It was a great weekend of Ohio MMA action in Newark, as Ohio Combat League put on back-to-back events with a total of 30 bouts. Check out my full recap of both events below.
OCL 10
Rell Hodge has looked better in his last two fights than I can remember him ever looking. He looks so comfortable and confident in the cage, and he’s come out and submitted two solid opponents in the span of five weeks. This is all after a three-year hiatus without a fight at all.
Now at 31, it’s time to get the hype train rolling again for “ThunderKat”. His knee bar from a seated mount position in the Ohio Combat League 10 main event is something I’ve never seen before in MMA. I had a jiu-jitsu black belt and longtime MMA veteran in Luke Zachrich sitting next to me calling the action, and even he didn’t catch what Hodge was up to at first. With age comes wisdom, and Hodge is going to be a tough out for anyone with his wrestling, athleticism, and now sneaky good ground game.
A few gyms had really great nights at OCL 10, including Grove City BJJ, Revolution Fight & Fitness, and Animals MMA. I’ll break them down in reverse order.
The Animals MMA team came to Ohio from Yonkers, New York for the first time, and they came hungry and ready to compete and win. All three of their fighters – Alex De La Cruz, Ibrahim Simreen, and Tony Stewart – were aggressive, comfortable, and always looking for the finish. Sam Marji and crew have a good team and I’m excited to see them back in Ohio soon.
George Comer, Tim Stafford, and crew have Revolution Fight & Fitness as a quickly rising team from Northeast Ohio. Logan Urban moved to 4-1 as a pro with a submission over Ravon Baxter, and Alonzo Turner kicked off the night with a really well rounded decision win over Christian Bosco. Eddy Santiago also picked up an impressive win on Saturday night.
Grove City BJJ may not have dozens of fighters, but the ones they do have are absolute animals. Josiah Harrell just keeps winning, now at 2-0 as a pro with both wins via submission. He had a good back and forth fight against Carlos Garnett Jr., until Garnett made a mistake in the second, and Harrell capitalized with a big takedown, took his back, and locked in the rear naked choke with just seconds remaining in the round. Great way to fight to the bell and get the big win. Logun Gilbreath has hands, and will be a problem for anyone at heavyweight. At just 2-0 coming in, he faced 11-fight veteran Cody Kelley and looked like he’d been in the cage dozens of times. Three wins via strikes for “ShowTime.”
And Jaden Mattox. He’s an absolute stud. There was a lot of hype surrounding him coming in, as a two-time high school state champion and one of the best wrestlers this wrestler-heavy state has seen in a long time. And he proved the sky is the limit for him. After showing off his wrestling against a game former collegiate wrestler in Bobby Kelley, Mattox opened up his striking in the third, landing a big overhand right to get the knockout. It was a thing of beauty. A huge congrats to Dave Freetage, CJ Minton, and Co. in Grove City.
Wrestlers, wrestlers, wrestlers. It seemed like every time I turned around, there was another collegiate wrestler, or state champion, or just a guy with an impressive wrestling resume on the card on Friday. Of course guys like Mattox, but Alex De La Cruz was a junior college national champion, Jordan Burkholder wrestled in college and was a high level grappler, Ibrahim Simreen was a standout in high school, Alonzo Turner and Christian Bosco both were Division II guys, and even Geoff Magin and Ben Schweiger. Magin looked just as good in his second fight as his first. He was sixth in Pennsylvania last year, and he’s started MMA with a couple of impressive wins. His striking is really what’s been impressive so far though. He kept his wrestling in his back pocket against a former Division III All-American in Schweiger. He’s just 20 and he looks special.
OCL 11
Ohio Combat League 11 was an event with such a different feel. After a night of standout wrestlers on Friday, it was time to showcase the strikers on Saturday. Eight of the fifteen bouts ended via strikes, including three clean knockouts on the amateur portion of the card. Victor Zamlen, Ronald Casteneda, and Nick Durst all got the crowd to their feet with knockout wins.
Sixteen of the thirty fighters were making the amateur debut, and you never know what to expect in a fighter’s first fight. But so many of the fighters showed that the future is bright for the sport in Ohio and surrounding areas.
While debut fighters littered the card, it was also great to see some amateurs with more experience put on great fights. Ronin’s Kobe Woodall moved to 3-0 with a TKO, Stout Training Center’s Josh Visokey won his second bout in a row to move to 3-1 in an entertaining affair with Mark Acosta, and Marcus Crawford returned from a two-year hiatus to win his fifth amateur bout against yet another high level opponent in 13-fight veteran Latavious Harris. A crazy stat is that Crawford’s four losses were to fighters with a combined 20-1 record, including three straight losses to undefeated fighters. He showed off some great striking to go along with his brown belt. He might be ready for a jump to the pro ranks after thoroughly testing himself as an amateur.
Chris Porter won the featherweight title with a complete performance against a game opponent in Pierre Ba. Porter is just 24 but he has all the tools to be successful in the sport for a long time. He pulled guard in the third round after showing off his striking for the first two rounds, and he got my commentary partner Devonte Smith to coo over his slick arm bar win.
In the pro ranks, Davis Oracio Jr. spoiled the return of Dave Lastafka after six years with a TKO win in under a minute. Neither one of these fighters ever leave it in the hands of the judges, so it was no surprise that this one ended early.
I’m not sure what there is left for Travis Davis to prove on the regional scene. He’s won ten bouts over a varied type of opponents, including seven of those wins via submission. He faced a much bigger opponent in Ryan Parker, who had won four of his last five fights via first round stoppage. Davis locked in the arm triangle in the second round and got Parker to tap. Parker appeared to either dislocate or break his toe prior to the submission win from Davis, as he immediately grabbed it after tapping.
Awards:
OCL 10
Fight of the Night: Alex De La Cruz vs. Mason Deless
Submission of the Night: Jerrell Hodge
Knockout of the Night: Jaden Mattox
Performance of the Night: The entire Animals MMA team
OCL 11
Fight of the Night: Marcus Crawford vs. Latavious Harris
Submission of the Night: Chris Porter
Knockout of the Night: Ronald Castaneda
Performance of the Night: Nick Durst/Victor Zamlen