Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) -- a Washington D.C. based fight promotion -- wrapped up its seventh event from the GMU Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., earlier tonight.
The Internet pay-per-view extravaganza UWC 7: "Redemption" featured a bantamweight championship bout between reigning title holder, Mike "The Hulk" Easton, and former WEC division kingpin, Chase Beebe, as the headliner and a vacant flyweight world title fight between Greg Jackson pupil, Jon "The Magician" Dodson, and Arizona Combat Sports product, Pat Runez, as the co-main event.
In the main event, Easton came out looking strong on his feet, but then quickly learned that Beebe has some pretty nice grappling skills. As a result, "The Hulk" was forced to deal with the former WEC title holder hanging onto his back for most of the first round.
In the second round, Easton did all he could to keep his distance from Beebe, attempting to turn the fight into a stand up battle, which was a strategy that seemed to pay off for him as he had Beebe in a bit of trouble toward the end of the frame.
The third round started out much the same with Easton controlling Beebe with his stand up. But Beebe, being a grizzled veteran, was able to maneuver himself back into the favorable position he held in round one by once again latching onto the champ's back and maintaining that position for most of the five minutes while working for the choke.
Easton managed to survive, but continued to have a difficult time fending off Beebe's grappling attack in the championship rounds as well.
He was clearly the better striker, but in this battle between striker and grappler, the grappler, at least seemingly so, did more to win the fight. However, two of the ringside judges apparently saw it different and the final split decision was awarded to the local favorite.
Easton retained his UWC bantamweight title, but it was met by a chorus of boos from those in attendance.
The battle for the vacant 125-pound strap was another hard fought back and forth fight for the ages between to very hungry and talented mixed martial artists.
Runez was the aggressor early on and probably held a slight advantage after the first round based on a knockdown he scored with a big right hand. But Dodson absolutely took over in the second round, nearly ending the fight with a knockdown of his own followed by an overwhelming barrage of strikes.
The Arizona Combat Sports trainee survived the round, however, and regrouped to make round three an extremely close and competitive one with plenty of offense from both men. Round four was more of the same with Runez starting to turn the tides a bit by continuing to stay aggressive, while a worn out Dodson was forced to retreat at times.
Heading into the final round it seemed like the fight was either fighter's to win or lose, and Runez had just a little more gas left in the tank than "The Magician." Dodson tried to keep pace, but Runez was too much at the end and made his mark on the judges.
The action-packed war came down to a split decision that saw Runez's hand raised at the end. It was a great fight, and one that could set the standard for future fights in the 125-pound flyweight division.
Check out the rest of the results from UWC 7: "Redemption" below:
Mike "The Hulk" Easton defeated Chase "The Rage" Beebe via split decision
Pat Runez defeated John "The Magician" Dodson via split decision
Kyle "The Alleycat" Baker defeated Tommy "Gun" Truex via technical knockout in round one
Timothy "Reshad" Woods defeated Ryan "The Rhino" Sturdy via knockout in round three
Jacob "Tick-Tock" McClintock defeated Beau "Blackjack" Baker via technical knockout in round one
Kris "Savage" McCray defeated Igor "The Legend" Almeida via technical knockout in round one
Iman Achhal defeaed Sumie Sakai via technical knockout in round two
Jesse "Mountian Man" Riggleman defeated Josh "Taz" Ferguson via split decision
Freddy Assuncao defeated Felipe "Sertanejo" Arantes via unanimous decision
That's a wrap from Fairfax. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for all your future Ultimate Warrior Challenge news and event information.
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