It looks as though the wait is over. WTMMA has reorganized and is making a bigger and better comeback as Fifth Round Fight Promotions. Fifth Round Fight Promotions as WTMMA brought some of the most memorable Amateur MMA fights to the Texas area.

Kayla Wymer, President of Fifth Round says “we strive to give Amateur fighters with a passion for MMA the opportunity to compete. Fifth Round is just a name change, the values and commitment that were built with WTMMA for our fighters, coaches and fans will always remain the same.” As the mother of five, Ms. Wymer is the first female promoter in the State of Texas and has held extremely successful shows in the West Texas Region. Ms. Wymer is known as a pioneer in West Texas and has been promoting the best Amateur MMA shows since 2007.

Fifth Round Fight Promotions holds shows that feature local fighters and keep the fans entertained from beginning to end.

Fifth Round is also committed to helping find a cure for cancer. When Kayla’s daughter Madeline was 2 years old she was diagnosed with Cancer and a portion of all proceeds from every show go to this most worthy cause. Ms. Wymer tells us “Cancer does not discriminate. It does not care what color, race or age you are. It is ruthless and as for me and my company we will do everything we can to help “Knockout Cancer”.

The next mark on the map for Fifth Round will be located at the Tri-State Fair Grounds in Amarillo, Texas March 27, 2010. Sure to be filled with the raw talent and excitement that only Mixed Martial Arts can provide.

Randy Galindo and the Athletic Boxing Gym presents “Championship Fight Night” on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at the New Braunfels Civic Center. A packed card with 12 amateur MMA fights!

You won’t want to miss the main event starring a local favorite and crowd pleaser, “Billy Buch” out of Gladiators Academy Vs Odessa’s “Phillip Gonzalez.” You should see some extra fire in Buch as he will be looking to maintain his Title for the Bantam Weight division and add another win to his current 4-0 record!

The co-main event is a Texas Fighting recommended fight to watch, starring “Fearless Aaron Lanfranco” Vs Odessa’s heavy hitter “Desmond Hill” for the ABG Welterweight Championship! This fight is definitely not going to be left to the judges decision and is a must see! A few more fighters worth mentioning are: Johnny Valdez, who is making his amateur debut at 135 lbs, and Carlos Vergara who is 2-0 fighting at 125 lbs.

Look forward to a night full of excitement and good ole amateur MMA fighting!

***Also be sure to come check out the weigh-ins and meet the fighters! The weigh-ins are FREE to the public!

“WEIGH-INS”
Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: Holiday Inn
Directions: 1051 Ih 35 East, New Braunfels, TX?

“CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT NIGHT”
Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: Doors open at 6:00 pm, fights start at 7:30 pm
Location: The New Braunfels Civic Center.
Directions: 375 Castell, New Braunfels, Texas 78130

“TICKET INFO”
Pre-sale general admission ticket $20, Ringside $45, second row $35 and VIP tables $500. Day of the fights, $25. To inquire about tickets, contact us for more details.

“FIGHT CARD”
Main Event
Billy Buch Vs Phillip Gonzalez – 135 lbs (Bantam Weight)
Co-Main Event
Aaron Lanfranco Vs Desmond Hill – 170 lbs (Welter Weight)
Ray Rodriguez Vs Richard Key – 145 lbs
Lewis Terraza Vs Jose Collazo – 205 lbs
Johnny Valdez Vs Robert Lee – 135 lbs
Jewels Snell Vs Gabriel Carrillo – 155 lbs
Joseph Cabral Vs De Shawn Singlton – 155 lbs
Peter Sapio Vs Nicholas Kanirie – 185 lbs
Lester Clark Vs Sergio Hernandez – 170 lbs
Carlos Vergara Vs Amador Estrada – 125 lbs
William Medrano Vs Elias Garcia – 145 lbs
Chann Macgrey Vs Troy Gentry – 135 lbs

Quote from TexasFighter.org:

On November 14, 2009, TAMMA conducted the very first “Heroes Fighting Championship” on Ft. Sam Houston Army Post. The event included a No-Gi Submission Tournament and Amateur MMA. One of the TAMMA registered fighters was Jorge Deleon. Jorge is a disabled veteran who lost his right leg from the knee down. Jorge was injured when his Hum-Vee struck an anti-tank mine while serving in Afghanistan.

The Texas Department of License and Regulation, Combative Sports Division (TDLR) has launched an investigation because of Jorge’s participation. According to TDLR General Counsel Brad Bowman, Mr. Deleon’s prosthesis falls into the same category as “necklaces, jewelry, or other piercings” and thus disqualifies Mr. Deleon from competition. Pending this investigation “No TAMMA events will be approved” per TDLR Administrator Greg Alvarez. We will attempt to keep all our members up to date as this matter progresses through the Administrative Process.

TAMMA maintains that our role as an amateur organization is to promote our sport and encourage participation of every member to the best of thier ability without regard to race, sex, national origin, or disability. We feel that for anyone to deny Jorge Deleon the opportunity to compete after the incredible sacrifice he made is just plain “OFFENSIVE.”

Jorge Deleon video clip starts 27 seconds in on the Heroes Fighting Championship video.

Stay tuned at TexasFighting.com for an in-depth report…

Texas Fight Fest 16
December 12th in San Antonio, Texas
Cowboys Dance Hall @ 5PM
Get your TICKETS HERE!

FIGHT CARD
1 Badders v. Dominguez
2 Reyna v. Lopez
3 McCoy v. Salas
4 Sarinana v. Martinez
5 Rodriguez v. Hernandez
6 Flores v. Cabral
7 O’Riley v. Davis
8 Vergara v. Rumbea
9 Rodriguez v. Garza
10 Williams v. Smith

Fight To Win Promotions: “STAMPEDE” at the CROCKETT CENTER in Austin, TX 12.06.09. Doors open at 4pm, Fights start at 5pm

Directions to the Crockett Center

MAIN EVENT
145LB TITLE FIGHT
JEREMY HONTZ (3-1) TWIN WOLVES MMA VS
STEVE PETERSON (3-1) NORTH DALLAS BJJ

170LBS
LOUIS FLORES (2-1) TEAM VENDETTA VS
GAVIN LEWIS (1-0) CTC AUSTIN

205LBS
STEVE HESS (2-0) INDEPENDENT VS
JEFF FROSS (1-1) XFC TRAINING CENTER

145LBS
BENNY SERANO (2-1) TEAM VANDETTA VS
JON LEAL (1-0) MRMYDION

150LBS WOMEN
BRIDGETTE BATCH (1-0) WEST TEXAS MMA VS
LATOYA WALKER (0-0) XFC TRAINING CENTER

185LBS
ANDRE KAVANAUGH (5-4) TEAM VENDETTA VS
REESE FORREST (1-0) GRACIE BARRA CORPUS CHRISTI

165LBS
NAEL CHAVES (2-1) RYAL JUDO VS
PAUL ESTRADA (2-1) SALANGSANG FIGHTING SYSTEMS

195LBS
ZAC CHILDERS (2-2) TEAM VENDETTA VS
BOBBY LOCKHARDT (0-1) TEAM BUZZARD

155LBS
WILLIAM BADDERS (1-0) HIGH POWER MARTIAL ARTS VS
SAMUEL SNOW (1-0) TEAM REYES

145LBS
MIKE LYTLE (0-0) TEAM VENDETTA VS
STEVEN LORD (1-1) GRACIE BARRA WOODLANDS

185LBS
ALFREDO SARIANA (0-0) HIGHER POWER MARTIAL ARTS VS
NICHOLAS KANIRIE (0-0) CTC

170LBS
BOBBY LAVINGE (0-0) TEAM VENDETTA VS
RAYMOND GARCIA (0-0) XFC TRAINING CENTER

170LBS
RASHON LEWIS (0-0) LA BOXING VS
DAVID MAYNEZ (0-0) CTC

125LB
JEREMY OLSZYNSKI (0-0) TWIN WOLVES MMA VS
JEREMY SMITH (0-0) WEST TEXAS MMA

145LB
BRAD MILAM (0-0) TEAM ISG VS
PATRICK WHITE (0-2) CTC

Aaron will be fighting at the TAMMA Texas Fight Fest 15 “Fight Against Hunger” today October 3rd, 2009 at 6:00pm. Enjoy the interview!

~Interview Start~

Texas Fighting: Aaron tell me a little about how you got started in MMA?

Aaron Lanfranco: I heard about it after watching a couple of UFC fights but then I found out that it wasn’t legalized in Texas, this was like 4 or 5 years ago. When I was younger I was a real active kid. My dad put me in baseball and football and my mom wanted me in sports ‘cus I was a hyper a@@ little kid. If you asked her she’d tell you I was like “zipp” “zapp” here and there. So I did sports throughout middle school and high school and in my freshman year I started wrestling, which was in 2001 I believe. That was my first individual sport that I did. Once I was introduced to wrestling I fell in love with it because of the adrenaline pump. I did wrestling throughout high school and continued with football on into junior college. I ended up leaving wrestling but when I finished college I came back and had nothing else to do. I had to do something, I always have to do something to relieve my anger, my stress so I found a jujitsu gym right down the street from here (south Austin) and started attending.

Texas Fighting: What gym?

Aaron Lanfranco: Relson Gracie Academy with Phil Cardella. After that I found out that MMA was legalized in Texas. Phil asked me, “why did you decide to join my gym?” I told him, “I wanna fight.” Phil told me straight up, ” You’re not ready!” (chuckles) I replied, “well ok, what do I have to do to get ready?” He then let me know that I needed a couple of years in training and experience before I stepped into the ring. I let him know that my background is in wrestling and he told me that I was a step above most people that come into a jujitsu gym. After a couple years on and off he started noticing that I was picking up stuff and he invited me to the MMA classes and for the past 2 years I’ve been training MMA pretty consistently. May of this year I had my first fight after 2 years of training.

Texas Fighting: How many fights do you have under your belt?

Aaron Lanfranco: I’m at four amateur fights, this will be my fifth… One every month man.

Texas Fighting: Good, so what’s your record right now?

Aaron Lanfranco: 4-0

Texas Fighting: So this next fight will put you at 5-0?

Aaron Lanfranco: That’s what I’m fighting for!

Texas Fighting: Do you think wrestling has helped you out in MMA?

Aaron Lanfranco: Oh yeah! And my parents say my grandmother helped me out too ‘cus I have her aggression. (chuckles)

Texas Fighting: Where do you train at now?

Aaron Lanfranco: I still train at Relson Gracie Academy and I train out in Lockhart for my boxing.

Texas Fighting: What gym is that?

Aaron Lanfranco: Puros Chingasos, LTX Fight Club. I started training over there about two weeks before my first fight. They offer jujitsu and other groundwork but I mainly work on striking and cardio conditioning there.

Texas Fighting: What weight are you fighting in for your next fight?

Aaron Lanfranco: 175, I believe it’s welterweight.

Texas Fighting: What weight did you fight in on your last fight?

Aaron Lanfranco: 170. The fight before that was 170, the one before that was 175 and my first fight was 155. (Laughter) Big difference.

Texas Fighting: What weight do you like to fight at?

Aaron Lanfranco: It doesn’t really matter to me but I’ll probably drop to 155 when I go pro. Even then it’s still iffy ‘cus I love to eat!

Texas Fighting: Do you work out with weights?

Aaron Lanfranco: No, it’s just all grappling training. I train almost six days a week. If I’m working a lot, I try to workout whenever I can.

Texas Fighting: What are your goals in MMA? You mentioned “when I go pro” so when do you foresee that happening?

Aaron Lanfranco: I’ve been given advice to just wait to go pro and get more fights under my belt. What I’ve also been told is that I may be big stuff right now but it’s only amateur and when I go pro if I go in with a big head I may be in for an upset. With the momentum that I have right now, I’m going to take that advice. I’ll have a couple more fights and then if anyone wants to sign me, I’ll go! WEC is going to be there in San Antonio tomorrow so hopefully I’ll put on a good show, I really want to put on a good show, and the hopefully I can get a couple good words in to them. There are some guys in WEC that I want to fight but I don’t think I’m ready for it but if they asked me to fight I won’t back down. That’s just the way I was raised to not back down from anything. If you have the opportunity in life take it, don’t pass it up. These are pretty much my plans for going pro. I really just want to be #1, be the champ. I want to be the #1 contender.

Texas Fighting: Whe is your next fight?

Aaron Lanfranco: It’s for TAMMA and will be held in San Antonio, Saturday October 3rd. Fight starts at 6:00 doors open at 5:30. General admission is $20. I’m going to the 5th fight on the card.

Texas Fighting: Who are you fighting?

Aaron Lanfranco: Hmmm, Mr. Wilson I believe. Really I don’t know much about my opponent. It’s like I tell everybody. “Don’t know, don’t care. I’m just in the ring to fight!” I’ve heard he’s good on the ground but I’ve been training both ground and stand up and I’m pretty confident either way so whatever he gives me, I gotta do what I gotta do, ya know.

Texas Fighting: Do you have any knockouts under your belt?

Aaron Lanfranco: Yeah, 1 knockout, 2 TKO’s and 1 submission. Fortunately no decisions.

Texas Fighting: Do you have any favorite fighters, anyone that you look up to?

Aaron Lanfranco: Roger Huerta. We went to the same high school. He was a senior when I was a freshman. We wrestled once and I called him out. It was like my first week of wrestling and I heard he was the big stuff. It was the new guy versus the experienced so I was trying to go all hard to prove something. I took him down and he didn’t like that, so he showed me real quick by cross facing me and roughing me up. I think I even saw stars. I felt his wrath, he took it up a couple levels, then after that I was like, “Good job man!” (laughter) I learned my lesson after that.

Texas Fighting: Have you ever been knocked out?

Aaron Lanfranco: Yeah, not like out cold but dazed where I fell it in my knees. It was a little back yard boxing match when I was in college. We were just passing time, it was off season not really much to do. Out of all the big guys I picked the smallest guy, next thing I know, we’re exchanging hands then “clock” I fall to my knees. I was ready to get back in and start again but my friend was like, naw, naw, naw you’re good. That feeling right there is nothing to brag about but it felt kinda weird (chuckles). It felt like waking up from being passed out or drunk. Yeah, but that’s the only time I’ve ever been knocked out other than being knocked out in football where I was knocked out cold.

Texas Fighting: Did you come from a background of fighters?

Aaron Lanfranco: Naw, my dad was what we’d consider a jock of the high school. He was well known down in the Vally because he was a big guy ya know. His brothers too. My uncles were into baseball. Out all his brother he was the only one to do football. He wanted me to play football or baseball and I wanted to try something different, like wrestling or maybe soccer. My family was very into sports, even my mom who was in track. She was a pretty good runner, a good athlete. She did cheer leading but mainly track, mainly running.

Texas Fighting: Have you been doing any special training to prepare for this fight?

Aaron Lanfranco: Naw, just train like always. I train boxing, jujitsu, I do some take downs, some wrestling, I work on some muay thai. I just work the basics, boxing standing, striking. I’ll work off my back, stuff like that. Phil Cardella is my trainer for jujitsu, Roy Garcia for boxing. Good people, (chuckles) good people. My thai training is with Phil and back in the day Randy Vera. Every bit of coaching is good in my opinion. It never hurts to learn a little bit more.

Texas Fighting: Do you get nervous before a fight?

Aaron Lanfranco: Oh yeah. That’s one thing I got to get over. My butterflies. I get butterflies like a mofo. Even in wrestling, before my tournaments. Even if the guy was a freshman and I was a senior and I already knew what I was doing, I’d still get nervous. It’s a mental thing. You just have to think clear and remember that you already know what you gotta do, you’ve trained for this and there’s no reason to get overly excited. In the gym it’s all technique, real crisp but once you get in the ring and the adrenaline takes over it’s a different story. That’s when you see fighters get sloppy and swing wild. You gotta relax and not let the adrenaline take over you. You have to work on controlling your adrenaline to work for you.

Texas Fighting: Do you have any special thanks you’d like to give to anyone?

Aaron LanFranco: Well my coaches, Phil Cardella, he’s been there training me from the beginning at Relson Gracie Academy. Roy Garcia for Puros Chingasos Fight Wear and sponsoring me with his fight wear. My family and friends for there support. They’re all traveling to San Antonio and spending money to go see me. My girlfriend here. Even though we’ve had some rough times, we’ve stuck together. She’s helped me out a lot, she’s really been there for me, I could on on about that – she’s really helped me out a lot. Everybody that’s helped me. My training partners, my neighbors who’ve made attempts and offers with little things even if it’s just offers and I refuse I’m still thankful to them for at least trying to help out. Too many people to name. If I do make it on to UFC, which I hope and I do win a belt on TV, I just want to say to all the people that doubted me – THANK YOU! I see myself thanking them while up in the ring being the champ saying, ” Thank you for doubting me, ‘cus it added fuel to the fire.” They know who they are.

~Interview End~

TAMMA – TEXAS AMATEUR MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

Texas Fight Fest 15 “Fight Against Hunger”
October 3rd – San Antonio, Texas
Cowboys Dance Hall @ 5PM
more info: 210-842-5843
www.cowboysdancehall.com

Tickets available at: TicketMaster.com

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