A total of eight fights took over the “Octagon” Friday night at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall for the 29th AK Beatdown.
None ended so quickly — and unnervingly — as the main event MMA bout between “Uncle” Sam Carney and Tyson Duckworth though.
In the amount of time it took one of the bartenders on hand to make a cocktail, Capital City Judo’s Carney put Ketchikan Fight Club’s Duckworth in a chokehold that resulted in a submission win.
After both fighters sized each other up for a moment, Carney went at Duckworth.
“I threw an inside kick, and then he turned his back, I threw a hook, he kind of went down,” Carney said after his win. “I just took a real tight guillotine, a no-arm guillotine, just sunk it tight.”
A guillotine is a special chokehold that can be used to elicit a submission in MMA. An MMA (mixed martial arts) fight can end in three main ways: knockout, submission or decision.
After about 10 seconds of entanglement on the floor, Duckworth lost all consciousness, signaling to the referee to call the fight after 25 seconds.
“We were just so dry, the choke just got tighter and tighter,” Duckworth said. “I don’t have really any excuse, man. It was a good submission on his part. It was early in the fight so we were bone dry.”
Carney said he didn’t know at what point Duckworth went out, but was immediately responsive to the referee’s motion to end the fight.
“He’s tough, he’s not the kind of guy that would tap (out). He’s a veteran, he’s a hell of a competitor,” Carney said of Duckworth.
When asked the feeling of regaining consciousness in the middle of a fighting event, Duckworth said unequivocally, “I know what’s at risk out here. I know that some nights, it’s my night, some nights it isn’t,” but added, “Even when it’s not your night, you hope it doesn’t happen like that.”
The co-main event, a boxing match between Counter Strike MMA’s Randy Willard and Sitka Boxing Club’s Tyler Eells, went the full three rounds, but fans wanted one more.
After a majority draw was declared (two out of three judges call the fight a draw), some fans wanted Willard and Eells to go one more round. “Are you kidding me?!” yelled one fan.
Eells, donning shorts with the American flag on one leg and the Mexican on the other, twice knocked down Willard in the first round. Willard came back stronger in the second round, however.
Pushed up against the black chain-link fence that bordered the octagon, Willard landed a big uppercut on Eells toward the end of the round, arousing the crowd and gaining some momentum for himself.
Both fighters restrained themselves in the third round. With about 10 seconds left in the fight though, they unleashed a torrent of punches on each other to the delight of the audience.
AK Beatdown
Oct. 20, 2017
MMA — Paul Enriquez def. Seth Elisoff
MMA — Dante Taylor def. Jacob Cotton
Boxing — Archie White def. Al Valentine
Boxing — Tim Storbeck def. Mike Gomez
Boxing — Kyle Delarosa def. Clifford White
MMA — Alonzo Leisholmn def. Nathan Herbig
Boxing — Randy Willard tied Tyler Eells
MMA — Sam Carney def. Tyson Duckworth
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Paul Enriquez, top, beats over powers Seth Elisoff at the AK Beat Down at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. Enriquez won the match.
Archie White, right, attempts to punch through Al Valentine’s defenses at the AK Beat Down at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. White won the match.
