Record crowd at Fight Club OC bouts
- Amy Kaplan
- Jun 13, 2015
- 2 min read
All photos by Amy Kaplan/ Wide Angle MMA
Thursdays sold out Fight Club OC was the promotions highest capacity show to date with attendance at a whopping 1,511. It’s no shock really as the promotion, led by Roy Englebrecht, housed some exciting boxing and MMA bouts.
Orange County has always been friendly to combat sports, so it’s no surprise that two of the three stand-out fights were fought by local athletes. Timothy Lee vs. Steven McKinney, Ozzie Alvarez (Huntington Beach) vs. Steve Ciaccio and Reece Bennett (San Clemente) vs. Henry Calles all had memorable performances in The Hangar, Costa Mesa.
The evening started off quick with a first round knockout for Lee who made his pro boxing debut. He knocked his opponent, McKinney, off his feet twice prior to the official KO.
Photo from Timothy Lee/ Instagram
The night continued with two more boxing matches (Thomas Hill by decision and Malcolm McAllister by KO in round 1). There was also the night’s first MMA bout which ended in a bloody mess between Trevor Clapper and Alex Suhonosov, eventually going to decision in favour of Suhonosov.
The second MMA bout came to completion quickly when Alvarez easily submit Ciaccio via arm triangle in the first round. Alvarez who is no stranger to the cage continues his winning streak and extends it to five in a row. Alvarez trains at Misfits MMA, Kings MMA and Churchboyz Wrestling, all based in Orange County. He was an obvious crowd favorite.
Next in the ring was local boxer Bennett, who was looking to extend his 1-0 record. He faced Calles, who was also 1-0 going in. From round one it was obvious that both athletes were brawlers. Both landing an insane about of punches with rapid succession, switching who had control of the ring at any given moment. Bennett landed more face shots, with the shorter of the two, Calles, landing more body shots. The crowd was roaring and it seemed at any moment either one could go down. No one could believe that this slugfest would go more than one round, but it did. The action lasted the entire six rounds with the battle never slowing. This was my pick for the fight of the night.
Eventually the fight was deemed a majority draw, leaving hopes of a rematch to settle the score.
You can find out more about Fight Club OC here.
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