Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Ready, the Almost-Ready, and the Need-More-Time

They came from a wide variety of schools, schools like Thaisport, Vadha Kempo or Vita Saana African Martial Arts. They displayed a wide range of skills, skills like solid wrestling, smooth submissions or polished striking. Some were very impressive, while others clearly needed more training. And some of them really just sucked. September 2nd brought the latest edition of promoter Ed Hsu’s amateur MMA series, Combat in the Cage ‘Adrenaline’, to the Rec Center in Rahway, New Jersey, and aspiring fighters from near and far stepped up for their taste of action.

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Go to enough of these USKBA-sanctioned amateur shows and you’ll see the occasional competitor who’s definitely ready to turn pro. At Adrenaline, that distinction goes to Al Iaquinto. A 157-pound wrestler from Thaisport on Long Island, he controlled his opponent all three rounds to earn the decision, and would likely have finished the bout sooner if the rules had permitted strikes to the head while on the ground. Pitts Penn 150-pounder Ryan Broderick is another one. Having scored a knockout his first time into the cage a few months back, he snagged the guillotine for the win at this one – showing that he has the ability to end a fight both on the feet and on the ground. From what they’ve shown thus far, these two are ready.

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Impressive, and almost ready to make the transition to pro. That’s how Rhino Fight Team 188-pounder Daniel Akinyemi looked when he took on a tough scrapper in Rail City MMA’s Ross Atwood. Atwood had his moments, but Akinyemi ultimately stalked him around the cage and picked him apart for the decision. John Benson Salgado showed a lot of potential at Adrenaline as well. A 170-pound New York San Da striker rounding out his training with some grappling (courtesy of jiu-jitsu brown belt Carmine Zocchi), Salgado had kung fu-stylist Ray Pina tapping to a choke at 1:52 of the first round. And in an area short on heavyweight competitors, 227-pound slugger Matt Paeth and 268-pound pugilist BJ Barrigar (of Mountain Storm and Poresky’s Dynamic Karate, respectively) sent both their opponents into la-la land in crowd pleasing fashion. If they can prove they have a ground game, they’ll soon have East Coast promoters knocking on their doors and offering them fights.

There are others, too. Tim Troxell of IMAF West, David Theis of Daddis/Cool Hearts, and Derrick Strong of Capbell’s Karate & Kickboxing. One more fight, or maybe two or three, and they’ll be ready for a pro show. They’re almost there.

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The rest need more time, but of course they didn’t really suck (that caught your attention, though, eh?). Warriors like Frank Caratenuto, Joe Latour, Mike Prokop, et al. – they all deserve credit for testing themselves, and busting their asses in the cage and out of it. Each one is only a slick submission or crowd-pleasing knockout away from showing the world their potential. Just give them time.

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