Minneapolis, MN April 30th 2014

This past Saturday was an eventful one for the Academy’s BJJ competitors and MMA team alike.

Ben Smith Driller SEG Welterweight Champ!

Downtown Minneapolis was the scene of an epic night of fights for Driller Promotions. Two of which were for the promotions welterweight & featherweight titles. Driller has grown to be the most prominent fight promotion in Minnesota and one of the top destinations for fighters in the entire Midwest.

Kicking off the night was Michael Jokondo (Brooklyn Center) at 130 lbs against Drew Breckling of Wisconsin. after 2 rounds of back and forth battling on the canvas, it was Jokondo taking home the win via triangle choke for the Academy against the wrestler in Breckling. This win moves Michael to 2-0 as an amateur.

Next up was Mikey Zimmer (Minneapolis) at 155 lbs against the veteran Rick Jackson (4-3). This one ended midway through the 1st round by rear naked choke from Zimmer. Who is bouncing back from being 0-1-1 in his last two efforts moving his professional record to (4-2-1).

In the nights Co-Main event The Academy’s timeless Nick Compton (Brooklyn Park) defended his featherweight strap against a tough (5-0) Jordan Neer of Iowa. The end came at 2:51 in round 1 by Arm bar. Nick Compton is now (9-3) professionally and could be headed to another crack at a  bigger promotion soon.

The nights Main Event help up to all the hype it generated. Ben Smith (Minneapolis) vs Nate Howe of Warriors Cove was a 5 round, very bloody,  submission war of attrition that can only be explained by watching the footage on youtube! in the end it was Smith claiming the Unanimous Decision and the welterweight Title. After his post fight speech it was revealed that Ben Smith now 10-1 will move on to Bellator’s 170 lb tournament late in the summer.

Also in action Saturday was everybody’s favorite Jacob Volkmann (Hugo). The chiropractor by trade picked up a win in Fargo, ND over (9-3) Danny white by tko in round 2. This fight was put together quickly due to his time off from WSOF (world series of fighting).

Ben Smith 9-2 (Team Academy) vs. Nate Howe (8-2) (Warrior’s Cove)

The Academy MMA team collects awards, wins, and a belt.

In front of a packed house at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN this past Saturday… The Academy’s MMA squad again proved that they are Elite in the state as well as the Midwest.

7 fighters sporting the blue academy “A” logo , went into battle at “Caged Chaos at Canterbury 4”. Starting of the night was the MMA debut of Michael Jokondo at 125lb vs  Marc Gomez. after 3 full rounds of a back and forth affair which saw Jokondo out strike Gomez. Jokondo started his Amateur career off with a unanimous decision victory.

Next up was Jason Huntley, also at 125lb, vs. St. Louis, MS. native Eric Newman. Huntley won the stand up to start off every round until Newman score on a takedown and keep Huntley on his back for most of the round. This was repeated 3 times. Ultimately the Judges saw it as a Draw. A rematch is in the works as the winner of this bout was to fight for the Driller Promotions Amateur Flyweight title.

Dustin Murphy made quick work of Darrien Mackiel with a clean Knockout just :28 seconds into the first round. Earning himself $500 and KO of the night honors.

Ben smith kept himself on top of the heap of welterweights in the Midwest by earning Submission of the night with a rare inverted key lock on the (42-19) Victor Moreno.

In a highly anticipated re-match of the Minnesota’s & Wisconsin’s top 145 pounders Dan Moret took on Jose Pacheco once again to settle the score at 3:17 of the 2nd round via arm-in north/south choke (also a rarity). This garnered fight of the night honors. This fight was a sequel to the June 2013 meeting between the two under the RFA banner, which saw Moret take a unanimous decision victory.

In the Main Event, Jordan Parsons took out local standout Damion hill with a quick guillotine choke. This moved parsons record to 10-1 as well as ended the war of words between the two for the past 2 months leading up to the event.

Also in action was Jesse Midas, Jesse suffered a first round submission loss to local jiu jitsu ace Nate Howe.

Nick Compton Driller SEG Featherweight CHAMP!

September was a busy month for The Academy MMA team. Lots of fantasy football line ups and fall jacket shopping trips took place…But in all seriousness many Fighters took to the cage over the last 4 weeks.

Sept. 14th had Andre “Diva” Tieva take a main event victory in La Crescent, MN while Muay Thai Ace Andrew Kapel took home a win up in Bismarck, ND. Both guys are well rounded, but both finished their fights by Submission in the opening rounds.

On Sept. 20th a big fight card took place at Canterbury park in Shakopee, MN where amateur fighters Jason Huntley, Dylan Murphy, and George Spears were in action. Professionals that night from the squad were Donald Williams, Mikey Zimmer, and Nick Compton. Jason Huntley took home a 1st round submission and Nick Compton tops a tough Matt veal in the nights main event for the Driller promotion featherweight title. Compton won via unanimous decision. Others from the Academy team had admirable efforts in their contests.

Nick Kirk vs Joe Warren… The fight that was, then wasn’t, then was again. After getting delayed 3 weeks due to Warren not passing pre fight medicals, the fight took place September 27th in Portland, OR. “The big hurt” got the better of the stand up battle in both 1st and 2nd rounds, but Warren, a World champion in freestyle wrestling landed takedowns and caught Kirk in an armbar late in round 2.

October looks to be a little less eventful. but with a bunch of young hungry fighters in the gym, who knows what could happen. STAY TUNED!

Tieva (yellow trunks), Gaffney (black trunks)

Andre “the diva” Tieva walked out into a hostile environment for his main event fight September 14th against Wisconsin’s Matt Gaffney. Gaffney the former WI state champion in wrestling, had many family, friends, and students of his wrestling program there to cheer him on. And in the process give Tieva an earful.

Both fighters came out throwing kicks to feel each other out. After over commited on a swinging punch, Tieva and was taken down by Gaffney. Tieva quickly swept Gaffney to his back briefly before a scramble ensued leading to an armbar attempt from the bottom by Tieva that nearly ended the fight. After getting back to his feet Gaffney hovered over The Diva until he tried to stand up too soon, Gaffney caught him with a clean right hand followed by another after Tieva tried to fire back. This staggered and dropped Tieva.

“Wild child” jumped on Tieva with repeated blows and looked to have the fight in the bag, until Tieva was able to grab a leg, recover, and wall walk back to his feet. After Creating some distance Tieva connected with a front kick to Gaffneys chin that forced him to retreat. Tieva chased him with a swinging right hand, but Gaffney was able to clinch up and attempt another takedown except this time Tieva had an Arm-in guillotine already locked up. The 2 fell and it wasn’t long before Gaffney had to tap at 3:02 of round 1.

This victory puts Tieva at 6-0 as a professional , which puts him in position to take on some big fights in the very near future.

“Whoa…” was mine along with probably many others when ex-Bellator champion Joe Warren (8-3) called out The Academy’s Nick Kirk on National TV on one of Bellator’s Live events. It came off as a Professional wrestling type calling out, but it was very calculated by matchmakers and the promotions talent coordinators alike.

After a layoff and being one of the featured coaches on Spike TVs “Fight Master” Joe Warren isn’t giving Credit where credit is due with his Opponent in the promotions’ bantamweight Tournament bout. A brash, arrogant, and out spoken character Warren during his call out stated that “kirk shouldn’t even show up”. This lit a fire under the Minnesota native.

Kirk (10-2) despite being 0-2 in Bellator, is more than up to the challenge. The 2 losses for Kirk were both razor thin decision losses, with a third chance and biggest chance of his life to define his career “the big hurt” has put in a great camp for this fight. With most if not all of the MMA world claiming this is a feeder fight or that Bellator wants to boost Warren again, kirk is using it as motivation and looking shock the world, pull out all the stops, and come out on top on the Main card of This Saturdays Bellator 98 at the Mohegan sun Casino in Connecticut. The State, his family, friends, and entire team are also thinking the same.