Made Men Promotions St. Patty's Day Massacre

Last Saturday March 16th Angelo Magnone(promoter) and Nichole Castillo(matchmaker) staged the St. Patty's Day Massacre at the Morgantown Marriott in WV.  The venue and event itself was very good.  I had 3 fighters on the card, one working with The Academy, the other two with the Mat Factory. 

First up was Tyler Covelli of the Academy.  I have only worked with Tyler a few times prior leading up to the fight as we had just recently started working together.  I remember when Tyler first started back at the Academy.  I was still teaching the Monday boxing classes so I would see him from time to time.  Tyler's a scrappy tough kid that has alot of room to grow and that showed in his fight.  Tyler made some mistakes that lead to his own downfall.  He fought tough and well both on the feet and the ground but certain decisions put himself in bad positions that lead to him not getting the decision in the fight.  Tyler is learning on the job.  He was a hockey player.  No prior wrestling or striking background prior to his mma start a couple of years ago.  At this state of mma I think anybody starting out how Tyler is will have some growing pains early on.  The bright side is on the other side of the hill when the skills, technique, and IQ come together you already know you have a fighter because they've already faced adversity.  Anybody can look good when their in the lead, but adventually you'll face a wall that you must surmount.  Tyler will be just fine as I know he plans to continue on.   

Up next was The Gorilla Julian Flenory for the heavyweight made men title.  This was arguably the most frustrating fight (if you can call it that) I've been a part of.  The opponent made zero attempt to fight and just used his D1 wrestling experience to stall the fight on the cage wall.  Wrestle fucking someone is one thing, stalling is another and that's exactly what he did.  The crowd let it be known how they felt about this tactic to avoid fighting the entire time in a cage fight.  I will give credit where it is due in that we found someone who could take more than one shot from Julian because as of up unil now no one else could.  OK, so it would take two.  Each time Julian landed Rossi was buzzed, would push into a body lock and stall the fight.  The ref seperated them several times for this reason.  Obviously I watched plenty of film on Rossi prior and I believe this was the first real fight he was in.  His prior fights were all "wrestling matches" with little to no striking or ground and pound.  This was the fight where he realized what this is and it showed in his eyes during the fight and his temperament and demeanor after.  We see what Julian needs to work on and will do so and move forward from here as there were spots we could of taken advantage of and did not.  We wish nothing but the best for him and his team moving forward.  Fights like this are turning points and needed in everyone's career.  Both Julian and Rossi learned alot this night.

Last was Elijah Davis for the bantamweight made men title.  It's not often I'm surprised as I'm the chef baking the KO cakes but I'll admit Elijah surprised me.  I in time expected this but for Elijah to put it together again "in the cage" before I've seen it in practice again is a testament to how ready for the spotlight Elijah is.  A lead hook KO, where have I seen this before???  Must be lucky timing again and again.  If you know you know.  Toot Toot.  After rewatching the fight Elijah made one mistake that we've been working to correct and will.   The shot selection, positioning, and he chose to throw his best shot to finish the fight when he knew his opponent was hurt.  Alot of action happened in that short period of time.  There was alot of high level strategy that lead to the KO that most don't see.  Welcome to the show Elijah.   Somebody learned how to strike, uh ooooooooohhhhhh.  -Happy Gilmore voice.

The night ended with Ethan Hayes and what we would later learn to be his last ride as he later announced his retirement.  Personally I think Ethan won the fight.  Rounds one and three for sure but the judges saw it otherwise.  The results though don't matter so much on this one.  Like Ethan said at the afterparty "If he was still fighting he'd care more, but he defintely feels he won the fight", as most and many others do.  What we saw was another passing of the torch.  Ethan is an OG that's been around for as long as any of us can remember.  I always told people and Ethan that I thought he could make it alot further than he gave himself credit for.  However when a mans mind is made up under these circumstances and with conviction of this detail, it's made.  I can see Ethan becoming a very good coach.  He always states he fights for his people and nothing else.  That's the type of person that whatever he does decide to do in the avenue of helping others he will excell at; for our younger generations sake, let's hope its coaching lol.  Thanks for the ride Ethan, there isn't one person that doesn't respect you.

P.S.  Elijah Davis has signed to fight April 13th for the BCM bantamweight amateur title against a tough 4-1 Koby Carr Pierce.  Action over words.