Quick rundown of the event this weekend. The Hot Box competed in the SSFL fights over at the Gladwin Ice Arena and did a phenomenal job!
Ron Smith (1-0 - 185lbs.) defeated (0-1) John Hillier by way of 2nd Rd. Triangle. At just 18 yrs old, Ron showed he has been paying close attention in class and confidently brought the fight to the ground. This was Ron's first Submission victory, but you would have never guessed watching the fight. Solid shrimping back into position, pulling guard, and even putting his opponent in a DEEP gogoplata late in the 1st Rd. - After getting taken down in our corner, Smith was able to walk the cage with his feet until he was in position to slap on the finish! Great 2nd fight of his young career.
Jannika Ryan (0-0) made her debut at 145lbs. against the far more experienced (2-6) Vanessa Meinke. Wrestling technique played a huge role in this contest, as JD (Jannika) was able to secure several different takedowns off the cage. She stayed calm, and relaxed for the majority of the fight, which is never an easy thing in your debut. Securing the mount on 2 diff. occasions and landing some solid G&P! - JD picked up the Unanimous Decision Victory!
Ed Celestino improved to (6-3) with a quick first round Guillotine choke over (4-2) Gregg Laplunt. Ed started off the fight setting up his shot and was in fact put in a deep Guillotine himself. Cleared the legs, hopped to side control, regained his posture until his opponent gave up his neck for the finish. (1:18)
Matt Volz fell short in his cage debut over (1-0) 4x All State Wrestler Dewey Milan. This fight was a BLOODBATH! Volz got caught with an illegal strike early in the fight and just never seemed to regain his composure after continuing on. He fought hard, and showed no sign of quit until he was TKO'd in the 2nd Rd.
Mike "The Prodigy" Minski dropped his first fight to undefeated Anthony Edgington. Now (6-1) Mike lost a Unanimous Decision victory (29-28) - But was able to come away with the 3rd Rd. Superior Wrestling won his opponent the fight, as he just purely over powered Minski. This was a big test for our young warrior and he fought extremely hard, just took a little longer to find his rhythm than we would have liked.
Autumn Hale won by 1st Rd. TKO after landing a nicely placed combination on her feet, followed up with some devastating G&P. Autumn now (2-0) Defeated newcomer (0-0) Chauntel Wallace 1:09 into the fight.
Jose lost quick by Rear naked choke to (11-5) Judo Black Belt Tim Eschtruth. - 1st Rd.
Pat Ritchie's opponent No-Showed the event - So his title was not defended.
Co-Main Event featured our guy Andrew Roe competing against (11-4) Triple Belt Champion Wes Dinan for the Heavyweight Strap. Roe improved to (5-0) and captured the Belt in a 5 Round Split Decision WAR!! These two earned FIGHT OF THE NIGHT honors, and had the entire crowd on their feet. Dominant wrestling, and a constant in your face pressure from Andrew won him and extremely close fight. Upon getting his face split open early in the 3rd, Roe showed some us a performance that would legitimately be fit for a Rocky movie! (lol) In the 5th Round, after taking a stiff kick to the nuts - I literally yelled to Roe "You have 70 seconds to win this fight, now WTF are you gonna do about it Roe?? Do you wanna leave here wishing you would have done more, or are you gonna suck it up and win that belt you've worked so hard to get?..." I hear a confident "YES SIR!" from across the cage, he coughs his balls back in place, and came straight forward throwing 3's and 4's backing the champ all the way across the cage!! It was AWESOME! I'm beyond proud of the heart this kid displayed. Getting a W over a very well known Heavyweight in our state.
Last but not least was our Undefeated 145lb. Champion Norbert Seleski improving to (6-0) and earning SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT! Seleski defeated the TWC Champion from down state by running a ground clinic! Out of 17 of his opponent's wins 16 had come by way of knockout, so this was def. a fight we needed to get control of. - Fight starts, Norbert takes the quick shot>takes his back>Deep Hook>to Rolling Calf Slice>to Twister attempt! Loses control briefly but slid to a Triangle Position, only to finish by transitioning to the Arm bar!

It was a beautiful display of Mat work. Norbert is the hardest working guy on our amateur squad and it showed this weekend. That is his 2nd 1st Rd. win by arm Bar in his last two fights, over champions from two different promotions.
The team really worked hard to get prepped for these fights, and it all paid off. Very rarely was anybody making excuses as to why they couldn't practice, instead they were in like clockwork busting ass! It's questionable, but I'd say we are the most active MMA group in the 10th Planet Community, and only getting better with each performance! We compete in BJJ every chance we get, and will be taking the squad down to the EFG Tournament the 22nd of June as well. - I hope you're as pleased by the performances as I was. I'm honestly extremely proud of these warriors. I'll make sure to get pictures and video out as soon as possible for everyone to check out!
Love the fact our entire team is the most comfortable on the ground!
10P4L!