Rage in the Cage III: Part 2

Tuesday, August 17th was to be a fantastic night of fights, with many VIPs from the automotive dealer world. Unfortunately of the 10 fights scheduled, only 5 fights occurred, most ending quickly. As such, the athletes gave it their all & the place was packed.

I'm confident the next FSF event will not be plagued by the many anomalies that wreaked such havoc on that fateful Tuesday night. On a lighter note, I heard the after party at Liquid was a rip-roaring good time!

As always, a few images from the event, can be found in the gallery (link to the left).

8/17/10: Rage in the Cage III

That's right, a mid-week MMA event at the Boise Knitting Factory put on by First Strike Fights! And while the card is being kept fairly quiet, I am confident it will be a very night of fireworks, MMA style! You'll be able to see fighters Talon Hoffman, Sarah Marang and more.

Tickets start at only $19, and there's not a bad seat in the house. Besides, what else are you going to do on a Tuesday night? So head downtown to the Knitting Factory Tuesday night and support local fighters, local gyms, local business, and local MMA! You'll be glad you did.

As always, look for fight photos in my gallery (link to the left) after the event. I'm sure you will enjoy. See YOU at the fights!

XFS 53 Grudge Match 8/6/10

HOLY S%@T! That was my reaction last Friday night... and that was just after the first fight! Josh Wick, a 15 year old from Kuna was the first victor of the night in what was surely "Fight of the Night", winning by referee stoppage in the 3rd. Other victors of the night included Marcos Titano, Pablo Ayala, AJ Paulsen, David Manery, Ryan Carpenter, Erin Quinn, John Medbery, Salvador Ramirez, Sara Thomas, Ronny RHodes, and last but certainly not least, Jeremy "Yabo" Yablonski. Congratulations to all the fine competitors!

While some of the fights went exactly as expected, there were several upsets as well, and many fighters making their debuts attained victory. The skill some of these previously untested fighters was incredible, and I believe we only caught a glimpse of what the future of local MMA holds at XFS 53.

Fans were left with a few questions though... what happened to the extravagant title belts of yore (new ones were a bit, eh hem, "light")? Why didn't David Herrera and Jeffery Jalon fight (they were on the card)? And what's with Aric Iverson? This is, I believe, the third event in a row where he was scheduled to defend his title, and the third in a row that he didn't (I heard a locally well-known long-time amateur came knocking, and Aric said no to the fight, but that is merely hearsay). Whatever the case, let's get the belt back up for grabs!

And now, what you've all been waiting for... pics! Click on the "Gallery" link to the left and visit a sampling of my fight photos... I think you will enjoy them!

Are You Ready...

This Friday, August 6th, at Qwest Arena in Downtown Boise, is the latest MMA offering from Knockout Promotions... Grudge Match! Tickets start at $12, and the doors open at 6pm. If you've never been to the fights, this is a great first time event. And those of you that are "seasoned vets" of fight fandom, you will be in for yet another MMA treat with this great promotion!

As always, local gyms will be well represented, including I believe 5 fighters from Team Hardcore, of course Yabo and Throwdown will be well represented, and I know at least one lady (Erin Quinn) that will be making her debut out of Combat Fitness.

With several belts on the line, and some heavy hitters coming to play, Friday night promises to be the biggest MMA event in the Treasure Valley yet this year! It is a fight night you don't want to miss!

And most importantly, be sure to check back here for an overview of the night, as well as some of the best damn MMA photos you'll find anywhere, all here at BeauStilesCreative.com!

Rumble at the Races!

Last Saturday I made a mad dash to Kennewick, WA to shoot the UFO Rumble at the Races event. After a 5 hour drive, I arrived to find out there were some "technical difficulties", but all would pan out just fine thanks to some favors being called in (for a last minute light & sound system from Idaho Falls, a last minute cage from Seattle, in addition to all the locals who came through last minute for various other forms of assistance). The fight card had been reduced, which is fairly common last minute, leaving a few fighters without opponents (like Kristin "Barbie" Molina who ended up being a commentator). "Big" John McCarthy didn't make it, and as far as I know Jens Pulver didn't commentate from a secret location either.

What did happen however, was 16 fighters got in the cage for 8 matches and gave the small crowd everything they had. There were knockouts, submissions, and disqualifications on this night, with what I believe to be the best performance of the night coming from the Treasure Valley's own Casey Johnson who fights out of Driven TC. His strikes were crisp and accurate, with practically laser-guided precision, and he decimated his opponent. Jeremy Horn, who fought in the main event, was caught early with a slick punch from Warren, but recovered as he hit the mat, and went on to put on a clinic of how to strip the desire to continue from someone on the ground. Yes, Mr. Warren retired in the ring immediately following this fight. There is a reason Jeremy has over 80 wins, and only a handful of losses... he is a BEAST!

All in all, it was a great experience, with some solid action and some new friends despite all the hiccups and meager crowd. The venue was great, and I hope the Tri-Cities try to put on more MMA events. And without further adieu, be sure to click on the gallery link at the left side of this page to see images from Rumble at the Races!