Joe Pearson knew he was the bad guy. And he was fine with that.
The Bettendorf, Iowa, fighter delivered a stunning buzz kill to the hometown crowd with his shocking first-round submission victory over previously unbeaten Dubuquer Adam Schumacher in the main event of Friday Night Fury at the Diamond Jo Casino’s Mississippi Moon Bar.
Schumacher appeared in complete control of the 135-pound bout when Pearson reversed Schumacher’s ground hold, locked him into an inescapable arm bar and forced him to tap out.
“Sorry I had to come here and beat your homeboy,” Pearson told the crowd, “but I got to do what I got to do.”
Schumacher entered his professional Mixed Martial Arts debut 16-0 and exploded into action. He knocked Pearson off his feet and to the mat just 30 seconds in and began hammering away. But Pearson absorbed the blows for over a minute and waited for his opening and found it. He retired Schumacher 2:15 into the fight.
“The kid had me on the ropes,” said Pearson, a veteran fighter who improved to 32-14-1. “I head this guy was great. He showed that tonight.”
The other half of Pinnacle Combat’s main event was just as surprising as Clinton, Iowa, fighter Eric Wisely upset UFC prospect Scott McAfee by split decision in an action-packed fight. McAfee, a former World Extreme Cagefighter and superb striker, failed to land main good shots on Wisely, who used kickboxing and well-timed jabs to neutralize McAfee’s offense in a thrilling third round.
The setback was just McAfee’s second loss. Wisely’s upset win made him the No. 1 contender for Pinnacle Combat’s Light Heavyweight Championship.
“I knew I had to be aggressive and let go,” said Wisely. “It’s a big name. To beat a guy being scouted by UFC is huge.”
• This time Ryan Leick didn’t have to get bloody to stay unbeaten.
Nearly three months after upsetting D.J. Stiffler in a bloody fight, Leick emerged from his 170-pound unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Shawn Varner unlacerated. But the well-prepared Dubuquer had to work harder than ever as he met his first opponent he couldn’t retire in the first round.
“I knew the longer it went, the bigger the advantage I’d have,” Leick said. “I trained 10-minute rounds all day for the fight.
“I thought I could win a war of attrition.”
Any which way to the ‘W,’ is OK with Leick.
"Now I know I can go the distance,” he said. “It’s not the ideal way, but it still says ‘W’ on the card.”
• Mark Long knows he’s not going to buy a house in the Hamptons with his fight winnings.
“I’m not getting rich doing this,” the Davenport, Iowa, Budweiser salesman said.
Long’s a 170-pound MMA junkie who lives by the creed “have gloves, will travel.” Just 29, Long has already fought a remarkable 166 bouts in locals from Japan to Florida to Dubuque. Long’s won 125 of those fights. He once fought eight times in one week.
Long bested Dubuque’s Aron “The “Lynch Man” Hingtgen by unanimous decision. Long’s shifty swing defense didn’t allow Hingtgen to land anything more serious than a couple leg shots to Long’s chest. For Long, his MMA career is not about trying to reach the big show.
“I love to compete. I love to entertain the crowd,” he said. “I’m an entertainer.”
• Other tri-state area fighters victorious at Friday Night Fury included TJ Burghy of Livingston, Wis., who defeated Dubuque’s Tim Rouse via a first-round knockout at 145 pounds.
