Shogun Fights VI: The Wrap Up
In its previous five events, Maryland-based, Shogun Fights has become that State’s premier MMA promotion. Their April 14th’s event, Shogun Fights VI, did nothing but solidify that status.
In front of what appeared to be a sold out crowd at Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Arena, Shogun brought its fans a 10-fight card and plenty of Superstar special guests.
Among the celebrity spectators, who witnessed the card which featured 9 finishes out of 10 fights, were Baltimore Ravens, Torrey Smith and Cory Redding, former UFC Welterweight Champ, Matt Serra and former UFC Heavyweight, Wes Sims.
There were nine fighters making their professional debuts, which made this fight card like a box of chocolates, with the fans not knowing what they were going to get. You also might say the matchmakers, Bryan Hamper and Dave Wilson, weren’t sure what the end result would be, either. They knew they had a card stacked full of talented fighters, but couldn’t have been sure of the matchup integrity, with so many newcomers to the pro ranks. To the delight of the crowd and the Shogun Promoter, John Rallo, they both produced an event loaded with vicious knock-outs and sleep inducing chokes.
The most competitive and most exciting fight on the card pitted Umaer Haq, from Mikido MMA against Evolve Academy’s Marshall Thompson. This fight was exciting from the walkouts. Marshall Thompson, in Marlon Sandro fashion, came to the cage adorned in a gladiator helmet with a catwalk dance to the ring that was the quality of any entrance that Mike Easton has ever had. In Thompson’s corner were Strikeforce fighter, Ron Stallings and former TUF contestant Zach Davis. Haq’s entrance was less stellar, but he made up for the lack of flash with his flashiness in the cage. Both fighters waged war in round 1, trading punches and kicks in a fashion that had to have made the judge’s job very tough. Between rounds 1 and 2, Thompson regurgitated in his corner. This was due, as stated by Thompson, to his extremely difficult weight cut to 135. The tempo slowed down only slightly, however, in Round 2 as both fighters were visibly fatigued, but still bringing it to each other. Round 3 opened up with yet another toe to toe exchange which Thompson was successful in winning as he caught Haq with a punch and followed it up with several more on the ground until the fight was stopped. Both of these fighters appear to have UFC potential written all over them, so keep your eyes open for them.
The main event, Micah Terrill v. Bryan Lane, ended the night in a cloud of controversy. Round 1 saw the Crofton BJJ product, Terrill, take apart Fairfax BJJ fighter Byran Lane on the feet. Terrill’s left jab continuously connected and Terrill was very effective in his combos. Somewhere around 2 minutes into the fight, Terrill got Layne to the ground, sunk in his hooks, from the back, and was softening up Lane to try to cinch in a rear naked choke. Layne happened to turn his head a certain way during one of the punches and Terrill’s punch caught the back of Layne’s head. Veteran referee Dan Miragliotta instantly called time and separated the fighters, due to the illegal blow. A point was deducted from Terrill and the fight commenced. Apparently the short rest was all Layne needed as he was able to pin Terrill against the cage and lock up a guillotine choke which put Terrill to sleep, thus securing victory for Layne. Terrill was visibly distraught after the fight as he felt the shot was unintentional and should have been warned, prior to a point being deducted. He also stated that he disagreed with the fighters being pulled apart like they were. So, there may be an appeal coming next week. We will see.
Other notable and dominant performances were put in by Nate Grebb, Brent Hess, Dan Root and Gustavo Kiesler. Cole Presley also put in a gutty performance against very tough Vaja Iormashvili.
In all, the fans were entertained and treated to a great night of fights from a “smaller” promotion that seems to have the secret to putting posteriors in seats in tough economic times and in a geography that has not always been thought of as a MMA hotbed.
Fight Results
Josh Pearson d. Thomas Desmond, Submission-Choke, Round 1 (4:25)
J.C. Cuffee d. Jeremy Carper, Submission-Choke, Round 2 (1:33)
Nate Grebb d. Billy Miller, Submission-Strikes, Round 1 (2:39)
Brent Hess d. Steve Baker, KO, Round 1 (2:39)
Dan Root d. Jeremy Boardwine, Submission-Choke, Round 1 (2:40)
Marshall Thompson d. Umaer Haq, TKO, Round 3 (0:54)
Ryan Mackin d. David Perez, Unanimous Decision, Round 3
Cole Presley d. Vaja Iormashvili, Submission-Choke, Round 2 (2:59)
Gustavo Kiesler d. Phil Johns, Submission-Choke, Round 1 (2:17)
Bryan Lane d. Micah Terrill, Submission-Choke, Round 1 (3;21)
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Category: Exclusive, Featured, MMA, Results, Shogun Fights
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Hey guys great article!
Marshall thanks for the comment, really appreciate it. Feel free to comment anytime or even drop me and email.
@ Marshall Thompson: Thanks Marshall. Great fight! It was great meeting you, albeit briefly.
Honestly until about 2 or 3 weeks out Master Mike told me the fight would be at a catch weight of 140 lbs. He tried to negotiate but he said they wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t worried because I have the best in the game doing my cut. George Lockhart at http://www.FitnessVt.com. He made the adjustments and got my weight down ahead of time so I didn’t do anything crazy to get down. Here is video I posted last week showing everyone my weight was down.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MYblsILSS4 Lockhart is really pissed with me, right before the pee test I left to go back to the room to eat, I ate some Chipotle & potatoes, I have an issue with seeing myself really small its like the opposite of anorexia, he got onto me the fight before last when I was fighting at 45 when I was trying to stack on 30 lbs by the fight. My stomach was hurting ect. He said its going to make u slow & feel like crap, why are u trying to gain so much. So this fight I thought I was doing better by only gaining 20 lbs but it back fired on me!! & he went off on me, I was just ignorant thinking I was doing it right this time. He says I feel somethings should be common sense when u feel full stop eating, but I still ate another meal while still felt full.. Yea I know My common sense is not to common in this area.. It just all has to do with my own mental image. I gotta do better!! Be patient with me & please forgive me George. I made the night long myself! I even set my alarm at for 2 a.m the night before to wake up to get another meal in to get to the 20lbs. Here is a video that might shed some light to why I have mental issues with looking small. To add to it in the 9th grade I was 5’2″ 92lbs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPG_yW0KWJc
@ Ryan A. MacDonald:
Thanks!! Nice meeting you as well!
@ Ryan A. MacDonald:
“Layne happened to turn his head a certain way during one of the punches and Terrill’s punch caught the back of Layne’s head”
Nope. Terrill had his back and dropped (more than one) straight shots to the back of the head. Dan goes over the rules in the pre-fight meeting, and everyone knew this was illegal, hence the immediate point deduction.
Terrill has no grounds for an appeal and should spend his time working basic guillotine defenses.
@bravens. Thank you for the great insight. Unfortunately, from press row, I didn’t have any access to replays and had the video screens behind me, so I had to try and watch the live action from a distance. I will definitely go back and try to find a video of the fight and look at the offenses closely. Thanks so much for your comment.