Results tagged “WKU Warrior Challenge” from MMA Explosion

I talked with George McGinnis of York Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Red Lion last week and he told me a little bit about the victory by his brother, Brett Myers, at the WKU Warrior Challenge in the Poconos.

"The strategy was exactly what he executed ... get off first, set the pace of the fight," George said. "Be the first to make contact ... We had a contingency plan to get the fight to the ground."

"I felt that no matter where the fight was at ... I felt Brett was going to be just fine."

Brett launched a front kick and then a 1-2 combo that nearly knocked opponent Chris Evans out, George said.

Brett backed Evans to the cage wall and pinned him there, standing. Brett unloaded with combos against Evans until the referee stopped the action in the first round and called the fight in Brett's favor.

In two fights, Brett has shown his stand-up, but also groundfighting - he won by armbar in Virginia back in September.

His next fight is against Mike Blackwell at CPWC II.

Here's an email I received from Joe Duffey, co-owner of Academy of Combative Arts in York City:

Daniel (BJJ champion Daniel Beleza) took Jimmy Chappell up to the Poconos for the WKU Warrior Challenge for a fight. Jimmy won in the first round via armbar. Also, Daniel took a team of guys(Team Beleza is the fight name) to Scranton today (6/27) for the PA Brazillian Jiu Jitsu tournament and all of our guys placed. We had 2 in the kids division, Chaz and Jordan, both winning gold, 4 in the adults white belt division(in 3 different weight classes), Tom(gold), Jaysin(bronze), Josh(gold), Tux(silver) which equated to 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal, and 2 in blue belt division(2 different weight classes), Jimmy(gold) and Mike(Bronze) resulting in a gold and bronze medal.
I'm very proud of them so I wanted to share the news. Joe Duffey

Daniel Beleza

Talked with WKU Warrior Challenge promoter Mark Jovich last night and he had nothing but good things to say about Friday's event in the Poconos at Pocono Manor.

Mark said there were about 700 people in attendence: "Good crowd, plenty of room, not a bad seat in the house," he said. "I was really happy with the way the evetn went."

Mark gave me a few results from the York area fighters: Brett Myers from George McGinnis' York Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Red Lion won in the first round by ref stoppage. Jimmy "Shrapnel" Chappell also won in the first with a submission, follwing a short, but heated stand-up battle with his opponent. And Chad Strawbridge scored a KO early in the first round. Nice job, guys.

I'll have more infortmation as it becomes available.

Just watched Justin "Skiz" Scott vs. Jesse Finch, who fought at the WKU Warrior Challenge in the Poconos on Friday night. Scott, of York, worked an excellent ground game and scored an arm bar victory early in the first round. Scott, who is 7-0 as an amateur, trains at MACE in Red Lion.

See the video here at MMA Melee. Thanks to Joe Piazza for uploading the video.

A new MMA social networking site, MMA Melee (based in Scranton, by the way) has some of the fights from last night's WKU Warrior Challenge up. Click here to see them. And join the site while you're at it, bro!

Just talked with Jerod Phillips of Hanover-based MMA clothing company, Tap or Sleep Fightwear. He gave me some of the winners from last night's WKU Warrior Challenge in the Poconos.

First, in the main event, TOS-sponsored welterweight fighter Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman didn't get to fight. Apparently, Charlie's opponent, Marcus Ajian, failed his pre-fight physical, Jerod said.

Former York resident and Scranton native son Lou Armezzani, of LionHeart Fighters, won in a matter of seconds against York's Anthony Dick, of MACE in Red Lion.

York area fighters Duane Bastress, Jay Haas, and Justin Scott all won their fights decisively in the first round, Jerod said.

Congrats guys from MMA Explosion.

Well, it looks like the stream on USTREAM for the WKU Warrior Challenge in the Poconos is down. Here's the fight card in its entirety. I'll post results as soon as I get them.

Ben Moser v. Ray Eltringham
Justin Rios v. Brent Kroh
Adam Dull v. Ryan Heflin
Danny Signor v. Mark Cugliari
Ryan Howard v. James Chappell
Jesse Finch v. Justin Scott
Brett Evans v. Jeff Runk
Shaun Kepner v. Justin Krebs
Brett Myers v. Chris Evans
Robert Martin v. Duane Bastress
Ken Edwards v. Justin Filer
Keith Kowal v. Keith McDonald
Jonathan Weirich v. Chad Strawbridge
Richard Bogdanowicz v. Don Cioffi
Justin Haas v. Doug Sonier
Anthony Dick v. Louis Armezzani
Marcus Ajian v. Charlie Brenneman

For anyone out there - like me - trying to watch the WKU Warrior Challenge on USTREAM, looks like all the shows for some reason are set to Pacific time. So, although the show started at 7 p.m. EST., the broadcast on USTREAM doesn't start until 1845 (6:45 p.m.) PST, which would be 9:45 p.m. EST.

To access the broadcast, you have to join USTREAM, which just takes a few seconds. Here's the link to the broadcast.

Mixed martial arts has been legal in Pennsylvania for a little over two months and in that time, there have been several events, but the state has yet to see two female fighters step into the cage.

Two amateur fights booked for the WKU Warrior Challenge event on June 26, appear to be the first overall, but probably the first high-profile women's fight will be the next night, June 27, when LionHeart Fighters' Meghan "The Babe" Wright takes on Angela Magana at Ultimate Cage Fighting Challenge's Rumble on the Rivers in Pittsburgh.

Armezzani Improves to 2-0

Congrats to LionHeart Fighter Lou Armezanni who was victorious this past Friday night at the NE PA Cage Fights in his hometown of Scranton, PA. Lou increased his professional record to 2-0 with a 2nd round verbal tap out over Nick Tinko.

Lou returns to action in 2 weeks on June 26th at the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge in Pocono Manor, PA.

For tickets and details please contact:

Chad Dubin 814-280-1982 or chad@lionheartfighters.com.

Larry Novak, owner of New Cumberland-based Tattoo Fightwear, sent me the local fighters his company is sponsoring and where they'll be fighting. Look for Larry - he'll have a Tattoo Fightwear table at both of these shows.

June 26th-WKU Warrior Challenge, Poconos-
Justin Scott 5-0
Chad Strawbridge 1-1
John Andel 2-0
Duane Bastress, 1-0
Brent Kroh 1-3
Troy Jensen 0-0
Anthony Dick 0-1

July 18th-Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge-York-
Justin Scott 5-0
Chad Strawbridge 1-1
John Andel 2-0
Duane Bastress 1-0
Adam Hostetter 1-0
Brent Kroh 1-3
Troy Jensen 0-0

The WKU (World Karate Union) Warrior Challenge, scheduled for June 26 at Pocono Manor, has its headline bout. Earlier this week, I announced that Hollidaysburg, Pa.-native and welterweight fighter Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman would be there. And now, thanks to an email from Mark Jovich, we know who he's fighting: Marcus Ajian, a 4-4 fighter who lost to Mitch Whitesel at Iron Will Fighting's first show last month Charlie, a Tap or Sleep sponsored fighter, was also on the card, notching a win by rear-naked choke against Chris Thomas in the second round. (I had said the win was by tap-out, but to strikes in the first. My bad.). To have a fighter of Charlie's caliber on the event is definitely a feather in promoter Mark Jovich's cap.

The PA. State Athletic Commission has several MMA events on the docket for June. I've talked about most fo them here, like the June 11 event at The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, the WKU Warrior Challenge at Pocono Manor on June 26, and the UCFC at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh on June 27.

Well, here's another: Cage Fight 1, on June 12 at the Riverfront Sports Complex in Scranton.

Here's a blurb I found from the event's Web site:

"Northeast MMA is proud to present Cage Fight 1, NEPA's first Pro MMA Cage Fight to be held since MMA's legalization in the state of Pennsylvania. This event will take place June 12th 2009 at Riverfront Sports Complex on West Olive Street in Scranton, PA.

Be prepared as Scranton comes alive with top MMA fighting action with a Pro MMA fight card comprised of 6 fights including local Pro Boxing favorite, Marty Flynn making his debut as an MMA professional. The main event will feature Ultimate Fighter Robbie Houston (5-2) vs. Erik "Chainsaw" Charles (10-2), the former Ultimate Fighter 7 competitor, in a middleweight bout.

Chainsaw fight: