LaTasha Marzolla wins unanimous decision over Kate McGray in Tuff-N-Uff main event

 From left: Jeff Meyer, LaTasha Marzolla and Barry Meyer.  Photo: Chris Garcia

With a mix of familiar fan favorites and newcomers, Tuff-N-Uff's Friday night show at The Orleans, their last of the year, gave plenty to look forward to next year.   Several fighters made a big impression on the crowd, like 145 lb powerhouse Marcus Aven, who muscled his way to a submission victory over Eric Center in his MMA debut and Tommy Gavin, who wowed the audience by putting Rob Isenor to sleep with an arm triangle choke, but it was 18 year old Jordan Wright who stole the show.   Wright, a product of Strike Sub Club out of Los Angeles, made quick work of his larger opponent, 29 year old Justin Rote of Las Vegas, submitting him with a triangle choke, then turning back flips in the ring for the photographers after the fight.   We should hope to see more of Wright in future Tuff-N-Uff shows.

Capping off an evening of exciting fights that saw only two of the previous matches go to a decision, LaTasha Marzolla and Kate McGray slugged it out for three action-packed rounds.   Having generated a level of media attention more commonly reserved for professional championship fights, Marzolla, the former Playboy model turned MMA fighter, did not disappoint.   In a close battle that frequently had the crowd on its feet, Marzolla landed the harder and more accurate punches to earn a unanimous decision and advance her amateur MMA record to 2-0.

Unable to do any significant damage standing, McGray tried on several occasions to take Marzolla down, but Marzolla avoided most of the attempts. When McGray finally did get Marzolla to the ground, she was unable to keep her there.  Although neither fighter was ever close to finishing the other, Marzolla connected with solid punches to McGray's face throughout the fight and attacked her ribs while the fighters were clinched against the ropes.

Filling in as a very late replacement for David Thummel, Anthony Lee was clearly unprepared to make his MMA debut.  For two rounds, he frustrated his opponent, Cory Turner, as well as the fans in attendance, by repeatedly stalling on the ground. From the opening bell, both super heavyweights swung for the fences, but missed more often than they connected.   Both fighters gave it their all standing, but when the action hit the ground, both had turns on top, but neither seemed to know what to do there, forcing the referee to stand them back up.

Turner, also fighting for the first time, seemed intent on delivering a knockout.  Every punch and kick he threw seemed to carry the full force of his 265+ pound frame and after two rounds of scattered boos from the audience, Turner started round 3 intent on a big finish.  He swung and missed with several huge punches to open the round, then connected with a thunderous body kick, followed by a backfist that dropped Lee.  Smelling blood, Turner pounced on Lee for the kill, but the referee quickly stopped the contest at 36 seconds of round 3, declaring Lee the victor by TKO.

Gor Mnatsakanyan dominated Chris Brady with uppercuts and kicks in the first round of their bantamweight fight, scoring well with punch and kick combinations, but he may have punched himself out.   He slowed down in the second round and started to retreat. Brady pushed the action and was the busier fighter, though he wasn't able to put Mnatsakanyan in any serious trouble.  Knowing that he needed a big finish to take the fight, Mnatsakanyan found a second wind in round 3.  At one point he threw four straight kicks at Brady, who by now had the crowd chanting his name, and even through Brady appeared to be the fresher fighter, Mnatsakanyan outworked him throughout the round. Mnatsakanyan won by unanimous decision, advancing his record to 5-0.

In other fights:

Chris Alvanado defeated Colt “45” Bowler by unanimous decision

Marcus Aven defeated Eric Center by submission (armbar), round 1

Jordan Wright defeated Justin Rote by submission (triangle choke), round 1

Tommy Gavin defeated Rob Isenor by submission (arm triangle choke), round 1

Joden Seiders defeated Chris Holiday by TKO (strikes), round 1

Tim Bowman defeated Dan McCoy by TKO (strikes), round 1

Edmond Xhelili defeated Brandon Sheard by TKO (strikes), round 2

Evva Johnson defeated Kristen Mason by submission (armbar), round 1

Victor Henry defeated Cory Jeffers by TKO (Jeffers was unable to answer the bell for round 3)

Eddie Jackson defeated Jesse Bowler by TKO (strikes), round 1

Joe Ray defeated P.J. Dombrowski by TKO (strikes) round 1

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