MMA: A-TOWN THROWDOWN XII UPDATE

Minnesota’s final combat show of the year is set to kick off tonight at the Holiday Inn ballroom in Austin, Minnesota. Driller Promotions presents A-Town Throwdown XII which features 19 MMA bouts both amateur and professional. Tickets were nearly sold out two days ago according to Minnesota MMA News but fans can watch live online at FLOCOMBAT. The action begins at 5:30PM.

The main event was shook up earlier this week when Damion “The Wolverine” Hill was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated match against Nick Ammerman. Hill has epilepsy and says that it was discovered that cutting weight can cause seizures from the stress in his brain. The all action fighter had 4 seizures before stepping down and announcing his retirement from combat sports. Filling in on short notice to face Iron Works’ Nick Ammerman is veteran Ted Worthington of Iowa.

The show still features three intriguing match ups that could be main events on most local shows and 16 competitive supporting bouts.
Minnesota Fight News caught up with the combatants being featured in those main bouts which include two Driller amateur title fights.

THOMAS HERRERA AND ALEX BROWN BATTLE FOR THE DRILLER 205 LB. TITLE

MN Fight News: Talk about training camp, your opponent, and also the charity that you have created for Austin area children in need. (VIEW CHARITY HERE)
Thomas Herrera: Training camp has never been better. I’ve been putting in long hours in the gym and working towards improving as a more well rounded MMA fighter. My goal for this training camp was to be able to last 5 rounds of fighting and in good standing because that’s what I’m expecting of this fight. I know my opponent will bring it on Saturday night. He’s very tough and from what I’ve observed, he’s constantly improving. This fight will be one of the greatest tests for the conclusion of my amateur career and I intend on exposing all of what I’ve worked on in the last 6 years of mixed martial arts. I will not underestimate him, but I am confident in my abilities.
Throughout training camp, I have been raising money for a charity I have created called Operation Christmas Eve. All money made from sponsorship’s and ticket sales gets donated directly to this charity and gets used to purchase Christmas presents for the less fortunate of Austin Minnesota. I’m expecting a huge crowd on Saturday, and to also raise lots of money for this charity as well.

MN Fight News: Talk about your background and what you know about your opponent.
Alexander Brown: My family is from Nicaragua, and I am the first generation of my family born in the states, right here in West St. Paul, MN. My fighting background started when I was seven years old. I started in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, along with Judo and competed in many tournaments. I have been doing Jiu-Jitsu for about 15 years. Some of that time has not been very consistent, due to the fact of time constraints with my family and demanding career with the City of Minneapolis. I have been boxing at Uppercut Boxing Gym in Minneapolis for about three years now. And been pulling double duty in competing in Boxing and MMA. I currently consider myself a freelancer in Jiu- Jitsu, as I have visited several schools in the past years. Although I have been doing some training with the Gracie system in Woodbury, MN.
I don’t know too much about my opponent Thomas Herrera. I met him and we talked back stage at my last fight. He seemed like a nice guy! I have nothing but respect for his team and coach as they have always been kind and respectful with me. As for the fight itself, Thomas seems like a grinder; and I train really hard so fights don’t go to decision. I would rather lose trying to finish the fight, then win by decisions. The fans can expect a clear winner.

 

145 POUND ALL ACTION SHOWDOWN BETWEEN SAM HERNANDEZ AND ROBERT ANDREWS

MN Fight News: Talk about your background and what you know about your opponent.
Sam Hernandez: I train with fight squad in Sleepy Eye and often work out with MMA of Mankato. We get invited to train at other gyms so I’m constantly getting to mix up my fighting​ style.
I only know that Robert is (3-0), there isn’t much video on him but I would think he is going to try to take me down and out wrestle me. I’m going to try to keep it a stand up fight and pick him apart with my jab. I always give it my all in the cage, and hope to give the fans a KO.

MN Fight News: Talk about your background and what you know about your opponent.
Jay Paulson: I train in Rochester at Imperial Training Center with Dan leckel and Thinh Hoang. My fighting styles are jiu jitsu, which I just received my blue belt from Brock Larson 6 months ago, then we train muay Thai mixed with boxing.
Honestly I don’t know a whole lot about Dustin. Just that he came through with a few tough fights so I’m expecting somewhat of a brawl. If the past fights have proven anything, the fans should expect an exciting fight probably ending up bloody.

MN Fight News: Talk about your background and what you know about your opponent.
Dustin Klappernick: I’m from Las Vegas, Nevada so growing up there I have always had some sort of a passion for MMA. I would beg and beg my mom to sign me up for kickboxing but she never would because she didn’t want me getting hurt. She told me once I turn 18 that I can start training, which totally sucked to hear as a kid. I never really had a fighting background or have I ever been into a fight until my first fight in the cage against Patrick Skildum. I started training with Jared Lange in his garage when I was 20 years old. A close friend of mine that worked with Jared at the time said that he was starting to train people in his garage. So I joined, and for a while it was just Jared, me and his frozen Thai bag in his garage. Then Leon Delgado and Rey Veraza started training with us and eventually we formed our team, 7th Street MMA.
The fans can expect a new 155 pound Driller champion come December 16th. I think it’ll be another fight where the fans will be at the edge of their seats, biting their nails and screaming their heads off! I know he won’t be able to handle these hands so I can see him trying to take it to the ground once he gets dazed but that won’t help him in this case. I will pour all my heart out into this fight to make sure I’m walking out of that ring with the belt around my waist and with all my friends, my family, and my fans cheering on the new Driller 155 lbs champion.
I would like to thank my coaches Rey Veraza and Jared Lange for turning me into a champion. They put a lot of sweat, determination, passion and money into 7th street. I am truly grateful to call them my coaches and my family. Also I would like to thank Leon Delgado for being an awesome training partner and for being the great leader he is in and out of the cage. I also wanna thank Teontae Thomas, Nate Williamson, and Thomas Herrera for sharpening up my wrestling and jiu jitsu game these last couple of months. Last but not least I would like to thank my Mom, little brother, older sister and my twin sister for all their support in making my dream become a reality. Also special thanks to Driller promotion, SEG and all the fight fans that come out and support the culture.

Full line-up for A-Town Throwdown XII December 16, 2017 Austin, MN

PROFESSIONAL

165 lbs. Ted Worthington (42-55) vs. Nick Ammerman (3-0)

145 lbs. Josh Marsh(2-1) vs. Ruben Vargas (1-0)

AMATEUR

195 lbs. Alexander Brown (3-1) vs. Thomas Herrera (11-4) * – title fight

155 lbs. Jay Paulson (8-8) vs. Dustin Klapperick (4-0) * – title fight

145 lbs. Robert Andrews (3-0) vs. Sam Hernandez (10-11)

205 lbs. Josh Moody (3-1) vs. Cody Colson (1-1)

155 lbs. Brad Pitan (2-3) vs. Robert Confer (2-4)

195 lbs. Dustin Cummings (0-0) vs. Leon Delgado (0-2)

170 lbs. Joey Hart (1-0-1) vs. Jonathan Schroeder (0-0)

170 lbs. Alec Atkins (0-0) vs. Giovanni Alvarado (2-3)

175 lbs. Jason Tiedmann (0-0) vs. Noah Landrus (1-0)

115 lbs. Joel Flores Jr. (0-0) vs. Mario Gomez (0-0)

170 lbs. Jonah Ruby (1-1) vs. Ryan Williams (1-2)

115 lbs. Daniel Soriano (0-0) vs. Randy Rivera (1-0)

170 lbs. Alfonso Bell (1-6) vs. Arkady Pichurin (1-1)

160 lbs. Rodney Yapi (2-2) vs. Ramiro Rivas (1-1)

150 lbs. Tyler Sand (2-1) vs. Ricky Ortiz (3-1)

160lbs. Andrew Yatskis (0-0) vs. Michael Olson (0-0)

140 lbs. Javier Coronado (2-0) vs. Alex Rodriguez (1-3)