The Ironheart Crown returned for the first time in almost a year with its ninth chapter of the fight series.  This installment, titled “Ironheart Crown IX: Purgatory,” featured 2 SHOOTO title fights as co-main events plus 10 other action-packed MMA fights to continue the IHC tradition of holding what arguably is the most exciting fight series in the Midwest.

Back in Hammond, Indiana, a capacity crowd stood as a Marine Corps Flag Guard entered the ring for the National Anthem. The crown stirred with emotion and let it pour out in applause. From then on, the excitement in the ring never stopped.

Canadian Antonio “Pato” Carvalho and Midwesterner and UFC vet Jeff “Big Frog” Curran topped off the night with an evenly matched Lightweight Title fight. Although neither Carvalho, or Curran are in the top 10 of the SHOOTO World Rankings, they are ranked #1 and #2 in the Americas Regional Rankings. And this night they were fighting for that vacant championship. They touched gloves after the bell rang and spent the first minute of the round feigning jabs and exchanging leg kicks. The remaining four minutes looked like a stalemated arm wrestling contest with both fighters fighting to get the better underhook position.

The second round started with more of the same but both fighters were far more aggressive in the clinch. Curran worked some elbows to the inside while Carvalho used the space to throw some knees to Curran’s body and head.  Curran went in for a takedown and Carvalho spun and took Curran’s back, riding out the round in Curran’s guard.

In the last round, both fighters opened up their arsenal of weapons. Leg kicks were being thrown to the head instead of the body and punches were thrown with malicious intent. Carvalho got another takedown and pounded his way through Curran’s guard, but Curran was up to the challenge and did his own damage with hammer fists and head kicks from his back

The round ended and the fighters hugged each other. After a small delay the decision came back: One judge scored every round even, 10-10. Another scored one round even and the other two for Curran. The final judge scored the fight 29-28, giving Curran a razor-thin majority decision victory and the title of SHOOTO Americas Lightweight Champion.

The co-main event matched Ryan Ackerman, ranked #1 in the Americas Region and #9 in the World Rankings; and Miguel Torres, ranked #2 and #10 in the Americas and World Rankings; for the vacant SHOOTO Americas Featherweight Title.

The round started with a flurry of punches. Ackerman took the worst of the combinations and took Torres down in the corner. From the bottom, Torres worked for an armbar, but Ackerman muscled his way out and landed a punch.  Ackerman continued to work from Torres’ guard confident he was strong enough to stay out of any submission attempts, It worked only for a short while but in one motion, Torres pulled Ackerman into his body and whipped his leg over Ackerman’s head to isolate the arm. Ackerman quickly tapped out, making Torres SHOOTO Americas Featherweight Champion.

In the last fight before the main events, Clay Guida used two big slams and some bruising ground-and-pound to win his match by injury stoppage. The injury may have occurred from one of the two knee shots Guida buried into his opponent’s side.

Jay Estrada fought as hard as anyone to stay in a full mount for the first minute of his match. After a short stand up, Estrada found himself in full mount again. It wasn’t until Estrada was fighting from his back that he almost finished the fight by armbar. Estrada, however, blocked a slam attempt early in the second round, landed on top, and cinched in a belly-to-belly choke.

Jeff Serafin defeated Brandon Lee halfway through the first round by knockout.  Each landed some heavy shots in the first half, but Serafin landed a knee and with it took the victory.

A smaller but stronger Sergio Gomez defeated Wade Choate at 2:44 of the first round by rear naked choke.

Juan Magana and Angelo Kariofillas were making their MMA debuts against one another. And, after fighting off a sub attempt with just two seconds left in the round, Magana won his first fight by armbar.

In another match with fighters making their debuts, Otto Torriero fought a game but overmatched Miguel Gamez. Torriero won by rear naked choke in the first round.

In post-fight celebrations, Sherrod Legget, wearing a “clock-necklace” a la Flavor Flav, made it clear to everyone at precisely what time he won his third professional fight against a slightly more rookie Mark Allen.

Eric Newell defeated late replacement Adam Bass in Round 1. Bass came out pushing the pace, but Newell, in a momentary lapse during Bass’s charge, threw a right hook that leveled Bass.

Joao “Pitbull” Herdy and Joe Pearson each had excellent chances to finish their fight. Pearson charged but was taken down. He worked an armbar that he nearly finished but couldn’t hold on to. Herdy escaped and got in mount, then he pounded Pearson with strikes until Pearson tapped.

In the first fight, striker Eddie Wineland was surprised by John Hosman’s willingness to stand with him. After being on the painful end of some punches, Wineland got the takedown and submitted Hosman.