Fight Master: Bellator MMA

Chris Lozano Casted In Fight Masters Reality Series

I have always been a big fan of Chris "The Assassin" Lozano (10-3) fighting style and it looks like we're going to be seeing alot more of him soon. Or at least he'll have a chance to show us alot more anyway as he is a contestant on Spike's newest reality show; Fight Masters.  

The video above gives a detailed breakdown of how the show will play out but basically 32 guys will fight to enter the house and then they will have  chance to pick their coaches and their fights. 

Obviously this is in the same vein the UFC promotional vehicle, "The Ultimate Fighter"  and Viacom is hoping to have similar success. Increased exposure never hurts in this business and judging from the cast, Lozano should be an early front runner. 

check out the full cast after the jump:

PinnacleFC June 29th: Online Ticket Ordering Available Now

PinnacleFC returns to the Iceoplex arena June 29^th and we are planning our biggest and best card to date.  Our staff works 24 hours a day to bring to you the best cards we can put together and so far, we have had great results. June 29^th will be no different as we have a huge main event featuring Mark “The Pride Of Bloomfield” Cherico (4-0) taking on UFC veteran Donny "Eagle Eye" Walker (14-9).

Walker’s last three fights were in either the UFC or Bellator and he has years of experience fighting the best featherweights around including Cub Swanson, Cody Stevens, Jeff Curran and Frank Caraballo.  Walker is far and away the biggest step up in Cherico’s unblemished career to date.  Cherico is coming into the bout fresh off of his best career performance, a first round armbar win over Strikeforce veteran Billy Vaughn. His pending fight with Walker should put him farther up the ladder and onto the big show radar.  This match up will be for the first ever PinnacleFC professional title.

Also on the card we have an all-city grudge match between former training partners Khama “The Deathstar” Worthy (2-2) and Maddog gym’s Francis Healy (1-0). Healy and Worthy were scheduled to meet in April but Healy was forced to withdraw due to injury. Khama went on to win a lopsided decision over late replacement Jason Willett and a few weeks later, we are back on track for one of my favorite fights of the year.

This time around we are also featuring two amateur titles when Rich Cantolina (9-6) attempts to derail the undefeated Derrick Wright (3-0) for the featherweight amateur title and “Prince” Fadi Shuman (4-0) will square off against newly minted rival Chris Mitchell-Humes (3-0) AKA Philly Chris for the lightweight amateur strap.

Other fights on the card feature local standout Justin Steave (4-2) taking on PA’s Mike Diggs (7-4), Evolve’s Kenny Jackson is set to make his professional debut against Reggie Merriweather and FCP amateur destroyer Jake Schilling (3-0) will look to remain perfect against his toughest fight to date in Tyler Ingram (6-1).

Check out the tentative card after the jump:

  Sirb Reconsiders Stance On Cherico Walker, Fight Officially Approved

The other day I was at my real job (Revelation time: I work for Comcast in the sales department) when a call came through on my cell phone while I was having a meeting with my boss Scott.  Scott was just in the middle of telling me how great of a job I have been doing lately – Editor note: no one has ever told me that there, not even once- when my cell phone started ringing loudly and “Greg Sirb” flashed on the screen. 

I thought to myself “Hmmm I bet I know why he’s calling” and when I answered, my suspicions had been confirmed; he had read my article criticizing his decision to deny Donny Walker (14-9) as an opponent for Mark Cherico (4-0) and he sounded pissed.

Rightfully so, I didn’t pull too many punches and the article did huge numbers which means basically everyone in our little world read my blasphemy (pronounced Blasfome).  If that isn’t key product placement I don’t know what is.

To keep myself from receiving further calls about things I write usually while at work (the original article was penned while arguing with a lady from the Hill District over her $500.00 balance with the company), I will leave the majority of the details of what was said in those 15 minutes out of this article.  But what I can tell you is that:

1. Initially he had zero intentions of approving Donny Walker as an opponent for Mark Cherico
2. It wasn’t what you’d call “an exchange of pleasantries” 
3. My whole office thinks I’m losing my mind as I paced up and down the halls shouting things like “UFC caliber” and “Frank Caraballo is one of the best in the area”.

After the smoke cleared, I figured “Well at least I didn’t come off looking like a complete dick” and that was that.  A few minutes later I received an email from none of than Sirb himself saying that he is willing to remain open minded and he’d get back to us.

Yes, Sirb was willing to reconsider his position.

Check out the decision after the jump:

   Floyd Mayweather Cruises Past Robert Guerrero In 12

Robert Guerrero showed up to fight Saturday and for a while, not a “long while” mind you, it looked like he might give Floyd Mayweather some problems.  Early on Guerrero seemed like he was able to keep up with Floyd’s speed and athleticism and even find him with straight left hands without much protest.  Combine that with Floyd’s typical careful approach, calculating his opponent’s offense and testing their defense and early on, Guerrero was controlling the pace.

I’m not going to lie to you and pretend like for a small, insignificant moment I thought that this might be the kryptonite to Floyd’s seemingly unbeatable design.   

But like 45% of my current life experience (roughly) I was wrong.

By round 4 Floyd had adjusted his positioning beautifully, stepping around Guerrero’s lead leg effortlessly and unloaded a steady stream of straight right hands in a south paw killing performance like I haven’t really seen before at this level.   Guerrero stuck to at least one part of the game plan, never stop coming forward, but eventually it proved to be wasted effort.  Floyd subtly shut off his Guerrero’s offense everywhere and by round 6, I knew it was in the bag.  Floyd has always done a great job of tying up his opponents inside so that they can’t get off anything serious if they get him along the ropes- he performed this talent beautifully and by round 4, Guerrero was not only out gunned in the open ring, but totally stifled along the ropes too.   The fight became so one sided that Mayweather critics were quick to write it off as another boring, easy win against another unworthy opponent.

Check out the rest after the jump:

Tensions Are Rising Between Fight Club Pittsburgh and Maddog Fight Team

 We all love a little bit of controversy every now and then. 

Right?

I’ll give you a second to finish agreeing with me and then we’ll talk about the newly formed rivalry between two of my favorite fighting clubs in Pittsburgh.   Anytime you have two of the toughest kid’s in the neighborhood, they are eventually going to have to fight to settle up and see who wears the crown.   This time I’m talking about East Pittsburgh’s Maddog Gym and their stable of proven killers taking on the elite squad of professionals over at Fight Club Pittsburgh in Robinson Township.

I’ll fill you in quickly on how this whole thing came to be. 

FCP lightweight Chris Mitchell-Humes (3-0) AKA Philly Chris won his last fight at Pinnacle Fighting Championships and decided to call out lightweight contender “Prince” Fadi Shuman (4-0) during the post-fight speech. In the world of fighting, and most specifically cage fighting, it is a touchy situation when asking for your next opponent, especially publicly.   A reality in fighting is that you are looking to ultimately hurt your opponent and when you ask to fight someone, regardless of how it’s done, it hits that instinctual nerve where you’re basically asking for a chance to hurt that person. So as you can imagine, everyone accepts that challenge a little differently. Fadi Shuman to his credit, quietly and unceremoniously accepted the threat request and here we are.   This fight is happening for PinnacleFC June 29^th at the Iceoplex arena for the lightweight title.

But that’s not the fun part.

Check out the rest after the jump:

Rocktagon XXVI "VENI,VINI,VICI": Quick Results 

Rocktagon took over the Agora theater in Cleveland this weekend and brought with it their patented brand of Professional and amateur fisticuffs.  The Agora is a pretty cool venue and reminded me of a place I would have went to see Slayer (RIP) or Strung Out back in the day. Anyhow the production value of the show has vastly improved over the course of Rocktagon's lifetime and the leader of ceremonies, Jake Digman did a fantastic job tying it all together.  

I have alot of respect for good ring announcers like Securo and Digman because A. it makes the event look (and sound) that much better and B. I don't have the flair (or sack) for public speaking. They had some pretty good scraps through out the night and the crowd was into it.   Check out the quick results below:

PRO BOUTS

MAIN EVENT – LIGHTWEIGHT (155)

• Micah “Maverick” Miller (16-5; American Top Team – Coconut Creek, FL) vs. Tyler “Superman” Combs (14-9; Vision MMA – Dayton, OH) Miller wins via TKO Rd. 3

CO-MAIN EVENT – BANTAMWEIGHT (135)

• “Animal” Andrew Cseh (4-3; Team Ascension – Welland, Ontario Canada) vs. Jordan Espinosa (2-0; Demolition Fight Team – Findlay, OH) Cseh wins via RNC Rd. 1

Welterweight (170)

• Darryl “The Magicman” Madison (4-5; Team Elite – Ft. Wayne, IN) vs. Micah “Mayhem” Bender (9-8; Team FTW out of Team Bundy MMA – Warren, OH) Micah Bender via Rear naked choke Rd. 1

Check out the amateur results after the jump: