Congratulations to all fighters!

We just got back from Ground and Pounds fight night held Saturday night. We are incredibly proud of all of our fighters!! We are also proud of the job GPP productions did with the event from top to bottom. Great attitudes, great spirit, and a ton of fun for everyone!!

Here is a rundown of the our competitors and the results:

Dan McMurray: Dan was relaxed and easy the whole day before the fight; confident and poised. Bell rings Dan comes out and it's almost like Dan can't miss. Every shot he throws is accurate and on point. His competitor has great defensive skills, tries to get into a clinch but Dan controls him there too. Towards the end of the first round Dan goes on a run of hitting him with one punch after another and the referee wisely steps in and gives Dan the TKO!

Best Quotes:
Dan's Partner - “**** that guy is so strong!”
Dan's Partner - “I'm so glad your a nice guy cause I would have hated getting beat like that if you were an ass.”

Dan: “You know what fired me up? I looked over there and I saw Dan Kissling, I know Dan's never going to be an MMA fighter, but he came out to support me, that really inspired me, I knew I was going to beat my guy in front of Dan.”

Dan: “Clickity-Click”


Brad Bell: This was Brads first bout ever. Brad came out confident and ready; got caught with a couple nice shots but gave them right back. Brad took his partner down; almost cinched a Kimura, stayed on top and finished by winning a very close round. When Brad got back to the corner we realized he had sustained an eye injury from one of the early shots and had lost vision, we made the decision not let him continue. (Good news is he's just fine now!)

David Blattman: David was the youngest competitor at the event; the only teenager, and very recently turned 18, and this was his first MMA fight. His partner was sharp, skilled and 24. David totally dominated round one with powerful wrestling skills easily taking his partner down almost at will and staying on top almost the whole round. (He was a huge crowd favorite and you could hear the roar every time David picked his guy up and slammed him to the mat!) Unfortunately, in the second round David made a key wrestlers mistake by starting to get up from the mats from all fours – his competitor new exactly what to do and took his opportunity by leaping in and catching David with a beautiful uppercut that finished the match. (This is why we teach “technical lift!!”) In any case David couldn't have got beaten by a more skilled or more humble young man. I think David made a new friend and new training partner!

Best quotes of the match: David Blattman – (On the medics table and still a little foggy) “OK; so when can I fight again? When can I fight again?”

On the day we went one for three. Not all of the results were what they could have been but we couldn't be more proud of our fighters or the people they faced. I called my brother and told him about not only Dan's victory but the losses by Brad and David. He sent me this quote and it gave me chills; I hope every GPP competitor gets to read it.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt, "Man in the Arena" Speech given April 23, 1910
26th president of US (1858 - 1919)