Originally planned to be held in an outdoor pavilion, The Victorium II was moved inside to a smaller venue at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds. After various factors (such as a tardy, goofy, and utterly unprofessional Fire Marshall) caused delays in the start of the event, Victorium President and Emcee Giovanni Lemm kicked off the event with a lively speech where he thanked all the fans for their patience and support. After a rousing rendition of the National Anthem by Isabelle Lemm, Giovanni Lemm’s daughter, the event officially kicked off at 8 p.m. Please enjoy the play-by-play of every single fight, from one of the more exciting local events I have seen in a long time.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Jojo Stringfield vs. Nathan Miller (145lbs)

RD1: Both fighters touched gloves, and begin gauging each other for distance. Stringield is keeping a stance with his hands very low. A brief exchange sees both fighters battling in the clinch. Nathan Miller landed a flush head kick that dropped Stringfield. After a brief ground exchange, Miller allowed Stringfield to get back up. Miller then almost immediately floored him with a hard right hand, and Springfield was down for the count. The ref mercifully waved off the fight as Stringfield lay on the canvas.

Quick first round TKO victory for Nathan Miller. Check out my post-fight interview with JoJo Stringfield on Facebook.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Soslan Abanakov vs. Shelby “Shogun” Graham (145lbs)

RD1: Gauging distance, Graham throws a few probing kicks, eats a few punches, then lands a spinning back-fist right on the button. Abanakov then gets a takedown after eating the punch, and lands in side control and starts working to improve his position. Graham is holding onto a Guillotine from half guard, but he looks to be holding position more than working for a submission. Abanakov is grappling well and achieves mount. Graham rolls out and gets back up. Both guys are measuring distance again. Graham lands a leg kick, then misses with another head kick, but connects with a punch. Abanakov ducks under a punch and gets another takedown and immediately lands in guard, with Graham working for a Guillotine. Abanakov handily passes his guard and goes between side control and North South, all while looking to land hard punches. He has a North-South Choke if he wants it, but doesn’t take it. Graham gets back up, then Abanakov goes for another takedown but Graham reverses him and lands on top right before the round ends, landing a few punches.

RD2: Both fighters begin the round by circling to establish their range. Both fighters exchange missing punches, Graham lands a few kicks, but is really telegraphing them. Abanakov is clearly looking to use his superior grappling skills to smother his opponent. Graham goes for a wild Superman punch, but is taken down at the end of it. Abanakov immediately drops back for an Ankle Lock, but Graham seems to defend it well enough to fend it off. Abanakov gets back into Graham’s guard, but isn’t striking with much power or frequency. Graham is keeping his guard wide open, and is gamely throwing short punches and elbows from the bottom position. It is clear at this point that Abanakov is a very skilled grappler who is looking to use positional control to win the fight. Graham deftly reverses and gets on top, fends off a good Armbar attempt, and then lands a thunderous air-to-ground punch. Abanakov then reverses and gets on top in to mount again, staying tight in the top position until the end of the round.

RD3: Both fighters touch gloves, then start gauging distance. Graham throws a telegraphed kick, then another. Both fighters are showing the signs of two rounds of solid grappling, breathing quite heavily from their exertion. Graham goes for a spinning back kick when he is backed up against the cage, but is quickly clinched and pushed against the cage by Abanakov. Abanakov goes for a Suplex of sorts but it is deflected, and he ends up on his butt. Graham goes for a wild spinning air-to-ground punch, but after a subsequent scramble Abanakov eventually gets on top and works ground and pound. Graham reverses and ends up in mount raining down hard punches, knowing that he might be behind on the scorecards as the round ends.

The judges scored a Unanimous Decision for Soslan Abanakov, who used a smothering grappling game to achieve victory. Shelby Graham was clearly disappointed in the result of the fight, as he surely felt that he was the aggressor in the fight. Check out my post-fight interview with Shelby Graham on Facebook!

After that fight, Giovanni Lemm graciously brought 135lb fighter Marcus Daniels and 170lb. fighter Brad Mountain into the ring to talk to them in front of the crowd, as both of them had opponents pull out of their fights at the last minute. Mountain’s opponent pulled out on the day of weigh-ins, notifying promoter Giovanni Lemm by e-mail that very morning.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Angel Ortiz vs. Dusty Shaw (170lbs)

RD1: Both fighters begin the fight by circling and gauging distance. Ortiz is the shorter fighter (5’6”), and trying to find range he lands a leg kick. Shaw lands a leg kick in response. Both fighters seem to be taking their time while trying to find range. Shaw wings an overhand right, but it’s blocked. Shaw lands a really hard leg kick. Shaw then pounces on Ortiz, throwing a flurry of hard punches that drop Ortiz and have him turtled up against the cage on the ground. Shaw then takes his back and gets both hooks while looking for a Rear Naked Choke. Ortiz seems to be fighting it, but he is stretched out and eventually succumbs to the choke.

First round Submission (Rear Naked Choke) victory for Dusty Shaw at the (2:59) mark. Watch my interview with Dusty Shaw after his submission finish!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Joe Hipps vs. Cris Rodriguez (125 lbs)

RD1: Both fighters touch gloves. Hipps feints for a takedown. Rodriguez presses him up against the cage in the clinch, looking to establish under-hooks and work some clinch strikes. Rodriguez gets a big slam takedown and lands in side control. Hipps tries to throw up his legs for some type of submission, but Rodriguez easily shucks them off and gets into mount. Rodriguez lands elbows and punches from the top with increasing frequency, causing Hipps to roll over and gives his back. Rodriguez handily takes Hipps’ back and immediately sinks in a Rear Naked Choke and forces the stoppage by the referee. Hipps tried to deny that he tapped, but it seemed clear he submitted either by tap or verbal submission, forcing Referee Todd McGovern to step in and do his job.

First round Submission (Rear Naked Choke) victory for Cris “Sugar Glider” Rodriguez at the (2:07) mark.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Craig “C-Machine” Yerkey vs. Sam “ The Streetshark” Eure (145lbs, but it’s a 150lbs catch-weight fight)

RD1: Both fighters touch gloves. Yerkey wings an overhand right, but gets clipped on the way in by a hard combo from Eure. Eure immediately pounces on him and hammers him with tons of hard punches from the mount position. Yerkey attempts to roll over and give up his back to mitigate the worst of the incoming damage, but Eure just peels him back and continues to hit Yerkey in the face with numerous hammer-fists. With Yerkey rocked and no longer able to intelligently defend himself, the fight is waved off by Ref Todd McGovern, granting Eure the stoppage victory. Yerkey is bleeding profusely and remained on the ground for several minutes while being attended to by his coaches and the ring physicians. Craig suffered a broken nose that was fountaining blood.

First round victory for Sam Eure by TKO in just 21 seconds. He won exactly how he predicted he would during our weigh-in interview, via hard punches to the head. Check out my post-fight interview with Sam Eure on Facebook!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography.

Jesse McBroom vs. Justin Rodger (185lbs.)

RD1: Both fighters touch gloves and begin gauging distance with punches. Rodger starts pumping a hard jab. McBroom throws a teep kick but it gets caught and he eats a hard punch. Rodger is landing his jab repeatedly. McBroom deftly lands a Superman punch, but Rodger eats it and responds with a hard uppercut. McBroom looks to be winging an overhand right, but keeps missing with it. Rodger then lands a hard uppercut that drops McBroom. Rodger follows him to the ground and after about two dozen hard, unanswered punches on the ground, Referee Todd McGovern steps in and waves off the fight.

First round TKO victory (Strikes) by Justin Rodger at the (1:23) mark. I’ve got post-fight interviews with both Justin and Jesse on my Facebook page – watch them now!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

David Perez vs. Jon “The Scarecrow” Hughes  (155lbs.)

RD1: Both fighters respectively touch gloves and begin circling to gauge distance and range. Hughes misses with a leg kick. Both fighters are flicking out jabs to try to gauge distance, as well as exchanging leg kicks. Perez shoots for a takedown and gets one with a big slam. Perez lands in guard, Hughes looks to be throwing his legs up to work for a submission, but Perez is doing his best to keep his opponents legs down. Hughes then uses a guard sweep to great effect to get into mount. Hughes then proceeds to land a flurry of punches until Perez is able to work his way back to his feet. Perez then immediately shoots for, and gets, another takedown. Hughes then sweeps him again, getting on top in side control and starts raining down hard punches. Perez is doggedly trying to get up from the turtle position, but Hughes is holding onto him and forces him back to the ground, where he takes his back and sinks in a Rear Naked Choke, forcing the referee to call an end to the fight. Hughes gets a ton of applause from the crowd of supporters he brought to the show, with many of them sporting Disciple MMA (the home of UFC fighter Dustin Pague) shirts to show their allegiance.

First round Submission (Rear Naked Choke) victory for Jon “The Scarecrow” Hughes. Watch my post-fight interview with Jon on Facebook!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Devin “The Omega” Izzard vs. Devon “The Silverback” Mosley  (185lbs)

RD1: Both fighters respectfully touch gloves. Mosley quickly lands a leg kick. Izzard is throwing hard shots, but Mosley briefly clinches with him against the cage. Izzard throws another few hard punches followed by a kick and a successful takedown. Izzard’s takedown also happened to see Mosley get a hold of a Guillotine choke while he was on his way down. Despite landing a hard slamming takedown, Izzard was forced to tap because his takedown caused him to sink deeper into the Guillotine.

First round victory via Submission (Guillotine) for Devon Mosley in front of a huge hometown crowd, including his mother, who cried tears of joy as they announced her son’s victory. A great moment to watch!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

“Ruthless” Joe Ray vs. Tony “Father Time” Horn (Heavyweight)

RD1: Both guys immediately get to work, throwing a flurry of hard punches and elbows. Ray gets Horn up against the cage and is working short knees to the legs. Ray landed an accidental low blow, but Horn easily shook it off. Horn landed a hard leg kick, but Ray pressed him against the cage again and looked to work short punches and knees to the body. Both fighters separate briefly and throw a flurry of punches before Ray pushes Horn up against the cage again. Horn lands a few hard punches to the head of Ray,  but Ray keeps him pressed up against the cage. Both fighters have kept a pretty fast pace of action so far, but do not seem to be waning one bit. Horn is winging leg kicks but leaves his head unprotected, Ray pounces on him and throws more hard punches and presses him against the cage to keep working his dirty boxing. Ray gets a leg trip takedown to end the round.

RD2: The round begins with both fighters gauging distance. Both fighters are showing no ill effects from the blistering pace that they set in the first round, and get right back to business. Ray gets a takedown and is postured up and raining down punches on Horn. Despite being mounted, Horn is gamely throwing punches from the bottom. The referee waves off the fight as Horn might be suffering from some sort of rib injury. The injury was quite possibly sustained during the takedown, as Ray is 264 pounds landing on top of him, and that cannot feel pleasant. Ray showed great speed and cardio for a guy of his size, which is very impressive. While I know enough about the sport and have seen more than enough fights to know that you should never judge a book by it’s cover, the crowd didn’t seem to understand such a thing. It therefore brought me great pleasure to watch Ray put up a pace that outstripped that of many lower weight fighters, and make those certain members of the crowd eat their words and maybe come to the realization that being an armchair-fighter is quite silly, to say the least.

Ray wins by TKO due to injury in the second round. Ray graciously offered Horn a rematch when he is healed from his injury, which is a very gentlemanly thing to do. Great post-fight interviews from both Ray and Horn are on the Facebook page!

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

Samir Farid vs. Brian Robey (115 lbs) — First mens Strawweight bout in US MMA History

RD1: Both fighters touch gloves. Farid pumps a jab then lands a leg kick. Robey throws a one-two. Farid lands a snapping kick to the body. Robey misses with a push kick. Farid pushes Robey against the cage, looking to establish under-hooks, and then gets a takedown. Working on the top in guard, Farid moves into side control. Robey is trying to hold onto his head, but it’s not effective. Farid jumps for an Armbar, but Robey gets out and gets back to his feet. Farid pumps fast combos then a hard pair of leg kicks. Robey wings hard punches and backs Farid up against the cage, but Fareed reverses and pushes Robey against the cage where they are exchanging short knee strikes and battling for position within the clinch. Fareed briefly drops down for a takedown but abandons it, getting back up to work some short punches. Robey tries to jump for a standing Guillotine, but slips off. Farid then gets another takedown and ends in back side control as the round ends. Both fighters kept up a very fast pace for the round.

RD2: Farid pumps the jab, with both guys looking to gauge distance. Farid throws a kick then a flying knee to back Robey up against the cage, where they clinch. They separate then Robey rushes Farid and tries to clinch up, but is taken down by Farid who lands in side control again. Robey then rolls over, then Farid takes his back. Farid throws some punches and then goes for a Rear Naked Choke. He quickly stretches Robey out and sinks it in.

Second round Submission (Rear Naked Choke) victory (2:25) for Samir Fareed.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Foster Photography

John “Cage” Attia vs. Matt “The Barbarian” Douglas (Heavyweight), Co-Main Event

RD1: Both fighters touch gloves. Douglas lands a hard leg kick, and then another. Douglas pumps a jab. Attia continues to circle away, feinting well but not doing much offensively. Douglas gets a takedown and lands in guard. He intelligently pushes Attia against the cage and then practically steps into Mount. Douglas then starts to throw audibly hard strikes while John just holds onto him ineffectively. Douglas continues to rain down audibly hard strikes and then the ref waves it off due to a Verbal Submission from Attia due to strikes. The legion of fans Matt “The Barbarian” Douglas brought with him are cheering in celebration at a deafening level.

Matt Douglas wins in the first round due to Verbal Submission (2:28) due to strikes. Matt and John caught up at the Victorium II after-party to discuss the fight. See what they had to say to each other post-fight!

Photo courtesy Jessica Foster Photography

Brett “Unbreakable” Glass vs. Jeffrey “ The Glass Breaker” Peterson (155lb), Main Event

RD1: Both fighters start winging hard punches immediately. Glass pushes Peterson against the cage, but then Peterson gets a surprising takedown and lands in Brett’s guard. Glass is working his butterfly guard, but Peterson passes to side control. Glass then sweeps and rolls to the top, but then they both get up soon after. Peterson pushes Glass against the cage and gets another trip takedown, which drags Glass to the ground again. Peterson postures up to throw hard punches, but Glass uses a submission attempt to sweep and get back to his feet. Sensing a good opportunity, Glass pounces on Peterson and proceeds to batter him with dozens of unanswered punches, elbows, kicks, and knees. Glass has Peterson backed up against the cage where all he can do is cover up and attempt to avoid the worst of the blows. Glass unrelentingly continues to batter Peterson at a merciless pace against the cage, and the ref starts to take a closer look at the action. After watching Peterson absorb a huge volume of strikes, the ref separated the fighters and waved off the action with a TKO stoppage. Upon the separation, Peterson collapsed to the ground, clearly battered after absorbing a truly huge amount of strikes without being knocked unconscious. Great credit is due to both fighters for showing a great bit of skill and resilience. The fight truly embodied what a Main Event fight is supposed to be in every way possible.

Brett Glass wins by first round TKO stoppage in front of a huge hometown crowd. Check out my interview with Brett post-fight on the Facebook page!

Thanks to Jessica Foster Photography for the permission to use these photos.