MMA action heats up at Sandpoint Stand-off

SANDPOINT - The ring announcer at the Sandpoint Stand-Off, held Saturday night at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, called Mixed Martial Arts "the new generation of baseball."

While the two sports couldn't be more polar opposite, his point was that the once niche sport of MMA is growing rapidly in popularity, evidenced by the more than 1,200 area fans that showed up as the combat sport made its debut in Sandpoint.

Punches, kicks, headlocks, choke holds and some occasional blood was on full display in the octagon cage, replete with scantily-clad ring girls, boisterous fans and plenty of adrenaline.

While the fighters from Lion's Den in Coeur d'Alene got the better of the 11th Commandment fighters in the five head-to-head matchups, it was the Sandpoint contingent of fighters who picked up far and away the loudest cheers.

"The town was awesome, with no issues, and everybody had a good time," said promoter Jesse Eller, owner of 11th Commandment MMA, whose fighters were far less experienced across the board. "We'll have to put in some hard work before we compete against them (Lion's Den) again; they're a serious group."

Post Falls fighter Dustin Medlock (9-0) won by tap out submission at 49 second in the main event, choking out two-time Sandpoint state wrestling champion Tim Pepperdine (4-2) in a fast and furious fight.

The 125 pound Northwest Combat League title fight ended when Pepperdine shot in and tried to take the more experienced Medlock to the ground, quickly getting put into a headlock.

"When I got the choke in I used my hips to flatten him out," said Medlock, who is close to turning pro. "Then I just squeezed to daylight."

The semi-main event featured the most scary moment of the night, when Lion's Den 205 pound fighter Matt Butkovich (2-0) slammed 11th Commandment's Kyle Fredricks (2-4) to the mat, briefly knocking out the Sandpoint fighter just one minute into the first round.

Arguably the most exciting fight of the night came at 155 pounds, as 11th Commandment's Nick Kohal (1-3) held a lead on all of three judges' scorecards before getting caught in a guillotine choke at 5:24 by Andrew Heinan (1-0) of the Lion's Den.

Kohal picked Heinan up and slammed him down on his back numerous times, much to delight of partisan Sandpoint crowd, controlling the action before tiring late in the second round and tapping out.

"I was gassed out and he guillotined me," said Kohal afterwards, noting he simply didn't have enough conditioning to close it out. "I just didn't have the go power that I should have."

Eller called Kohal's fight the bout of the night, saying he has improved by leaps and bounds recently and will learn from the loss.

Sheldon Cramer scored a win over fellow Sandpoint fighter Ben Palmer, winning by triangle choke at 1:15 in the first round of a heavyweight fight. Cramer, another former Bulldog wrestler, wowed the crowd when he picked Palmer up and slammed him with a takedown to take control of the fight early - an impressive feat by the biggest fighters of the night.

"I'm not going to lie to you, I was nervous," said Cramer of his cage debut. "It was great being out there with everyone cheering for me. The wrestling paid off on that one."

The most frenetic fight came at 185 pounds, as Lion's Den fighter Leo Heinan and 11th Commandment's Jake Van Doren went toe to toe and traded punches for much of the three minute first period in both fighter's debut, before Van Doren opted not to come out for the second round.

Dillan Mack won by choke over Scott Paramore in the second longest fight of the night at 4:10, Austin Hodges (1-1) choked out Logan Goade (0-1), Isaiah Williams (4-1) choked out Skyler Tucker (2-1) and Cliff Phelps (1-1) scored a knockout of fellow Sandpoint fighter Austin Burgess to round out the action on the 10-fight card.

Many of the 11th Commandment fighters will return to the cage in Kamiah on Feb. 12, while another event is being planned for Sandpoint in the next few months.