Inaugural “One World MMA” Event in November Gives DC Reason to be Thankful

BY JOSE SANCHEZ

Blues and Reds. Dems and Reps. We all like inaugurals and there’s nothing like an inaugural in DC. The show that “One World MMA” put on at the DC Convention Center on Saturday November 19th was pure fireworks. While going up against two major televised events, Bellator 58 on MTV2 and UFC 139 on pay-per-view, DC:Profight was a success! Even if Dan Henderson’s UFC win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Michael Chandler’s title win over now-ex-champ Eddie Alvarez will be remembered as some of the best fights in MMA history, Saturday night in DC will be remembered for three stars: Johnny “The Tree Man” Curtis, DeJuan Hathaway and Mario Martinez.

Returning to the cage for his 9th professional fight, heavyweight Curtis (235, 6-2-0) went up against another tough guy, Michael Oldson (Star City). During the last fight of the evening, Curtis inaugurated his winning “Decapitator” move through which he used his shin to apply the choke while trapping Oldson’s arms, as if he had stepped on a tree branch to break it while pulling on each end with his hands. Fernando Yamasaki called the fight in the first round at 52 seconds.

The 41-year old “Tree Man” kept grounded to his roots in first round victories, which have included a body punch knocking out Bobby Gurley within 36 seconds of Round 1 at the M-1 Challenge XXIV card earlier this year and a submission choke signaling his first professional victory four years ago in less than two minutes in Round 1 during the Smash MMA event in Virginia at the Patriot Center – home to the George Mason University Patriots wrestling team. During his time at his alma mater GMU, Curtis compiled a stellar
114-30 wrestling record and was chosen Northern Region Top 100 Greatest Athlete of all Times (No. 86). In a town plagued by politics, Curtis set up his own top-of-the-line gym in his back yard (Freedom Tree Service MMA) so he could have other fighters from other clubs help him train! The effort shows!

Hit the jump for more results and info on “One World MMA!”

Brian Nielson v. Joe Slaughter

Brian “The Solution” Nielson (170, 1-1-0) proved that sometimes the solution can be a worse problem for novices like Joe “The Grim” Slaughter, who competed in his first pro-fight. Both fighters showed good skills and lots of room to grow and improve. Nielson (MMA Institute) was on the inaugural Liberty Flames wrestling program in Lynchburg, when it returned in 2006 after a 12-year hiatus. Nielson’s efficient wrestling and grappling skills helped him to transition from his impressive 6-1 amateur record to the winning guillotine choke at 4:12 during the first round. Slaughter (185) fights out of EMIT MMA and trained by fellow competitor Anthony (Tony) Horn.

Anthony Horn v. Jeff Manalansan

Manalansan (240, 0-3-0) added a fourth loss to his fight record, succumbing to Tony “Father Time,” Horn who cleaned Manalansan’s clock, blasting him down at 1:40 in the Round 1.

Stephen Govan v. Phillip Estes

The fight was a defining moment for the California-native Govan (180) who had an abysmal 0-4 record. The victorious Govan handed the Texas-born Estes (1-5-0, Combat Club Fitness) another defeat on the eve of Estes’s 34th birthday. Mind you, both fighters were powerful, using interesting combinations, speed kicks and solid jabs. Estes, however, couldn’t find his base and left himself open many times during the two rounds of the fight, making Govan’s Round 2 win by rear naked choke that much easier. Hopefully, the win will make Govan stay in the game.

Francisco Salguero v. DeJuan Hathaway

DeJuan “D-Train” Hathaway (1-0-0) handed Team Yamasaki’s Cisco Salguero (145) a second pro-fight loss. The crowd could see the adrenaline in Hathaway’s eyes, not just from the ring-side seats where ringside girls Angie, Christie and Jessica Brooke were amazed at Hathway’s nod to 16th century cod-piece fashion. But the focus was really on his crazed look. Although both fighters were hesitant, even during the third round, as if they were still testing, checking or feeling each other out, Hathaways’s third round
attacks became faster paced. The judges scored it 30-27, 30-27, 29-38, Hathaway.

Kyle Sefcik v. Mario Martinez

Mario “Raging Bull” Martinez (185, 2-0-0) remained undefeated after taking on crowd favorite Kyle Sefcik (170, 1-1-0), who had 250 fans on hand to cheer him on. DC loves fireworks, usually around the Fourth of July, but these two fighters shot off a lot of fireworks in November~ Truly both talented mixed martial artists. “Raging Bull” Martinez brought a lot of heart and military might to face the more athletic and muscular Sefcik (pronounced Sef-chick).

Martinez also came ready to a brawl. Throughout the two rounds, Martinez was able to reverse every one of Sefcik’s take downs even if Sefcik’s had lots of experience with “guys 20 to 30 pounds bigger” from his amateur days. In true lethwei fashion, however, the fight ended with a bloodied Sefcik as referee called TKO in Round 2 after Martinez’s ham-fisted attack that cut deep into Sefick’s right chin.

Marcus Daniels v. Wesley Dunlap

If Martinez came ready to brawl, then Marcus “Menace” Daniels (135, 4-2-0), who won by TKO, and Wesley “Tiny Terror” Dunlap (140, 2-3-0) came to be in a good high- school cafeteria fight. Energetic, fast first round, the referee stopped the fight after Dunlap did not respond to Daniels’ attack at 2:11. Fortunately Dunlap (Team Assassin) will be heading beyond the 495 Beltway since he’s scored international fight deals in Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. But does he know the way to San José?

“It’s good to have publications like The Fight Nerd putting the word out about the fighters in our area, not just their records, but their stories,” said Pete Hatcher of Equity Sweat Management, which featured six fighters in the DC:Profight card, “that’s what’s going to make MMA explode in our nation’s capital!”

One World MMA did a lot of things right at that night: choosing a Metro-accessible location made it easy for folks from the ‘burbs not to be scared about parking in downtown DC; managing to put on a class act without too many costly frills: smoke machines, speakers the size of Rhode Island, glossy fight programs with cool but illegible lettering; getting the right mix of fighters, not top area names yet but with a good
trajectory beyond the beltway; and making the fight fans enjoy the event. Better yet, the promoters have announced another pro-fight event for sometime in March 2012 in downtown DC. Now that’s something we all can be thankful for!