With Cage Wars 20 in the amateur MMA history books we wanted to take a little time to reflect on the 20th promotion that was brought to us by Cage Wars and 5 Guys Fighting.
Even though we have only covered four Cage Wars events we have some insight that goes into making this one of the best amateur MMA promotion in NY State. This is a totally unbiased piece written by me as we do not work for Cage Wars (even though a lot may think that we work for Cage Wars but in fact other promotions WILL NOT allow us at their events), but we work for the fighters, trainers, schools and camps. We do have a great relationship with our Cage Wars family but we must have that so we may showcase the fighters that fight on their cards.
With all of that out of the way, if you haven’t seen any of the coverage we have posted on our site we do recommend you check it out. We have some great shots of the fighters this time around and we have the full fights available. We do not add any wazzle-dazzle effects to our videos as we try to get the fights up as soon as possible for the fans that are unable to attend a Cage Wars event so they may see their favorite fighter battling it out in the cage. I know I said in the beginning that I was going to reflect on Cage Wars, but I feel these things are worth mentioning and I only have a few more points before I move on. Our Team that consists of my family, attend the weigh-ins as well as keep up with the fighters via social media as well as talking with them on the phone and ultimately attend the prestigious Cage Wars promotion, this does not include just our Team you see at the promotions, but add in my wife in the background that takes care of the books and my awful spending habit on better equipment and let’s not forget she is the owner of our company (Yes we are a women owned company and proud of it), and we do this for free, we pay our bills by revenue brought in by our advertisers.
We not only like to see the fighters in action in the cage but we like to see where they train, be it with a team, school or camp, that is why we have a featured fighter as well as featured school section on our side-bar for easy access. This is something we picked up from Cage Wars when we started out and met via a email that would shake some up, but instead formed a family. Cage Wars allowed us to be part of the MMA community by introducing us to fighters, other promoters (yes it is true Cage Wars has gone to bat for us asking other promotions to give us a shot) and formed our MMA family.
Each time Cage Wars assembles a new card for their next promotion they bring it bigger and better than before, as hard as that sounds they do,their matchmaking is superb and can not be compared elsewhere. If you attend Cage Wars 20 or watched any of the footage out there you would see the great match-ups. From the first fight that 29th of June, Alex Brace representing Atlas Jiu Jitsu vs Joel Caudle representing T.H.O.D, started the night off with some big hits and collided like two gladiators would. We watched as two of the most respectful and kindest fighters square off against one another for the Featherweight Championship. Adam Barrett and Jahloni Kum are a true inspirations to the sport, as Jahloni overcame bullying and found a home at TIGON Academy he won the Featherweight Championship from a well rounded, mild mannered all around nice guy Adam Barrett. This was one of those fights we would like to see both fighters hold the belt, but there must be a clear winner and loser in all battles, but both of these men are winners in our book.
We watched Matt Boyce coming in at 0-3 fighting for The Children’s Miracle Network in Albany NY. Not only was he fighting for the kids, but Matt had Atlas Jiu Jitsu in his corner as well as Hoodlum Fight Gear and Cage Wars as all tickets Matt sold 20% of those sales went to The Childrens Miracle Network. Matt did come out of that fight with a 1 in the win column and made us all proud even Paul Colantonio (Lee’s TKD) that he faced that night and won against was a great match-up.
If you missed the Steve Weaver vs Thor Lampman fight that night we suggest you leave this page right now and watch the video on our site. These two Warriors battled out in true fashion, what a great fight between these two men and this proves our point of the the great match making brought to us by Cage Wars.
We mentioned Jahloni Kum earlier and that brings us to Team TIGON. What a great team, very well rounded fighters always prepared to do battle in the cage, and bring the compassion to this sport we all love. We watched as Patrick LaFortune and Cory Ford bring their A-game to the cage. Eddie Haws and Zach Duncan also two great fighters and both respectful and well mannered assets to the sport of amateur MMA, both of these fighters we suggest you keep an eye on. Tyreem Bush vs. Mark Kelts went the distance that night at Cage Wars 20 and put on an awesome display of sportsmanship and athleticism.
Rough Boys MMA came into Cage Wars with a few fighters as well. Headed up by Anthony Kasdorf and a fight taken on short notice by Shane Alheim proved to be an even battle as Shane faced off against Justin Fraim from Team Body Bags. We mentioned Thor Lampman earlier as he is a member of Rough Boys MMA and proved that these fighters are well prepared, well trained and ready for action.
The Travis Stealey (Atlas Jiu Jitsu) vs Keith Coles bout still has some scratching their heads, but with that being said we don’t see what the referee sees inside of the cage and we respect that. Even though the decision was not what either fighter expected they both showed true sportsmanship as they came in and gave the big MMA hug letting each other know the battle is over and what they did in the cage does not spill out anywhere else as the gladiators exit the cage to go back to training for the next time they step into the cage.
We hold every fighter we come in contact with the highest esteem. Let’s face it they train their asses off and then train some more just to take part in a sport that New York State feels is barbaric and dangerous, but still allow other things that others may find offensive to remain legal. One thing I am just going to point out to the fans out there. If you don’t think representatives from the State are at these events you are sadly mistaken. They are there watching close how things are ran and how the crowd and fans react to the bouts, so from our stand point be on your best behavior even though emotions may take over refrain from throwing things and fighting among each other, let the trained fighters do that in the cage.
As Cage Wars 21 approaches we may miss that event, but let me tell you right now fighters and fans we will be making all attempts to attend Cage Wars 21 taking place on August 17th in Amsterdam NY.
Just a side-note NO disrespect intended when I mentioned wazzle-dazzle videos. We will be producing some fight videos that may be out of the norm, but our main goal is to get the fights up and running the way we seen them and as soon as possible.
A Look At Our Time With Cage Wars 20
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