Disappointed Fighter Vows Vengeance

Fighter profile of Tommy Santoro by Chris Karter

Tampa, FL - Tommy Santoro (12-1-0 MMA, 0-1 DMMA) took his first professional loss recently, dropping a close decision to DMMA champion Enver Karacan (18-3-1 MMA, 9-0-1 DMMA) in a highly contested main event bout that earned him Fight of the Night honors.

Tommy had flashes of brilliance, knocking his opponent down in the 2nd round and busting him up, but ultimately ring rust and inability to finish the job allowed his Turkish opponent to edge by on the judges scorecards, despite avoiding action the majority of the fight and being on the backfoot. Tommy controlled the cage, pressed the action, but found himself on the opposite end of the champ's brilliant jab. After the loss, Tommy didn't hold back his feelings:

"Didn't feel a thing. Never been touched by such baby punches in my life. At the end of the night, I only have myself to blame. Ring rust didn't help. My manager being to busy running a criminal enterprise and making witnesses disappear didn't help. It would have benefiticial to go into this fight with a fresh gameplan, but it is what it is. I still damn near bounced this man's head off the canvas and he didn't hurt me once. He tickled my cheekbones with his baby fists. I thought this guy was supposed to have some power, but damn, I was wrong. He fought like a coward. Just like all those turbans do out there in future Greater Israel territory. I had him rocked in the 5th round, but I just wasn't good enough that night to finish the job. Next time, I assure you I'll put him out of there before the final bell."

Tommy vowed to fix the error of his ways and rebound in a big way, promising to address the holes in his own game and achieve maximum performance -- but first he may need to lock up a dance partner after a fellow contender rejected a fight with him.

"Axton Burgess. Big pussy. Declined a fight with plenty of time for a training camp. His manager is supposed to be a top guy, Jason Swanson, but I think he's still having flashbacks from all the beatings my former teammate Willie Diggs put on him and his boys. Pretty disappointed they rejected it, to be honest with you. I was looking forward to dancing with a top camp but after this recent rejected fight offer, I think we need to throw an asterisk next to their names."

Despite Tommy's claimed of duckery and the receipts to back it up, Santoro's manager and Convicted Fight Club sensei, Chris " The GOAT" Karter, had nothing but positive things to say about Jason Swanson and his Canadian camp.

"For some Canadians, they're decent. I can't say I share the same animosity that Tommy has towards Swanson, because I've known him to be a solid guy, always taking fights when we worked together at Combate. Maybe it was Axton Burgess who is the coward. Bo Duran always stood on business and took everything we ever offered him and I've heard nothing but positive things about him. That being said, the middleweights at FIGHT FOUNDERS are probably still having nightmares from all the beatings Willie Diggs put on them. Of course they are Canadian, and most Canadians are a pretty soft people, but I like to believe Swanson is an outlier to this northern softness. I guess time will tell."

One can only assume that there are valid reasons for rejecting a fight offer against the GOAT, perhaps Burgess is looking for a new camp or realizes he needs a lot more time in the gym to tackle on such a monumentous task of going head to head with the greatest camp of all time. But that's what the best do - they go toe-to-tie. No excuses. No retreat. No surrender.

"I hope they get their shit together, to be honest with you." Santoro tells us, "I'd like to respect that camp again. Unfortunate, and I hope DMMA can find me a suitable opponent to replace him with. I'd like to fight again as soon as possible. Get back in the win column, maybe stack some dubs, and then get my payback."

Article views: 277
» Donate to this author