Cross Insurance Arena Portland, Maine Welcomes Armored MMA For the First Time

by Avery Abruzzo

Cross Insurance Arena - PORTLAND, ME

Will Hartke vs. Brent Kitchen

Portland's first fight of the night was an axe fight. Right off the bat, Hartke came into the first round with a solid strike, and he and Kitchen exchanged a lot of back-and-forth blows. With those two-handed axes, the fighters don't have shields, meaning that they have to be quite mobile and utilize the axes both to strike and to block. And by the end of a fight, fatigue can make a weapon like that far more unwieldy. Hartke and Kitchen agreed to drop their axes and exchange punches in the last moments of the third round. In the end, Hartke came out on top. 

Sean Fabian vs. Joe Goncalves

In the second fight of the night, both fighters used a sword and a buckler. Fabian is a solid grappler and managed to keep Goncalves up against the cage for a while. The fight was close in terms of blows, but after taking Goncalves down in the third round, Fabian was declared the winner. 

Sophia Rigg vs. Lukiana Steel

Lukiana Steel Post Victory

The third fight was a mixed-weapons fight. While both fighters used buckler shields, Rigg used a sword while Steel made use of a mace. Lukiana took advantage of an early grapple in the first round to get in some jabs with her buckler. Lukiana managed and maintained take-down after takedown over the course of the rounds, thanks to her history in martial arts, and secured a victory in her debut fight with Armored MMA.

Dylan Harring vs "Woodchuch" Goodwin

Chuck Goodwin vs. Dylan Harring

In the fourth fight, heavyweights Godwin and Harring faced off. Goodwin brought punch after punch. He had incredibly strong game keeping Harring up against the cage, and landing consecutive blows. Godwin had the speed, and he had the strikes, and that's what secured him a win.

Xander Krahen vs. Raul Felix

Portland's own Raul Felix vs. veteran fighter Xander Krahen

The fifth fight saw two opponents that have faced off against each other before, meaning that both fighters were quite familiar with the other's style. Felix used a bigger punch shield compared to Krahen's buckler, which meant that he was able to keep Krahen at a bit of a distance—but that didn't stop Krahen from getting in a good amount of blows, too. Krahen took home the win, bringing his win streak up to a count of four.

Anotonio Penedo post battle against formidable opponent Mario Aguilar

Antonio Penedo vs. Mario Aguilar

In Portland's first pro fight of the night, Aguilar and Penedo faced off. Both fighters have a pretty springy, agile style of fighting. Penedo is a big puncher, and that side of him came out during this fight. Toward the end, the two of them flirted with the idea of dropping their swords for a while, and then did—they ended the third round by trading punches. Penedo managed to keep up his win streak, so he'll be trailing six wins going into his championship fight next month.

Tim Rondeau vs. Sean Rohberon

The seventh fight, between Rondeau and Rohberon, contained a lot of back-and-forth. They were trading solid blows back and forth—so whoever was going to secure the win was going to need to get pressure going and keep it. Rondeau got Rohberon up against the cage in the second round, and hit him with some solid shield punches. From the cage, he threw Rohberon into a take-down, and got in some solid repetitive hits to the helmet with the end of his punch shield. Rondeau managed to keep up the pressure and the onslaught for the third round, too, and took home the win.

Bowen Slater vs. BJ Scarlett

The eighth fight of the night featured Australian Bowen Slater facing off against the Texan BJ Scarlett. Both fighters were moving fast and keeping up a solid speed in the beginning. Scarlett managed to get Slater on the ground, and Slater's helmet came off, marking his first armor failure. His helmet came off again, after another takedown, and it resulted in a disqualification on Slater's behalf because of safety concerns. Due to the disqualification, Scarlett won the fight by default.

Elyce Ellington vs. Ashlynn Pfau

Ashlynn Pfau walking out to meet opponent Elyce Ellington

The penultimate Portland fight was a femme fight between Elyce Ellington and Ashlynn Pfau. The first round was a pretty solid split—the beginning, it seemed like Ellington had a good start with some leverage and a takedown, but Pfau took her down toward the end of the first round and hit her with an onslaught of punches. In the next two rounds, the fighters traded takedowns. Both fighters had a great deal of stamina and kept their energy up to the end. Thanks to her repeated takedowns and consistent hits on Ellington, Pfau won in the end.

Ellis Williams vs Abeid Mitchel

Abeid Mitchell vs. Ellis Williams

The final fight of the night featured another international fighter, the Australian Ellis Williams. The first round, the two kept up a fast pace. Mitchell had an armor failure on one of his shoulders early-on. Williams was consistent with his take-downs and rained down blows and punches all throughout the fight. After Mitchell got disarmed, and had another armor failure, Williams took home the win to close out the night.

The next round of fights takes place in Minneapolis, MN on June 13. You can find the links to buy tickets or watch online at armoredmma.com.