WCF 8 Provides Non-Stop Action Until Bitter End

Mike Medrano eyes a takedown as he falls short verses Mike Campbell at WCF 8

 The sold-out Shriner’s Auditorium crowd was treated to a great night of slams, submissions, and TKO’s, by some of the best talent the northeast had to offer.  

Fans weren’t just treated to exciting fights, several VIP guests such as The Ultimate Figher 10’s Kimbo Slice, Celtics forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis, StrikeForce’s  Jorge Gurgel, and UFC veterans Marcus Davis, Jorge Rivera, Dan and Joe Lauzon, and John Howard were in attendance for fans to meet and greet.  

The night was full of exciting fights as several schools and fighters shined. 

The fight of the night had to be New Jersey’s Team Rhino product Josh Key and Rivera MMA’s Luis Felix. They treated the crowd to an exciting fight that went to a bonus third round. The action went back and forth with Key displaying some Jon Jones-like exciting, unorthodox moves as he finished Felix, winning by TKO.

Like many MMA fighters before him, Gillette’s Josh LaBerge used his recent Greg Jackson training experience to make quick work of Dan Bonnell of Renzo Gracie New Hampshire with a first round TKO.

BJJ Revolution’s Noah Wiseman continued his winning ways, making work of Dragon Warrior’s Andrew Montanez. Wiseman submitted Montanez via rear naked choke in the first round.

But despite the great event, the crowd went home feeling a tad disappointed as the co-main events didn’t live up to the fan expectations.

In the first of the two fights, local fan favorite Renzo NH’s John Benoit was set to battle America Top Team’s Hitalo Machado. 

Beniot was drilled with back-to-back accidental shots to the groin. After several minutes, the fight resumed when Benoit would find himself tapping out after getting put into a rear naked choke.

But the bigger disappointment of the night was the final match between WEC veteran Mike Campbell and Team Rhino’s Mike Medrano.  Entering the bout, Campbell was the heavy fan favorite and many expected it being only a matter of time before his hand was raised.

Apparently, somebody forgot to tell Mike Medrano. 

As soon as the bout began, Medrano seemed to control the action of the fight. He started by winning the stand up war as he was the first fighter to draw blood with his punches.

Then as Campbell started to move in, Medrano shot and slammed Campbell to the ground. Campbell was able to reverse Medrano and gain top position but only for a second, as Medrano then countered Campbell’s reversal.  The bout returned to the feet as the fighters began to exchange for a bit when Medrano shot and slammed Campbell again but this time Campbell was able to get up quickly.

The fighters began to exchange when Campbell landed a flying knee that knocked Medrano to the ground as his head was outside of the ring. Campbell immediately began some ground and pound when seconds later referee Kevin McDonald stopped the fight at the 3:12 mark of the first round.

McDonald, who was also honored on this evening for refereeing his 1,000^th bout, told MMAMadness that he saw Campbell land a couple of hard shots and Medrano’s head/neck whipped dangerously backwards.

When the fight was stopped, the fans were greatly disappointed as they thought the stoppage was too quick and even Campbell’s fans were disappointed.

Medrano sat there discussing the stoppage with McDonald as he made his plea for managing Campbell in his guard for several minutes after the fight.

WCF 8 Results

-          James Boran (Rivera MMA) defeated Jim Pitner (USMMA) via  unanimous decision

-          Lev Kamenetski (White Water MMA) defeated Joel Ty (Guy Chase) via TKO (punches) in Rd. 1 (2:22)

-          Aniss Alhajjajy (Brazilian Top Team) defeated Brent Reed (America Top Team CT) via Submission (Rear naked choke) in Rd. 2 (3:47)

-          Saul Almeida (Rivera MMA) defeated Kevin Corrigan (USMMA) via unanimous decision

-          Noah Wiseman (BJJ Revolution) defeated Andrew Montanez (Dragon Warriors) via submission (Rear nake choke) in Rd. 1 (3:38)

-          John Ortolani (Gracie Barra NH) defeated Travis Lerchen (Wai-Kru) via TKO (punches)  in Rd. 1 (2:16)

-          Josh Key (Team Rhino NJ/Jersey Fight Club) defeated Luis Felix (Rivera MMA/Burrill BJJ) via TKO in Rd. 3 (.51)

-           Josh LaBerge (Gillette) defeated Dan Bonnell (Renzo Gracie NH) via TKO (punches)  in Rd. 1 (1:20)

-          Joe McGann (USMMA) defeated Jason Dublin (Wai-Kru) via unianimous decision

-          Dennis Olsen (Gracie Barra NH) defeated Ryan Schieding (Burgess) via  submission (Armbar) in Rd. 1 (1:04)

-          Hitalo Machado (American Top Team CT) defeated John Benoit (Renzo Gracie NH) via submission (Rear naked choke) in Rd. 1 (2:04)

-          Mike Campbell (Wai-Kru/Sit Yod Tong) defeated Mike Medrano (Team Rhino NJ) via TKO (punches) in Rd. 1 (3:12)