Kyle Jensen, Micah Miller Win at First-Ever MMA Event in Pittsburgh
WEC veterans Kyle Jensen and Micah Miller were both victorious on Saturday night, winning their co-headliners at Ultimate Cage Fighting Championship’s “Rumble on the Rivers,” the first-ever MMA event held in Pittsburgh.
Here’s a recap of the co-main events from MMA Weekly:
For the first ever MMA event in the city of Pittsburgh, the crowd of 5,109 in attendance were treated to an exciting event overall, but disappointed after the main event between Rich Clementi and Kyle Jensen ended prematurely when Clementi suffered a broken clavicle at just :45 seconds in the first round.
Clementi and Jensen came after each other early, and after a clinch it was Clementi who went for a throw, but ended up crashing on the mat himself as Jensen reversed the move. As Jensen worked to improve his position, Clementi yelled up to referee Mark Matheny that he broke his collarbone, and immediately the fight was stopped.
Jensen commented after the win how hard he trained for the fight with Clementi, and the former WEC fighter will now look to make his mark at 155lbs after this event.
American Top Team product, Micah Miller, put on a show for the Pittsburgh crowd looking very impressive, submitting J.C. Pennington in the 2nd round of their co-main event fight.
Miller used his reach to light Pennington up when the fight stayed standing, and once on the mat he showed his superior ground game, opening up shots, and moving to a rear naked choke forcing the tap out. Miller, a top featherweight prospect, will now head back home to Florida where he will have another fight on August 1st.
Also on the card, TUF 7 cast member Paul Bradley successfully made his welterweight debut with a decision win over Leonardo Pecahana and 2008 NCAA Division I wrestling champion Phil Davis improved to 4-0 with a first-round rear naked choke submission of David Baggett.
[Pictured: Micah Miller]
Tags: JC Pennington, Kyle Jensen, Micah Miller, paul bradley, Phil Davis, Rich Clementi
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That really sucks for Clementi.
Question here.
Is this Pittsburgh card the event that pro wrestler Pittsburgh native and former Olympian Kurt Angle talked about earlier this year making his MMA debut in? From what I’ve read since he talked about trying MMA he got some truly bad doctors reports, so maybe he’s waved that off?
Ya I remember on TSN Michael Lansberg asked him “when will we see Kurt Angle in the UFC” and he said “next year”. This was summer 08.
Since then Ive heard nothing.
Just so you know Kurt will have severe issues ever being cleared as an MMA fighter due to the massive injuries he sustained qualifying for the Summer Games in ‘96. He broke two cervical vertebrae back then and somehow was allowed to compete in Atlanta then of course won his gold medal.
Once you’ve sustained cervical vertebrae breaks it is almost impossible to get any doctor to sign off for MMA if you ever have any sort of neck issues later. It kept me from fighting myself even though I sustained a break in ‘03 and resumed training after I couldn’t get sanctioned for a fight by anyone after I tore some cartilage there again in ‘07.
Do you think that will have an effect on Tito? Sorry to hear about that by the way. Hows the neck now?
Tito’s issues were all lower down the spinal cord(though some would say his issues are from a lack of anything at the top of the spinal cord but I digress) and were corrected with surgery that was not career ending. Tito’s recent inactivity has been more due to the clause in his old UFC contract not allowing him to sign with anyone until around now and promotions that are uneasy meeting his high demands. The back surgery was done because it was convenient to allow him to recoup. Nate Quarry had an extremely risky(for fighters) procedure done that has allowed him to compete but very few doctors will attempt it on the cervical vertebrae(as opposed to Thoracic and Lumbar, which spinal fusion is more readily accepted) of normal people and for a fighter it’s essentially a career ender.
As far as my neck, it’s connected haha. I make people cringe sometimes when I turn my head to the left or right sometimes because it pops a lot but other than a little pain there was no paralysis so I am fortunate. I’ll probably end up having surgery once I graduate from college but I still won’t be competing.
Angle not only injured his neck qualifying for the Olympics, but again in a “wrestling” match against Lesnar at some point during their stints with WWE.
Angle definitely has a decorated amateur wrestling career, but has never trained MMA, and hasn’t done any amateur wrestling in years. Combine that with his already stated neck injuries make it hard to believe that he will ever compete (legitimately) in MMA. Also, he has been talking about fighting in MMA, and for the UFC for years, but obviously that hasn’t happened. I think its just a way for him to draw attention to himself.
Glad to see we’ve got a doctor on here to clear things up from time to time.:D Hope all goes well for you in the future dude.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone.
And I agree with Justin in that MMA is an attention-grabber for Angle’s pro wrestling career. I read somewhere that Angle even managed to drag Frank Trigg into the pro wrestling show on SpikeTV, which I thought was odd because I tend to think or pro wrestling as a big man’s vocation, and Trigg is like maybe 5′10″ and walkaround 180??
Also, I wasn’t aware of the extent of Angle’s injuries. I’m surprised he can perform in pro wrestling, let alone do anything in MMA other than sit ringside.
And chrisl, sorry to hear about your own condition. And to think I used to complain about getting my knee tweaked when I joined a Florida shoot wrestling camp a few years back. It got wrenched pretty good, and after a year or so I called it quits.
I feel like a little girl crying about a skinned knee compared to what you went thru. Respect for sure.
Finally, I guess Angle is entitled to his leeway, considering what he did in ‘96 for his country and the sport. I wish the guy well, as I’m sure he has a family to provide for…
No worries. Just so you know Angle is actually only 5′11 himself. He’s a stocky guy in real life.