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Gerguric among 7 MMA winners at Yankee Lake
By Greg Gulas
BROOKFIELD
Al Gerguric is a structural engineer for a cell tower company by day. He says he competes in MMA for the love of the sport and not to make money.
By engineering a unanimous decision over Youngstown’s Isaiah Jackson at Chuck Haskell’s “Yankee Lake Brawlroom 47” event, the Pittsburgh native became one of seven fighters to make successful debuts at Saturday’s MMA event.
“This was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but my conditioning was definitely there and that was the key,” he said. “There’s no feeling that compares to being in the ring.”
Jackson, a graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, fell to 1-1.
“I’m disappointed with the outcome, but it was my own fault,” he said. “My cardio wasn’t what it should have been, but I’ll be back. Count on it.”
In the other co-main, a 135-pound bout in which both fighters were making their cage debuts, Vincent Williams of Pittsburgh needed just 46 seconds in order to dispose of Mercer’s Brian Burke with a rear naked choke.
“I wanted to walk him down, pressure him and then wait for him to make a mistake,” Williams said. “I was then able to make him pay by taking him down.”
The card, youthful in terms of ring experience, had 11 of the night’s 16 fighters making their initial foray into the cage while four others were making just their second appearance.
Pittsburgh’s Marcus Williamson with five bouts was the elder statesman of the group.
The opening bout had former Lakeview Bulldogs football and track and field standout Toma Leveto posting a unanimous decision over Sharon’s Josh Person inn a 155-pound fight.
“I had multiple game plans because my opponent changed three different times and actually took the fight on five days notice,” Leveto said. “My timing was off, cardio wasn’t there and neither was my footwork. My body was sore from trying to make weight, but I’ll take the outcome.”
Pittsburgh’s Malcolm Hudson (1-0) score a second-round TKO over Youngstown’s James Davis (0-1) in just 63 seconds at 185.
“All I wanted to do was get in the cage and get it done as fast as possible. I feel like I have the tools so I didn’t want to waste them,” Hudson said. “I caught him with a couple of crosses, switched my stance and was able to catch him off guard.”
Pittsburgh’s Sean Doyle evened his mark at 1-1 with a tap-out, rear naked choke win over Demarco Hosch (0-1) of Farrell at 155 pounds. At 185 pounds, Pittsburgh’s Julian Flenory (1-0) earned a second-round TKO (1:02) by strikes over Marcus Williamson (1-4-1), also of Pittsburgh.
The quickest decision came in the final 155-pound pairing as Pittsburgh’s Tijuan McCay (1-0) had the most auspicious of the debuts, scoring a TKO over Nick Bailey of Huntington, West Va., needing just 14 seconds of the first round.
“Honestly, it felt more like an hour in there because everything seemed to stop once I got into the cage,” McCay said. “I wanted to set him up with multiple leg kicks, but was able to catch him in the back of the leg.”
Also at 185 pounds, Chase “The Croatian Crowbar” Boyd of New Brighton, Pa,, made his debut a successful one when he scored a unanimous decision over Clarion’s Matthew Baugher (1-1).
“I mold to the situation, but karate is my specialty,” Boyd said. “We saw in his video that he likes to stand square, so I wanted to take him down and was successful in doing that all three rounds.”