Joel Aguilar came out of his locker room to a gaggle of cheering teammates. Seconds later, his opponent – Jejuan Curry – silently and somberly approached his family.
Curry’s third straight loss as an amateur means a likely end to his mixed martial arts dreams.
While most of Madison’s sports fanatics had their eyes on a border battle clash at the Kohl Center, Chosen Few Fighting Championships (CFFC) brought over 1,000 fans to a sold-out Monona Terrace Convention Center bottom floor on Feb. 3.
The matchup between Aguilar and Curry was one of twelve fights that night.
Born from the ashes of Madtown Throwdown — a Madison MMA promotion that shut down in 2013 — CFFC held its first fight card, titled “Inception,” in February 2014 at Monona Terrace. Since CFFC’s founding, the event has become the top MMA show in Madison.
Madison native and full-time firefighter Josh Sterry, the company’s CEO, president and matchmaker, teamed up with head of fighter relations and event operations Tony Rook to produce a plethora of successful athletes, reaching major promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the Professional Fighters League and Bellator.
Saturday’s main event winner is the most successful of them all.
After an 11-1 start to his professional career, which included an 8-0 CFFC record and featherweight championship in the promotion, fighter Alex Gilpin got the call from the big leagues.
Gilpin debuted in the PFL in 2019 at age 27 and worked his way through the ranks. By the end of the year, he earned a title shot, an opportunity to achieve his dream and a chance to win $1 million on ESPN.
He lost.
And with that loss, the dream ended. Gilpin parted ways with the promotion, and a nearly four-year hiatus began.
Gilpin didn’t fight again until “hopping on a flight with 36 hours notice,” he said in a June 4 Instagram post.
On Feb. 3, Gilpin did it the right way. Against Erik Vo, an overmatched opponent on an eight-fight losing streak, Gilpin needed just 47 seconds to lock in a D’Arce choke and give the crowd exactly what they wanted — a win for the hometown fighter and the crescendo on a highly successful night for fighters hailing out of Madison.
“I think our matchmaking — creating really good fights for the fans — is one thing [that makes CFFC stand out],” Sterry told The Daily Cardinal. “Taking care of the fighters and treating them like they deserve to be treated. Because without them, we don’t have a show.”
As even as it gets
Sterry’s words were omnipresent from the jump.
The very first fight of the night saw two middleweights making their amateur debuts, with what was likely a 20-18 lead for Janesville’s Jake Blaser getting flipped on its head. After six minutes of cruising, Blaser got TKO’d in the third round — a defining win for Milwaukee’s Lemar Brooks.
The second fight of the night once again saw a huge flip in momentum. In a fight between two Milwaukeeans, Curry’s guillotine attempt on Aguilar turned into his demise and a first-round loss by armbar.
After a no-contest in the next fight, Brice Prairie’s Nick Moe faced off against Milwaukee’s Mike Lock. The fight went the distance and ended in a split decision.
Madison’s Kolbe Ayikoue and Hazen Rice and Fond du Lac’s Mike Klapperich each followed with unanimous decision wins.
Moziah Clark and Maxine Knetter – both from Madison – rounded out the amateur portion of the card. The pair secured finishes on their way to the promotion’s flyweight and women’s featherweight titles, respectively.
There was a clear gap in competition at times. Rice, who entered the night as a 1-0 prospect, battered Arcadia’s Dago Sandoval on the feet and the ground for three rounds. Klapperich, who entered the night at 2-0, knocked 3-0 Ryan Stevens’ mouth guard out repeatedly on his way to a fight of the night bonus.
A step above
As the UFC put on its 85th show at the sterile UFC Apex – one of the only things the MMA giant has kept from the COVID era – the atmosphere at Monona Terrace was electric.
“We’ve always tried to take each event and build off of that,” Sterry said. “Try to do something bigger and better each one.”
CFFC put an “extra effort” into bringing in overhead screens to display the fights live above the cage for those standing further away and focused heavily on video production and quality, Sterry said.
“It takes a small village to do this,” Rook said. “We have a fantastic team that does this with us.”
With 19 of the 24 fighters hailing from Wisconsin, family, friends and teammates all made the trek to the state capital to cheer on their loved ones.
Never was it more clear than when those representing the Capital City/Chosen Few (CCCF) fight team stepped in the cage.
Following the disappointing no-contest for Kingsley, the Madison-area fighting team went 7-0 to finish the night, with Ayikoue, Rice, Clark and Knetter rounding out the amateur fights before sweeping the main event.
In just 61 seconds each, JT Schulte and Garrett Carlson finished their opponents by rear naked choke and TKO. When Gilpin finished the show, the team had a total of 169 seconds of cage time.
For each win, the crowd in Monona Terrace’s Exhibition Hall A went into more and more of a frenzy. CCCF only became more dominant as the night progressed, as if they fed off the crowd.
What’s next
For every dominating win like Gilpin’s — who called for a spot in the UFC following his victory — there is a loss like Curry’s.
Many of the fighters appearing in amateur fights may never fight again. A split round two may mean the end of Lock’s career, nine minutes of being a punching bag could nix a promising start to Stevens’ career and a ninth straight loss could be Vo’s sign to put the gloves down.
But for many fighters, the camaraderie built on the training mat is a bond they can’t walk away from. Fighting is life for them.
“No matter what you’re gonna get hit, you’re gonna get kicked and you might get taken down,” Carlson said. “But you can’t be scared of that. I’m gonna beat this dude, and whatever I need to do, I’m gonna do it.”
For Carlson, the mentality worked. He fulfilled his pre-fight prediction of a first-round finish and took one step closer to the big leagues.
For Saturday’s eleven losers, it’s about how many times they get back up.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
