Chestnut Ridge grad shines at Flood City Fight Night 2
May 15—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A little more than a year ago Daniel Albright wasn't sure where his mixed martial arts career was headed, as he was 1-2 and had little guidance.
On Saturday night he stopped previously unbeaten Justin Pippens in the second round at Flood City Fight Night 2, putting Albright in the mix for a shot at the 247 Fighting Championships heavyweight title.
Albright (3-3) is 2-1 since joining Altoona's Gorilla House Gym, with two consecutive victories over opponents from the Mat Factory.
"Before the Gorilla House, I was training on my own in my garage," Albright said. "Last March, Darren Cassidy told me to come in and work with their heavyweights, maybe start fighting again. Having skilled coaches like Ray Ross and Darren Cassidy, it's definitely changed my game. Having a pro like Ethan (Goss) in the room, having him in my corner tonight, it was awesome."
Albright looked to be in trouble early in the second round, when Pippens (2-1-1) floored him with a big punch, but the two-time District 5 wrestling champion recovered, took Pippens to the canvas and unleashed a relentless ground-and-pound attack that led referee David Osaghae to stop the fight at 2:48.
"That was a whole lot of wrestling, a little bit of jiu jitsu, and a lot of ground and pound," Albright said. "I know if I get on top of somebody, I'm either going to finish that fight or you're going to be hurting next round."
While he was the one hurting early in the round, Albright said he never thought he was in danger.
"No, sir! I do not give a (crap)! Hit me as hard as you want, I'm coming," he said with a smile. "I was like, 'Oh, I need to scramble.' That's what went through my mind. As soon as I got hit, I was like, 'That was heavy. My eye's going to swell up. I need to start doing work now, scramble out of positions, get down to body position and finish the fight.' "
That's exactly what he did. Now, he's hoping to fight the Mat Factory's Julian Flenory, who improved to 4-0 by knocking out Sheldon Neighoff, Albright's Gorilla House teammate, in just nine seconds in the main event at 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial. The 247 heavyweight title is vacant, and Albright said he would love to face Flenory for the belt.
"Oh, I want that fight," Albright said. "Give me that fight. I'll take it."
Flenory has been phenomenal in his short career, needing just two minutes and one second of combined fight time for his four knockouts. He said he trained with Albright previously, so he has an idea of how that matchup might go.
"The last time I went with Dan Albright, I punched his face into oblivion," Flenory said. "He came to the Mat Factory. I just punched him, punched him, punched him. His coaches had to stop the rounds. ... We went about five rounds and I might have punched him 500 times to three times. I don't know if he actually wants that fight."
Flenory said he'd have to talk to his coaches, but that he'd fight Albright on July 9, if possible.
"If he wants the belt fight, I'll gladly take the belt," Flenory said.
Flenory started with a big right hand, landing a barrage of punches that had Neighoff out on his feet, and he fell forward to the canvas for a stoppage at nine seconds of Round 1.
The other big knockout of the night came at 170 pounds, where Pittsburgh's Josh Visokey unleashed a vicious left hand against Dez Ford of Richmond, Indiana, in the third round. Ford looked like he had gained momentum with a strong second round, but Visokey's punch landed clean. Ford momentarily stayed on his feet, but a slight push from Visokey sent him sprawling to the canvas, and Osaghae stopped it 10 seconds into the round.
Forest Hills graduate Joe LaRocca lost his debut fight by unanimous decision to Elijah Davis of Vandergrift, who was also stepping into the cage for the first time.
LaRocca's best moments came when they exchanged punches. Early in the second round, LaRocca stunned Davis with a right hand. The Vandergrift product stumbled backward, caught himself on the cage and launched into an attack. He picked LaRocca high into the air and slammed him to the canvas, controlling the action from there.
"He was rushing me a lot, so I didn't have an opportunity to showcase my striking," Davis said. "I did what we do at the Mat Factory, I went to my wrestling."
LaRocca also landed punches early in the third before Davis listened to his coaches, who implored him to wrestle LaRocca, which he did to control the remainder of the round.
At 135 pounds, Cameron Sandoval of High Point, North Carolina, forced Edwin Vera of Lower Burrell to tap just 48 seconds into their fight. Sandoval (6-2) used a guillotine choke for the victory over Vera (4-3), who was beaten by Dylan Nelson at the first Flood City Fight Night.
Aaron Harper (1-3) of Three Springs, Huntingdon County, avoided a pair of Superman punch attempts by Shaqueal Terry to start the fight and went on to earn a split decision. Harper's best chance for ending the fight came in the second, when he had a triangle choke hold, but he wasn't able to get Terry (0-2) to tap.
Mario Texidor (1-1) of Pueblo, Colorado, picked up his first victory, beating Ian Smith of Clayton, New Jersey, by unanimous decision at 155 pounds in the opening bout. The two threw punches at the start of the second round, with Smith (0-1) coming out of the exchange with a mouse under his left eye, but most of the bout was contested on the canvas. Texidor put his wrestling background to use, with double-leg takedowns in each round.
