WFFMMA Shines In Tucson
By Yael Grauer on Oct 07, 2009
The World Fighting Federation‘s first ever MMA promotion took place in Tucson last weekend, bringing a night of exciting bouts to Casino Del Sol. “Battle for the Desert” pitted some of the best amateur and pro fighters in Tucson and Phoenix against one another, with Tucson ending in the lead.
Tucson’s wins included Nick Rhoad‘s first round TKO win in his bout against Asylum’s Brade Spencer. Another quick match was Josh Bosscardet‘s 20 second TKO victory against Grant Hawkins.
Freddy Lux, who I’ve raved about in Names to Listen For: Desert Edition, did not disappoint. He handily beat Darrin Ashby by 1st round knockout. Lux, who wrestled for ten years, attributes his fighting ability to getting beat up by his sisters.
Jillian Lybarger handily beat Megan Jacobson via 1st round TKO, though the stoppage was controversial. (For more about Jillian’s fight, check out Women’s Weekly MMA Wrap-Up on Savage Science)
Nadeem Al-Hasan scored a unanimous decision win against Boxing Inc’s Art Tellez. However, Boxing Inc.’s Russel Videl put on a clinic in his fight against American Karate’s Mario Ortega. Videl’s got great hands and won by 2nd round TKO. Possibly the most polished amateur fighter of the night, Nick Piedmonte demonstrated some great punches, takedowns and good old-fashioned ground and pound, beating Jason Thompson by unanimous decision. And Nate Vorel defeated Anthony Birchek by 3rd round TKO, to the sheer joy of the crowd’s Boxing Inc. fan club (getting louder and drunker by the minute).
The pro fights were on, with MMA Lab’s Chris Gruetxemacher scoring a 1st round submission win versus Oscar Rodriguez, and Arizona Combat Sports’ Chris “Ram Man” Remsen defeating Cory Edwards in 26 short seconds.
Boxing Inc. owner George Castro defeated Matt Howard by 1st round TKO (head strikes) in what was obviously an early stoppage. And in the co-main event, Joey “Boom Boom” Rivera took on Jeff “Susskilla” Horlacher, who’s possibly the whiniest fighter I’ve ever spoken to. Horlacher went on and on and on and ON about how hungry he was during the weigh-ins, and proceeded to miss weight. Way to go Susskilla! Rivera, smooth as always, sunk in a rear naked choke in the 1st round.
Lots of UFC and WEC rock stars were hanging around the first event of this very well-organized promotion, and I got all sorts of pertinent information for MMA fans. Stay tuned for updates, photos and more.
Filed Under: MMA
Good article but some errors. Freddy lux did not win by knockout he won by submission. And al hasan beat tellez by split not unanimous. Nate vorel’s ko against birchak was actually in 2nd round.
You know, I had Lux by RNC (didn’t list what type of decision or round for KO in the other ones) but I decided to defer to the official results posted on the WFFMMA website. Hmm…
Actually, if I remember correctly for lux’s win it was an arm triangle.. But there are errors on the wffmma site too.
Actually, if I remember correctly for lux’s win it was an arm triangle.. But there are errors on the wffmma site too. No worries
you can go to mixedmartialarts.com for the correct info on the fight results, and correct spelling of the names of the fighters
Those aren’t always right either, FYI. I’ve dealt with issues with all of the ‘fight finders’ and inaccuracies with smaller promotions. The biggest issue is around fighters who have common last names.
There may have been some typos on my end if they were on the fight card. I don’t spend hours looking up every fighter and probably couldn’t find many if I did. I wrote Charlie Brown and not Charles Brown cos that’s how Ben Henderson referred to him and how he was announced.
For Horlacher, we looked at his fight shorts which said “susskilla” not “Steuss killer.”
For sure a lot of the info on that site is wrong.
That site definitely missed a whole name when they referred to Darrin Ashby as John Ashby.
Videl is correct not Vidall as they wrote.
And some of the fight results are also wrong.