Regional MMA

Grappling aficionados are no doubt aware of Robert Drysdale. Three-time IBJJF world champion. 2-time Brazilian national champion. ADCC Open Division champion. 

Put simply, the man is a God when it comes to the submission game. Last night, he came to Houston for the first of a three-fight deal he signed with Legacy Fighting Championships. 

Legacy has been around the area for a long time. Mick Maynard has promoted hundreds of fight cards ranging from the old amateur series all the way to the professional Legacy events he started a few years ago. He quickly gained a rep for putting on the best local events in Texas, and Dallas-based HDNet -- well, it's now called AXS, but I'll probably never stop calling it HDNet -- eventually came calling and started airing the promotion. 

Maynard suddenly had bigger budgets to work with, which meant bigger names. Which meant guys like Robert Drysdale could sign with the little promotion that helped shepherd the careers of UFC prospects Andrew Craig and Daniel Pineda.

Oh, and speaking of prospects: there's a kid I want to tell you about. His name is Charlie Ontiveros. But we'll save that story for next week.

So last night, I make the trip down to the Houston Arena Theatre. If you've never heard of this arena, don't worry about it. If you live in Houston and have never heard of the Houston Arena Theatre, well, that's okay. I'd never heard of the place until Legacy began running fights there a few years back. It's mostly used for comedy events. And by comedy events I mean comedy events featuring comedians you haven't seen or heard from in at least 15 years.

So yeah, the arena was a total crapfest. But again, this was a chance to see Robert Drysdale. I was positive that everyone in the arena would be buzzing with excitement to see the man who might just be one of the greatest submission artists in the world as he continued his MMA career.

Boy, was I wrong.

When Drysdale entered the arena for his co-main event bout against Ike Villanueva, the arena fell silent. Most of the bros in the latest and greatest in skull/angel/cross fashion decided to use the moment to grab some watered-down Bud Light and shots of the cheapest tequila this world has to offer in cheap plastic cups. 

The ring announcer announced Drysdale's name, and -- outside of a few fans who obviously knew the sport outside of just wearing horrific t-shirts -- the crowd was silent. Villanueva -- the portly hometown hero fighting at light heavyweight when his actual frame dictates he should probably be at welterweight -- was cheered roundly.

I was flabbergasted. Nobody knew who Robert Drysdale was. This was a travesty.

Of course, Drysdale made up for that lack of respect by going all Drysdale on Ike, putting on him on the canvas within 30 seconds. From there, he fluidly transitioned to Villanueva's back, quickly locking in a body triangle and going for a rear-naked choke. Villanueva defended the choke admirably, so Drysdale calmly transitioned from the back into an armbar that scored him the submission win in under two minutes.

It was a beautiful performance from a true artist. Completely fluid, completely dominant and full of grace. And the fans in attendance had no idea what they'd just seen, or even who they'd just seen.

And that's a shame, because chances like the one they had last night -- to see an all-time legend of the martial arts, before he's been shoved down your throat by the bigwigs and before Tapout makes 47 shirts to honor him and before he rises in the UFC's light heavyweight ranks?

Well, those are rare chances, indeed. 

Fans who attend Saturday night’s Driller Promotions: Downtown Showdown 8 will be treated to what is expected to be a highly entertaining co-main event featuring one of Minnesota’s best in Rich Taylor as he battles rising prospect from North Dakota, Ryan Burwick.

The 145-pound bout will be part of a nine fight event which will begin at 7:15pm on Saturday night, July 14th at the Hyatt hotel in Minneapolis, MN.

Taylor, a former Augsburg college wrestling teammate of Bellator and UFC stars such as Roger Huerta, Carey Vanier and Marcus LeVesseur, has been steadily rising through the ranks in the midwest. He will be looking to solidify his spot as one of the very best featherweights in the area with a win on Saturday night.

He won’t have an easy road, though, as Burwick has been on a three-fight winning streak with all three victories coming in the first round (including two submissions).

“He’s a great BJJ guy, so that’s always dangerous,” Taylor told Bleacher Report MMA. “But I don’t really worry about my opponents so much. I try to concentrate on what I’m going to do.”

As a champion in Brutaal, Taylor has experience going as deep as five rounds in his fights which could make for an interesting challenge for Ryan Burwick, who has only gone to a decision once in his career.

“We definitely looked at the fact that he hasn’t been to the later rounds. When you get deep into fights, that’s really when you can test a fighter’s heart,” Taylor said. “I’m definitely looking to bring him into deeper water and push the pace on him. Hopefully I can break him.”

Though the fight against Burwick came along smoothly, Taylor admits that previous opponent, promoter and management issues kept him out of the cage for longer than he would have preferred.

“I was offered some fights, but a lot of them were out of the country. One of them fell through. I was just kind of waiting for the right opportunity,” he said. “I was really hoping that I would get a shot in the big show for the UFC. I’ve been looking forward to that.”

Taylor has not fought since October of 2011, but his new manager Monte Cox could be the behind-the-scenes change that finally gives him the opportunity to compete for the more high-profile promotions.

The 145-pound division might be the weakest weight class in the UFC and that could play out very well for Taylor who believes that he will be ready to compete at that level when he finally gets the call.

“I think the 145 pound division is a little bit thin until you get up to the top guys like Aldo and Mendes,” Taylor admitted. “I think I can compete with any of those guys, even the top guys I think I could give a fight to. I just really want that chance. I’m ready for it physically, I’m ready for it mentally.”

Though he hopes that a win on Saturday will put him over the edge, Taylor understands that timing is everything. With the UFC releasing fellow Minnesota 145-pounder Pat Schilling in June, it could be the perfect time for Taylor to finally get his chance against an opponent who called him out over a year ago.

“He called me out at one of the shows and I accepted the challenge. Then I guess [Schilling and his management] kind of backed out,” Taylor said. “I don’t know if there was maybe an injury or what occurred—maybe they were waiting for something on a bigger show. I got a couple different stories. I didn’t take it personally, though. I would love to mix it up with him if he wanted to go back and finish up what we had going. I’d love to get in there and scrap with him.”

Another frequently-discussed opponent for Taylor is Mitch Jackson, the top-ranked Minnesota featherweight according to MNMMANews.com, and the only man who currently sits above Taylor on that list.

“I think that’d be a good fight. A lot of people want to see that,” Taylor said about a potential bout with Jackson. “I tried to get that fight awhile ago, but I guess he was going into some tournament and the fight never happened.”

Before he gets to rumble with Schilling or Jackson, though, Taylor will need to get through a very dangerous opponent in Ryan Burwick. Taylor believes he’s up to the challenge and that those in attendance will go home satisfied by his performance.

“I predict that I’m knocking Ryan Burwick out,” Taylor said. “That’s what the fans want to see and that’s what I’m going for.”

Tickets are still available for this big fight card in Minneapolis and will be on sale at the door with prices as low as just $35/ea.

Roger Huerta was the UFC's golden boy, and there was a time when the UFC was looking to build its entire brand around him. He had the looks, he had a way with words and he also fought with the sort of ferocity which is so often lacking from modern MMA fights.

His fights with Clay Guida and Leonard Garcia are two of the more memorable in UFC history, but refusing to renew his contract with the organization and signing with Bellator instead proved to be a bad move.

Had Huerta signed on the dotted line it is doubtful whether he would have been given an opponent of Gray Maynard's calibre in his final fight. Well aware that he was probably headed for pastures new, the UFC decided to give him a serious send-off.

His form since leaving the UFC has been poor, but the only time he has really been outclassed was against Eddie Alvarez; all of his other fights have been close. The statistics don't make for good reading with five losses in six fights, but 21-6-1-1 is still a very respectable record.

I don't think Huerta is a significantly worse fighter than he was when he went 6-0 in the UFC. Having watched most of his recent fights, I think he has maintained a consistent level. I'm sure he rode his luck at times when he won 11 straight fights, and that luck has since deserted him.

He is only 29, he has not taken too much punishment in his career and he remains one of the most entertaining fighters in the MMA world. Huerta could have a very bright future in the sport, but he is going to need to win at One FC 4 on Saturday.

Zorobabel Moreira is One FC's best lightweight, at least until Shinya Aoki makes his debut later this year. If Huerta can beat him, he will find himself sitting somewhere near the top of a division he could conceivably go on to dominate.

One FC has some good talent in that division, and I have enjoyed watching Ole Laursen, Eduard Folayang and Felipe Enomoto recently. But none of those names will scare Huerta, and he would be the favorite against any of them.

The expected influx of Dream fighters could see Aoki, Satoru Kitaoka and Katsunori Kikuno sign for One FC which will make the 70 kg division very competitive indeed. While these Japanese fighters remain in limbo, Moreira and Huerta are competing for number one status.

In the space of a single fight Huerta could snap a three-fight losing streak and establish himself at the best fighter in the most competitive weight class in the biggest promotion in all of Asia. It is a mouthwatering opportunity, and after so many disappointments, he must be desperate to grab with both hands.

MMA thrives on good fights; without them the sport would eventually die. Huerta is guaranteed to provide them.

It would be refreshing to have a champion with such an honest style who sets out to leave it all in the cage every single time he fights.

Physically Huerta is still in his prime, and despite earning good money from fighting and acting, he still seems to have the same hunger to compete. His American adventure looks to be over, but this Saturday could see the start of a whole new chapter for Roger Huerta.

One FC is taking MMA to completely new countries and has been incredibly successful with 10,000 tickets supposedly sold for One FC 4 in Kuala Lumpur. If the people in the crowd at Stadium Negara on Saturday aren't familiar with the sport of MMA, I can't think of a better introduction than a Roger Huerta fight.

This weekend did not provide us with any "major" events from the UFC, Strikeforce or Bellator, but that doesn't mean the march did not go on. Titan Fighting Championship, Ring of Combat and ShoFight all put on solid cards, entertaining fans in the absence of the UFC.

Here is a quick rundown of what went on this weekend.

Santiago earns submission, vows to drop to welterweight at Titan Fighting Championship 23

Titan Fighting Championship put on a card for the troops this weekend, putting on a show at Fort Riley in Kansas. Headlining was former top-10 middleweight Jorge Santiago, who is looking to pile up wins to earn his way back in the UFC.

Opposite of Santiago was Justin Guthrie, a 20-fight veteran looking for his sixth straight win and a call-up to the big leagues. Unfortunately for Guthrie, it wasn't to be.

Just 94 seconds in, Santiago tapped Guthrie with an inverted heel hook, earning his second straight win since his drop from the UFC. It was Santiago's first submission victory since 2008, where he also won by heel hook.

After the fight, Santiago vowed a drop to welterweight in his future. This could mean trouble to any 170-pounder who gets in Santiago's way, as he is a power striker with a great submission game.

In other notable news from the Titan Fighting Championship card, Brazilian prospect Freddy Assuncao, brother of UFC vets Junior and Raphael, participated in a featherweight bout with Andrew Carrillo. Assuncao was victorious after Carrillo dislocated his shoulder and was unable to continue.

This runs Assuncao's record to 7-1, showing the potential and skill of the Brazilian. One more win and Assuncao should be invited to the UFC's featherweight division, as the division needs more talent.

Teammates Hall and Rivera capture gold at Ring of Combat 41

Ring of Combat saw Team Tiger Schulman representatives capture championships in two different weight divisions.

In the main event, Uriah Hall earned a unanimous decision over the rugged Nodar Kuduxashvili. Hall used power striking and his solid ground game to control Kuduxashvili for a majority of the bout. This win should earn Hall a UFC contract, as he is one of the best middleweights not in the company.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Fighter veteran and fellow Team Tiger Schulman rep Jimmie Rivera was victorious in his bout on the card. He also won a unanimous decision, topping Justin Hickey in his three-round affair. That was Rivera's eighth straight win as a featherweight, which should similarly earn him a UFC contract. He is very well-rounded and a powerful fighter to be feared.

ShoFight 20 puts on dazzling card with veterans of the cage

If you were looking for great fights to watch with recognizable names, ShoFight 20 would have been the card to watch. Hosting a number of big-fight veterans, ShoFight put on an amazing event that is sure to gain steam for the company. 

Earning decision victories were UFC veterans Matt Lucas, Kendall Grove and Sevak Magakian, as well as Strikeforce veteran Lyle Beerbohm. Of those decisions, only Grove's was a split decision, which was earned over very-late replacement Derek Brunson.

Other winners include Chris Gruetzemacher (TKO victory over Roli Delgado), Mike Wessel (TKO victory over Matt Kovacs) and John Gunderson (submission win over Karo Parisyan).

In the midst of all the success that big-name players received, other notable veterans fell victim to defeat. Knocked out were WEC veteran Karen Darabedyan, Bellator veteran Sam Alvey and UFC veterans Drew Fickett and Roli Delgado.

Others who were defeated were Derek Brunson (split decision), Marcus Aurelio (unanimous decision), Karo Parisyan (guillotine choke) and Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett (triangle choke).

Here is a rundown of the notable fights from the card:

- John Gunderson def. Karo Parisyan via submission (guillotine choke)

- Kendall Grove def. Derek Brunson via split decision

- Lucas Lopes def. Sam Alvey via TKO (punches)

- Chris McDaniel def. Charles Bennett via submission (triangle choke)

- Sevak Magakian def. James Reese via unanimous decision

- Lyle Beerbohm def. Marcus Aurelio via unanimous decision

- Mike Wessel def. Matt Kovacs via TKO (punches)

- Jonatas Novaes def. Drew Fickett via TKO (punches)

- Chris Gruetzemacher def. Roli Delgado via TKO (elbows)

- Mike Brazzle def. Karen Darabedyan via TKO (punches)

- Matt Lucas def. Lucas Overcast via unanimous decision

Dream is dead if the reports are to be believed but it is still a very exciting time for Asian MMA. Why? Because ONE Fighting Championship is gaining momentum and putting on some of the most stacked card the continent has seen since the days of Pride.

ONE FC 4 later this month is packed full of exciting, well matched fights which in terms of entertainment should be more than a match for anything the UFC is currently putting on. The main event between Renato Sobral and Tatsuya Mizuno should be good because Mizuno fights tend to finish fast, he has never heard the bell at the end of the third round.

I do not think this is the main attraction, although it is clearly a big fight for both Babalu and his Japanese opponent. That honour goes to Zorobabel Moreira vs Roger Huerta which could well turn out to be the fight of the night.

Huerta's recent form has been far from fantastic but he is always an exciting fighter to watch and is not the type to lay and pray or grind out a decision. Moreira is up and coming and there has been a lot of hype about him in Asia so this will be a real chance for him to show he is good enough to mix it up with proven UFC fighters.

I think Huerta will come at Moreira right from the word go and look to land big bombs, the Brazilian got knocked out early once before and testing his chin will be high on the agenda. Moreira has got some Muay Thai skills of his own and I could see this being a stand up war as Huerta is tough to take down and will not want to be on the ground with the BJJ black belt.  

Another fight which I am looking forward to is Bae Young Kwon vs Eric Kelly, two of the top featherweight talents in Asia going head to head. The Filipino has never lost while the Korean is coming off a win over Honorio Banario and Kelly will want to get revenge because they both train together at Team Lakay.

These are two fighters with UFC potential and if one of them can win decisively it would really take his career to the next level. Both have 1-0 ONE FC records with rear naked choke wins and this is a chance to see the top prospect in Korea and the top prospect in the Philippines wage war on one another.

Masakazu Imanari has found a home in ONE FC which is good news for anyone who likes seeing submissions. This will be his second fight on successive cards but I expect Leandro Issa to do much better against him than Kevin Belingon did.

Issa will be bigger and also has a very high level of BJJ which could spell trouble for a fighter whose best chance is a submission win. Imanari does some strange stuff and is very unpredictable but this could be a defining moment for the career of Issa.

Unfortunately Eddie Ng got injured but Brian Choi vs Arnaud Lepont is another fight which I expect to be very exciting. Lepont's record is excellent and in nine fights he has never been to a decision and I do not expect that to change after this fight.

Lepont has a reputation for hitting hard and will not waste any time in going for a knockout so the first round should be good. If Choi survives it he could use his wrestling to control the fight but he will need to be careful when he shoots for takedowns because Lepont has a deadly guillotine.

Choi, Moreira and Issa are all Evolve MMA fighters and there has been a great deal of hype about this camp. It seems to be in a different league from any of the other training centres in Asia and that will definitely give them an advantage against fighters training in places like Malaysia and Thailand.

I am also looking forward to seeing Adam Kayoom fight. I do not know much about him but anyone who has world titles in Muay Thai and a black belt in BJJ is not going to be a beginner when it comes to MMA.

Gregor Gracie, his opponent, could be the next Gracie to get into the UFC but this is a dangerous fight for him because striking is definitely his weakness. Kayoom is also Malaysian which will add some spice because this event is taking place in a big indoor stadium in Kuala Lumpurwhich is where he was born.

Of the early fights I am really looking forward to seeing Allamurad Karayev and Kim Hock Quek. Karayev is a flyweight who finishes all his fights, nine so far, mainly in the first round and from the footage I have seen he looks to have knock out power.

Quek is the Singaporean who did very well at the last ONE FC but has a hard fight against an experienced Malaysian fighter called Peter Davis. Karayev's opponent, Roldan Sangcha'an is a bit of a mystery but he trains at Team Lakay so he is bound to have something about him.

The first two ONE FC events were enjoyable but numbers three and four show that the promotion is prepared to spend big bucks to bring in the best available fighters. The UFC is only doing a show or two a year in Asia right now, hopefully this increases in the future but even if it does not ONE FC is making this the most exciting time for Asian MMA since Pride folded.

I hope people in the West are paying attention because ONE FC's cards are good quality and the fights are fun to watch, I think because there are more stand up fighters in Asia and less wrestlers in comparison to the US.

One of the best thing about ONE FC is the number of finishes, there were 11 fights at the last event and only two of them went to a decision, which in the current era of chronic controversy over judging is refreshing.

Asian MMA was in the doldrums for a long time but ONE FC has completely revitalized it by traveling to places like Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia and putting on cards in bit stadiums with big names.

The next stop is Kuala Lumpur and ONE FC 4 could be the best card yet. I expect to see submissions and KOs and plenty of competition for that fight of the night bonus.

MMA in Mexico hasn't really taken off as it has in its neighbors on the North. Mexico for the longest time has been a country that has been dominated by boxing as the main form of combat sports, but Mexico Fighter is looking to change all that with a league of upcoming amateurs and pro Mexican fighters.

Gustavo Pohls, promoter for Mexico Fighter, along with Total Gym Mexico in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, put forward their first amateur event in form of Chapo Challenger I. Needless to say, the event was a success as fighters from Total Gym Mexico and Fight Club Guaymas locked horns in fights that showed great promise for the future contenders of the sports.

There was a total of nine fights ranging from Bantamweights to Heavyweights and the fights kept the Hermosillo crowd on their feet.

There were two fights that really stole the show. The fight of the night was a 130 lbs. matchup between Saul "Superman" Bizarro from Guaymas, Son against Total Gym Mexico fighter Oscar "Pacquaio" Cota. The two engaged in a great fight that was considered Fight of the Night, where Bizarro showed a wide array of kicks and crisp boxing to outwork Cota.

The fight that is currently circling some of the major MMA websites was the fight between Hermosillo's own Daniel Almada taking on Guaymas' Estevan Santillanez. The fight was not amazing as the aforementioned fight. However, the reason was the way the fight ended that's making headlines.

The fight lasted less than 15 seconds as Almada did the incredible by throwing a jumping spinning back kick that landed flush on Santillanez's jaw putting him to sleep. Needless to say it's a kick that would make Jean-Claude Van Damme proud. You can take a look at the KO here.

Mexico Fighter is going in the right direction to bring MMA into Mexico where it really hasn't had the the same effects as other countries like the U.K. and Canada, but with promotions like Mexico Fighter, MMA in Mexico is taking a step in the right direction.

Mexico Fighter will put forward their fourth pro event on July 14 in Hermosillo, Sonora, as Middleweight Champion Ivan "Chapo" Guillen takes on long time veteran Shannon "The Cannon" Ritch.

Also in action will be TUF alumni Javier "Chunty Boy" Torres taking on Hermosillo's Guillermo Smith, and Bellator veteran Kobe "The Stunna" Ortiz takes on the dangerous Brazilian, Mateus Gurila.

This article originally featured at Hurtsbad MMA. Follow us on Twitter @HurtsBad

As the UFC’s newly-created flyweight division grows, promotions all across the country are beginning to give more emphasis to the smaller, often times more technical and even more exciting fighters.

Fighters such as La Crosse, Wisconsin’s Lloyd “Albie” McKinney (@albiemckinney) are taking advantage of that opportunity to shine in regional MMA promotions as they work toward their dreams of getting a televised fight.

“I feel like 125 is my natural weight class,” he told Bleacher Report MMA. “That’s what I wrestled at for four years in college. I feel the strongest and most athletic at that weight.”

While he prefers fighting in the flyweight division, McKinney has also competed at 135 pounds as a bantamweight in order to get better opponents.

“Whatever the best opportunity is at, I’ll fight at either 125 or 135. It just depends on the opponent and the situation,” he said. “The 125 class is still developing, but I think by the time I’m ready to go to a bigger organization, that’s definitely the weight I’ll be at.”

McKinney is coming off of two fights already in 2012, the first being a win against Kurtis Ehrhorn back in February. While most had McKinney winning on the scorecards at the time, the fight was actually called due to a disqualification in the second round—when Ehrhorn repeatedly spit out his mouthguard during the bout.

“That was definitely the strangest, most unique situation I’ve been in, in any competition I’ve ever been in,” he said. “It was more frustrating because I trained for six weeks, hard, and I feel like I was just finding my rhythm and he was kind of fading. Instead of letting the fight play out, he just kind of took the easy way out.

“I don’t want people to think that I’m a dirty fighter, but I feel like he should’ve had that situation sorted out prior to the fight.”

After that controversial fight, McKinney battled Bill Friday in April, a contest which saw him get submitted by a guillotine choke in the second round.

“I knew it was in deep, but I didn’t know it was in that deep,” McKinney admitted. “It was kind of a learning experience.”

Since that lesson, he has been training extensively on how to keep utilizing his great wrestling while avoiding putting himself into risky situations.

“I’ve been working on my guillotine defense a lot. I’ve made adjustments in training where I’ll do sparring where I’m going for the feet, going for the takedown and guys will jump for guillotines,” he said. “It really just comes down to me implementing better takedown strategies. I don’t always need the double-leg. I can get a single-leg or I can get into a clinch position, where my neck is not as vulnerable, and get it down from there.”

He hopes that his improved submission defense will serve him well in his next bout against Jon Barker on May 18th, 2012’s "Driller Promotions: Downtown Showdown V" event from the Hyatt in Minneapolis, MN. It also helps that he got to train daily with Barker’s most recent opponent, Tony Belvedere.

“[Barker] is a real tough fighter, he was ranked No. 1 in Wisconsin,” McKinney continued. “Tony Belvedere, one of my good friends and training partners, beat him in his last fight. I was sitting cageside for that one, so I got to see his skills first-hand and I think he’s a very good fighter. Obviously I think there are some things that I can exploit in his game and I don’t really want to show my hand, but I wouldn’t have taken the fight if I didn’t think I could win.”

Known primarily for his wrestling, McKinney remains confident in his standup and believes he can finish fights from there as well.

“If I can put my hands on his chin, I can put him in some danger,” he said. “But Travis is a very durable fighter. Tony hit him with some good shots and he took them. I didn’t get to see much of his grappling, so that might be something that I want to test the waters with.”

After a loss, many fighters look to take a step back and gain some confidence against a lower-level opponent who they are more likely beat. McKinney doesn’t see it that way, though. He’d prefer to fight better opponents, even if things don’t always go his way.

“I just want to fight quality opponents. I want fights on my record where, win or lose, people can’t just say, ‘That was a can.’ I’m not trying to pad my record. I want fights that will help me grow.”

Jon Barker definitely brings that to the table and it will be interesting to see whether McKinney’s improved game is enough to do what his teammate Tony Belvedere did, and get a big win over a high-quality opponent on Friday night.

Tickets are still available for the show and they can be purchased online or at the door on Friday night.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.

United States Army veteran Mark Bascovsky will make his mixed martial arts return on Friday night at Driller Promotions’ Downtown Showdown V from the Hyatt in downtown Minneapolis, MN.

Bascovsky, 9-2 as a professional, left the sport over five years ago to join the Army, where he was deployed in Afghanistan and stationed in Alaska. When he got back to the states, however, he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to continue with the path he was down as a mixed martial artist.

“I almost thought I wasn’t going to fight anymore,” he told Bleacher Report MMA. “It kind of seems like there’s a lot of politics involved now. I just didn’t really want to deal with it. Not only that, but I really didn’t make that much money doing it, when you start adding up all of your normal bills on top of training, it made it hard to be able to do it.”

In the end, though, it was the members of his platoon who convinced him to get back into the sport. During their time together, Bascovsky rolled with members of his platoon who would reiterate how strongly they believed that Bascovsky should fight again.

“I guess we’ll see what happens. I’m hoping the game hasn’t passed me by,” he said. “I still want to make a splash in the sport, but it’s been a long time since I fought, so who knows how it will work out?”

His return fight will be against Bruce Johnson, a fellow Minnesotan who is known for his unpredictable and borderline wild striking.

“Bruce Johnson has really heavy hands. He throws some really unorthodox punches. Looping hooks, uppercuts,” Bascovsky continued. “I just made sure that I’m prepared for that. I just had my teammates throwing those kinds of strikes at me to make sure I could react.”

The game has changed quite a bit since Bascovsky’s last fight in 2007. He noticed a big change in even his training partners when he came to the Academy. That has inspired him to up his game a level and expand his horizons as a fighter.

“It seems like everyone is an all-around better fighter now,” he said. “It used to be that I was kind of a one-trick pony. All I did was take people down to the ground and either hit them or tap them out.

“Thanks to my training partners now and thanks to my trainer Greg [Nelson], I’m going to be able to do everything. I’m a lot more well-rounded. I’ve got fast hands, I hit hard and I’m confident standing...and that actually helps with my ability to take people down because I can setup my shots a lot better.”

As a more well-rounded fighter, Bascovsky could be more dangerous now than he was after 11 professional fights in 2007. Still, the unpredictable nature of the sport makes this a very interesting bout.

“I’m about as nervous as my first fight,” he admitted. “It’s been so long and I haven’t been in front of a crowd in so long. I’m just hoping I don’t go out and have a big adrenaline rush and gas out in the fight.”

Bascovsky’s platoon will be anxiously awaiting the video of the fight which they have already planned to put on a projector in the conference room to watch together. However, if you’re in the Minneapolis area, you don’t have to wait—you can buy tickets to the event online today or purchase them at the door on Friday.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.

There are many advantages to living in a small town. The community is typically very tight, family is close, things move at a more leisurely pace, the air is clean. But for someone looking to start a career in the sport of mixed martial arts, it’s not always the best place to get started.

This has been the case for Pat Magdaleno, a 23-year-old from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, who has spent the past two years competing as an amateur.

“I come from a small town, so really there’s not even an MMA gym in town,” Magdaleno told Bleacher Report MMA. “The closest real MMA gym is about three hours away. I didn’t have any management. Pretty much the last year of fighting, I’ve been doing it all myself. I didn’t even have a coach. I’ve been training with my sister.”

Yes, you read that right—while he had a boxing-specific coach, he’s been working with his sister as his primary training partner.

A former high school wrestler and an amateur MMA fighter with a 2-0 record herself, Magdaleno’s sister is no slouch. But the reality is that in order to get into top shape, he needed to join a real MMA gym.

“She’s a lot smaller than me. It was better than nothing, but it wasn’t what I needed,” he said.

Magdaleno made the choice to stay with his cousin for the past month while he trained at one of the top MMA gyms in the country, Roufusport Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Milwaukee, Wis.

“When I got to Roufus’ gym, and I rolled with some real jiu-jitsu guys, it was a whole different world,” he said. “To actually have real training partners is just a big difference.”

In the short time that he has been at Roufusport, Magdaleno has already seen substantial improvements in his overall game.

“When I first got to the gym, I didn’t really setup my takedowns. I’d just kind of shoot in. They’ve been teaching me a lot about how to mix it up and set your takedowns up with your hands,” he said. “I’ve been learning a lot from that gym. It’s a lot different, so I’m just soaking everything up that I can and it’s awesome. I can actually see myself improving every day that I’m there.”

Along with moving to the new gym, Magdaleno also signed with his first management agency, Sterling Entertainment Group, and they began looking to setup a professional fight immediately.

“I needed a good manager. I didn’t just want to jump into the pro’s by myself. I got hooked up with [Jeremy Bjornberg] and I was like, ‘Yeah! I’m ready to do it!’ “

With 12 amateur fights under his debut, Magdaleno had been chomping at the bit to get into the cage and have his first pro fight.

He’ll get that opportunity on Friday evening, May 18th, when he battles Dan Wales at Driller Promotions’ Downtown Showdown V at the Hyatt in Minneapolis.

While he believes that he is ready for the jump to the pro’s, Magdaleno does admit that there are some butterflies in his stomach about it.

“There’s a lot of pressure. If I don’t go out there and win this one, then not too many promoters are going to go out there and look at an 0-1 fighter,” he said. “He’s got five pro fights and he’s got a little experience on me, but I’m young and I’m hungry. I’ve been working hard for this. There’s not much that’s going to stand in my way.”

From training with only his sister a month ago to joining one of the top gyms in the country thereafter, Magdaleno’s journey to the professional level will be highly anticipated—both by himself as well as by fans.

Fans can purchase tickets for Friday’s event either online or at the door the day of the event.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.

Being a good teammate sometimes means more than just being there to help train with your fellow training partners. Sometimes it even means stepping in for one of them and fighting a battle that he or she is currently unable to engage in.

In the case of Minnesota mixed martial artist Nick Compton, it’s both of those things—but when there’s a huge opportunity for himself involved, it just makes things that much sweeter.

Compton will be replacing his The Academy teammate, Zach Juusola, in the main event of Friday night’s Driller Promotions event in downtown Minneapolis at the Hyatt hotel.

Juusola suffered a broken orbital bone while preparing for his bout with Billy Christianson. With “Juice” out, matchmaker Jeremy Bjornberg turned to Compton to step in and take his place.

“I actually had a feeling that I was going to be approached about taking his spot. When I received a call from Jeremy and he offered me the main event, it didn’t take me long to decide to take that fight,” Compton told Bleacher Report MMA. “Once the main event became available, I saw it as a major opportunity for me and I couldn’t pass up on that.”

Compton’s opponent, Billy Christianson, is the No. 8-ranked lightweight fighter in the state of Minnesota according to MNMMANEWS.com. The opportunity to fight a ranked fighter in the main event was something that Compton believes he is ready for.

“I’ve been fighting almost once a month. Jeremy Bjornberg has kept me really busy and that’s exactly what I’ve wanted,” he said. “I took April off from fighting to focus on getting better at The Academy, looking to become a better all-around fighter, with an emphasis on my wrestling.”

The 30-year-old was training for a fight of his own on the same card against Caleb Wolff, and trained daily with Juusola in preparation for the event.

Christianson himself told Bleacher Report earlier this week that he believes Compton and Juusola are very similar fighters, at least stylistically, but Compton himself wasn’t so quick to agree.

“There are some similarities between our styles, especially in the standup. We’re both longer 155-pounders, we both definitely use our feet and our hands well,” he explained. “I believe that Juice is more of a wrestling-based grappler and I’m more of a jiu-jitsu-based grappler. That’s evident by just looking at our wins and how [the fights] have been finished.”

At 4-2 as a professional, each of Compton’s three most recent wins have come by way of submission. Two were even in the first round.

“We implemented [Juusola’s gameplan] into what I was doing and catered it to my strengths,” he said. “But I think I pose a different kind of threat when it comes to the submission game, and I don’t think that’s going to be similar to Juice.”

The submission game has been good to Compton in his six professional fights, and while it would appear on the surface that it would be a wise decision for him to try to take Christianson to the mat, Compton doesn’t seem to be intent on such a straightforward strategy.

“I’m really comfortable wherever the fight takes place,” he said. “I don’t really like to say that I’m going to key in on taking the fight to the ground. I feel like I’ve been improving my standup and my footwork. If it’s a standup fight, it’s a standup fight. I’m perfectly comfortable going three rounds on my feet. I don’t feel like I need to bring it to the ground.”

As confident as he is, Compton is not overlooking a fighter whom he called an extremely dangerous and aggressive striker.  

“Billy [Christianson] is my main focus right now,” Compton said. “I don’t think past anyone. He’s very dangerous, he’s 6-1. He brings a lot of explosiveness. For me to overlook him at all would be a big mistake.”

These two fight finishers will do battle on May 18 as they meet in the main event at Driller Promotions’ Downtown Showdown V from the Hyatt in Minneapolis. Fans can purchase tickets online or at the door the day of the event.

Photography thanks to Sandy Hackenmueller of Fight to Finish Photography.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.