By Larry Snyder

Canonsburg, PA – Ryan Middleton and the 247 Fighting Championships promotion, along with matchmaker Liam Morris, rose to the occasion of providing a first-class mixed martial arts production on Saturday, April 7 with the inaugural Steeltown Throwdown.

This remarkable fight card at Printscape Arena at Southpointe engaged fans with a high caliber trio of professional bouts and four amateur matchups. The energetic and knowledgable gathering gave the combatants their full support.

Crowd favorite Khama Worthy continued to build his growing legacy, claiming his fourth consecutive victory with a unanimous decision against Joey Munoz. All three judges agreed in rating the main event 30-27 in favor of Worthy, who used his reach advantage to take control in the cage. He collected the 247 Fighting Championships Lightweight Title.

Worthy wrote on his Facebook profile, “I just want to say thank you to everyone that came out to the fights. Big thanks to Ryan Middleton and his staff at 247 Fighting Championships for putting on a amazing show. I’m really happy to get my first pro title but it’s back to the gym we go, we got big things on the horizon.”

After Ethan Goss delivered a savage knee, he administered a rear-naked choke submission on his featherweight opponent, Elijah Cavender to seize the win at 3:59 of the second round. It was his fifth triumph in his last seven fights.

Goss recorded on Facebook, “I want to give a shout out to Ryan Middleton and Liam Morris and the rest of the 247 Fighting Championships crew. For being their first show they did an amazing job. There was a great crowd and most importantly they really focused on making the fighters happy and comfortable.”

Dustin Parrish overwhelmed Brett Shoenfelt with a flurry of punches for a technical knockout at 4:23 of the first in welterweight action. The seventh victory of his career ended a two-fight losing streak for Parrish.

Steeltown Throwdown Professional Results:

247 Fighting Championships Lightweight Title – Khama Worthy (13-6-0) (Moon Twp, PA) WON By Unanimous Decision Against Joey Munoz (7-4-0) (Scotts Bluff, NE)

Featherweight/Co-Main Event – Ethan Goss (5-4-0) (Petersburg, PA) WON By Rear Naked Choke Submission In The Second Round Over Elijah Cavender (2-4-0) (Dearborn, MI)

Welterweight – Dustin Parish (7-3-1) (Indianapolis, IN) WON On Punches/TKO In The First Round Over Brett Shoenfelt (9-8-0) (Altoona, PA)

Steeltown Throwdown Amateur Results:

Catchweight At 190 lbs. – Jake Braunscheidel (1-0-0) (WNY MMA and Fitness) WON By Americana Submission In The Second Round Against Tre Blackmon (1-1-0) (Stout Training Pittsburgh – Renzo Gracie Team)

Light Heavyweight – Adam Oatman (1-0-0) (Octane MMA) WON With A Standing Guillotine Choke Submission In The Second Round Over Jamie Hare (1-1-0) (WNY MMA and Fitness)

Catchweight At 150 lbs. – Alan Liu (1-0-0) (Stout Training Pittsburgh – Team Renzo Gracie) WON By Unanimous Decision Against Derrick Patterson (1-3-0) (WNY MMA and Fitness)

Liu commented on his Facebook page, “Thank you everyone who came out to support. I fed off y’alls energy.”

Catchweight 150 lbs. – Pat Carrasquillo (1-1-0) (WNY MMA and Fitness) WON By Unanimous Decision Over Rob Licht (0-1-0) (Mark Shrader’s Mixed Martial Arts Academy)

Return To The Cage: Followers of MMA can get ready for Steeltown Throwdown II coming on Saturday, July 27, at Printscape Arena at Southpointe. Tickets available in late May.

Outside The Cage Clipboard: Middleton and the 247 FC group had multi-talented Jennifer Finnell perform the Star Spangled Banner. Also, live performance speed painter Cody Sabol, 23, provided a fantastic painting during the intermission.

Top Photo courtesy of 247 Fighting Championships