Pulver takes in the sweet scent of Victory

Two weeks and the width of Illinois is all it took for MMA fans to get the next installment of the Extreme Challenge. Behind the strength of a successful EC 51 show, St. Charles, gave way to the District of Rock Island, where the next installment of the Extreme Challenge would come to be. Located on the Mississippi River, the District’s summers are usually packed with outdoor festivals featuring art and music, but this night an outdoor ring in the pedestrian plaza and an 11-fight line up would be the focus of attention.

In the main event of the evening, Jens Pulver was making his fighting debut in his adopted hometown, as well as trying his hand in a new weight class. With the bulk of his career spent fighting at 155 lbs, Pulver was dropping weight for the first time to try his hand in the 145 lb division. His opponent was Joe Jordan, a member of the 4 Season MMA Team, who sported a winning record in SHOOTO sanctioned events.

Jordan was introduced first and upon entering the ring he circled the ring and settled in his corner. Pulver was introduced and brought to the ring a small contingent of team members with him. He entered the ring looking focused. Jens also took a lap around the ring, hesitating just a moment in front of Jordan’s corner.

Before the bell rang, Tony Fryklund stood on the apron giving last minute advice while Pulver stood, staring at Jordan from across the ring. The bell rang and, for those who have followed Pulver’s career, the anticipation had reached a tipping point. They met in the center in the ring content with taking the opening moments of the fight as a feeling out period, with Pulver mixing in legs kicks along with some of his jabs. The two stood in the middle of the ring exchanging shots, toe to toe. At times, they stood so close the fight could have been in a phone booth.

During one of the exchanges something happened to Pulver’s eye. Whether it was a grazing punch or a poke in the eye is unsure, but it had major ramifications. Jens pushed Jordan away from him and backed into his corner rubbing his eye. Jordan hesitated a moment and smelling an opportunity, ran across the ring and threw an extended barrage of shots to his head and body. Pulver absorbed all of Jordan’s punches and was able to take him down. Jen’s held Jordan down, seemingly to take time to recover from whatever it was that happened to his eye. Eventually, Jens let Jordan up and shortly after, the bell rang to end the first round. Jordan collapsed in his corner from exhaustion, while Pulver on the other hand, stepped back to his corner and listening intently to the advice of his corner. The partisan crowd were on their feet, screaming cheers of motivation towards Pulver’s corner.

The second round started and the fighters met in the center of the ring again. Jordan must have felt he had taken Pulver’s best, because, just moments into the round, Jordan began taunting Pulver, presumably convinced that he couldn’t be hurt. They continued to exchange punches, with Jordan intensifying his taunts at the conclusion of each heated exchange. They finally stood directly in front of each other, daring the other to take a free punch, all the while stirring the crowd into a frenzy. Those who weren’t, now stood to get a better look. Pulver was threw straight left hands while Jordan covered, and looked for the counter at every opportunity. That opportunity never came, Jens surprised Jordan with his trademark left hook instead of a straight jab, and it landed square on his head. Jordan’s night was over. Before the punch that ended it all, Jordan didn’t seem to be in any trouble, his legs were firmly underneath him, and he was still moving his head. One punch was the difference however, and Jordan fell backwards with his arms falling to his sides, he was out by the time he hit the apron. The ref waved his arms and the fight was over.

An excited Pulver ran to each corner of the ring stood on the turnbuckles and thanked everybody that surrounded the ring. To cap it all off, he grabbed the microphone and thanked the rest of the still excited crowd. Minutes after the fight, while the ring was being taken down a Jens Pulver that was reminiscent of the champion that fans have grown to know, had this to say. “I’m back, I want them all, make sure you write that.” If confidence breeds success, then Pulver’s already taken his first steps on his way back to the top.

In other action, Jason Medina made his return to the ring just two weeks out from a disappointing loss at EC 51. [Full EC 51 Report is HERE] Jason came out with fire in his eye and a shot at redemption. His opponent was Karima Bennett. From the ring of the bell, Medina was quicker to the punch and Medina was able to score a takedown and work over Bennett’s body. Bennett rolled onto his stomach and covered the back of his head but Medina worked punches to the body, until a defenseless Bennett had no choice but to tap.

Travis Fulton faced off against “The Other” Jason Miller, no not the Miller that is trained by Colin Oyama and fought in the EC middleweight tournament, a different Jason Miller. Big Travis Fulton didn’t care which Miller it was and wasted no time securing Millers back and ending the bout via rear naked choke just : 45 seconds into the match.

Chris Griffen and Brandon Adamson opened this night of fights. Both started tentatively and felt each other out until the first takedown. Each attempted, and subsequently defended submission attacks. Finally, just under 3 minutes into the round, Griffen forced Adamson to tap from an armbar.

Next, a much-tattooed Frank Young squared off against Kaushik Sinn. This fight saw a lot of work done on the ground for both fighters. Seemingly fueled by the ringsiders’ chants of “Frankie…Frankie”, Young had the advantage while the two were on their feet and it showed on the judge’s scorecards when Young won by unanimous decision.

Derek Mason and BJ Mahon were next on the card and in 2 short minutes Mason finished the fight. Inside the first minute of the fight, Mason had a front headlock sunk in and it looked like the fight would end there. Mahon would find a way to escape the headlock but was eventually forced to tap from strikes.

An exhibition-boxing match was next. It featured two fighters from EC 51, Mark Hominick and Bart Palaszewski. Hominick lost his fight at EC 51 after being slammed on his head, and for anyone that witnessed it, just to see Hominick back in the ring is a testament to his toughness. Sporting a kilt, Palaszewski entered the ring coming off a decision win from EC 51. The two were out to just entertain the crowd and that’s what they did. They fought for three rounds taking turns landing combinations with a slight edge going to Hominick. Being an exhibition, however, no decision was made.

Nate Mohr and Kain Rizzo followed the boxing exhibition. They fought through the first round, which was dominated by Mohr’s superior strength and ability to contol Rizzo. The fight ended in the second round when Mohr got into a mount position and landed some big shots to Rizzo’s body as he covered his head.

Next, David Conger made short work of Ryan Sickler. Just 1 minute into the round, Conger cinched in an arm and forced Sickler to tap from a rear choke.

Mark Long and Jordan Anderson went back and forth for three rounds, with all the judges gaving the decision to Mark Long.

In a somewhat new concept, a tag team submission match was next on the docket. Two members of Team Miletich, Nate Schroeder and Kory Markham faced two members of Meat Truck Inc., John Rafferty and Chris Lynd. The concept was simple, try to control an opponent, work him into your corner and tag your partner. The fighter has 5 seconds to get out of the ring, but in that time your partner has a chance to lock in a submission on another part of the opponents body. It was different and actually entertaining. The best two of three-submission match ended with Team Miletich scoring the decisive fall after the score was tied one to one.

In other news, Laverne Clark was scheduled to fight, however, his Canadian opponent was stuck at the border. A victim of last week’s power outages in northeast and southern Canada, unfortunately he was unable to make the trip. Clark took the opportunity to take the microphone and get into the ring to thank the fans for coming out. Before he left, he made the crowd a promise that he will be competing in the next Extreme Challenge. -MMARR-