Gabriela Valdes (left) - vs. Sydney Ross (right) Photo courtesy 247 Fighting Championships
Submissions reign supreme at 247 FC: Brawl in the Burgh 8
247 Fighting Championships returned to the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville, Pennsylvania on Saturday night with Brawl in the Burgh 8, and the nine-bout card featured six fights that ended via submission.
All three pro bouts ended via submission, including a gutsy performance from Jacob Lowry in the main event.
The hometown favorite, Lowry appeared to be nearly finished in the first few seconds of the fight after ending up with Marco Hutch on top of him in a dominant position. Lowry defended multiple submissions for nearly the full five-minute frame in what could have been a 10-8 round.
The tide completely turned in the second, with Lowry being just as dominant as Hutch was in the first. Using his wrestling credentials, he spent a good portion of the round in full mount and started to work in punches and elbows from the top.
Not content to let the fight go to the judges, Lowry turned it on the the third, eventually locking in an arm triangle submission to earn the tap just over two minutes into the final round. Lowry advanced his professional record to 2-0 with an early signature win over a fighter who has competed for Bellator and LFA.
In the co-main event, Shawn Tarlton hit a rare gogoplata in his pro debut, locking in the submission to force Jake Schilling to tap in the first round. Tarlton admitted that he had never hit the submission before.
Another fighter who advanced his perfect pro record was Baltimore’s Sean Suser, who submitted the debuting hometown fighter Justin Patton with an arm bar in the first round to move to 2-0. Patton was attempting to scramble out of a bad position off of his back when “The Filipino Flash” grabbed hold of his arm and locked in the submission to earn the victory.
Three amateur title bouts also took place, with two new champions being crowned.
Less than a year into his fighting career, DeWitt Dixon is now 4-0 with four finishes via strikes, and he has his first amateur title with a first round TKO win over Cole Macek to claim the 247 FC middleweight championship.
Bantamweight champion Cameron Allgeier successfully defended his title for the first time by submitting fellow unbeaten fighter Asher Frederick with a triangle choke in the first round. Allgeier moves to 6-0 and looks to be one of the best bantamweight prospects in the Northeast.
In the fight of the night, Gabriela Valdes took home the 247 FC women’s amateur bantamweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Sydney Ross. Valdes had to survive a big first round from Ross, who landed some punches and then spent the rest of the round in a dominant position. Valdes found her striking range in the second, stuffing Ross’s takedown attempts and keeping her on the defensive. The third round was back and forth until Valdes took control and ended the fight strong to take home the title.
Chase Boyde made some big changes leading up to the his seventh amateur fight, transitioning from a pure jiu-jitsu gym to train with UFC fighter Khama Worthy and Bellator fighter John De Jesus among others at The Academy Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old Boyde looked like a renewed fighter, completely dominating much of his bout against former collegiate wrestler Brogan Endres en route to a second round rear naked choke submission victory.
Former Division I wrestler Taylor Cahill continued his climb up the ladder of amateur MMA, posting his second victory in as many tries with a third round arm triangle choke over Brandin Harrington. Cahill appeared to be cruising to a decision victory after using his wrestling to win the first two rounds, but instead he fought hard for the finish in the third round.
Ferdaws Nayimi kicked off the night with a decision victory over Clinton Ewing in an entertaining striking battle. Ewing was tough, but Nayimi showed patience and skill in picking his shots on the feet.
247 FC will return in just two weeks, as the promotion debuts in Johnstown, Pennsylvania with Flood City Fight Night. Brawl in the Burgh 9 will take place on Oct. 23 back in Monroeville.
