CageSport 61 held its first MMA event in 520 days on Saturday, June 24, 2021. The event was CageSport’s first event since the COVID-19 pandemic halted the promotion’s events.
CageSport 61 was also the promotion’s first event at the new Emerald Queen Casino, which opened on June 8, 2020. The new venue (21,00 square feet with a 2,000 seat capacity) is a marked improvement over the casino’s old venue. This is particularly true because a significant percent of the seating is now elevated above the MMA cage. The stadium style seating provides a much improved view of the action. At the old venue only a very small number of seats were elevated.
Seattle Fights highly recommends purchasing tickets in the elevated sections when you attend an event. Views from the floor seating sections can be very restricted. Attendees any further back than the front rows in floor seating clearly had difficulty seeing any of the action when a fight went to the mat. This was obvious as fans would clearly switch to viewing the action on one of the three large video screens during any ground fighting. The three video screens, however, have excellent picture quality and are great for watching highlight replays.
Kody Hammond vs. Jamal Davis – 150 lbs
The opening fight of the night featured a dominant grappling performance by Jamal Davis against Kody Hammond. Davis won by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Davis secured his first professional win to improve his record to 1-1. With the loss Hammond fell to 2-3.
In the early going of Round 1, Hammond pressured but Davis landed effective counter strikes. Hammond quickly engaged the clinch, pressing Davis up against the cage looking for a takedown. But it was Davis who was able to turn Hammond and put him up against the cage and complete the takedown. He quickly transitioned to Hammond’s back, looking for the rear naked choke. Much of the rest of the round consisted of Davis threatening the rear naked choke while on Hammond’s back. At one point Hammond was able to stand up, but Davis was able to maintain his position on Hammond’s back as he had secured a body triangle. Davis continued to hunt the rear naked choke throughout the round and landed a couple of nice elbows from Hammond’s back. Most of Round 1 was spent with Davis in back control.
In Round 2, Hammond had his best moments in the fight. He started the round a nice outside low kick and shortly after scored a hard counter left hand off of a Davis kick. Hammond then scored another nice left hand before engaging in the clinch and pressing Davis up against the cage. Hammond also landed a nice jumping knee from the Thai clinch. Hammond later connected with a hard straight left hand. Davis, however, took advantage of a mistake by Hammond when Hammond had the Thai clinch but slipped and fell on his back with Davis obtaining top control. This was a very close round, with Hammond proving more effective on the feet in the striking exchanges, but Davis made it a close round with a couple of minutes of top control when the fight hit the mat. Round 3 was almost all Davis. Davis spent a good portion of the round controlling and dominating the fight on the ground. In the first two rounds, Davis didn’t do much damage with ground strikes, despite doing well with his ground control. However, in the final round Davis was much more effective with his ground strikes, particularly from back mount.
Michael Cyr vs. Chris Varner – 135 lbs
Michael Cyr turned in one of the best performances of the night with an impressive knockout just 29 seconds into the first round of his bout with Chris Varner. Cyr opened the fight with a nice outside low kick with Varner landing a hard counter right hand. But that would be it as far as good moments for Varner as Cyr wobbled his opponent moments later with a left hand that appeared to land high on the forehead. Cyr then followed up with a hard right hand that also appeared to land high on the forehead and send Varner crashing to the mat. Varner fell to 1-3 with the loss while Cyr improved his record to 2-0.
Sarek Shields vs. Cameron Robinett – 170 lbs
Sarek Shields and Cameron Robinett made their professional debuts in this welterweight contest. The first round was almost all grappling with Shields dominating the action. Early in the round Robinett landed a couple low kicks, but Shields was able to convert a takedown off the second kick. Robinett was able to immediately work his way back to the feet. Later in the round, Shields had his best moment in the fight when he picked Robinett up and landed a suplex. From top position, Shields was able to land several right hands. With Robinett once more working his way back to his feet, Shields jumped on Robinett’s back while looking for the rear naked choke. Shields was later able to secure a body triangle while his opponent was standing. Robinett was able to shake off Shields, but as the round played out Shields was able to secure four more takedowns. Credit to Robinett, however for repeatedly getting back up. At one point late in the round, Robinett was able to shake Shields off his back and secure top position and land a nice elbow. But Robinett lost ground control when he attempted to take Shields back but ended up too high in the position. The round ended with Shields once more in top position.
Shields secured the second round with a lot of grappling control, however Robinett was able to land several nice elbows with Shields pressuring him up against the cage.
In the third round Shields showed a bit of his striking game by landing a couple of big right hands. Robinett, for his part, landed a few nice knees while pinned up against the cage by Shields. Shields scored a body lock takedown later in the round and landed several hard elbows from top half guard.
Shields displayed some strong grappling, winning the fight 30-27, 30-27, 30-26. Robinett, however proved to be a tough fighter as he repeatedly worked his way back up to the feet after being taken down.
Stephen Chang vs. Seven Linford – 135 lbs
Stephen Chang turned in the best performance of the night earning a brutal knockout with a knee strike in his professional debut against Seven Linford. Early in the first round Chang scored with a hard right hand. Linford however, answered as he rushed forward and tagged Chang with a left hand. Chang subsequently scored with a couple of body kicks. Linford then had a really nice moment, landing an outside low kick and then rushing forward to land a couple punches. Both fighters landed effective strikes throughout the round. But Linford likely won the round with a strong end to the round when he landed a big left hand counter to a right hand to the body by Chang. Linford closed out the round by landing two big left hands.
In Round 2, the fighters seemed to be trading and landing low kicks for a good portion of the round. However, Chang clearly did the better work in this round with his hands. One of the best moments of the fight came with Chang landing a combination left hook, straight right hand. Chang also landed a big right hand counter off of a Linford low kick. Chang also displayed an effective check left hook during the round. While Linford landed a lot of low kicks during the round, Chang likely rated the edge with his fists.
In Round 3 Chang started to control the fight. Early in the round he landed a hard left body kick and later scored with a right hand counter to an outside low kick from Linford. In the first two rounds of the fight, Linford effectively charged forward on a couple of occasions and landed some nice punches. Linford had success one last time with the strategy in the third round. But Chang had finally grown wise to Linford’s charging entrances. At 1:22 of the third round, with Linford charging forward, Chang landed a brutal knee, bringing his right knee up high and landing flush to Linford’s chin.
Both fighters showed effective striking throughout this fight. Linford had to have landed somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty low kicks, while Chang also found success with the kicking game with his effective Muay Thai. This was clearly the best fight on the card.
Riley Wiseman vs. Octavian Trumbo – 155 lbs
Riley Wiseman turned in an impressive performance in winning his professional debut. The first round started with some wild grappling exchanges. Wiseman attempted an early body lock takedown that backfired as Octavian Trumbo ended up in top position. But Wiseman wasted little time in getting back to his feet. Wiseman then secured a takedown after obtaining back control, but Trumbo was able to quickly turn into Wiseman’s guard. From guard Wiseman was able to land some effective elbows. After the fight returned to the feet Wiseman landed a couple of big left hands before the round expired.
In the second round, Trumbo had his best moment of the fight landing a four punch combination. However, midway through the round Wiseman began to dominate. Wiseman secured a takedown midway through the round but Trumbo was able to work his way back to standing. Wiseman proved tenacious though as he then obtained back control and dragged Trumbo to the ground with his second takedown of the round. Wiseman showed some slick grappling as he transitioned from Trumbo’s back to mount position and once more to back mount. From back mount, Wiseman did a lot of damage landing numerous punches and elbows. At the end of the round Trumbo was wearing a large cut on the back of his head.
Round 3 opened with Wiseman landing a nice outside low kick followed by a big right hand. Wiseman then controlled the action by pressing his man up against the cage and securing back control. Wiseman controlled a good portion of the round with back control, landing effective strikes from the position. Wiseman then secured his final takedown of the fight, this time slamming Trumbo to the ground from back control. Wiseman once more showed his slick grappling as he was able to control Trumbo from the crucifix position, landing some damaging elbows in the process. Trumbo was able to escape the crucifix position, but ended up in side control where he ate more elbows from Wiseman. After Trumbo reversed position, Wiseman landed some effective elbows from guard. Trumbo clearly was damaged and compromised late in the round, when at 4:46 of the round he produced the finish via triangle choke.
It was an impressive performance by Wiseman as he used his excellent grappling to dominate much of the fight. Credit Trumbo, however, for not tapping but instead choosing to go out like a gangster as Wiseman put him to sleep.
John Simon vs. Dustin Johnson – 155 lbs
John Simon turned in one of the best performances of the night as he improved his record to 3-2 against Dustin Johnson in Johnson’s professional debut. Simon started the fight with a good inside low kick that drew a body kick in response by Johnson. Simon, however, was able to convert the body kick into a takedown. From top half guard, Simon showed patience as he initially did not do much damage but showed excellent top control. Simon eventually secured mount and started the finishing sequence with a nice right hand followed by four vicious elbows in quick succession which caused the referee to stop the fight. Simon was impressive in this fight, securing the TKO victory at the 4:05 mark of Round 1.
Jose Hernandez vs. Stephen Stirewalt – 135 lbs
The first round of this fight featured some wild exchanges and momentum swings. Jose Hernandez started early with a couple of big right hands. Stephen Stirewalt answered with a big right hand of his own that scored a knock down. After the fight returned to the feet, Hernandez took Stirewalt’s back and picked up his foe and slammed him to the ground. From bottom position, Stirewalt was able to escape side control and land a nice knee strike in the process of standing up. An inside low kick from Hernandez then briefly knocked down Stirewalt. Stirewalt answered by scoring with a big right hand but Hernandez immediately responded by shooting and securing the takedown. Hernandez was able to land some effective ground and pound late in the round from top position. With all of the changes in momentum this was a close and difficult round to score.
A big straight right hand by Stirewalt knocked down Hernandez at the start of Round 2. But Hernandez quickly got up as the fight returned to the feet. Hernandez then secured another takedown but Stirewalt was able to quickly scramble back to his feet. Hernandez then scored yet another takedown, this time landing a few ground punches, but Stirewalt once more worked his way back to standing position. This turnstile of a fight continued as Hernandez quickly took back control and secured a trip takedown. The seemingly endless pattern of this fight continued as Stirewalt quickly worked his way back to standing only to be quickly taken back down by Hernandez with a nifty trip takedown. Hernandez then was able to land some effective ground and pound from Stirewalt’s full guard. This was another difficult round to score. Although Stirewalt scored a knockdown in the round, it was likely Hernandez’s round as he spent a lot of time in top control.
Early in the Round 3, Stirewalt landed a big right hand with Hernandez on the ground after shooting and missing on a takedown attempt. Stirewalt then initiated a clinch and scored a trip takedown. Hernandez was able to reverse position and subsequently spent the vast majority of the round controlling his opponent from top position. This was clearly Hernandez’s round with all of the control time in his favor.
The fight resulted in a split decision victory for Hernandez. The judges’ scorecards were 28-27 Stirewalt, 29-28 Hernandez, and 29-28 Hernandez. With the victory, Hernandez improved to 4-3, with Stirewalt dropping to 3-3.
Dylan Potter vs. Nick Mills – 265 lbs
In the co-main event, the first two minutes of the fight were largely a feeling out process for heavyweights Nick Mills and Dylan Potter. All of that changed, however with a sequence that began with Potter charging forward to land a front kick, followed by a one-two combination. Mills, however, quickly countered with a left hook that backed up Potter. Mills wasted no time charging forward and landed a stinging jab as Potter was holding his hands at thigh level. Potter then backed up and Mills continued the forward pressure. With Potter backed up to the cage Mills landed two cracking left hands and followed with a huge right hand that dropped Potter to his knees. Sensing the possibility of a finish, Mills cracked Potter with two right hands. Potter, however, did well by shooting for the double-leg takedown, pinning Mills up against the cage before picking Mills up and dumping him to the mat. Potter was wise to spend the next 90 seconds controlling Mills and gathering his senses from top control. Potter went to work during the last minute of the round as he landed some hard elbows to Mills’ midsection. Several more elbows and punches to close the round had opened a cut above Mills’ right eye.
Potter opened Round 2 with two front kicks to the body, which drew a charging response from Mills as he looked for a takedown. However, as the fighters went crashing to the mat, Potter was able to use his significant size advantage to control Mills and take his back. Potter wasted little time in securing the finish as he produced a quick tap via rear naked choke at 0:37 of the second round.
Both fighters should be commended for taking this fight on short notice. Mills agreed to the fight on particularly short notice, just four days out and against an opponent that outweighed him by twenty-six pounds.
Luis Iniguez vs. Tony Murphy – 170 lbs – CageSport Welterweight Championship Bout
In the Welterweight Title Fight, Tony Murphy got off to a fast start as he used a big right hook to knock down Luis Iniguez. Iniguez had rushed in and Murphy connected flush to the chin. Iniguez, however, had some nice moments later in the round as he landed some effective punches.
In Round 2, Iniguez began to find a lot of success on the feet landing several big right hands. However, Murphy was able to land a double leg takedown late in the round.
In Round 3, Iniguez landed a huge left hook a minute into the round that knocked down Murphy. Iniguez followed up with ground and pound, but Murphy showed excellent toughness as he somehow was able to work his way back to standing. Murphy then wisely looked for a takedown, but Iniguez was able to stuff the attempt of his clearly compromised foe. Iniguez then initiated the fight ending sequence with a left body hook that hurt Murphy, followed by a left hook to the head that dropped Murphy. Iniguez then finished the fight with hammer fists that resulted in the TKO victory at 3:50 of Round 3.