This Saturday, July 16th, the Virginia Beach Field House hosted the Modern Gladiators: Judgment Day line-up. The fight card was headlined by six title fights, including the knockout of the night performance by Wesley Dunlap, who put Reggie "Eaz-E" Barnett Jr to the canvas in just 47 seconds of the first round.
In the first round, crowd favorite Barnett threw some good combinations as Dunlap circled throwing occasional low kicks. Then, an unceremonious high kick Dunlap added to the mix sent Barnett to the canvas as the referee declared a knockout at 47 seconds of round one.
The card featured a superheavyweight title fight between Michael "Bigfoot" Jones and Joseph Ray. Jones was gaining momentum with front kicks and good striking combinations, but the action was temporarily stopped when Ray was dazed from punches to the back of his head. After the fight started again, Ray came out as the aggressor, but Jones was still able to use his kicks and knees to control the striking game. In spite of being ahead, Jones began to show signs of fatigue at the end of the round.
Jones came out of the round two bell like a man on fire, looking to put Ray away in the opening seconds. But a misguided flying knee attempt gave Ray his leg and the takedown he needed to turn the tide. Ray quickly mounted Jones and started a vicious ground and pound offense. Jones gave up his back trying to defend and Ray finished him with a rear naked choke at 47 seconds on the clock.
The heavyweight title bout between Chris Kharazi and Donte Stith brought a lot of excitement to the crowd as the first round became a vicious standing battle. Stith dominated most of the first round, throwing heavy shots to Kharazi's iron chin. The momentum changed towards the end of the round when Kharazi clinched and landed a barrage knees to Stith's midsection. Though arguably ahead on points, the extent of the damage was too great for Stith. He was not able to answer the bell of the second round and Kharazi claimed the Heavyweight Belt.
Kevin Steele almost logged an exceptional comeback in his middleweight title tilt with Eric Lyberger, but, in the end, Lyberger was able to finish what he started and took the strap. Lyberger took control of the fight from the beginning with a quick takedown and never looked back. Jumping to full mount Lyberger began raining punches down on Steele. Just as it looked like Lyberger would be going home with a fancy new belt, Steele pulled a quick scramble and a sweep from out of nowhere. Once he gained the advantage, Steele looked to turn the tide. But Lyberger came back again for an armbar victory in the fading seconds of the first round.Demar Holloway managed to wrest Lee Rahrleins' welterweight title from him in a controversial referee stoppage. Rahrleins scored a takedown and top control early on, dominating Holloway for position but not quite able to finish his man with submission attempts. Rahrleins continued his clinic into the second round. Holloway managed to reverse his fortunes after taking some damage, finally sweeping his way to top position. Rahrleins scrambled to his feet but found himself on the receiving end of a knee by Holloway. Stunned, Rahrleins grabbed Holloway's leg and tried to work for a takedown, but the referee had already stopped the bout. Holloway was declared the winner to a very displeased crowd.
The lightest division title fight featured Jonathan Wertz, a BJJ black belt, against the undefeated Kevin Spurill. Round one started with a standing battle with neither fighter gaining a clear advantage, but Wertz appeared to take round one as he connected with occasional jabs and kicks. The action picked up in round two, but continued to be contested standing with Wertz maintaining a slight advantage.
Undaunted, Spurill began to attack relentlessly, forcing the clinch and bullying Wertz with some heavy shots. Wertz dropped from the assault and Spurill took his man's back. Wertz attempted to rolls into position for an ankle lock, but just ended up eating more damage. After some body shots that nearly went through Wertz to the canvas, the referee called a stop to the fight at 3:54 of round two, declaring Spurill the winner.
Non-title fights on the card included the 160 pound weight division with Riley "The Newport Beach Bad Boy" Pellegrino fighting Imani Smith. Pellegrino scored the submission of the night in just 21 seconds with a guillotine choke in the first round.
Mike Mercado defeated Chris Washington via unanimous decision in the 135 pound weight division. Mercado dominated the fight with takedowns during all three rounds making his ground game work to his advantage. In round three, Washington made an unsuccessful armbar attempt and Mercado wins a unanimous decision.
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