Congratulations to Nick Riley, Brandon Buchholz, Eric Ortiz, and the entire Cellar Fight Team for their performance at the “Fighting For Those Who Fight For Us”, MN Military Appreciation Fundraiser Event on Saturday night.

Nick Riley took on Cambridge, Minnesota’s John Profant in a rematch from last summer. Their first bout was a back and forth battle that finished was scored a draw by the judges, but this night belonged to Riley. Nick used excellent movement the entire fight to avoid Profant’s attacks, but also used his movement aggressively to land several sharp hand combinations. Two judges at ringside scored the bout 40-36, and one scored it 39-37 as Riley captured the IKF Light Welterweight MN State Title.

Brandon Buchholz took on MN Fight Factory’s Todd Brooks in a 5-round Pro Muay Thai fight. From the opening round Buchholz started landing leg kicks to the lead leg of Brooks, but it wasn’t till the 4th and 5th rounds that Buchholz really started to find his timing and start putting power behind his strikes. Buchholz kept the pressure on Brooks and kept attacking his front leg until the 5th round when Brook’s corner threw in the towel. Both fighters put on a great performance as Brooks showed a lot of heart fighting with the hurt leg and Buchholz gets back on the wining track while showing his ever improving striking game.

In the main event, Eric Ortiz took on MN Fight Factory’s Rico Washington in a Pro Muay Thai rules bout. The two fighters started off very patient from the opening bell, early in the first round Ortiz caught a kick from Washington and threw a beautiful kick to his support leg sweeping him to the ground. The kick didn’t hurt the MMA veteran, but it got the crowd into the fight and helped Ortiz take the first round. In the final seconds of the 5th round Ortiz put Washington in the corner and executed a good flurry of short body punches and knees from the clinch, but both for the most part all five rounds were fought at a very patient and technical pace as both fighters gave the other lots of respect. In fact, both fighters appeared fresh in the corner after the bout as they were jumping around and pacing while waiting for the judges decision. Ortiz got the nod by unanimous decision.

Congratulations guys and thanks to all The Cellar fans in attendance.