DOM-ino effect

I know you guys are probably on pins and needles waiting for this one. Now, for those of you who decided not to shell out the $9.99 and venture into the growing medium known as iPPV, or if you decided to stay at home on a Friday night, catch up on DVR, pop some of that popping corn that is all the rage, or stay up to watch the Cats, well, join the club.

I was off in the Athens of the East, watching the Cats open the season 50 points large over an out-classed Marist, so I myself didn't gather the info until early this morning. And, high school football playoffs, as to be expected far outdrew the SFC MMA event at the Armory.

However, make no mistake about it, MMA has found support in Ashland, and the locals fill the Armory for SFC, perhaps even more than they do for wrestling held there. Which, that is a testament to SFC, considering large crowds will routinely flock to the wrestling events regardless of the level of the guys on the shows. They also honored veterans at the show, which fell on Veteran's Day. And, from reports we gathered, the crowd was into all the action, and it was a PACKED house. An unfortunate side-effect to that, though, is the amount of Affliction shirts this means you have congregated in one spot.

The main event had a certain amount of intrigue for those who made the drive down Lexington Ave., or ordered the event on the net from locales in parts unknown. Last night, the first professional MMA title bout took place in the state of Kentucky.

Josh Blanchard, by way of Louisville and who we relayed our disappointment in earlier in the week with the fact he was a Red Bird fan and not related to Tully, came into the event, cutting indy wrestling-type promos to hype it, putting his undefeated MMA record on the line and fulfilling he dream of winning the 205 lbs. title in the Commonwealth.

He took on Dom Steele, fighting out of Cincinnati, and who has a win to his credit in Strikeforce as part of the under-card of the Strikeforce Grand Prix show in his hometown, which was highlighted by Jordan Mein beating Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos.

Dom Steele, as is our opinion, has faced a much higher level of competition than that of Blanchard. Not to take away anything from either. However, I think the gap in skill level that my have went unnoticed prior to Friday, was more than noticeable Friday night. Steele captured the title in Ashland at the Armory via ref stoppage/TKO over Blanchard in the 1st round. Blanchard was unable to answer a barrage of strikes from The Dommer, and the fight was halted at 3:38 into the opening round.

It was a night of fast action Friday, as 6 of the 8 fights, including the aforementioned main event, ended in the 1st round of each fight. The other two fights did not progress past the 2nd round.

The show featured 2 other title bouts, both on the amateur level:

Chris Dunn was crowned the Spartan Interim Lightweight champion by taking down Jared Walters with a rear-naked choke in round one at the 2:24 mark.

And, in the Spartan Middleweight title bout, the foreshadowing of an unanswered strike ref stoppage we would see later in the night, would result in Billy Poe reign victorious over Lateef Keaton in the 2nd round at 2:21.

There was also another pro fight, as just like Blanchard would see in the main, Vic Simms would suffer defeat and see his undefeated record go by the way-side at the hands of JP Felty in the 1st round when he fell victim to a rear-naked choke.

Haven't seen any of the action from the event, but for those interested in what I was informed was an action packed card, you can browse the catalog of events on GoFightLive, and purchase the event to replay at your leisure.... or you can just read this and know what down... either way, everybody wins.

After party at the Endzone...woot woot...

FULL RESULTS(courtesy of BluegrassMMA.com )

SFC will return January 13th to the Armory. It will also be available to view on iPPV again.

Fight 1: (Bantamweight)

Winner: David Toney def Casey Pennington via KO (Guillotine choke) in Round 1 (0:44)

Fight 2: (Middleweight)

Winner: Greg Copley def Luke Moody via Submission (Rear-naked Choke) in Round 1 (1:46)

Fight 3: (Lightweight)

Winner: Cody Harris def Evan Teeter via TKO (Ref stoppage: Unanswered Strikes) in Round 2 (1:40)

Fight 4: (Middleweight)

Winner: Michael West def Jon Londen via Submission (Full-nelson head crank) in Round 1 (1:29)

Fight 6: Interim Title Fight (Lightweight)

Winner: Chris Dunn def Jared Walters via Submission (Rear-naked choke) in Round 1 (2:44)

Fight 7: Title Fight (Middleweight)

Winner: Billy Poe def Lateef Keaton via TKO (Ref stoppage: Unanswered strikes) in Round 2 (2:21)

Fight 8: Pro Fight(Lightweight)

Winner: JP Felty def Victor Simms via Submission (Guillotine choke) in Round 1 (3:19)

Fight 9: Pro Title Fight (Light Heavyweight)

Winner: Dom Steele def Josh Blanchard via TKO (Ref stoppage: Unanswered strikes) in Round 1 (3:38)