TheLukieBaby
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Lucas Ketelle is a writer for FanSided partner BroJackson.com. For more great content, head on over to Bro Jackson and check out Lucas’ work.
What do you expect when you go to a promotion from Nick Diaz, known as one of the most eccentric MMA fighters in the history of the sport? I don’t know, but what I found was professionalism and true passion for the sport. I was in the midst of the Stockton Arena in the middle of section 209, feeling as though I was at an intimate gathering, watching fights with Diaz and 3500 of his closest friends. The ring looked like it was from an earlier era, like the great Bert Sugar might be writing about the action on a notepad with a cigar fully lit. The mood was respectful, at times crazy, but felt different than most MMA events I have been to for one simple fact: the jiu jitsu was being cheered. The arena was three quarters of the way full, a strong turnout considering that the fight came together very fast and promotion in major media was nonexistent. In fact I think I posted the only results of the weigh in on my personal blog, since my publisher was on the fence about the amount of views it could conjure up.
Let me backtrack though, since I have gotten ahead of myself, to a day prior, to the weigh ins which took place at a Buffalo Wild Wings across town. At the weigh ins, a number of interesting things occurred: Heavyweights D.J. Linderman and Mike Hayes nearly got into a fight before a man in the crowd almost got into a fight with Hayes as well. Justin Baesman was .1 lbs over the weight and having to “make weight,” this sent his trainer off on a rage, filled with remarks alleging that Daniel Roberts was being “a punk” and a coward, as the trainer pleaded numerous times, “interview me, c’mon then interview me.”
Baesman gets Redemption
In the main event Justin “Raw Deal” Baesman (14-3) may not have been the fighter that came from the UFC , but he walked to the ring with the belts and the confidence of a man who could kill a horse with one punch. Baesman survived Daniel “Ninja” Roberts’ (14-5) fast start, which featured him getting nearly knocked out and surviving various attempted chokes around the neck, from a guillotine to anaconda choke to finish the first round in the mount pounding on Roberts. The second round saw the momentum shift even more as Baesman began to beat up Roberts in Roberts’ own corner, while his all-star corner man of Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, and Cesar Gracie watched. You could watch Shields at crucial moments of the fight, and his eyes seemed to see something that worried him, yet at the same time he sought desperately to offer the advice, but it was not heeded. By the third and final round Baesman won all of the stand up exchanges , but seemed content to grapple with Roberts, who had the advantage in that department–another close round. In the end though, two out of three judges scored the fight for Baesman giving him the split decision victory and his biggest win for his career which could propel him to be a mainstay under the War MMA banner. Baesman said that he had used Roberts’ refusal to allow him to come in at .1 over as motivation. As for Roberts, this sets back hopes of making a UFC return , but was still a good outing. It just appeared that he faded a bit toward the end and did not clearly win the last round by enough to get the nod. This match could happen again some time down the line, this time for the 170 lbs War MMA belt.
“Evil” Esguerra Beats Up “Machete” Mitchell
The 135 lbs “Evil” Evan Esguerra (8-5), training out of the powerful B.St Boxing gym in San Mateo under the teaching of world class boxer Eddie Croft, showed off his stand up in brutalizing Caleb “The Machete” Mitchell (4-4). Not unlike Esguerra’s B.St Boxing team mate, Ricardo Pinell, who has been knocking out his opponents on the regular as of late, Esguerra showed off powerful combinations that had Mitchell out on his feet by the final frame, but he wanted to clinch when Mitchell appeared on his way out. He was looking for the elbow strike in close , and it appeared to land as a complement to his right, which never seemed to miss. Mitchell won the first round in a grappling-heavy manner, but never could get the fight back to the ground in the next two rounds and found himself losing a decision and being taken out of the ring by stretcher. It was a very Gatti-esque performance.
McKinney Overpowers Parsons
Clayton McKinney (5-2) of Ultimate Fighter fame overpowered “Big” Mike Parsons (4-1) in a step up fight wherein Parsons appeared to have trouble dealing with the power of McKinney. It may simply be that in the 185 lbs division, bigger fighters like McKinney are too strong for Parsons and that a move down in weight may be helpful. Parsons, in all likelihood, was not expecting to fight someone so powerful. McKinney fought in spots with the one criticism being that he focused on one strike over and over. For example if a left leg kick worked, he would repeatedly throw it without diversifying his attack with, say, a left leg kick then a right cross. It was simply left leg kick followed by another and another and another, until that didn’t work anymore. McKinney, whom appeared loose and playful in the ring, was a fan favorite with a crowd that would almost never accept a Stockton fighter losing, but in McKinney’s case made an exception.
Linderman, Hayes grudge match leaves a lot to be desired
After a weigh in during which these two men got into a scrum, one would’ve thought the fight would have been all action. Wrong. The fight basically consisted of D.J. Linderman (14-5) looking to lean the smaller Mike Hayes (18-8) against the ropes and wear him out. Hayes tried for submissions , but it looked like he was just far too small to be at heavyweight.[ref] He weighed in at 216 lbs to fight Linderman.[/ref] Hayes landed some flush punches to no effect as Linderman, who came out to Roy Jones’ music, worked to emulate Jones’ moves.
Cody Gibson Is For Real
Cody Gibson (9-3) is for real. The number one student of Bellator and number one middleweight contender Doug “The Rhino” Marshall used a diverse attack to beat the game Darin “Whitey” Cooley (5-3), who suffered from being one-dimensional. Cooley wanted to fight on the ground , but when he could not get the fight there, he appeared frustrated from getting beaten up all night long. By the third round Marshall yelled to Gibson, “Step on the pedal, red-line him,” indicating Cooley was fading. That’s what Gibson did. In an impressive display of striking, Gibson mixed up his strikes to the body and the head forcing Cooley to flop to the floor multiple times, so much so that he was deducted a point and eventually stopped by the ref since he was unwilling to engage. For Gibson, this was a star-making performance as he beat down Cooley, forcing him to mentally check out of the fight.
Black Dynamite knows BJJ
Roy “Black Dynamite” Boughton (9-3) took a little less than a minute to submit Michael “The Hammer” Martinez (7-2) by a toe hold, a form of jiu jitsu rarely witnessed. Boughton won fans at the weigh in by stepping off the scale and drinking the end of a friend’s beer after making weight, to which one fan said “You gangster for that , boy!” Boughton has the star quality, a cool nickname, personality, and skills to become a star, and being a heavyweight helps even more. War MMA could possibly develop Boughton into a promotional star. Free agent dog of war Sean McCorkle, another Jiu Jitsu heavyweight willing to fight anywhere, could make an interesting opponent for Boughton if terms can be reached.
Notes from the undercard
Dominic Clarke (6-2) found new friends in Stockton as he beat the local 209 resident Chris Quitiquit (5-3) who despite his name showed resilience as he yelled at the doctor for stopping the fight when blood oozed out of his eye. The local Stockton fans Quitiquit made from a previous fight began to cuss out Clarke, the ref and doctor with slurs and insults that were aimed at all three. Clarke looked over at the finish to Diaz who was standing outside of the ring to show respect to him, Diaz looked back and held out a thumbs up to show approval.
Marcel Fortuna (4-1) looked impressive in his second round submission of C.J. Marsh (2-3) who seemed to struggle against Fortuna when the action hit the ground. It’s is always a bad sign when a corner is speaking Portuguese to a fighter when the fight hits the ground and that’s what Fortuna’s corner was doing.
Anthony Tatum (3-1) just barely got by Joey Cabezas (4-5) after getting bailed out by the bell in the first round. Despite Cabezas really hurting Tatum badly early on, Tatum was the more well rounded fighter, and used all aspects to his game to demonstrate grit and pull out a tough split decision win.
Adrian Adona (1-0) showed impressive striking and that he is something fearsome for the future when a well placed jab cut open local resident Beau Hamilton (2-4), a cut that lead to a doctor’s stoppage due to the location in the eye. Seated near Hamilton’s friends and family, I can tell you they were none too pleased with Hamilton looking back at the crowd egging them on to ridicule the doctor’s decision. Though Hamilton was outgunned by Adona, I will always tune in to watch him, because he will bring it every time.
Mike Ortega (1-0) defeated Jordan Powell (0-1) in a fight where both debuting fighters did not appear to be ready to go three full five minute rounds and Ortega seemingly had just a bit more in the tank to edge out a close decision in his debut.
The first ever War MMA bout took place between Aziz Rashid (0-1) who came in light after confusion over the weight the fight was contested. Rashid thought it was a catchweight of 140 only to be told that he had signed a 145 lbs fight which the promotion later verified, meaning that he gave up five pounds give or take to Derek Brown (1-0). Brown threatened with submission and did just enough to win two out of the three rounds. Rashid walked around after the fight and freely talked to people, embodying the spirit of War MMA, to fight hard and be humble.
As I watched from my seat, I reflected on the misconception I had of Nick Diaz. He is not some crazy guy, he is a guy who is private, he likes where he lives and is proud of it. Diaz entered the sport not for money or fame, he wanted to grow, it seems it was the only comfort he found at a confusing point in his life and it guided him. The WWF antics of the UFC seem to degrade the martial arts aspect of the sport to him, and with his promotion it seems to be more about two things: fighting hard and being around for the fans. Nick and brother Nate Diaz walked around the arena smiling and happy, Nate even joked with a fan who wanted an autograph saying it would cost $50 bucks then shaking his head laughing and motion for young girl to come close so they could take a photo together. This was intimate look at what the Diaz brothers have built in their hometown of Stockton, they have built a legacy, become an inspiration for young kids in the area. As promoter, Diaz is anti-promoter. He doesn’t sell you on the fights, but he promises they will be good , because it’s the people he knows and is close with are running it with him, and they’re putting their heart into it. It is what they would have liked to have while coming up, a local show that generates interest from all over the world yet is still based in the town they were raised in. Of course, Nick Diaz would never admit all of this , but I feel the actions and what I witnessed on Saturday night spoke for him. Whether Nick Diaz fights again or not, who cares, we should just wish that he finds joy in life and maybe Nick Diaz might find himself pulling strings to help fighters the way he wishes others had helped him in prior promotions.
