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ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - A large crowd eager for a night of fast-paced martial arts combat witnessed the East Coast debut of the World Combat League at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ on Saturday night.
The philosophy of the fighting league, founded by Chuck Norris, is to produce an exciting product that relies on stand-up fighting utilizing strikes rather than fighting on the ground and submission work. This consistent style of combat as well as adopting a team concept differentiates the WCL from other mixed martial arts promotions. The IFL also had used the city and regional team concept up until recently when they changed their format to a coach-led team concept.
An advantage that the WCL has a newer league is that they've made a conscious effort to stand out from other MMA promotions; from "trimming the fat" by presenting a more consistent, action-paced style of fighting eliminating ground work, to a unique "ring" set-up which is a large round red and blue mat with no ropes or a cage surrounding it, to a city/regional team concept that can work considering the WCL has eight teams to start with as opposed to when the IFL began their league with sixteen teams. Eight teams seems more manageable than sixteen, and less expensive, however there are thoughts for international expansion some day.
At a press conference on Friday at the Hard Rock Cafe next door to the Taj everyone from NJ Tigers' Munah Holland to Chuck Norris himself promised excitement and non-stop action and the WCL delivered with much fanfare and enthusiasm from the hot crowd. There were some empty seats in the upper level but a majority of the arena was packed, the evening saw four teams in two matches taped for a future airing on the Versus network, quite possibly in February which is when Chuck Norris said the WCL would be back on TV.
The first match of the night was the St. Louis Enforcers against the Miami Force who lost to the Enforcers last year for the WCL Championship. From the very beginning this product certainly delivered it's unofficial "knockouts, not tap outs" motto as every single fighter produced a solid, unremitting barrage of fists and kicks, throw in a few knees and elbows as well. Opponents knocked to the ground were quickly back up to avoid penalty points, stalling and lack of offense earned passivity points, no holding onto your opponent either, all penalties instilled in order to keep up the exciting pace that WCL promises fight fans.
Click here for WCL rules and scoring
The Enforcers/Force first round matches began with the Enforcers' Fernando Calleros scoring 16 points over the Force's Remy Bonnel; next was the Dusty Miller/Armin Mrkonovic bout, this was a total slugfest Miller scored 15 points for his team while Mrkonovic scored 9 points but certainly held his own and also knocked Miller down at one point, Mrkonovic got a decent crowd reaction.
Angie Woolhum of the Force scored 15 points over the Enforcers' Felice Herring scoring 10 points; Kevin Engel of the Enforcers knocked out Roger Krahl of the Force scored and scored 18-8; Isaac Diomonde was dominant against the Force's Bob Stines who got knocked out by a spinning hook kick, Diomonde got a huge crowd reaction and scored 15-0 for the Enforcers, Stines was out for a bit.
Craig Oxley got revenge for the Force and knocked out the Enforcers' Tim Conners so hard that his mouthpiece flew right out of his mouth. Force 15, Enforcers 0. At halftime it was the Enforcers 68 to the Force 65.
During a brief break Enforcers coach Jesse Finney and NJ Tigers' Munah Holland were interviewed.
Second round of the St. Louis Enforcers vs. the Miami Force begins with the Force in control as Remy Bonnel quickly knocks out the Enforcers' Steve Demente scoring 15-0 for the Force; Dusty Miller gets knocked out by a huge roundhouse kick by Armin Mrkonovic who gets a major reaction from the crowd, another 15 points for Miami.
Angie Woolhum was in control of her fight with the Enforcers' Jessica Han but then Han unleashed more offense and knocked down Woolhum at one point. Han scored 15 and Woolhum scored 6 for the Force. Miami's Jose Sulsona scored 15 points over the Enforcers' Kevin Engel who scored 12 points.
Mark Selbee of Miami scored 18 points over St. Louis' Mike Dean, Dean got kicked near the groin area but continued to fight, Selbee definitely showed more offense and skill; John Grubel scored 15 points over Craig Oxley who scored 11 points, lots of huge kicks exchanged in that last match.
At the end of the bouts the Miami Force scored 145 to the St. Louis Enforcers 121 avenging their loss from last year. Afterward Chuck Norris presented the Enforcers with Championship rings for 2006.
Immediately following was the hometown match between the New York Clash and the New Jersey Tigers, it was smart to book this type of match-up in the area as this crowd ate up the rivalry cheering for their respective favorite teams.
New York's Tommy Bach produced an arsenal of offense of knees, elbows and strikes scored 15 points against the Tigers' David Gonzalez who threw a spinning back kick and slipped, he scored 8 points.
The Tigers' Chad Blevins started his match off against New York's Jason Quick with decent offense and knocked Quick down at one point, Quick came back with lots of big strikes, Clash 15, Tigers 9.
Cory Miller of the Tigers got a huge crowd reaction and scored 15 points in a great fight against New York's Danny Abbadi who scored 10 points, Miller unloaded tons of kicks, Abbadi knocked down Miller at one point. Fight picked up even more towards the end.
John James of the Tigers scored 15 points over New York's Dan Erikson scoring 11 points, James attacked Erikson early with lots of kicks, Erikson retaliated with some nice strikes.
New York's Mark Gee and New Jersey's Carlos Brooks slugged it out in a great fight that had the crowd cheering towards the end. Brooks scored 15-10 for the Tigers.
Concluding the first round of the Clash/Tigers match-up was NY's Jennifer Santiago against the Tigers' Munah Holland, Santiago was in control first part of match with solid offense, Holland got more aggressive and knocked down Santiago and took control of the remainder of the fight. Tigers scored 15 to the Clash 8.
Score at halftime: NY Clash 73, NJ Tigers 78
Intermission
Round two of the NY Clash vs NJ Tigers commences with Tommy defeated Scott Mukkadam, Cory Miller of the Tigers knocks out NY's Andy Young with a kick, John James defeats Dan Erikson, unleashing tons of punches messing Erikson up, Erikson makes a brief comback. Uriah Hall of the Tigers defeats New York's Leo Valdivia and the crowds really gets into the final match as Jennifer Santiago defeats Munah Holland.
Final score is NY Clash: 135, NJ Tigers: 140
I felt the WCL delivered the exciting non-stop action they promised with this product, the live crowd connected with the teams and certain fighters, everyone worked hard to produce consistent fact-paced matches. Jennifer Santiago, Munah Holland, Cory Miller and Armin Mrkonovic are potential stars for the league, at least from thess Eastern Conference teams.
If you are looking for more MMA to watch definitely check the WCL out, they offer a different outlook on presenting a fighting product especially if you're not into the groundwork aspect of MMA. The WCL produces a no-frills type of combat with matches and rounds that conclude quickly do to the consistent pace encouraged. As the saying goes, "knockouts, not tap outs." {plug}
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