I tell you, until Friday night I had no idea I would be seeing my first live MMA show last night. However, on Twitter Lance Storm (yeah, the guy who was in ECW, WCW, and then the WWE) retweeted an app that was in part created by former WWE wrestler Sugar Shane Helms (i.e. The Hurricane) called iMMA which lists all sorts of events and one feature shows you which events are happening the closest to you. I downloaaded the app onto my iPod Touch and then looked and saw that there was going to be a show in Ocala. I looked it up and actually saw some names I recognized so even though the cost was more than what I wanted to pay, I still decided to head on up there and thus at the last minute I ended up changing my plans around and I did on Friday night what I was originally going to do last night. When I post my regular blog the next afternoon you'll see what I mean.
Saturday, I left in the afternoon to head on up to Ocala. I decided to take the scenic route and I stayed on 27 until I got to Ocala rather than using the Turnpike and then I-75. I had to get gas and a little later get something to eat before I ended up at the venue. Well, I dun goofed, as they say. 27 was busier than expected. Plus, I only found this out as I was driving there, but Leesburg had a biker fest going on so needless to say I saw many two wheeled vehicles on the highway. I stopped in Leesburg to get gas, then it was closer to Ocala (Belleview, to be exact) that I had dinner at Burger King. I was finally able to use that coupon I had for one of their new smoothies... and, it wasn't worth the wait! I thought it wasn't too good at all. I'm officially done with BK for awhile. There are many better places to go to for a meal.
Anyhow, I enter the city of Ocala and as I've mentioned before way back when, that city has a real confusing mess of a street system in what the streets are called and how things are just organized in general. It's quite easy to get lost there. In fact, I had to do some backtracking on this day but I finally got to the venue (the Ocala Entertainment Complex) which is an inside nightclub and attached to it is pretty much a warehouse that has a covered roof but otherwise is open-air. Right next door is a big grass field so parking was no problem. It does have a lot of room. There were at least a few hundred people there. The one big thing I wasn't happy about... port-a-potties outside! Enough said. But hey, there thankfully was a big videoscreen that you could watch which used several different camera angles. Nice set-up. As I sat in the back it was the only way I could see what happened when the fight was on the ground.
In several ways this reminded me of an indy wrestling show. For example, the event was supposed to start at 7 but instead started at 7:30. There were 7 fights; more were scheduled but for various reasons they did not happen. Then again, the show was originally going to be at another venue (that was quite a bit north of this place, so I'm glad for the change for that reason) so I am just glad the show happened. The ring announcer (Dude McDuderson, as I never heard his name) seemed fine but the sound system wasn't all that great so I didn't hear most of what he said. Thus, for almost all of the fights I'm calling the dudes by what nicknames I was able to hear or other things that made me remember them.
Evil Elf defeated Texas Chainsaw. Yeah, those were the nicknames I heard. It was a back and forth affair for the one round it lasted, but Elf was able to get the win with a rear naked choke. A lot of his family/friends were there so there were loud cheers when he won.
Don defeated Ginger Zombie. Oh, this fight. I'm calling the guy Don as he had “Don” shaved into the side of his head. The fight stayed on the feet the entire time and only lasted like 2 minutes. It ended with Don drilling the ginger a few times in the face and he got knocked out so badly... he had to be stretchered out! Yikes. I hope that guy ended up OK. His g/f (either that, or his sister) was there and I don't need to tell you what sort of reaction she had. There was a delay after that as the paramedics had to attend to him, but after that, onto the third bout.
They had several spots open where you could purchase alcoholic beverages. I purchased a bottle of water early on... but after that I got some beer! They also had ladies walking around and you could order items from them and they were dressed in outfits that wouldn't look out of place at Mako's, actually.
Thundercat beat St. Pete Guy. Yes, that was his nickname, Thundercat. This was the only fight that didn't last one round; instead this went two. The main story is that most of the fight was on the ground, and Thundercat marked up his face with elbows, producing a nasty-looking cut. The doctor looked at it twice and the second time, he stopped the fight. As it was almost all Thundercat, I doubt things would have changed if the fight would have lasted longer.
Socrates Pierre defeated Blondie. Yes, that's his real name, Socrates Pierre. That's awesome. I call the other guy Blondie as his walkout music was Rapture, which I fully approve of. Most everyone else's was not too different from what you get at indy shows; you know, rock music that I usually don't give a damn about. The story here was that Blondie had success on the feet but Socrates took it to the ground and that was his world. He got the rear naked choke victory.
Intermission time. Yes, just like at an indy wrestling show. I'll mention here that while the crowd was filled with either bro types or white trash, they actually for the most part did not act too bad. I was expecting worse behavior. Even with the fights were on the ground I didn't hear much in the way of complaining. Oh, and whether working there or there to watch the fights, there were some rather attractive ladies around; I'll never carp about that.
Carlos beat Glitch Mob. Carlos had a mohawk while the other guy came out to the Glitch Mob version of Seven Nation Army, i.e. the song used in the G.I. Joe 2 trailers. The fight mainly stayed on the feet and the most notable thing is that on two occasions Glitch accidentallly got hit right in the peas and carrot. Soon after the second shot, Carlos got the win, making the crowd happy.
The ring announcer was fine, I suppose, although he shouldn't have tried to act so much like Bruce Buffer, as that just made him look low-rent.
Aaron Johnson defeated James Hammortree. Hammortree-from the area-was a fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Liddell vs. Ortiz back in 2010. His opponent changed a few times but he ended up facing a dude from Georgia who had about a .500 record. This was quite short. Johnson got on a leglock and the ref stopped the fight. Now, that may have been premature... but I don't think James was going to escape the hold either.
There was actually a special guest there, and he happened to be an Ultimate Fighter winner. It was Orlando's Jonathan Brookins, who I understand is an unusual sort. No one there seemed to give a damn about him when he was interviewed in the cage. Then again, I'll be honest and say that I've never given a damn about any of the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
Thomas Saur defeated Warpath. If you don't know, Warpath has been around for years and he's a real journeyman, also having a .500 record but he has faced off against well-known guys such as Antonio Bigfoot Silva, Dan Severn, Don Frye (twice) and Bas Rutten. This time, he faced off against a local dude and this wasn't his night. Right away Warpath got drilled HARD in the head-I mean, it was loud-and ate a few punches and ended up on the mat, where he got in a North-South choke (of all things) and he submitted. The crowd went home happy so that was good.
Overall, I expected a bunch of short fights as that's the sort of thing you get at this level of show. I wish the card would have lasted more than 2 hours but that was how it turned out. It was entertaining and one of these days I'll go to another event of this level. Also one of these days I'd like to go to a UFC show but that's something else for another day.
I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with my usual blog where I talk about the rest of the week I had, which will have more tales involving alcohol.
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