Rumble at the Roseland 72 took place this past Saturday at the Roseland Theater. The main card included championship fights and a superfight. There were 16 fights on the card and 12 of them resulted in finishes. There were also 3 women’s fights on the card including one for the Female’s Lightweight Championship.
The main event was amateur star Nick Biron (C) vs. Ray Garcia for the Light-Heavyweight Championship. The fight ended with a unanimous decision victory for the current champion. Nick Biron was the Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion, but chose to give up his Heavyweight title to focus his fights at 205. Even though Biron won essentially four out of the five rounds, Garcia put up a great fight staying composed and even taking down the champion at certain times. However, the 205 lb. champ showed great footwork, chose smart combos, and improved his undefeated record to 11-0.
The women’s title match was reminiscent of a Ronda Rousey fight. Leanne Foster became the new Lightweight Champion, defeating Veronica Wickersham by armbar with 2:34 left in the very first round. Defeating Wickersham wasn’t easy, as she was from the nationally known gym, Team Quest. Wickersham was also from a locally renowned gym at Impact Jiu Jitsu.
A Superfight was also included on the card with Kody Kramer vs. Kevin Walker. Kramer was coming into the fight with a 3-fight win streak. Walker fought for the Featherweight Championship in his previous bout and lost to Jason Gray. Kramer won the fight by unanimous decision in a 3-round title fight.
The fight that really got fans standing up was John Constien vs. Michael Gonzalez for the Welterweight Championship. Constien won in 6 seconds by TKO with a head kick. Everybody in the crowd was assuredly stunned and impressed with the finish. The knockout was surely one of the quickest ever in MMA history. Constien became the new Welterweight Champion of the FCFF.
A notable fight from the undercard was Hadi Al-Awadh vs. Hiroyuki Tetsuka. Tetsuka was arguably winning the first two rounds and then when the bell rang for the 3rd and final round, Al-Awadh stunned the crowd by finishing Tetsuka due to strikes at 2:03.
These stacked fights showed the MMA is very popular in the state of Oregon, and amateur MMA is here to stay and grow.
Rumble at the Roseland 72 showed that there are many talented local amateur fighters that could make a run for a pro career. Nick Biron is one of these fighters. With an undefeated amateur record and holding two titles in Oregon’s most prominent amateur organization, Biron could be another Oregon fighter making it big. Chael Sonnen and Nate Quarry were some of these fighters that started locally in the Pacific Northwest and eventually made it big.
The FCFF will continue to put on great shows this year with another one coming up soon in August.
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