Rumble in Rahway: Amateur Action at its Best

*originally published in Jun '06 issue of Full Contact Fighter*

The Rahway Recreation Center was filled to capacity, and it wasn’t for some UFC veteran or other established fighter. No, promoter Ed Hsu’s June 10^th Rumble in Rahway show was packed with fans out to see the amateurs compete. It was Hsu’s most successful outing thus far – proving yet again that it’s the local boys who make the wheels of MMA turn here in New Jersey – and it was a card of fourteen bouts that provided excitement from beginning to end.

At the top of the list for ‘excitement’, and showing a ton of potential, was Joe Diamond lightweight Anthony Morrison. Sporting a chain a la Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson (not in the cage, of course), Morrison took on a tough jiu-jitsu purple belt in Rene Dreifuss, and used an accurate hook to score the 35-second knockout before the Marcio Santos’ student could get things to the ground. Also exciting was Pitts Penn rookie Ryan Broderick, who tagged Daddis Fight Camp’s David Theis repeatedly with a blazing right hook until the lightweight Theis dropped at 1:23 of the first round. Crowds love sluggers, and Morrison and Broderick both delivered.

For quick submissions, Team Renzo super-heavyweight Bryan Vetell gave us a 34-second keylock win over Ariel’s Combat Club-representative Simon Manning, while Atlantic City MMA middleweight Brandon Piper armbarred Aikido of New York’s Richard Dunn at 1:55 of the first round. Not to be outdone, Team Endgame heavyweight J.A. Dudley got his groove on – and a tight guillotine – at 2:35, forcing Combined Martial Arts’ Shane Dever to tap out. Ecclectic Martial Arts rising star Phil Ferraro was undaunted by IM Sports’ Tim Troxell and the legion of fans the lightweight Troxell had brought with him, as Ferraro slapped on an armbar from the bottom that ended things at 2:18 into the fight. But the most thrilling submission of the night was definitely the one in the Fran Evans/Gary Galperine flyweight fight. R & B Boxing’s Evans came out daring his opponent to hit him on the chin, and Modern Martial Arts’ Galperine did better: he took him down and threw a ton of subs at him, finally nailing him with an armbar at 1:19 of the first round.

Despite the shin pads and standard MMA gloves the competitors had to wear, and even though there was no punching to face allowed on the ground, there was still plenty of weapons available for the fighters to wage all-out war. Thaisport lightweight Al Laquinta battered New York SanDa’s Greg Lachaga for the unanimous decision, while Lachaga’s teammate, welterweight John Salgado, punished Daddis Fight Camp’s Jackson Galka for three rounds to get the decision himself. But the closest battle at the USKBA-sanctioned event was the melee between Gracie Philadelphia’s Michael Groves and Spartan Athlima’s Michael Wright. These middleweights traded leglock attempts and strikes in a contest between jiu-jitsu versus Pankration, and Pankration garnered the split decision.

Vadha Kempo, Morris Martial Arts, Core Martial Arts - the winners hailed from a variety of schools and represented a myriad of styles. But the common denominator was the roar of the crowd, which at times, was at a fevered pitch in the packed venue. That, more than anything else, made Rumble in Rahway a success.