Mixed martial arts gives Lima fans a good show

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, July 31, 2007 (2 years, 7 months ago)
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LIMA — Fans didn’t see names like Ken Shamrock, “Dangerous” Dan Severn or Tank Abbott.
Nor did men like Chick Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia or Diego Gurgel make an appearance.
No, what they saw Saturday night at the Lima Civic Center were the men hoping to get to the level of those predecessors in Ultimate Fighting Championship, those who make the good money at the upper echelons of mixed martial arts.
“Phantom Fight Explosion: The Second Coming” was the event that featured 14 bouts in the cage and, according to co-promoter Matt Schwinnen, approximately 1,000 fans got their money’s worth.
“That’s a good turnout. They got to see a good show and some good matches,” Schwinnen began.
This event was under the auspices of the Ohio Athletic Commission.
“All these fighters are considered amateurs by the commission. The commission sent representatives to make sure everything was run according to their rules and regulations,” he explained. “According to their rules, a fighter has to have five amateur bouts before he can consider going professional. We are trying to give these guys their five fights — or at least a couple of them — so they can get to that point. If you want to use baseball terminology, we would be considered Single A.”
The matches showed a little bit of everything in the mixed martial arts repertoire: jiu jitsu, judo, wrestling, boxing, submission holds and some old-fashioned haymakers.
The best fight of the night was at 140 pounds when Abe Peterman — The Thai Legend” — and Justin Bermudez went at it. With the fans on their feet and the fighters urging them on, it came down to a unanimous decision by all three judges — 29-26 — in favor of Bermudez.
The match showed another asset of mixed martial arts competition — mutual respect.
“These guys know how hard the other works. There is a great respect the fighters have for each other,” Jason Scott, who trains with North Columbus Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy and attended the matches, noted. “There is also a greater emphasis on safety and preventing injury. If there is a fighter bleeding, the referee can stop it for a period or end it if there is too much blood. In amateur fighting, you can’t kick or elbow to the head. Generally, these things — like hitting to the groin — are accidental and the referee can warn or take a point away. If a fighter keeps doing the same things, he can be disqualified.”
As well, the number of fans was about 50/50 between women and men.
“I got into it because I wanted to get fit. There’s a lot of training and I just found out I liked it,” Ashley Heiders of St. Marys noted. “I think a lot of women get into it for the same reasons as men but the women tend to be a bit calmer. Even though there weren’t any women fighting tonight, I like to watch the guys I train with (American Vital Karate in Lima) fight. There are also a lot of tough women.”
Schwinnen, who actually trained as a fighter not so long ago, hopes to build on the sport’s ever-growing popularity.
“I’d like to have as many as three promotions a year. The next one we plan on having early in 2008 and I hope it can be a pro-am,” he explained. “The time involved in promoting a fight isn’t quite as much as that involved in training; my job wouldn’t let me put in the time to keep training.
“I take care of the financial parts of the promotion and getting people here that need to be. Jodi Poff, the co-promoter, takes care of the fighters and fight night.
“We want this to keep getting bigger and better. We won’t get to the level of pay-per-view but we’d like to see a local news channel videotape a card and go from there.”

Results:
265: Marcus Kuck over Jaimie Meeker, submission.
170: James Blackburn over Hunter Downey, decision.
135: Matt Sweeden over Robert McGee Jr., submission.
205: Troy Miller over Davis Oracio, TKO.
185: Mike Cardona over Zach Clary, submission.
170: Brent Roth over Denton Plikerd, submission.
185: Tyler Parker over Brent Davis, submission.
Super Heavy (240-plus): Kevin Argabright over Jeff Einit, submission.
140: Justin Bermudez over Abe Peterman, unanimous decision.
135: Mike Hunter over Justin Carter, submission.
185: Keil Henry over Joel Long, submission.
Title Matches
155: Adrian Henderson over Jason Ferguson, submission.
265: Steve Cotterman over Jim Aquaviva, submission.
170: Chris Henderson over Thomas Nicol, TKO.

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