Extreme Challenge

You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor matching the category Extreme Challenge.

This Is Why You Shouldn’t Fight Twice In One Weekend


(Mike Ciesnolevicz covers his nipples for the sake of decency.)

All the talk about Drew Fickett’s MFC/Strikeforce debacle raises the issue of whether fighters should be free to take bouts that are close together but in different organizations. Of course, breach of contract is a separate issue, but Mike Ciesnolevicz recently tested his durability by fighting twice in one weekend, in two different weight classes and in two different states.

Initially, that sounds impressive. Ciesnolevicz must be a very tough bastard or a very poor bastard to agree to that. First he beat Andrew Force in Decatur, Ill. in the Courage Fighting Championship on Friday night, then went up to heavyweight to beat Matt Anderson in Extreme Challenge 100 in Iowa on Saturday.

But check out what Ciesnolevicz had to say about his strategy after Friday night:

“I was trying to throw no punches, because I didn’t want to hurt my hands for (Saturday’s fight). (Saturday) I can go all out.”

Now, I don’t want to pick on Ciesnolevicz for doing something that few fighters would even attempt, but maybe he’s unwittingly hit upon the reason people don’t normally fight twice in two days. By saying he was saving himself for Saturday, when he could go all out, he’s essentially saying that the people who paid to see him fight on Friday got less than their money’s worth.

It’s not so much that you can’t have an exciting fight if one guy is trying not to throw punches. Ciesnolevicz won by submission, so he must have known what he was doing. It’s just that when fans pay for a ticket they expect to see each fighter giving it everything he’s got. Whether they’re skilled or not, that’s the baseline requirement that fans typically show up with.

If Ciesnolevicz was trying to “fight safe” as he put it, that means he wasn’t giving the fans what they had paid for. It’s not that this is necessarily wrong, it’s just not a good idea.

It illustrates one of the many reasons why fighters don’t usually attempt this and why promoters try to keep them from even thinking about it. There are just so many things that can go wrong, and even when it goes right it’s not a recipe for a great show.

Written by admin on July 1st, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on fight and MFC and Mike Ciesnolevicz and General and Strikeforce and Drew Fickett and Extreme Challenge and MMA.

Extreme Challenge 85: Tuchscherer new EC Heavyweight Champ

What: Extreme Challenge 85
When: Oct. 6, ‘07
Where: Bismarck, ND; Bismarck Civic Center

Below are the quick results of EC 85, the latest event from the Extreme Challenge promotion:

Check out more Extreme Challenge content on 5 Oz. of Pain.

Thanks to MMA Fighting for the heads up.

Written by admin on October 8th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Extreme Challenge and MMA.

EliteXC heavyweight Jon Murphy to fight Wade Hamilton on Oct. 6

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that EliteXC heavyweight fighter Jon Murphy will be defending his Combat in the Cage Heavyweight Title vs. Wade Hamilton on Oct. 6 in Trenton, NJ at the Sovereign Bank Arena.

The promoter of Combat in the Cage is Ed Hsu, who is also the promoter of record for a lot of Monte Cox’s Extreme Challenge shows that take place in the Northeast.

In addition to Murphy vs. Hamilton, the card is stocked with a lot of up and coming fighters that you’ll be seeing on the big shows in the future. You can check out the full card on the promotion’s web site (CombatInTheCage.com) but some of the matches I’m looking forward to include:

- Dominic Tafuri vs. Mark Getto (that one is too close to call and will be a war)

-  Aaron Miesner vs. Travis Roesler in a battle between Philly MFS/Daddis FC and Fight Factory schools (where Eddie Alvarez trains). Miesner is a lethal Muay Thai striker who is undefeated since converting to MMA and is definitely a guy who I can easily see fighting for a big promotion very soon.

- John Doyle vs. Tim Carpenter. When Doyle is in shape, the dude is no joke.

- Matt Makowski vs. Colin O’Rouke. I don’t know much about O’Rouke but I know Matt from when I trained at Philly MFS/Daddis FC. My wife still trains there and they are on the Muay Thai team together. Matt’s another kid that I think will be on the big shows sooner rather than later. He’s an exciting fighter with tremendous striking skills and a good sprawl. I remember sparring with him briefly over a year ago and he pretty much clowned me. He can work angles out of his stance like a pro boxer. He also usually does some cool entrances. I’m hoping he has something fun planned for this show. I think he might be my son’s favorite fighter after he did one entrance where all of his corner guys came out wearing clone trooper masks from Star Wars and he was sporting a Darth Vader mask. He also had some remix from “March of the Empire” as his intro music. It was very Jason Miller-esque. I think more fighters need to do that type of stuff because it really gets them noticed.

- Lester Caslow vs. Alejandro Nerreu. I saw Caslow at an Extreme Challenge show a few months back and was really impressed. I think he’s fighting at 150 lbs. but if he could cut to 145 lbs. he’d be another guy that I think will be fighting on the big shows.

- Wilson Reis vs. Diego Jimenez. Ries is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and his ground skills are just sick. He trains at both Philly MFS/Daddis FC and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United (where I occasionally train now). If he tightens up his striking, he’s the type of guy who could easily be fighting in the WEC. He reminds me a bit of Rani Yahya, although his BJJ might be even better (yeah, he’s that damn good).

- I also read on a Underground forum post that Mike Groves might be making his pro debut on the card. He trains at the Fight Factory but used to train at Philly MFS/Daddis FC. I sparred against him a few times last summer. He probably doesn’t remember it but I do because he kicked my ass. He’s a relentless fighter who is constantly trying to finish a guy. Yet another guy who has the potential to be fighting on a big show or maybe a ShoXC card.

I’ll be at the show and if you’re in the Philly, Jersey, or New York area, then I really recommend you check it out. If you’re going, let me know.

Written by admin on September 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Aaron Miesner and Jon Murphy and Extreme Challenge and MMA.

Jon Murphy to defend heavyweight title on Oct. 6

EliteXC heavyweight fighter Jon Murphy’s next fight will be for the Extreme Challenge promotion on October 6 in Trenton, NJ at the Soverveign Bank Arena (the same venue BodogFIGHT ran a show at earlier in the summer). Murphy will be defending his Extreme Challenge Northeast heavyweight title on the card.

We’ll have more details about the card as they become available.

Written by admin on August 31st, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Jon Murphy and Extreme Challenge and MMA.

Extreme Challenge 81 news and notes

Here are the quick results from Extreme Challenge 81 at the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, NJ. Notes at the bottom…

  1. Wilson Reis made his pro MMA debut and defeated Baba Shigamashu via unanimous decision in a 145 lbs. bout.
  2. Lester Caslow recorded a TKO victory at 3:36 of round two over Mike Murray in a match contested at 150 lbs.
  3. Charlie Brenneman recorded a unanimous decision victory over Marcello Olivera in a 170 lbs. match.
  4. Chris Volo submitted Anderson DeCastro at 1:05 of round one in a heavyweight clash.
  5. Matt Makowski scored a TKO victory in his pro MMA debut over Julio Cruz at 1:10 of round two in a 170 lbs. match.
  6. Carlos Moreno recorded a TKO over Marcos DeSilva at 0:36 of round one in a battle of heavyweights.
  7. Mark Geto won the Extreme Challenge Northeast Lightweight Title after submitting Joe Camacho in round one with a rear naked choke.
  8. Dominic Tafuri submitted Ryan McCarthy with a rear naked choke at 3:27 of round one in a lightweight matchup.
  9. In the main event, Tim Boetsch won the Extreme Challenge Northeast Light Heavyweight Title when he submitted Brendan Barrett with a guillotine choke at 3:00 of round two.

Notes:

  • This show was probably produced for half the cost of Bodog Fight two weeks ago (possibly less) and offered twice the action. A lot of aggressive fighters were booked for the card and a lot of them really pushed the action. There was a strong turnout from a crowd that I would estimate was primarily comprised of friends, family, and training partners of the fighters. I heard one boo and his buddy told him to stop and instead yell “Stand them up.” By and large, a much more well-behaved crowd in a city that wasn’t too far from Trenton. The pacing of the show was also top notch. It was a nine match card that started at 8:30 p.m. ET and was over by 11:30 p.m. ET. In comparison, Bodog had ten fights and started at 7:30 p.m. and didn’t end until 1:30 a.m.
  • My “Fight of the Night” honors goes to Lester Caslow vs. Mike Murray bout. The first round was really back and forth and tough to call. It had a nice pace to it with good technique. Caslow took over in the second round and the ref stopped the fight. Murray fought hard and had blood coming out from beneath his eye.
  • My “Submission of the Night” would go to Mark Geto, who won the Extreme Challenge Northeast Lightweight Title.
  • “Knockout of the Night” goes to the debuting Matt Makowski. Makowski was up against Julio Cruz, who I was told is a black belt in BJJ and trains out of Renzo Gracie’s school in New York. Matt systematically took Cruz a part with lower leg kicks early in the bout. Cruz realized he couldn’t stand with him and made several attempts to get the fight on the ground but Makowski’s takedown defense was impeccable. Cruz got tired, dropped his hands a bit and Makowski then started mixing in high kicks and then knees. He let his hands go in round two and really broke Cruz’s spirit. Matt smelled blood and caught Cruz who backed into the cage. He went in for the kill and just started unloading. Cruz turtled up in a standing position and barely was covering himself and making no attempt whatsoever to answer back. The official jumped in and called the match. Just a very impressive performance and Matt made it obvious that he’s got a big future ahead of him in pro MMA. Matt trains out of the Daddis/MFS Affiliate (full disclosure: I used to train there) in Philly and was undefeated as an amateur and held several regional titles.
  • Wilson Reis, who also trains at Daddis/MFS and with BJJ United put on a ground clinic vs. Shigamashu in his debut. Reis, who holds a black belt in BJJ and is one of the best grapplers in the Northeast, immediately shot in for the takedown. He hit his shot and that set the tone for the rest of the bout. Not a lot of striking in the bout but there were multiple submission attempts. Shigamashu had no answer for Reis’ takedowns but was able to reverse position several times on the ground. He threw some decent strikes but the match was still pretty much all Reis. He’s a name to keep your eye on at 145 lbs.
  • UFC lightweight fighter Frank Edgar was in the crowd and introduced to the audience. He trains with the Rhino Fight Team in New Jersey. Rhino had a couple of fighters from their school fighting on the card.
  • I was also impressed by Geto and Joe Camacho. I was especially impressed by Camacho, even though he came out a little aggressive and got caught in a choke. He was very aggressive and quick and was really pushing the action early on. At one point he caught Geto with a knee and the ref stopped the fight. I thought it was over but the ref then called time and spoke with each fighter and then restarted the bout. My guess is that Camacho delivered an illegal knee. The only thing I think could be possible was that maybe Geto was in a down position? I’m not sure as no official explanation was offered. The refs need hand signals at these events like at a football game. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Camacho fight again as I think he has a lot of potential.
  • Dominic Tafuri looked real good in his win as well.
  • Charlie Brenneman was announced as the winner of the first season of Joes vs. Pros show on Spike TV.
  • This is the same Extreme Challenge that is affiliated with Monte Cox. Ed Hsu was the promoter of record. He also holds many amateur shows under the Combat in the Cage title. Check out CombatInTheCage.com for more info.

Written by admin on July 29th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Extreme Challenge and Extreme Challenge 81 and Combat in the Cage and MMA.