Schenectady’s first MMA event draws more than 600

In the basement of the Schenectady Armory Saturday evening, a group of about 22 amateur mixed martial arts fighters gathered in a circle about 20 minutes before the night’s first fight began.

“Please act like professionals out there,” said Dom Marando, director of rules and regulations for Cage Wars, the host of the first amateur MMA event in the city, speaking at the center of the fighters. “There’s a lot of people out there that want the sport of mixed martial arts to fail, especially in New York state. So be gentlemen and ladies out there. Prove to them we’re not savages.”

The event drew more than 600 MMA fans, many of them friends and family of fighters. There were 13 matches scheduled, though it ended up at 11 by the time the fights started at 8:30 p.m. Two of them were title matches, with Schenectady heavyweight champion Guy Hammond headlining.

Kyle Ehntholt of Saratoga Springs had the first fight of the night, going against the lanky Canadian Ryan Hickey.

With fake smoke filling the armory, Ehntholt marched to the ring as “Warrior” by Disturbed blared on the sound system, a song of his own choosing. The 24-year-old said he got into MMA after seeing a fight in which the towering favorite was taken down by a smaller underdog.

“That got me hooked because I was a little guy, I was bullied when I was a kid,” he said. “I said, ‘I gotta learn how to do that.’ ”

In the ring, he paced and bounced on the balls of his feet.

In a booming voice, the announcer called out, “Out of Saratoga Springs, New York, weighing 145 and a half pounds, it’s Kyle Ehntholt!”

Behind the scenes, amateur MMA is full of rules. Fighters go through blood checks, medical checks, equipment checks, clothing checks, tape checks. Before the fights began, head referee Eddie Gandara ran through a list of rules.

“No knees to the head. No elbows whatsoever. No hair-grabbing. No sticking your fingers or toes into any orifice of the body. No biting. No groin shots. No headbutting. No stomping while your opponent’s on the ground.”

The list continued for five minutes, with fighters asking questions here and there along the way.

“You’re all professional fighters here,” Gandara concluded. “This isn’t a barroom brawl. Be professional.”

In the cage, Ehntholt was down quickly, grappling with Hickey on the mat. A woman from the audience shouted, “Kick him! Kick him!”

Donald Walton, Ehntholt’s teammate, is somewhat of a study in contrasts. Also 24 and from Saratoga Springs, he’s talkative but calm when Ehntholt is anxious and reserved.

“I love the feeling of just fighting, out there in front of a whole audience,” Walton said in the hours before the fights. “I just hate the wait leading up to it.”

Walton works at CVS part-time but considers MMA fighting and training his full-time job. Like most fighters, he wants to see professional MMA legalized in New York. It would bring a new level of safety and regulation to a sport sometimes beset by poor organization, he said.

The sport has been banned in New York since 1997. The state Senate has passed a bill that would legalize it, but it has stalled in the Democratic-led Assembly.

“When I say I’m an MMA fighter, most people don’t even know what that means,” Walton said.

With less than an hour to fight time, he was sitting against a wall in the fighters’ locker room while Ehntholt sat in a chair getting his hands taped up.

“Here’s the game plan,” he said. “Just fight.”

Ehntholt, now less talkative than ever, nodded. “A fight is a fight.”

According to Cage Wars co-owner Tim Rankins, his outfit’s previous home base was the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, but given the location of the refurbished Schenectady Armory off Interstate 890 and the number of fighters who hail from Schenectady, he’s convinced that changing venues makes sense. The plan is to host about five events there a year.

“This will be the new home for Cage Wars,” he said last Tuesday.

In the cage, Ehntholt had managed to get free and spring to his feet. The crowd roared. He and Hickey exchanged blows.

In the locker rooms beforehand, Walton greeted most other fighters he saw with a hug or a handshake. When he was introducing himself to someone knew, it was often with the line, “I’m just a pretty face.” The world of amateur MMA, in New York at least, is a small one. Most of these fighters know each other and many have fought before.

“Most of the guys I fight I actually become really good friends with after,” Walton said.

Ehntholt was on the defensive again, and soon Hickey had him down, punching him in the face. And suddenly it’s over. After 1 minute and 54 seconds, Hickey was declared the winner by tap out. Ehntholt walked out of the cage smiling.

About three hours before the fight, Walton and Ehntholt wandered up from the locker room into the central arena of the Armory, getting a feel for the space and shaking out nerves. The small, circular orange cage was illuminated in the middle, with 600 chairs placed around it and a smoke machine slowly filling the air.

Walton smiled. “This is gonna be fun.”

Reach Gazette reporter Kyle Adams at 723-0811, [email protected] or @KyleRAdams on Twitter.

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