Mike Easton vs John Dodson during UWC's MMA bout at Patriot Center
October
11, 2008 - In what some would say warranted a rematch, a do over, or a different ruling from the officials, the bout between
Mike “The Hulk” Easton (6-1-0) and John Dodson (5-2-0) saw The Hulk winning in split decision, and the crowd
at George Mason’s Patriot Center vehemently in disagreement.
‘It
was the forceful strikes that Easton landed against his opponent that helped him win the fight, said one judge.”
While
another official stated that Dodson’s ‘running’ from Easton in the cage helped weigh in on his decision
to score in favor of Easton.
Like
it or not, Mike ‘The Hulk’ Easton gets the win, and talks of a possible rematch are already brewing.
Baltimore,
MD fighter, Ron Stallings upped his record to 6-2-1 over Tony Sousa (5-4-0) via TKO, at one minute, two seconds in the
first round.
Said Stallings, after the fight, “I need to do a
lot more work to get to where I want to be.”
That
work would have to come after his Sunday church service. Stallings, nicknamed 'The Choir Boy', plays the organ at his church.
When asked
what he'd be doing after the fight, he replied, "Me
and my wife are going to go home and prepare for tomorrow's church service."
While
Sousa's fight was well fought, he tells us that he was caught with a 'Choir Boy' knee to his rib.
"I
was hit in the rib with his knee that took my breath", said Sousa.
Sousa
wanted to win the fight for his friend, Tony Vartanian, who was murdered in Miami a couple weeks ago by Tampa police. Vartanian was scheduled to fight on this tonight’s card against Stallings.
“I
lost my friend and wanted to do something to honor him.”
Sousa
even put on an extra fifteen pounds to go up a weight class to compete in the bout.
The Fight of A Champion
If
there was a category to give to a fighter for having the most heart, that award would have to go to James ‘Binky’
Jones.
Jones,
7-6-1, lost in a unanimous decision to opponent Kyle Baker (4-3-0), but Jones
was all heart and would not back down from the excruciating blows that he received from Baker.
By
fight’s end, Jones had been given a hit to the groin, took a knee to the ribs, weathered a bloody nose, yet kept coming
back like a true champion.
Jones
was truly the crowd favorite as demonstrated by the cheers and shouts of “Go Binky” that could be heard from the
crowd.
The
Main Event
The
evening’s main event found Antwain ‘The Juggernaut’ Brit (6-1-0) with a win over his opponent, Terry T. Rex Cohens (3-2-0) via a strike stoppage at just thirty-one seconds into the first round.
Said
Cohens, “I fought a good opponent.”
“He
fought his fight. I fought mine. He caught me with a couple good licks. I think it [the fight] was stopped a bit premature, but hey.”
Cohens
was quite optimistic after losing the bout and says he’ll use the experience to get better.
“There’s
a fifty percent chance I could get him, and a fifty
percent chance he could get me. He was the better man. We’re both professionals, and I’m going to take it [the loss] like a man and learn from
it.”
Brit,
on the other hand, was in agreement with the referee’s decision not to stop the fight.
“T.
Rex was out”. “Anyone who saw the fight [could see that]."
Cohens
filled in after two other fighters, one of them, Rick “The Jet” Roufous backed out.
“I
try keep my fights off the internet and not post my fights on sites like YouTube”, said Brit. "After people
watch my fights, they back out.”
MMA Gaining East Coast Recognition
Tonight’s
event was the second such event under the UWC MMA franchise. Over 5,000 people came out to see the bouts that included several local fighters,
among them Stallings, Easton, Curtis, and Jones.
“This
East Coast area is a hot bed for MMA”, said Antwain Brit in a post-fight interview.
“The
exposure is all we need, and the UWC did an awesome job of promoting the show. They did a good job of match making. I would come back and fight with the UWC any time.”
Other results on the evening:
Kris McCray (1-0) over Joey Kirwan (0-1) - Tapout 1:35 1st Rd;
Cody
Donovan (3-1) over Wade Drake (0-1) - KO 0:15 1st Rd;
Levon Maynard (4-2) over Toby Johnson (6-3) - Ref Stoppage/Strikes
3:40 1st Rd;
Brendan Schaub (2-0) over Johnny Curtis (1-2) - TKO 1:07 1st Rd;
Marcus Foran (5-2) over Chris Reedy (4-4) - Tapout 0:58 1st Rd;
Kyle
Baker (4-3) over James "Binky" Jones (7-6) - Unanimous Decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-27)
