Saturday July 31st at Toyota Park just outside of Chicago, Battle One held their event, Team USA vs World, and BK's own Makiwara was there.

If using two terms to sum this event up, they would be ‘Respect’ and ‘True Sportsmanship’ because this event had lots of it. If you were to bring some friends of yours who were unfamiliar with the sport of MMA to an event to get their feet wet, this would be it. You wouldn’t be showing your friends a bunch of brash, pro-wrestling wanna-be thugs who just want a reason to inflict pain on another human being. You would be showing them respectable athletes who are there to compete in the most sincere sense of the term and are looking to showcase their talents to the world. There was quite a turn out as far as spectators went. For example there was former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver in attendance who was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time to chat.

This event had a little of everything great that this sport has to offer. Each team was introduced with its national anthem being performed as they met their competitors in the ring. The Chicago Police department even came out to play bag pipes for Team Ireland. As far as the action in the ring is concerned, the great athletes who put their all in to the evening did not disappoint. There were wars on the ground as well as standing, a stunningly fast 26 second submission, hard-fought decision victories, and a couple of KO/TKO’s thrown in for flavor. The first half of the night looked grim for our natives in black, with the USA being behind 1-4 and The World holding a solid lead. As the night went on, the tide seemed to turn as USA tied it up and started making a comeback. Jordan Mitchell hammered this point home in his war with Jaroslaw Koszko. This match in particular was a melting pot of MMA ability starting out with a back-and-forth striking bout in round 1, continuing in to round 2 with some grappling that looked grim for Mitchell, who didn’t regain control until the instant the bell rang, but ending in round 3 with some impressive ground and pound being dealt out by Mitchell winning him the match. The dominance by Team USA continued throughout the rest of the night when Daniel Darby gave the audience what they wanted to see with a great display of take-down ability, further-solidifying Team USA’s statement to the world with a riveting TKO. Final score ended up 6-4 with Team USA being victorious.

No matter how the outcome went, there wasn’t a single dissonant gesture from either side and I didn’t even hear much booing from the crowd at all the whole night. I was proud to be present at such an event and absorb everything it had to offer and it is truly a night I will not forget.