Area fighters compete at Real Deal Championship
The Real Deal Championship continued highlighting some of the best fighters in South Arkansas, North Louisiana and throughout the country Saturday in El Dorado.
Thirteen fighters came out during the big fight night at the El Dorado Conference Center. The main event of the night was the professional MMA matchup between Brennan McKisick and Michael Banks.
Several winners came from both Camden and El Dorado. Another big winner of the tournament was TRIBE Gym of Camden, led by owner/coach Geoff Trissolini. The TRIBE Gym had seven fighters competing, including one in an exhibition match. Overall, the TRIBE Gym went 4-2 in their fights on the card.
The first fight on the card featured one of TRIBE's first fighters, David Gauge Taylor taking on Jordan Monroe. Taylor had the stamina to follow Monroe, who was slippery to get out of holds. Monroe got in some good headshots on Taylor, but Monroe's long reach made a big difference. Taylor provided some solid hard punches that made it difficult for Monroe. By split decision, it was Monroe that came out as the winner of the tight match.
Up next on the card was Camden's Scott Nuss taking on Daniel Cruz from Arlington, Texas. Nuss had the conditioning and the athleticism to keep up with Cruz, but Cruz displayed overwhelming power and rhythm to keep Nuss from making a comeback. Nuss was able to efficiently escape grasps and get out of bad holds, but he was unable to find time to recover from blocks to make good hits. Cruz won through all three rounds by unanimous decision.
A couple of fights later, El Dorado's Benjamin McCoy, in his professional debut, was up against Nashan Lockridge. In one of the quickest fights of the night, McCoy grappled Lockridge in a behindthe-neck hold and locked down Lockridge for a win by submission, around 80 seconds into the fight.
Camden's Brayden McCoy was up next for the TRIBE Gym against Race Taylor as both fighters debuted professionally. McCoy came out of the gate swinging with speed and tenacity so Taylor was unable to consistently guard himself. McCoy won in the first round by a technical knockout for his first win.
Next up for the TRIBE Gym was Thomas Finney taking on Beau Digby in their professional debut in kickboxing. This was set to be one of the closest matches of the night. Digby was efficient in getting Finney into holds and getting in knee shots. Finney had the more efficient shots to the head. What looked like Finney running out of stamina in the second half of the second round was the effects of him feeling pressure in his nasal cavity that caused him to get fatigued. Finney was able to recover enough to not only survive but to also land several solid shots to the face. In a split decision, Finney was named the winner of the tight match.
One match later, Michael Zavalia, a resident of Strong, took on Christian Edwards in a match that went down to the wire. Zavalia was able to land several body shots while being put into holds by Edwards. Edwards did not provide many shots convincing enough to get Zavalia down or tired. At the 10-second warning of the third and final round, Edwards grabbed and flipped Zavalia for a hard throwdown right when the bell went off. In a unanimous decision, Zavalia was named the winner of the match.
Two matches later, one of the most heated fights of the night took place between TRIBE Gym's Leotis “LJ” Easter and Lincoln Hendrix out of Mississippi. Both fighters had not been in the ring in
over a year, and the emotions were high. Once Easter was able to land a solid and effective shot on Hendrix, he was able to unleash a fury of solid punches in a great rhythm. Hendrix was more effective to get Easter in holds, but both provided solid knee hits. In the second round, Hendrix was more effective in dodging punches and was able to charge at Easter for an attempted tackle into submission which Easter was able to get out of. In between the second and final rounds, Hendrix could be seen antagonizing the family members of Easter after they provided support to him. Easter was able to take control of Hendrix completely in the final round as he was effectively countering his leg wraps. Easter won the match after three rounds by unanimous decision.
In the second to last match of the night, TRIBE Gym's Trey “Ice” Frazier, a young, up-and-coming MMA fighter, was set to take on Marques Stamps, a more experienced fighter. From the start of the match, Stamps slipped which allowed Frazier to rush in and make solid body shots. Frazier's defense was strong enough to block shots and escape grapples as Frazier countered him by flipping Stamps onto the ground. From there, Frazier got on top of Stamps to land a series of hard hits to the head. Afterward, Frazier locked Stamps into a rear naked chokehold that forced Stamps to tap out in the first round. This would give Frazier his third professional win and his second in MMA.
In the final fight of the night, Brennan McKisick, who hadn't fought in the ring in 22 months, took on Michael Banks from Kansas City, Missouri. This was an opportunity for McKisick to put himself back on the map while Banks looked to overcome a three-consecutive losing streak.
Both McKisick and Banks tried to get each other into holds for a potential early tap out. After a minute of escaping holds, McKisick was able to get Banks into a solid hold where he was able to land body and headshots with his forearm. With the end of the first round drawing near, McKisick secured a tighter grip on his rear naked choke on Banks that resulted in Banks tapping out. This would be McKisick's first professional win since August 14, 2021.