We went to another live Ring of Fire mixed martial arts event at the Broomfield Event Center last night. Here are a few notes:
- We were part of the posse for the wife of the main event title holder, Eliot "The Fire" Marshall, by way of a friend-of-a-friend relationship. This turned out to be both awesome and stressful. Can't beat the seats.
- Bossman and I made $1 bets on each bout with the loser picking the next fight. I lost $4-5. :(
- There were three female fights on this card. They were scrappers, too. I think the "Karate Hottie" should have to change her name since she lost.
- Most of the fights didn't make it past the first round. One that went the full distance ended up 29-27, 27-29, 28-28. In Colorado, though, the 28-28 judge has to actually pick a winner... Weird.
- I'm still tickled that Brothers BBQ caters the "VIP" tables. They also do a pork sandwich toss (in which the ring sluts and some Brothers folks literally throw pork sandwiches in paper bags into the audience). Awesome.
So the main event was the main reason we were there. Bossman's wife works with Eliot's wife, so we all turned out to support him. He had looked really good the first time we'd seen him in one of these ROF events, so we weren't too worried event though the competition, Rob "Maximus" MacDonald was definitely a step up for him. The rest of the people in the "Fire" posse were great folks, too, it should be said. It really was a nice night out except for the idea of the nice lady down the row from you, whom you've just met, watching her husband getting beat up in the cage.
Which is unfortunately what happened. When MacDonald came into the cage I noticed that his shorts were branded with the Gym Jones logo. I immediately leaned over to The Wife and Bossman to whisper "Oh shit... Gym Jones is super badass." This proved to be prophetic as MacDonald tied Eliot up at will and slammed him to the mat like a rag doll over and over. After round one, Bossman's wife asked me "What's your take?" to which I arched my brows and said flat out "Really bad for Eliot!" It got to be hard to watch. The dude just seemed so much stronger than Eliot.
The commentary on the Gym Jones site sums it up well:
Rob won (referee stoppage in the second round). He was fierce, and shockingly strong; able to take Marshall down seemingly at will. Eliot showed great class and respect both before and after the fight. It was a privilege to see them do battle.
The fight was stopped in the second as MacDonald had Eliot mounted and was pounding him with a full-bore ground & pound. Eliot's wife didn't react well, needless to say (though it probably wasn't what you're thinking). When I got the chance to talk to him at the Foundry afterwards, Eliot admitted that his head just wasn't in it. I realize that you'll have that in this kind of game, but I do wonder how big of a set-back this will prove. He was the ROF light heavyweight champion and seemingly on his way up to the next level -- and certainly a great guy, but he failed at his first defense of the title... I'm curious what will be next for him.