March 19, 2006- This Sunday, AMC PANKRATION and DREAMSTAGE ENTERTAINMENT teamed up bring another round of PRIDE fighting amateur championships to Auburn, Washington. Held at the VisionQuest fitness center, the event attracted a sellout crowd of 2000 people and included 30 participants, mostly from Matt Hume's AMC Pankration gyms in the Washington area.
This event gave fighters the chance to showcase their abilities in front of pride executives and allowed them to gain experience with amateur PRIDE fighting rules before fighting professionally. PRIDE executives along with guests Bob Sapp and Josh Barnett watched carefully from ringside in efforts to find new talent.
The event was kicked off with an introduction by former Pankration champion and current United Full Contact Federation President, Matt Hume. Under his guidance, the UFCF has been sanctioning Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Submission wrestling for the past 13 years and is the recognized sanctioning body of the Washington State Department of licensing for both professional and amateur martial arts. UFCF sanctioned events have different rules for various classes of amateur and professional fighters. And include referee and judge certifications, pre-fight physicals, ringside physicians and medical insurance. Matt Hume has also recently set up a charitable foundation to take over the duties of the UFCF in the United States, as well as providing MMA training scholarship opportunities to under-privileged youth.
All bouts at "Brawl at the Mall" were sanctioned by the United Full Contact Federation and consisted of the following: Wrestling Exhibition (R1:3min) Pride Amateur (R1:3 min, R2:2 min), Gladiator Challenge (R1: Kickboxing, R2:Wrestling, R3:MMA) and Kickboxing (R1:3 min, R2:3 min, R3:3min). The intro bout featured a children's exhibition match in which 12 year olds Max White and Michael Hernandez demonstrated their early love of the sport by grappling with one another for 3 min. In the second exhibition bout, Jennifer "Chun Li" Hua grappled against Frank "Johnny Cage" Colcher for 3 minutes showing the crowd what wrestling was all about. There were no winners or losers in the exhibition matches, only a colorful demonstration of mixed martial arts to entertain the crowd.
From there, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight participants were given an opportunity to show their stuff by demonstrating their striking, grappling, and take down abilities. The crowd was very entertained and respectful as they applauded reversals and takedowns while cheering for their hometown fighters, no matter winner nor loser. Fighters had the chance to gain much amateur experience as they fought with official blue PRIDE gloves under PRIDE amateur rules and competed fiercely in hopes of impressing PRIDE officials for the opportunity to be the next PRIDE fighting superstar.
The gladiator challenge match featuring Michael Wanaka and Abraham Velasco was a crowd favorite. Ending the first round with intense kickboxing and 12 oz gloves, the combatants stripped their gloves off and followed up with 3 min of submission wrestling. For the last round, fighters donned 6 oz PRIDE gloves as they faced off against one another under PRIDE amateur rules. Different rounds in gladiator challenges allow fighters had the chance to showcase their strengths in either striking or grappling.
The main bout featured British Cage Rage fighter Paul Daley against Canadian KOTC fighter Blake Fredrickson and was one of the most exhilarating and adrenaline pumped matches of the night. The two fighters were evenly versed as they the action went back and forth all over the ring. Paul Davey started the match, rushing Blake Fredrickson with a lethal barrage of punches followed by multiple head kicks, which were blocked by Fredrickson." Punches and knees were exchanged full force thought out the match without either losing their intensity. Fredricskon was able to shoot and takedown Davey a few times and even body slam him, but Davey always found an escape and returned to his feet. Davey was very offensive against Fredrickson, throwing combination after combination and landed a few devastating punches, The bout went two rounds to decision where Paul Daley was announced the winner.
All in all,"Brawl in the Mall 2" was a huge success for everyone. Fighters gained valuable experience from fighting under PRIDE rules while the audience was on the edge of their seats from the all the action and excitement. After witnessing the talent that the AMC Pankration fighters had to offer, Matt Hume and PRIDE are hoping to plan more PRIDE amateur championships in the near future.
Full Results Here:
Brawl at the Mall 2: Pride Amateur Rules Test (Final Phase)
Source: www.pridefc.com
