UWC: Confrontation at Mason’s Patriot Center

Story and Photos by Connect2Mason Reporter John Porter

On October 11, 2008 Marcello S. Foran hosted the largest and most successful Mixed Martial Arts event in the DC metropolitan area. With a live crowd of 5,228 and the rest of the nation watching the event through live streams on Sherdog.com and Fox Sports Net, fans were treated to stellar performances by respectable fighters from around the nation. Many of the fighters hailing from Virginia and Maryland tangled with premier fighters from around the rest of the country.

• For a full gallery of photos from the UWC Confrontation, click here.

Many of these fighters haven’t quit their day time jobs, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find one of these guys in a class sitting next to you, or a colleague at work. Former George Mason University All-American wrestler Johnny Curtis fights out of One Spirit Martial arts in Reston, VA and is native to the area, as well as standouts Mike Easton fighting out of Team Lloyd Irvin in Temple Hills, MD, and Kris McCray fighting out of Gold Medal Grappling in Woodbridge, VA.

Fans were also treated to appearances from WEC superstar fighters Urijah "California Kid" Faber, the current WEC 145 lb Featherweight Champion, and Carlos “Natural Born Killer” Condit who currently holds 170lb WEC welterweight title.

All of the matches were exciting with stellar knockouts and split decisions that had fans on the edge of their chairs, but the most exciting fight of the evening was a matchup between Kyle Baker training out of MMA Institute in Harrisonburg, VA and EliteXC veteran James “Binky” Jones training out of Ground Control in Baltimore, MD. Kyle Baker dazzled the crowd with precision kicks that landed on target and face breaking punches. Jones experience and training allowed him to stand 3 rounds of grueling punishment, but in the end he was no match for Baker who won by an overwhelming unanimous decision.

The main event of the night between Terry Cohens and Virginia native Antwain Britt training out of MMA Institute under Rick McCoy in Norfolk, Virginia ended in a quick knock out. Cohens is well known from UFC’s reality show "The Ultimate Fighter 8," where contestants compete for a prized contract in the UFC. Britt, who has been a professional fighter for two years, stated that his success is due to hard training, noting that he’s currently fighting at 205 lbs and was a whopping 286 lbs at the beginning of his career. When asked what he plans on doing next, his response was "working on going to the top."

Britt also offered advice to those who are possibly interested in a sport where unlock boxing a person can not only be beaten by the punch that was never seen coming, but the kick, or submission hold that was never seen coming. Britt said to “stay focused, train hard, and train some more.”