Scott Heckman choked out Brian Jackson to claim LITC gold. | Keith Mills/Sherdog.com
For two-and-a-half rounds, Heckman mixed good, old-fashioned
ground-and-pound with solid footwork standing to out-maneuver and
take down Jackson in the main event of Locked in the Cage 7
“The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
K. Mills
Heckman set up his brabo choke from
the front headlock.
“He definitely has some ground-and-pound. On the feet, he really circled away from me,” Jackson revealed after the fight. “It was a mental struggle for me to not go in and commit, and I kind of panicked the last round, tried to do the high kick.”
Two minutes into the third, Heckman put Jackson away, taking him to the floor and cinching up a brabo choke that forced the tap and earned Heckman the title.
“I still have to climb up the ladder,” continued Heckman, who hails
from Bangor, Pa., and fights out of
Revolution Academy. “There is still someone standing in front
of me and a belt is just a piece of hardware. I’m going nowhere but
up. I’m training hard with the best trainers and best coach.”
K. Mills
Albert Alvarez showed the speed and
power of his brother Eddie.
“That is the first time I knocked anyone out,” Alvarez told Sherdog.com after his triumph. “I always flash-K.O. people, but nothing like that. Level-change works all day: level-change, drop your hands, come back over with that hook.”
“I was looking down for the kick or to take his ankle. That is when he caught me,” said opponent Roy Smith, who took the bout on two weeks’ notice in front of the hardcore Alvarez fan contingent.
The question on everyone’s mind is: when will Alvarez turn pro and look to step out of his brother’s shadow?
“Whenever the circumstances are right,” teased Alvarez.
“I’ll talk to the owner of Fight Factory, Steven Haigh, and my brother. Whatever works out, I’m ready. I want to go places and push it, so I’m ready. ‘Stepping out of the shadow,’ maybe not so much, but I am definitely going to start my own path.”
K. Mills
Anyanwu smashed Mullis quick.
The show’s amateur portion, Alvarez aside, featured a dynamic Ryan Courtney starting the show off with a rear-naked choke 21 seconds into the second round of his fight with Justin Wagner.
Philly may not have the depth of teams and gyms that New Jersey does, but fighters from the City of Brotherly Love may be on the verge of making serious noise.
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