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By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Columnist
November was truly a month to cherish for myself this year, as not only did it bring us some great MMA action at UFC 154 and XFO 46, but it also brought the birth of my first niece: a gorgeous healthy and happy baby girl named Elena Michelle. So let me start this blog by saying congratulations to my business partner and brother Manny, and my sister in law Amanda on their new addition to our family in this beautiful month. Thanksgiving was a fantastic gathering as always for my family, although we all united at my in-laws house this year, and my mom coming off of a knee replacement even made it, which was fantastic. As with recent months I haven't spent as much time in the gym as I would have liked to, but my weight loss has remained consistent as has my drive towards a healthier lifestyle. So let's get into the month that was November here at Team Curran.
XFO 46 saw a number of Team Curran professionals and amateurs in action at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL – Manny and I were cage side on our first ever play by play detail and the action was incredible. Most of the fighters took home big wins, but others suffered losses and that is something I really look forward to talking about here. Phil Williams, who is as powerful a striker as you're going to find in his normal weight class (bantamweight), took a tough decision loss against Andre Feliciano at a 131 lb. catch weight. I have never previously been up close and personal with a professional fighter who has lost in such a manner, so seeing what Phil went through was really tough. He truly felt that he had above all else let himself down, whereas to me it just seemed that it wasn't his best night in the cage, so I really have gained an entirely new perspective on what it is like emotionally for a fighter to lose a fight they believe they should have won under normal circumstances.
Phil put up a fantastic fight against the very talented and humble Feliciano, but he lost all three rounds on the judges' scorecards and received his second professional loss. Phil is a positive guy and he will undoubtedly bounce back and bring home a couple of fantastic wins using the fuel he gained that night, but just to see such a nice guy in such an unhappy mood was really an eye opener for myself. XFO once again gave us an extremely entertaining night of fights in a fantastic and massive arena that they still managed to pack on the same night that GSP fought Carlos Condit. I have to say at this point in time there is not a single XFO card I will ever electively miss in the near future. Dan Lardy has gone to many extents to make everything fantastic, and the man is damn good at matchmaking. I truly do understand why XFO has helped produce such phenomenal fighters as Clay Guida, Chael Sonnen, Pat Curran, Jeff Curran, Bart Palaszewski and Jamie Varner.
Moving back to the gym, I tried to get back on my pony full force this month but scheduling issues at home seem to keep me from being able to resume a full time schedule at the gym for the moment. Thankfully my wife is the queen of organization and we're working to get that back on track in the month of December was it begins. There has been numerous goings on at the gym, as there always is but the biggest being Jeff “Big Frog” Curran hosting a free Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar on December 1 to benefit the Crystal Lake food pantry, a truly noble thing to do which has been very successful in the past. On December 14, two of our professional fighters; Felice Herrig and Joey “The Real” Diehl will be looking to make an impact on the Bellator card, I have very definite confidence in both of them and look forward to watching them excel on the big stage. It's also worth mentioning that from what I understand Jeff Curran is also continuing rehab on his hands and will be looking to return to the cage early in 2013.
Around the gym it seems that things tend to remain the same, at any given moment you can walk in and see the pros working during team sparring or find Bellator champ Pat Curran working with guys like Justin Seeberger and Vince Romadine as they prepare to fight this coming Saturday December 8 at Offsides on XFO fight night. So many of the amateur fighters on the team are going to make a huge impact as professionals, Romandine is a very powerful guy for his weight class, and Seeberger as well has extremely formidable boxing that will easily put an opponent in danger. There are a number of amateurs and I expect we will see most of them go pro, but right now the top of the chain has to be Brian Radtke who won the XFO amateur lightweight championship at XFO 46 on the 17th. The Radtke brothers have a very natural feel inside of the cage and Brian very happily disposed of his opponent in the title bout; Charlie, his brother, also made a successful professional debut on the card. There is so much talent in the gym, that at any random moment I could throw a dart blind folded and hit someone who could give me a heaping amount of advice on any of the numerous styles used in the cage during a fight.
Before I go into my featured fighter, I wanted to touch on something that I have found really cool. Team Curran Amateur and Marine Vince Romandine has started a great program called All American Training. He is working with both groups and individuals as a personal trainer and has seen some fantastic results already in the short amount of time that he has been doing it. He helps people reach their goals and pushes them to make it to a new level of fitness, Vince is a really easy going guy but as a personal trainer you really couldn't ask for someone with a better knowledge of fitness. So for all of you locals I would suggest if you want to get in shape and do it safely and under great supervision, contact Vince and like his Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-American-Training/267574793328977. Vince is a great guy and a really down to earth dude with a fantastic talent for fighting and training so it would do anyone good just to even attend one session to see how they feel.
My featured fighter for this month is going to be Erick Correa. Erick is a former super-heavyweight golden gloves champion out of Team Curran, and he made his MMA debut at XFO 46. Erick is a big scary dude inside of the cage, and as far as I know he is presently the only active heavyweight coming out of our beloved gym, but that certainly isn't slowing him down. He won his fight in dominating fashion, knocking Lance Harvey down multiple times with his powerful hands and stuffing his takedown attempts with ease. Correa looked extremely natural in the cage, there were definitely no nerves and he was ready to kick some ass and take some names as soon as the bell rang. Erick is now 1-0 as a professional and I cannot wait to see his next bout. He has the striking power and prowess necessary to succeed in the game and a frame that looks custom built for the heavyweight division; this is not a fighter to sleep on.
Note: I found out this morning that the father of the aforementioned Phil Williams passed away this morning; I wanted to express my condolences to him and his entire family in this time of mourning. All of us wish the Williams family nothing but the best, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all of you.
That's it for this month, be sure to keep up with Team Curran on Twitter @TeamCurranMMA
And follow me on Twitter as well @BradMMATorch
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Staff_Editorials_19/article_15170.shtml
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