Rod Hood, Founder and CEO of FTH Fight Gear, congratulates Ben Henderson on his successful title defense this past Saturday in Sacramento.
This time around Ben Henderson left no doubt in his fight against Cerrone. Just 1.57 into the re-match Ben Henderson forced Donald "The Cowboy" Cerrone to tap out by securing a guillotine choke. Their last fight was in October in which Henderson won by a unanimous decision but controversy followed as some believed that the fight wasn’t scored correctly and that Cerrone should have won the bout.
However on Saturday the Champ never gave Cerrone a chance to get into the fight to make it a close rematch and in doing so silencing any doubts anyone had about Ben's standing as the Champion.
Once again FTH congralutes Ben on his win.
Gabbi’s record is 84W-33L-10T-2NC with most of her fights being with the same opponent, her younger brother Payton. When asked when her next fight will be she shrugged her shoulders and said probable not until morning, understandable after all it was 8PM when interviewed.
Introducing Thomas Woodall
Thomas Woodall is an Amateur fighter with a Combative Arts background in American Taijutsu. Thomas has always had a love for martial arts but did not get bit by the competition bug till he joined a Judo club and competed in a small judo tournament. Thomas took three years off from martial arts training to go to school in Pittsburgh, PA. After watching the first and second season of the Ultimate fighter he knew right then what he wanted to do, and as they say the rest is history
Check out his profile to see his fight videos, blog and more. http://fth-fighters.socialgo.com/members/profile/98
His 4th Fight:
Zach Riley recently placed top 4 at a NAGA tournement in Colorado:
Zach Riley: The Naga Tournament went really well I lost my first match to decision, he held me in a triangle choke for half of the match, my second match i won by triangle choke,(i accidently broke his nose), after that i signed up to do the Absolute division which is separated only by division like novice, beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert, but any weight is acceptable. I did the the first match and won by arm-bar, it was a very quick match 30 seconds at the most. The second guy i lost to was the guy who went on to be the champion of this division by tapping everyone out. I never did tap until i went up against the last guy for 3rd place, he was 6'6 275 Ibs, it was a true David and Goliath match. ( Zach is 5'6 135 lbs) Videos will follow soon.
Zachary Riley
Ben Henderson Stops Shane Roller at WEC 40
Rod: Congratulations Ben on your WEC debut victory over Shane Roller, Tell us how you prepared for the fight and what condition you were in.
Ben:
i was in great condition thanks to my strength and conditioning coach, jarret aki...preparation as always started with some scouting, just looking for some advantages I could maybe could get and his overall fighting style and some of his favorite moves...from there it goes into specific game-planning of what I’m going to do and how I’m going to do it...
Rod: After fighting Roller what surprised you and what about him turned out to be what you expected Ben:
roller had amazing hip strength but i was expecting that, him being a very successful college wrestler...one thing that kind of surprised me was his length, i knew he was long (arms) but it's another thing to get in there and experience it first hand...
Rod: Tell us about the fight, what your game plan was for Shane and how much were you able to stick to it and what went out the window.
Ben:
Actually the game plan went exactly how we wanted it to go, except of course me getting rocked early on...the game plan was to keep it standing and showcase some stand-up skills...
Rod: You took a big shot and recovered really well how much trouble were you in?
Ben:
i don't think i was in any real trouble, it was a good, clean shot that roller landed on me but as soon as my butt hit the ground i came to with full awareness...
Rod: You’re 9-1 now that say’s a lot for your ability what’s next is always on our mind when we see someone like you pop into the mix of a bigger fight organization such as the WEC.
Ben:
to be completely honest i have no idea what or who is next...I’ve been told that i might fight in WEC's august or September card...
Rod: Tell me what this means to you as an up and coming talent in the WEC.
Ben:
It means a lot, as always with any win but this one specifically because i got to showcase some other skills that people doubted I possessed...
You’re an exciting and talented fighter Ben and we all look forward to your next fight in the WEC. FTH Fight Gear wants to thank Ben Henderson for taking the time to be interviewed and we want to encourage everyone to keep an eye on Bens rise through the ranks in the WEC.
By Rod Hood
FTH Fight Gear
Extreme Challenge 122 hit the Lewis Bowl Annex in Sioux City IA, March 14th and the energy was electric. This night proved to be a tough one for the team going 3-3-1 in competition that night. Hats off to Joel Frendsen, Blaze Gill and Josh Huddelson for dispatching their opponents in the first round of competition. Danny Black fought and won an amazing 3rd beat down but left it in the judge hands and it went the other way! Ryan Thompson came up short in the first round tapping out to a very tough competitor and Nick Rogers was devastated by a :40 sec KO. In the Main Event, Chuck Parmelee showed pride and hart as he had a 3 round war with Justin Demoney. Both fighters were battered and bloody as the match ended in a draw! Look for these two to go head to head again in July for the Extreme Challenge 170lb. Title!!!!!
The smell of gold fills the gym again as Tony Cote wins his 29th fight to become the new Cage Inc. 185lb. Champion. Tony defeated Tom Vankley in the first round via arm bar after being dropped by a hard knee. Way to show heart and the will to win. We are all very proud of you!
We would like to thanks our sponsors:
Mogul Fight Gear
FTH Fight Gear
Living Art Tattoo
TJ Thomas wins his pro fight début in impressive fashion against Brendan "pulga" Domingo
Round 1: TJ and Brendan came out and touched gloves and it wasn’t long before each began exposing their game plan. Domingo’s was intent on taking the fight to the ground where he could apply his strongest skills as a wrestler and Jiujutsu practitioner. TJ plan was to keep it standing applying his striking skills, he opened up the exchange with a good jabs hitting Domingo and then immediately they clinched Thomas turned and spun him into the cage, But eventually Domingo got the takedown. Thomas got up and worked some strikes from the clinch before the fight went back to the mat. They weren’t there long before Thomas got up again and landed a couple good knees to Domingo’s leg and then Domingo shot for a single leg takedown but right as he did Thomas caught him with another knee but this time to the head and continued to strike him in the face until they landed back on the ground in north/south position. Domingo then got Thomas’s back and it would appear that he had the choke in but he would get out of it and then Domingo flattened Thomas out and it really looked like he had the choke but Thomas got out of that one as well he got mount on Thomas but he shrimped out then Domingo stood up to try and drop bombs on Thomas but Thomas would have nothing of it landing elbows and punches from the bottom before delivering 4 up kicks that dazed Domingo dropping him too the mat. They then scrambled and a little later Thomas would land another kick to Domingo’s face from his back and then the round would be over.
Round 2: They came out and Thomas led with a couple good punches and then Domingo tried a leg kick which struck Thomas in the groin. The stopped the action to give Thomas time to recover he took maybe a minute and motioned he was ready to resume. After the groin strike Thomas came out determined to put a hurt on Domingo landing a beautiful flying knee that stunned Domingo and then Thomas finished him from mount with a TKO at 1:21 of the second round.
Forest City Indians Wrestlers
Forest City Little Indians Wrestling Club
Rod,
I have to start out this e-mail saying thank you so much for your donation to the Forest City Indians Wrestlers and the Forest City Little Indians Wrestling Club this season. Our plan was to award our high school wrestlers for helping out our wrestling club during practice. The plan worked as we had a larger number of high school wrestlers in our youth practices then ever before. We also wanted to award our high school wrestlers for accomplishments during the season and there were many accomplishments this year for individuals and our entire team.
Forest City won our conference-wrestling tournament for the first time since Forest City started wrestling in 1973! We beat the always-tough Osage Green Devils by 1.5 points!
At our Sectional wrestling tournament we qualified 8 out of 14 wrestlers for the District tournament. Our best finish ever at a Sectional and the most wrestlers we have ever sent to Districts! Our second place team finish qualified us for the Regional Dual tournament for the first time in our history!
We took 2nd place at Regional Duals. Though that didn't qualify us to go to Duals State as a team, we sent notice to a lot of schools that we will be back next year even better!
At the District tournament we qualified 3 wrestlers to move on to the State Individual Tournament! That equals the most wrestlers we have ever sent to the state tournament.
At the Iowa State High School Tournament Alex Spooner who had been ranked #1 in the state all year at 103 pounds, pinned or Tek Fell every wrestler up to the finals where he won the state title by a score of 7-4. He was so excited he did a back flip in the middle of the mat. That picture of the back flip made the state paper the day after. Alex is only the 4th state champ in Forest City's history. Alex also finished the season ranked 10th nationally and will be back next year as a senior! Aaron Sorenson took third at the tournament as a sophomore and Tim Brock took 7th as a sophomore. Forest City had its best team place finish at the state tournament ever with 8th Place and we only sent 3 wrestlers. These guys wrestled tough all week and it showed!
I have included a picture of a bunch of our kids wearing the shirts you sent. I did not get as many kids together as we had hoped for picture day. This is my first year doing this and I think next year I will take pictures right when the shirts are given so I have all of them in the same place at the same time. I have also included a team pic so you can see all of the kids and coaches.
We can not thank you enough for what you have done for our team.
Thanks so much for helping.
Jeremy Jordahl
Forest City Indians High School Wrestling
Forest City Little Indians Wrestling Club
Geoff Owens victorious over Jeremy shepherd taking his record to 8-1
Rod: Congratulations Geoff on your victory over Jeremy shepherd, tell me how the fight started out and what was your fight plan?
Geoff: I came out touched gloves took the center of the cage and threw some faints to try and get him to react and when he took his shots they were big KO punches so I knew he was a brawler type. My plan was to stand with him as long as it was going well and then take the fight to the ground where I would finish him.
Rod: Did any of those shots connect and how did you respond?
Geoff: He didn’t connect with me on any of them I then started throwing uppercuts and hooks and I had him rocked. I got him over on the cage and he tied up with me so I started digging into his ribs/body with the right hooks I had some knees some good striking briefly till It went to the ground which is where I wanted the fight to eventually go.
Rod: You said he was a brawler how was his ground game?
Geoff: I took him down in the first round he had me in a guillotine at one point I escaped and we went through a lot of scrambles. He was real strong and defended my submissions pretty well. I went for some straight arm bar attempts but my technique was off bad that night.
Rod: How did the second round go?
Geoff: We came out stood up briefly I hit him with a few shots and he tied up with me I got the body lock and took him down, I had his back at one point but he had his neck tucked pretty good so I just stayed on the side and started the ground and pound.
Rod: Did he ever have you in trouble?
Geoff: It was back and forth I was in his guard at one point and he turned me over and nailed me with a few shots, he didn’t have me in trouble by any means but he did get a few good shots in.
Rod: So it sounds like Jeremy Shepherd was a tough opponent, and he only had one loss before you isn’t that right?
Geoff: That’s correct he was 9-1 and he was a tough opponent it was a hard fight.
Rod: You finished Jeremy in the 2nd round tell me how it went
Geoff: I was constantly looking for a subs and at one point he tried to guillotine me again but It wasn’t happening I escaped again there were a lot of scrambles he got up again at one point and I don’t remember what the transition was but I threw him with kubi-nage a judo throw and had side control he tried to escape and that’s when he ended up In turtle I think he was trying to stand up again I grabbed the guillotine and stood up with It and choked him to a submission.
Rod: Guillotine choke isn’t that one of your signature submissions?
Geoff: I end a lot of my fights that way; I am pretty good with them so I am always looking for the opportunity to stick one in.
Rod: That’s a pretty good summary of the fight was there any part you left out or want to comment on?
Geoff: Oh there is a lot I left out, honestly I don’t remember a lot of the fight, when you are in the cage it all happens so fast and spontaneous that until I see the video of the fight I don’t remember much of the details, I do know that my hand was raised in the end though, that part you never forget. Hey let me thank all my sponsors, first thank you Rod and From The Hood Fight Gear and I want to thank Smash Fight Wear, Living Art Tattoo, and Science Nutrition also.
Rod: Thank you Geoff for the interview, your record moves to 8-1 with 8 finishes 7 by submission and 1by KO that is very impressive. Keep up the great job you are doing I hope someone takes notice and you get a shot of moving up to the big show, you and all the fighters out of Sioux City area are tough as hell and deserve someone to take notice. Best of luck with your next fight.
Geoff: Thank you! Yes definitely that’s the ultimate goal Is to make It to the big show one day I’d love to step Into the UFC octagon but I’m no where near the caliper right now but I’m taking my time and getting my experience and my training In
Rod: How many years have you been fighting MMA
Geoff: I’ve only been fighting in Mixed Martial Arts for a 18 months I trained 6 months before my first fight so I’m taking my time and trying to make the right choices so that if and/or when I get the opportunity to fight for a major organization I want to be ready. I don’t just want the opportunity to fight in the UFC I want to be ready to be a serious contender In that organization.
Details / Comments: Ryan is making his pro debut January 16, 2009 in St. Paul Minnesota
Opponent Info
Opponent Name: Jackson Greer
Fighting Out Of: Sioux City Iowa
Training Out Of: Street Scence
Date of Event: June 28, 2008
Promotion: Real Cage Fighting
Amateur or Pro: Amateur
Fight Record: 14/3
Weight Class: Feather Weight
Sponsor: Creative Ink
Ryan Thompson VS. Jackson Greer
FTH Congratulates Nick Rogers and Tony Cote with their wins on Saturday Dec 6.
Saturday December 6th Nick Rogers had his 10th MMA career fight in Brookings SD for Fury Ultimate Cage Fighting against undefeated (5-0) Diego Garcia. The crowd got exactly what they paid for as Diego and Nick had a 3 round war which ended in favor of Nick Rogers with a rear naked choke 45 seconds of the 3rd round.
Team Mate Tony Cote competed that night as well and dispatched Dustin Dayhoff (9-7) in: 45 seconds with and impressive triangle choke. You can view their fights in the links below. The first video is Tony Cote's fight against Dustin Dayhoff. The remaining three are of Nick Rogers VS Diego Garcia.
