Mass Destruction 23 Lives Up To The Name

Posted on | January 9, 2008 | 1 Comment

*Editor’s Note: For some reason this piece was lost in the shuffle somewhere. It is from an event that took place in August, 2007. The promoters of this event (NAGA’s Reality Fighting) will be holding another event January 19th at Plymouth Memorial Hall in southern Massachusetts.

MASS DESTRUCTION 23 LIVES UP TO THE NAME
By: Rich Bergeron

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MASSACHUSETTS– Mass Destruction 23 at Plymouth Memorial Hall proved to be one of the best local shows ever. The full house of fans who showed up were treated to an amazing array of exciting well-matched fighters slugging it out in a small octagon-sized ring that left them no room to run.

The first match of the night set the high-charged tone of the event with NAGA’s own Oz Pariser overcoming a bad start to win in dramatic fashion over Andrew Amaral of Cape Cod Fighting Alliance. Pariser’s effort fell flat in the first round as he only managed to land a 1-2 combo, an uppercut, a short barrage of punches and a leg kick. Other than an unsuccessful attempt to work a triangle choke, Pariser was absolutely overwhelmed by Amaral early on. Still, Pariser did manage to cut open Amaral’s eye, which might have made all the difference in the later rounds.

Amaral showed a dominant right hook in the first, catching Pariser with it a couple times before taking him down. He shook off Pariser’s quick attempt at the triangle and landed a glancing right over the top on his downed opponent. He spent the next few moments punishing Pariser’s ribs with more hooks. He maintained top position throughout the round and landed another nice overhand right, a few well placed left hands, some hammer fists, and a few more rib shots for good measure before the bell.

Pariser saw an amazing reversal of fortune in the second, taking the early advantage with a takedown. Amaral managed to get a few rights off and then rolled through to reverse Pariser, but it didn’t last. Pariser went for an arm bar and ended up with his own reversal. He kept at it and sunk the arm bar deep a bit later, but Amaral was just too strong to let it stop him. He finally worked out and the fight was back on the feet with both trading wild hooks and Pariser maintaining the more aggressive pace to the end.

With his face battered, bruised, and bleeding, Amaral came out for the third and final round in a fit of rage. Working feverishly to get a takedown he left himself open for a big kick to the face before he finally grabbed hold of Pariser’s shorts and slammed him to the canvas hard. Pariser maintained his composure and went back to the triangle, locking it up loosely at first. Amaral struggled to squeeze out, but by then it was too late. Already red with blood, his face went a deeper shade of red before he finally tapped out.

A paramedic later reported Amaral was seeing double out of one eye after the fight and had to be taken to the hospital.

“I just came on to say thanks to Amaral for that battle that we had. I had everyone telling me we were the fight of the night! The dude is strong as an ox and I’m honored to have fought him. Also, thanks to everyone that came out to support me,” wrote Pariser on MASSMMA.NET after the show.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH PARISER VS. AMARAL

Rob McNeil of South Shore Sport Fighting put on an incredible impersonation of Chuck Liddell in the early going of his fight. He slugged it out with Rigo Dominicci throughout the first round, snapping off leg kicks while he was at it. McNeil pursued his opponents with solid outside hooks and finally scored a takedown and pounded on Dominicci some more until they wound up back on their feet. Dominicci only managed to land a handful of shots in the round.

McNeil looked a bit gassed coming into the second round, giving up the advantage to Dominicci, who whipped out the spinning backfist and almost got himself in trouble. He landed a few slapping hooks later while McNeil could only manage to land a few shots before he connected with a couple knees and a left hook when Dominicci charged in. Dominicci picked up the pace later in the round, scoring with a left and right hook, a leg kick, and a jab. McNeil blocked a kick to the face and scored with some wild and wide left hooks before both fighters engaged in some heavy slugging to end the round.

The third round was going to decide it, but the way both fighters came out for it left the crowd a bit restless. Neither seemed to want to engage much and spent much of the round tiptoeing around each other. McNeil was content with keeping his distance and firing off an occasional leg kick during the early going. Dominicci responded by landing a spinning backfist again. Finally wise to that tactic, McNeil managed to duck under the next one and hit his opponent with a wonderful right hook. Finally, in the best action of the round, McNeil went for the takedown and threw Dominicci over his shoulder. The resulting slam shook the ring and riled the crowd, who cheered in excitement. McNeil landed two punches for every one of Dominicci’s from that point on and pulled out the easy decision.

“He knew the left was coming, so I had to do something completely different,” said McNeil about the slam that swayed the judges. He was all smiles after taking his championship belt back to the locker room to a chorus of boos since he’d beaten the crowd favorite. He credited his South Shore Sport Fighting Cornermen Bill, Scott, and Bobby with helping give him the right directions and also for pushing him in the gym. “They told him to work my ground game,” he said. “I had to go for what he didn’t think of.”

He also credited his fight team and his father with helping him get away from fighting in bars and ending up in jail for taking his aggression on the streets.

McNeil’s been in the fight game for five years now and stressed he’s not out for money hardware, or publicity but simply for the pride of it all and the ability to “get paid to punch people in the face.”

His team members stressed nobody from their gym fought any “chumps” that night, and all of his supporters celebrating with him made sure to mention McNeil did it all on his own in the ring.

Troy “The Tornado” Tondalo of Team Savage took on Eric Foley of South Shore Sport Fighting in a heavyweight bout that proved to be a gruesome slugfest. There was plenty of grappling going on right off the bell as Foley did his best to stay behind Tondalo and nail him with a few shots from time to time. Tondalo was all hooks in the early action, missing his first attempt for a takedown only to get thrown to the canvas himself a bit later. Tondalo did manage to wriggle free and turn to face Foley, but Foley responded with some hooks of his own. Finally Foley looked to be close to getting the Guillotine choke locked, but he couldn’t sink it. At round’s end Tondalo’s face was already severely swollen.

Tondalo was simply spent in the second, gasping for air as he leaned on the ropes and took punishing shots from Foley. He landed a right hook and a couple of other counter punches, but it didn’t take long for Foley to overwhelm him. A 1-2 combo and a follow up right led to Tondalo hitting the ground where Foley closed the show slugging relentlessly from the top position until the ref stepped in.

If there were penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in MMA, Tim Pinney (Freestyle) would have cost his team 15 yards for the way he opened his quick contest against Lucas Kotzias. Instead of touching gloves, Pinney faked the shake and tried to hammer Kotzias right off the bell with a huge, winging hook. Nerves and bad timing made him lose his balance and end up on his ass instead. Kotzias was all kicks to start and then unloaded an unsuccessful Superman punch. Pinney missed a kick of his own and fell to the floor. While rolling around on the floor, both fighters had shots at triangle chokes, but it was Pinney who ended up securing the hold to tap out Kotzias, much to the dismay of the crowd, who rained boos down on Pinney to let him know the opening act didn’t go unnoticed.

Fernando Perez (Dungeon) squared off with Nick Tzimas (NMATC) in a match that saw plenty of reversals, but Tzimas edged it out with better ground skills. Tzimas came out slugging on his feet. Perez tried to respond only to get taken down on a trip as he went for a knee. He was able to roll out for a few seconds only to get caught up in an arm bar attempt. Tzimas secured top position once again, and Perez bucked him off once more. Tzimas ended the round on top once again, pounding away at Perez’s ribs with huge hooks.

Perez could only manage a few glancing shots and a split second reversal in the second frame. Tzimas started with more slugging, landing a nice 1-2 combo before getting another early takedown. He went back to work on the ribs, made sure to get good distance, and started slugging away until Perez tried to work his way out only to get trapped in a deep arm bar. He had no choice but to tap out.

Greg Rebello (Cape Cod FA) and Todd Chattelle (Elite MA) had a back and forth battle in the first round of their fight, which involved more leg work than fisticuffs. Both did lots of grappling early with knees flying and leg kicks slapping home. Chattelle landed a straight right later in the round, sending Rebello down for a moment, and when he got back to his feet he wound up in a Guillotine choke attempt.

Rebello exacted his revenge in the next round, starting with much more aggression and keeping Chatelle’s back on the ropes as he hauled off knees. Going from huge left hands to leg kicks, Rebello took a decent kick himself and responded with one of the hardest leg kicks of the night. He finished the fight with an amazing hooking right uppercut that led to a takedown, and once the fight hit the ground he never let up until the ref stepped in due to the constant abuse he laid on Chatelle with primarily left hooks to the head.

Anthony Williams (Dungeon) and Albert Marrero (Mendes) Fought through three rounds of brutal back and forth action. Willaims got the first takedown, Marrero reversed it, and then both traded some shots in a pretty uneventful first.

Marrero won the advantage in the second, going for a Guillotine that didn’t quite work at first. Then he wound up on top anyway after rolling out. He landed a knee and scored with some huge hooks to the head. All Williams could manage were a few weak hammer fists.

Williams coming out for the third in full attack mode may have won the fight for him. He earned an easy takedown and kept right on slugging away until he wound up in an arm bar he barely made it out of. Marrero managed to get back to his feet only to go down again. Williams relentlessly hammered him with rib and head shots. Marrero managed a brief reversal only to end up on his back again at the bell. Williams took home one of the only decisions of the night.

In one of the rarest situations that can happen in an MMA fight, Tom Giove (SSSF) and Ethan Kean (Royce Gracie) somehow got locked up in a sort of an awkward 69 position in the second round of the fight. Kean secured a reverse triangle while Giove worked his own triangle at the same time. Kean’s only hope was to end it with that triangle after getting slammed like a ragdoll in the first and going through almost the entire round in the guard position. Giove threw wild shots once he was able to get the proper distance, and the best punches he managed in the first frame connected with Kean’s ribs.

Giove managed to get out of the tight predicament in the second and secure a reversal. From there he went for a reverse Guillotine angle called a “North-South Choke.” Kean tapped out as soon as Giove locked it tight.

Mike Gresh (CCFA) and Denny Siggins (Kaze) had the crowd wondering if NAGA was starting a senior circuit. 47-year-old Siggins and the probably not much older or younger Gresh were certainly more game than anyone might have given them credit for upon their first appearance in the ring. Siggins, who looks like a cross between Paul Newman and Richard Dreyfuss, was willing to trade kicks and engage in some early slugging, but Gresh was too fast. After a nice thigh kick of his own, he waded into the fray and let fly a couple shots that landed solidly. Siggins sagged to the canvas face first, trying to get up on wobbly legs as the ref waved the fight to a stop.

Glenn Medeiros (Gillet) took on the most decorated high school wrestler in New Hampshire, Matt Smith (Renzo-NH). The yet to win a professional MMA fight Medieros was clearly outclassed. Smith dominated him as expected, and he gave up his back quickly. Smith secured a quick takedown and punished his opponent with incredible ground and pound skills. After a warning for hitting the back of the head, Smith wasted no time ending the fight. He caught Medeiros in a huge slam and pounded his way to victory from there.

Finally, Pat Schultz (CCFA) appeared and thrilled the crowd with a huge win after ending up in early trouble. Les Richardson of L.A. Boxing gave Schultz a run for his money before Schultz recovered and knocked him out as the crowd exploded.

The small, confined space of the ring left few fights to decisions and the crowd fully entertained through the whole card. The sellout atmosphere was intense, and nobody went home unhappy save for the fighters who lost. Congratulations to Kipp Kollar for a well-stacked card and a wholly professional promotion that is gaining steam and respect all over the region. Saturday was one of the best cards Fight News Unlimited has covered this year.

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