Fight of the Night: Frankie Rivera vs. Vince Barreda

Derik Post Fight Interview

Finish The Fight presents: MMA Explosion

Last night, we got a free night of fights on Spike TV courtesy of the UFC. Tonight, El Paso host's a night of amateur MMA fights down at the Camino Real hotel, where the spectators will get to witness 7 MMA fights as well as mingle with special guests, UFC cutmen Jacob "Stitch" Duran and Don House. They might not be free, but the distinct possibility of getting blood splattered on your shirt is worth the $25.

The Main Event pits El Paso's Martin Sano against Justin Nixon in a Middlewight bout for the FTF belt. Rather than promise a stand up fight, both fighters said they are ready to go to war in all aspects of the game. Martin Sano is used to fighting for championship belts. Justin Nixon is just as experienced and comes out of a respected gym. Being the Main Event shouldn't play a factor in the fight for either fighter and it should make for fireworks.

Also on the card, what was supposed to be a Featherweight bout between Brian Castillo, who was featured in an El Paso Time's article, and Antonio Guerrero, turned into a fight between Guerrero and Castillo's teammate, Derik Cranford. The guy's team mate came out on the newspaper, so expect him to put on a show. Other notables on the card include Adam Mcgurk, who made quick work of his opponent in his last fight, against Jesse Kocoseri, who fights his first amateur MMA fight but is up for the challenge, and Vince Barreda, who prepared for a bantamweight bout but volunteered for one at Lightweight when his opponent pulled out and Frankie Rivera was in need of an opponent himself. Frankie Rivera is guaranteeing a win but rather than use the size disadvantage as an excuse, Barreda says he's mad he had to cut weight for no reason so he's going to be in Rivera's face the whole time.

As always, the amateurs don't come to just win, they come to fight and put on a show, so expect the hooks, uppercuts, knees and blood to be flying left and right.

Finish The Fight Main Event: Martin Sano vs. Justin Nixon

Finish The Fight: Frankie Rivera vs. Vince Barreda

Finish The Fight: Juan Garcia vs. Jeremy Latorre

UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fight For The Troops 2

Tonight, we get to watch a UFC event but unlike other events, this one is dedicated to the troops, so you don't have to go to the bar or fork out $50 to catch the headkicks and chokes. Just tune in to Spike to catch the free fights or go on Facebook to watch the prelims.

For the Main Event, it's Evan Dunham versus Melvin Guillard. Although not as intriguing or evenly matched as Dunham/Florian, it's still an interesting one. Guillard is a fast, powerful striker with alright wrestling and a complete lack of ground skills. Dunham is the next big thing at lightweight. He's got good boxing and a reach advantage over most other lightweights but it's his grappling that's got him to where he's at and what is going to get him the win. Melvin's always been an explosive striker but loses fights when he's not on his feet. Dunham's gonna be patient and use his boxing until the opportunity arises to take it to his world. Dunham takes it by some sort of choke, but who knows. He might just surprise me once again with a TKO win.

For the Co Main Event, it's a battle of the awkward giants ad Tim Hague takes on Matt Mitrione. Hague has experience on his side but he's not much of a successful UFC fighter. Matt Mitrione has surprised me in each of his outings. He sent Kimbo Slice packing with a submission and outstruck the striker in his decision win over Beltran. I say Mitrione takes this one by TKO.

The rest of the card is filled with cool fights. Pat Barry takes on Joey Beltran in what should be a one-sided stand up fight. Barry has the some of the nastiest kicks in the UFC and pretty fast hands for a heavyweight. This fight is the perfect opportunity for him to showcase his skills. George Roop takes on Mark Hominick to see who's next in line to get kneed in the face by Jose Aldo. Cody Mckenzie takes on Yves Edwards. Edwards is the better striker and overall better fighter than Mckenzie, but isn't taking Cody's ability to choke him out seriously. Maybe it's cause he seems like kind of people, but I say Cody wins by his patented 'Mckenzitine'. Check the fights cause they're free and because not watching a fight for the troops would be very un-American of you.

Finish The Fight: Joe Aguirre vs. Steven Cathey

Finish The Fight: Antonio Guerrero vs. Brian Castillo

Finish The Fight: Jesse Kocoseri vs. Adam McGurk

Finish the Fight: Mitch Brown vs. Marcus Simien

Marcus Simien and Mitch Brown are no strangers at all. They actually used to train together for 6 months so they know what to expect from each other. Both of them will fight on Jan. 23rd for Finish the Fight Promotions "MMA-Explosion" at the Camino Real. Marcus would love to keep the fight standing up while Mitch is pretty much comfortable anywhere. He believes he can stand with Marcus. There all business when it comes to their fight and both fighters want to leave the cage with their hand raised.

Finish The Fight in the El Paso Times

Finish The Fight Promotions is already making it on the sports page and there hasn't even been one punch thrown yet. Check out Bret Bloomquist \ El Paso Times story on Brian Castillo and Finish the Fight Promotions' "MMA Explosion" Check out the link below for the full story.

MMA in El Paso: Amateur card gives fighters experience

Mike Chupa sets the record straight

Mike "The Storm" Chupa not only set the record straight on why he couldn't fight last week at TUFF: Military Mayhem but he also found a solution to finally get in a cage with Adrian "Guns" Gamboa. Mike also talks about his next big fight that just might get his name noticed in the MMA world.




www.mikechupamma.com

FINISH THE FIGHTS

Next week Finish the Fight promotions will be hosting an event at the Camino Real on Saturday January 23.  They're going to have 15 MMA bouts! They actually had around 18 fights set up but the Texas State Athletic Commission made them trim it to 15. D4MMA will be at the Camino Real covering the fights. All this week we are hitting up gyms and interviewing the fighters that will fight next week. So starting tomorrow we will start posting our interviews up. Last night we did visit Concrete Jungle to interview Marcus Simien, and  tonight will be visiting Xtreeme Jui Jitsu to interview 8 of their fighters. Then tomorrow will be hitting up Hayashi to talk with Adam McGurk and Fabian Salas. We will also talk to Mike Chupa so he can set the record straight about why he pulled out of his championship fight at TUFF: Military Mayhem.

FINISH the FIGHTS

Location: Camino Real

Date: January 23, 2011

MMA XPLOSION-Amateur Series

Main Event: FTF MMA Championship Middleweight

Martin Sano vs. Justin Nixon

Co Main Event Bantamweight

Derik Cranford vs. Eloy Hermosillo

Featherweight

Brain Castillo vs. Antonio Guerrero

Middleweight

Joseph Selvig vs. Fabian Salas

Super Heavyweight

Juan Ibarra vs. Charles Lopez

Welterweight

Johnny Aguilar vs. Jose Acosta

Bantamweight

Vince Barreda vs. Jose Argueta

Heavyweight

Joe Martinez vs. Osvaldo Ayala

Featherweight

Jesse Kocoseri vs. Adam McGurk

Lightweight

Frankie Rivera vs. Alex Aguilar

Light Heavyweight

Donny Hamilton vs. Edgar Alvardo

Welterweight

Juan Garcia vs. Jeremy Latorre

Welterweight

Joe Aguirre vs. Steven Cathey

Heavyweight

Will Dominguez vs. Alfredo Rodriguez

Lightweight

Mitch Brown vs. Marcus Simien

TICKETS:

All that Music - 1506 N Lee Trevino Dr #D

 The Headstand - 4409 Dyer St

or visit

http://www.finishthefightsmma.com/

TUFF: Military Mayhem Results

Frank Powers and TUFF could not catch a break last night. The doctor that was schedule to attend the event did not show up. The 3 schedule MMA fights turned into grappling matches. The 6 fighters that were supposed to fight showed their true professional side and went on to still try to put on great grappling matches. This was a huge blow for TUFF but I know for a fact Frank Powers will bounce back and make it up to the fans.

TUFF: Military Mayhem UPDATE

Alot of changes to TUFF: Military Mayhem. The Texas Athletic Commisson came down hard on Champ Mike Chupa and he can not fight this Saturday. We will be getting an interview with Chupa so he can give the 411 on what happen. There is still going to be an event tomorrow and George Sheffey will still be fighting. 

More details coming tomorrow.

Pre-fight interviews

We are now days away from TUFF’s first event of the year, MILITARY MAYHEM! The main event will be #1 contender George Sheffey vs. 135lb Champ Mike “the Storm” Chupa. We interviewed both fighters and they both are very confident they will leave Saturday night with a win. George has no MMA experience but did go undefeated in his amateur boxing career. He believes his striking game will be the difference in the fight and where he sees holes in Chupa’s game. We have seen Chupa train and he is an all-around fighter. He takes his training serious and is always focused 100%. George does have a wrestling background from his high school days. This is going to be a great fight and for sure this fight is not going the distance

We will have more pre-fight coverage everyday before TUFF: Military Mayhem gets on its way. Tomorrow will have interviews with Curtis McNeil and Fabian