Dragon House MMA 13 Pro-AM Event: Providing a Stage for Up and Coming Amateurs

Oakland, February 2, 2013 at Dragon House MMA 13 by Michael Sanchez.

“Everyone needs a stage to fight. So they come to us for that stage,” said Zhong Luo, promoter of last Saturday’s Dragon House 13 MMA show in Oakland California.

Indeed.

In a huge state like California, finding a venue for numerous amateur fighters to showcase their skills and entertain the growing legion of MMA fans can pose a challenge. Luo stepped up to the plate and gave CAMO amateur fighters their chance for glory on the undercard of Dragon House 13.

” It was a good turnout, even with the Super Bowl tomorrow and the UFC event tonight. It was a smooth show,” said Luo.

The amateur fighters were featured in the undercard before the pro main card. There were six matches and only one was finished early by submission.

“Amateurs are always good. We have a guy from Dragon House who came in and won. I always enjoy watching amateurs. They’re hungry and willing to take more risk to put on exciting fights,” said Luo.

With the exception of one match ended by submission, the amateur fights were mostly a contest in the clinch game. Who was able to outwrestle their opponent against the cage and dominate in the clinch was the winner of the match. There were times when the crowd  demanded for more action, but that  quickly turned into “ooooo” as the fighter smashed his knees into his opponent’s sternum or landed overhand bombs.

In short, if one understood or liked wrestling and more technical clinch fighting ability, this was the amateur event for it.

As good  as Luo said this event was, he still thought it could have been better.

“We have things we need to tighten up. I’m not going to get into the details but we had some in-house technical issues as well as venue and staffing.”

It bodes well for the promotion that Luo has such a critical eye.  After a very successful event, he still is looking for ways to constantly improve.  Regardless of what Luo may have thought about tightening things up, one thing is for certain: Everyone left Dragon House 13 very entertained.

Click here for full event results: http://camo-mma.org/amateur-mma-events/E547/Dragon-House