The Midwest is Tap or Sleep Country!!!

Here's an email I received from Jerod Phillips of the Tap or Sleep fightwear company:

Friday night, 6 of our fighters competed at the True Fight Fans event in Grain Valley, Missouri. Our first fighter competing was Tony Matzke, who is our amateur heavyweight. This was Tony's second fight and he won with a knockout in the first round. His first fight he won with a 12 second knock out.

The second fight for us was Gary Tapasoa, another amateur. He fights at light heavyweight. Gary just started fighting 4 months ago and already has a title belt and a record of 7 wins with no losses. Gary won this fight in the first round after he caught a knee to the groin on 2 separate occasions. Immediately after the fight was stopped the second time for this, Gary came out swinging and dropped his opponent, pounced on him and finished the fight with an angry onslaught.

We then had our newest fighter, yet one that has been around for awhile, Mitch Harris, who had a great amateur career holding 3 belts. When Mitch made the switch to pro he had been away from training for a few months, he wasn't training like he had before and lost his first 2 fights. Mitch took a little bit of time off, hitting the gym instead of the cage and has got his game closer to where it should be. Friday night was his first fight as a Tap or Sleep fighter and he got his first win as a pro. The fight was tough and went to a decision. Mitch still needs a lot of work on his stand up as he pretty much turned this fight into a wrestling match but still got the win.

Next we had Travis Sveum, one of the two brothers from Team Tap or Sleep Midwest. Travis is an experienced fighter with not-so-good training habits. We have known Travis a long time and he has fought some of the who's who of the area and this was his first fight with our name on him. Travis dominated this fight and could have ended the fight numerous times. He dropped his opponent with about every common strike there is and kept letting him recover and stand up. Eventually Travis ended this butchering with a submission.

Our second to last fight was our most anticipated fight as Casey Smith fought Joe Stark. Casey went to school in Odessa and was on the wrestling team with Tonya, Owen, and Chris Evinger. Joe Stark also happened to wrestle at OHS and is very disliked by everyone on our team. Joe called Owen out for Owens first pro fight and Owen won in just 32 seconds. Joe has had 10 pro fights and Casey was undefeated at 3 wins no losses.Joe came out with head kick which Casey caught with his left hand and landed a hard right putting Joe on his back. Casey let Joe stand back up and immediately picked Joe up for a slam. When they hit the ground Joe worked for a scarf choke and had it in tight. This is the second fight in a row where Casey was caught in a choke and nearly passed out instead of tapping. instead Casey smile as he lift him self and Joe using the cage to loosen Joe's grip. Instantly Casey popped up swinging with Joe's head against the fence landing every punch perfect Joe started tapping the mat, giving up.

The main event was Dominic Brown, one of our fighters, in a rematch with Joe Punchon which 3 of our other fighters have already beat. Joe has lost to Bubba Bernal twice, Josh Bernal, Chris Evinger, and now Dominic twice. Dominic won in the first round with a submission.

You can see some of these fights on youtube.com if you search tap or sleep Midwest.