A large crowd enjoyed a night of combat sports Friday night, Oct. 2, at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City.
At SteelFist's 116th card, amateur middleweight Alex Johnson improved to 5-0 and won the title, stopping aggressive John Henderson via tap out in round 2. The photo above shows Johnson (at right) putting the finish on Henderson a mere second before the bout ended.
Also, amateur bantamweight Angel Diaz improved to 4-0, winning the promotion's title, stopping Aaron Jennings in the first round. After even fighting early in the bout, Diaz took control, wearing his opponent down.
In a pro submission-only bout scheduled for seven minutes between former MMA Northern Utah headliners, John Valentine tangled with Sooksan Simpleman. After a feeling out minute or so, Valentine got Simpleman on the canvas. Simpleman survived a finish attempt and was back on his feet. However, Valentine (seen in above photo at right behind Simpleman) flipped him down and successfully submitted his opponent.
As Utah Fight Game blog reported earlier, this bout is part of a charitable effort to raise funds for a memorial for the victims of the Oct. 1, 2017, mass killing of innocents at a Las Vegas music event.
There were 11 other mostly well-matched amateur bouts:
MMA: Brandon Meikel used a strong final round to decision Adrian Licea; Alden Robison submitted Joseph Marshall, round 1; in a particularly exciting fight, Jace Saxton decisioned Maya Saavedra; Zach Montoya stopped Nash Goddard in round 1; and Anthony Mondragon stopped Saw Kyi in round 2.
In a Muay Thai bout, Itzel Valdez used good ring generalship to stop a tough Ana Jester early in round 2.
In amateur kickboxing bouts: Super heavyweight Courtlynd Swanigan (seen in the above photo at left) used a good body jab and occasional right hand to decision Nathan Davis, whose use of the occasional left hook reminded this reporter of Butterbean the long-ago King of the Four Rounders boxer. Both fighters fought in spurts; they have talent but need improved conditioning.
In an entertaining heavyweight kickboxing bout, Jared Genera used better boxing skills against shorter Rod Payne. Payne was aggressive, with wild shots that reminded this reporter of the 1930s and '40s heavyweight contender Two-Ton Tony Galento. Genera won the decision.
In other kickboxing bouts: Agamyrat Atayev ended his bout against Perry Fietkau with a first-round stoppage; In a good matchup, Kendrid Wolf scored a dramatic second round KO over Chuck Page; and in another strong matchup, Sam Medel decisioned Damon Munoz.
It was a fun four-hour card that the crowd enjoyed. Many of these still-novice fighters displayed God-given skills that they have enhanced through hard work at the gym. Some also have normal, early-career liabilities that need to be corrected, such as poor head movement, insufficient breathing through the nose, an unfortunate excess of adrenaline, insufficient conditioning, careless defense... Those who can correct these normal early mistakes and get better we'll likely see in pro bouts in the future.
-- Doug Gibson
