The Bully Gang’s Eli Pauls came up with a big win Saturday night at the Capital City Cage Fights held at the Salem Armory with a 23-second technical knockout against Roy Nowell of Massey Muay Thai.
Pauls, 2-1, defeated Nowell, 0-1, at 195 pounds by flying out of his corner with an aggressive attack that quickly put Nowell on the floor where Pauls pounded him.
“Eli did what I told him to do,” Coach Randall Colburn said. “I told him what to do when he walked across that cage. He did exactly that, and it was done.”
“I hit him,” Pauls said. “I saw him going down, and I just went with it.”
Nowell threw a punch and caught Pauls on the right eye, Pauls said, but he can take a punch. Pauls threw a right, and connected perfectly in Nowell’s face.
He swept Nowell’s feet from under him and pounced on top of Nowell with both fists.
“I’m crediting it to my training,” Pauls said, referring to Colburn and KHJ Jujitsu, who have teamed up with the Bully Gang for training. Colburn is assisted by Brian Tellis.
Pauls kept his stand-up game going, he said. Last fight, he lost on the ground. Randall worked with Pauls extensively on the ground game, but it wasn’t necessary this time. With a ground game and a stand-up fight, Pauls will focus on cardio before his next fight while keeping his stand-up game in shape.
“Eli trains every day,” Bully Gang owner Cory Graham said. “Eli’s dedicated to his team. He’s got a lot of heart. He respects his coach and his manager.”
The Bully Gang came up with one more win with the addition of J.J. Jones of Canby at the last minute, but they lost two more fights on the night.
“They just need more training,” Randall said.
Jones, 1-1, fought a dramatic bout against Walter Ramsey, 0-1, at 170 pounds. Ramsey kept dragging Jones to the ground, where Jones was weaker; but Jones kept escaping to his feet where he could punish Ramsey. After two rounds, Ramsey gave up due to strikes.
“I was definitely more comfortable on my feet,” Jones said, and his goal was to keep the off the ground.
Josh Roebuck, 0-1, lost in the first round to Ari Alcaraz, 1-0, at 135 pounds. He tapped out on a guillotine choke.
Collins Davis, 0-1, lost by ref stoppage to Ray Carpenter, 1-0, of the Dog Pound at 170 pounds.