Dexter Injury Does Little To Dampen Excitement of Untamed 25

By Tim O’Connor, New England MMA (timoconnor@ne-mma.com)

(Boxborough, Massachusetts) - Full Force Productions’ “Untamed” brand reached its 25th show last Saturday night at the Boxborough, MA Holiday Inn.  Since its inception Untamed has been known for well matched mixed martial arts (MMA) fights featuring some of the best live event production in New England and “Untamed 25″ proved that after twenty-five shows nothing has changed!  FFP’s Matchmaker Mike Littlefield displayed his advanced knowledge of the New England MMA scene by showcasing a slew of young and little known (although not for long!) fighters from schools like Lakeview MMA, Best Way-American Top Team, Dungeon MMA, Miletich Fighting Systems-New Hampshire, and Iron Horse against some of the more established MMA entities like Sityodtong/Florian Martial Arts Center, Team Irish, and Team Burgess.  In the end what “Untamed 25″ will be known for is the blood and guts nature that each fighter displayed, making each “Untamed” a can’t miss event.

Unfortunately the night’s Main Event was marred by a nasty foot injury suffered by Dexter MMA’s Light Heavyweight Mike Dexter (4-6) just :33-seconds into the 1st Round.  Dexter entered the contest fresh off a TKO loss to Jerry Spiegal after he injured the tendons in the same foot trying to sweep Spiegal.  This time Dexter’s foot gave way as he attempted a takedown while having Team Irish’s Travis Bartlett pinned against the cage.  With a great shout of “You’ve got to be kidding me” Dexter pushed away from Bartlett and hobbled to a neutral portion of the cage, favoring the injured extremity.  Referee Gary Foreman halted the fight with a brief clock stoppage, but Dexter quickly waved him off and waved the bewildered Bartlett on.  Showcasing the type of sportsmanship MMA should be known for Bartlett asked Dexter if he was sure he could continue before engaging, Dexter’s “Yes” quickly turned into a “No” as he could put no weight on the foot as Bartlett clinched.  Referee Foreman quickly stepped in to aid Dexter after the verbal tapout and Bartlett too held the massive Dexter up and called for his cornermen and doctor to Dexter’s side.

In what could be his most impressive win MFS-NH Lightweight Mathew Brent Kinberger (4-0) quickly disposed of tough Bombsquad wrestler Don Carlo-Clauss (4-2) with a well executed arm bar just 2:32 into Round 1.  The extremely tall Kinberger nearly ended the fight with what would have been a devastating head kick earlier in the contest, but Clauss ducked after his own failed leg kick just as Kinberger’s shin grazed past his hairline.  Thinking his advantage lay in the ground and pound department Clauss forced Kinberger to the canvas and worked from Kinberger’s guard after the narrow kick escape.  Clauss did find the mark with a few nice punches, but when he attempted to pass to Kinberger’s right he failed to defend Kinberger from pushing his shoulder to the mat; the long legged Kinberger swung his creeping foot over Clauss’s shoulder and locked in a triangle.  Clauss, feeling the pressure, turned and posted away from the pressure allowing Kinberger to fire off a few short elbows that opened a gash on Clauss’s head; the damage done, Kinberger transitioned to the arm bar and forced a tap from the dejected Bombsquad fighter.

“Submission-Of-The-Night” was taken by Best Way/American Top Team Ligtweight prospect Brent Reed (1-1) as he performed a textbook guillotine choke on BruteForce’s Luke Czekalski (0-5) 1:16 of the 1st.  Czekalski came out firing leg kicks looking to notch his first professional MMA victory and forced Reed to clinch from the damage.  Against the cage Czekalski was able to turn Reed and mix in some nice knees to the body of the well muscled Reed.  Reed snapped into action from the knees with a nice elbow to Czekalski’s forehead and Czekalski dropped levels looking to take the action to the ground.  Reed defended the shot and wrapped Czekalski’s head in a deep guillotine choke and pushed off against the cage, sinking the choke deeper as he walked forward.  The weakening Czekalski dropped to his back and tried to wrap Reed up from guard.  As Czekalski lost consciousness his right arm signaled the defeat by dropping “lifeless” to the ground allowing Referee Kevin MacDonald to end the bout.

In what looked to be an even match-up of “Striker vs. Grappler” Sityodtong/Florian MAC’s Vincent Silvestre (1-2) battled BJJ Blackbelt and Dungeon MMA fighter Rene Nazare (3-0) in a Lightweight tilt.  Silvestre came out strong and scored with a 1-2, leg kick combination that pushed Nazare into a back pedal.  As Silvestre came forward with looping strikes Nazare maintained his composure and dropped for a successful takedown.  Silvestre tried to close guard but the savvy Nazare fought it off and quickly switched to side control.  With the position advantage Nazare began to strike utilizing his elbows and fists to bludgeon Silvestre, who managed to scramble to his feet and briefly end the ground assault.  On his feet Silvestre appeared to regain control of the fight with a few well placed knees, but Nazare pushed forward, delivered a knee of his own and dropped Silvestre again with a nice trip.  Even within Silvestre’s closed guard Nazare was able to deliver punishment with short elbows, which loosened Silvestre up and allowed Nazare to pass to side control.  With great confidence Nazare dropped a crushing elbow to the orbital of Silvestre and stood to continue raining down blows on his depleting opponent.  It wasn’t long before Silvestre was covering up from the blows and Referee Foreman saved the fighter from further damage, earning Nazare his third consecutive victory.

Bombsquad members Ryan Contaldi (4-1) and Mahsea Boleay (2-0) continued their respective winning streaks with unanimous decision victories over Lakeview MMA products Roger Brackett (4-2) and Mark Griffin (0-1), respectively.  Light Heavyweight Contaldi was again unstoppable on the ground with superb wrestling technique and his patented ground and pound even after a nasty cut was opened over his left eye.  The fight was briefly halted in the 2nd Round as Contaldi appeared to sustain a deep and bloody cut just over his left eye.  The Doctor was brought in and could see that the cut was not bleeding directly into the eye, enabling Contaldi to defend himself, allowing the fight to continue.  After the stop Brackett was not aggressive, in fear of the takedown, and Contaldi stalked forward - blood trickling down his face and torso.  Soon Brackett was on his back once more and Contaldi was riding out the round and grabbing the Unaninmous Decision.

Boleay proved his wrestling and ground and pound was on par with Contaldi’s as he dominated the well conditioned Griffin.  Throughout the contest Boleay adhered to his corner and took Griffin off of his feet and to the ground where he used an arsenal of elbows and fists to frustrate and hurt Griffin.  With the Unanimous Decision victory the Bombsquad Heavyweight is off to a quick 2-0 start and appears to be on a fight schedule reminiscent of teammate and Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Jon Jones.

Also in contention for “Submission-Of-The-Night” was Joel Burgess’s victory over Best Way/ATT’s Josh Johnson via anaconda choke in a Lightweight matchup.  Burgess (1-0) dominated the 1st Round with an amazingly strong ground game, keeping Johnson (0-1) on his back fighting position and hammerfists the whole way.  As Round 2 began Johnson came out quickly and scored with a quick combination that hurt Burgess and forced him to take the fight down with a double leg.  From inside Johnson’s guard Burgess pummeled his opponent with strikes, forcing Johnson to open, allowing Burgess to pass to side control and eventually attain the mount.  In mount Burgess was not given much of a chance to inflict damage as Johnson gave up his back, with only one hook in Burgess worked his strikes and forced Johnson to turn once more and regain the mount.  This time Johnson attempted to buck free of Burgess, as Johnson bucked Burgess crept forward and caught Johnson’s arm above his head and sunk in a deep anaconda choke, forcing Johnson to submit 2:18 into Round 2.

The Amateur MMA bouts featured “Fight-Of-The-Night” between Moontide MMA Welterweight Casey Morrisette and New England Submission Fighting’s Mike Commander.  The two 170’s pounded on one another through most of three 2-minute rounds, with each fighter claiming one of the first two rounds.  Commander’s cardio seemed to award him the advantage as the fight progressed into the third stanza.  Commander used his superior technical striking to keep Morrisette at bay and open his nose into a bloody mess.  As Commander witnessed the blood running from Morrisette’s nose he pinpointed his strikes to his opponents’ face and managed to force a cut to open below Morrisette’s right eye.  A bloody mess and weakening by the second Morrisette attempted to come forward, but ate a vicious kick to the midsection which signaled the beginning of the end for the Maine striker.  At 1:55 of the 3rd Round Commander proved to be too much as he peppered Morrisette with right’s and left’s, bathing Morrisette in his own blood and forcing Referee Foreman to mericfully call a halt to the most exciting amateur bout since Untamed’s tilt between AMMA’s Casey Milliken and Team Aggression’s Joe Proctor.

Team Burgess may lay claim to the next great New England-based Welterweight as Adam McQuaid dispatched of Southcoast MMA’s Bobby Flynn at the 2:00 mark of Round 1 with a scary D’arce choke.  As the 1st Round came to an end “Lone Wolf” appeared to end Flynn’s night, but Referee MacDonald correctly gave Flynn the full minute between rounds to recover from the choke.  Unfortunately Flynn never moved, even as his corner came to his aid.  As the crowd looked on in amazement Flynn lay motionless on the FFP logo, his cornermen gave Flynn space and lifted his legs to force blood back to his upper body and Flynn regained consciousness.  A smiling McQuaide went over to check on his opponent as Flynn was informed of what happend and the two shook hands, bringing a fun end to a tense moment.

Team Irish had a tough night as amateur phenom’s Noah Hall and Ryan Sanders both tasted defeat via Unanimous Decisions to Boneyard’s Same Elliott and Best Way/ATT’s Ryan Quinn, respectively.  Neither Team Irish fighter won a round as both encountered fighters with superior ground skills, showing that even top prospects need work before graduating to the professional ranks.

Maine was also well represented by AMMA’s Cecil Haney, a young Featherweight who started strong against Fightzone’s Chris Capazolli, winning the first two rounds with an all around great effort on the feet and the mat.  Haney seemed to tire in the third, while Cappazolli built up points with knees and strikes from the clinch but he was unable to take Haney out and was eventually grounded by Haney who won the fight on scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27.

Untamed 25 was another well matched showcased of MMA talent and should garner FFP more paying fans for their first venture into Westport, Ma for Untamed 26 on February 28th, 2009.