Marcus Hicks vs. Rob McCullough; the fight started off very slow with both guys circling and circling and circling and circling, throwing feints, and jabs that weren’t meant to land. For some reason, they would not engage each other. This is often called the “feeling out” period, except their “feeling out” period lasted the entire first round.
The second round from Hicks vs. McCullough was an amazing round. Hicks landed a big overhand punch that dropped McCullough, instead of going for ground and pound to try and finish him off, Hicks tried to secure a guillotine choke to submit the former lightweight champion. McCullough survived and Hicks found himself underneath his opponent eating a few punches.
Hicks managed to get back to his feet but his guillotine submission attempt surely sucked quite a bit of energy from his arms and shoulders and McCullough took advantage of the impaired pugilist and attacked viciously with combination after combination. His muay thai expertise was in full display as McCullough attacked his retreating opponent. Although Hicks had dropped McCullough early in the round, that was quickly forgotten as the knees, kicks, and punches of Rob McCullough erased his downed image from the judges’ minds.
Hicks stood strong however and never went down. His only answer after getting back to his feet in round two was an occasional ‘one punch combo.’ The bell sounded and the crowd eagerly anticipated the third round to culminate what started off slowly in round one but had turned into a damn good fight in round two.
And then what can only be explained as some lost episode of the ‘Twilight Zone’ where an alien ship hovers over the arena and sucks the life force out of the two combatants in the ring, our two warriors decided they would rather dance than fight. So that is what they did. They circled each other and circled each other and circled each other, throwing feints and the occasional jab that had not intention of landing.
Finally, the referee made a statement few people have ever heard inside an MMA cage, “I’m gonna call a no contest if you guys don’t engage!” Did both guys think they were so far ahead on the judges’ cards they could just sit back and wait out a decision? Did they lose their rhythm after finding it in round two? They did not appear tired. They both throw just enough strikes so keep the referee from calling a ‘no-contest’ and then the bell sounds signaling the end of the ghost convention (Most of the first round and all of the third round were filled with “BOOS” from the audience).
One judge calls it a tie, the other two award the fight to Rob McCullough for a majority decision victory. Marcus Hicks for some reason looked completely stunned as if to say, “How in the world did I lose that fight?” It was an expression which only confirms my theory that aliens sucked the life force out of him causing Hicks to completely forget he was even in a fight.
By: Jack Bratcher