MOOSIN MMA SHOW DRAWS THOUSANDS TO DCU CENTER IN WORCESTER, MA

Posted on | May 23, 2010 | 2 Comments

By: Rich Bergeron

Rich (L) and Bas Rutten Backstage After the Fights

It felt more like Warsaw than Worcester at the DCU Center Friday night as red and white jerseys, flags, and screaming Polish fans flooded the arena for Mariusz Pudzianowski’s appearance in the main event and to see another Polish fighter named Lukasz “Juras” Jurkowski (15-9-0), who is a native of Chorzow, Poland. The sea of supportive Poles in the stands made the event seem as if MMA in Massachusetts had suddenly become just as popular as soccer in Europe. Whether it was just genius promoting or a complete coincidence, it actually turns out that Worcester County is highly populated by people of Polish descent, and even Orlando Magic Center Marcin Gortat made an appearance to watch his countrymen fight.

The main event made Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia feel like he was the one in the foreign country, and he commented in the post-fight presser about how odd it was to be booed in the Northeast and so close to home. While to some he made it look easy by dismantling his opponent and denying the World’s Strongest Man a pseudo-hometown victory, Sylvia seemed like he still had a tough time getting it all done. He wore an ice pack on one of his knees after the fight and looked completely spent. Pudzianowski was a little worse for the wear, though. He had to limp to the post-fight press conference with small baby steps, his calves still red and bulging.

Coming in at a whopping 305 pounds, Sylvia was not in the best shape of his life, but the experience factor won the day for him. He shook off the worst Pudzianowski could manage to inflict on him early in the fight, spent only a few seconds in actual danger, and responded by reminding the musclebound MMA upstart that fighting is a game of reach and tactics. Pinpoint knees landed flush to Pudzianowski’s ribs and face in both rounds, and the ground and pound that finally ended the fight forced the strongman competitor to tap Sylvia’s face to avoid any further damage. Sylvia also used long range, accurately placed and timed punches to frustrate the Pole between denying him countless takedown attempts.

Pudzianowski’s loss is being talked about as proof that he does not belong in MMA, but this is yet to be determined. Certainly, not unlike Kimbo Slice, Pudzianowski is coming off like a pure gimmick, getting into the game a bit late, but there is nothing written in stone to say a guy with his work ethic and physique cannot compete in a sport like MMA. Wholly unlike Kimbo, as far as we know Pudzianowski has no huge, lingering knee injury to worry about. Both have some impressive muscles and seem to work hard to keep them that way, but lactic acid builds up faster in those type of muscles than leaner and longer muscles built by constant repetitions and lighter weights… if any. Many boxing trainers like Angelo Dundee didn’t believe in weight training, since it tends to shorten reach. Simple push ups and sit ups will do. Although, I bet Mariusz would be great at the old tire-flipping drill, which also couldn’t hurt his training regimen.

Kimbo might actually be a great next fight for Pudzianowski. I think I’d rather see them arm-wrestle, but it could really be an interesting MMA match, too. Both proved in their last fights that cardio is a huge issue and after a certain point of exertion their muscles literally begin working against them and shutting down. Both faced guys that didn’t look like they were in stellar shape and got schooled anyway by the experience factor. Both have limited experience and high expectations, and it’s unfair to sell them short and count them out until they get a dozen or so fights at the professional level under their belts. In essence, they need some time to grow to see if they can change into better fighters over time. Either way, if either one of these guys can still put rear ends in the seats, they should be allowed to keep taking their lumps in peace and keep trying to get better for a few years before everyone calls for them to quit the fight game.

Speaking of Kimbo, his former trainer was in the house to do the play by play announcing, and he was very gracious with the fans after the fight who lined up for pictures. Bas Rutten was happy to pose for snapshot after snapshot with the faithful. People kept yelling “You’re a legend” at him as he mugged for the cameras all the way to the backstage area where we caught him. Other legends in the house included Vinny Paz, Micky Ward, and Eric “Butterbean” Esch (The Promoter). You might even call Travis “Diesel” Wiuff (61-14-0) a legend since he notched his 61st MMA win Friday with a first round KO of Josh Barnes (7-4-0) at heavyweight with his devastating punching power in both hands.

Fight of the night was a toss-up between Yves Edwards (37-16-1) vs. Mike Campbell (9-2-0) and Roxanne Modafferi (15-5-0) vs. Tara LaRosa (18-2). Both fights went to close decisions after three hard-fought rounds and could have gone either way on the scorecards. LaRosa’s heavy handed bombs and Edwards’ huge body slams were not enough in the end as their opponents impressed the judges with their tactics and overall cage generalship.

UFC Veteran Travis “The Serial Killer” Lutter (10-6-0) looked very unimpressive against Rafael “Sapo” Natal, a Brazilian native. Natal’s technical stand up and stalking attack led to a left-right combo that dropped Lutter and left him subject to a quick ground and pound finish in the opening round.

Poland’s own Lukasz “Juras” Jurkowski got a rousing reception from the crowd for his fight against Ho Jin Kim (7-7-0), and he rewarded the fans with a stellar performance, completely outclassing Kim after standing up from an early takedown. A few well placed knees and elbows followed by a ground and pound finale ended the match.

Forrest “The Meat Cleaver” Petz (18-7-0) faced hometown hero Ralph Johnson (4-1) at 170 pounds in a long slugfest that left Johnson looking like he might secure the win at home in Worcester. Instead, Petz’s relentless attack and looping right and left hooks won the day. He did remind me a bit of Rocky Marciano in there the way his boxing style was working for him. As the shorter, stockier man fighting a tall, lanky Johnson, Petz looked like he had a lot of trouble landing his best shots. Still, those shots that did land kept Johnson fighting from as far away as possible.

In the preliminary fights:

Paul Barry (4-0-0), Rockland, MA WTKO2 (Punches – 1:32) Stipe Miocic (1-1-0), Cleveland, OH

Matt Lee (12-9-1), Worcester, MA WTKO2 (Punches – 1:46) Brett Oteri (5-1-0), Bridgewater, MA

Anthony Lapsley (18-4-0), Fort Wayne, IN WSUB1 (Knee Lock – 0:59) Fred Belleton (6-3-0), Rockland, MA

Here’s a short highlight reel of the cage side action:

Overall, this was a really great show, and my only question for the promoter at the final presser was “When are you going to do this again in the local area?” Butterbean told me he and the other promoters were thinking they could live in Massachusetts and definitely want to do something in the state again as soon as possible. Unfortunately the match between himself and Lyndon Byers was scratched due to Byers not being approved to fight by the state commission. Butterbean had bigger fish to fry as he was busy building bridges for the Moosin circuit from Korea to the United States, and the massive crowd and PPV audience the event drew is clear proof that the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has truly become a global phenomenon. Congrats to everyone involved for putting on such a spectacular show. Special thanks to Prime Athletics and Sean Rockwell for getting me to and from the show. Here’s a shot of Sean with Trainer Mark Dellagrotte of the storied Sityodtong gym in Boston: