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The Ironheart Crown returned to Hammond, Indiana and the Hammond Civic Center with their own special brand of Mixed Martial Arts. Special because the Iron Heart Crown works like no other promotion to produce one of the most competitive and prestigious MMA events in the Midwest and on November 20, 2004, with The Iron Heart Crown VIII “Ethereal”, the tradition continued. After losing their original Main Event, which is now the Main Event for Ironheart Crown 9, and seeing many other bouts dropped and opponents switched, Ironheart called in fighters from across the country to fill spots and retain the integrity of the show. From as far as California and Florida and as close as Chicago, the fighters entertained a capacity crowd in traditional Ironheart Crown fashion.

Keith Wisniewski and Derrick Noble, two Midwest fighters, were bumped to the Main Event. Both carry modest win to loss ratios and had little on the line unless you consider pride and dignity petty emotions. Nevertheless, the match, at three five-minute rounds, was still a stepping-stone for each in the long road to determine the Shooto Americas Middleweight Title.

The opening minute was spent with the fighters feeling each other out. Each fighter feinted and countered trying to judge the others reaction until Wisniewski dropped and took Noble to the ground. The rest of the round was spent with Wisniewski, either in Noble’s guard or in the full mount just long enough to do damage before Noble could get guard back. One stall in the action and the referee stood the fighters, however, after some maneuvering, the fighters made their way back to the ground and the round ended in convincing fashion for Wisniewski.

The second round was a mirror image of the first, if you were on the other side of the mirror, and this round was more of Noble pressing the fight against Wisniewski. His tenacity paid dividends and throughout the round Noble found more and more openings in Wisniewski’s guard to exploit. The referee stood the fight up once again because of inaction and in subsequent action, the fighters hugged in the corner delivering some painful foot stomps to one another. In the tie up, Noble reached around Wisniewski, picked him up and threw him onto his back with a thud from the apron and a gasp from the crowd. Noble finished the second round in as dominating fashion as Wisniewski did the first.

The fighters came out of their corners for the final round determined to finish one another standing up in the middle of the ring. Understanding the fight was probably tied a round apiece, neither fighter wanted the fight decided by the judges, so they spent much of the round circling one another looking for the opening that would finish the fight. Midway through the round, Noble overextended once and Wisniewski got the takedown. In the full mount Wisniewski couldn’t finish Noble and despite working from a bad position Noble never quit. Another stand up and quick takedown by Wisniewski and the round ended with Wisniewski in a full mount landing shots to Noble’s head. Maybe not doing a lot of damage, but it was convincing enough for the judges to score the bout unanimously for Wisniewski.

In another preliminary bout to determine the Shooto Americas Middleweight Title, Thiago Alves from American Top Team out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Jason Chambers from ADCC veteran Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu out of Los Angeles, California battled in a fight that could very well have been the Main Event.

Alves and Chambers came out swinging for the fences. Alves was quicker to the punch and looked to be the stronger of the two fighters. Alves bullied Chambers against the ropes and landed a hook that dropped Chambers to a knee. Chambers tried holding onto Alves to keep from falling and, in a controversial move, because striking a downed opponent from a standing position is illegal, Alves planted his knee into Chambers’ face. The blow didn’t knock out Chambers, in fact, he got back to his feet and eventually reguarded but, the blood pouring from Chambers’ nose onto his shoulder and mat forced the referee to stop the action for the ringside doctor to examine. The blood flow was stopped and while the doctor tested Chambers’ nose for breaks, Chambers begged him to let the fight continue. The doctor let Chambers continue and as grim as the situation appeared, all Chambers needed was one thing to go his way.

In this night, that one thing didn’t happen. Alves pushed Chambers into the ropes and targeted the nose, one clean shot later, Alves sent Chambers to the ground and fell on Chambers to continue his onslaught. Chambers defended himself by rolling underneath the bottom rope and halfway off the ring apron. The blood start to pour again and this time the floor of the Civic Center was painted a little redder, Chambers couldn’t continue and when he got back into the ring he verbally submitted giving Thiago Alves the victory.

In Featherweight action, young, local Miguel Torres brought to the ring his serenading Mariachi Band, an impressive 32-1 record and a reputation for finishing fights fast. His opponent, Alex Khanbabian of San Francisco, California and the Ralph Gracie Academy, many years Torres’ elder carried in a far less daunting record at 3-1, but the fight was one of the more anticipated of the evening.

The round started fast and furious and both displayed some impressive skills striking. But Torres used a significant reach advantage and was the first to land anything meaningful and knocked down Khanbabian forcing a standing 8 count. After the count, Torres moved in and got a takedown and worked for an armbar, eventually the hold was in too deep and Khanbabian was forced to tapout in the first round.

Bart “Bartimus” Palaszewski of Curran Martial Arts and Gesias Cavalcante of American Top Team were matched up in another preliminary bout to determine the Shooto Americas Welterweight title. Palaszewski took some hard shots from Cavalcante and defended himself by trying to get a takedown. He succeeded in the takedown, but fell into a guillotine choke and tried to escape, but Cavalcante was far too strong. Palaszewski held on for as long as he could but finally tapped shortly into the first round. He probably held on too long because while Cavalcante celebrated his victory in the middle of the ring with some break dancing, Palaszewski moved only with help for several minutes. Before the worry got to be too much, “Bartimus” popped up off the apron and congratulated Cavalcante.

Jake Ambrose was a victim of one of the fights that had seen an opponent drop out. His replacement was Ron Fields. Fields entered the ring with a less than menacing stature and Ambrose looked the part of a terrorizing, bone breaker. But, of course, looks can be deceiving and often are. Ambrose got an early takedown after he found out Fields wasn’t going to be a push over. Ambrose worked an ankle lock, but couldn’t finish as Fields easily rolled out of the attempted submission and got side mount on Ambrose where the referee finally had to stop the fight because of the punishment Fields was handing down on Ambrose.

In another Featherweight Bout, Andre Soares, another fighter from American Top Team, and Ulysses Rocha fought in a two x five minute round match. Both fighters were impressive at countering one another’s takedowns and sub attempts but after two rounds, the judges awarded Soares the unanimous decision.

Charles Barron and Mario Williams put on one of the better fights of the night in an exhibition bout that wouldn’t count against their records. Williams showed a better-rounded repertoire of striking and ground skills. However, Barrown wasn’t going to make it easy, often pressing the action and forcing Williams to do some things he didn’t want to do such as fight from his back. The two put on a show for the crowd, the action was so constant the crowd was cheering through the fight and it seemed the fighters were the conductors orchestrating to the crowd. When the two circled each other, catching their breath, the applause would settle and on cue the fighters would break into a flurry sending the crowd into another frenzy. Williams slammed Barron to the apron hard several times, but Barron had some wrestling experience and never seemed out of place from his back. However, he did tire faster and Williams took advantage and finally applied a reverse naked choke that couldn’t have been any deeper.

Barron never gave up and the crowd starting getting behind Barron trying to help him through the sub attempt. Barron did get out and crowd rewarded him with applause but Barron had expended a lot of energy and made a mistake by giving Williams his arm. Williams locked in the armbar, but again Barron wasn’t giving up. In Shooto rules, “if the referee deems that the fighter caught in the hold is in danger but refusing to submit, he may terminate the bout.” Now was certainly the time to call a “catch”. Williams bent Barron’s arm in several directions and several at ringside squinted waiting to hear and see the snap of Barron’s arm (I know because I squinted and turned my head from the expectation). Finally, Barron did submit and both fighters were given a rich ovation from the crowd.

Joe Pierson of Miletich Fighting Systems defeated Jay Estrada in less than two minutes of the first round of their bout. Pierson pulled guard on Estrada after a takedown and wrapped his legs around Estrada’s head submitting him with a triangle choke.

John Paun and Kyle Watson fought to a majority draw in their two round bout. Paun displayed an effective ground and pound style that never put Watson in a lot of danger but was effective in getting points. Watson had several sub attempts that he could never quite finish. The most meaningful was a triangle attempt that Paun finally escaped by picking Watson up and dropping him. The two fought to a majority draw.

Joao Herdy and Dave Persin opened the night, and Herdy made quick work of Persin. Herdy knocked down Persin early in the fight, barely making the standing 8 count, Persin went toe to toe again and subsequently got knocked down again. This time the referee was forced to call fight.

This was only the eighth show in five years for the Ironheart Crown and for fans of MMA, we can only hope they do more. The IHC matchmaking spares no expense to insure quality fights, even if it means flying in fighters from across the country or even from outside the country. The staff is friendly and helpful, often helping you to your seat and thanking you for coming and production members are tuxedoed and constantly walking through the crowd and mingling making sure everyone is having a good time.

The Hammond Civic Center is fits appropriately between 2,000 and 2,500 MMA fans, and with balcony seating there isn’t a bad seat in the house. The IHC has set a standard for other Midwest fight organizations, and they continue to pull off quality shows in a small, rural town whose claim to fame is being just 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, only if there’s no traffic!

Any unauthorized use of any Photo’s without the expressed written consent of MMA Ring Report LTD is strictly prohibited

Any unauthorized use of any Photo’s without the expressed written consent of MMA Ring Report LTD is strictly prohibited