The Southern Indiana Sports Center in New Albany, Indiana was the site of Eclectic Kombat’s “Pankratos” event on June 19.  Event promoter Ivan Dale, “Human Wrecking Ball” Craig Pumphrey and company staged a fun-filled evening of MMA action, a grappling mini-tourney, and judo and boxing demonstrations, all in a lively, family-friendly atmosphere.

In the four-man grappling tourney, with each bout consisting of a single five-minute period with extra time added if necessary, James Glenn squared off against Team Iron Horse’s James Brown in the opening contest.  Brown controlled the contest throughout, scoring a keylock about midway through the bout, and then adding an armbar and a choke in the closing seconds to win his contest three submissions to none.  In the second semifinal, Brown’s teammate James Mogollon was not as fortunate, as opponent Rob Smith’s successful early guillotine proved the difference in a closely-fought contest.

As the grappling finalists gained a short respite, the night’s MMA action got underway.  In the opening bout, Dustin Guss and Coty Flannery fought a back-and-forth ground battle in the first round that left both fighters gassed for the second.  Late in the round however, Flannery was able to gain full mount and then secure a rear naked choke when Guss gave up his back.  The tapout came at 2:44.

Shawn Hampton made short work of Dustin Hampton (no relation), latching on a rear naked choke 1:09 seconds into the fight and coaxing a tapout from Dustin that the ref was late in acknowledging.  Dustin was visibly frustrated with Shawn at the late release, but Shawn showed class and grace throughout.

Lee secures the winning Rear Naked Choke

Josh Lee earned a takedown in the opening minute of his bout with Jake Sorrels, then took advantage of a sloppy guard by Sorrels to pass and latch onto a rear naked choke, eliciting a submission from Sorrels just 1:10 into the fight.

Team Full Force’s Ricky Weisbach prevailed in a nip-and-tuck three round affair against Steve Vanover.  The first two rounds saw Vanover alternately looking for guillotines and north-south chokes that never seriously threatened Weisbach.  In the third, Vanover spent the last two minutes desperately fighting off a prolonged inverted armbar attempt by Weisbach.  In the end, the judges awarded a majority decision to Weisbach (29-28, 29-29, 30-28).

Rob Smith and James Brown resumed center stage for the finale of the grappling mini-tourney, and the two veteran grapplers fought to a stalemate on their feet for the opening minutes of the contest.  At about the three-minute mark, Smith jumped for an inverted armbar, but Brown was able to slip out into Smith’s guard.  Smith nearly scored an armbar at the end of the five-minute period.  With no submissions scored, the match went into tiebreaking extra time, where Smith prevailed on the strength of a takedown, remaining the Eclectic Kombat grappling champion in a hard-fought contest.

The MMA action resumed with Jason Taylor winning his debut fight with a standing guillotine over Kenny Cash 1:49 into the contest.

Fight of the Night

Spice attempts an Armbar

In the fight of the night, undefeated combatants Terry Robinson and Chris Spicer waged a spirited three-round battle.  In the first, Robinson opened up a cut under Spicer’s right eye and finished the round with a brutal flurry that dropped Spicer in the corner of the ring.  Spicer showed few ill effects to open the second round though, snapping a leg kick and then landing a right head kick before being taken down by Robinson.  Spicer tried for an armbar but Robinson slipped out, making Spicer pay for the missed submission as the second round ended.  In the third, Robinson landed a spinning backfist and later escaped two armbar attempts on the ground by Spicer, dropping bombs as the fight came to a close.  The judges awarded Robinson an oddly-scored majority decision (30-28, 28-28, 29-28).

Brent Aldridge dominated the action on the ground in the opening period against David Barker, before finishing the fight in the second round with strikes from half mount.  Barker’s verbal submission to strikes came 1:05 into the second round.

In the penultimate contest of the night, Clifford Hicks roughed up Nick Feeler, working for a kimura from side control before passing to full mount and dropping bombs that forced the referee’s intervention 2:36 into the fight.

The Main Event

Bostic sinking in the the winning Guillotine

Finally, undefeated Team Full Force fighter Bruce Bostic looked sharp on the ground in his tilt against Team Iron Horse’s Cody Smith.  Bostic jumped guard early and looked for a gogoplata, but Smith stood up.  Smith then hit a belly-to-belly takedown but again chose to stand up and let Bostic to his feet.  Moments later, Bostic worked for a guillotine, pulled Smith into his guard, and put Smith to sleep.  Bostic’s technical submission came 2:01 into the contest.  Bostic showed tremendous sportsmanship with genuine concern as officials tended to an uncontentious Smith.

Quick Results:

Coty Flannery Defeated Dustin Guss via tapout due to Rear Naked Choke in 2:44 of the second round

Shawn Hampton defeated Dustin Hampton  via tapout due to Rear Naked Choke in 1:09 of the first round

Josh Lee defeated Jake Sorrels via tapout due to Rear Naked Choke in 1:10 of the first round

Ricky Weisbach defeated Steve Vanover via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-29, 30-28)

Jason Taylor defeated Kenny Cash via tapout due to Standing Guillotine in 1:49 of the first round

Terry Robinson defeated Chris Spice via Decision (30-28, 28-28, 29-28)

Brent Aldridge defeated David Barker via Verbal Submission due to strikes in 1:05 of the second round

Clifford Hicks defeated Nick Feeler via ref stoppage due to strikes in 2:36 of the second round

Main Event

Bruce Bostic defeated Cody Smith via Guillotine Choke in 2:01 of the first round