Spartan Fighting Championship 8 - The Recap

Eastern Kentucky was awakened to the MMA scene Saturday night in a big way when Terry Callihan and Spartan Fighting Championship hosted SFC -8 Onslaught. The town of Ashland is part of a tri-state border with Ohio and West Virginia. All three states and other were well represented when this fight card kicked off. Spartan Fighting Championship opened up and gave us full access during the event. Team Bluegrass member Dave Stevens was cageside for all the action and Bluegrass MMA photographer Brian Buelterman was all over the place trying to get pictures of the non stop action. 

The fight card speaks for itself. Callihan matched up some great local talent with great fighters from across the eastern part of the United States. The main attraction of course was local professional fighter and Spartan veteran Jason Butcher. The real draw for us however, was the amount of title fights that were on display. Spartan is filling its roster with top notch fighters and great executioners of MMA. Eric Jarvis is an up and coming star in the MMA scene and he did not disappoint. Neither did "Wild" Bill Conley from UNICA MMA in Morehead. He captured the 145 pound SFC belt in his seventh outing making it his seventh victory as an amateur. It is so hard to pick out awards from the show and we want to tell all the fighters that the will to compete makes them all winners. However, here is what we saw as the cream of the crop Saturday night.

Submission of the Night -
We have a tie for this honor. The first of the two is based on the talent of the fighters. 

•  Jason Butcher's arm bar that ended the main event rather quickly. Butcher is very technically sound in his ground game and we know he can pack a heavy fist. Fighting Lamont Stafford was not an easy task as he was undefeated as a professional just as Butcher was. His record quickly changed after a few attempts at a submission and then the devastating arm bar.

• The second is based on all heart. Bill Conley by all accounts was in bad shape during his fight against Jared Walters. In the 2nd round though Conley was able to work into a triangle choke that ended the fight and secured his spot as Spartan Champion. Hats off to both Butcher and Conley.

Fight of the Night -

Hands down, no questions asked the FON honors go to Casey Jones/ Joey Donohew. Warriors in the cage they battled all the way through this fight. The fans were on their feet and it was an intense back & forth. Bloodied and battered both men were on top of their game. Jones walks away with the victory but there were no losers in this bout. We are hoping for an instant rematch and this was an instant classic.

Knockout of the Night-

What better way to start off the night than with a knockout. In the opening contest Evan Teeters delivers the goods as he gets a referee stoppage and TKO victory against Britain Wells

Bluegrass MMA Live - Still Standing

A great weekend in the books. Apologies go out before you even listen to this episode. Lots of rambling and soap box opinions. So you have been warned. We also didn't get to credit some people as much as we should but we were pressed for time and the host got on a roll and before you knew it time was up. Thanks for the listens live and in the chat room. Parag Patel, Jessamyn Duke, Juan Valle and all the guest log ins that were there. We were very fortunate to get to speak with Bill Conley and Joey Donohew.  Team Bluegrass MMA tonight consisted of host Gary Thomas and co-hosts Dave Stevens and Steven "Fat Steve" Armentrout.  We are working to make the show better as we continue to get inquiries into interviews.

Thank you to all of those involved with Spartan Fighting Championship and Absolute Action MMA. You guys are the reason we do what we do. For the most part we all share the same goals and dreams for Kentucky MMA but have different outlets to make those happen.

Stay locked in and look for Bluegrass MMA Live this week as we cover Hardrock MMA!

Bluegrass MMA Live - Still Standing 05/09 by BluegrassMMA Blog Talk Radio

Absolute Action 13 - The Rundown

Saturday night brought out all the great MMA fans in the Northern Kentucky Area. The rain did not stop droves of people from lining up to get into the Midwest Sports Complex in Florence Kentucky. Bluegrass MMA was there to take in all the excitement that Absolute Action MMA brings when they put on a show. The crowd was electric and the fights did not disappoint as AAMMA 13 saw a lot of different fighting styles and personalities emerge.

The night featured the likes of Doug  Ballinger, Shaun Asher, Tom Hayden and of course our favorite female fighter Ms. Jessamyn Duke. Other than a few hiccups prior to the event the show went very smooth. Rob "Turtle" Whitson as always was working the post fight interviews and was on top of his game. The VIP tables and seats were rocking all night as fans were excited about the fight card. Bluegrass MMA was invited onto the GoFightLive.com broadcast by Dr. Patel and we graciously accepted. We chatted briefly about Kentucky MMA and went over some of the fights that were upcoming.

It was so hard to pick the highlights because there are so many. We thank all the fighters for getting in the cage and doing a great job. However we feel we need to do the Fight Night Honors so here are our picks.

Fight of the Night - Shaun Asher vs. Shane McClain. This ended up not being a fight for the 185 belt but it had the makings of an instant classic. Asher dominated this fight but much credit needs to go to McClain. He has the heart of a champ and showed it. McClain was slammed repeatedly and was dominated on the ground. The pounding took its toll and at the 2:01 mark in the 3rd round McClain tapped due to strikes. Both men showed good sportsmanship. Asher hinted that he may be going pro but I would pay good money to see a rematch with the title on the line.

Submission of the Night - There were alot of taps to strikes, some rear naked chokes but by far the most impressive submission for me was the arm bar that Doug Ballinger applied to Jeremy Philpot early in the first round. Doug avenged his loss to Philpot and at the same time vacated his belts as he is turning pro. The fight was over at the 00:53 mark in the first round.

Knockout of the Night- This didn't go in the books as a knockout but by far Dom Steel was on his way to knocking out George Oiler in a featured pro bout. It was called due to the tapout to strikes but just a second more and this fight would have been a TKO victory for Dom. Dom gets on the winning track after suffering a loss to Jason Butcher. He looked powerful and poised so lookout for Steel in the future.

What a Weekend for Team Bluegrass MMA

A wise man once told me that if your gonna be a bear, be a grizzly bear. We here at Bluegrass MMA do not want to settle for anything less than full coverage of great Kentucky MMA. Saturday night was a prime example of that as we covered two of Kentucky's finest MMA companies as they continue to elevate the status of our fine state's mixed martial arts. Spartan Fighting Championship and Absolute Action MMA were on top of their game as both groups brought action Saturday night.

We have full recaps in the works and a massive library of pictures to sort through but I wanted to take this time to go over what is sticking out to us from the weekend. First off both companies have shown nothing but love to Bluegrass MMA and for that we are very appreciative. Dave Stevens and Brian Buelterman were cageside for SFC 8 in Ashland as Dave was able to rub elbows with Todd Neal and the whole Spartan gang. Brian was doing the photography and his pictures will be credited in tomorrows Huntington Herald Dispatch newspaper. I was in Florence and felt like a true V.I.P.  I was able to say a few words on AAMMA 13's GoFightLive.com coverage and witnessed some great fights but more so great people.  We have acquired so many new friends in our venture here at BluegrassMMA.com and enjoyed meeting everyone Saturday night. In Florence we were able to talk with pro fighter Chris Smith about whats up next for him. We also got to speak with Juan Valle  of WarCry about the awesome things they are doing in the Northern Kentucky area. Of course it's always a pleasure to talk with Team AAMMA. Dr. Parag Patel and Billy Donovan are as good as they come in this business. I can't talk about the night without mentioning a supporter of Bluegrass MMA and a huge influence on how we conduct business, Mr. Rob "Turtle" Whitson. Turtle had great post fight interviews and it was so good to be able to talk with him before the fight.

Dave and Brian were in great company too. Terry Callihan extended a huge welcome to Bluegrass MMA. Dave was cage side taking notes and soaking up Eastern Kentucky MMA. Todd Neal was right there with him and we hope he knows how much we appreciate his support. Greg Maynard and Brandon Newsome from Gruesome MMA were in Ashland with them. The guys from UNICA MMA were in the house to chat with us as well as the folks at Intimidation Clothing.  It feels almost like a family as we get out to see and mingle with the MMA community. They have really opened up to us and we hope to never disappoint them.