Shamrock FC: 294 - Recap

The judges didn't have much to do last night at Shamrock FC 294 with only one fight going to decision as all of the fighters were looking for a finish. The night saw several popular locals back as the Ameristar Casino played host to the 12 fight card.

The main event between heavyweights Matt Uhde and Scott Hough played out as expected as a battle of heavy hitters. Neither wasted anytime with jabs choosing only to throw bombs.

"We're matched up because we like to stand and bang." Uhde said. "Yeah I took him down in the first but that was more of just to get him tired. In the second I noticed his hands were coming down a bit. Hit him with that spinning back fist to get him wobbled a bit, took him down and finished him up."

Uhde credits his cardio allowing him to keep up the pressure throughout the fight. The 43 year old Uhde runs at least two and half miles a day to keep his body in shape and in top fighting form.

"My number one thing going into this fight was my cardio." Uhde said. "I knew he was going to try and stand and bang with me. I did expect him to come out a little faster, he was a little more reserved. It worked in my favor."

The cardio showed up when he connected with a spinning back fist to surprise Hough. Uhde followed with a punishing body shot to double Hough over. A right hook and uppercut combo dropped Hough allowing Uhde to finish the fight at 1:34 of the second round.

"That's two guys I wouldn't want to fight, they both hit like trucks." Shamrock FC President, Jesse Finney said. "Matt Uhde is a tremendous athlete, he hits hard. These guys threw bombs. You see a lot of boring heavyweight fights, but these guys were in shape and they threw down. That was an exciting heavyweight fight."

The co-main event saw Calen Born take on South East Missouri's Chris Petty. Born wasn't sure who he was going to fight this week, three different fighters in the span of 72 hours agreed to fight, but ultimately it was Petty who entered the cage on fight night. Petty who took this fight on 48 hour notice has won three of his last four fights going into Saturday night.

Despite the short notice, Petty proved to be more of a challenge than Born's first two fights that both ended by TKO in less than 30 seconds each.

"I think that was a good test for me to show someone who doesn't just collapse under pressure," Born said. For me to NOT sellout and gas. I'm still here. I've finished my first two fights in the first round in less than thirty seconds, and this guy was 4-3. No one finishes people like I finish people. I've had 8 opponents in 3 fights, because they take the fight, then they get scared and then they drop. They watch the film, they talk to people, they call their coach and figure it out and decide it was a bad decision taking the fight with me."

Born staggered Petty in the stand-up and was able to pursue Petty around the cage to get a take down. Once on the ground Born showed he has serious submission skill ending the fight with an Ezekiel choke at 3:38 into the first.

"My coaches said he wasn't quite all there from some of our stand-up," Born said. "I pursued the takedown, but he didn't have his legs quite underneath him. I finished with him the Ezekiel, a no-gi Ezekiel. Obviously it was no-gi, that would have been cheating if I had used the gi."

Finney seemed impressed with Born's performance.

"He's one of those guys that the jury is still out on, but anyone you put in front of him, he is wrecking," Finney said. "I say this a lot, it's very tough to beat someone who's in tremendous shape and is a hard goer. He's always in great shape and is a goer. We're going to step him up coming up here pretty soon and see what he's made of. Chris Petty is no slouch, he can straight up wrestle, and he can throw bombs. Calen stepped up to the task."

Anthony Garrett looked composed as he took care of business with a first round victory over Jesse Beck. Garrett succeeded in an early takedown and imposed his ground game. Despite a dominant performance Garrett credited Beck with excellent defense on the ground.

"I got on top of him and he wasn't going anywhere," Garrett said. "He's got extremely strong hips, I'll have to give that to him. Every time I made a move I felt him try and get that sweep. Bo Kunz, JW Kiser, Justin Grant, none of those guys that I took down had the hips like Jesse Beck did tonight. He was really strong on the ground, but I was just better, honestly."

Beck's defense prevented Garrett from landing any elbows to finish the fight, but ass the round wore on, Garrett was able to maneuver into position for an arm triangle choke, getting the tap at 2:52 in the first round.

"Anthony Garrett weighed 285 pounds tonight," Finney said. "He's a huge heavyweight. I'd like to see him throw his hands some more. A very marketable guy, good looking kid, well spoken. If he wants to step it up, I'd like to see him throw his hands a bit more. He got the 'W' tonight, but you've got to be exciting, tonight was an opportunity to show it. Quite frankly I don't think he showed his true potential, because he could have really stayed on the outside and picked Jesse apart."

Garrett improves to 3-1 and next match might already be in the works.

"Beck told me a couple of guys he wants me to fight next," Garrett said. "He asked me to fight a guy he lost to that he doesn't care for too much. He asked me in the cage if I'd fight him, so I'm going to ask Rob Donaker about it to see if we can get that setup."

In a welterweight match-up, Dublin, Ireland's Dean Berry defeated Thomas Thatcher for his first professional MMA victory.

"After a few minutes I found my range, " Berry said. "When he came in on me I threw my two strikes, one-two and I rocked him. That's when I charged in with the right and he fell. From there I just wanted to punish him, just to bury shots into his head as hard as I could. I knew he wasn't getting back up once I was on top of him."

After a brief feeling out process, Thatcher caught Berry with a punch in the eye leaving a small cut.

"When he punched me and got it me right in the eye," Berry said. "I went 'ooh yeah we're in a fight here.' It got me up and made me more alert. I just switched on and started putting the pressure."

The pop woke Berry up and he landed some good combinations before finishing Thatcher on the ground at 3:10 of the first. An enthusiastic Berry recently moved to Canada to train with Firas Zahabi at Tristar Gym in Montreal, Quebec and was grateful for the support he had in-house at the Ameristar.

"I had the loudest cheer in the whole stadium and I'm from Ireland." Berry said. "That's huge thank you to all my American friends, I've had such huge supporters from all around the world, and especially the AmeriKick team here in Kansas City."

Rounding out the main card Kansas City native Mike Breeden taking on Garrett Wells. Giving up some reach to his opponent Breeden had to solve the puzzle of Wells' long, left jab. After a feeling out phase, Breeden training at Lee Summit's Glory MMA & Fitness was quick to thank his high caliber training partners for getting him prepared.

"I train with some of the best in the world," Breeden said. "My main training partners are James Krause and Megan Anderson so I deal with that range all day long. I just had to work to find his range."

Breeden was able to use his hips to avoid the takedowns from Wells, and keep the fighting standing until he was able to seize the opportunity where he was able to get Wells to the ground and punch out the win. The TKO victory for Breeden improves his record to 2-0 as a pro.

"Anyone that knows me knows I come looking to bang and ready to sprawl," Breeden said. "Good luck taking me down. Whoever is next, bring them on. I'm looking to move up, whatever brings the most money, most exposure, I'm ready."

Capping off the all-amateur undercard, Travis Sumler looked strong in his 53 second victory over Isreal Ortiz, locking on a rear naked choke to take home the submission win, the seventh of his amateur career, and snapping a two fight skin.

Jesse Finney said "He needs to more more consistent with training. Because I have seen Travis Sumler come out and look amazing like he did tonight and I have seen (him) not look so great."

Shamrock FC is back in Kansas City on November 18th for SFC 298.

"We're going to close out the year here on November 18th, and you're going to be in for some fireworks," Finney said. "We're going to reveal some stuff next week and everyone's going to be happy."

Stay tuned for more information about this event in the weeks to come.

-Main Card Results-
Matt Uhde def. Scott Hough - 1:34 2nd TKO
Calen Born def. Chris Petty - 3:38 1st Ezekiel Choke
Anthony Garrett def. Jesse Beck - 2:51 1st Arm Triangle Choke
Dean Barry def. Thomas Thatcher - 2:06 1st TKO
Mike Breeden def. Garrett Wells - 3:10 1st TKO

-Undercard-
Travis Sumler def. Isreal Ortiz - 0:53 1st RNC
Cesar Morales def. Chaz Calvert - 2:27 1st RNC
Asa Collier def. Jorge Luna - Unanimous decision
Rachel Kimbrough def. Galyn Weber 2:46 2nd TKO
Andrew Floyd def. Christopher Shores 0:37 1st TKO
Tyler Rowe def. John Orcutt - 2:57 1st stoppage due to injury
Will Perkins def. Levi Rector - 1:28 1st RNC

Jerry Chavez Photography