The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

Superfight 4: Rumble in the Octagon III

A Post-Combat Report by Danny Rowell

Saturday Night’s alright for fighting. That’s what the man said, and at the “Rumble at the Octagon,” he was dead on. On a recent Saturday night, fight fans of Boise, Idaho were treated to one final Christmas gift courtesy of John Holsman LLC in partnership with Mike Stegemann of TKO Gym. Superfight 4 was truly a rumble that rocked the house!

The show got started about 30 minutes later than was advertised due to seating adjustments. The security staff at the Big Easy Concert House had to readjust their normal seating pattern (which fits a square ring) to fit the cage. This wasn’t really a problem, as it allowed more time for the late arrivals to get in, get some frosty refreshment, and mingle in with the crowd. I had the opportunity to chat with quite a few people in the Mixed Martial Arts community.

To begin the show, the promoter announced the planned events, highlighting the co-main event and the Super Bantamweight Championship Main Event. To get things really geared up, however, the fans were granted a special "how to" session for MMA. The head referee of the evening, Scott Marker, guided two fighters through a demonstration of the rules and common tactics & techniques used in competition. This was quick and to the point. For those of us who are huge MMA fans already, it was old hat. To my mate sitting with me, however, it was very informative. It’s always more fun when you know what’s going on. Now if I can just find someone to explain icing in Hockey...

The first fight featured Todd Lundbohm (Independent) squaring off against Team Hard Core member Scott Alloway. These two guys battled it out for 3 rounds. The pace of the fight was even, as each fighter had a great respect for his opponent. The action was mostly on the mat, but several times the fighters slowed a bit so the ref stood them back up. These two were closely matched in an endurance game of battle chess. At the end it was a tough call, but Alloway came away with the unanimous decision.

The second fight was a unique treat. Instead of MMA, we were presented with some “Cage Boxing” between William Pancoast (Independent) and Spencer Bueller (Sidekicks Martial Arts). This was a straight up Western Boxing match. The boxers went right at it, and intensely! There was no waiting – these two were full-on from the bell. Each fighter had good technique and each was working hard. Pancoast was caught by a hard shot to the head and went down after an exchange. As the ref counted, Pancoast didn’t appear to be getting up. It seemed that the shot caught Pancoast in the eye and he was in pain. He was counted out and the knockout was awarded to Bueller at 1:11 in round 1. During the announcement, Pancoast had shaken it off and was none the worse for wear.

Fight number three was back to mixed fighting between Cruiserweights Shawn Bgornier (Independent) and Jordan Delgadio (TKO Gym). These two were champing at the bit to mix it up. Delgadio reminded me of a younger Randy Cotoure. In keeping with the spirit of the night, the fighters went right at it. It looked for a bit like Bgornier would be able to hold his own, but Delgadio was the hungrier of the two and locked Bgornier into a Juji gatame Arm Bar for a TKO at 1:30 in round 1.

At this point, intermission was called and we were able to take a break from sitting on the edge of our seats. Time passed quickly and the action kicked off after what seemed to be only a few minutes.

Welterweights Dan Davison (Independent) and Joe Ramos (Sidekicks Martial Arts) battled it out in fight number 4. This was the first fight of the night, totally dominated by striking. The fighters clinched and ended up on the ground, but they were trading ferocious heavy blows. Ramos reversed a bad position and mounted Davison about 1:15 into the fight and started raining heavy strikes. Davison covered up in defense and then rolled to his front. It looked like he was taking punishment. Referee Dean Heilman stopped the fight at 1:22 in the first round, as Davison wasn’t fighting back. Davison was then up and ready to go, obviously frustrated by the stoppage. He took the loss with good sportsmanship as the TKO was awarded to Ramos. The moral of the story: keep fighting back. Heilman did the right thing, as it looked like Davison was hurt badly.

The fifth fight was an MMA exhibition match. These two were fighting for pure love of combat! Matt May (Sidekicks Martial Arts) faced off against Nate Dunnam (Snake River Fighting Team). Once again, the gladiators were evenly matched. May rocked Dunnam for most of the first round with hard headshots. Dunnam worked patiently for the takedown. The battle went to the mats several times, each fighter scoring some and the advantage changing constantly. In the second round Dunnam worked into the clinch and set up May for a body slam. May was slammed, but set up Dunnam for a perfect front choke. Dunnam tapped at 0:56 in the second round, giving May the TKO victory.

Fight number six featured the “Boise Bad Boy,” Jason Shifflett (Independent) versus Guam Native Eddy Belen (Zoicamp). This fight was almost exclusively a grappling contest, as both men worked for superior position. This fight was also the shortest of the evening. At 0:56 in the first round, Belen was caught in a tight spot and guillotined. The TKO was awarded to Shifflett and Belen was taught anew a valuable lesson. All you have to do is make one mistake in MMA for it to be game over, baby. Belen was a game fighter and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him again soon.

“Bam, Bam, Bam, and out go da lights." That was the message in the Co-Main Event featuring Treasure Valley’s Jimmy Wallace (Team Hard Core) and Magic Valley’s Lee Anderson (Peak One). Wallace took the fight straight to Anderson. Both men let the hammers fly. The fight went to the ground and superior skill soon took over. Anderson worked from guard to mount to back mount and started dropping bombs all over Wallace. Jimmy was a game opponent and worked hard to defend against Lee’s attacks, but it was just a case of Anderson TV: All Lee, All the Time. Wallace was out as the ref stopped the fight at 1:34 in the first round, awarding the TKO to Anderson.

I’m not sure, but I think 90% of Fairfield Idaho was ringside at the Big Easy that night cheering for Lee. The whole area where I was sitting erupted every time Lee made contact. Them ol’ boys in Fairfield hit hard, man. They hit hard.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get better, we hit the Main Event. Brandon “Big Dawg” Shuey (Team Hard Core) defended his Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight titles against the number one contender Manny Mendez (TKO Gym). Mendez cut weight from the lightweight division to meet Shuey at Super Bantamweight. After the Anderson/Wallace fight I didn’t think it could get more intense. I was wrong.

Shuey and Mendez touched gloves, reset, and went after each other. These warriors were chiseled outta stone and the fury was unleashed from the start. Manny seemed to be in control early as he took Shuey down, but then Shuey gained advantage. It seemed that Mendez was locked up, but he was able to pick Shuey up and slam him down to affect an escape. The fighters battled it out on the ground trading strikes and looking for submissions. Mendez was taking it to the champ, but as always, one small mistake and the Big Dawg starts to howl! Mendez tapped out to a cross body arm bar at 1:28 of round one. Shuey retained his belt with the TKO win.

Personally, I want to thank all fighters for the best MMA fights I’ve seen. To a man, each combatant left it all on the mat. As Mendez stated in the post fight interview, somebody’s gotta win, and somebody’s gotta lose. But golf is not a warrior’s sport. Throughout the night, each fighter displayed courage, sportsmanship and, most of all, respect – respect for the sport and for each other.

Props to the fight staff, the officials, and especially the venue, the Big Easy Concert House. If you missed a minute of the action you missed a lot. Don’t worry however. Word on the street says that Superfight 5 will be back again in the spring!

DR Out!