Ohio Combat League

Background:

Martial Arts and Mixed Martial Arts competitions have been a long standing series of event at the Arnold Sports Festival.

In 2022, VisualOhio covered the Ohio Combat League matches at the Hollywood Casino event center.

The Ohio Combat League is a relatively new mixed martial arts promotion that is based out of central Ohio. Over the past 12 months, they have hosted 10 events with multiple title bouts and some professional fighter debuts.

We talked with the manager of the Hollywood Casino and they stated that this has been as crowded as it’s been for a while.

Impression:

As you enter the Hollywood Casino event center, we walk past the security and show our badges, exchange pleasantries. We make the short walk down the corridor and to the right and enter the VIP section. Dani makes her way to the back of the general admission where she chats up some patrons and the bartender.

Everyone is excited and welcoming, just glad to be back in full swing at the Arnold Sports Festival again.

On the other side of the venue is a DJ, playing a great selection of music to keep people entertained pre fight. He also does a great job of hitting all the cues for the ring music.

Overall, the organization of the card was top notch. The ring announcer, brought everyone in with professionalism. The fighters got the the octagon promptly and there was very little time between fights. As soon as the mat was cleared and clean, the judges staged and ready, the next fighters were brought in. Very little downtime, so there was no lag! Fantastic for us fight fans who want to keep the action moving!

There were a good mix of fighters both locally and some from out of state. A couple fighters took fights with just a couple weeks notice to fill the card for those that had to drop out. I think that goes to show not only a great respect for the sport, but for the promotion and the Ohio Combat League.

Supzilla was the main sponsor for the event.

All the fights were great, with a good mix of grappling and striking. One of the featherweight matches saw a contender saved by the bell twice, in rounds one and two!

There were quite a few title bouts as well. One defense of a title and 3 or more vacated titles awarded to fighters!

The fighter above, won his match by KO in the first round 2minutes 2 seconds!

Ohio Combat League 18 Official Results:

Harrell def John Ramirez	KO/TKO 2:23 in Round 3
Alonzo Turner def Tom Kizer	Unanimous Decision
Tony Tortorici def Marcus Keuchler	Unanimous Decision
Jeremy Balboa def Jake Scott	Unanimous Decision
Matt Adams def Mark Gordon	KO/TKO 0:48 in Round 1
Nikola Kacperska def Karli Thomas	Unanimous Decision
Nick Durst def Gavin Costa	Submission 0:43 in Round 1
Denzel Wallace def Blake Jardonek	KO/TKO 2:02 in Round 1
Jeremy Henry def Karic Cecutti	Unanimous Decision
Tasha Haley def Abbie Worley	Split Decision
Anthoney Morris def Adam Al-Jammal	KO/TKO 2:26 in Round 2
S. Mihajlovich def Ian Goeschl	KO/TKO 1:16 in Round3
Jamar Hawkins def Dereck Mahlenkamp	Split Decision