Urban Rumble Championships

Boxing & MMA

Pasadena, Tx.

April 04, 2008

by: Maribel Alkek 

Day 1

The Urban Rumble Championships took place in Pasadena, Texas on April 4, 2008, but before the fights got under way, the weigh-ins had taken place at Hooters the day before.

I drove almost three hours to get to the weigh-ins, through tolls at $1.50 per toll, three or four maybe. I pissed off some woman who crept through the toll and I suppose she thought I was going to run into her car.  Apparently, she must have forgotten that you need to merge left because the lane ends at one point or another. Okay, I know I made her a bit angry because she was flapping her trap and I could only imagine what she was trying to convey to me. For some reason, I thought it was funny. She raced her car passed me like a streak of lightning.  Sorry, I’m not into road rage, so again I found it amusing. But, the best part was when I drove about a mile up the road; Mrs. Thing was sitting in the medium stalled out. Now, I wouldn’t have mind helping her out, but one, this was Houston, two, Mrs. Thing might of not been too happy to see me. So, I went on my merry way to the weigh-ins.

Hooters

I arrived about 3:45 p.m. at Hooters and was greeted by Joe Tamez and David Landry of Urban Rumble Championship.  As soon as I walked to the patio area I felt like this was a mixed martial arts reunion for me. I saw a lot of folks I knew, like Paul Glasco and Adam Villareal with Beat Down TV (www.beatdowntv.com), Tony Orozco from Silverback MMA, Justin “The Viking” Wren from Dallas, Chris Reed out of League City (League City’s Administrator), Warren “Baby Dynamite” Stewart from Austin and many more. The weigh-ins got underway and if you ever want to know how to lose 34 pounds in 8 days, just ask Izzy Johnson.

Food

Salad, pasta and of course wings were set out in the patio for everyone to enjoy. All the fighter’s chowed down some good eats and I did to. Most were ready to eat and get the weigh-ins over with.  I hadn’t eaten all day and was walking around on two hours of sleep. I was really surprised I wasn’t disoriented with the lack of sleep. I even stopped on my drive to Pasadena and picked up a 20 oz. cup of coffee which I didn’t drink and a 20oz. coke which I took only a small sip.

The Weigh-Ins

During the weigh-ins, the fighters squared off with their opponent. Daniel “Lil Pit” Pineda and Warren “Baby Dynamite” Stewart were two fighters I couldn’t wait to see because of some bad blood between them. This would be the second time these two fighters would meet.  Chris Reed squared off with Josh Lee and this was another fight I couldn’t wait to see because of the size difference in the two.  I just knew Chris was going to hurt Josh, but things didn’t happen that way.

Beat Down Tv

As the evening neared, all the fighters were gone and I hung around at Hooters with Paul Glasco, Adam Villareal, Don and Eric who were helping out a bit with Beat Down TV. I had no place to be so there I was just hanging out. We went inside to grab a bite to eat. David Landry sat with us for a short time and then headed out. 

Beat Down TV had a show to do at 8:00 p.m. out on the Hooters patio.  The show got underway with an interview with two of the Hooters girls. It was fun watching them do the interview and listening to some of the fans on the patio enjoying the live show.  They somehow came up with a sign that said “Show me your tits”. They were having a blast with it. Go to www.beatdowntv.com and view the show from April 03, 2008.

I finally, headed in the direction of the Marriott to get a room. I hadn’t even done that yet, but lucky for me they had rooms available. The day was beautiful, sunny, and breezy and I also got to spend the afternoon with some great people. What more could I have asked for.

Day 2

Friday morning seemed to roll around early.  I got dressed, watched a scary movie, got my camera batteries charged up and had it ready to go for the Urban Rumble Championships.  I went to my car about 11:00 a.m. and as I was going to get in the elevator I ran into Justin Wren and Cleburn Walker who was one of the fighters on the fight card.  I then ran into another fighter on the card, Warren Stewart. We sat in the lobby and talked about the fight, fighters, sponsors and martial arts, since we have both done the tae kwon do tournaments at one point in our lives. 

It was getting late and we were getting hungry so Warren and I decided to grab a bite. We found a Seafood restaurant down the road.  After we finished eating we headed to the hotel and about an hour later to the venue.

I mingled and chatted with the fighters, coaches and did some networking. 

The fights finally got started with three boxing matches that were really exciting.

The first boxing match took place with Larry Pryor and Cornelius White exchanging some powerful body punches. Both fighters went full force, but Cornelius White proved to be the stronger of the two, landing more hits that rocked Larry Pryor. Of the two, Cornelius White would be the victor.

Ross Brantley surprised me when he hung on to Justin Jones’ leg like he was begging for mercy at the beginning of the boxing match.  I’m not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but it didn’t seem like he came prepared for a boxing match.  He did that several times and the ref. ended the fight in R1 at 2:21.

Third Boxing match of the night was Jerry Perez from Rosenberg, TX and Ramiro “Rambo” Cano out of Houston, TX.  These guys were here to fight and that they did. It was a constant exchange of body punches and it seemed like neither one was going to let up. This boxing match was very different that the previous one in that it was real. Neither fighter hung on to each other much, but just kept boxing.  At one point, I thought their sweat had landed on my hand while taking pictures, but as I later looked down on my notepad there were blood spots on it and on the table.  Now you know you are ring side when that happens.  In the end, Ramiro Cano won by decision.  This was an excellent fight.

 Chris Reed (Bushi Ban) 185 lbs. weight class and Josh Lee (Adrenaline Fight Club) took their fight the full three rounds. I couldn’t wait to see this fight because the size difference between the two made me wonder whether Josh Lee could take on Chris Reed. Josh had a mission as did Chris and he proved he could hold his own. Chris Reed was in control of all three rounds and at the end he had won by unanimous decision.  This was a very exciting fight to see. Chris is sponsored by Furia Fight Wear.

Cleburn “The Spartan” Walker (Team Owen) fighting Matt Rangel (Bushi Ban) in the 185 lbs. weight class ended this fight in R1 tapping out his opponent due to strikes.  Cleburn Walker looked relaxed and ready to rumble; almost like he was right at home.  Cleburn is sponsored by Choke Combat Gear.

Jose Santibanez (Silverback MMA) and Steve Garcia (Elite Martial Arts) fighting in the 155 lbs. weight class took the full three rounds to end this fight. Round 1 Jose landed knee strikes to Steve’s midsection and Steve returned the knee strikes as well.  Both fighters mixed it up with stand up, leg kicks, and ground work. These two fighters had the fans cheering throughout the three rounds. Jose Santibanez was the winner by unanimous decision in this battle. 

The next fight was a long awaited fight just waiting to happen and seemed to be long overdue for both fighters.  The gestures made in the ring before the fight had the fans in an uproar and that was just the beginning.

These are the two fighters that had a lot built up between them and whatever else for that matter. They were meeting for the second time for another mixed martial arts fight.  Daniel “Lil Pit” Pineda (4 oz. Fight Club) and Warren “Baby Dynamite” Stewart (Grappler’s Domain) were on their way to face off for what probably seemed like a lifetime of waiting.

Daniel and Warren squared off and it was time to prove who had the skills to submit the other.  Warren came out with a powerful right that connected to Pineda. After that connection, Pineda took the fight to the ground and mounted Warren’s back and never let up from there. The ref. stopped the fight in the first round which sent Warren off on a frenzy.  Warren jumped up and was in awe of the whole situation. He stomped out of the ring but came back to shake hands with the opposing coaches.  This was one fight Warren had his mind set on winning, but Pineda had a thing or two to show.  Pineda would win by TKO due to strikes. 

Jon “El Jaguar” Kirk (DeLeon Fight Club) and Izzy Johnson (Badboy Freestyle) 185 lbs. weight class were the main event of the night.  This fight lasted only a few seconds as Izzy Johnson took a kick to the head soon after touching gloves with Jon Kirk. Seems like that plan of attack worked well as Jon took Izzy’s back and landed strikes that gained the victory for Jon Kirk.