As part of my “Ultimate MMA Weekend” I attended the Supreme Warrior Championship (www.swcmma.com and www.Friscofights.com) fight card held at the Fieldhouse in Frisco, Texas the night before UFC 103.
Although the event was short on the overall number of fights the amount of talent throughout the card made the event a must see. There were to be seven fights on the evening, but we ended up only getting to see six as one of the competitions ended up getting scratched due to one of the strangest events I have seen at any combative sports event I have attended.
Despite signing a contract to fight at 135 lbs., Travis Woolridge it seems really wanted to find a way out of his fight with Wreck 1 Management’s Rafael Casias.
As I entered the back room where the fighters were getting warmed up, there was a lot of commotion going on. Woolridge apparently misplaced his mouthpiece and went to look for it.
Unable to find it, another fighter competing that night gave Woolridge’s corner a brand new mouthpiece so the match could take place. As the announcer was getting ready to call out the fighters everyone realized that Woolridge was nowhere to be found.
Another fighter came out of the restroom and told us there was a mouthpiece case in the restroom on the cabinet, and everyone scrambled to find Travis. Woolridge’s corner man came back into the warm up area and returned the brand new mouthpiece and informed us that Woolridge would not be fighting that evening.
Despite finding his mouthpiece and being given a new mouthpiece Woolridge chose to leave the event rather than compete. To say that the fighters still in the locker rooms were critical of Woolridge would be an understatement as many of them were calling for Travis to be suspended for a year.
I was later informed that Woolridge had told the promoter that he had a panic attack. There is still no word from the Texas State Athletic Commission if there will be a suspension or not.
As for the rest of the evening the fights went off without a hitch and provided some of the best action I have seen this year. Here are the results and brief recaps of the rest of the fights.
Larry Hopkins vs Terrell Brandon Thomas:
Thomas wins by TKO in the 1st round when Hopkins could not answer the bell for the 2nd round. I didn’t get to catch much of this fight as I was cornering a friend of mine in the next fight, but what little I did see was a fast paced and high impact fight.
Edwin “Ox” Jones vs Warren “DaddyDynamite” Stewart:
Stewart wins by split-decision in another reason that everyone always says not to leave it up to the judges. Although I do believe Stewart won the fight, I believe that he won it convincingly as he won two of the rounds without a doubt. I can see the first round going either way, but to award a split decision seems a bit of a reach to me. I will say that I have watched Warren Stewart fight for almost two years now, and he has steadily gotten more impressive as time goes on. He took this fight on short notice and despite normally fighting at 135 or 145 lbs., he chose to compete against a very game Edwin Jones who also used to be a teammate of Stewart’s. Stewart was able to bring his record to 12 – 9 (and at only 20 years old), and with a little winning streak Stewart could be getting ready to move up to the WEC or Strikeforce and compete.
Frank Ortega vs Joshua Gerber:
Ortega wins by TKO at the 0:10 mark of the 2nd round.
Again, this was another fight that I didn’t get to see much of as I went to the locker room to congratulate Stewart and Jones for their performances, but I was told that Ortega’s combinations were as impressive as his trademark mohawk that he sports in his fights.
Chas Skelly vs Daniel Pineda:
Bellator Fighting Championships veteran Chas Skelly remains undefeated after taking on a very game Daniel “The Pit” Pineda. Skelly wins by tapout at the 2:12 mark of the 1st round after putting a sick leg lock on Pineda. Definitely submission of the night.
Jon Kirk vs Jacob Ortiz:
After what seemed to be a pretty even contest for of the first two rounds, Ortiz ended the second round on top of Kirk reigning down some vicious ground and pound. Kirk could not answer the bell for the third round and the TKO victory was awarded to Ortiz.
Johnny Bedford vs Michael Baskis (Main Event):
This fight had the makings of the fight of the night from the opening bell on. Bedford and Baskis went back and forth for two full rounds and most of the third round as well. Baskis then landed a big punch that looked like it rocked his opponent. Bedford then shot in and ended up getting caught in a guillotine choke as Baskis fell back. Baskis defeats Bedford at the 2:22 mark in the 3rd round via guillotine. Baskis moves his professional record to 5-1 and will now fight Chas Skelly for the 145 lbs. title at SWC 9 “Fire Fight” on October 24th. Bedford, who is the current featherweight champion is relinquishing the title to move to the 135 lbs. bantamweight division from now on. Bedford had already agreed to challenge 135 lbs. champion Stephen Garcia for his title prior to taking this fight with Baskis.
For more information on Supreme Warrior Championship or their next card on October 24th, 2009 please visit www.swcmma.com or www.FriscoFights.com .
All photos appear courtesy of ESPN 103.3’s MMA blogger Andrew Plante. For more great content check out Andrew’s column “In the Clinch” at www.ESPN1033.com.
By: Billy “24/7” MacDonald
Good write up Billy, sounds like a fun night. We’re waiting for you to get back in there.
I appreciate it. I should know if it’s going to be October or November for sure within the next two weeks or so. As always, my friends at Pro MMA will be the first to know.