By Morgan Reynolds
WILMINGTON, Mass. — There was blood on the mat as five mixed martial artists from Derry competed in the seventh World Championship Fighting event at Shriner's Auditorium, June 27.
Fans of the sport are calling it the best WCF fight card to date, according to WCF owner Joe Cavallaro, boasting appearances from former Middleweight Boxing Champion Dana Rosenblatt; Ultimate Fighting Championship stars Jorge Rivera, John Howard, Mark DellaGrotte and Sean Gannon; and actor Kevin James.
The evening's co-main event featured matches involving Derry-based fighters Woody Weatherby and Calvin Kattar.
Kattar fought first, pitted against undefeated Rodrigo Almeida. The first few seconds were pretty brutal, and it seemed as though the match could go either way. Two minutes into the match, however, Almeida tried to take Kattar to the floor. Instead, he found himself in a guillotine choke hold, as Kattar squeezed his way to victory in front of hundreds of fans chanting his name.
Weatherby, 27, took on Dan Keefe from team Brickhouse, and it proved to be a match that refused to end. The first and second round had seen Keefe controlling much of the close game, keeping Weatherby on the ground as much as he could, with Weatherby landing cleaner strikes through his jujitsu expertise. A majority draw from the judges pushed the match into another two minutes where the battered Weatherby tried to vanquish Keefe in a solid looking arm bar submission. Keefe managed to hold out, throwing several desperate blows at Weatherby's head before the round ended. The match was scored in Keefe's favor. It was an emotional loss for Weatherby, who will push himself at Renzo Gracie before returning to WCF in the fall.
"I train extremely hard and take pride in my strength and conditioning," said Weatherby. "Training doesn't stop just because you leave the mat."
Tom Moreau, of Moreau's Training Center in Derry, began the night in the ring teaching his 7-year-old son how to roll and perform various judo throws. When he entered the ring later that evening, he found a much more intimidating opponent in Don Carlo-Clauss of the notorious N.Y. Bomb Squad. Clauss had a more intense wrestling and grappling background, and it was clear in the first round that he had the strength advantage. Consequently, Moreau spent most of the night on the turnbuckles. However, Moreau's technique as a master of jujitsu, combined with his skill as boxer, allowed him to land several clean strikes against his opponent and rack up points. The judges scored Moreau ahead of Carlo-Clauss by majority decision and it earned him the WCF medal.
John Benoit, 25, a teammate of Weatherby's from the Renzo Gracie School, stumbled early in his match against Damien Trites. He landed a few jabs afterwards and gained momentum as the round continued. A bloodied Trites tried to come back in the second round, not giving Benoit an inch. In the end Benoit won by majority decision.
Jeff Silva represented Premier Fight Team in his match against the Bombsquad's Zack Burhans. It was a pretty one-sided fight, with Burhans in the lead much of the time. Ultimately, it lead to Burhans' win by unanimous decision.
