Battle at The Barn Post Fight Report
Posted on | March 23, 2007 | No Comments
XCF & Title Fight Championship BATTLE AT THE BARN
By: Ryan Christensen
February 21, 2007 saw Title Fight Championship in conjunction with XCF Fight Productions enter Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines for an MMA event that bolstered the largest capacity of any such event in the sport’s young history. Scheduled to coincide with the beginning of the Iowa High School Sate Wrestling Competition, the event was bound to draw in a hefty gate with wrestling and mixed martial arts fans combined. Did the Battle at the Barn live up to the hype?
Before delving into the meat of this article, and likely the reason you are reading it (fight results), I need to take the time to thank Scott Casber and Chris Arns for allowing me to cover their event with all access. This gave me the unique perspective to view the event as a fighter, staff member, and fan. The following is a brief account of the prefight activities as well as overall thoughts of the venue.
Veterans Memorial Auditorium has a great set up for an MMA event. It seemed at times that the general admission seats were almost better than the reserved floor seating. Sure, you weren’t as close to the action, but you had an optimum viewing angle. The turn out itself was about what I expected. Reserved seating was mostly filled and was likely nearly sold out by the time things got underway. Ringside seats were completely filled up as well. General admission had a decent turnout and filled most sections about 50% to capacity by my rough estimation. All and all, I call this a success for the promoters for both live gate and viewing experience.
My only concern during the prefight activities was the location of the meet and greet with the UFC Veterans. The meet and greet was set up to give a professional, large venue feel and pulled it off nicely. The only critique I have was the physical location. It was located on the upper level where it seemed many fans that had reserved seating didn’t even know it was taking place. It would have been more fan friendly to have the meet and greet in a more accessible area but I can’t fault the promoters due to a more accessible area not really being available with the seating restrictions.
I know… I know… You want action. And when you want action, I will give it to you. The following will be fight breakdowns from each bout on the card. I apologize in advance for only having the last names of fighters as the program and promotional material didn’t quite match up to the fights that took place. There will also be fights in which I don’t have an official time as it wasn’t announced. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to get more exact times and full names for the competitors, but for now you’ll just have to deal with the condensed version.
Bout 1:
Eshenfelter vs Frank
Round 1: Eshenfetler came out throwing some sloppy, looping punches to set up a shot. He took 1-2 sloppy shots before securing a takedown. Frank worked from guard to securing back mount on Eshenfelter and pretty easily secured a rear naked choke.
Winner: Frank via tapout (RNC)
Bout 2:
Wilkens vs Ophein
Round 1: Wilkens throws a few straights then scores a takedown. Nothing notable took place on the ground. Ophein eventually escapes and the fight returns to the feet. Wilkens gets another takedown as Ophein tries for a guillotine. Wilkens escapes the guillotine and is reversed. The fight again stalls on the ground and is stood up. Wilkens secures another takedown and ends the fight in Opheins guard.
10-9 for Wilkens.
Round 2: Wilkens again gets a takedown. Wilkens passed to full mount. Short punches from Wilkens. Ophein gives up his back. Wilkens unable to finish. Ophein later scores a takedown and ends up in north/south position and ends up attempting a kimura. Ophein finishes the round with the upper hand after some good striking and attempting to finish the fight.
10-9 Ophein
Round 3: Wilkens looks gassed. They circle as Ophein throws some straights. Ophein connects with a solid right straight that send Wilkens down. Ophein ends the fight with some GNP.
Winner: Ophein via TKO (Strikes) 0:24 in Rd 3
Bout 3:
Demooney vs Defoe
Round 1: Demooney throws some 1-2 combinations. Defoe pawed with a jab and didn’t connect with much. Demooney drops Defoe with a hard left. Demooney looked for a kick while Defoe was down but backed off. The Ref separated the fighters at that point to warn Demooney and to clear some blood from Defoe’s nose. Fight restarts with Demooney controlling the stand up and working some clinch. Solid strikes end the round.
10-8 Demoooney
Round 2: Demooney continues to work his standup and lands some short elbows from the clinch. Demooney secures a takedown and gets mount. Demooney scores with some GNP. Defoe ties Demooney up and gets a stand up. Defoe looks gassed at this point. Demooney finish the round with more striking that back Defoe into the cage.
10-9 Demooney
Before round 3 began, Defoe’s corner throws in the towel.
Winner: Demooney via stoppage between rounds
Bout 4:
Licht vs Brennell
Round 1: Licht comes out striking and uses it to secure a takedown. Brennell escapes and stands up. Brennell with some strikes and finishes with some GNP.
Winner: Brennel via TKO (GNP) 2:09 in Rd1
Bout 5:
Young vs Ahrens
Round 1: The fighters circle and throw some jabs. Ahrens secures a takedown and gets side control. Young gets full guard. Ahrens slams Young a few times. Young reverses to back mount. Ahrens scrambles and ends up in north/south. Ahrens works for a submission and ends up winning with an unknown submission as Young protests to the ref.
Winner: Ahrens via Tapout (unknown) 2:15 of Rd 1
Bout 6:
Swanbery vs Floyd
Round 1: Floyd throws some combinations. Floyd gets a single leg into a takedown. Swanbery escapes to his feet. Swanbery lands a few knees from the clinch. Swanbery sends Young down and takes his back to end the fight by strikes.
Winner: Swanbery via TKO (strikes)
Bout 7:
Hutton vs Kelly
Round 1: The fighters throw some jabs and straights. Hutton connects with some knees from the clinch. They separate and trade some strikes. Hutton secures a takedown to full mount and gets some solid GNP. Fight was stopped to get Kelly’s mouthpiece. Upon the restart, Hutton lands more GNP and Kelly taps.
Winner: Hutton via tapout (strikes) 1:25 of Rd 1
Bout 8:
Giboo vs Thoma (Luke)
Round 1: Giboo secures a takedown as Thoma holds onto a guillotine. Giboo escapes the guillotine and connects with some short punches. Giboo takes Thoma’s back and secures a RNC.
Winner: Giboo via tapout (RNC) 1:16 of Rd 1
Bout 9:
Sankey vs Tice
Round 1: Both fighters spend the entire round throwing single punches and few short combinations. Tice landed the harder shots in a very lackluster round.
10-9 Tice
Round 2: Tice attempts a takedown and gets caught in a guillotine. Tice secures the takedown and escapes the guillotine from side control. He secures full mount and wins by some good GNP.
Winner: Tice via TKO (GNP)
Bout 10:
Hammer vs Stover
Round 1: Hammer secures a standing guillotine and holds it as the fighters work against the cage. Stover throws some body shots. Hammer continues to try for the guillotine until he pulls out with injured ribs.
Winner: Stover via tapout (injury)
Bout 11:
Hovey vs Walker
Round 1: The fighters exchange strikes and end up against the cage. Hovey gets a good throw on Walker and ends up in his guard.
Winner:
Bout 12:
Johnson vs Thoma (Ben)
Round 1: Johnson strikes and ends up getting underhooks. Johnson secured the takedown and took Thoma’s back. Johnson GNP’s his way to the win.
Winner: Johnson via TKO (GNP)
Bout 13:
Michehl vs Mendoza
Round 1:
Winner:
Bout 14
Main Event
Stephens vs Alexander
Round 1: Both fighters work their standup and throw some straights. Stephens secures a takedown from underhooks. Stephens throws some strikes from half guard. Alexander is able to stand up. Stephens throws some strikes and knees. Alexander is able to secure a takedown. Stephens works with a very active guard throwing short elbows and attempts a kimura from bottom. Stephens then secures a triangle and throws more elbows. After 5-6 elbows, Stephens is able to secure a tight triangle choke and Alexander eventually goes out.
Winner: Stephens via stoppage (triangle choke)
Overall, this was an entertaining night of fights. The only things I can think of to improve upon are the skill level of some fighters. It seemed some of the athletes were very green out there. I know this isn’t easy with a limited talent pool however. Also, I would suggest a new referee for the next event. He made some questionable stoppages and was far too physical to fighters near the cage. There is a fine line between controlling the action and taking away from it. Maybe it was just nerves in front of the large crowd. I sincerely hope that is the case.
Battle at the Barn has come and gone. I would like to close by again thanking Mr. Casber and Mr. Arns for the opportunity and hope to make this a regular occurrence.
If you are a promoter and would like to have me cover your shows, my contact information will be provided below. Also, if anyone has any feedback or questions feel free to contact me. After all, this is all here for you guys!
Ryan Christensen
515-770-7986