TUF’s MMA student debuts and results
Posted By TUF Staff on March 3, 2009
Cookeville Fighting Challenge
A big congratulations to Gerry Tena, Mike Israel, and Jeremiah Claybrooks for their outstanding showing this past weekend at the Cookeville Fighting Challenge in Tennessee. Everybody here knew there were serious hurdles to overcome in preparing for their fights and we want to commend them for an outstanding show. A lot of things transpired in the days leading up to the event that not too many people know about that nearly sidelined Jerry and Mike and had a huge impact in the outcome of both of their fights.
Gerry Post Fight
Gerry’s first official fight turned out to be an outstanding first showing for him. Gerry did a great job getting prepared for the event, handled the weight cut, and was in great shape, although we all know Gerry doesn’t really have to cut any weight to get to 145, maybe just dry out his gi and skip a meal. Unfortunately, the day of weigh-ins we found out that Gerry’s opponent backed out and he was left with only one option, fight at 165 with someone who had a 4-0 record!! Knowing that his opponent probably cut weight to get to 165 pounds and would probably outweigh him by 30 pounds on fight night he took the fight anyway. We’re not sure if he was just really bold, or hit in the head a few too many times training but nonetheless it turned out to be a good plan.
Gerry Post Fight
Come fight night when both fighters were in the cage it looked like Gerry was fighting a welter weight, however, it didn’t matter after the bell rang Gerry stood with him for a minute, after he got hit in the back of the head a couple of times he took him down, got the mount, and worked him over for the remainder of the round. The second round was another repeat of the first round and a showcase for Gerry’s Judo and wrestling skills. Ref stoppage halfway through the second round and a big first win for Gerry against someone who had a 4-0 record and outweighed him by 30 pounds.
Congrats Gerry, nice work!
Mike Israel
Mike’s fight there was even more hurdles to overcome. Anyone who knows Mike, knows he walks around between 195 and 200 pounds and around 8 percent body fat, we don’t even know how he manages to get to 185 pounds. His plan was to cut get down to 185 in a slow clean cut and be in excellent shape, which he did, however, more drama unfolded for Mike after the weigh-ins. Mike’s opponents kept dropping off and it turned out that the only way for Mike to fight was to drop down to 175 pounds. From everybody else’s perspective it looked pretty difficult for Mike to get down to 185 for the weigh-ins, unfortunately, even though Mike looked like GSP on fight night nobody announced or said anything at the fights about Mike’s incredible forced weight cut to 175, and his cut had everything to do with his fight.
Mike Round 1
The first round was all Mike, he worked his opponent over until his opponent decided it was enough and they clinched and Mike effortlessly took it to the ground. Mike continued to work him over from mount until just about the end of the round. Mike slipped in a nice arm-bar from the top, had the arm-bar sunk in deep but his opponent wasn’t going to tap. Rather than break it, he decided to be nice and watched the ref to see if he was going to call it and time ran out in the round (we all thought he should have just broke it). First round was all Mike from beginning to end.
End of the First Round
Second round was not in the cards for Mike, the dangerous weight cut was way too much for him and even before he came out for the second round he could barely stand up, nothing left in the tank at all. The extra 15 pounds on the weight cut took its toll on him and the fighter that came out for the second round was not the Mike everyone knows. Mike came out and tried to move and fight but there was nothing in the tank, he managed to get it to the ground but without any energy he couldn’t defend and the ref called the fight after Mike took some damage trying to defend from the Guard. Really tough break for Mike. We all want to send out a special shout out to Mike at TUF for the excellent showing, everyone knows the situation here at TUF and we know the outcome would have been much different if you didn’t have to make that extra 15 pound cut. From the words of the tech that was helping out Mike after the fight “His body is bone dry! He’s that dehydrated” It was incredible that he even had the energy for the first round.
Waiting for the Ref to Call It!
Mike had to drop an additional 15 pounds within 12 hours of the fight and it put him at a dangerous dehydrated 2-3 percent body fat, that weight cut was in addition to the cut he made for the weigh-ins. Nobody knows how he managed to get it done but he did it. Amazing! He seemed to recover for the fight and he seemed to be right on track. For this fight Mike was focusing more on his stand up, and come fight night his stand-up looked really sharp.
We’re looking forward to the next fight and helping you get ready! Congrats Mike, excellent work!!
Mike Israel
Although Jeremiah Claybrooks wasn’t representing TUF, we had a part in helping him prepare and want to send a big shout out to him for another outstanding showing as well. Jeremiah’s stand up looked great, he came out blazing in the first round to soften his opponent up who instantly had enough and tried to clinch, Jeremiah sunk in one of his textbook guillotines and it was over in 17 seconds! Nice work Jeremiah!! 5 months of preparation for 17 seconds of work, we can’t wait to be a part of your next fight as well.
Congrats Jeremiah, great job!!
Thanks guys for all you do for the academy and letting us be a part of your fight preparation, we can’t wait until the next one……
