In the words of Announcer Bruce Pettis, "Let's get around, to throwin' down"

The 8 Seconds Saloon played host to one of the most riveting Legends of Fighting cards in some time this past Friday evening.

The night’s first event pitted Dominic Stevens against Mike Dzelme.  Both came out looking to exchange, but wound up in the clinch.  Stevens attempted a throw only to be countered by Dzelme’s sacrifice.  Dzelme landed in side-control and looked to end the fight with an arm triangle.  Stevens, however, was not going to let things end that easily.  After narrowly missing out on the arm triangle, Dzelme saw a rare opportunity to transition to a tarantula arm lock.  This transition  led to a controversial referee stoppage (due to Stevens choice to NOT tap) thus giving Dzelme the victory.

The second fight of the night featured Josh Patterson against Ken Joy.  Patterson was able to achieve the victory one minute and two seconds into the first round via tapout from strikes.

In what looked to be a promising fight “Yo Boy” Nick Harris made his mixed martial arts debut against one of Carlos Diaz’s students Ed Croom.  After the sound of the bell, Croom landed a straight right that prompted Harris to look for a shot.  However, Croom was able to stuff the shot and muscle Harris to the ground.  While on the ground, Croom looked for various submissions, but was unable to pull any off due to Harris’ perpetual motion.  As the round came to an end, Croom was able to mount Harris and land a series of punches.  Harris was unable to answer the bell for the second round giving Croom the victory.

The night’s next fight ended in strange fashion in Joe Neace escaping James Lipsius guillotine choke only to apply his own guillotine.  Neace was awarded the victory via tapout a minute and six seconds into the second round.

Jimmy Nicholas was able to pull a submission victory via rear-naked choke over Dustin Abney in the fifth fight of the night.

George putting the finishing touches on the win

Cornelius George, a member of Team James Clingerman, showed true intrepidity taking a fight against 6-0 Andy Lambert in his mixed martial arts debut.  Lambert showed to be the aggressor in the beginning attempting to throw a front kick.  However, his front kick was caught by George and he was shoved to the mat.  George was able to land a few hammer fists before Lambert escaped to his feet.  After a brief clinch, Lambert took the fight to the ground.  He was able to land some hard punches before giving George too much room to maneuver.  With this room, George rolled Lambert over and took full mount.  For the rest of the round George utilized his ground and pound skills.

The second round started off much like the first with Lambert being the aggressor.  George, much like the first round, was able to catch Lamberts shots and take him to the ground.  From there George was able to land a series of unanswered shots forcing the referee to step intervene.  This gave George a victory one minute and eleven seconds into the second round via TKO.

The last amateur fight of the night was a three round decision in which Judge 1 scored the bout, 28-28, Judge 2 scored it 29-27 and Judge 3 scored it 29-28 awarding the victory to Tim Koehler over Barry Fox.

The professional card began with Daniel Pitzulo making his professional debut against Matthew Wilson.  Pitzulo was able to control Wilson from the beginning and able to dictate where the fight was going.  After a brief stoppage due to an inadvertent kick to the face, Pitzulo mounted Wilson and looked straight for a keylock.  Pitzulo’s haste was able to give him enough for the victory via keylock two minutes and fifty-four seconds into the first round.

Neville trying to finish the Triangle Choke

The second professional bout of the evening featured another fighter making his professional debut is Mark Neville.  Neville was pitted against two-time professional veteran Michael Glen.  After the two touched gloves, Glen charged Neville and pinned him against the cage.  Glen scooped Neville and slammed him to the canvas.  Neville used every submission from the guard in which one can imagine, but during this Glen was able to slam Neville.  The slam left Neville dazed (partly due to an inadvertent head butt during the slam).  In fact Neville was so dazed that he tapped while attempting a triangle choke thus giving Glen the victory.

Chase Beebe’s little brother Carson was featured in next bout of the evening against Chris Clark (whom had taken the fight on two days notice).  Beebe controlled things from the beginning catching Clark’s right kick and landing a nasty straight right.  After the straight right, Beebe took to fight to the mat utilizing his ground and pound until the referee eventually called a halt to the fight a minute and forty-three seconds into the first round.

Cagecraze.com’s featured fighter, Kyle Gibbons, was slotted to have the next bout of the night, but was unable to do so due to his challenger, Alexander (Al)Thomas failing to show up for the fights.

The next fight of the evening, featured Sean McCorkle and Jonathan Ivey.  In the first round, McCorkle controlled Ivey in every aspect.  Ivey showed his resiliency taking multiple shots throughout the first.  In the second round, Ivey played to the crowd while McCorkle smiled.  The action then resumed with McCorkle dominating yet again.  The referee was eventually forced to call a halt to the fight giving McCorkle the victory.

Tristan Yunker made his return to the cage in the second-to-last fight of the night against Ron Carter.  Yunker was able to bait Carter in with an over-hand left and immediately hit a double leg takedown.  Once the fight hit the ground Yunker showed great composure while controlling Carter’s every move.  He was eventually able to set up a perfect armbar giving him the victory one minute and thirty-three seconds into the first round. After his victory Yunker was awarded the Jeremy Ashley Heart Award.

Fight, Submission & Comeback of the Night

Jenkins sinks in the winning Triangle

In what was the fight, submission and comeback of the night, Zach Jenkins was able to defeat Orville Smith in the main event.  Smith was in control for the majority of the fight until the beginning of the third round where he was caught with looping left.  Jenkins seized the opportunity and charged Smith, forcing him to shoot.  Smith’s shot was successful, but Jenkins was able to pull Smith into his guard.  From his guard Jenkins transitioned into a beautiful triangle choke, forcing Smith to tap.

With the conclusion of the evening, Dustin Howell has to feel a sense of accomplishment. Howell provided Central Indiana M.M.A. fans with one of the the most requested and long awaited matchups (Orville Smith vs Zach Jenkins). In only his second event as the LFC match maker, he successfully accomplished a task that his predecessors simply could not. We at CageCraze.com look forward to seeing what Dustin Howell and the Legends of Fighting Championships have in store for the future.

Quick Results

Amateur card:

Mike Dzelme  defeated Dominic Stevens in 1:58 of the 1st Round by referee stoppage

Josh Patterson defeated Ken Joy in 1:02 of the 1st Round via tapout due to strikes

Ed Croom defeated Nick Harris when Harris could not answer the 2nd Round bell

Joe Neace defeated James Lipsius in 1:06 of the 2nd Round via tapout due to Guillotine Choke

Jimmy Nicholas defeated Dustin Abney in 2:07 of the 1st Round via tapout due to Rear Naked Choke

Cornelius George defeated Andy Lambert in 1:11 of the 2nd Round via TKO

Tim Koehler defeated Berry Fox in a split decision

Professional Card:

Daniel Pitzulo defeated Matt Wilson in 2:54 of the 1st Round via tapout due to Keylock submission

Mike Glen defeated Mark Neville in 1:27 of the 1st Round via tapout due to strikes

Carson Beebe defeated Chris Clark  in 1:43 of the 1st Round via referee stoppage due to strikes

Kyle Gibbons vs Alexander Thomas (Thomas was a no show)

Sean McCorkle defeated Johnathan Ivy in 3:21 of the 2nd Round via referee stoppage due to strikes

Tistan Yunker defeated Ron Carter in 1:33 of the 1st Round  via tapout due to Armbar submission

Zach Jenkins defeated Orville Smith in 1:18 of the 3rd Round via tapout due to Triangle Choke