By David Cormier | Knuckle Junkies
After nearly a month and a half without any events, Shamrock FC was back under the lights at River City Casino for SFC 303, kicking off a busy schedule of three shows in five weeks.
Topping the main card was a featherweight bout between Brandon Lowe and Trevon Crawford.
Crawford opened with leg kicks, but the fight was quickly taken to the ground by Lowe. Throughout the entire match Lowe had no problem landing takedowns on Crawford and keeping him down.
Round one was a ground and pound Brazilian jiu-jitsu match with Lowe maintaining dominant positions throughout, moving from mount to back control and back to mount as Crawford tried to get to his feet and out from under Lowe.
Round two was back on the ground with another takedown by Lowe. Crawford did an excellent job of defending his neck but could not advance beyond self-preservation. Toward the end of the round Lowe switched from submission attempts to dropping elbows and punches from mount and back control.
Round three started on the feet with fierce kicking exchanges between Crawford and Lowe, who landed a hard front kick. Lowe then took the fight back to the mat where it stayed. Crawford managed to get a sweep on Lowe but Lowe reversed and took half guard and went back to dropping punches on Crawford’s head and body.
When the scorecards were tallied Brandon Lowe defeated Trevon Crawford via Unanimous Decision.
“It wasn’t the fight I wanted, I wanted to finish in the first round,” Lowe said. “Coming into this camp, no excuses, but I had a few bumps and bruises, but I went in there and got the ‘W’ like I wanted so it is what it is.”
Lowe improves to 4-1 and already has his next opponent picked out.
“My original opponent was Scott Ettling, but he had to back out for some situation,” Lowe said. “All power to you, best of luck to you, but I want that fight, I’m coming for you Scott, lets go.”
Flyweights took the stage in the co-main event in a bout between Dillion Tolbert and Daniel “Johnny Irish” O’Connor.
Tolbert took O’Connor down in the opening seconds of the match and began working for submissions eventually securing side control. The match was entirely ground work with Tolbert maintaining control throughout. Once Tolbert secured a position he began dropping hard elbows. The fight was stopped.
Dillon Tolbert defeated Daniel O’Connor via TKO picking up his second straight win, 4-4 overall.
In his pro lightweight debut Derik Scott (pictured) took on a late replacement, Sergio Robles.
Fierce striking exchanges opened the match. Robles punched Scott hard knocking him down, but Scott quickly got to his feet, clinched and then rocked Robles hard and knocked him down. Robles got back up but Scott was too quick and was on top of him in seconds raining down violent, hard punches from a dominant side control position against the fence. The fight was stopped and Derik Scott was awarded the victory.
Also making his pro lightweight debut was Issac Purnell who took on Brandon Schehl.
Kicking exchanges marked the opening of the match until Schehl managed to get a takedown. Purnell got back to his feet and the exhausting clinch work began as both fighters worked for takedowns.
The fighters broke clinch and Purnell threw a textbook high round kick prompting Schehl to shoot for a takedown. Schehl began working a single leg but Purnell managed to get a takedown and ended up on top quickly securing a guillotine choke so deep and so violent it looked like it belonged in the French Revolution.
Issac Purnell defeated Brandon Schehl via Submission (Guillotine Choke) improving to 1-0.
Topping the preliminary card was a lightweight title fight with a three fight contract on the line between Colin Parr from Watson Martial Arts, and Evan Elder out of Finney’s MMA.
The fight was the most thrilling and technical of the night with level changes, takedowns and striking being deployed violently and to effect by both fighters. Neither fighter held dominance over the other for long, either on the ground or on the feet. Elder and Parr landed takedowns on each other and both had clear answers for each other’s game.
Elder managed the striking distance on the feet slightly better than Parr at various points throughout the match giving him the advantage on the score cards. Parr’s ground game and takedowns were on point, but were not enough to tip the judge’s score cards in his favor.
“I felt good once I got in there and started to let my hands go,” Elder said. “I could see quickly that I bloodied his nose up, so I could tell my punches were landing. I don’t know if it was fatigue or being lazy but I kept letting my hands come down and he did a good job capitalizing on that. Overall it was a good fight and I felt good”
The bloody and exciting shootout ended in round three with Parr landing a final takedown and working in top position from Elder’s guard.
This match will likely go down as a contender for amateur fight of the year, these two talented fighters did not disappoint.
Evan Elder defeated Colin Parr via Unanimous Decision picking up the professional contract with Shamrock FC.
In a welterweight title bout Freddy Kostjerevac took on Oscar Ahuatzi. Two crowd favorites clashed amid competing chants of “Freddy! Freddy!” and “Oscar! Oscar!”
After three rounds of up and down fighting Kostjerevac laid into Ahuatzi hard with punches everywhere, at one point knocking Ahuatzi’s mouthguard out and then following him to the fence and pummeling his face and head. Freddy Kostjerevac defeated Oscar Ahuatzi via Unanimous Decision.
In a bantamweight bout Timothy Jackson representing St. Charles MMA took on Kory Beck out of Springfield, MO.
Jackson opened with violent ground and pound and hard hits that eventually rocked Beck sending him against the cage stopping the fight.
Timothy Jackson defeated Kory Beck via TKO
In a lightweight kickboxing bout with big hits and fast striking combos Patrick Keao took on Paul Ivie. The fight lasted three intense rounds.
Patrick Keao defeated Paul Ivie via unanimous decision.
In a welterweight bout with the biggest size difference of the night a 6’3″ Tyree Davis took on the 5’8″ Chico Bean. Bean could not find an answer for Davis’s long arms and violent and precise punching. The fight was stopped in round one with Davis wining via TKO.
In a welterweight kickboxing bout Max Choriev took on Tyler Roussin. Choriev and Roussin had some impressive striking exchanges in round one but in round two Choriev landed a hard right cross knocking Roussin down. Choriev was quick to capitalize on the advantage and laid into Roussin against the fence with violent, unrelenting punches. The fight was stopped with Choriev winning via TKO in the first.
In a kickboxing bout Dan Herina took on Jarryd Dean. This fight fired up the crowd! The shouts of “Dan!” and “Jarryd!” never subsided for three rounds. Strong clashes and fierce exchanges round after round were intermixed with big kicks. Knock downs and violence marked this fight. Dan Herina defeated Jarryd Dean via Unanimous Decision
In a heavyweight bout Will Monroe took on James Dalton. Monroe dominated early and took top position throughout the ground game. Dalton wanted a grappling match after hurting his hamstring early and Monroe was willing to work through ground positions but the match moved slowly on the mat. Once the fight went to striking Monroe was clearly dominating eventually securing a KO finish.
Will Monroe defeated James Dalton via KO
In a catch-weight kickboxing bout and the only female fighter match of the night Liz Nicole took on Drea Hawkins.
Nicole was the more technical striker but Hawkins was a tough match staying on her feet through three tough rounds and giving as much as she could. Both fighters showed great heart. Liz Nicole defeated Drea Hawkins via Unanimous Decision
In a lightweight kickboxing bout and the shortest fight of the night Mark Perkins took on Cody Naucke.
Following what was essentially two hard hits and two knockdowns delivered by Perkins, Naucke was put down and out like a Jimmy John’s sandwich, “freaky fast,” fifty-five seconds into round one.
Mark Perkins defeated Cody Naucke via KO
In the opening lightweight match of a spectacular night of fights Tim Eschenfelder took on Mark Breeching. For an opening undercard match this was a technical shoot out. The match moved from the feet to the ground and back again over three rounds with hard shots being delivered all around but with Eschenfelder getting the best of most exchanges. Tim Eschenfelder defeated Mike Breeching via Unanimous Decision.
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