World Fighting Championship's Cage Wars V

I have never been interested in Mixed Martial Artswith both fighters holding their hands up in front
but I had the opportunity to go to the Worldof their faces as they moved around the ring.
Fighting Championship's "Cage Wars V" onThe fighter threw punches, kicks, and leg sweeps
October 26th, 2007. The event was held at theand the crowd would roar when I fighter landed a
Florida Fairgrounds Expo Arena in Tampa at 8pm.punch. After briefly throwing some punches the
A friend and I went and I figured this would be afighter began wrestling as they stood up with 1
good opportunity for me to see what all the buzzfighter being taken down to the ground.
has been about this mixed martial arts stuff.Once on the ground, the action was slow as the
The great thing about the event being held at thefighter struggled in a manner similar to grecko
Florida Fairgrounds is that it is very easy to getroman wrestling. The majority of the fights ended
there from any points around the Tampa Baysoon after one of the fighters was taken to the
area. Another great thing about the location ofground. It seems that once you have your
the event was that it was nearby the Seminoleopponent on the ground, you move in for the kill
Hard Rock Casino which is where many of theby placing him in a submission hold until he signals
spectators and competitors went after the eventthat he is giving up by tapping his hand.
was over.In between fights, the Ring Girls from the Tampa
We paid $5.00 for parking and found the parkingDoll House would enter the ring and then the
lots not very full. When we entered the arena Iwinner would be announced to the cheering
was pleasantly surprised by the scene before me.crowd. During the 3rd fight I found myself really
Remember, this was the first time that I hadgetting into the competition. I had always
seen a MMA fight in person and I had never sat inassumed that MMA was merely a street brawl
front of the tv and watched a match either.but I learned that there is a lot of technique
In the center of the arena was an octagoninvolved. All of the fighters were in superb
shaped ring that was completely enclosed withphysical condition weighing anywhere from
chainlink fence. The ring was a cage with no roof135-185. These guys must go through some
and it was well illuminated by bright lights. To theintense training in order to be in that kind of
left and right of the cage were the stands whereshape.
the spectators were seated. The stands were soThe main event was a match between Brandon
close to the stage that any seat in the houseSene and Ozzy Villanvera. Sene must be a WFC
gave you a close up view of the action.hero or something because everyone knew of
The floor area surrounding the outside of thehim and the crowd cheered him to a quick
cage was a barricaded off vip area where I sawvictory. Sene was in the best shape of any
Michael Pittman, Wenke Wright, and a bunch offighter and he quickly took his opponent down
other people that I did not recognize. People in theand forced him to submit.
crowd pointed out a short muscle-bound guy inThe match that everyone in the crowd was
the vip area that was supposed to be a topanticipating was the debut fight for former
Ultimate Fighting Star called "Mobster Lobster" ITampa Bay Buccanner Marcus Jones. The crowd
had never heard of the guy but I like hiswent absolutely nuts when the announces
nickname. It was in the stands that I learned thatintroduced Marcus Jones. I remember seeing
UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and WFCJones play on TV and I remember him being a
(World Fighting Championships) are totallymonster with long dreads. When Marcus Jones
separate fighting organizations. It's like the NFLentered the ring I was shocked at what I saw. He
and Arena Ball where they basically compete inwas still a monster, but now he was ripped and
the same sport but have different players. I takecut as if he was going to compete in a
it that the UFC is the big daddy of MMA (mixedbodybuilding competition. My initial thought was " I
martial arts) and the WFC is up and coming.feel sorry for the guy that has to get into the
The arena was great and there were plenty ofring with Jones" When Jone's opponent entered
food and alcohol vendors for the spectators.the ring I felt that he had no chance simply
There were also some MMA clothing vendorsbecause he did not have the size or power of
who were selling some pretty cool looking shirts.Jones.
At this point in my night I was pleased with theMarcus Jones has obviously been getting good
experience and I was ready to watch a fewtraining because he made quick work of his
matches.opponent who tapped out after he was taken to
There was a professional style ring announcerthe ground an pummeled for 58 seconds. Marcus
who announced each fighter in a style similar toJones was so excited about his victory you would
wrestling or boxing. Each fighter would comehave thought he had won the superbowl. He
down a ramp from behind the scenes and enterthanked his trainers at Gracie Tampa which I
the octagon for 3 rounds of fighting. The fightershave learned is one of the premier places to be
wear very thin looking boxing gloves that gavetrained in the art of MMA.
the impression that they would not soften a blowI am glad that I attended this event which was
to the face. The fighters wore shorts and no shirtwell put together by the WFC and the Florida
or shoes. In MMA the fighters are able to kick,Fairgrounds was a nice venue. I now have a
knee , elbow, & punch their opponents.whenbetter understanding of MMA and will definately
the fight started it resembled a boxing matchattend MMA events in the future.