National Cage Fighting in Tucson

It was just two months ago when I was complaining to fellow MMA Opinion writer Josh Stein that there weren’t many good promotions anywhere near me. It’s bad enough that press credentials for, say, WEC are unavailable for the vast majority of online publications. But when there are great promotions offering creds but I can’t shill out the cash for airfare, gas, hotel rooms, etc. so have to stay at home anyway, I feel even worse. Unfortunately, the majority of traveling reporters (you know, the ones who not only get to cover MMA for a living but also get to put all their expenses on company credit cards) are not exactly independent reporters. What’s a fight fan/MMA writer/starving teacher to do?!

Since that time, the next best thing has happened. Not one but two promising promotions have come to fruition in Arizona. I’ve already written about WFFMMA quite a bit (any local promotion that has female fighters–real ones–gets major props from me) and then got to go to National Cage Fighting a mere week later. The event, which took place at Hi-Corbett field on October 10, drew quite a crowd with its $9 seats. After running around trying to find my promised creds (it’s the same story every time) I spotted MMA celebrity Herb Dean walking around. Dean is probably my favorite ref because he seems to make good snap decisions the vast majority of the time and doesn’t really call fights too soon. He also really knows his women’s MMA, which is refreshing.

The five pro fights were incredibly quick. Ray Robinson had a beautiful RNC transition to armbar in 17 seconds, bringing his record to 7-3 and Kenneth Mendoza to 2-5. Allen Sullivan scored a keylock in 2:19. The one pro fight that stuck out in my mind as particularly disappointing was Jacob Ortiz taking on Tim Wagoner. Ortiz said he “manhandled” Tim Wagoner, which is entirely accurate, if by “manhandling” you mean “punching in the back of the head at will” and “evading submission attempts by holding on to the cage even after far too many warnings from a ref who should have grown a pair.” (No, it wasn’t Herb Dean). Wagoner, who wasn’t exactly keeping his cool either, managed to sink in a nice knee after Ortiz lost a point for grabbing the cage. (Somehow Jacob managed to evade loss of points for the repeated punches to the back of the head.) The fight was stopped due to the cut on Jacob’s forehead. In an example of modern-day revisionist history, Ortiz has since posted an interesting youtube video in which he claims that “no one knows where (the cut) came from” but it may have been caused by “Wagner’s teeth when his mouthpiece fell out.” I think everyone present knew where the cut came from, especially those of us who were sitting with our face pressed right up against the cage. I asked Wagoner’s coach, Jeff Paulson, about it and he pointed out the impossibility (anatomically) of cutting someone’s forehead with your teeth. Paulson’s eye witness account concurs with that of everyone else who was there… Paulson recalled,

“When he came in, Tim fed him a knee, just like we trained. In all of Jacob’s previous fights, we watched him shoot in with his head down, so we practiced and anticipated it. Among all of the other drama happening with the numerous cage holds to get out of submissions and 6,7, 8 punches to the back of the head that altogether combined for only1 penalty point, Tim was still able to capitalize on what we trained and fed him a knee that cut him immediately. I expected that it would be stopped as soon as I seen how deep it was….as it was a very dangerous cut.”

Sources close to MMA Opinion reveal that Jacob Ortiz has had controversial fights before, including a loss to Eddie Arizmendi that somehow became an exhibition match after the fact. The details are unclear, but I’ll keep my watchdog hat on.

In the co-main event Dustin Phillips capitalized on the fact that Muay Thai specialist Gabe Rivas does not train on his back. The reporter sitting next to me, who was friends with Rivas, used many opportunities to inform me of my bias towards ji jitsu and said that holding position doesn’t count for points in MMA. I countered back by explaining that maintaining top position is far more crucial in MMA where judges don’t realize how dangerous one could be off their back… and that holding a dominant position may not be worth a lot in MMA but it’s certainly better than being held in a bad position. Anyway, Phillips did more than just hold position in the second round, getting some ground and pound in with punches and elbows from the top in addition to advancing position. Rivas did manage to sink in a guillotine and get out of side control and on his knees and even attempt a rear naked choke. He was reversed, stacked and ultimately lost by what I thought was a very fair decision.

In the other co-main event, Shannon “the Cannon” Ritch (who was signing autographs of an ESPN magazine article that was basically making fun of him for having so many losses on his record) surprised the crowd by scoring a heel hook in only 23 seconds in a bout with Marcus Gaines. (Take that, Jeff MacGregor! You’re a writer, not a fighter.)

There were 9 amateur bouts. Former NFL lineman Travis Scott scored an awesome rear naked choke in a 57 second bout against Rudy Verdugo. And Stephen Watson got a nice guillotine in 2:21 versus Ashley Gagnon. Lionel Dragoh from Lion’s Den scored a decision win against Mitch Wheeler. Kevin Henderson tapped out Richard Swalve Jr. by kimura. Kavi McAleavy attempted a triangle on his opponent Art Salcido and transitioned to straight arm bar in 1:30. Stone Manako and the much older Richard Swalve went at it in a heavyweight bout–trading punches back and forth in a stand-up war. Swalve was ahead after the first round. In the second Manako had him up against the cage and got a takedown to mount and some ground and pound for the win. 165-lber Nadeem Al-Hassan looked a bit off during his bout with Benny Madrid and was ultimately knocked out. 170-lber Jaime Guiterrez somehow scored an armbar win in a bout I was sure he was going to lose as Sean Scott seemed far more skilled and technical.

There was one amateur bout that really stood out for me. Larry Esparza, who appeared to be favored to win based on the long list of credentials read off by the announcer, came out to the cage. (I didn’t realize they did Greco Roman wrestling championships in high school.) But then Cale Errigo came out, and I knew he had a good shot because he’s my favorite vegetable. The Jamie Varner tattoos are also usually pretty indicative of a champion spirit. Cale dominated the first round, scoring a picture perfect takedown and taking Esparza’s back and attempting a rear naked choke. Somehow he ended up on his back at the end. In round 2 Cale continued to take down Esparza at will before getting caught in an arm bar just over a minute into the second round. It was a great battle between two dynamic and skilled 155 lbers–can’t wait to see either one of these class acts fight again.

All in all, a great night of fights. It’s just exciting to see so many MMA fights popping up right in my home town… maybe NCF will take WFFMMA’s lead and put a female fight on a future card in which case I’d be all over it. Here’s hoping!