By TXMMA Staff
Ryan Spann, DJ Fuentes, and Jamall Emmers earn title wins and training contracts in South Texas
In the main event of the evening, ATT Beaumont’s fast-rising “Superman” Ryan Spann was able to pick up his fifth win in five tries as a pro by besting El Paso-based Randy McCarty. It was a sound win for Spann as McCarty proved to be a more slippery opponent than expected and became the first pro opponent for Ryan that made it to the distance without getting submitted. Despite his moral victory Ryan proved to be too strong and controlled the fight throughout to get the win and the middleweight championship belt.
Next up at bantamweight, Edinburg’s DJ Fuentes pulled off the unanimous decision win over Beaumont’s Cody Williams in what proved to be fight of the night despite the torrid conditions that both men had to deal with as the slippery surface caused both fighters to be slightly more cautious than they are normally accustomed to. Fuentes was the one to gain the momentum as the fight wore on, hurting Cody with a solid uppercut in the second round and continuing on from there over the naturally smaller fighter to gain the belt and even his record at 9-9 heading into the rest of 2014. As for Williams, this loss snaps a 3-fight win streak and brings him to 7-4 overall.
Last but not least in championship action was San Antonio’s Jamall Emmers capturing the featherweight belt and the training contract in his rematch with Austin’s Brett Ewing. A wrestler by trade, Ewing couldn’t adequately shoot in this one and lost by unanimous decision. Meanwhile Emmers felt a lot of the same problems and says he couldn’t push the pace like he wanted to but gets the win and the title belt nonetheless.
Elsewhere on the “Best of the Best: card Brownsville native Luis Vega and Rusk, TX resident Booker Arthur fought a closely-contested three round fight that was edged out by “The Law” while Luke Flores, Sam Guardiola, Josh Strodtbeck, Eddie Wittern and Joel Scott all picked up their own wins.
Check out the complete results and details from “Best of the Best” below:
Hero Fighting Championships: Best of the Best”– Quick Results from January 31, 2014
- Ryan Spann over Randy McCarty by unanimous decision * TITLE
- DJ Fuentes over Cody Williams by unanimous decision * TITLE
- Jamall Emmers over Brett Ewing by unanimous decision * TITLE
- Luis Vega over Booker Arthur by unanimous decision
- Luke Flores over Justin Salinas by submission (kneebar), RD1 1:59
- Sam Guardiola over David Salazar by submission (armbar), RD1 1:09
- Josh Strodtbeck over Michael Rosenberg by unanimous decision
- Eddie Wittern over Freddy Ramos by submission (armbar), RD1 :23
- Joel Scott over Mikey Sanez by split decision
Hero FC: Best of the Best – Event Photos
Coaches and Competitors move to file complaints following “Best of the Best”
Following the South Texas fight card ATT Beaumont coach Mike Berryhill and others took to social media to complain about the unsafe fighting conditions from the “Best of the Best” event.
Coach Berryhill had this to say:
After the competition our guys competed in this Saturday night and watching the horrific conditions ALL the fighters on the card went through. My statement is as follows ——from signing off on gloves- (tdlr rep) then coming back and changing them at the last minute right before they walkout-
To changing the time match up bouts co-main to 5×5 and main to 3×5 ??? And actually saying since the fighter finishes quickly it doesn’t need be that long??? (Is your answer??) to actually allowing them to STILL compete on that canvas from the very first fighter slipping then entire time? Throughout the night hearing other officials/ promoter say it needs to be stopped? Watching the fighters come back into the locker room with injuries all night…
My first and foremost job is to keep my fighters safe at all times win or loose. With 3 of our guys in card and ALL suffering injuries – torn ligament finger- ankle- and hip.
Fact of the matter is the event should of been cancelled and fought another day.
Ask any fighter that night if they where fearful for their safety while competing in this event and see what they say- I heard it all night…
I will be filing a complaint against TDLR and rest assured working on fighter interviews to full video proof of such.
Another fighter’s camp (who wanted to remain anonymous) also chimed in:
This weekend, [redacted] fought for Hero FC’s Best of the Best promotion down in Harlingen. It was the worst card I have ever seen – not because of the fighters, but because the canvas was literally a slip and slide.
The event was held outdoors at a baseball field, which… Ok… Not the best place for a fight, but the promotion had planned ahead and ordered a custom canvas that would negate condensation and moisture. Right before the fight, the commission told J C Productions that using a canvas would constitute ‘cheating’ and forced them to switch to a tarp.
After the first fight, it was blatantly obvious to EVERYONE that the fight should be cancelled. The fighters were slipping, stumbling and falling all over the place. Every single fighter has reported some sort of injury directly related to slipping on the canvas. [redacted] has to get a full-contrast MRI tomorrow because they think he tore the ligament in his hip. [redacted] has torn a ligament clean off the bone in his hand. They suffered numerous other injuries, including sprained ankles, wrists, elbows and head injuries from falling into the cage. The fighters are will in the process of getting full diagnoses, but it doesn’t look good for anyone involved.
Sounds like a messy situation in South Texas indeed.