On June 12th the promotion “So You Wanna Fight” made it’s first stop in Ogden. The show is promoted as an amateur event, where anyone can fight for the opportunity to win one thousand dollars; all you need to sign up is blood work and some courage. We had quite a few guys go out for the event, and all of them did extremely well! Chris Kennedy, Javier Jones, Bentley Garner, Jake Kenison, and Erik Groberg all had their debut fights in the ring that night.
Javier fought at 133 lbs in the MMA segment. His first fight showcased that he has amazing takedown defense, and stellar boxing. His opponent was hard pressed to land any shots, and he walked away with a win by Decision. Javier showcased some amazing jiu-jitsu in his second fight, he defended a guillotine and got the takedown, where he quickly went from side-control to mount, and then took the back. Javier put the squeeze on his opponent and won by submission with an RNC. For the final fight, Javier won with another RNC, sweeping his entire division. He walked away virtually unscathed, spare a few nasty cuts from long fingernails. Congrats on the 1st place win, Mr. Jones!
Chris Kennedy fought at 154 lbs and also fought in the MMA portion of the event. In Chris’ first fight he put on quite a show, and finished the fight with a triangle choke. The second fight for Chris was quite the battle, but he ultimately won with a split decision. For his final match, Chris fought a really nice guy named Dylan that drove all the way in from Fillmore, and won the fight with an RNC; he brought home the 1st place medal and a thousand dollars! In a true show of sportsmanship, Chris gave ten percent of his prize money to his final competitor. Congrats, Chris!
Bentley Garner fought at 187 lbs in the MMA portion of the show. Ben’s first fight was mostly a show of his kickboxing skills, with only one takedown to the mount, he beat his opponent before the round ended due to ref stoppage. In his second fight, Ben had two takedowns and dominated in the mount with massive punches to his opponent’s face. The fight went to Ben in a unanimous decision. It was during Ben’s second fight that the “So You Wanna Fight” rules became the most perplexing; in order to promote lively fights the fighters are given thirty seconds to work on the ground, every time a duo hits the canvas a timer starts, and if the action isn’t being pushed, both fighters are stood back up to beat on each other. During Ben’s fight he was stood up three separate times while punching the guy in the face, this was quite unnerving to our coaches, as well as some of the participants. In his third fight, Ben stayed in the mount for about a minute and a half, and won his division by unanimous decision, taking home the prize money and a 1st place medal. Congrats, Bentley!
Jacob Kenison fought at 182 lbs in the MMA portion and had a stellar performance in his first fight, he won by unanimous decision, and took home a 2nd place medal. Congrats, Jake!
Erik Groberg was the only person from the gym that fought in the boxing portion of the show, and he won by ref stoppage in the second round, and brought home our fourth 1st place medal for the night. Great job, Erik!
We want to congratulate all of the teammates that went out to compete; each one of you did a great job in your first fight! Many thanks to all of the teammates that came out to support the show, the events aren’t complete without your presence. Lastly, thank you to our stellar coaches that came out to corner everyone.
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