Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Already carrying winning records, Sweet Home cage warriors, members of the Bully Gang Mix Martial Arts club, proved they could fight Saturday night at the Salem Armory, winning four of their five matches.
At 130 pounds, Kris Harnden, 4-2, opened the Saturday Night Fights by defeating Nick Nixon. At 270 pounds, Nathan Rice, 3-0, defeated John Case. At 155 pounds, Marlon “Shorty” Weikel, 1-0, defeated Shane Uttberback; and at 195 pounds, Ryan Kruesi, 2-0, defeated Carl Jackson.
At 200 pounds, Mitch Melbye, 1-1, lost a close fight to Harry Kahehe, the only Bully Gang loss Saturday night.
Saturday was the Bully Gang’s third fight as a team, owner and manager Cory Graham said. “Four out of five was great.”
“The only reason Mitch lost that was the time,” Graham said. “He went the distance. He went to decision.”
That was the longest fight of the night, he said.
“I would have finished him,” Rice said of his fight. “I know it. I was handling him. It was no problem.”
Rice won his fight when his opponent was disqualified in the second round. His opponent had grabbed the cage three times, Graham said, and he kneed Rice in the head while they were on the ground.
“Nathan Rice dominated the first and second round,” Graham said. “His opponent was so desperate.”
When a fighter gets desperate, that’s when they start making illegal moves like Rice’s opponent.
Rice started working out with the Bully Gang two or three months ago, he said.
“I get to beat someone up and not go to jail for it,” he joked. “It’s a competition thing, just like wrestling. It’s fun. It’s a reason not to get fat, to get less fat.”
Rice was a two-time state wrestling champion at 215 pounds and 185 pounds in high school. He graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1996.
Kruesi closed out the fighting for the night against an opponent more than 50 pounds heavier.
“He took me down,” Kruesi said, but Kruesi put a guillotine choke on his opponent, who soon tapped the mat, indicating he was through.
His opponent, Jackson, was a good boxer, Kruesi said, and he gave Kruesi a hard time early on. That didn’t stop Kruesi from finding an opening to finish the fight.
“I’m pretty good at taking a beating,” he said. “My nose is broken.”
Kruesi said he fights mainly for the exercise, mostly to stay in shape and keep him out of trouble.
He enjoys the team aspect of the sport, and it “makes you feel alive,” he said. Kruesi grew up in Sweet Home, wrestling one year in junior high. He also was a member of the Wolfpack boxing club one year.
Weikel joined the Bully Gang in mid-July. With no training ahead of time, he entered the cubical cage, made of chain-link fencing, for the first time Saturday night.
“I’m used to street fighting,” he said. He said saw Kruesi one night, and Kruesi told him about the Bully Gang. That’s when he decided to give it a shot.
Cage fighting gives him an outlet where he can fight without getting into trouble, he said. “I like fighting. I like to be physical.”
Weikel wrestled one year, in which he made the state tournament, and played four years of football in high school. He is a member of the SHHS Class of 2006.
During his fight, he came out strong, but “I didn’t want to submit him in the first round,” Weikel said. “So I let him go.”
His strategy was to “aim for the face” all night, he said. The referee called the fight, giving Weikel the win on a technical knockout.
He plans to start training now, he said.
“As the coach and owner of the team, I’m really satisfied,” Graham said.
Graham, who has bred pit bulls as a business for 17 years, said he started sponsoring cage fighters about a year and a half ago, he said. About eight months ago, he formally created a team.
Club trainers include Harnden, who has training in both jujutsu and Muay Thai; Rice and Kruesi, who boxed for the Sweet Home Wolfpack, in boxing and wrestling; James Gourley Jr. in judo and jujutsu; and Mitch Melbye in wrestling. Trainer Cris Hensley, who holds a championship belt at 170 pounds, holds a 5-0 record.
Other team members are Alan Plagman, 0-1, at 160 pounds; Kodi Plagman, 1-0, at 170 pounds; Jason Comber, 0-0, at 185 pounds; and Allen Davis, 0-0, at 190 pounds; and Weikel.
Shane Ullrich, of the American Barber Shop, is a club sponsor.
“We’ve picked the toughest street fighters, wrestlers and bar brawlers,” Graham said, drawing members from the Sweet Home and Lebanon areas.
“We will probably be one of the dominant amateur teams in the Valley,” he predicted. By this time next year, he expects the team to go pro and fight in the International Fight League.
The team is “taking a lot of the tough guys out of Sweet Home,” and training them to show off their talent, Harnden said.
They leave the streets “and put the sport into perspective,” Graham said.
Fights stay in the cage, while sportsmanship and respect are encouraged, Harnden said.
Matches are about putting on a show for paying spectators, said Harnden, a former Sweet Home wrestler. He was disappointed in his fight, the opening fight of the evening. Most of it was spent on the ground, wrestling-style.
“When I fight, I want to put on a show,” he said.
“We appreciate them (the Bully Gang) as promoters for their support of mixed martial arts,” said Mike Smedema, a partner in Capital City Fights, an MMA promoter. He complimented the quality of Bully Gang fighters. “We’re happy to have them as part of our show.”
The Bully Gang fights next on Aug. 17 at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center.
Harnden and Hinsley are the key fights that night, Graham said. Hinsley is a former Lebanon wrestler. Both will fight for titles.
“These two fights will be extremely intense, tough and crowd-pleasing,” Graham said. “Both Harnden and Hinsley are the toughest in their weight classes.”
Hinsley will defend a belt that night as well as fight for another. Harnden is fighting for his first belt.
Rice will enter the cage for the fourth time. Davis, a known boxer and wrestler, will enter the cage for the first time. A. Plagman, a former Lebanon wrestler will come back for his second fight with the Bully Gang, and Melbye, also known as the “Hillbilly” will enter the cage again.
For more information and a $3 ticket discount, visit bullygang.com on the Web. For information about the Bully Gang, joining or sponsorships, call Graham at 409-5515.