Recently in Virginia MMA Category

Ricardo Lamas vs. James Krause

Here's a blurb from MMAMelee on Virginia native James Krause, who fights tonight at WEC 44:
MMA Melee sat down with an incredible talent James Krause to congratulate him on his success and see what's next for this rising WEC star.

James born New Port News, VA is fighting out of Team Grindhouse MMA in Lees Summitt, MO. Krause is a highly experienced mixed martial artist with an intimidating 30 fights under his belt, 28 victories 90% of them coming by way of submission. Before professional bouts were sanctioned in Missouri, he collected a near perfect amatuer record of 18-1, sometimes fighting twice a night! As a professional he carries an un-believable 10-1 record, his only loss was against top contender Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Next he will step into the cage against All-American wrestler Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas on a stacked WEC 44 card November 18th, so we asked him a little about his world class stardom.

Click here to read the interview.

Holy crap! Even the outside of the Patriot Center is an Octagon.

By B.J. Koubaroulis, Washington Post:
Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White confirmed Tuesday that he plans to make the Washington D.C. market a new destination for his growing martial arts business.

White said that lightweights Nate Diaz (11-4) and Gray Maynard (8-0) will square off Jan. 11 at Patriot Center in Fairfax in the main event of Ultimate Fight Night 20, one in a series of cards that have been televised by Spike TV.

White said that he expects the show's attendance numbers to confirm his belief that the Washington area is a fertile place to bring bigger shows such as Saturday's UFC 104, a pay-per-view event that will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. UFC 104 features a main event between current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Oct 15, 2009 at 2:50 pm ET
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is expected to make its Virginia debut in January.

Sources close to the event have told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) UFC Fight Night 20, which would air on Spike TV, is currently slotted for Monday, Jan. 11.

However, the UFC has made no formal announcement, and a representative from Virginia's Professional Boxing, Martial Arts and Wrestling Program said no date is official.

By Kelly Crigger, mmajunkie.com
Who doesn't like like Whack-a-Mole?

How can you not find entertainment in taking a plastic hammer and pummeling annoying little rodents who dare mock you by sticking their head up out of dingy little holes?

There's one guy in MMA whose name rhymes with "Smyte" who loves that game, only he does it with fledgling promotions that pose a smattering of competition to his Ultimate Fighting Championship. And like our 26th President, he carries a big stick.

So why take the risk of sticking your head up when it's liable to find a Billy club pounding it into the unemployment line, especially at a time when Affliction's carcass isn't even cold?

For the moment the UFC's radar has one giant blob on it: Strikeforce. But just below Scott Coker's show are three or four regional MMA promotions that are getting stronger with each show. (With a national broadcast deal but only one season under its belt, Bellator is somewhere in between.)

Xtreme Fighting Championships based in Florida, Palace Fighting Championships in California, and the Ultimate Warrior Challenge out of Washington D.C. all have something in common besides the "fighting" and "warrior" tags - they all want to dominate their local markets before looking to place their product on a national, pay-per-view stage where the man with the big hammer is eagerly waiting.

Casey Bush - whose video is featured to the right in the video player---> won his amateur debut at Barbarian Fight Club - Dire Conflict over the weekend in Virginia. Bush's coach at Hanover Academy of MMA, Bob Bitner, had this to say about the victory:

"He went in for the take-down, his first take-down, he ended up getting popped. But he re-grouped and scored a take-down on his second attempt."

On the ground, Bush tried a few submissions, but his opponent, Joey Elmore, fought them off, Bitner said.

"In the long run, Casey just proved to be a little too strong," Bitner said. "He ended up getting the mount and after that, it was just ground-n-pound, ref stoppage, TKO. For his first fight, he did real good. He learned a good lesson here on that first shot. He went in there with a little bit of that wrestler mindset and kind of got reminded real quick they're throwing punches here."

"Overall, I was pleased with the performance. He was thorough with what he did, he was careful woth what he did, once he re-grouped and got that second shot in."

Here are the results for Barbarian Fight Club's Dire Conflict this past weekend in Va. We had a number of Pa boys on the card. Casey Bush, who fights out of Hanover Academy of MMA, won his amateur debut. In addition, Blackman MMA of Harrisburg had a great showing, with wins by Bill Bookwalter and Darrell Horcher. Nate Van Tassel was off the card, for unknown reasons. And George Glykas, of LVIRK (Team Hammer) in Catasauqua, Pa., also won.

MMA Bout, 185 lbs.
Bill Bookwalter vs Breon Rucker
TKO, Referee Stoppage (Strikes)
Round 1, 1:12

MMA Bout, 135 lbs.
Saige Thomas vs Billy Barrington
Submission, Guillotine Choke
Round 1, 0:38

MMA Bout, 170 lbs.
Winston Tesi vs George Glykas
Submission, Guillotine Choke
Round 1, 0:40

MMA Bout, 155 lbs.
Darrell Horcher vs Jeff Mount
TKO, Referee Stoppage (Strikes)
Round 3, 2:10

Three fighters from Blackman MMA in Harrisburg are on the Dire Conflict card at Barbarian Fight Club in Ruther Glen, Va. on Saturday:

Middleweight Bill Bookwalter takes on Breon Rucker

Welterweight Nate Van Tassel takes on Eddie Abney.

Lightweight Darrell Horcher takes on Jeff Mount.

I've already mentioned Hanover Academy of MMA's Casey Bush making his amateur debut at the event. In addition, George Glykas, a welterwieght from LVIRK (Team Hammer) in Catasauqua, Pa. is fighting Brian Reidinger:

Just heard from Jerod Phillips of mma fightwear company Tap or Sleep. He was in Manassas, Va. to see Hanover Academy of MMA fighter Eric Moore make his amateur debut at Legend Cage Fighting.

Get this - Moore won by unanimous decision, and not only that, but the fight was the main event, a lightweight title fight, and received fight of the night honors. Not bad at all for a first fight.

"It didn't look like his first fight," Phillips said, calling Moore's game a "dominating performance."

Casey Bush

Joey "The Kid" Elmore

On Saturday, Sept. 19, local fighter Casey Bush will make his amateur debut - at 145 pounds - at Barbarian Fight Club's Dire Conflict event, to be held at the Virginia Sports Complex in Ruther Glen.

Casey's got a great amateur wrestling background, and has been training at Hanover Academy of MMA, where is part of the team, but also has trained at George McGinnis' York Academy of Mixed Martial Arts in Red Lion in the past.

Casey is 27, stands 5'7" and Casey's opponent, Joey "The Kid" Elmore, is 25, stands at six feet, lists boxing, grappling and submission as his styles and has a 1-2 record. He is from Great Mills, Md., and says he is an independent fighter, i.e., no school/team affiliation.

Stay tuned here to find out how Casey did.

Talked to Jerod Phillips with Hanover-based MMA clothing company Tap or Sleep. His latest sponsored fighter, Eric Moore, a relatively new student at Hanover Academy of MMA, will be making his amateur debut tomorrow night at Legend Cage Fighting in Manassas, Va.

Jerod said Moore, who is fighting at 155, started training at Hanover in January. "he picked up a lot since then," Jerod said. "He's got a lot of talent."

Moore, who is 5'10", is facing the 5'11" Cody Baker, who is also making his amateur debut, according to mixedmartialarts.com

When I was checking out the Onslaught Fights Web site for the Hanover guys, I noticed that newly-signed LionHeart Fighters fighter J.C. Cuffee was also on the card. Cuffee, who goes by the nickname "Concrete," is 1-0 as a welterweight pro and is fighting Nate Grebb, who is 1-1 and fights out of Maryland BJJ Academy.

J.C.

Continuing Bob Bitner's entry on facebook: Then Jay Haas fights in Philadelphia, Aug 21 at Arena Assault:

Forgot to mention that Hanover's Chrissy Adler is also fighting for the interim heavyweight title at Operation Octagon on 8/15:

Bob Bitner, head trainer at Hanover, recently wrote on Team Tap or Sleep's wall on facebook.

First thing he announced was that tonight, Ryan Harder fights at Onslaught Fights in Winchester Virginia.

Harder is in the main event, defending his 135-pound title, at Operation Octagon in Manassas Virginia on Aug 15:

Just received this message from Steve Blackman, who has an MMA academy in the Harrisburg area:
We had a great night in VA this weekend at Barbarian Fight Club Field of Glory Show - 5 fighters on the card and 5 wins.

Plus Chris Young Won the 170 Barbarian Title Fight - What a battle - it is the type of fight that the fans want to see - Joe Yates from the Kennel Club is one tough fighter.

Recairdo Magrum, Darrell Horcher, Nick Gentile, and Mike Diggs where the other Blackman fighters. See www.blackmanmma.com/results.html for pics. This was Nick's LAST amateur fight - He has his debut Pro fight in Hamburg, PA on Friday Aug 28. www.blackmanmma.com/news.html for more info.

Steve Blackman, far right, with his crew at the June 20 Barbarian Fight Club event.

Steve "The Lethal Weapon" Blackman, a former WWF wrestler - who often partnered with Ken Shamrock - has had great success with his MMA team, located in Harrisburg. By the way, A recent message sent to me said, "Jeff Smith just won a 145 title bout at Barbarian Fight Club's Stompin' Grounds along with 4 other wins and one decision loss. check it out at www.blackmanmma.com/results - this is our third amateur belt title this year!

Heard from Jerod Phillips of Tap or Sleep fightwear, who told me that Jay Haas, featherweight fighter out of Hanover Academy of MMA, took a fight on short notice this weekend.

The fight's going to be at CageFest in Richmond, Va., for its "Up Rise" event at the Showplace Exhibition Center, 3000 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond, VA.

Jay is on his way to earning the nickname "Iron Man", with fights scheduled at the WKU Warrior Challenge on June 26 and the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge II at Wisehaven in York Township on July 18.

Good luck, Jay, from all of us at MMA Explosion!

Here's the event poster for Stompin' Grounds:

York County prospective fighter Casey Bush, whose training video is on the player on the right of this blog, received word recently that he'll be fighting on an upcoming Barbarian Fight Club event in Virginia.

"I'm not really nervous," Casey told me Saturday night. "I just think I'm ready ... I'm just ready to do it."

Casey trains at York Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Red Lion and also with Biff Walizer when he trains the Red Lion varsity wrestling team.

Casey said he looked to fighting under Virginia's amateur rules, which are nearly identical to the unifed rules of MMA for pros.

York County-based MMA clothing company Tap or Sleep - which has spread to Tap or Sleep Midwest - has several fighters doing their thing tonight.

First, there's TOS fighter Mitch "The Iron Lion" Harris taking on former Olympic wrestler Ben Askren at Headhunter Productions: Patriot Act II tonight at the Holiday Inn Expo Center in Columbia, Missourt. To see the fight live and free, tune in to purefight.org.

Lou Armezzani - fresh from a win, and is that that fresh blood on his gloves?

York went 2-1 at the recent Onslaught Mixed Martial Arts Cage Fighting event in Virginia. Jerod Phillips, of Tap or Sleep fightwear, was there to support the guys: Lou Armezzani, who at one time lived in York, and now trains at LionHeart Fighters in State College, and Steve Kaufman and Nate Vantassel of Hanover Academy of Mixed Martial Arts.

The boys from Hanover, including Steve, Zach, Nate, Jay and Ryan.

Steve gets his hands wrapped by Hanover head trainer Bob Bitner.

I just spoke with Jerod Phillips of York-based Tap or Sleep fightwear. He's down at the Sportsplex in Winchester, Virginia, supporting some local guys fighting on the Onslaught Mixed Martial Arts Cage Fighting card, titled "Unleashed."

Jerod said Hanover Academy of Mixed Martial Arts' Nate Vantassel won in the second round of his welterweight fight against Shawn Hill with a knee to the face. Nice work, Nate.

Still to come on the card are two middleweight fights: Hanover's Steve Kauffman takes on Aaron Carter and LionHeart Fighter's Lou Armezzani faces Nick Robinson. I'll have details on those ifghts hopefully later on tonight. Steve and Lou - best of luck to you guys.

Jay Haas, a Hanover Academy of MMA fighter, won the featherweight title at Operation Octagon this past weekend.

Jay, who is sponsored by York-based MMA clothing company, Tap or Sleep fightwear, won the 3-round battle by split decision, 2-1.

Here's some photos sent to me by Bob Bitner, head trainer at Hanover Academy of MMA:

Jerod Phillips, Bob Bitner, Jay Haas, and Zach Bitner.

Jay with the new gold.

And some from Jerod Phillips, owner of Tap or Sleep:

Jay pre-fight psych-up.

Bob Bitner, Jay and Zach Bitner after the fight.

Time to relax and drink it in.

York County fighter Jay Haas, who is sponsored by Tap or Sleep and trains at Hanover Aacdemy of Mixed Martial Arts is fighting for the Operation Octagon 145-pound title this weekend. Haas fought last month and won in the first round. Good luck, Jay, from MMA Explosion!

If you're a pro in Pennsylvania, the Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) is looking to put you on their upcoming event, Man "O" War, coming to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 21. The show will feature some outstanding participants including Mike "The Hulk" Easton vs. former WEC champion Chase Beebe in the co-main event. It's only a short drive - less than two hours - from York to Fairfax. For more information, check out their Web site at uwcmma.com