BY TRISHA DUNN
Closed roads because of a winter storm are nothing to brag about on a Saturday night in Southern Indiana.
But for the hopes of more than 500 martial arts fans, “Bragging Rights” was. The sporting venue at the Floyd County 4-H Fairgrounds sold out 400 seats the day of the event with 75 added seats selling out within two minutes last Saturday. Louisville and Southern Indiana martial arts fighters and fans along with a large number of off-duty police officers came and brought their families out to see 20 fighters get kicked, punched, body slammed and knocked out.
“Everybody likes a good fight,” one fan said.
“Other promoters — boy, were you wrong?” co-owner Craig Pumphrey said to the crowd regarding sponsors who turned him down.
Pumphrey is a New Albany police officer and he and his brother, Paul, have been entered into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame, a status shared by Chuck Norris and the late Bruce Lee. He and his business partner Ivan Dale, a thirty-something and Floyd Central High School graduate, had the same goal in mind — to create the best Southern Indiana Saturday night fight experience.
Dale also holds Hall of Fame status. The event, an “eclectic” martial arts mix, according to its brochure, used a combination of stand-up, wrestling and submission fighting. Ten groups were lined up to fight and the last two fights drew loud “hurrahs” during a grudge match and a heavyweight status bout. Three rounds in the ring, each three minutes long with the winner being granted “bragging rights.”
Fighters were from Louisville and Southern Indiana fight clubs. Craig Pumphrey said that the timing for “Bragging Rights” was “now.” He said that the fact that Southern Indiana is surrounded by talented athletes, and his hope to help them show off their skills was what he had in mind while allowing local fans a Saturday night of enjoyment.
“We hope to do this again by summer,” Dale said to the crowd.
The show’s funding was primarily financed through independent sponsors, ticket sales and word of mouth.
“We have good relations with the local police, true admission on defensive tactics,” Dale added.
Police sometimes use the same fighting techniques to control suspects to the ground. EMS and two doctors were at ringside — one having more than 50 years of experience in the sport, a “cut man” according to Dale. He was glad to have such a good turnout and wanted families to feel safe.
“Even though it is a rough sport, we’ve made every effort to where there is no offensive music, there’s no alcohol and we’re staying away from stereotypical boxing ideas,” Dale said.
The event’s three judges were Troy McDaniel, Ray Doemer and James Taylor who have a varied list of martial arts experience between them. McDaniel trained with world class boxers, Doemer studied submission grappling under martial arts’ legendary Steve Sheppard, and Taylor is a seventh-degree red-black belt. The fight’s referee was Mike Craycraft, a business major from Indiana University and an eclectics martial arts black belt.
“There’s a lot of testosterone in the air,” one fan said even though many women and children watched.
“I like these types of fights,” Louisville’s Jay Kelly said.
“This is my first time (at this show). I expect everybody thinks they can fight. Personally, I like to stick to my drag racing,” Floyds Knobs’ Bo Butner answered. “I can send my opponents off. They can’t.”
The fighters started against each other in a standing position, but most would fights ended after the fighter’s wrestled in the ring. There are many ways to win or foul in eclectic combat.
Here are five examples of the 30-plus possible fouls — eye gouging; biting; striking the spine; abusive language; and clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
There are eight possible ways to win, which are the following: physical or verbal tap out; knockout with the ref stopping the contest; unanimous, split or majority judge decision; technical decision; technical draw; disqualification; forfeit; no contest.
The following was analysis from each of the 10 fights from last Saturday:
• Loren “LB” Brown vs. Phillip McKenna — McKenna threw five punches then a double leg takedown, putting Brown on his back. McKenna punched six more times in his opponent’s face as Brown tried to fight him off but was tapped out after being placed in a choke hold.
• 2. Josh Lee (replaced Brad Spine) vs. Skylar Banks — Lee came out throwing punches, landing about five when he took a single-leg takedown on Banks and taking him to the ground. Bank scissored Lee right away and was throwing face blows when Lee waved for the ref to stop the fight.
• 3. Josh Stith vs. Tim Cook — Stith came right out on the bell with a double takedown on Cook and within seconds, both were back on their feet. Both wrestled, trying to gain control when Stith threw a headlock on Cook and slammed him to the ground. Round 1 went to Round 2 when both came out fighting and Cook again slammed Stith to the ground in a double-leg takedown. Cook tapped out during a chokehold.
• 4. Bart Page vs. Brandon Bishop — Bishop won by tap out after throwing heavy repetitive punches to Page’s face. Bishop threw a double-leg takedown, while Page clamped scissors onto Bishop.
• 5. Patrick Clarke vs. Phil White — Two rounds and Clarke starts with a single-leg takedown as White throws return punches to the head. Clark grabbed White’s head and slammed it into his knee. Clarke takes White down, sits on top of him and constantly punches him in the head while White taps out.
• 6. Wes Koch vs. Julian Hofman — Koch came out swinging and jabbing, landing five in a row when he threw an upper cut and knocked is opponent out where after a few minutes on the ground. He got a standing ovation.
• 7. Andrew Wilson vs. Jason Persall — Persall starts with jabs to Wilson’s face and body then shoots a double-leg takedown. Persall sat on Wilson, hitting him at least seven times and wins by a tap out.
• 8. John Kaiser vs. Nick Albin — Both come out throwing punches at each other when Albin takes Kaiser down to his back, punches five times to the face and wins by tap out.
• 9. Dustin Hampton vs. Rob Fisher, grudge match — Both come out fighting and Fisher throws an upper cut that knocks Hampton out and Fisher wins by a knockout within the first 30 seconds of Round 1.
• 10. Shannon Taylor vs. Zachary Walters, heavyweights — Walters came out strong on the bell, throwing punches to the head and a back kick. Taylor was beaten after Walter knocked him out in the first round.
