Gateway Fighting Series 3 - Recap

Gateway Fighting Series is starting to feel comfortable at the Heart of St. Charles.

MCS Coach Jared Daniels-Block's amateur fight promotion put on its third offering on Friday night with a mix of MMA and kickboxing.

Jamese Taylor and John Madaus were dominate in their main and co-main event victories, both of which were for titles. Montrel James and Oscar Ahuatzi staked their claim for 2016 amateur fight of the year with their three round donnybrook.

"Oscar's fight with Montrel was insane it was a classic fight." Daniels-Block said. " It was like watching two old veterans dog it out. It came down to who was the tougher man, pretty much. It went all three rounds, insane dude."

James, long, lean, and explosive, repeatedly got off his shots early in the first round. In a tight three minutes, Ahuatzi came on late, pushing the pace back in his direction.

Ahuatzi got things going in his direction in the second. Ahuatzi scored a single leg and moment start to shift. Once back on the feet, Ahuatzi went to work with a seismic outpouring of shots, all of which James somehow absorbed, in one of the craziest rounds of the year.

Another close round, the third, it was James who was effective with his selective strikes. James came away with the split decision win.

"It was a nice little battle, all I can say is it's a blessing, it was a good opportunity." James said. "The guy took out a few teammates of mine, so I had to come out and capitalize on those losses. Other than that, all the glory to the Lord, thanks to Gateway Fighting Series, and to Knuckle Junkies for taking all the information in on me. I have a warrior's spirit and the will to keep going. You can't stop this, it's too cold. All day."

Jamese Taylor poured it on Zachary Burcham for the GFS lightweight MMA title. Burcham couldn't answer the bell to start the second due to a foot injury. When Burcham went for an early takedown, Taylor stuffed and Burcham turtled up. Taylor eventually worked his hooks in. Burcham caused a scramble but Taylor ended up in side control and eventually mount. Burcham gave up his back and Taylor attempted an arm bar late in the round.

"We're giving Jamese a break after this fight. He's going to go fight Drew Gigax at 170. I think that's going to be a great fight. We're going to give him to Prime FS. I'm going to spread the love, a lot of people came together to help me out and I appreciate everyone who kept their word and came through."

For the bantamweight K1 title, Madaus out of the Wolve's Den, looked crisp and dangerous, sending McDowell to the canvas three times in the opening round.

Kudos to McDowell for making it to the fight. McDowell was dealing with a family tragedy just days before the fight.

"Titus had some really bad personal issues, and he still came out here and fought, not a lot of people would have done that. That was his last fight, I thought he went out with a lot of class, you can't really say a lot of bad things about Titus."

GFS 3 had a little Friday the 13th/Murphy's Law aspect to it as fights fell off the card the night of.

"A lot of crazy, crazy things happened tonight." Daniels-Block said. "People didn't show up. People actually weighed in and made weight and didn't show up today which is complete bullshit. Some crazy fights happened tonight, some pretty intense match-ups towards the end of the card. Guys trading, guys going old school, it was pretty cool, man. A huge success for us financially. Tonight was crazy it was Friday the 13th. I'm happy I'm still standing."

Gateway Fighting Series returns on Friday, July 15th.

Full Results:

Jamese Taylor DEF Zach Burcham - R1 TKO
(K1) John Madaus DEF Titus McDowell - R1 TKO
Montrel James DEF Oscar Ahuatzi
Roddell Thomas DEF Joey Williams by Unanimous Decision
(K1) Damian Newman DEF Aaron Clark - R1 TKO
Britney Cloudy DEF Katelyn Jesse - R1 Verbal Submission
(K1) KJ Jones DEF Max Choriev by Split Decision
(K1) Cortez Burnett DEF Johnathan Graves by Unanimous Decision
(K1) Christopher Peterson DEF Tinyard Boyd - R3 TKO
(K1) Clayton Whaley DEF Jimmy Timmerberg by Split Decision