Brylan Van Artsdalen wonders why opponents try to take him down — most of the time, they get submitted when they do. But when you think about it, the 145-lb. XFE Cage Wars champ doesn’t leave them much of a choice, because his stand-up is just as dangerous.
Van Artsdalen, who trains at Daddis Fight Camps, squared off against former WEC competitor Anthony Leone on Friday in New Jersey. It was Van Artsdalen’s first title defense after winning the belt several months ago.
According to Van Artsdalen, Leone had been talking before the fight about wanting to stand with him. That changed shortly after the bell rang, Van Artsdalen said.
“I hit him with a stiff jab,” Van Artsdalen. “I rocked him.”
That jab most likely caused Leone to shoot in for a low single-leg takedown, he said. Van Artsdalen immediately wrapped up a tight guillotine and then pulled guard. Leone eventually slipped out of the guillotine, but that just brought a barrage of submission attempts from Van Artsdalen: omoplata, arm bar, omoplata, triangle.
Van Artsdalem threw an elbow from the bottom, Leone threw one from the top, then Van Artsdalen forced a scramble and got to his feet, he said. At that point, Leone dove over Van Artsadalen — kind of like a sunset flip in pro wrestling — to take Van Artsdalen’s back and go for a rear-naked choke.
Van Artsdalen defended against the choke, turned into Leone and pulled another guillotine and cinched it tight.
“At that point, he just went limp,” Van Artsdalen said. He said he turned to ref Keith Peterson and said, “This dude’s out.”
Letting Leone go, Van Artsdalen celebrated in the cage, as fans erupted inside the House of Blues in Atlantic City.
“I love my fans, man,” he said.
The next day, Van Artsdalen was on his way to Virginia — he’s a sergeant in the U.S. Army National Guard and it was his weekend to serve. Now that’s hardcore.
