Mixed martial arts: Local fighters find thrills, success in cage event
Benjamin Nagy
SHEFFIELD — Elyria’s Zack Goins didn’t get to spend a long time in the cage Friday night at Quaker Steak & Lube, but the 18-year-old mixed martial arts fighter was all smiles after his 27-second knockout of Kevin Powers in a 170-pound match.
“I saw him loading up his right hand and I was able to rush in and pick him up,” Goins said after his successful MMA debut. “I got on top of him and then just went to work from there.”
Goins is a member of Team Powerhouse, which trains out of Powerhouse Gym in downtown Elyria, and had been looking forward to this fight since he was in the eighth grade. He said the rush was a bit different than the multitude of victories he has scored as one of the area’s elite high school wrestlers.
“In wrestling you don’t get to throw a punch,” Goins said. “You don’t really get to unleash all that intensity you have built up inside you.
“This has opened my eyes. I’m definitely going to go to college (to wrestle) first, but then you’ll definitely see me back in the cage.”
Three other Team Powerhouse fighters won their debuts. Josh Gregorek and Dominic Jones scored unanimous decisions, and Mike Garcher earned a second-round TKO after choking out his opponent. North Ridgeville’s Rodger Young, who fights for Team RTK, was also victorious after a first-round knockout in an undercard match.
In the three main events, Kip Cullen remained unbeaten at 3-0 with a third-round TKO of Chris Howard, John Strmac won the Superior Cage Fighting light heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Dave Lyons, and Trey Duplessie won a unanimous decision over Derrick Bohannon in the final match.
The fight between Duplessie and Bohannon — both Elyria High grads — was a rematch of a fight Duplessie won in January.
“It’s nice because the first fight lets you know what you need to work on,” said Gregorek, who beat John Burbol in a 185-pound match. “I had some first-fight jitters and I don’t think I did as well as I could have on my feet. I have some things to work on before the next match.”
Gregorek also was a stellar wrestler for both Southview High and Mount Union College, and said that the sports aren’t exactly alike.
“It’s a huge difference when you get to punch someone in the face,” he said. “And if I take a shot (like in wrestling) I could end up getting caught and choked out. You have to stay on the offense all the time.”
That was no problem for Garcher, who bull-rushed Matt Wargin to the mat several times and never stopped throwing punches during their 190-pound fight. Wargin staggered Garcher with a punch in the first round and had several moments of strong offense that had Garcher rethinking his strategy late in the second round.
“I didn’t want to fight anymore,” Garcher said. “So when he gave me his neck, I took it. I figured I’d choke him out before he beat my (butt) anymore.”
Jones, a state qualifier his senior year at Amherst and a two-time gold medalist boxer in the Junior Olympics, was able to put both his skills to test during his 150-pound win over Kevin Doyle. Jones continually shot in and took Doyle to his back, and eventually found ways to rain blows down on Doyle’s head.
“(My coaches) told me to let my hands go when I got on top,” Jones said. “I just kept punching until I couldn’t punch any more.”
Jones said his trainers were warning him against going to the ground with Doyle, who was supposed to be strong off his feet, but Jones said, “I knew he couldn’t be better than my dad.”
Jones’ father, Dan Rinehardt, is a sergeant in the Lorain police department and has studied jiu jitsu for the past eight years.
The warning almost rang true as Jones got caught in a triangle early in the second round, and Doyle seemed to be rocking the Powerhouse fighter to sleep.
“I kind of blacked out for a second there,” Jones said. “It was deep, but he didn’t get my arm over all the way to cut the air off. But I was able to escape from that move and dominate during the rest of the fight.”
Team Powerhouse members Don Lou and Chris Hayes suffered losses in their matches, as did North Ridgeville Team RTK member Roger Grimes.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Benjamin Nagy May 10th, 2008 in Sports.
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