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Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) — a Washington D.C. based fight promotion — wrapped up its seventh event from the GMU Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., earlier tonight.

The Internet pay-per-view extravaganza UWC 7: “Redemption” featured a bantamweight championship bout between reigning title holder, Mike “The Hulk” Easton, and former WEC division kingpin, Chase Beebe, as the headliner and a vacant flyweight world title fight between Greg Jackson pupil, Jon “The Magician” Dodson, and Arizona Combat Sports product, Pat Runez, as the co-main event.

In the main event, Easton came out looking strong on his feet, but then quickly learned that Beebe has some pretty nice grappling skills. As a result, “The Hulk” was forced to deal with the former WEC title holder hanging onto his back for most of the first round.

In the second round, Easton did all he could to keep his distance from Beebe, attempting to turn the fight into a stand up battle, which was a strategy that seemed to pay off for him as he had Beebe in a bit of trouble toward the end of the frame.  

The third round started out much the same with Easton controlling Beebe with his stand up. But Beebe, being a grizzled veteran, was able to maneuver himself back into the favorable position he held in round one by once again latching onto the champ’s back and maintaining that position for most of the five minutes while working for the choke.

Easton managed to survive, but continued to have a difficult time fending off Beebe’s grappling attack in the championship rounds as well.

He was clearly the better striker, but in this battle between striker and grappler, the grappler, at least seemingly so, did more to win the fight. However, two of the ringside judges apparently saw it different and the final split decision was awarded to the local favorite.

Easton retained his UWC bantamweight title, but it was met by a chorus of boos from those in attendance.

The battle for the vacant 125-pound strap was another hard fought back and forth fight for the ages between to very hungry and talented mixed martial artists.

Runez was the aggressor early on and probably held a slight advantage after the first round based on a knockdown he scored with a big right hand. But Dodson absolutely took over in the second round, nearly ending the fight with a knockdown of his own followed by an overwhelming barrage of strikes.

The Arizona Combat Sports trainee survived the round, however, and regrouped to make round three an extremely close and competitive one with plenty of offense from both men. Round four was more of the same with Runez starting to turn the tides a bit by continuing to stay aggressive, while a worn out Dodson was forced to retreat at times.

Heading into the final round it seemed like the fight was either fighter’s to win or lose, and Runez had just a little more gas left in the tank than “The Magician.” Dodson tried to keep pace, but Runez was too much at the end and made his mark on the judges.

The action-packed war came down to a split decision that saw Runez’s hand raised at the end. It was a great fight, and one that could set the standard for future fights in the 125-pound flyweight division.

Check out the rest of the results from UWC 7: “Redemption” below:

Mike “The Hulk” Easton defeated Chase “The Rage” Beebe via split decision
Pat Runez defeated John “The Magician” Dodson via split decision
Kyle “The Alleycat” Baker defeated Tommy “Gun” Truex via technical knockout in round one
Timothy “Reshad” Woods defeated Ryan “The Rhino” Sturdy via knockout in round three
Jacob “Tick-Tock” McClintock defeated Beau “Blackjack” Baker via technical knockout in round one
Kris “Savage” McCray defeated Igor “The Legend” Almeida via technical knockout in round one
Iman Achhal defeaed Sumie Sakai via technical knockout in round two
Jesse “Mountian Man” Riggleman defeated Josh “Taz” Ferguson via split decision
Freddy Assuncao defeated Felipe “Sertanejo” Arantes via unanimous decision

That’s a wrap from Fairfax. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for all your future Ultimate Warrior Challenge news and event information.

Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) – a Washington D.C. based fight promotion – wrapped up it’s seventh event from the GMU Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA earlier tonight.

The internet pay-per-view extravaganza UWC 7: “Redemption” featured a bantamweight championship bout between reigning title holder Mike “The Hulk” Easton and former WEC division kingpin Chase Beebe as the headliner and a vacant flyweight world title fight between Greg Jackson pupil Jon “The Magician” Dodson and Arizona Combat Sports product Pat Runez as the co-main event.

In that featured fight for the bantamweight crown, the champion came out looking strong on his feet, but then he found out that Chase Beebe has some pretty nice grappling skills as “The Hulk” was forced to deal with the former WEC title holder hanging onto his back for most of the first round.

So in the second round, Easton did all he could to keep his distance from Beebe, attempting to turn the fight into a stand up battle, which was a strategy that seemed to pay off for him as he had Beebe in a bit of trouble towards the end of the frame.  

The third round started out much the same with Easton controlling Beebe with his stand up. But Beebe, being a grizzled veteran, was able to maneuver himself back into the favorable position he held in round one by once again latching onto the champ’s back and maintaining that position for most of the five minutes while working for the choke.

Easton managed to survive, but he continued to have a difficult time fending off Beebe’s grappling attack in the championship rounds as well. He was clearly the better striker, but in this battle between striker and grappler, the grappler, at least seemingly so, did more to win the fight.

However, two of the ringside judge’s apparently saw it different and the final split decision was awarded to the local favorite and Mike Easton retained his UWC bantamweight title.

The battle for the vacant 125 pound strap was another hard fought back and forth fight for the ages between to very hungry and talented mixed martial artists.

Runez was the aggressor early on and probably held a slight advantage after the first round based on a knockdown he scored with a big right hand. But Dodson absolutely took over in the second round, nearly ending the fight with a knockdown of his own followed by an overwhelming barrage of strikes.

The Arizona Combat Sports trainee survived the round though and regrouped to make round three an extremely close and competitive one with plenty of offense from both men. Round four was more of the same with Runez starting to turn the tides a bit by continuing to stay aggressive while a worn out Dodson was forced to retreat at times.

Heading into the final round it seemed like the fight was either fighter’s to win or lose, and Runez had just a little more gas left in the tank than “The Magician.” Dodson tried to keep pace, but Runez was too much at the end and made his mark on the judges.

The action packed war came down to a split decision that saw Runez’s hand raised at the end. It was a great fight, and one that could set the standard for future fights in the 125 pound flyweight division.

Check out the rest of the results from UWC 7: “Redemption” below:

Mike “The Hulk” Easton defeated Chase “The Rage” Beebe via split decision
Pat Runez defeated John “The Magician” Dodson via split decision
Kyle “The Alleycat” Baker defeated Tommy “Gun” Truex via technical knockout in round one
Timothy “Reshad” Woods defeated Ryan “The Rhino” Sturdy via knockout in round three
Jacob “Tick-Tock” McClintock defeated Beau “Blackjack” Baker via technical knockout in round one
Kris “Savage” McCray defeated Igor “The Legend” Almeida via technical knockout in round one
Iman Achhal defeaed Sumie Sakai via technical knockout in round two
Jesse “Mountian Man” Riggleman defeated Josh “Taz” Ferguson via split decision
Freddy Assuncao defeated Felipe “Sertanejo” Arantes via unanimous decision

That’s a wrap from Fairfax, VA. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for all your future Ultimate Warrior Challenge news and event information.

Washington DC (September 30, 2009) – While much attention is being paid to the two co-Main Events featuring world championship title bouts pitting Mike “The Hulk” Easton vs. Chase Beebe and John “The Magician” Dodson vs. Pat Runez, the rest of the UWC REDEMPTION fight card is loaded with outstanding fighters in what could easily turn out to be its best lineup ever.

Continuing its evolution as a rising force in the MMA world and keeping with its mission to help grow the sport, particularly in the Washington, D.C. area, six of the seven UWC undercard bouts will showcase a local, up-and-coming prospect taking on a top-tier competitor fighting out of a prominent national gym.

After fighting in the evening’s first bout and earning first-round stoppages at the last three UWC shows, undefeated middleweight fan favorite Kris “Savage” McCray (3-0) of Woodbridge, VA will fight fourth on the show and step up in competition to face Igor “The Legend” Almeida (5-0-1) of Palm Beach, FL who has not lost as a professional as well.

To prepare for his battle, McCray, a former wrestling standout at Woodbridge Senior HS and member of Gold Medal Grappling, has been training in Greg Jackson’s camp with UFC lightweight Joe “Daddy” Stevenson and Tom “Kong” Watson while living at Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s house. The Army reservist has never tasted defeat — he was 9-0 as an amateur –and will need his all-around skills more than ever when facing his Brazilian-schooled opponent.

Born in Boston, MA and raised in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Almeida is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Eduardo Brigadeiro. He trained in Rio for four years under Sergio Souza and Murillo Bustamante and spent another seven years training in Florida. Almeida has been practicing MMA and Muay Thai since 2003; two of those years were at the Xtreme Couture facility in Florida.

Looking to rebound from a hard-fought loss to War Machine at last April’s UWC Man “O” War, popular, two-time UWC veteran Timothy (formerly “Reshad”) Woods (4-2) returns to face Ryan “The Rhino” Sturdy (11-3-1) of Chicago in a 185-pound contest. Woods is probably best known to UWC fans for his devastating, knock-out power-bomb delivered to Ron Stallings (now a teammate of his at Team Lloyd Irvin) at UWC Invasion in 2008. The imposing 6’4”Woods has impressive clinching skills, lighting fast strikes, and devastating elbows. All four of his wins have come by knockout.

Sturdy, who fights for World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) star Jeff Curran’s Team Curran, has won five consecutive, and 11 of last 12 fights. He holds the Extreme Challenge middleweight belt, the same organization that spawned such noted fighters as Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Tim Silvia, Pat Miletich and Rich Franklin, and should pose a worthy opponent.

Harrisonburg, VA’s hard-striking lightweight Kyle “The Alley Cat” Baker (7-4) has established himself as a rising force in the Mid-Atlantic region for impressive knockout wins over of former UFC fighters Drew Fickett and Chad Reimer and a bruising defeat of former Elite XC fighter, James “Binky” Jones, in arguably the fight of the night at UWC Confrontation last year. The MMA Institute fighter will collide with Tommy “Gun” Truex (6-2), a member of Greg Jackson’s New Mexico-based camp, who boasts a four-fight win streak. Truex serves as an officer in the National Guard and is a University of Mexico business school graduate.

One year older than his brother and more of a submission specialist, Beau “Blackjack” Baker (7-2), will also have his hands full with an outstanding opponent when he challenges undefeated Jacob “Tick-Tock” McClintock (5-0) of Arizona Combat Sports in a middleweight match. Notable opponents for Baker are Tommy Speer, Jorge Patino and TJ Grant.

No opponent has lasted past the first round against McClintock including heavy favorite Sultan Tikhayev whom the Phoenix, AZ-native submitted in his last fight held in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A teammate of the Baker brothers also fighting out of MMA Institute, Jesse “Mountain Man” Riggleman (6-0) puts his undefeated streak on the line against Josh “Taz” Ferguson (7-2), in a flyweight contest. A former two-time Virginia state wrestling champion, Riggleman is a relative newcomer to the sport who only started MMA training in February 2008. A grappling and ground-and-pound specialist, he turned pro after going undefeated in five amateur fights over an eight-month period.

Ferguson, a skilled submission specialist fighting for Team Cruz in Louisville, KY, lost in a title fight to current UWC champion Mike Easton at UWC Capital Punishment. All seven of his professional victories have ended with his opponent locked in either an armbar or a rear naked choke submission.

Rounding out the action-packed card as the first fight of the show will be Freddy Assuncao from Atlanta, GA and Newark, NJ’s Felipe “Sertanejo”Arantes (0-1), a pair of Brazilian featherweights now living stateside. Assuncao enters the cage with a strong pedigree as the brother of UFC veteran Junior Assuncao and twin brother of current WEC bantamweight contender Raphael Assuncao.

* * *

Extreme Cage Fighting returns to the GMU Patriot Center on Saturday, October 3, 2009 with UWC REDEMPTION featuring two of the greatest MMA World title fights in our Nation’s Capital History. UWC Bantamweight Champion Mike “The Hulk” Easton (8-1) of Washington, D.C. defends his title against his toughest opponent yet in former WEC World Champ Chase “The Rage” Beebe (12-4) of Chicago, IL in the main event. In the co-main event John “The Magician” Dodson takes on Pat Runez for the UWC’s vacant Flyweight Championship belt. All four UWC title contenders are ranked among the top 25 in the world. Nine total bouts are scheduled.

Doors will open at 6:00 pm with the first bout scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm. Tickets are on sale now and are available for purchase at all Ticketmaster outlets and Ticketmaster.com. A limited number of Ultimate VIP (UVIP) and VIP packages will be available, which include cageside seating, UVIP fight night pre-party, UVIP event lanyard, special guest fighter meet-and-greets, UVIP suite access, full food and beverage service and more. Fore more information or to purchase UVIP and VIP packages visit the official UWC website www.uwcmma.com .