The mixed martial arts debut of Alonzo Spellman was about as anti-climatic as it gets. The mammoth ex-NFL star took on another mountain of a man in Antoine Hayes. Both fighters ended up gassing out within the first three minutes of the fight and the pace was ridiculously slow for the remainder of the bout.
All three rounds were similar, with Spellman working knees from the clinch while Hayes tried to score a takedown. Sherdog.com scored the bout 10-9, 9-10 and 10-9 respectively for the three-round encounter. The judges agreed, giving Spellman a win in his MMA debut.
Chris McDaniels, taking on 51-year-old Chicagoland fixture “Master” Bob Schirmer, didn’t make any friends Saturday night.
After battling his way out of an armbar attempt midway through the opening frame, McDaniels lowered the boom in the form of two devastating right hands to the face, knocking Schirmer out at 3:37 of the first period.
He immediately started screaming “You’re too f__king old!” and “You have no business being in here!” which riled up the pro-Schirmer crowd. After a few minutes the paramedics brought the stretcher out but Schirmer would not need it as he made his way out of the cage under his own power. A trip to the hospital confirmed he was not seriously injured in the bout.
Donnie Liles (Pictures) marched into Brian Gassaway (Pictures)’s hometown and rolled right over the UFC veteran. Gassaway looked comfortable as the bout got underway, striking well but failing to back up the brazen Liles.
The tide shifted after Gassaway landed a flush shot on the chin, which promoted Liles to make a wiping motion from his chin, as if to wipe away the punch. Liles then egged Gassaway on, holding his hands up and sticking his chin out.
As Gassaway closed, Liles clinched up and the men fell to the mat. Liles moved to a high back-mount and looked like he might get a reverse triangle before he switched and secured an armbar. Gassaway fought to break the hold but it was too deep and he tapped out at 3:58 of the first round.
An impressive Liles stalked around the ring screaming, “You can’t hurt me!” before graciously checking on his opponent and shaking his hand.
In what turned out to be the most disturbing fight of the evening UFC veteran Terry Martin (Pictures) took on fellow Chicago native Jason Guida (Pictures). Martin scored well with punches in the opening moments of the bout, most notably a digging left hook to the body and later a pair of crushing punches right on Guida’s jaw.
Then things got ugly.
An illegal elbow from Martin that cut Guida above the left eye marred the first round. While Jason shrugged the strike off, a doctor checked the cut before allowing it to continue. However Jason’s brother and cornerman Clayton was overheard threatening Martin from outside the cage, and even began climbing the fence before being restrained.
Martin was docked a point for his transgression and the fighters got back to work after Guida, showing good sportsmanship, offered a hand to Martin on the restart.
In the closing moments of the opening frame, Guida locked up a guillotine choke and had the bell not saved Martin he may have ended the bout right then and there. With the point deduction, Sherdog.com scored the round 9-9.
The second stanza opened with a big double-leg slam takedown by Martin, but he was unable to advance or do much with the position and the fight was brought back to the feet.
Martin shot once again, this time landing a single-leg. Though Guida got his guard, Martin had room to strike and began to score points from the top. Another round that should have gone into Martin’s column, however, was lost as he was once again deducted a point, this time for holding the fence. With the second one point deduction, Sherdog.com scored the round 9-9.
The third round would be for all the marbles and Guida’s corner knew it. They told him to stay on his feet and he would win the match. That may have been overly optimistic or it could have just been an attempt at amateur psychology, but the premonition rang true just seconds later.
Martin rushed out of his corner and blasted a retreating Guida with a flood of rights and lefts that crumpled him to the mat, first to his knees and then, with his hands at his sides, down on his face. The final assault took only eight seconds.
The activity did not end there as a concerned Clay Guida tried to make his way into the cage to check on his unconscious brother. He was rebuffed at the cage door so he took matters into his own hands and scaled the fence only to be met with a one-two from a waiting Martin, who had apparently heard Clay threaten him after the elbow incident.
Luckily Martin, thinking Clay was coming to attack him, didn’t land clean and was persuaded by the promising lightweight to allow him to check on his downed brother.
Martin immediately rushed out of the cage and ran backstage where a gaggle of Gilbert Grappling people were camped outside the winner’s dressing room screaming for him to come out. Police were called in and the situation was brought under control.
During a later fight Clayton Guida (Pictures) could be seen hugging Terry Martin (Pictures) and shaking his hand, apparently settling their differences. But nonetheless it was another ugly incident.
Matt Fiordirosa (Pictures) continued to impress. Taking on Justin Robbins (Pictures), the hometown kid rode a boisterous wave of emotion from the crowd to yet another exciting victory.
Fiordirosa opened with a staggering straight right hand that crippled Robbins. “Sunshine” pounced down into his downed opponent’s guard but was tied up relatively well. In an attempt to free himself from Robbins clutches, “Sunshine” stood out of the guard and proceeded to launch himself back towards the mat with maximum force, landing a brutal right hand that carved open a cut under Robbins’ right eye.
The battered Robbins attempted to regain his feet but as soon as he got there he was on the receiving end of another vicious combination that left him turtled. Fiordirosa wasted little time and took his deflated foe’s back, sinking in hooks and locking up a rear-naked choke at 3:07 of the first round.
With the win Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa retained his XFO featherweight title.
In a battle of Ohio natives, Justin McElfresh (Pictures) squared off with Ron Fields for the XFO light heavyweight title. Fields opened with a stinging body kick that backed McElfresh up. Not wanting to test his fellow Ohioan’s power, McElfresh moved in close and body-locked Fields. From there he used his superior leverage and dumped his opponent to the mat.
Immediately trying to secure Fields’ back, McElfresh soon found himself defending a kneebar attempt as Fields rolled into the submission attempt. McElfresh protected well and ended up in side-control after the ensuing scramble. Quickly stepping over into full-mount McElfresh pressured Fields into a bad decision.
In his attempt to sweep, Fields left an arm dangling and McElfresh didn’t let the opportunity go to waste, cinching in the armbar that gave him the XFO belt at 3:17 of the first round.
Undercard
Mike Marrello made an impressive pro debut against a game but outclassed Josh Taibl. After a brief exchange Marrello scored a body-lock takedown, slamming Taibl to the mat. Landing in half-guard and quickly moving to mount, Marrello’s only bobble came when he was momentarily swept. He quickly righted the ship and retook the top position. From there he went from back-mount to mount and back to Taibl’s back, where he sunk the fight-ending rear-naked choke at 2:31 of the first round.
The Ultimate Fighter veteran Kerry Schall (Pictures) needed only 25 seconds to choke unconscious an overmatched Geza Kalman. Kalman shot in to begin the bout but left his neck exposed and Schall took advantage by sinking the guillotine. Referee Todd Fredrickson did not immediately see Kalman was out cold, but Schall released the hold after he felt his opponent go limp.
Ryan Williams put the pressure on Kenny Nyquist from the opening horn until he notched the submission win. Williams scored the early takedown and pummeled Nyquist until he tapped due to strikes at 3:54 of the first round.
Nate Mohr took it to Norm Alexander right from the get go. Though Alexander refused to back down, Mohr was just too much for him and ended the fight with a flurry taking the affair by TKO when the referee intervened at 1:30 of the second round.
Mustafa Hussaini (Pictures) seemed to have outworked Jon Hosman for the duration of their 15-minute battle but had to settle for a majority draw. After all was said and done the scores read 29-29, 29-29 and 29-28 for Hosman.
Amateur Bouts
Mike Stumpf def. Tony Rook submission (rear-naked choke) 1:04 R1
Jay Little def. Art Guerrero TKO (strikes) 1:35 R2
Russ Janca def. Jon Slaten TKO (strikes) 0:19 R1
Cal Ferry def. Chris Barbeau unanimous decision 3R
Sean Najm def. Steve Johnson unanimous decision 3R
Camrann Pacheco def. Jason Wagner TKO (strikes) 0:56 seconds R1