Trio of champions crowned at WFC event

Gabby Holloway improved her record to 5-0 and claimed her third championship belt Saturday night in front of a packed house at the Reva Fire Hall in the co-main event of Warrior Fighting Championship’s “The Second Coming.”

“This feels great,” said Holloway, a former wrestler at Orange County High School. “I’m trying to take this as far as I can. If I can cut the weight, then I’ll fight you. If it’s at my weight and I don’t have to cut, I’ll definitely fight you.”

The Zamora Boxing Gym trained fighter looked pretty comfortable at 145 pounds Saturday as she became the WFC’s first female featherweight champion with a second-round stoppage of Marsha English, who trains out of The Cave in Fredericksburg.

Holloway — who already owns Barbarian Fight Club’s 145- and 135-pound championships — drove English to the cage right off the bat, and the duo spent much of the first round grappling against the fence.

“The plan is always to use my wrestling, but I never use it enough so I always end up against the cage,” Holloway said.

Holloway scored a takedown early in the second round, transitioned to full mount and started raining down punches until the referee stepped in at the 1:07 mark.

The WFC also crowned inaugural 155-pound and 205-pound champions during its second show in Culpeper.

Daniel “Machete” Moreno took on Joseph “Dynamite” Shearin for the 155-pound belt and pulled off what had to be the submission of the night.

“People are going to expect punches and knees, but who is going to expect a flying triangle?” said Moreno, who improved his amateur record to 6-1 with the win. “It was all about confidence and knowing where everything had to be to make it happen.”

Shearin scored a takedown with a textbook hip toss in the first round and seemed to have Moreno in trouble with a triangle of his own. But Moreno escaped and ended the round by taking his opponent’s back and working to soften him up with some punches.

The fight went to the cage in the second round as both fighters tried to improve their position. But as soon as it looked like Shearin was gaining the upper hand, Moreno leapt into the air and locked in a triangle choke.

Moreno worked to finish the maneuver on the ground for a few seconds before grabbing one of Shearin’s arms and forcing him to submit at the 1:58 mark of the second round with a kimura shoulder lock.

“Me and Arthur (Milam) worked on that maybe four times,” Moreno said. “The weight cut was tough and I felt it in there, but we train really hard so I knew I just had to push through it.”

Saturday’s final title fight was a contest between veteran fighters Carter Fox and Ty “The Assassin” Blake. It was the only fight of the night to go to a decision, but going five rounds wasn’t what Fox had planned.

“Throwing wild haymakers, trying to knock him out and not get kicked in the head,” Fox said, reciting his game plan coming into the fight.

Fox stayed true to his word as he came out in the first winging wild hooks, a few of which clipped Blake and sent him to the mat.

“I knew he used to be a heavyweight so I knew I had to watch out for the bombs he was trying to drop on me,” Blake said. “He hit me with one and stunned me a little bit, but I was able to regain my senses pretty quick.”

All five rounds were pretty much the same: Carter swinging wildly and Blake avoiding the barrages with his corner pleading for him to throw a head kick.

The head kick never came, and after five rounds of action Carter’s hand was raised with a unanimous decision victory and the WFC light heavyweight belt was wrapped around his waist.

“That was a great fight,” Carter said. “Being able to hurt him early was a big confidence booster, and I’m ready to fight again whenever.”

Carter may get a chance to fight again pretty soon, as Warrior Fighting Championship’s third MMA event is scheduled for Dec. 18 at the Reva Fire Hall.

Can’t get enough?

Check out Wednesday’s Star-Exponent for full results and analysis from WFC: The Second Coming.