Last night, Mannasas Park wrestling alumni, Tim Tibbs, brought Dan "the Beast" Severn and his Danger Zone promotion to Manassas Park. UFC hall of Famer, Dan Severn has put on over 40 mixed martial arts events, and now Dangerzone has coming to Virginia. The card pitted some of our local talent against some of up and coming mixed martial artists from Michigan, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Besides Dan Severn, Bellator flyweight Wilson Reis was in attendance, and both he and Dan posed for pictures and signed autographs for Northern Virginia fight fans who were treated to ten exciting bouts at Manassas Parks brand new Community Center.
The night opened with Brandon Hammer against Greg Hughes. Hughes came out swinging shooting for a takedown, but Hammer stuffed the attempt, and Hughes gassed out pretty quickly. Hammer failed to capitalize on his opponent’s fatigue and didn’t finish the fight in the first round. Round two saw Hughes attacking once again, but he quickly attempted what can only be called a hilarious double hammer fist belly flop. Brandon Hammer took the fight to his downed and winded opponent and got the stoppage quickly in the second round.
The fights quickly became a lot more technical and competitive as Bill Miller and Jess Noriega fought a war. Miller used wrestling to dominate his Machado trained opponent, but in the second round he slowed down and was caught in a slick triangle from Noriega’s guard. Miller valiantly tried to jump over and relieve the pressure, but Noriega held on sinking the now inverted triangle deeper for the submission victory in round 2.
Osborne wrestling alumni Corey Tangen made his MMA debut against Dave Posin, and the two went back and forth punching and kneeing each other full blast. Tangen’s wrestling background showed with a solid takedown in the first round, but Posin returned the favor in the second round and forced the ref stoppage. 55 year old Carroll Robinson entered the ring, and the crowd did not know what to expect. Looking every day of his age when he entered the ring, once he removed his sweatshirt and revealed his shredded abs, the crowd didn’t know what to expect. His opponent Logan Yox was easily half his age, but you wouldn’t know it once the bell rang, and the two started throwing and scrambling for the first half of the round. Yox finally got Robinson to the mat and forced the stoppage with striked, but Robinson left the cage with a lot of respect from the crowd.
Blake Gardner showed excellent wrestling for two rounds, dominating his opponent with takedowns and top control, but Gustavo Keisler withstood the storm and got the TKO stoppage in round 3. Manassas Park local Patrick Holyfield made his MMA debut, and came into the cage looking very much like UFC banger Scott Ferrozzo. His opponent, Andrew Murray, even had a slight resemblance to Tank Abbott, but the bout went very different than the classic UFC grinder. Murray and Holyfield exchanged for a few minutes, but the Murray landed the punch Tank never could against Ferrozzo, and Holyfield went down in the first.
Danny Farrar and Matt Gatka started their bout with Gatka putting on a submission clinic, but it was Farrar who weathered the submission tidal wave, and got top control. Once there he threw shots until a chance came to take Gatka’s back. Once there he only tried one sub, and it was enough, winning by rear naked choke just before the bell.
During a brief intermission Wilson Reis addressed the crowd, and announced his upcoming Bellator match in Philly against IFL and WEC veteran, Deividas Taurosevicius. That fight added to an already great card headlined by Eddie Alvarez and Roger Huerta makes it one of the best events coming this October.
After the intermission late replacement Kyle Nicholson faced off against Marcel Dordunoo in what could have been the fight of the night. Dordunoo showed crisp striking and looked to have the upper hand standing, but it was Nicholson who kept dropping his opponent with shots to the chin. Dordunoo repeated found a way to get the fight to the ground when he was dazed and maintain top control until he recovered. The fight went back and forth, with Nicholson winning a hard earned unanimous decision.
Brett Shoenfelt entered the cage to face undefeated Bryan Peyton, and he showed no sign of being intimidated by his opponent’s perfect 7-0 record. He quickly took the fight to the ground and gave Peyton his first loss by tko in round one. The main event brought undefeated Jesse Swain and 4-1 Jason Morris into the cage, and like other perfect record of the night it was not to last. Swain and Morris grappled and exchanged blows for most of the 3 rounds, but it was Morris who finally took Swain’s back and sunk in the rear naked choke to finish the fight in the third round.
That closed the fast paced and exciting event, and many of the fighters retreated to the Manassas Hooters for the afterparty, and hopefully to make plans to return to Manassas Park for another exciting event. When they do, Bloodyknux.com will certainly be there to cover the action.
- Jim “DC Books” Kirkland
- Photos by Rachel Kirkland
