SportFight XVIII
Turning PointStory and Photos by Greg PetersonRandy Counture and Matt Lindland once again produce an incredible SportFight show at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. SportFight 18 may have been the “Turning Point” for Matt and Randy, now that MMA is one of the fastest growing sports, their showcontinues to rapidly grow a loyal fan base. As always,and true to their style, a high quality classy showwith great fights and some of the best fighters in theNorthWest. Besides going to a great show, fans can now purchase 2 separate DVDs – “A Tribute to RandyCounture” and a “Best of SportFight”. With anothershow scheduled in May, 2007 may very well be theTurning Point for SportFight.
A solid 48 seconds of furry started out the night with185 lb. Zen Bently kicking, pounding, and submittingopponent Rusty Hand by a rear naked choke. Team Quest brought out Dave Jansen to submit 155 lb. Matt Slosser for the second RNC of the night at 2:16 of round 2. Then Team Quest returned to the ring with 185 lb. Greg Thompson vs. Peter Aspenwal. These two fighters pushed the action through the entire first round, however in round 2 Thompson landed a high kick to the head that could be heard everywhere in the arena and Team Quest secured another KO victory at 2:33 of round 2. Arley George defeated Brad Horner in a 155 lb. bout that ended with an arm bar tap at 1:30 in round 2. The first 170 lb. matchup between Gabe Miranda and Joel Thomas made it to the third round with some great takedowns and striking but at 3:16 Thomas won by TKO.
The next 170lb. bout was Brandon Dudley vs. TommyTruex and was the “Turning Point” fight of the night.Round 1 featured continuous action by both fightersexchanging kicks and punches. Eventually the fightwent to the ground and Dudley was landing some serious elbows, however, Truex was doing a great job landing shots from the bottom. Both fighters were banged up pretty good in round 2 but Dudley caught Truex in an arm bar and forced him to tap out in the last second of the round. Dudley was victorious at 4:59 of round 2. Another rear naked choke ended Andy Lukesh and Brian Caraway walked away with a win at 4:30 of round 2.
The co-main event featured Team Quest’s Ian Loveland against CJ Thomas. Thomas did catch Loveland in a choke for a moment, but Loveland fought through it and landed strikes and controlled the fight until he secured another RNC at 4:30 in round 2.
Former SportFight Lightweight Champion John Gunderson retired his belt due to being signed by the IFL for Ken Shamrock’s Team. Therefore, the main event of the evening was actually a title fight for the Lightweight Belt between current SportFight Featherweight Champion Enoch Wilson and Lion’s Den fighter Travis Bush Wilson was hoping to be the first fighter to currently hold two belts in two different weight divisions. However, after three rounds of takedowns, submission attempts, knees, and all around ground and pound the judges awarded a split decision, so the belt remains unclaimed.
So with the first SportFight of 2007 a huge success,sponsors like bodogfight, and DVDs available at BestBuy and WalMart, 2007 could very well be the “TurningPoint” for promoters Randy Counture and Matt Lindland.
But don’t forget they’re fighters too and there isanother whole story on what lies ahead this year forthe both of them.
As always log on to www.sportfight.tv andwww.gregsphoto.com for information on SportFight.