RFO Big Guns 20 Mansfield, Ohio – John De Jesus stuns hometown favorite
RFO “Big Guns” 20 Mansfield, Ohio – John De Jesus stuns hometown favorite
Mansfield, OH: An electric crowd packed Fairhaven Hall in Mansfield, Ohio as Revelation Fight Organization celebrated its 10th anniversary with Big Guns 20. Promoter Matt Trukovich organized and amazing event that was packed with thrilling fights. This was a special event for me also as it was ten years ago at RFO’S first event held at the same location, I started my MMA career. My first fight was neither as successful nor exciting as this whole night of fights was.
This night also marked the highly anticipated return of Cody “The Wolverine” Stevens who has been on a twenty-one month hiatus. Stevens is a local fan favorite and has quite the following. This main event comeback fight did not disappoint, but more on that later.
The night kicked off with nine amateur fights that may have been the most well matched fights I have seen. Three of the nine went the distance and only one fight ended in the first round. (One more ended in the first due to an accidental injury and ruled a “NO CONTEST”. )
The PRO card featured three exciting fights to include Steven’s comeback main event.
The first Pro fight was a battle of the 145 pounders Greg Spearman vs Kenny Locesei. Locesei dominated Spearman and finished the fight via rear naked choke at 4:40 in the first round.
The Co-main event was a lighting fast 155-pound fight between Josh Rohler and Mike Williams. This was William’s 17th fight with RFO and became his last. After being finished by Rohler in only 47 seconds in the 1st round by a TKO (strikes) William’s announced his retirement. Rohler ‘rolled’ through this RFO vet and looks like he could be a real contender in the future.
And now for the main event! The fight the whole venue was waiting for. Hometown favorite Cody ‘The Wolverine’ Stevens faced John De Jesus. I felt like every fan in the stands was there for this one fight. Emotions were flying high at Fairhaven Hall in anticipation for this one bout. Stevens and De Jesus met at 150 pounds inside the cage. Stevens came out strong in the first round and utilized his skills to take the round in my book. The second round belonged to De Jesus. He landed a heavy head kick that knocked Stevens to the ground.
While in Stevens’ full guard, De Jesus’s razor sharp elbow cut The Wolverine over his right eye. Stevens maintained his composure and fought through the round with a tough defense. After the fighters were called out for the 3rd and final round, it was more of the same. An onslaught brought to Stevens care of De Jesus. De Jesus pushed forward landing strikes and knocking Stevens to the mat. Stevens tried to get up several times but couldn’t. Stevens’ never give up attitude left him trying to stand only to be met by the heavy strikes of De Jesus. It was only when a towel was thrown in from Stevens’ corner the ref stepped in to stop the fight. I later found out that it was the promoter and friend of Stevens that threw the towel to stop the fight. De Jesus showed skill, bullseye hands and kicks that definitely shows potential to move onto bigger shows.
After the fights, Trukovich was interviewed about the Stevens fight and he stated that the ref should have stopped the fight and even though he didn’t know if it was legal, he had to stop the onslaught.
It was a big night for Trukovich and Revelation Fight Organization and the fight card lived up to the hype. If you are in the Ohio area, I highly recommend attending a RFO event. Trukovich stated that 2017 will be a big year and he is very excited for things to come for his promotion.
More RFO 20 results are as follows:
Amateur Card:
- Shawn Rally defeated Jon Morgan 1:30 2nd Round via a vicious arm bar.
- Chelsea LaGrange defeated Kaitlin Day via unanimous decision.
- Cameron McIntosh defeated Triston Herron via unanimous decision. Note that this was a bloody mess. I actually was sprayed with blood from Herron. Great fight!
- Eddy Faison defeated Casey Ogan via unanimous decision.
- Timothy Fredd defeated Gregory Jeffrey via rear naked choke at 2:30 of the 2nd round.
- Jason Denk defeated Samuel Karim via TKO at 1:13 in the 2nd round.
- No contest due to injury between Robert Johnston and Tom Muirfield. Johnston suffered a left foot injury.
- Rick White defeated Tybee Johnson via guillotine at 2:12 of the 1st round.
- Isaiah William defeated Brandon Odom via TKO in the 1st round.
For more images click here
Click to enlarge photos
