Friday, February 26, 2010

By Isaac Kuhlman

  The Tuff-N-Uff Amateur Fighting Championship is fairly well known by MMA enthusiasts in Southern Nevada and Southern California. It is known to have exciting and competitive fights. It is known to be a pioneer organization in the world of amateur MMA. It is known to have some pretty big names come through their ranks--though they are relatives of UFC fighters (Couture, Mir). However, in all the times I have seen Tuff-N-Uff fights, I have NEVER seen a night of fights as I witnessed tonight. It was one of the most shocking and fan-oriented fight cards I have ever seen at any level.

  The main event was a battle of two Las Vegas true rising stars in Chris "Nobody Beats A Blackbelt" Holdsworth (not his real nickname, just something he said after choking out a former opponent) and Gor Mnatsakanyan. Mnatsakanyan is a really crisp striker with diverse technique who trains out of Filipino MMA in Las Vegas, and Holdsworth is a black belt in BJJ who trains out of Kobra Kai locally as well. Holdsworth has been steamrolling his competition in the amateur ranks and went into this fight defending his 135lbs. title.

  The fight was very surprising as Holdsworth dominated the stand up, then took it to the ground where he got a full mount and lowered some heavy hammerfists. After about the 3rd straight, hard punch Mnatsakanyan started to go out, and the referee jumped in to stop the fight. It was quick and VERY painful for Mnatsakanyan. The fight was officially called at 2:10 of round 1, Holdsworth retains his belt at 135. The real question now is, "Who is left for Holdsworth to fight?" It may be very close to time for him to jump to the professional level.

  In the co-main event local Vegas fan-favorite, Larry "Stinky" Mir, took on Garrett Day out of Laguna Hills, CA. Day came into this fight as an 0-1 fighter with a crowd against him, and the pressure seemed to work to his advantage. The two fought for 3 rounds like pitbulls fighting over the same bone. Big punches and punch combos were landed throughout the fight by both fighters, and both had a couple of submission attempts. Day did more work to stay in dominant positions and held out for the close, 3-round split decision.

  Kimo Yadao made his return to the Tuff-N-Uff ranks to take on Bobby Emmons from Evansville, IN. Suffice it to say, Emmons is probably having more fun at the craps table tonight than he did in the ring.

  In the first round, Yadao showed very clean, accurate boxing and with many combos had Emmons' nose gushing blood. The ringside physician paused the fight to clean the fighter's nose, and Emmons went back to work. Unfortunately, for him.

  The second round was not much different on the feet, but the big mistake made by Emmons was after getting a takedown, he stood over Yadao who gave Emmons a big upkick to the face that blasted blood across the ring. As Emmons came into Yadao's guard, he set himself up for a triangle choke that Yadao secured, and, with the bloody nose, it was hard for Emmons to get any air in the tight choke as he tapped very quickly.

  In the absolute BEST FIGHT OF THE NIGHT, John Gettle took on William Kowalski Jr. in a fight that made everyone in the ballroom gasp in horror (literally). The set up to this fight is that Gettle is a very, very aggressive fighter, and Kowalski must have known this because he stayed very composed during the waves of anger. As the first round got under way, Gettle came in to try to end the fight quickly, but, in doing so, was caught with many good combination punches. Gettle was also getting quite dominated on the ground, and, while trying to reverse a position, Gettle was deducted 1 point for attempting a leglock (illegal in amateur MMA). So, no matter if the round was a 10-9 or 10-8 round before the point deduction, it was at LEAST a 10-8 round now, and it EASILY could've been a 10-7 round. Point is, Gettle could not let the fight go to the judges.

  Kowalski went into the second round with a great game plan. Gettle's face was already busted up, and he was swinging for the fences. As Gettle through a looping right hand, Kowalski landed a punch that sent Gettle to his knee and looked to have him out for a second. Kowalski didn't jump on the down fighter, but it looked like Gettle's bell was rung pretty good. The fight got to the ground where Kowalski was winning the battle, but, with about 20 seconds left in the round, Gettle got full mount and started working a little ground-and-pound technique. At the 10-second clap, Gettle turned up the anger again, grabbing for Kowalski's right arm. Gettle set up the Kimura, and, with one second to go in the round, Gettle SNAPPED Kowalski's humerus bone ending the fight. Most fans didn't get to see what happened immediately as it came right before the bell, so most assumed it was the end of the round. However, after video replay confirmed the arm snapping, large groans of shock were heard throughout the crowd.

  Gettle won the fight, but was in pretty bad shape himself as he could barely walk back to the locker room, and probably suffered a concussion from the damage sustained during the fight. It was a great fight, and I am not sure either of these guys would ever want to see the other in the ring again.

  Other very notable fighters winning on the card were Andrew Alirez and Vince Norica (both advance to finals in the 145lbs. tournament), Charles Lee and "Irish" Jake Swinney (both from Xtreme Couture), and Colton "45" Bowler of Filipino MMA. Swinney's triangle choke victory over John Robinson was slightly controversial as he had Robinson choked out, let go, and landed about three punches before the referee could see that the fighter was unconcsious. It happened very quickly, and was not a reffing mistake. It was slightly uncool on the part of Swinney though.

  Charles Lee's armbar submission may have been the BEST SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT as he took his opponent Justin Bonner down with a Judo foot sweep, got side mount, and quickly flipped to his back while grabbing Bonner's arm and rolling over for a very fast tapout due to an armbar.

  The figths were full of exciting action, and, with roughly one promotion every month, it is very understandable why so many MMA fans love to watch Tuff-N-Uff shows.

  View full event results here.