Competition Accessories played host to IT Fight Series 35 on Saturday night, and the event featured a host of exciting bouts, including knockouts and submissions. Of the 13 bouts, 10 ended in the first round and six lasted less than a minute.
The event also featured some back-and-forth battles, though, and a little something for the packed house of fans for the outdoor show.
The event was streamed live via CageCaster.com and the replay is still available here.
Check out a full recap of the event below:
‘Of the Night’ Awards
Fight of the Night: Chelsea Faulder vs. Roya Darvishian
Submission of the Night: Zach Cook
Knockout of the Night: Rob Longcoy
For full results from IT Fight Series 35, click here.
The ladies steal the show
IT Fight Series 35 featured a pair of female bouts, and both stole the show as the most entertaining bouts of the evening. In the amateur main event, Chelsea Faulder (4-1) overcame losing the first round to Roya Darvishian (8-5) by winning the last two rounds to retain her strawweight title.
Darvishian repeately put Faulder on her back in the fight, but it was Faulder’s punching and power that allowed her to do more damage and win the fight in the eys of the judges. The crowd was on its feet for the majority of this fight, supporting the local favorite Faulder but also cheering the great showing by Darvishian.
The professional main event also featured the ladies, as Illinois native Marciea Allen (5-2) was able to stymie hometown favorite Jan Finney (7-11) to take home a unanimous decision.
Finney was relying on counter punching through the first two rounds, but she wasn’t able to do enough as the leg kicks of Allen did the most damage. Allen repeatedly controlled the center of the cage and neither fighter shot for a takedown through the 15-minute fight. Perhaps realizing that she was clearly losing, Finney became more aggressive in the third, but despite landing a knockdown with a short jab she was unable to do enough to win the fight.
Cook creates Chaos
There was a little bit of bad blood brewing between lightweight veterans Zach Cook (2-2) and Mike Williams (2-4) leading up to their bout, but that all went out the window and nothing but respect was shown throughout the fight. What did happen was Williams shooting in for a takedown that Cook stuffed, eventually ending up on top in half guard.
“Kid Chaos” did a nice amount of damage on the ground, opening up a nasty welt under Williams’ eye with an elbow. Williams quickly made it back to his feet and looked to grab the neck of Cook, but it was Cook himself who locked in a “blackbilly choke” modified neck crank and almost immediately forced the tap.
With the win Cook has won two fights in a row after starting off his career 0-2.
The finishes
As mentioned before, there were some vicious finishes on the night, particulary in the amateur ranks. Super heavyweight Rob Longcoy (2-1) landed some clubbing blows that put hometown favorite Chris Straight (2-1) out in just 31 seconds, and that was the clear knockout of the night.
Other highlights included Xander Harwood (3-0) completely overwhelming Jason White (1-1), landing an easy takedown and reigning down blows before eventually locking in an armbar and forcing the tap in just 44 seconds.
That started a string of three straight fights that were finished in less than a minute, as Tim Halfacre (3-0) locked in a guillotine choke in just 43 seconds and Matt Matlock (2-3) earned a TKO stoppage in just 32 seconds.
Light heavyweight Scott McClain (3-0) also called for a title shot after earning a rear naked choke in just over two minutes.
IT Fight Series 36
IT Fight Series has already announced their next event, as they will continue a busy schedule with still four more events planned before the end of the year. IT Fight Series 36 takes place on September 26 at UAW Hall in Lima, Ohio. The annouced main event will pit Antonio Castillo Jr. against Steve Smith in a professional bout.