247 FC BitB19
Saturday was 247 Fighting Championships 19th show and I don't think I speak for myself when I say it was probably the best thus far. Each fight was competetive and action packed. 7 grappling matches followed by 8 fights. This is a good place to start when getting a behind the scenes look into the life of a combat sports coach as I cornered 6/8 fights. Fights 1,3, 5-8. I arrived around 4:45pm as report time was 5pm. Usually I show up ranging from a minimum of 30 minutes to as much as an hour late #Boxingtime but my night was full so I wanted to get a head start. I wrapped all 6 fighters hands prior to the fight portion of the show. We discussed this prior as wrapping, warming up, and cornering 6 people in a matter of 8 fights was going to be next to impossible so we had the entire night mapped out. That was until 247 threw me a curve that Nick "Nyquil" Brown sent into the center field bleachers, but well get to that later. I didn't get to see any grappling but my guys Cody Gamble, Ty Kerr, and Lucas Jones all got wins. Nice job boys. I would of liked to watch Yankello/Reynolds but was unable to for obvious reasons. I think both could potentially be great fighters. Once the wrapping was done it was right to fight 1, warm up JT then off to the cage. Not until right before the main event did I stop and realize where I was. I was in the fuckin zone chief!!
1st fight went off as expected. This was my first fight working with JT. He was 0-2 thus far but you could see something in him, big chip on the shoulder type of guy. You never know whay you got until someone gets punched in the mouth or faces some type of adversity. Being 0-2 and having the criticism that JT did I know this one feels good for him. On my end, I saw someone follow the striking gameplan to a T. If you can do whats asked from your coaches while under the fire thats a mental strength that few have. Anybody can find 15 minutes of blind courage. Can you focus and keep your cool to perform. He did that. Thats whats important at the entry level.
Back to the locker room for Cowboy Eddie. Eddie was already warm with Khama and Kirk so I just did a light run through of what we wanted. This was my 2nd fight with Eddie. 1st cornering him. Cowboy Eddie is this generations Gregg Rudolph. Elite level athlete who runs a business and everyone loves from day 1. Sound familiar??? hahaha. Cowboy Eddie again dominated via wrestling and ground and pound. If PA rules weren't as they were for entry level amateurs Eddie would be 3-0 with 3 TKO's easy money. I know David Sachs is loving watching Eddie's progression. Eddie's striking was better. He landed some very clean shots but Timbo Slice is as scrappy as they come. I mean Timbo's the type of dude you see and just know win/lose or draw he's going to be having a good time. That wasn't an easy win and Eddie did it convincingly. yeeeeee-hawwwwww.
Fight 3 is Elijah Davis and Jimmy Phadphom. Again Elijahs warm via Isaac and Dempsey so I just go over the plan lightly. If there was one fight going into the night I was worried about it was this one. Jimmy is a tough MFer. I wont go into details( thats what I get paid for) but Jimmy does something striking that I was concerned about that maybe Elijah wasn't up to par yet with. Well about 30 seconds into the fight that concern came to fruition and Elijah was on his ass. The one avenue I could see us losing just hit us right away. For some reason there was zero concern. Outside of this one moment Elijah followed the gameplan to a T. I'm always even keeled while the fight is going on but this was different. Elijah is different. The concern was shut down immediately by Elijah and it never happened again. What I'm saying is what I've been teaching Elijah in the peach pit he completed learning while under fire while needing to, meaning he needed to learn on the go or he loses. He did that. Boonie Boi is a diffrent breed of human. Flashback to our first fight together in WV. Were getting ready to walk out and he's yawning. Everybody else is dancing or shadowing something and Elijah looks like he's in line for a hot dog. Elijah is beating REAL fighters. Not cherry picking. The Yinzer way. Elijah is real, period.
After Elijah's fight I went to the bathroom thinking it was intermission time. With the amount of people I had on the card Hunter Homistak and I built the order of the card to try and help out the situation and I thought intermission was now lol, a little miscommunication. I get to the back, ask out loud whos walking out and Nick Browne says Karli's opponent. BTW Nick completely warmed Karli up for the fight. I love that we have a TEAM in PGH thats willing to help eachother out. This curve ball didn't allow me to warm Karli up at all. Doesn't matter as long as shes warm. I told Karli that if she doesn't know the gameplan by now WTF are we doing lol. She followed it and executed. Kara Hoad is very special. I told her that immediately following the fight. I thought Karli would win but I knew it would be very tough. The fact that Karli handled this situation fighting two weight classes above where she should really be is something in itself. I don't think people realize how good Kara Hoad is. Kara Hoad is very special, I cant't reiterate that enough. It's just that Karli Jo is it. Hey Ho Karli Jo. Welcome to the show kid!!
Right back at it with the Co-Main event. Huss vs Padmore. Padmore is a dog. I like his swag and arrogance. He walks like a toddler that was just told to go to his room. He walks with focus, with purpose. A very determined individual. Huss did exactly what I asked of him standing. Immediatley he took position and had James on the defensive. He landed some heavy shots to the body and some good ones up top but never the right one to get the finish. James withstood an onslaught that most can't, was able to get the fight to the ground, and took us into deep water to get the finish in the 3rd. Hats off to Wilkins and the team. Mike is a tremendous person and PGH pioneer of mma. Next stop for Huss is 185 lbs. See yinz there.
Main event time. NOW lol is the intermission and 50/50 raffle. Ethan Goss on the mike taking his sweet ass time dragging things out to allow me time to warmup Patton. We know people around these parts and can get away with stuff like this...shhhhhhhhh. Patton's first fight under the new 247 exclusive deal, toughest opponent to date, coming off of a loss for the first time in a while. How does one perform under that type of pressure. Patton put together arguably the greatest performance in 247 history, definitely of his career. I'd like to sit here and brag about him but actions speak louder than words. What words can I give that outweigh those actions????? I told you so!!! I remember when Patton couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time. The brunt of all the Mark Cherico jokes. The punching bag for the elite strikers. As I sit here and write about Patton it gives me a confidence that I didn't know I had. I told everyone years ago that he would be it, and now he is.
Final thoughts: I'm objective always. This isn't me bragging, its a quick comeback to everything I have to hear all the time. It looks like the basic boring boxing coach who only knows boxing technique has the top MIXED MARTIAL ARTS striker in town AGAIN!! Toot Toot MFers!!
P.S. K Worthy, J Dejesus, C Worthy, and now Patton............he always has