The change in venue from the last two events, which were both held in large theatres, proved technically problematic. The most notable issue to the fans in attendance was the limited floor space, as the crowd crammed into the standing room only setup. Fans of the local MMA promotion not at the Club would notice the delay in the Go Fight Live broadcast, necessitated by the locale.*

*Editor’s note: Go Fight Live will be broadcasting the event for free on July 12. The remainder of the article contains details on the event’s results that could potentially spoil the excitement for those who plan to watch then.

Luckily, the promotion’s famously high quality matchmaking, especially among amateur organizations, was more than enough to save the day for the event.

The evening’s thirteen bouts were characterized with closely contested matches, peppered with the occasional first round destruction that kept up the energy of the event. Below are the honors and highlights of the event:

Submission of the Night- Caleb Solano’s D’arce-otine

The Solano brothers, fighting out of the Jungle Gym, both took wins home at Evolution. But, if Ariel Solano’s methodical display of control in the opening fight of the night set the bar for the family, Caleb’s 28 second technical submission victory leapt clean over it.

Caleb Solano’s opponent, Eric Flemming, opened the proceedings with a shot for a double where he had his head down just slightly too far. Solano quickly capitalized on the mistake, applying what appeared to be a modified D’arce choke while sprawling his hips out.

Flemming, possessing the heart of a warrior but clearly too excited to attempt a more technical recovery, muscled Solano against the fence just before passing out unconscious. Though the grip appeared more similar to a D’arce, the official ruling was submission by standing guillotine choke. By any other name, Solano’s victory is still submission of the night.

Fight of the Night- Mark Agnew versus Randy Duncan

The image of the “classic striker versus grappler” match up has been invoked since the beginning of MMA as a sport in the United States. Mark Agnew’s bout with Randy Duncan is a good example of the progression from “striker versus grappler” to “damage versus control” when dramatically different cage tactics are on display in modern MMA.

From the start of the bout, two things became very quickly apparent. First, Duncan could not match the speed and combinations that Agnew could put together on his feet. Second, Agnew could not stop the iron-willed double leg takedown that Duncan brought to the table.

For a match that had constantly moving action, Duncan and Agnew’s dance developed some familiar steps. The story of the fight involved Duncan being pounded by a combination of straight punches, ending with an unchecked leg kick, Duncan responding with a double leg that barreled straight through Agnew’s sprawl attempts, Duncan easily passing and putting Agnew in trouble, and finally Agnew defending a submission and disengaging back to his feet to repeat the process.

But the repeated actions got even more specific as the fight progressed. The sequence of Duncan getting rocked and recovering by scoring a double leg, followed by Agnew slowly recovering guard and sweeping up to side control, followed by Duncan immediately reversing and taking Agnew’s back, followed by Duncan botching an attempt to transition a rear naked choke into an arm bar occurred exactly the same way three times in three seperate rounds.

After a hard fought bout, it came to the judges to decide if methodical ground control or brutal striking would win out. And they decided on neither.

With scores of 29-28 Agnew, 29-28 Duncan, and 29-29 even, the match was ruled a draw.

While a crowd is rarely in favor of a bout without a definitive winner, the match did meet all the standards by which a Fight of the Night is judged. There was constant action. Both fighters were a threat to one another throughout the entire match. And the competitors displayed both athletic and tactical skill. Quite literally, there was no loser.

Knockout of the Night- Gary Smith pounds out Alex Rivera

In a night filled with technical grappling and even matches, the slobberknocker between Gary Smith and Alex Rivera was a refreshing change of pace. Smith fought in a classic brawling style, where he was not afraid to get his head snapped back by a straight punch in order to land some solid power shots.

Meanwhile, Rivera fought in a classic Fujita style, where he welcomed repeated punches to the face because defense is for girls.

Smith came in as a fast and athletic aggressor. Though he ate a single jab or cross on each entry, Smith ended every exchange with clearly more effective combinations.

In spite of just over two minutes of meeting most of the punches thrown at him head on, Rivera seemed wholly undaunted and willing to strike the entire night. However, a cut that formed near Rivera’s eye made the ring doctors less excited about the fight continuing. Smith was awarded a first round TKO victory via cut stoppage, prompting him to do a victory jig ending with a shoryuken.