Author:Gage Holder          Editor: Harrison Holder

My first question is, where were you on May 4th, 2024? My second question is, if you weren’t at SICP 5: Mayhem at the Old National Events Plaza in downtown Evansville, then what were you doing? SICP 5 might go down as one of the best regional events in the history of the Midwest.
There was one great fight after the next, one incredible performance after another. In total, there were eleven total fights, which broke down into eight amateur bouts and three professional fights. We had seven total finishes, split between six KO/TKOS and one submission. The other four fights went the distance, but with how exciting they were, it went by in a flash. These quick finishes and all-out battles brought the total cage time to 76 minutes and 16 seconds for the night. One amateur champion retained his title, and one newly crowned amateur champion won a vacant title. The lone professional champion on the card successfully defended his title in the main event. Before we break down the last event, I will mention that any information I have on the SICP 6: Fall Brawl event, which has a set date of October 5th, will be included after the article. Make sure you check that after the breakdown. Without further ado, here is your Southern Indiana Combat Production 5 Mayhem Event Review.”

*Photo Credits to Southern Indiana Combat Production’s Social Media Pages Via Photographer Ron Raymond*

A fight that was added to the card late in the week produced early fireworks. Omar came out and overwhelmed Jose with his power and athleticism early. As soon as shots started landing, it looked like Jose was having trouble taking the power being thrown his way it was eventually too much as the referee stepped in at 44 seconds into round 1. Great debut for Omar and I can’t wait to see what’s next for him in his amateur career.

Another late bout added to the card saw two men step up and compete above their natural weight classes, so first and foremost respect to both for taking the opportunity to compete. With that said it didn’t last long and if I remember correctly the first shot landed is what put Caleb down. Shawn showed that if nothing else he can take from this performance that his power is still there after a few years away from the sport. He improves to 2-1 as an Amateur and will be looking to drop back down to Welterweight in his next contest.

Dustin stepped back in there after a long hiatus away from the sport and I have nothing but respect for him but he was outmatched by the younger, quicker more prepared fighter in David. Wright landed early on his feet, eventually secured full mount and gave the referee no choice but to step in after a lot of big shots.Not to mention the Wright family went 2-0 at SICP5 as Shawn and David are cousins, I guess it’s just something in the DNA. David Wright improves to 2-0 as an Amateur and with a quick finish like that will most likely be looking to get back in there soon, maybe SICP 6?!

The first fight on the card I generally had trouble picking. Both are very young in the game and I believe both of them will go very far in the sport, but may 4th belonged to the Mongoose! After a close first round you could start to see the momentum swinging Jay’s way midway through the second. His pressure,pace and wrestling was ultimately too much for Jude and it accumulated in some nasty ground and pound early in round 3 that secured the win for Curry to improve his amateur record to 2-3.

As Brooks told me in our pre-fight interview Union County will be showing up with crazy support at SICP 5. They without a doubt did as he promised and he gave them a show they won’t soon forget. The former D-1 wrestling stand out did what he does best and that’s grapple. Brooks only needed to secure one takedown if my memory serves me correct to eventually secure the submission via Arm Triangle Choke early in round 1. T.J did what he could once the fight hit the mat but it was early both men were dry, fresh and that spelled an early nights work for Big Rig as he improves to 1-1 as an amateur. Who knows Another win and maybe a SICP Amateur HW title opportunity?

Reed didn’t let the last minute weight change affect his performance as he looked dominant from start to finish never leaving any doubt who would win once the decision was read. His pressure and pace were just too much for Will, who to his credit stayed in the fight and did his best to get something going but he just couldn’t deal with the heavy pace, pressure and grappling as Reed coasted to a dominant Unanimous Decision win to push his amateur record to 4-1.

In what can only be described as the “Battle of Blood” Real blood cousins went to war inside the SICP cage for the vacant SICP Amateur Featherweight championship. Saevon did enough early on in my mind with his striking and distance management to win the decision even after a late surge by Teague to make it a little bit closer than I thought it was going to be after the first couple rounds. Saevon improves to 5-1 as an amateur and there is only one thing that should be next as the new champion and that is an epic showdown with the former champion Gabe Eurit who had to withdraw from this bout with Saevon due to injury. SICP 6 Anyone?

After the first couple rounds of this amateur title fight I’m not going to lie to you I was a little surprised at how well the challenger was doing, Travis was giving the champ a lot of difficult looks that seemed to be causing Kestin problems he hadn’t encountered in a very long time during his amateur career. But if there was any doubt about how the fight was going to play out down the stretch the champion silenced those doubts. As he clearly started to separate himself by landing the bigger shots and dictating where the fight played out especially during the championship rounds. I had it 4-1 kestin live but I wouldn’t be upset at 3-2. The judges seemed to agree as he won a unanimous decision to retain his title and improve his impressive amateur record to 10-3. Rumours have been swirling that Kestin is eyeballing a second amateur SICP title shot up at Welterweight before he makes his highly anticipated pro debut so who knows maybe he will get a special double gold Halloween treat come October 5th?

In our first pro bout of the night we saw two veterans with a combined thirty one pro MMA fights step up to face each other on a couple days notice so nothing but respect for both men for taking the fight. Cody was trying to have a successful return to MMA after a couple Pro Bare Knuckle boxing bouts for BKFC but it was halted in it’s place by Seth Basler who came in with a game plan to put the pressure on Cody early and it worked as he got him up against the cage and started to land a serious of vicious knees that saw Cody crumble to the canvas before the ref jumped in.

I’ll start out with the positives in this performance for Brandon Holmes. He showed that he’s clearly a very dangerous fighter who starts off very strongly. He’s super explosive and carries a lot of power in his shots and you could tell all of that as he hurt Zayne very early with some big shots and to his credit  never let up, ultimately he came away with the victory via first round KO/TKO as he improves to 3-0 as a pro. Unfortunately the referee in this bout must not have got the memo that this was a pro bout because he stepped in entirely too soon and waved the bout off during an exchange that saw Zayne still circling out and moving with his hands up. Not something you like to reflect too much on as neither Brandon, Zayne or the promotion can do anything about something that happens at every level of the sport and that’s bad stoppages. I really look forward to seeing what’s next for Brandon in his career and can’t wait to see Zayne bounce back in his second pro bout. My guess is that maybe eventually they will set a rematch up between these two after a couple bouts and get a more definitive ending between two very bright prospects.

The main event of the evening saw the defending pro 170 pound champion Zack Davis Retain his title via unamous decision over Travis Foster in what can only be described as a nearly flawless performance over the vet with over double his cage experience. Zack was in total control from the opening bell besides a few good moments from Travis who is a very tough competitor. That said you could easily argue Zack won all 5 rounds as his pressure and pace were entirely too much for Travis to handle as he improves to 7-5 as a pro which includes a perfect 3-0 inside the SICP cage. SICP 5 Gold Rolex incoming for the victory? It would match the chain and the belt the champ has got very nice! At this rate we are going to need to open our own Jewelry store for the champions collection if he keeps knocking down wins at SICP events like he has already. Might as well open a cage side Vangelico’s! How about some Cadillac Candy in October?

Make sure to make it to the next Event!

SICP 6: Fall Brawl presented by D-Patrick Ford Lincoln of Evansville coming to you live Saturday October 5, 2024 from the Old National Events Plaza in Evansville Indiana!

Make sure to subscribe to SICPs YouTube channel for exclusive subscriber only footage like full fight videos and exciting new footage coming your way soon!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw6VbocZlHbuo1coIz1Slcg

SICP… We Just Hit Harder!