The first rule of Bartender Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club.
(Wronnnnng... get the word out! Advertising on Facebook is OK though)

The second rule of Bartender Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Bartender Fight Club.
See First Rule

Third rule of Bartender Fight Club, someone yells Stop!, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
Sounds like a pretty good rule to me... someone should have let that ref know about the third rule for Steve Chapman's fight.

Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight.
It's only fair...

Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas.
Try not to have too long of a gap between them though

Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes.
Cups, mouthguards and shinguards are required though.

Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to.
...or three rounds, whichever comes first.

And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
And fight they did. Holy shit did they ever fight.

This was the third public exhibition of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting here in the Cayman Islands, fittingly called Proving Ground III. The first one was held outdoors at the cruise terminal, and I don't remember where the second one was. This was the first one I went to though. Matty got a pair of tickets from his honey for Valentine's day and took me with him. Out of six matches tonight, I recognized three of the fighters as local bartenders.

The organizer, Jason, is the manager/owner of Aqua Beach and one of the big proponents, who I believe-but I could be wrong- is now a full-time trainer at a gym here worked as a bartender at Aqua Beach (or maybe still does). Fight one had Tom Scully from Rackham's, fight three featured Steve "Chappy" Chapman from PD's and fight five had Eric "L'il Evil" Vincent (pictured above).

The first 'Proving Ground' also had Jason from Deckers as well, and I don't remember who else was on that card. There were enough for me to refer to it to Matty as "Bartender's Fight Club" :)

The first bout started quickly (once they actually got going) and holy cow... it's one thing to watch a fight on TV, but sitting there (we were in the first row of the cheap seats) HEARING the blows landing.. man. You really get caught up in the excitement and the adrenalin. I was slow to start, but by the end of the night we had abandoned our seats and were pressed up against the railing yelling encouragements at the fighters.

It was interesting to see/watch the different styles of fighters. Each fighter's style was listed in the program along with their "nicknames". The last fight of the night was the heavyweights. Timothy Coulson (228 I think he weighed in as) vs Matt "Big Country" Colton who weighed in at 258. Both big guys. Coulson is listed as a Shotokan Karate fighter and Colton as a Greco-Roman Wrestler. I made an aside to Matty that I didn't think the chain-link would hold up to two guys that size charging into it... and I was right!

Partway through the second round, Colton wrapped up Coulson and drove him into the fence.... PING! two little bits of metal went flying up into the air and into the ringside crowd and the top of that section of the fence gave way... another bull-charge later on and the middle one went... another round or two and not only would Coulson have won the bout, but they would have destroyed the ring, too!

This bout was the best example of diverse fighting styles since Ray Jackson went up against Chong Li! The outcome was slightly different this time though. Coulson, the Shotokan Karate fighter seemed to be toying with the big wrestler in the first round where he scored a knockdown with a punch. He even looked like he was smiling and taunting Colton as the bell rang to end the first round. From where I sat, it seemed to me that Coulson was still thinking as a Karate fighter, where a fight is stopped at each point scored... everytime he landed a blow, he backed off, rather than follow-up or try to move in for the kill. This almost proved to be his downfall as Colton wrapped him up and took him to the mat in the second round and kept him there until the bell rang. In the third, Colton took charge and the bell rang to end the fight with Coulson in a choke-hold. Because of the timing of the bell, it seemed that Coulson had tapped out, but the ref was very quick and very clear to point out that the bell rang because the round and fight were over, not because of a tap-out. Coulson went on to take the fight by decision, but really he was lucky that the bell rang when it did or it might have turned out differently.

This was just the third public spectacle that they put on, and needs a little fine-tuning and promotion to fill up more seats. I think as word spreads and the popularity of the sport continues to grow, the crowds who come out to see it live will grow as well. It reminded me of the Cayman Rollergirls roller derby league a few years ago... ironically also at King's Sports Center. The girls practiced and practiced and practiced to do it, divided into two teams and practiced some more and really put a lot of effort into their (cough) costumes and appearances. The first bout had a few hundred people at it, the second one a little less.. the third one had about 50 and the fourth one was mostly friends and boyfriends/husbands. The fifth and final "playoff match" was pretty empty. The main difference between the roller derby and MMA though was that everyone who was interested in seeing it came to the first one, and then figured they'd seen it all and didn't come back.

If the organizers of Proving Ground can keep the cards from getting stale, maybe bring in some fighters from overseas (like they did at this match) and keep the card varied (rivalries and rematches not included, natch) then they'll have a good franchise on their hands and will ultimately succeed at bringing a lot of attention and people in through the gate. I think they'll do it, and I hope I can go to a few more fight nights live from Grand Cayman before I get rolled-over (kicked out by Immigration, basically) in August.