Wren, Alessio, and Martinez all take home first round victories at “Ring of Fire 37: Warlords” – full results

OMAHA, Neb. – “Ring of Fire 37: Warlords” took place Friday night at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. One of the highlights of the night included the return to action of TUF 10 veteran Justin “The Viking” Wren. Wren actually became so dehydrated last night he was rushed to the emergency room where he spent the whole night with IV’s in his arm. Wren said he didn’t even get to sleep until 7am Friday morning, the day of the fight!

“The Viking” was matched up against undefeated heavyweight Josh “Hardcore” Henry, a tall muscular fighter who predicted before the fight he was going to knock Wren out. During the stare down the two fighters got right in each other’s face, actually touching foreheads. There was also some smack talk going on. Visibly heated, the Viking looked riled up and ready for war.

Wren gave Henry no time to set up any sort of punches, much less a knockout, by using his bread and butter Greco to tie Henry up and take him down right away. From there, Wren pounded on the turtled Henry with punches, opening up a cut on the big guy.

After taking considerable damage, somehow Henry was able to make it back to his feet where he should have maybe had the advantage. However, Wren ‘s boxing looked much improved, and he rocked Henry’s head back  with some nice shots. He then put Henry right back to the canvas and began the ground and pound once again.

This time the ref was forced to save Henry who had clearly had enough. At 2:22 of the first round Wren was awarded the victory. He apologized after the fight if he seemed disrespectful to his opponent before the bout, but said he needed to finish it quickly because of his medical situation the previous evening.

In the co-main event, UFC veteran John Alessio got his third win in a row by out-classing Matt Delanoit with a first round rear-naked choke submission. Alessio would like to be on the next UFC card in Canada, and with a performance like this, his chances to get on that card have greatly increased.

In the main event, Iowa’s Demi Deeds took on Nebraska’s Alonzo Martinez in a lightweight re-match from seven years ago. The two first fought in what was both fighter’s pro debut.

Tonight’s action between Deeds and Martinez was fast and furious from the sound of the bell. Deeds had dropped down from 170lbs. to take this fight, so he did seem to have a size advantage. However, size did not matter in this one, as Martinez was able to get Deeds to the ground early and pound away with big punches and elbows.  Deeds turtled up and Martinez sunk in the choke before the end of the first round.

Professional

• Alonzo Martinez def. Demi Deeds by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1
• John Alessio def. Matt Delanoit by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1
• Chad Reiner def. Brian Green by unanimous decision
• Justin Wren def. Josh Henry by TKO (strikes) Rd 1
• Sean Wilson def. Luke Cadillo by TKO (strikes) Rd 3
• Peter Grimes def. Donavon Winters by unanimous decision

Amateur

• Vinny Lopez def. Andy Smith by unanimous decision
• Enrique Torres def. Steve Luccino by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 3
• Justin Linn def. Brett Hodgen by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1
• Roberto Rojas def. Jason Prorok by TKO (strikes) Rd 1
• Joel Frandsen def. Matt Williams by submission (strikes) Rd 2
• Johnny Nunez def. Jeremy Harper by submission (arm bar) Rd 1
• John DeVall def. Justin Seffron by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1

If you missed the live pay-per-view of this event, a taped broadcast of “Ring of Fire 37: Warlords” will be available for a small fee at GoFightLive.com starting tomorrow.