Kfir Yitzhaki Seminars at Krav Maga Illinois

Krav Maga Illinois is welcoming First Sergeant Kfir Yitzhaki for a series of seminars beginning April 9. Yitzhaki is the head Krav Maga instructor for Israel’s elite Special Forces Undercover combat unit, Duvdevan.

Yitzhaki will cover a variety of self-defense techniques for both adults and children, civilians and law enforcement.

Carlson Gracie Jr. BJJ Seminar – April 14

Here’s your chance to learn BJJ from a legend. Carlson Gracie Jr. will be teaching a two-hour BJJ seminar on April 14th at the Carlson Gracie Team MMA school in Aurora/Naperville. There are also Carlson Gracie schools in Schaumburg, Chicago, Channhon and Merillville.

A gi is required for this event, and the cost is $60 is you register online. You can sign up for the seminar by clicking here.

Carlson Gracie Jr, the son of late Grandmaster Carlson Gracie, is a 5th degree blackbelt who has earned 10 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships, 6 Greco-Roman wrestling championships and is the grandson of the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

More information on the poster below.

Are You Chicago’s Hottest Fighter?

You can sweep BJJ black belts from your guard. You shoot a power double and know for certain your opponent will end up on his back. You throw combos so fast and powerful, nobody wants to hold mitts for you. But are you Chicago’s hottest male fighter?

That’s what Stereo nightclub on Diversey wants to know. They’re looking for Chicago’s hottest fighter and they’re giving away cash prizes just for entering their contest.

Each of the first 10 contestants in the contest gets $100. The winner gets $1,000 in cold, hard cash. The contest is open to all amateur and professional boxers and MMA fighters.

The event goes down on Friday, April 20. More details on the poster below.

Do you have a favorite in this competition? Leave it in the comments section.

Cut Throat Invasion Chicago: Photo Gallery 2

Here’s another photo gallery from Cut Throat’s Invasion Chicago on Friday, March 16, 2012 at the Congress Theatre in Chicago.

The photos in this gallery were taken by Jeremy Witteveen. Find more of Jeremy’s work and his contact information at http://www.r25productions.com/. Click here for the first set of Cut Throat Invasion Chicago photos.

Cut Throat’s Invasion Chicago: Photo Gallery

The first of two galleries from Cut Throat MMA’s Invasion Chicago on Friday, March 16, 2012 at the Congress Theatre in Chicago.

All of these photos were taken by Bill Whitmire. Find more of Bill’s work and his contact information at BillWhitmire.com.

Cut Throat’s Invasion Chicago: Results

Mike Reid defeats Andrew Ballenger 2nd round KO
Billie Jessie defeats John Reed – 1st round tap
Jerald Williams defeats Sean Gee – 3rd round decision
Manny Camacho defeats Anthony Guerrero

Aaron Brooks vs. Zach Sesko
Carlson Gracie’s Aaron Brooks def. Zach Sesko, sub-armbar round 3

Breea Gilbert vs.
Breea Gilbert wins via verbal tap in round 1.

Jason Crose vs. Matt Giancarlo
Crose comes out with a leg kick that Giancarlo catches and uses to get Crose to the ground. Giancarlo gets to side control and mixes up his strikes — knees to the body and punches to the head. Crose escapes once, but Giancarlo gets him down again and gets hooks in. He gets the tap from a rear naked choke early in round 1.

Justin Mora vs. TJ Whalen
Duneland Vale Tudo’s Mora def. Emerald Smoke’s TJ Whalen via decision.

Andrew Potapenko vs. Bobby Kpa
Counterstrike MMA’s Potapenko takes on Team No Ego’s Kpa. Potapenko dominates the fight, hurting Kpa early and finishing him in the second round. Potapenko def. Kpa, TKO- ref stoppage due to strikes.

Darrell Edmondson vs. Chris Bergeron
Amazing first round between Emerald Smoke’s Bergeron and “Little Rampage” Edmondson. HUGE strikes being exchanged with both fighters being dropped in the round. The fight was close to being over several times throughout the round. Edmondson got the better of the exchanges of the two, as Bergeron’s face shows at the end of the round.

Edmondson def. Bergeron via decision.

Cut Throat’s Invasion Features Reid, Pang, Giancarlo

Cut Throat’s Invasion goes down tonight at the Congress Theatre on the North Side, featuring a card stacked with exciting local fighters.

Carlson Gracie Muay Thai specialist Mike Reid is back in action, looking for yet another knockout in Cut Throat action. He employed a spinning back fist to knockout Andree West at Babes and Brawls 10, won via TKO at Clash at the Kilt 2 over Quinton O’ Brien and scored a 1st round TKO of ATT Indianapolis’ Jerricho Helming with a well-placed knee that connected with Helming’s liver at Babes and Brawl 8.

Carlson Gracie fighters Aaron Brooks and Audrey Pang are also on the card, as well as G2 fighters Matt Giancarlo and Breea Gilbert.

Here is the promo and card for the event.

Mike Reid vs Andrew Ballenger
Aaron Brooks vs Zack Sesko
Manny Camacho vs Anthony Guerrero
Sean Gee vs Jerald Williams
Billie Jessie vs Mike Zahn
Jeremiah Pollock vs Aaron Hammons
Matt Giancarlo vs Jason Crose
JT Whalen Vs Justin Mora
Chris Bergeron vs Darrell Edmonson
Patrick Murphy vs Bobby Kpa
Breea Gilbert & Audrey Pang

XFO 43 at Copernicus Center on April 13

The XFO will make its way to the north side of Chicago for their next event. Gilbert Grappling’s Carson Beebe will take on Combat Do’s Will Serment in the main event  when XFO 43 goes down at Copernicus Center on April 13.

Beebe is coming off a convincing win over veteran Tim Snyder at Legacy Fighting Championship 10, a fight that was seen nationally on HDNet. He holds a 10-1 record as a pro.

Beebe will take on Serment, a veteran of the local MMA scene that has fought for the XFO, Chicago Cagefighting Championships, Fight Card and more. Serment has won his last two fights, beating Bryan Daye at Maxx FC 14 in San Juan in February and besting Vince Ramos at XFO 42 in December. Beebe was also on the XFO 42 card, beating Lloyd Carter via unanimous decision.

Here is the card for the event:

Carson Beebe vs Guillermo Serment
Daniel Vizcaya vs Brandon DelPrado
Daniel Aguirre vs Ryan McIntosh
Mike Santiago vs Benjamin Miller
Vincent Ramos vs Jose Pacheco
Andrew Krzeptowski vs Lawrence Dunning
Adam Ward vs Giovanni Moljo
Joey Diehl vs TBD
Matt Tobie vs Ryan Storey
Rafal Skibinski vs Jason Graves
Christian Reynoso vs James Anthony Moore
Damian Norris vs Jordan Griffin
Ramy Doud vs Johnny Coleman
Andre Feliciano vs Jerald Williams
Phil Williams vs TBD

Bellator 60 Preview

Bellator 60 will feature Team Curran’s Pat Curran fighting Joe Warren for the Bellator featherweight title, as well as many other local fighters. Here’s a preview of what’s on the card when it all goes down at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond on Friday night.

Curran Will Hoist Belt

Joe Warren may be the self-proclaimed “Baddest Man on the Planet”, but he’d be hard-pressed to find someone that agrees with that statement. Warren will also be making his first appearance in the cage after getting knocked out by Alexis Vila, and strange things happen to fighters after getting wrecked for the first time.

Pat Curran has excellent take down defense, and will be the bigger, stronger and more-skilled fighter. I will be stunned if Curran doesn’t take the belt, and mildly surprised if he doesn’t KO Warren within two rounds.

The Return of McCorkle

Sean McCorkle comes back to town, or at least close to it for a fight against Richard White, who he’s been referring to as “Dick White” on the UG, as well as getting into it with UFC fighter Tim Hague.

McCorkle is trying to fight his way back into the UFC, and we last saw him fight locally at Chicago Cagefighting Championship IV when he submitted Justin Grizzard in the first round. White shouldn’t pose much of a problem — he’s lost 10 of his last 12 fights.

Corey Gets Tourney Shot

Team Curran’s Mike Corey replaced injured Wagnney Fabiano in the Bellator featherweight tourney, taking on Ronnie Mann in first round action. Corey was initally scheduled to fight Bobby Reardanz, but was moved into the tourney when Fabiano got hurt.

Corey has a fantastic ground game and is a vet of the IFL and XFO. He fought to a draw with Chris Horodecki at Bellator 57 and hasn’t lost a fight since 2007. Mann will try and exact some revenge on Team Curran after getting booted from the summer series tourney by losing to Pat Curran.

Local Fighters

There will be plenty of local fighters to root for in Hammond. Here’s a rundown.

Bobby Reardanz will take on submission ace Kenny Foster. Reardanz is a staple on the local scene, having fought at XFO, TFC, CCC, HFC, Ruckus and Cut Throat. Don’t be fooled by Reardanz’s 8-10 record. He’s a very skilled fighter and has beaten tough fighters like Gilbert Grappling’s Adam Ward, MTC’s Dennis Dombrow and Randy Fuentes. He’s won two straight fights via submission and we could see a ground clinic by Foster and him on Friday night.

NAGA medalist and Torres Martial Arts fighter Anthony Gomez will definitely have the crowd behind him when he takes on veteran Travis Wiuff. Gomez will try to shake off the rust of a 21-month layoff to score a win against the well-traveled Wiuff.

Wiuff looked excellent in his 205 debut against Christian M’Pumbu at Bellator 55, and he has won 3 straight fights. Gomez has won 5 straight fights after dropping his pro debut. He last beat Lew Polley at HFC 4 in June, 2010, and has three wins in the TFC.

A pair of Indiana fighters will do battle when C3 and TFC vet Josh Shockley takes on former UFC fighter Shamar Bailey.

Shockley has won two straight, including a win over Mike Santiago at CCC IV, since his loss to Toby Imada at Bellator 36. Bailey won his only fight since departing the UFC after his loss to Danny Castillo.

Two local fighters will both make their pro debuts when XFO amateur featherweight champion Cory Galloway takes on Cut Throat bantamweight champ Jake Nauracy. Both fighters were undefeated in their amateur careers: Team Curran’s Galloway at 4-0, and Nauracy at 8-0.

Total Fight Challenge vet Eric Oria will make his pro debut against Lance Surma. Surma won his pro debut in October, and fought as an amateur in the XFO, Fight Card and Lockdown in Lowell.

You can catch the prelim fights at Spike.com, and watch the main cardas the action happens live on MTV 2.

Anthony Gasso vs. James Yarbrough – MMA at the Max 2

Patriot Boxing’s Anthony Gasso made his debut at APFC’s MMA at the Max 2, and wasted no time asserting himself. He comes out guns blazing right from the opening bell.

Thankfully Yarbrough was able to leave the cage on his own strength. As for Gasso, it was a kick to see a fighter make his debut and win like that. One of the joys of going to local shows and seeing amateur bouts is for moments like the one Gasso had on Saturday night.

« Previous Page — Next Page »