By Craig Pearson
TERRE HAUTE — A pair of hometown fighters picked up victories Saturday at the Zorah Shrine in the first mixed martial arts event to visit Terre Haute.
The Shrine’s auditorium, which seats 1,400, was approximately half full to watch 15 bouts in an octagon-shaped cage. The fights were a mix of amateur and professional fighters presented by Jason Reinhardt’s Courage Fighting Championships, based in Decatur, Ill.
In a professional bout, Jon “Big Nasty” Tarrh, a 25-year-old from Terre Haute, came out quick against Sam Kittermen, taking his 213-pound opponent to the mat. Tarrh, weighing in at 205, started throwing hammer fists to the side of Kittermen’s face and ear. Tarrh improved to 14-8 for his career, winning by technical knock out due to strikes in 16 seconds.
Tarrh climbed the octagon-shaped cage to celebrate, hearing the cheers from the crowd.
“That kind of scared me a little bit,” Tarrh said. “The cage started wobbling.”
Tarrh said he used his wrestling skills to get Kittermen on the ground with a takedown. The 2000 graduate of Terre Haute North said “the crowd did help a lot.”
Justin Curtis of McVicker’s Martial Arts in Terre Haute improved his amateur mark to 7-2 with a win against Steve Perry.
Curtis, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, came out throwing a couple jabs and “he didn’t really react,” Curtis said of Perry while replaying his fight on a McVicker’s Martial Arts teammate’s video camera. “Then I landed a right cross and got a Thai clinch [a technique where you grab the opponent around the neck and knee him in the face]. Then I started kneeing and throwing uppercuts. I got a couple good knees in.”
Curtis then “got his hooks in” with Perry lying on his stomach and used a rear-naked choke to end the fight 56 seconds into the 3-minute long first round.
Two super heavyweights from Illinois put on a show for the Courage Fighting Championships super heavyweight belt.
Cory Moon of Lawrenceville, Ill., won by TKO in the first round after he and fellow 300-pound fighter Juan Vasquez of Effingham, Ill., bloodied one another with some heavy fists, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Vasquez, fighting in his first MMA fight after a boxing career, sent Moon to the canvas with a straight right.
“He hit me with that first punch and it kind of stunned me,” Moon said. “He rocked me. I thought I was going out. But with my friends and family here I couldn’t let it be like that.”
Moon landed a punch that of his own and used his body to keep Vasquez down and throw repeated left hands to Vasquez’ face that left him with his right eye swollen shut after the fight.
Vasquez was in good spirits after the fight, requesting a rematch from Moon.
“It was awesome,” Vasquez said of his first MMA bout. “Cory was a great competitor. I just didn’t think to get on the ground and start pounding. I forgot this is not boxing.”
In the headlining bout, Laverne “Fists of Fury” Clark made quick work of Zeke Shilling. Clark, who has a 4-1 mark in Ultimate Fighting Championships at 155 pounds, fought Saturday at 170 pounds. Clark had Cory French, who has fought in the Pride Fighting Championships, in his corner.
Clark admitted he was on his heels for the first few moments of the fight, but he responded by using a rock slam, a Greco-Roman wrestling move.
“I planned on boxing straight up at first, but he rushed me and he’s a strong guy,” Clark said.
Clark picked Shilling up above his head and slammed him to the ground, eventually using a rear-naked choke to finish the fight in 26 seconds.
To open the evening, Darrick Black used a guillotine choke to force Bo Pollum to submit in 1 minute, two seconds.
Alex May, a student of Reinhardt and Miletich Fighting Systems, bounced back from a tough start against Corey King.
King was able to get a mount on May on his back. When both fighters got back to their feet, King picked May up off the canvas and slammed him to his back. The first round ended with May laying on his back, suffering strikes to the head.
May was able to escape King later in the round and won by TKO with 2:16 left in the second round.
The next two fights lasted 15 seconds. Brian Sanders made the mistake of pulling Lonnie Harrington down on top of him. Harrington got clean shots at Sanders’ head and the fight was over.
Daniel Hopper finished off Tim Mason, a freestyle fighter, by forcing Mason to tap out on a neck crank 15 seconds into the fight.
Later in the night, Rashid Abdullah defeated Dwayne Brown in the first round due to strikes.
Ryan Polholke of Effingham, Ill., forced Justin Guyer to tap out in the first round after both men came out with fists and kicks flying.
After the second intermission, Ryan Thomas took down Walt Denim with a body shot. Then Thomas knocked Denim out with a punch to the chin.
Danny Kibbee won due to referee stoppage against Mike Rhodes.
Billy Rutherford of Decatur, Ill., and a Miletich Fighting Systems fighter then fought Kibbee, winning late in the first round as Kibbee tapped out.
The two super heavyweights squared off next, followed by Clark’s win to cap the night.
Reinhardt didn’t appear thrilled with the crowd turnout, and was unsure about bringing another MMA card to town.
But Curtis and Tarrh were both enthusiastic that word would get out after the first mixed martial arts fight in Terre Haute.
“I thought the crowd was OK for the first time,” Tarrh said. “With word of mouth, more people will come out.”
“Terre Haute’s definitely a boxing town,” Curtis said. “It will take some time, but MMA will take over for boxing.”
