SPIRITWOLF, JOKER SCORE BIG WINS AT KOTC: PROWLER
By Jay Tan
King of the Cage wrapped up their 2008 schedule with a match of the year
candidate and several upset surprises in the welterweight neighborhood on
December 11th at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in San Bernadino,
CA.

The big news was previously-undecorated Mike “Joker” Guymon winning the
first world title of his career by submitting Anthony “The Recipe”
Lapsley at 3:37 of the fourth round. This match was a back-and-forth
clinic in Jiu-Jitsu control, as Joker came from behind in the scorecards
to turn the heat up in the third and fourth rounds, bringing the crowd to
a fever pitch. This was Lapsley’s first defense after beating Aaron “Slam”
Wetherspoon in August.

Of his victory, Joker reflected “this feels amazing. It’s the most
emotional thing I’ve ever dealt with. I’ve scarified so much for this
fight. I’ve seen what[Lapsley] can do and I respected him as a fighter. .
. People like Mark Munoz [helped] me get ready for it. I keep telling
people I’m surrounded by angels and he’s definitely one of them. Everybody
in my life, they’ve all sacrificed for me to get to this point. All that
emotion coming out is my way of thanking them. “

When asked about a rematch, Joker didn’t hesitate: “I’d give him a
rematch. He earned it. I have full respect for him. I wouldn’t want to do
it [laughs]. That was one fuckin’ war. “

Lapsley’s cornerman and mentor, Andrew “Cobra” Rhodes, commented “I think
harnessing all the energy, all the nerves, with his first title defense, I
think it was an outstanding performance by both of the fighters. Anthony
came up short tonight, and I think it might be, for all intents and
purposes, one of the best things to happen to him. To be in a top tier
organization, defending the pinnacle of that organization. . . Now we’re
going to see what kind of dish The Recipe comes back with, now that he’s
faced adversity. ”

The other shakeup in the welterweight ranks came at the hands of Wachiim
Spiritwolf, who scored a flash KO over Rick “The IE Bad Boy” Legere at
0:16 in the second round. This match was to determine the #1 contender for
the KOTC Welterweight title. Spiritwolf, a top student of Dean Lister’s
Jiu-Jitsu school, was making his King of the Cage debut against Legere,
who was on a six-fight winning streak ever since making his MMA debut last
year at “King of the Cage: Point of No Return. ”
These respective victories now pit Spiritwolf against Joker in a future
title match for the KOTC welterweight title.

The other scheduled championship fight, a rematch between Chance “King of
the Streets” Williams and Mike “Rhino” Bourke, ended up not taking place,
when the attending fight doctor determined Bourke unfit to fight after
Bourke fell off the walkout ramp in a freak accident at the beginning of
the show. Backstage, Bourke complained of difficulty in breathing, and
upon further examination, the fight doctor suspected that Bourke had
fractured a rib, which left him susceptible to puncturing a lung if
allowed to fight. Later, in private, KOTC founder Terry Trebilcock awarded
Williams the Super Heavyweight title.

Williams said “I didn’t want to win the belt like this. But things happen.
God bless him. Whatever. ”
The event itself marked the end of a tireless year in which the KOTC staff
organized and promoted over 24 events throughout the U.S. When asked his
assessment of the promotion’s move this year to San Manuel, matchmaker
Shingo Kashiwagi said “Ever since we moved to San Manuel, the quality of
the shows and the production gets better and better. I think we ended the
show this year with a phenomenal fight. Probably the best fight of the
year. The best grappling I’ve ever seen. I think this is a good sign of a
lot of exciting stuff for next year.

”
Other KOTC action that night included:
Featherweight (145 lbs.) - Vincent Martinez vs.
Fernando Bernstein
Fernando Bernstein caught Vincent Martinez with a triangle choke at 2:46
in the second round.

Lightweight (155 lbs.) - John Ulloa vs.
Johnny Gomez
John Ulloa beat Johnny Gomez at the 2:00 mark by TKO with a flurry of
punches.

Lightweight (155 lbs.) - Julio Sotomayor vs.
Dominic Verdugo
Judges gave the match to Dominic Verdugo by split decision.

Bantamweight (135 lbs.) - Yosuke Koreeda vs.
Anthony Guerra
Guerra, fighting out of Millennia Gym, charges Koreeda for the takedown.
After breaking apart, Guerra hit Koreeda hard on the jaw, but Koreeda
responded instinctively with an overhand right that dropped Guerra at 0:21
in the first round.

Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.) - Dave Cryer vs.
Anthony Jones
Cryer and Jones came out swinging for the fences. Cryer, who is one of the
more committed walking tattoo canvases in MMA, took Jones down and
dominated with elbows and body shots. Jones walked the cage and was able
to get to his feet, but the damage was done and he was bleeding badly. He
secured a tight guillotine on Cryer, and kept it as Cryer took him to the
ground just before the round ended. This crowd loved this match.

Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t love the fight doctor’s decision to stop
the match due to a large cut over Jones’ right eye. Dave Cryer took the
victory via TKO / doctor’s stoppage.

Featherweight (145 lbs.) - Aaron Miller vs.
Brian Abram
Miller and Abram started with another fan-friendly flurry of strikes right
off the bat. The first round saw Miller work hard for a takedown, going
for double-legs, Hi-C’s, and judo trips. Abram, who took the match on a
10-day notice, was cautious but explosive. Round two saw the two
combatants engaging more cautiously, looking for the knockout shot. Miller
especially seemed to employ more kicks, although he also made several
unsuccessful takedown attempts. In the third round, Miller unleashed a
flurry of strikes from the get-go. Abram landed a hard right that had more
than a few fans audibly comment “ooowww, shit!” Both men swung heavy shots
that missed, but neither threw from inside the pocket. In the end, judges
gave the match to Aaron Miller via unanimous decision.

Welterweight (170 lbs.) - Wachiim Spiritwolf vs.
Rick Legere
The crowd was nuts for this one, as both Legere and Spiritwolf have strong
San Bernadino / Inland Empire followings. In round one, Spiritwolf stunned
Legere with a right straight, but the IE Bad Boy would come back with
three takedowns throughout the round, a guillotine choke attempt, and some
damaging ground-and-pound. Spiritwolf got a guillotine of his own before
the end of the round. However, in round two, Spiritwolf landed a “hooky
left jab” at 0:15 that nobody would question. This now lines Spiritwolf up
with a title shot at the reigning KOTC welterweight champion.

Welterweight (170 lbs.) - Brian Warren vs.
Joe Boxer / Victor Valenzuela
Valenzuela, who now seems to be going solely by the “Joe Boxer” moniker,
moved up from junior welterweight (160 lbs.) to take on Brian Warren at
welterweight. The first round saw a lot of jockeying for position, either
from the clinch on the feet or with Warrant on top. Warren worked a lot of
foot stomps from the clinch, much to the chagrin of local fans. Early in
round two, Boxer dropped Warren with a right cross, but The Unbreakable
One was able to recover. At one point, Warren ended up in bottom position
and worked for a triangle, but to no avail. Standing, Boxer continued to
pressure Warren throughout the round, which often saw Warren shoot for the
double-leg. Warren kept Boxer at bay with front kicks. The third round
consisted primarily of clinches against the cage, foot stomps, and trip
takedown attempts. Judges awarded the match to Brian Warren via unanimous
decision.

King of the Cage Welteweight Championship - Mike Guymon vs.
Anthony Lapsley
I don’t think you could have a more apt demonstration of sportsmanship
between two fighters than between Lapsley and Guymon. The two were always
mutually friendly at prior events, and both spoke highly of each other in
pre-fight interviews.

Round One: Lapsley got a takedown using the momentum of bouncing off the
cage. Joker was composed and nonplussed on the bottom, even when Lapsley
took his back. Joker worked for an armbar, then a triangle choke once
Lapsley got in his guard. This was already a tremendous Jiu-Jitsu fight.
Lapsley didn’t getting many shots in, but he used his wrestling to keep
Joker down. Joker climbed the cage wall to get up, spinning Lapsley
against the cage and scoring a trip takedown. He proceeded to rain down
damaging elbows. Lapsley used the same escape door and walked the cage to
get out from bottom. They got in whizzer position, but Joker followed
Lapsley to the ground and continued the ground-and-pound assault. Lapsley
regained top position with a trip and worked for a combination reverse
triangle-and-armlock. He eventually gots folkstyle side control, but Joker
reversed position again just before the bell rangs. This was all in the
first round.

Round Two: Both these guys had big smiles on their faces. So did most of
the fans. Lapsley charged in, but slipped, giving Joker just enough to
shoot for a takedown from afar. Lapsley reversed position with a sweep and
stood up, but Joker took him down again. He kept Lapsley against the cage
with side control. But Lapsley threw knees from bottom and reversed,
taking Joker’s back. Despite Joker’s best efforts, Lapsley maintained top
control. Joker reversed and got side mount, only for Lapsley to buck and
regain control again. Lapsley is great at reversing and getting top
control, but Joker proved quite adept at muting his offense from above.
Both fighters traded strikes from the ground for the rest of the round.

Round Three: Lapsley charged again, ending up on top. Joker continued to
work on his left arm from below. The position changes were too fast to
keep track. Lapsley spun outwards to avoid getting caught. Lapsley
outwrestled Joker, but he wasn’t able to build up enough offense to gain
any real ground. Joker almost caught Lapsley in a triangle, but he pulled
out, spun around, and almost secured a rear naked choke. Seriously, they
were that fast. They ended up on their feet again, only for Joker to score
the takedown. And only for Lapsley to work for the armbar. But Joker
dropped some heavy shots, including one that opened Lapsley up on the
right side of his eyebrow. By the end of the round, both of them were
fighting on empty.

Round Four: Joker ducked a left straight and scored a textbook takedown.
That’s not easy to do on a state wrestling champion from the Midwest.
Joker dropped hard elbows, but Lapsley scrapped out and got what can best
be described as a spin takedown. But Joker followed up with the same
thing, working into a front headlock. Lapsley fought for a single-leg, but
couldn’t get it. Finally, he escaped, but Joker pushed him down again and
proceeded to drop bombs. The crowd was at a fever pitch. Joker got the
back and stretched him out, but Lapsley survived to the end of the round.

Round 5: They started out in the middle of the ring with a hug. These men
knew they’d created a match for the ages. Joker charged in for a takedown,
but moments later, referee Herb Dean called a time-out. As if we hadn’t
seen just about everything in this match, Joker’s cup had fallen out of
his shorts. There’s a first for everything, I suppose. Restart. Joker
threw a hard low kick, followed by a takedown. Lapsley blocked it, but
being against the cage, Joker was able to get top position. He went for a
guillotine, but Lapsley pushed him back with a flurry of punches. Joker
retaliated with a hard right, but that only triggered the champ with
further attack. Joker came out on the better end of a fight for position,
taking side control. Lapsley slipped out the back door and slapped on a
side choke. Joker escaped and they reengaged on their feet. Joker with a
combo and Lapsley with a guillotine. But Joker got top position again,
sunk in his own side choke, and at 3:37 of the fifth and final round,
became the new King of the Cage welterweight champion.

As fans filtered out of the arena, KOTC VP of Operations Mike Low
summarized “Without a doubt, that was match of the year. I just sat there
and I couldn’t believe the match I was watching.
”
King of the Cage returns to the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino on
February 26th, 2009. No less than four KOTC champions are scheduled to
fight, including Tony “Kryptonite” Lopez and Mike “Joker” Guymon
(welterweight), Joe Boxer (super welterweight), Lazar Strojadinoic
(bantamweight), and KOTC double-champion Tony “Kryptonite” Lopez, who
defends his light heavyweight title against the KO Kid Keith Berry.

BOOYAA.