Tom Atencio, the promoter who runs the Affliction MMA organization, stepped into the cage Saturday night at the Ultimate Chaos MMA event in Biloxi, Mississippi, beating Randy Hedderick by TKO in a back-and-forth fight that Atencio has every right to be proud of winning.
A minute into the fight, Atencio got hit with a brutal right hand and looked like he was about to get knocked out. But although Hedderick then knocked him down with another shot, Atencio managed to regain his composure. When they they went back up to their feet Atencio got a little too cute, trying a spinning back fist, and he paid for it when he left himself exposed for a brutal kick to the body from Hedderick. It was a dominant first round for Hedderick.
But Atencio started to come into his own in the second round, looking more composed in his stand-up and battering Hedderick on the ground. Hedderick's nose was a bloody mess by the end of the second, and before the third could start, Hedderick said he couldn't go on, giving the fight to Atencio by TKO.
In the cage afterward, Atencio couldn't resist taking a shot at UFC President Dana White, who -- according to Atencio -- had bad-mouthed Hedderick before the fight.
"Randy, screw Dana White for what he said about you, bro," Atencio said.
One can't help but think that Atencio was really mad about what White has said about himself; White has, in the past, referred to Atencio as "a loser." But in the cage at Ultimate Chaos, Atencio was a winner.
A minute into the fight, Atencio got hit with a brutal right hand and looked like he was about to get knocked out. But although Hedderick then knocked him down with another shot, Atencio managed to regain his composure. When they they went back up to their feet Atencio got a little too cute, trying a spinning back fist, and he paid for it when he left himself exposed for a brutal kick to the body from Hedderick. It was a dominant first round for Hedderick.
But Atencio started to come into his own in the second round, looking more composed in his stand-up and battering Hedderick on the ground. Hedderick's nose was a bloody mess by the end of the second, and before the third could start, Hedderick said he couldn't go on, giving the fight to Atencio by TKO.
In the cage afterward, Atencio couldn't resist taking a shot at UFC President Dana White, who -- according to Atencio -- had bad-mouthed Hedderick before the fight.
"Randy, screw Dana White for what he said about you, bro," Atencio said.
One can't help but think that Atencio was really mad about what White has said about himself; White has, in the past, referred to Atencio as "a loser." But in the cage at Ultimate Chaos, Atencio was a winner.