Gettle breaks opponent’s arm in light heavyweight fight

By Hepi Mita

Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 | 1:57 a.m.

If you took one look at John Gettle (3-0) after his fight at Friday night’s Tuff-N-Uff Future Stars of MMA event at the Orleans, you would have thought he had lost.

His face was battered and swollen and it took the assistance of his corner men to walk him to the locker room.

“That was definitely the toughest fight I’ve ever had,” Gettle said.

But it could have been worse.

Gettle’s opponent, William Kowalski (1-1), left the arena on a stretcher after Gettle broke his arm with a Kimura lock with just 1 second left in the second round.

“I heard the clapper, (the noise that signifies the last 10 seconds of a round) and as soon as I heard it, I thought his arm has to come home with me,” Gettle said. “I have to rip it off or I’m going to fight in the third round. I really don’t like fighting out of the first round, so this third round was just out of the question.”

It was a surprising finish to a fight largely dominated by Kowalski.

The light heavyweight exerted his will in the fight’s striking exchanges, dropping Gettle with the first punch he threw and rocking him once more with a quick combo in the first round.

“I kind of got caught up in fighting his fight,” Gettle said. “He was obviously a stand-up fighter. He had really good boxing.”

Late into the second round, however, Gettle had enough and took Kowalski down and got into the mount, where he applied the Kimura.

“Once I realized that I was in his realm for most of the first and second round, I got the fight into my position and I took over,” Gettle said.

The sound of Kowolski’s bone snapping was so loud the audience could hear it.

“It went through my body,” Gettle said. “It felt like when you get a stick and you just break it over your knee and you feel that crack go through your body. That’s what it felt like.”

Despite the brutality of the match, Gettle is looking for more.

“I need one or two of these fights like this, real tough fights,” he said. “After that, I want to go pro.”

Chris Holdsworth (5-0), on the other hand, is looking to begin his professional career with his next fight, following his first-round TKO victory over Gor Mnatsakanyan in the main event of the night.

“I want to look at some smaller pro organizations, work on some parts of my game that need to be worked on and go pro,” Holdsworth said.

Holdsworth reversed a Mnatsakanyan takedown in the fight’s opening exchange and eventually wrestled his way to a mount, where he rained down blows until the referee stepped in.

“Holdsworth did a good a job,” said UFC fighter Johny Hendricks. “He’d be a good 135-pound fighter for WEC.”

The event also featured the opening round of a four-man tournament for the Tuff N Uff 145-pound title.

Vince Norcia (2-0) advanced to the tournament finals with an armbar submission victory over Roman Isbell (2-2).

He will face Andrew Alirez (3-0) of Greeley, Colo., who secured a spot in the finals with a unanimous decision victory over Jace Crawford (1-1).

Alirez is using the tournament as a tune-up before making his professional debut.

“He actually had a chance of debuting in WEC as a pro before he went amateur,” said WEC veteran Michael Alirez, Andrew Alirez’s brother. “We kind of stood back and wanted to get him some amateur experience, ring awareness, cage awareness, before we take that step.”

The final of the tournament will take place at a Tuff-N-Uff event March 26 at the Orleans.