed a great double leg from the clinch near the fence. Witherspoon landed some good punches while GNPing from Ray’s guard but eventually the fight was stood up. Shortly after the stand up Ray landed a huge right hook followed by a knee to Witherspoon’s dazed head to end the fight by knockout with only 8 seconds left in the round. Lazama scored the KO at 4:52 of Round 1.

Although the fight was a minute and thirty seven seconds long I think Jeff Gallaher must have spent a minute twenty in Zack Taylor’s guillotine choke. After Jeff went for a double leg Zack quickly went for the standing guillotine before pulling him into his guard. Jeff, showing great heart, fought off the deep looking choke for over a minute, causing his face to turn dark purple. In a great display of refereeing by Cecil, the fight was called as soon as Jeff went under. Zack Taylor choked out Gallaher at 1.37 of Round 1.

In what I thought would be the quickest fight of the night Jason Von Flue won by side choke in 51 seconds. Nick “Time Bomb” Davanso took Jason down and got mount but was bucked off and ended up quickly tapping after Von Flue got side mount and choked Nick out with his own arm. Von Flue by first round submission in only 51 secs.

In the only 210lb fight of the night Wes "Soldier" Combs came out dressed in a full marine uniform, accompanied by two hot marine assistants who were wearing knee high boots. Combs made quick work of Randall Limond by taking him down and getting the full mount and laying down a barrage of punches that Randall seemed to have no answer for. Wess Combs Round 1 TKO 1:14

Adam Lynn made quick work of Brent Wooten with a big left knee using a technique I have never seen used before. While he had only his right arm under hooked Lynn kept his left hand on the back of Wootens head throwing left knees until one of them connected. Lynn Round 1 KO 1:10

After seeing about 20 people at the casino wearing Nam Phan shirts at the casino and countless others at the fight I became quite curious about this up and coming fighter. Nam and Joey Alverado both came down in blue belts but the crowd came out for Phan who looked ready to give them a show. Both men quickly started trading blows with Phan getting the best of the exchanges. Phan started to get backed into the cage then hit Joey with a big right from the clinch. Joey tried to quickly get away from Phan but he knew that Alverado was hurt and chased after him and landed another big right that sent Joey tumbling to the mat. Phan quickly finished his opponent from the guard while the crowd cheered wildly. After the fight Nam told me “It’s scary in there…” I told him he didn’t look scared to me. Nam Phan Round 1 TKO Ref Stoppage 1:08

Brent Stevens and Wesley Scobee came out throwing hard but both men gassed quickly. Stevens took Scobee down from the clinch and it looked as if Wes had a guillotine attempt but instead Scobee tapped out for no reason that I could see. Stevens by Submission 1:23 Round 1.

Fighting out of Bakersfield Dan Jones came out against a veteran of the octagon Frankie Bohlinger. Dan quickly showed why he is 0-4 in the octagon by letting Bohlinger take him down and move to full mount rather easily. Bohlinger seemed to be giving Jones a break by quickly going for the armbar. Bohlinger Round 1 Sub 1:44

Tony Lopez (No Limits) landed some big knees followed by punches in Tony Galindo’s guard to end the fight while the crowd yelled out “Kill Him Tony!” Lopez R1 3:32 TKO

In the shortest fight of the night Brian Sesma, with Quinton Jackson in his corner, made quick work of Adrian Perez. After an exchange on their feet Perez seemed to lose his balance and fall to the all fours position. Brian swiftly got good postion and rained down several rights that hurt Perez bad enough for ref Herb Dean to stop the fight. Sesma Round 1 KO :17

The first fight of the night to go to decision was Charles Diaz vs Tom Kenney. Diaz controlled the first part of the first fight by going for a guillotene attempt and eventually taking Tom down with a double leg. Diaz did some damage from guard then moved to half guard where he landed a few knees to Denny. After some inactiveness they were stood up and Diaz rushed in and took Kenney down. Once again Diaz was working from the Tom’s guard where Tom tried numerous sweeps that were ineffective. The Round ended with Diaz in Tom’s guard.

Round 2 started with both men throwing. Diaz wanted no part in this and pushed Denney up against the fence. Tom quickly reversed and started throwing down some brutal foot stomps. Tom attempted a whizzer like takedown but Diaz ended up on top working from Toms guard again. The ref stood them up after some inactivity and they began to throw leather with Tom getting the best of it. Tom pinned Diaz up against the fence and once again let more foot stomps go but Diaz came out on top at the end of the second by taking Tom down. A close call but the judges gave it one way, Diaz Decision (Unanimous) 5:00 Round 2

In what looked to be the classic UFC format of style vs style Omar Luv came out in his Thai boxing shorts while Andy Maccarone came out in his Karate Gi. Omar and Andy traded keg kicks, with Omar getting the best of them. Andy’s inability to effectively check Omars kicks eventually led to him rushing in with punches. The fight was eventually taken to the ground with Omar ending up on top. Back on the feet, Andy quickly began throwing punches at Omar. Omar backed away and then peppered Andy with more and more leg kicks. Maccarone was eventually able to close the gap and begin to work the clinch but Luv was too much for him and ended up on top of Andy in sidemount. The tables were quickly turned when Omar attempted a keylock and then got reversed- Andy slid on top of Omar and into full mount but it was too close to the end of the round to score anything big.

Round two saw Luv pushing Andy up against the fence and eventually getting the takedown, throwing a few punches before being stood back up. Omar managed to pin Andy against the fence in a sitting postion and rained knees down onto Macarones skull- Andy protected well and eventually got back to his feet but Omar ended the fight strong by getting a double leg to sidemount. Luv Decision (Unanimous) 5:00 Round 2

Thomas Denny came down the ramp in usual fashion with his daughter and his wife coming down first then followed by himself and about 20 other Denny fans and training partners. Denny starts the round by gaining the clinch and taking Ray Elbe down ending up in the sidemount position. Elbe, using some slick ground work, beautifully gets guard but is quickly pushed up against the face by Denny. Elbe got the double under hooks and stalls till a standup is made. Once stood up they trade a few punches then go back to the clinch where Ray pulls guard. After another standup Denny and Elbe clinch again but somehow Elbe hurts Dennys eye and the fight is briefly stopped for Denny to regain compusure. During the break a lot of boo’s were directed towards Elbe and he responded buy grabbing his crotch and giving everybody the finger. Tom’s eye showed noticeable swelling once the fight was restarted but that didn’t stop him from rushing in and throwing some hard punches and knees then getting a perfect double leg takedown to sidemount. Tom looked to make Ray pay for poking his eye by throwing some heavy knees from the side postion. Denny ended the round with an armbar attempt but was unable to finish it since the bell rang before he could get it fully extended.

Round 2 started with Ray and Thomas trading some punches when Tom got hit by a left that put his knee down on the mat. Denny wasted no time in quickly recovering and striking back with a big double leg takedown. After taking several knees from sidemount Elbe was unable to escape the kimura submission attempted by Denny and was forced to tap out. Denny Submission (Kimura) 1:34 2

The final main event on the card was a good one Charles “Crazy Horse” Bennett vs Gabe Rivas. Although on paper it looked that Bennett would make short work of Rivas, the veteran of RITC, KOTC, and Gladiator Challenge showed that he could be a threat to any top fighter in any of those organizations. The fight started off with Gabe rushing in at Bennett who picked him up and slammed him for one of the biggest slams I have seen in MMA. After a brief scuffle on the ground Gabe secured a deep armbar attempt that looked as if might finish the fight. Crazy Horse stayed calm stood up and shook Rivas off. Both men stood up and began to bang then Charles easily took Rivas down. After some more grappling on the ground where both fighters swept each other Rivas secured another armbar. This time it looked as if Bennett would be unable to stand and shake Rivas off since he was flat on his chest. In another great escape Bennett flipped out of the armbar attempt and ended up with Rivas’ back. The round ended with Bennett hitting Rivas well after the bell had sounded.

Round 2 started with both men exchanging punches. Rivas landed a good punch to which Charles responded by pretending like he is hurt wobbling around the ring making a dazed face. Charles takes down Rivas easily and works from the guard. Rivas try’s several triangle attempts but is forced to let go when Crazy Horse attempts to slam him. Rivas is able to get up and quickly take down Bennett and put together some good punches form Bennett’s guard. Unable to finish the fight from Bennett’s guard Rivas easily passes guard and gets full mount. Rivas throws down some heavy punches from mount while Charles curls up underneath him. Charles covers up well but gives up his back in the process. Charles is able to recover from that position as well but Rivas ends up with sidemount. Charles is able to flip Rivas off of him but ends up in Rivas’s guard fighting off a triangle to uma plata submission attempt. The submission attempts are unsuccessful and Charles is able to pull a draw out of this fight. Draw 5:00 Round 2

In other fights Fernando Gonzalez out lasted Reggie Orr to win the 2 round decision. Rob Kolbeck won his first fight in KOTC against Eric Torres by Submission (Triangle Choke) 1:47 Round 1 and Chris Monso lost his first fight to Josh Hinger by Submission (Armbar) 2:58 Round 1.

Comments? Post your Thoughts in our Forum

Report by
Brad Doerges
MMA-Fighter.com Reporter
brad@mma-fighter.com