FOR THE FUTURE OF NC'S NEWEST SPORT
Staff Reports
Like a wildfire sweeping across the land our hometown's official MMA fight team took the packed arena by storm.
How do you feel about a hat trick? Can you say 'Trifecta'? All Combat College fighters win in typical dominating fashion. And all were in won in the first round.
The battlefield was set at Circle of Fury Oct. 24th at Winston-Salem's Joel Coliseum for an electrified crowd. A 25" round cage was the proving ground that all fighters present would be tested in. Some would rise. Some would fall. In the end, only Combat College walked through the fire and stood tall! Perhaps because they were the fire. They left the packed audience on it's feet cheering for more.
MMA, which stands for Mixed Martial Arts, can be seen in events like UFC, Ultimate Fighting Challenge, where athletes compete against each other using a combination of punches, kicks, knees, wrestling, and submission grappling moves to beat an opponent. So matches are over in seconds, others will last many rounds.
Brian Whitaker won by dramatic KO at 26 seconds in Round 1 over Djuan Owens with his eyes on the prize! Whitaker of Lincolnton, a former Marine was cheered on by his family. Later he said, "I deliver furniture. Today I just hit him with my delivery truck."
Justin Lockee beat Randy Lawson by dominate strikes from mount position following a terrorizing flying knee rush that shocked the crowd. Lockee's boss drove out to watch his fight laughed, "I'd be afraid NOT to buy a car from him."
Travis "Short Order" Cook won by 36 second armbar proceeded by some excellent cagework against Josh Miller. Cook, the youngest fighter of the night who began his training with Professor Huss as rehab after suffering a stroke. Cook, "I lived up to my name and made short order of him...served up with a side of whipped butt."
A spectator, Caleb Rice, said "This is an unheard of performance. True Mixed Martial Arts at it's best. These guys need to be arrested for stealing the show. Brian Whitaker had the best Knock-Out of the night. Justin Lockee had the most technical attack of the night. Travis Cook had the fastest submission of the night. It's a point of pride that a small town sports team can compete against these big city teams and surprise everyone. They put us on the map."
The sportsmanship and intensity clearly showed everyone why Combat College is making MMA the fastest growing sport in the world with it's lightning fast pace, demanding variety of skills, overall conditioning, and mental agility.
Combat College remains undefeated in MMA. Brandon Oelkers and Brandon Moody were also on the card, but one opponent didn't show, and there was a paperwork problem with the other.
At Combat College you can find the typical team member training 6 days a week on top of their work schedule. Most do about 4 hours a night, so around 24 hours of back breaking, mind crushing training is done every week regardless. "That's the sacrifice it takes", says Professor Huss.
Professor Huss, originally from Lincolnton and a West Lincoln wrestler, is NC's original MMA fighter and its most accomplished. He helped create the sport here in the early 90's, but went aboard to Japan looking for bigger challenges, returning 10 years later to bring his brand of higher level MMA to our state. He even fought legal court battles to legalize MMA in NC, it was officially legalized in 2007. It seems only natural for his gyms and team to now lead the way into the future of the fastest growing sport in the world.
Little known in his own country, Professor Huss fought professionally in Japan for nearly a decade, conquering the language, culture, and many international MMA championships including two time All Japan MMA tournament champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Hall of Fame before coming back to North Carolina. He was even the first non-Japanese instructor to teach MMA in Japan, taking over Japan's elite Mach Dojo as the head instructor.
Professor Huss is the protege of local legend Master Maurice Moore who is now being inducted into the Lincolnton Sports Hall of Fame.
Combat College is located in Hickory at 62 14th AVE SE, where they teach a wide range of classes for fighters and kids. If interested you can call 704-300-6253 for more details.