PITTSBURGH, PA – For the first ever MMA event in the city of Pittsburgh, the crowd of 5,109 in attendance were treated to an exciting event overall, the main event between Rich Clementi and Kyle Jensen ended prematurely when Clementi suffered a broken clavicle at just :45 seconds in the first round.
Clementi and Jensen came after each other early, and after a clinch it was Clementi who went for a throw, but ended up crashing on the mat himself as Jensen reversed the move. As Jensen worked to improve his position, Clementi yelled up to referee Mark Matheny that he broke his collarbone, and immediately the fight was stopped.
Jensen commented after the win how hard he trained for the fight with Clementi, and the former WEC fighter will now look to make his mark at 155lbs after this event.
American Top Team product, Micah Miller, put on a show for the Pittsburgh crowd looking very impressive, submitting J.C. Pennington in the 2nd round of their co-main event fight.
Miller used his reach to light Pennington up when the fight stayed standing, and once on the mat he showed his superior ground game, opening up shots, and moving to a rear naked choke forcing the tap out. Miller, a top featherweight prospect, will now head back home to Florida where he will have another fight on August 1st.
Paul Bradley got a unanimous decision win over Leonardo Pecahana, as he makes his transition to the welterweight division, but didn’t impress the crowd in attendance as the fight lulled for much action at all. Bradley obviously didn’t want much to do with Pecahana’s jiu-jitsu game so he waited until late in each 5-minute session to take the fight to the mat, pulling out just enough in each round to get the victory.
For the second time in his young career, Jason Trzewizczynski defeated local Pittsburgh talent, Joe Demore, this time by unanimous decision. Trzewizczynski used a powerful jiu-jitsu game to keep Demore guessing throughout all three rounds, and landed a nice head kick in the third session to keep the advantage to close out the fight.
Trzewizczynski also paid tribute to the fallen "King of Pop" Michael Jackson by using his song "Smooth Criminal" as his entrance into the Mellon Arena.
Women’s MMA was introduced to the Pittsburgh crowd with an exciting performance by Angela Magana, who trains out of an affiliate school of Team Greg Jackson in New Mexico. Magana took her opponent, Meghan Wright, down early and got the mount before being reversed, but before her Wright had a chance to do anything she found herself on the wrong end of a tight armbar.
Magana wrenched up the hold as Wright spun down on the ground, tapping out in pain, giving the New Mexico the win early in the first round.
While he may not have been the main event, Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis, will likely end up with a major organization in the very near future and he kept his record perfect with a dominant performance over David Baggett. Davis powered his way to a takedown early, and simply overmatched Baggett who had no answer for his opponent’s technique on the ground.
Davis pounded away at Baggett before taking his back and locking on a rear naked choke at 3:37 in the first round, bumping his record to 4-0.
Still undefeated at 3-0, Shawn Jorden looked impressive with a first round dismantling of former Pittsburgh Steeler, Carlton Haselrig, winning by strikes on the ground after taking his opponent’s back, flattening him out, and unloading a slew of unanswered strikes.
James Brasco, a native of Pittsburgh who now trains with Pablo Popovich in Florida, returned home and delivered a victory with a unanimous decision over Matt Brown. Brasco dominated with takedowns throughout all three rounds en route to the win.
Brock Kerry, one of several students from Rich Clementi’s Gladiator Academy on the card, started off the night with an exciting submission after losing the majority of the round on the ground to late replacement, Joey Enright. With Enright using his power on the ground, Kerry eventually reversed position and locked on a rear naked choke with just :46 seconds remaining in the first round.
As the fights ended, the promoters announced to the crowd that Micah Miller had been awarded with the "Fight of the Night" performance, while up and coming women’s fighter, Angela Magano, picked up the "Submission of the Night" for her beautiful armbar to finish her fight.