FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz., Sept. 15 -- Rage in the Cage fight promotions began in the darks day of the sport of mixed martial arts. Since its birth in 1998, RITC has seen many fight organizations fall by the wayside as they continued to give fans a steady dose of live fight cards.
The main event featured an open-weight bout between RITC light heavyweight champion Matt Lucas and emerging heavyweight contender Richard Hale. Lucas would go on to win a decisive three round decision to improve his record to 7-0.
Lucas put on a dominant performance for all three rounds, putting Hale on his back at will. Hale was unable to put up any kind of offense from his back until late in the third round. Working from half-guard a visibly exhausted Hale attempted an impressive Kimura, though the veteran Lucas would manage to escape the submission and ride out the final minutes of the fight from the mount.
After having his hand raised Lucas revealed that the main event of the night was nearly canceled due to personal reasons. With a new addition to the Lucas family born this past Thursday, the fighter's mind was understandably preoccupied leading up until fight time.
"I almost pulled out of the fight because my little one wasn't here yet," he said. "My wife went through two days of labor with our baby. I was really stressed out. Driving over here I called my wife, got all my stress out and I was ready to fight. I got a healthy family and a win over a heavyweight contender -- life is good."
Lucas had nothing but kind words for his hometown promotion on RITC's 100th birthday.
"Rage in the Cage has been real good to me," he said. "People sometimes say ‘nah' to RITC once in awhile, but promotion wise, event wise, they've done nothing but support me. I'll fight for them again."
A few notable local up and comers highlighted the professional undercard.
Middleweight Luke Hodges (Pictures) traded strikes with Muay Thai practitioner John Lansing (Pictures) through one round. In the second frame Hodges scored a takedown and turned it into a quick transition to side-control. Hodges pounded out his fourth career victory at 2:08 of round two.
The RITC middleweight championship was decided in less than 50 seconds of in ring action. JR Schumacher walked away with the belt. Schumacher's opponent Paul Arroyo seized the advantage early in the match when he sunk in a guillotine choke. Slamming his way out of the submission attempt became means to ending the fight for Schumacher, who unleashed a flurry of strikes following the slam to secure the win.
In other pro action on the card Tito Jones and Jeff Horlacher both ended their respective bouts with KO triumphs. Jones unleashed a vicious right hand on Austin Pascucci after a missed takedown attempt led to a scramble.
Horlacher never got a chance to throw a second punch. 12 seconds after the opening bell rang Eddie Arizmendi was looking up at the lights following a Horlacher haymaker.
At the conclusion of the night Rage in the Cage owner and founder Roland Sarria spoke with Sherdog.com about the life after 100.
"I see Rage in the Cage being one of the top shows in the country." said Sarria "We have a steady fan base with a steady schedule of shows. We've done a lot of shows. Rage in the Cage is just going to keep growing. We're here to stay."