Western New York Mixed Martial Arts and fitness competed all over last Saturday.  Griffin Tolsma represented the boxing team at the Golden Gloves and Joe Lema, Sean Doyle, Derrick Patterson, Pat Carrasquillo, and Daequan Overton repped WNY at FCP’s Rage in The Cage 13.

    I have watched Griff since he was a little kid at Victory.  I have written about watching him grow from boy to man before.  It is a great story and he has definitely turned into a great man.  Watching him work a full day of work race to the gym and try and get work in before the gym closed was awesome to watch.  He was always around helping Alex Castellano get rounds for his fights, it was great to watch Alex return the favor and get the trench work in with his young protege.

  Tommy Neff like always had his fighter prepared for battle.  I was at the fights in Rochester, but I heard he fought like the warrior he is and brought home the win.  It is good to see how tight the boxing team is and the success that it brings in the ring. 

    While Griffin was getting it in at the Gloves, The FCP crew were chasing their own wins.  Joe Lema started us off with a great K-1 battle.  I don’t know Joe that well.  I cut weight with him before the fight and started to get to know him.  He is a solid kickboxer no major flaws.  Unfortunately, I was in the locker room wrapping Pat while he was fighting and didn’t get to see his fight.   From everything I heard he represented himself well.  All accounts say he left his opponent bloody and looking at him after the fight he looked handsome as ever.  I am looking forward to seeing the fight when FCP posts it.

    Next up was Sean Doyle.  Sean is a super quiet guy. He doesn’t say much. I knew he was fighting at FCP but I didn’t know he was fighting MMA until I saw him in Dub’s Tuesday class. Doyle is one exception to the rule nice guys finish last! Doyle and the kickboxing team are always doing extra work. They are outside doing roadwork and exercise even during these winter months. All of those kickboxers are a different breed.

This was Sean’s first mma fight but it didn’t look like it at all.  He has a lot of ring experience kickboxing, so I expected him to calm and cool in there.  Not only was he calm and cool he controlled his fight very well.   He was able to get off the cage easily during the fight and did a good job on the floor when the fight went there.  He didn’t take any damage when he was taken down.  He didn’t let the grappling aspects of the fight affect him at all.  He used his excellent stand up do beat up his opponent.  Even after he got his kick caught and was taken down, he got up and didn’t let it affect him at all.  He kept kicking and punching and adjusted well so he wouldn’t be taken down.  Sean landed some shots that I thought were going to end the fight.  His opponent had a chin of steel to stay in that fight and deserves a ton of respect.   The mma world better look out for Sean Doyle.

   Derrick took the cage next a little quicker then expected.  (A fight dropped through at the very last minute, a very rare thing but not unheard of at Amateur events) (Sorry Faruk e. Kaiyum that is the worst thing that could happen to a fighter.)  This fight was a lot slower than all the other fights that we were in Saturday night.  The fight pretty much consisted of Derrick being pushed on the cage for three rounds and his opponent trying to take him down.  The few times Derrick got off the cage he looked to do damage just to be pushed on the cage.  There is no more frustrating way to lose than to be stalled out on the cage for three rounds.  Props to his take down defense. He was able to stay on his feet almost the whole fight and when he was taken down, he was able to get up without taking any damage. 

    Afro Pat was up next in a rematch/ bad blood fight.  The two men have fought before in K-1 rules with Pat getting the win by TKO.  The rematch was a lot closer.  Both men engaged in a battle the was mostly spent in scrambles.  The fight was never static it went from on the feet to the floor and back to the feet. In all three rounds Pat was down on the floor, in all three rounds he was able to escape, reverse and negate the damage and submission attempts of his opponent. 

   Pat had a rough 2019 on the ground and to see the improvement on the ground was heartwarming.  Not only did he survive on the ground, but he attacked.  He was closer to finishing the fight on the ground then his opponent.  Not only that he Pat Mix like jumped the back looking for the finish.

   He also has changed his training regimen and It showed in his conditioning in this fight.  Him having the energy to push in the last ten seconds and literally chase his opponent across the cage with punches is what I feel won him the third and deciding round.   Pat has great heart an unshakable belief in himself and is a throwback to the fighters of my day.  He is coming to fight not compete, as he fixes the holes in his game, he is turning himself into someone that will be a handful in the pro ranks.  I love how every time he is in a bad spot and things look dire; he always finds a way to improve his position and put whoever he is fighting in a worse position then he was just in.

   Daequan Overton was the last fight of the night for us.  Before he made the walk, you could physically see the difference in his body for his last fight.  I am around fighters all day every day, reshaping your body as quickly as he did is not easy.  Daequan (or Rockstar from here on out) came out to fight like he was scared the teachers were going to break up his fight if they stopped punching.  It takes two to tango, so it is a good thing his opponent came to Dance as well.  For as long as it lasted it was a great fight.  Rockstar was landing power shot after power shot and I thought this was going to be our fight. 

     I have to give Kenny Hale some love he has a chin made from Granite.  During an exchange Rockstar was hit in the back of the head and went down.  It was an illegal strike, so the Referee didn’t start a count.  He Let Daequan up and the fight continued.  Daequan never fully recovered from that shot. He continued to fight but he was hurt and never recovered.  Daequan ate shots that would put me down and kept coming forward, but the Ref was forced to bring the action to a halt in the second round. 

    I think it was a very exciting fight for as long as it lasted, and I think Rockstar can take a lot from it and grow as a fighter.  Next fights up are KOTC make sure you get your tickets quick.  A ton of local favorites are fighting, and tickets will go quick!