COLISEUM CARNAGE LIVES UP TO ITS NAME!!

Posted on | May 1, 2007 | 4 Comments

FIGHT SPORT GLOBAL’S INAUGURAL BROADCAST A HUGE HIT!
UPSETS AND CLOSE COMPETITION MAKE FOR A THRILLING FIGHT CARD

By: Rich Bergeron

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY V

Iowa’s best fighters showed resilience and persistence in outclassing a few seasoned veterans of the sport of mixed martial arts at Saturday’s Coliseum Carnage event in Ames, Iowa.

There were several stunning, epic battles on the incredible Fight Sport Global Network and Extreme Contact Fighting card. A few established fighters who have already appeared in UFC events wound up wading through serious trouble spots against a few relative unknowns in the sport. Some of the more experienced competitors were either seriously tested or completely overwhelmed by local talent coming in with tremendous heart and “N’tensity.”

Nobody performed better than “Team N’tensity” fighter Tom “To Da Top” Ahrens, who took on UFC Veteran John “Hurricane” Halverson and escaped submission after submission while chipping away and dominating with timely takedowns and clean striking.

Ahrens, who always walks around just about as charged up as he is in the ring, promised in the pre-fight interview that this fight would be his best moment in the sport so far. A highly animated character sporting a Mohawk for the fight, Ahrens was so slippery during the match that it almost seemed as if he’d spiked his hair up with Vaseline.

With the crowd chanting his nickname to add to his natural motivation to succeed, Ahrens took it right to Halverson in the first frame. It was a complete battle from the start, and Halverson left his sword and shield at home. He did manage to land a decent knee to the face of Ahrens early, but then he floundered during his first submission attempt, a guillotine, which Ahrens squirmed out of to secure the takedown.

Lacking a significant ground and pound game, Ahrens eventually lost control trying to take Halverson’s back. Halverson wound up reversing and sat atop Ahrens’ back near the end of the first round. Slipping the legs in position, Halverson rained down some serious shots as Ahrens covered up. Though he earned a little revenge by landing a few well placed blows, it was the rear-naked choke he locked up in the closing seconds that seemed to be the most promising development. Instead, Ahrens made it to the bell and earned a fresh start in round two.

The second stanza went back and forth and to-to-toe, but Ahrens once again put on the more dominant show of force. He beat Halverson bloody and kept right on slipping out of chokes and submission attempts. The two traded some incredible shots, but it was Ahrens who landed the more brutal blows.

The third round started out with both fighters going right at each other again, and Halverson wound up falling on his back early. Ahrens let him up rather than risk getting caught in another submission hold. Both fighters traded some vicious roundhouses and leg kicks. Finally, Halverson saw an opening and went for another guillotine. Ahrens slipped out once again.

What happened in the closing seconds of the third round is truly what makes the sport of mixed martial arts so incredible. Announcer Scott Casber rattled off the remaining time in the round a few times as Ahrens got himself in trouble late. With the crowd chanting “to the top” the whole time, Ahrens had control on top and only a few seconds to go until he would have walked away with a unanimous decision. Then, the unthinkable happened.

Halverson pulled off a deep triangle choke, squeezing tighter and tighter as Casber counted down from ten. There were about three ticks left when Ahrens, who refused to tap out, went limp and lost consciousness. The ref stopped the contest in the nick of time to give Halverson the last second win. Ahrens and his fans were shocked but still had plenty to be proud of based on the true grit, tremendous heart, and tenacity he showed.

The Halverson vs. Ahrens match solidified what became the theme of the whole event. Considering that all the best fights featured local or regional stars pitted against established, experienced professionals, it seemed as if the hungrier athletes all seized their shots to shine. They all pushed the action and fought tight matches.

Shane “Kryptonite” Wessels provided the upset of the night by absolutely destroying Victor “Superman” Moreno—proving the superhero really did have a weakness. The two welterweights fought a back and forth battle early on, but Moreno tired out later in the match and couldn’t generate any consistent offense.

Moreno managed to cut open Wessels’ face in the first round, but Wessels just kept bulling forward through some potent right hands. Wessels looked as if he might be headed to the canvas if he didn’t mount his own assault. Moreno landed one huge right hand that rocked Wessels, but it never stopped his pursuit. He just kept moving forward.

During one exciting exchange of punches and knees, Wessels turned the tide and dropped Moreno to the canvas. Wessels jumped right in and tried to end it right there, almost getting caught in an arm bar in the process. Moreno spent the rest of the first round fighting well off his back.

In the second round Moreno landed a flying knee, but later Wessels wound up taking Moreno’s back and slipping in a rear naked choke. Moreno wriggled out expertly only to find himself in deeper trouble as Wessels pounded on him.

Finally, Wessels sunk in an Achilles lock that made Moreno tap out as soon as Wessels grabbed a good grip on Moreno’s ankle. Wessels more than lived up to the one-fight nickname he gave himself. It couldn’t have been scripted better in a comic book.

Even Josh Neer, one of the most recognizable names on the card, almost ended up on the short end of an upset. Tyson Burris had Neer a bit surprised during the first few moments of their fight. Burris had a guillotine sunk deep, and Neer looked tempted to try and slam Burris to the canvas at one point. Instead, he simply set his opponent on the canvas gently, afraid to hurt his own neck while trying to break Burris’ grip. He just methodically held his breath and worked his way free.

Clearly only a vast amount of previous experience in similar situations and his brute strength allowed Neer to squeeze his way out of danger. He then exploded with smothering punches that forced the referee to stop the contest. He admitted after the fight that he was worried about tapping out for a few moments before he did work out of the hold.

The fight of the evening had to be Mike “Mini Van” Van Meer’s gutsy and gritty display of fighting against journeyman fighter Kyle Olsen. Coming into the match super confident and way more chiseled than the round-bellied Van Meer, Olsen quickly realized that you can’t assess any fighter based on appearances. Van Meer put himself through a rigorous cardio-vascular exercise routine in preparation for the bout, and it certainly showed in his incredible stamina.

Olsen tried a few kicks early, only to end up grappling with Van Meer until they both crashed to the ground and Van Meer wound up on top. “Mini Van” proceeded to land a series of hammering shots until Olsen squirmed out and escaped back to his feet.

Finally given an opportunity to attack and maybe score some late points, Olsen went right after Van Meer. He slammed his opponent against the cage door and leaned into him as the final seconds of the first frame ticked away. Suddenly the cage door flew open, sending both men tumbling onto the concrete floor of the coliseum. As the crowd reacted to the bizarre turn of events that left Van Meer lying incapacitated on his back for a few uneasy moments, the round-ending buzzer sounded.

The freak accident resulted in a long time between rounds as Van Meer turned out to be alright and able to continue. Not only was he capable of going on, he also had enough left in the tank to dominate the remainder of the fight.

There were several even exchanges through the opening minute of the second round, and Olsen found his own burst of energy and aggression early. Van Meer bulled through it, though, taking several well-targeted hooks to the face with no sign of withering. He came back with roundhouse rights and lefts, leaving Olsen bleeding heavily from the nose by the end of the second round.

Round three started slow, with both men choosing to play a more defensive role and waited a long time to engage. They traded leg kicks and not much else until they wound up in close combat where Van Meer inadvertently booted Olsen in the groin. Coming off the break, Van Meer connected with a nice right hand and then took a few shots of his own after Olsen connected with a kick.

Rather than take his chances standing up with a suddenly inspired Olsen, Van Meer worked for the takedown and secured it, going back to what he knows best: the ground and pound. He closed out the round in control and won 30-27 on all judges’ cards.

Iowa State Student Rudy Papakee faced XCF Heavyweight Champion Dan Hutton in another amazing fight. Hutton valiantly weathered a storm of accurate and powerful blows from Papakee to emerge from the first round still standing, but the punishment caught up with him in the second frame.

Papakee threw a few right hands in the first round that might have dropped a full grown grizzly bear, but Hutton kept on coming at him trying to land his own roundhouses. Papakee simply managed to land the more accurate shots as they traded leather all over the ring.

Papakee used huge knees and wild, raging punches to completely dominate the last remaining moments of the round. The eager student fighting in front all of his fans on his home campus would not be denied. He wound up confining Hutton between himself and the side of the cage as he landed an array of serious shots right up to the buzzer.

Hutton had no answer for his opponent in the short second round. Papakee dominated every aspect of his game and laid the punishment on thick. He had the advantage all the way through—from ground and pound to grappling—connecting with several significant strikes. The referee finally called a halt to the action when it seemed Papakee would knock Hutton out cold if the fight went on any longer. The fact that Hutton withstood all those phenomenal blasts without going down for the count left Papakee in admiration of his opponent after the match.

“He’s got a head of granite,” Papakee told the crowd in his post fight comments.

Coliseum Carnage clearly lived up to its name. Not only were there several back-and-forth, tight match-ups, but there were also a few vicious brawls in which cuts became a major factor in the outcome. The overall blood loss was probably about the same as what might have resulted from a typical match between a gladiator and a charging lion in the heyday of the Roman Coliseum.

The camera crews and the broadcast team made the internet pay-per-view experience even more tremendous, literally offering home viewers the feel of being in ringside seats. Color commentary included Pat Miletich offering his insight along with the Joe Roganish stylings of T. Scott’s post fight interviews, which gave the whole event a professional character.

Stay tuned for a complete wrap-up of the night’s action in addition to some video highlight and ringside photographs