Chicago Cage Fighting Championship held their first event at The Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois.  The night was headlined by Mike Lullo taking on Jeremy Castro and saw a total of five professional fights and six amateur bouts.  Read on for the full results and recap.

The first amateur bout of the night got the crowd on their feet as Chris Miller made quick work of Dylan Thomas.  After a leg kick by Thomas, Miller clinched and had a failed takedown attempt with Thomas landing in his guard.  But Miller threw up his legs and was able to lock in a fight ending triangle choke just 36 seconds into the fight.

Two local fighters Darcy Laminy out of MTC and Stefan Ivanov out of Hackney’s were up.  The lightweight bout started with Laminy catching Ivanov with a right hand that hurt him.  Ivanov tried to clinch, but Laminy dropped down and grabbed a double leg takedown.  After a big slam, Laminy worked to trap one of Ivanov’s arms under neath him.  But Ivanov worked through the bad position and eventually stood up.  Both fighters threw caution to the wind and stood in front of each other throwing big hooks.  Laminy shot for a takedown, but this time Ivanov was ready as he sprawled, then spun to get Laminy’s back.  From there he grabbed a rear naked choke forcing Laminy to tap.

Submission were on a hot streak as Dustin Pierson was able to defeat Chris Haney by rear naked choke in the second.  But the fight wasn’t going in Pierson’s way at all until then.  The first round Haney used superior wrestling to keep Pierson on his back.  Haney attempted multiple submissions, but Pierson continued to escape.  The second round Haney jumped on Pierson’s back and tried to secure a rear naked choke, but Pierson fell back slamming Haney into the matt.  Pierson quickly rolled to get Haney’s back and was able to get an arm deep under Haney’s chin and ended the fight.

Kamil Broda had the crowd behind him in his fight against Ray Grindstaff.  Both fighters clinched quickly and worked short knees and each attempted a takedown.  After a very quick takedown and pop right back up, the fighters separated and looked to exchange.  Broda landed a left hook that hurt Grindstaff.  Broda however rushed in too quickly and over estimated how hurt his opponent was as Grindstaff quickly grabbed Broda’s arm and forced a tapout due to arm bar.

A very interesting ending happened when Jeff Lavalle took on Shawn West in a featherweight contest.  The first round Lavalle used his strength to over power West landing multiple punches from within West’s guard.  The round saw Lavalle posture out of any submission West attempted and throw big left hands.  The second round Lavalle landed two leg kicks before taking the fight to the ground again.  West attempted a triangle choke but couldn’t get Lavalle’s head trapped as Lavalle popped out of it.  Lavalle stood up forcing West to stand as well.  Another overhand right by Lavalle and a takedown.  Lavalle with a single punch and West taps.

The last amateur fight of the night saw Dennis Dombrow take on James Smith.  And like the five previous fights, this one ended by submission.  Dombrow quickly took the fight to the ground and worked several shots.  Smith got hurt and gave up his back.  Dombrow quickly took the back and squeeze a rear naked choke until Smith tapped.

After an intermission we start the action on the professional side.  Carson Beebe made short work of Danny Black.  Beebe shot in for a takedown, picked Black up, carried him from one side of the cage to the other and slammed him down.  From there he moved from side control to mount and started raining down elbows.  Black defended well for a little while but Beebe was relentless with his punches and elbows.  Black was forced to give up his back and Beebe locked in a rear naked choke to end the fight.  Black’s face was clearly messed up as he needed help getting out of the cage.

The next pro fight saw Ryan Williams take on Jay Ellis.  In the first round Williams took the fight to the ground and worked several different strikes from within Ellis’s guard.  Ellis did a good job of controlling Williams’s wrist as not much damage was inflicted.  At the end of the round, Williams was able to Ellis’s back and was squeezing a rear naked choke as time ran out in the round.  The second round Ellis dropped Williams with a high kick, but Williams recovered quickly.  After both fighters stood back up, Ellis attempted a high kick again, this time slipping and Williams took advantage.  Williams started throwing powerful shots, but couldn’t finish the fight.  Like the first round, Williams was able to get the back of Ellis only this time he worked for an armbar as time ran out.  The third round Ellis came out with a high kick again, followed with a big left and spinning backlist.  Williams grabbed a single leg and brought the fight back down to the canvas.  Once there, Williams secured a kimura and force Ellis to tap.

Anthony Marti and Matt Horning were up next in a catchweight bout at 140lbs.  Marti let his hands fly at the beginning of the first round before rocking Horning.  Marti spent most of the rest of the round either on Horning’s back or working for mount.  From the dominant position, Marti attempted multiple submissions but couldn’t lock anything in.  With about thirty seconds left, both fighters stood up and Marti is gassed.  Horning starts dropping bombs but time runs out.  The second round Marti is still winded as Horning is just landing big punch after big punch.  Marti threw a big overhand right that missed and Horning landed a beautiful counter.  Marti shot for a takedown and Horning sprawled to defend.  Horning attempted to get Marti’s back but Marti defended and wound up in Horning’s guard.    Horning attempted to get up, but Marti transitioned to his back and locked in a rear naked choke.  Horning was tapping for several seconds before the ref stopped the fight.

The co-main event saw the return of Jared McMahan taking on Seth Marquez.  Both fighters were a little hesitant to commit to anything.  McMahan stalked down Marquez who circled away from McMahan for the first minute plus. Marquez attempted a superman punch, but McMahan defended it and rocked Marquez dropping him.  McMahan started to throw elbow after elbow and punch after punch until the ref was forced to stop the action.

The main event featured Mike Lullo taking on Jeremy Castro.  Both fighters exchange a series of leg kicks before Castro clinched and took Lullo down.  Lullo worked some sick rubber guard and Castro wasn’t able to do anything.  Lullo worked short elbows and punches from the rubber guard until he let it go.  Once out of the rubber guard, Castro stood up and let Lullo do the same.  Again Castro took the fight down, but this time Lullo worked an even better rubber guard and was able to get his leg under the throat of Castro.  Lullo kept pulling down on Castro’s head and force Castro to tap due to a gogoplata.
Quick Results

Amateur Bouts

Chris Miller defeated Dylan Thomas by triangle choke 0:36 of round 1

Stefan Ivanov defeated Darcy Laminy by rear naked choke 2:27 of round 1

Dustin Pierson defeated Chris Haney by rear naked choke 1:01 of round 2

Ray Grindstaff defeated Kamil Broda by arm bar 1:20 of round 1

Jeff Lavalle defeated Shawn West by submission (strikes) 1:12 of round 2

Dennis Dombrow defeated James Smith by rear naked choke 0:59 of round 1

Professional Bouts

Carson Beebe defeated Danny Black by rear naked choke 1:54 of round 1

Ryan Williams defeated Jay Ellis by kimura 1:03 of round 3

Anthony Marti defeated Matt Horning by rear naked choke 1:17 of round 2

Jared McMahan defeated Seth Marquez by technical knockout 2:00 of round 1

Mike Lullo defeated Jeremy Castro by gogoplata 3:25 of round 1

Chicago Cage Fighting Championship announced today that they have finalized the professional side of their June 26 event.  The night will feature five professional fights and is tentatively scheduled to include nine amateur bouts.  All five professional bouts have been confirmed and signed.

The last fight to be wrapped up sees the return of Jared McMahan who will be taking on Seth Marquez in a featherweight contest.

Also on the card are local favorites Tony Marti, Carson Beebe and Mike Lullo.

The event takes place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday June 26.  Doors open at 6pm and the fights will kick off at 7pm.  Tickets are available online at chicagocagefighting.com and start at $45 for bleacher seats.

Dustin Neace will be taking on Anthony Marti at Ruckus 2 this Friday night.  Neace last competed against Jeff Curran at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs Rogers” in November where he suffered a rib injury just ninety nine seconds into the fight forcing him to stop.  MMA Recap’s Brent Todd caught up with Neace to find out how his training camp has been for the fight against Marti.

Where are you training out of now?
I train out of the HIT Squad.  I’ve been here getting in shape.

How’d your training camp go?
Very good.  Me and him were supposed to fight last month, but it got pushed back and it’s given me even more time to prepare for it.  I’m bigger than I have ever been going into a fight.  Right now I am at 1% body fat and I am huge.  I’ve been going six or seven rounds and I am not even tired.  It’s gonna be a perfect fight for me.

Were you training anything different for your opponent?
We know he has really good wrestling.  So we have been training a lot of takedown defense as I want to keep it standing up.

Was there an aspect of your game you worked more than the rest?
I have been working on my cardio the most.  I have had 46 pro mma fights and this is the first time I have settle down and trained the way I should be.  A healthy diet.

How do you see the fight going?
I don’t want to put any predictions.  If I could have my choice it would be a knockout first round.  But I can see it going the distance and I expect a good fight.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share?
It’s going to be a fun night.

Any sponsors or people you want to thank?
HIT Squad, Disorderly Conduct, FC Fighter

Ruckus Entertainment has just released two new fights for their March 12 event, “Ruckus 2″.  Kyle Watson (15-6) takes on Tyler Combs (12-4) in a welterweight match up and Dustin Neace (25-15) takes on Anthony Marti (7-2) in a lightweight bout.

Watson trains out of “The Hit Squad” and is currently riding a four-fight win streak.  Watson’s lone loss in the past three years came at the hands of Tyler Jackson in a hard fought close split decision at “Bodog Fight: Costa Rica Combat”.

Combs meanwhile is coming off a loss to WEC fighter Bart Palaszewski at XFO 32.  Combs currently holds the Midwest Fighting Championship welterweight belt.

Dustin Neace last saw action at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers” in November of 2009.  The fight ended with a freak rib injury forcing Neace to submit to Jeff Curran.  Neace is currently riding a three-fight losing streak and is hoping his training at the Hughes owned “Hit Squad” will bring him just that.

Marti is currently 5-1 in his last six fights and is undefeated under the “Xtreme Fighting Organization” banner.  In all of Marti’s victories, he has submitted his opponent within the first round.

“Ruckus 2″ takes place on Friday March 12 at Venuti’s Banquet Hall in Addision, Illinois.  The night will be headlined in a middleweight contest between Jeremy May and Chris Albandia.