Bobby “King” Green was so exhausted after his fight that he couldn’t recall any of it, but knew he at least lived up to his nickname and had a new championship belt to prove it.
Presented by Todd Meacham and Richard Rasmussen Promotions, “Total Fighting Alliance 11: Pounding at the Pyramid” gave Long Beach State and approximately 2,500 fans a taste of the growing sport of mixed martial arts with a nine-fight card Saturday, July 12.
Green walked out of the Walter Pyramid the new TFA lightweight champion after defeating Toby “Tigerheart” Grear in the second round via technical knockout in an action-packed main event.
Green sidestepped Grear and forced him to the canvas before finding an opening. Green wailed away with a series of left hands, forcing the referee to stop the fight at the 3:25 mark in the second round.
“I can’t tell you nothing that happened except that it was back-and-forth,” Green said. “Him hitting me, me hitting him — a whole bunch of that, like a fight goes. I’m just happy it’s over.
“You’ve got to understand there’s two different views. What you see here is totally different than what we see back on video. I don’t even remember half of it, to be honest. I remember a whole bunch of punching, me doing a whole bunch of fakes and then connecting.”
Green established himself as the aggressor from the beginning, attacking the defending champion with a flurry of knee strikes before dodging and countering Grear’s punches. Toward the end of the round, however, it was Grear that had Green in a submission hold and fans thought Green had tapped out.
Instead, the horn sounded to end the first round and Green was trying to let Grear know to release the hold. With the crowd chanting his name, Green got back on the offensive attack to open the second round and sent Grear staggering with a kick to the ribs before the fight’s final sequence.
Three of the fights on the card brought the fast-paced action to an end before time could expire in the first round, including Neal Abrams’ victory over Ben Gonzalez in the second bout of the night. Abrams, who suffered a deep laceration under his right eye, was still able to force Gonzalez into submission at 1:37 in the first round with a heel hook.
“He came with an elbow right across my cheek,” Abrams said.
In the quickest fight of the night inside the octagon, Cordero defeated Chris Champagne in a welterweight bout with a guillotine choke. After catching Cordero in a compromising position in the air, Champagne slammed him to the mat but Cordero reversed his hold to put him into submission just 1:17 into the action.
In the bout just before the main event, Jeff Martin defeated Gator “Soul Assassin” Harris with a rear naked choke at 2:51 in the first round. Harris was anything but the assassin, as Martin — with Harris on his back — sandwiched him between the cage and proceeded to deliver a combination of elbows and punches. Martin then slammed Harris to the ground and made him tap out.
Also on the card: 36-year-old Jon Sibbald, who had the largest crowd support of the night, defeated Long Beach-native Daniel Gray by unanimous decision. Brent Cooper busted open Mozzy Arfa before applying a rear naked choke 1:40 into the third round to win by submission. Anthony Ferguson, who replaced Craig Wilkerson on the card, won via TKO over Brandon Adams 2:18 into the second round. Chris Culley, who was anything but a fan-favorite, defeated Juan Pesina in a 30-27 unanimous decision. In the opener, Long Beach-native David Ghobrial won in a split decision over Luis Salguero scored 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28.
TFA is the first fight organization sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission, according to totalfighting.net.
Rasmussen said the decision to bring the hardcore MMA cage fighting event to Long Beach was simple: The venue and location were a “perfect” fit.
“We checked out a lot of different venues,” Rasmussen said. “[The Pyramid] was just perfectly suited for us — perfect size, perfect next step from the last venue we were at and the whole Pyramid staff is great. We’ve worked at a lot of venues and they are by far-and-away the best staff to work with.
“And we like to stay near the beach, so we’re staying near the beach — Long Beach.”