FightWorld continues to pack 'em in!

Report by Rob Monroe

FightWorld results
Saturday night's all-pro MMA card at the Sunshine Theatre in Albuquerque continued to pack them in. A full house witnessed the gamut of possibilities in MMA: decisions, TKOs and brutal KOs.

Matt Priest was first up, stopping Tomas Martinez in the first. After weathering an onslaught of punches by Martinez, with some landing, some not, Priest was able to land pin point the first knee strike he threw. The wind came out of Martinez's sails as he took the full blow to the chin, then he absorbed two more knees rendering him unable to continue. The referee stepped in and stopped the contest.

Richard Bernard was next up, facing tough and talented Aaron Gilbert. Bernard defended some dangerous high kicks and strikes by Gilbert in the early stages of the fight. Bernard eventually took the fight to the ground taking Gilbert's back and applying a rear naked choke, leaving Gilbert no choice but to tap out or pass out.

Mike Maestas and Ruben Hernandez fought a spirited battle. Maestas used good ground control to his advantage, eventually securing the mount position and stopping Hernandez with an onslaught of strikes to the head, trapping one arm of Hernandez and leaving him unable to defend.

Brant Gibbs faced Okahoma wrestler Joe Gorczynski in the forth bout of the night. Gibbs fought off repeated attempts at guillotine chokes by the Okie wrestler. Gibbs appeared to have the submission victory in what looked to be a tight arm bar, but Gorczynski was able to scramble free. In a back and forth battle, Gibbs was able to take a majority decision victory over Gorczynski.

The semi-main event pitted overwhelming crowd favorite Coty “Ox” Wheeler against Texas fighter Ceasar Rodriguez. Once again, Ox brought his brand of mixed martial arts, playing to the crowd and taking it to Rodriquez. Wheeler landed some spirited inside leg kicks and rocked Rodriguez with an uppercut thrown from way outside. Wheeler did not disappoint the packed house as he ended the fight in the first with the submission, which is quickly becoming an Ox Wheeler signature move. Wheeler winner by way of flying arm bar.

The main event saw two heavyweight fighters enter the cage, Dustin Mast facing off against Josh Lanier. Although Lanier had a distinct height and reach advantage, Mast set the pace in the fight with Lanier on the defensive. As is the case with the heavyweights, most come with heavy hands. Mast put Lanier to sleep with a frightening knock out that left Lanier down for minutes after the bout had ended. Lanier arose and, thankfully, was not seriously hurt, leaving the cage under his own power and vowing to be back again.