Post by The Texas Rattlesnakes on Aug 29, 2019 1:56:43 GMT -5
Phoenix FC Returns To Competition;
Struggles With 0-5 Night
Issue #1: August 29, 2019. By Austin Heer
After nearly six months away from the fight game, xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club announced they would be returning to ManMMA for their PPV, ManMMA 464: Liddell vs. Romero. Unfortunately for head coach and the rest of Phoenix FC, the result was subpar.
Although most fighters relocated to new gyms during the six month hiatus, several loyal fighters returned to their home gym for competition, rather than seeking out a new gym to train. DeAnna Bennett suffered her third straight loss while opening the prelims after being knocked out by Maryna Moroz at the start of the second round. Despite Moroz landing an eye poke at the end of the first round, it was a rather dominating performance.
Sarah D'Alelio after her loss to Jessica Andrade
Fighting right after Bennett was long time Phoenix FC vet, Sarah D'Alelio. D'Alelio hadn't fought since her armbar victory over Tecia Torres at ManMMA 443: Syliva vs. Liddell. D'Alelio was looking good in the first round against her opponent, Jessica Andrade, who was making her Flyweight debut. After ending the first round in a dominant position, D'Alelio went back to her corner confident. The second round was completely opposite. Andrade landed two straight takedowns to start the second round, and after a series of elbows and ground and pound, she managed to sink in a kimura that left D'Alelio no choice but to tap out.
Charmaine Tweet, another Phoenix FC vet, found herself facing off against Shayna Baszler. Both women came into the fight on losing streaks, and after a back and forth fight, Baszler managed to sink in a leglock during the fifth round to deliver Tweet her fifth straight loss.
Martin Kampmann was on the card, fighting for the first time since his lost to Cung Le in November of 2015. Believing a comeback was in order, Kampmann would square off against former teammate, Alexander Gustafsson. Although his resilience was on display, so was his ring rust, as Kampmann spent most of his time absorbing damage. Kampmann landed one solid punch, stunning Gustafsson in the beginning of the first round, but failed to do any damage after that. Kampmann was knocked out in the beginning of the second round. Rumor has it that despite the loss, Kampmann is planning on making a full time return to action.
The last Phoenix FC fighter of the night was Tyson Griffin. It would have been Stefan Struve (who also lost), had he not relocated to a different gym before his fight. Griffin entered on a six fight losing streak against Nate Diaz, who was on a one fight winning streak. This was Griffin's first fight since last January. Much like Kampmann, Griffin displayed no offense, and even less resilience as he was quickly submitted by Diaz at the end of the first round.
Even though he had a rough night, we were able to get in touch with Matt Kruze, head coach of xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club :
Headline: Hello, and thank you for joining us. Many fans are wondering if you feel your fighters struggled due to ring rust, lack of preparation after your return was announced, or something else entirely after going winless on your return card.
Kruze: Ummm... Excuse me?! Went wrong? ...Ring rust? Did you even watch the fights, son? ...or did you just look at the results and assumed that the Phoenix fighters struggled through? Yes, we went 0-5 on the night, and Tyson Griffin came in on shorter notice than the rest, but there were some impressive moments from all of our fighters throughout the night. The highlights coming when both Sarah D'Alelio & Charmaine Tweet powerbombed their opponents in the middle of the cage. Were the results disappointing? Sure... But, at the end of the day, no one embarrassed themselves out there. Bazsler, Andrade & Moroz got lucky. Gusty & Marty are old sparring partners, so that one was going to be a wash anyways cuz Gusty is twice Marty's size and reach, and Griff came in on short notice to fight the better of Diaz brothers. So, no I didn't see any ring rust. Next question.
H: What can we look forward to this season from xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club ?
K: From the team, business as usual, I would hope. Not having the likes of Brock Lesnar, Tim Sylvia, Dominick Cruz, Rory MacDonald, Julie Kedzie & Alexis Davis gives us a different complexion for sure, but the mantra still remains the same: Rise Above; Rise Against. With some familiar faces like D'Alelio, Tweet, Jason MacDonald, Mac Danzig, Sharky, and the recent acquisition of Ryan Bader back to the fold, Phoenix FC has most of it's foundation back. Nearly everyone has been here on the team before, so I have a lot of confidence in these fighters... But you can bet your ass that if any of those other previous members I mentioned happen to become available, I'll be looking at them seriously.
H: How are your fighters going to be training differently to score some wins on the record?
K: Differently? Nah... Tweaks and adjustments to progress forward, cuz if I can turn Tim Sylvia around here in ManMMA, a guy who most everyone had written off as a never will be, at one point, and rebuild him into the champion caliber fighter he is today... ManMMA should be pretty worried about Phoenix FC once we establish some capital and I'm able to train these so-called "fringes and dregs" of the league. Rise Above; Rise Against.
H: Can you tell us about some of your new faces?
K: Ah... (Aljamain) Sterling. He's one of Matt Serra's boys. The kid packs a punch, is one helluva wrestler & a BJJ black belt under Matty. This kid can throw down. He's the reason Serra was willing to take a step back for us and allow us to bring him in and Tyson Griffin in for this relaunch. We expect great things in the future from Sterling.
H: Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to talk with us!
K: Anytime... It's the door with the big fiery bird on it.
That concludes the first ever issue of Headline: ManMMA! Stay tuned for the second issue coming some time later this week!
I don't use any of your sweat labor camps for my knock-offs. 😂😂
