This weekend went well for many fighters from Louisville, both in state and out-of-state. The biggest news from this weekend is Joe "The Deal" Heink's win over Will Kuhn at "Wild Bill's Fight Night 37" in Duluth, Georgia. The Team Haycraft fighter scored a unanimous decision win and improved to 5-2 in his professional MMA career. Joe trains with Bellator veteran, Brent Weedman, at Real Fighters Gym in Louisville and is a Bellarmine University graduate. Other fighters from Louisville also notched big wins this weekend at Hardrock MMA 36 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Louisville's Rob "Ironman" Smith won his professional debut via submission with just six seconds left in the first round. Rob fought a dominant fight and mounted his opponent with less than ten seconds to go in the round and quickly secured an armbar to clinch his first pro win. Rob has a huge following in and around Louisville and has trained with almost every fight team in Louisville and Southern Indiana. Rob has most recently spent time training with 502 MMA, Team Cruz, Griffin's Submission Academy, and Bad Dog MMA. Big things are on the horizon for Smith as he recently inked a three-year management deal with Authentic Sports Management. ASM has several big-name MMA stars as clients, such as: Rashad Evans; Kenny Florian; Melvin Guillard; and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson. Several other Louisville-based fighters recorded victories at Hardrock MMA 36 as well.
Tom McKenna of the Louisville MMA Fight Team won his third pro fight via submission in the second round, improving to 3-1 in his pro career. Tom's teammate, Clay Schmidt, won his amateur MMA debut by knockout in under thirty seconds. Deon Spalding picked up a win for the Louisville MMA Fight Team as well, defeating his opponent via unanimous decision after three rounds. One of Louisville's newest MMA gyms also fared well at Hardrock MMA 36, even though they suffered a couple of losses.
Bad Dog MMA has been around since 2010 and recently opened their gym to the public. Bad Dog MMA co-founder A.J. Sherrard remained undefeated after he won his amateur bout via TKO in the first round. Bad Dog fighters Brandon Hurst and Terry Coulter suffered submission losses at the event. I would encourage everyone to watch the Bad Dog MMA promo video in the sidebar and check out the gym. Please visit CageCraze.com for full coverage of Hardrock MMA 36, including a blow-by-blow recap of every fight on the card. The next local MMA event will be at the Derby Park Expo Five on Saturday, June 25, for Second2None Cage Fights. CageCraze.com will be cageside at the event providing quick results and play-by-play.
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