Shreveport's Mason beats Sweeney in professional debut By Jason Pugh • jpugh@gannett.com • July 19, 2008 Chris Bell wanted to find out who the “alpha male” would be when he and Dustin Proctor squared off in the main event of the Cage Kings professional mixed-martial arts card at the Horseshoe Riverdome on Friday night. “I was eager to get in there to see which one of us was the alpha male but I guess I was the alpha-omega male tonight,” Bell said. “I really wanted to show my stand-up because I knew if I got him on the ground, I’d dominate him.”Bell’s victory by rear-naked choke 1:25 into the second round capped a nine-fight card that saw Shreveport police officer Brent Mason score a victory in his professional MMA debut and a quintet of one-round knockouts.Of the three one-round knockouts, none were quicker — and more impressive — than Cale Grady’s one-punch knockout win over Ryan Chavarria of Austin, Texas.Grady and Chavarria jawed and postured for about 90 seconds before the fight. On referee Jon Munz’ command, both fighters charged and threw right hands. Grady’s short right caught Chavarria flush in the chin. Chavarria’s overhand right clipped Grady’s skull.Both fighters crumpled but Chavarria took the hardest fall. The Austin fighter was prone on the canvas for about 10-15 minutes and was taken from the arena in an ambulance. Chavarria was alert when he left the arena.Total time of Grady’s pro MMA debut: 2 seconds.“I don’t know,” Grady said. “I punched him and he fell down. It’s called checkin’ that chin.”Prior to Grady’s one-punch debut, it looked as though Derrick Krantz earned the title of knockout of the night.After all, Krantz needed just 56 seconds to knock out Austin’s Jay Hall.Both fighters rushed each other as the fight began and Krantz wasted no time in taking Hall to the ground where his series of lefts stunned Hall before a flurry of rights finished off the first-time pro fighter.Krantz’s quick hands flew so ferociously he was unsure exactly which one finished off Hall, who needed plenty of help to extract himself from the canvas.“A left or a right?” Krantz asked quizzically following his victory.Mason, a Shreveport police officer, also picked up a win in his pro MMA debut.
Mason weathered George Sweeney’s early flurry of punches and locked the 162-pounder in a Muay Thai clinch and went to work on Sweeney’s left side with right hands. After a couple of knees stood Sweeney up, Mason went to work on the left side of Sweeney’s face and closed his opponent’s left eye.“I swole it shut so I kept working on it,” Mason said. “This was pretty tough tonight, but the streets of Shreveport are even tougher. I just want to thank the good Lord, my wife, Elite Combat and the guys I train with.”Mason admitted he was a bit nervous, making his pro debut in front of friends and family. It didn’t look like Mason was too nervous despite Sweeney’s early attempts to control the fight.“They were pretty bad, but I was able to overcome them,” Mason said. “I’m glad that it’s over with, that’s for sure. He was swinging pretty hard, but I was able to defend myself. He got a lot of my arms and my elbows. He never really caught me clean.”Krantz’ and Mason’s former Ring Rulers mate Will Campuzano also debuted as a pro with a first-round knockout, pounding Austin’s Trevor Robbins into submission 48 seconds into the first round.In the semi-main event, Baton Rouge’s Charlie Rader scored a TKO-by-strikes victory over Dallas’ James White 1:48 into the first round.Rader learned he would be fighting White earlier Friday.“I was actualy supposed to fight at 185 and, two weeks ago, my guy dropped out,” Rader said. “So I stopped training, kinda went back to being lazy. About a day ago, they called me and said we’ve got a spot at 170 open, do you want to take it? I was like, ‘This is what I’m training to do. I’m good.’ I’m confident in what I can do.”

Confident was an understatement as Rader took control of the match early, flashing a powerful punching attack that ultimately dropped White to the ground where Rader ended the fight with a flurry of strikes.

“He didn’t look too strong, no offense to him, and I felt it was a fight, even on short-notice, I could win,” Rader said.
 source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/SPORTS/807190345/1001&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

Riverdome hosts first Cage Kings event

By Jason Pugh • jpugh@gannett.com • July 18, 2008A pack of mixed-martial artists stood atop Horseshoe Casino's riverboat Thursday night dressed to the nines and looking nothing like stereotypical players in the fight game. Dressing up aside, the talk remains the same."Me and (tonight's opponent) Dustin (Proctor) spell main event all over," headliner Chris "The Triple Threat" Bell said. "I wouldn't feel like it was right if I wasn't the main event here. From what I saw of his videos, he's a beast just like I am and I'm willing to get in there and see which one of us is going to be the Alpha male."Bell, a 199-pound Center, Texas, native, is participating his second pro fight in Shreveport-Bossier City. Proctor, meanwhile, drove nine hours from his Atlanta base to headline the event."I'm really excited to be headlining the event," he said. "I've headlined a couple others. The only bad thing is I don't know when I'm going to fight. The other fights can go the distance or they could go first-round knockout. So I can fight right off the bat or two to three hours later."Tonight's card is the debut of the Cage Kings brand. Promoter Will Broyles started the Ring Rulers amateur brand before deciding to take a step into the professional ranks."It's going to be an incredible experience," he said. "We've just enjoyed watching the sport grow up in this city and being an integeral part of that. This is the culmination of that. This is the big leagues for me. It's something I thought was years off. Here we are, a couple of years later after starting the Ring Rulers brand, and we have a great opportunity in my hometown. It doesn't get any better."Broyles has brought some of his Ring Rulers fighters with him and several will make their professional debuts tonight.Among them are Derrick "D-Rock" Krantz of Marshall, Texas; Will Campuzano, originially from Mount Pleasant, Texas; Shreveport's Brent Mason and Cale "Game" Grady, who fights out of Waco, Texas.All four were Ring Rulers champions when they turned pro for Cage Kings."After about two years of fighting and 30 fights under my belt, I decided, after I won the ICF world championship belt, the Texas belt and the Ring Rulers belt, to go pro and advance to some better competition," Krantz said.Krantz, who weighed in at 153 pounds, will debut against Jay Hall of Austin Extreme Sparring.Similar to Krantz, Campuzano, a two-time Ring Rulers champ, felt he had little to prove as an amateur fighter. Campuzano, who now lives in Dallas, determined he was ready for pro fights after competing in Hot Springs, Ark., in February.Campuzano, who weighed in at 133 pounds, faces off against Trevor Robbins, a teammate of Hall at Austin Xtreme Sparring.This is Robbins' first pro fight as well."I did the Grand Prix and fought some of the toughest featherweights in the ameteur circuit," Campuzano said. "I beat two undefeated fighters and they were purple belts so they were good grapplers also. I knocked out Kenny Hardcastle. I didn't have anything more (to prove) in amateurs."Mason may battle something other than George Sweeney — nerves."I'd rather have my first (pro) fight on the road because no one knows you," Mason said. "I'll be a little more nervous because there will be a bunch of people here who know me."Can Mason, a Shreveport police officer, turn those nerves into a positive energy?"God, I hope so," he said.Should Mason win, the Riverdome will be alive with energy. Should he lose, well Bell isn't the least bit concerned about the atmosphere."Electric," Bell said when asked about what he expected to see at Horseshoe. "I'm talking about the crowd going wild from the beginning to the end — from the first fight to the last fight — non-stop."

Mason featured on Fridays' mixed-martial arts card at Horseshoe By Roy Lang III • rflang@gannett.com • July 17, 2008 Brent Mason patrols the streets of Shreveport. As a police office, his life is at risk at all times.
It's easy to see how Mason isn't petrified as his debut as a professional mixed-martial arts fighter rapidly approaches.Friday night, one man will be the opponent of "Mad Max." And that one man, Atlanta, Ga.'s Uruawy Rodrigues (1-0-1), can carry no weapons — other than his hands, his heart and his legs — into the cage.Mason, a champion at the amateur level, will have his hometown in his corner Friday night during the Cage Kings MMA show at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel's Riverdome.Mason's 170-pound bout with Rodrigues will likely get rough. It might get bloody. But there's not much that can happen to throw Mason off guard."It's life or death in the police department," Mason said. "It can be in the cage, too. If things don't go your way, you have to step it up and make good adjustments. Just like you're on the streets, you have to make adjustments."The Ringgold High product, now 35, hopes his experience protecting Shreveport's streets will be as much of an asset as any professional experience Rodrigues or any future opponent will carry."I've had a lot of success at the amateur level," said Mason, a title holder with Ring Rulers Ultimate Amateur Fighting. "It's a little different at this level. You run into guys that do this all the time. Obviously I already have a full-time job. It's more difficult, but I don't think some of these guys are as wise as I am."Mason, who will "stare down" Rodrigues during a made-for-hype event at Horseshoe's Rooftop Party tonight, trains at Shreveport's Elite Combat Academy.Fight fans have recognized Mason on a few occasions on patrol. His most humorous run-in came when an insurance salesman spotted him during a sales pitch."He said, 'I'm not selling you any accidental death insurance. I saw your last cage match,'" Mason said. "I told him, 'I'm already a customer.'" source:  http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080717/SPORTS/807170336/1001/SPORTS

By: Roy Lang - Shreveport Times

If he fights they will come.

And he's just 19.

It might sound like the whole town of Minden will be hooting and hollering inside Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium on Saturday. Budding hometown hero John Wesley Reed, a relative newcomer to the sport of mixed-martial arts, will bring a herd of fans and a flurry of fists.

Reed will take on Justin Miller in his second career bout. The crowd favorite will be obvious when the 170-pound Reed and his nickname of "Lionheart" are announced at the Ring Rulers Ultimate Amateur Mixed-Martial Arts show. He has already convinced hundreds of his closest "friends" — old and brand, spanking new — to be in his corner Saturday.

"I had a big group come to Hot Springs," said Reed, who defeated "Razor" Rob Dennis in his debut. "Once everyone found out how exciting it was — I had a war — they told everyone else in Minden. Word travels fast. It's a small town. Everyone knows me up here and they are following me to Shreveport.

I'm going to have the home-field advantage (Saturday).

"The inexperienced Reed will face a tough test in Justin Miller, a purple belt in jiu-jitsu who'd been at this game for nearly as long as Reed's been alive.

"He's an instructor out of Texas," said Reed, who trains five or six days a week with Bossier City's Albert Cole. "He's got 14 or 15 years doing this stuff. He's a good ground guy, so I'm going to try to keep this one standing and bang a little.

"Reed knows how to throw his weight around. As a standout linebacker at Minden, if he didn't come to play, he knew it would be bad news. The same mentality has helped him transform into the ring.

"The killer instinct you have to have at linebacker; you definitely have to have it in the ring," said Reed, who also played baseball at Minden.

Mixed-martial arts is the fastest-growing sport and "The Ultimate Fighter," a reality show produced by the sport's heavyweight, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has sparked interest in the fighters and fighting. Reed is the poster child for the new breed of MMA participant.

"I got hooked on the show and I figured I'd go try it out," Reed said. "I did well in some grappling matches and turned it over to MMA."

Reed stood 180 pounds Wednesday and should have no problem making weight for Saturday, a night he's focused on doing one thing — winning.

"I'm working my butt off," Reed said. "I really want this one."

Several other locals will be featured on Saturday's card, including Brandon "Suicide Kidd" Rondon (7-1). The Bossier City ground-game specialist will face brawler Billy "Badass" Carl (7-3) from Arlington, Texas, in the main event."

I kind of plan to stand up with him a little and show off my cardio," said Rondon, who has a 7-inch reach disadvantage against the 6-foot-1, 135-pound Carl. "I've been working a lot on my boxing. I have to have good use of my legs or my takedowns to nullify his reach advantage.

"Shreveporter King Gladney is scheduled to face Vernon "Big E" Lewis.

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