CFFC 25 Recap

Cage Fury Fighting Championships 25
Valley Forge Casino - King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

June 20, 2013
CFFC President: Rob Haydek
Referee: Kevin Mulhall
Commentators: Will Sisca & Mike Adama
Announcer: Dr. David Sarnoff

Cage Fury Fighting Championships 25 returned to the Valley Forge Casino in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania last night with an incredible night of fights. For Central Pennsylvania MMA fans this was the latest fight for Hollidaysburg native (and UFC veteran) Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman. There was also a title fight to fill the vacant CFFC Heavyweight Title between Jason "The South Jersey Strangler" Williams and Noah "Pressure" Faunce. In all there were 9 fights on the fight card (4 amateur and 5 professional) and the event was broadcast on the Comcast network as well as live internet feed via Go Fight Live. 

The amateur portion of the fight card was exciting. It began with a Mike Backman getting a quick Guillotine submission win over Mike Miesch. Then Western Pennsylvania's Blaine Shutt got a quick TKO victory over a tough Phil Lopez and Say Tea also got a first round Triangle Choke submission over Geoffrey Melendez. The final amateur fight Michael "Thunder" Shipman Vs. Herney Herrera ended abruptly when Shipman struck Herrera to the head while on the mat. This fight was under the "basic" amateur rules which does not allow for "Ground & Pound" style strikes to the head when the action is on the mat. Shipman went "body, body, head" and referee Kevin Mulhall immediately stepped in to deduct a point for the illegal strike. But after 5 minutes when Herrera still couldn't continue the fight was stopped and the fight was ruled a "no contest".

In the first of the professional fights Soslan Abanokov earned a dominating Unanimous Decision over Myron Baker. The next fight, between Travis Wynn and Daniel Carbonel was basically a sparring match because not much action actually happened during this 3 round fight. At one point referee Kevin Mulhall had to stop the "action" to warn both fighters that they needed to engage and actually fight. It all came down to a drawn-out failed takedown attempt in the second round, and Wynn got the split decision victory over Carbonel. Next came the title fight between Chris "Big Buck" Birchler and "Bazooka" Joe Stripling to fill the vacant CFFC Heavyweight (pro) Title. It was an exciting 3 round fight that ended with Birchler getting the win & the belt, but "Big Buck" said in the post-fight interview that he wasn't impressed with his performance. When the final result was announced you could tell that Birchler was genuinely surprised that he got the win in this fight.

Next was the co-main event. Hollidaysburg native, and UFC veteran of 8 fights, Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman facing Gemiyale "Baby Hercules" Adkins. There was some controversy as Adkins was being prepped to enter the cage when referee Kevin Mulhall noticed that Adkins appeared to have Vaseline or some other lubricant applied to his legs. Mulhall wiped Adkins down & then said he wanted to wait until he was sure the legs had fully dried before he would allow Adkins to enter the cage for combat. Ironically, before this had happened the commentators had mentioned something Adkins had said in a pre-fight interview that he wasn't going to allow the decorated collegiate wrestler Brenneman to take him down. There's no proof that Adkins had intentionally "greased" himself to help make this claim come true, but the referee had a keen eye & spotted the improper application of a lubricant and corrected the situation before Brenneman even got to cageside. When "The Spaniard" finally did get to make his way to the cage, the song he chose was John Mellencamp's "Small Town" - a fitting choice since he comes from the 'small town' of Hollidaysburg in Central Pennsylvania.

This was Charlie Brenneman's third fight at Lightweight (155 lb limit). He had made the drop from Welterweight (170 lb limit) after being cut from the UFC, and since then Brenneman has been undefeated at Lightweight. His previous two fights at 155 lbs were 1st round submissions, and Charlie seems to be working at earning another stint in the UFC. (Brenneman was in the UFC "Octagon" recently as a cornerman for T.J. Grant when he defeated Gray Maynard to become the #1 contender for the UFC Lightweight Title, and Brenneman had said he had spoken with UFC match-maker Joe Silva and that the UFC was impressed with his progress as a fighter since leaving the UFC.)

From the beginning of this fight Brenneman took control. Almost immediately he had Adkins on the mat & was attempting to secure his 3rd first round submission in a row, but Adkins managed to avoid being submitted. The second and third round was basically the same as the first, and it could be said that the only action Adkins did during the fight was to avoid being submitted by Brenneman. I don't have an accurate count of exactly how long the combined submission attempts lasted, but I estimate that about 14 of the 15 minutes this fight lasted was Brenneman having Adkins in one choke or another. Adkins had almost zero offense, but his submission defense was very good. Brenneman had him in dangerous positions several times but Adkins managed to counter the moves each time. The fight ended with Brenneman getting a dominating Unanimous Decision. (30 - 27 but it could easily have been two '10 - 8' rounds for a 30 - 25 score)

The main event had Tim "The South Jersey Strangler" facing Noah "Pressure" Faunce. It was a very exciting fight with alot of back-and-forth action, but Williams was too much for Faunce. The first two rounds clearly went to Williams, and in the third round "The South Jersey Strangler" held true to his nickname by submitting Faunce by Triangle Choke to win the fight.


Full fight Results for CFFC 25:

Professional Fights:
Main Event:
Tim Williams defeats Noah Faunce by Triangle Choke at 1:40 of Round 3
Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman defeats Gemiyale Adkins by Unanimous Decision
Title Fight:
Chris "Big Buck" Birchler defeats "Bazooka" Joe Stripling by Split Decision for the CFFC HW (Pro) Title
Travis Wynn defeats Daniel Carbonel by Split Decision
Soslan Abanokov defeats Myron Baker by Unanimous Decision
Amateur Fights:
Michael "Thunder" Shipman Vs. Herney Herrera ruled No Contest at 1:34 of Round 1
Say Tea defeats Geoffrey Melendez by Triangle Submission at 1:49 of Round 1
Blaine Shutt defeats Phil Lopez by TKO at 2:26 of Round 1
Mike Backman defeats Mike Miesch by Guillotine Choke at 1:03 of Round 1

CFFC Announcer Dr. Dave Sarnoff

CFFC Cage Girl Macy Pratt (r)

Blaine Shutt post-fight victory interview

Soslan Abanakov Vs. Myron Baker

Soslan Abanokov with the win

Travis Wynn celebrating his win

Chris Birchler Vs. Joe Stripling (HW Title Fight)

Chris Birchler - CFFC Heavyweight (Pro) Champion

Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman

Gemiyale Adkins Vs. Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman

Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman post-fight victory interview

Noah Faunce Vs. Tim Williams

Tim "The South Jersey Strangler" Williams

I would like to thank everyone at Cage Fury Fighting Championships & GFL.tv for putting on an excellent night of fights live over the internet! Amazing event & great fights!!!

Thanks to Skippy Cohen & Carl Mortensen at MMAmadhouse.com for allowing me to report the results of CFFC25 tonight. Can't wait to do it again!!!

MMAmadhouse Recap: http://www.mmamadhouse.com/cffc-25-williams-faunce-results/

The event can be purchased for $14.99 at the link below (replay for LIFE!!!)

http://www.gfl.tv/Events/Fight/MMA/CFFC_25_Williams_vs_Faunce/2013