It was another night of high level local MMA at CenturyLink Arena this past Friday night. Front Street Fights continued to raise the bar for MMA in Idaho, with their seventh, and best installment yet. The professional main card featured athletes from Combat Fitness/SBG Idaho in all four of its bouts as well as one more on the amateur undercard. As usual, our guys delivered, with performance that were gritty and inspired to technical and precise, as well as everything in between.
Results are as follows-
Monty Klistoff (CF/SBG Idaho) winner over Jessee Gengler via Unanimous Decision. Takedowns and top control were the name of the game for Klistoff. Using brief striking exchanges to close the distance and clinch, Monty was able to gain takedowns early in every round. Positional control and opportunistic ground and pound followed, carrying Klistoff to an easy decision victory.
Matt Jones (CF/SBG Idaho) winner over Regivaldo Carvalho via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 2. In the first professional bout of the evening Jones put his superior wrestling and top control skills to work early, grounding his Brazilian counterpart early in the fight with a strong double leg and methodically chipping away with short, hard elbows and punches for the entire first round. Round two saw Jones again strike early with a powerful double leg and continue his assault on top. Carvalho was able to get to his knees midway through the round only to be met with a hard knee to the body and a flurry of follow up punches that sent him crashing back to the ground. Jones quickly jumped on the back of his injured opponent, securing the rear naked choke, and his fourth straight submission win.
Ricky Steele (CF/SBG Idaho) winner over Joaquin Calderon via Unanimous Decision. In the evening’s second professional bout, Ricky Steele used superior lateral movement, a multi-pronged striking attack, and opportunistic takedowns and ground strikes, to bloody and batter his out-matched opponent over 3 exciting rounds. Round kicks and low-line side kicks to the legs were Steele’s main weapon of choice, battering Calderon’s lead leg over and over. Investing in the leg kicks paid dividends in the third round as Steele went upstairs to land a hard head kick, that wobbled Calderon. A flurry of punches and kicks followed, putting Calderon on his back. Following a stalemate on the ground and a referee standup, Steele immediately went back to work, taking Calderon down and unleashing furious, face slicing, ground and pound over the final minute. For their efforts, Steele and Calderon were awarded the “Fight of the Night” bonus!!!
Freddy Arteaga (CF/SBG Idaho) lost to Yoni Sherbatov via TKO, Round 1. In the evening’s co-main event, Arteaga was stopped in round one by a straight left and follow up punches by the powerful Sherbatov. Unable to get in gear early, Arteaga was backed to the cage by Sherbatov and kept at range. A clean left cross stunned Arteaga and dropped him to his knees. As he turned to face, he was forced to his back by Sherbatov, who unleashed a flurry of punches, forcing the referee to step in and call a halt to the bout.
Scott Thometz (CF/SBG Idaho) lost to Steven Siler via Unanimous Decision. In the night’s highly-anticipated main event, Thometz dropped a close, gritty, unanimous decision to UFC veteran Siler. The bout started fast, with Thometz knocking an off balance Siler down with a straight left, followed by more punching and clinching exchanges. A double leg attempt by Thometz was sprawled on by Siler, who was able to move to the back, closing out the round landing hard ground strikes from back mount. Rounds two and three, saw both athletes visibly fatigued, but continuing to fight hard. With striking exchanges fairly even, Thometz was able to pull ahead with a pair of takedowns in each round. However, at the end of each of the finals rounds, Siler was able to secure a triangle choke and land elbows from his back, scoring with damage, and ultimately sealing the rounds in his favor.
Overall, a fantastic effort by our athletes, we are incredibly happy with how they conduct themselves in and out of the cage. And, as always, a big thanks to our trainers and training partners for their thankless time and effort spent preparing these guys for battle!!!
