ELYRIA — Half of the fans at Elyria’s Roll Arena roared their approval, the other half booed after hearing the decision.
With local fighters Trey Duplessie and Josh Gregorek — both 2-0 going into their middleweight championship bout — battling in one of the two main events of Friday night’s Superior Cage Fighting’s “War in the Heartland” event, the crowd was nearly split down the middle in support of the two combatants.
Duplessie rallied after being dominated in the opening round to capture the title belt when a barrage of punches during the second period opened a cut over Gregorek’s eye.
“Josh is a tough competitor but I just got on top of him and started pounding him and ended up earning the decision by splitting him open,” Duplessie said. “In the second round, he took me down but he only got one leg and I reversed him. I just let loose from there.”
Duplessie, who suffered several minor cuts and scrapes on his face as well, didn’t hesitate when asked if he’d have liked to finish the fight in the third round instead of having the doctor call it.
“No way, I’m glad it ended,” he said with a laugh. “I’m totally OK with it ending after the second round.”
The night’s other main event didn’t even make it that far.
Reggie Parks (4-1) captured the SCF welterweight title with a first-round technical knockout of Tony Rottari in the night’s final bout. The pair spent the bulk of that time locked up trying to find a hole in the other’s defense before Parks landed a punch that sent Rottari crashing into the metal mesh.
“We studied this guy just like he studied me,” Parks said. “We knew that he was a ground fighter and a good wrestler. We wanted to keep him on his feet as long as we could, so I tried not to let him take me down.
“I just kept looking in my corner and everything my coaches said to do, I just tried to do that.”
The plan worked to perfection and Parks finally found the spot he was looking for.
“I think it was that overhead right hand,” Parks said. “I caught him with the jab and it stunned him a little bit. It knocked him to his knees and I knew it was over after that.”
Parks jumped on Rottari’s back and began cascading blows down on the fighter’s head until the referee stepped in and stopped the action.
“It felt like a knockout punch, definitely,” Parks said. “Especially when he got up and asked me if the fight was over.”
Like Duplessie, Parks said winning a title belt was the realization of a longtime dream.
“I’ve been preparing for this fight ever since I started mixed martial arts,” Parks said. “This is why every fighter tries to get in the cage. If you don’t come out here to fight for a belt, you may as well not be doing this at all.”
Parks had nearly as much support for his fight as the other main event’s fighters, including former Cleveland Browns defensive end John Thierry.
The night had a few hitches. There was one small skirmish at the final fight’s conclusion that the security force ended immediately, and two of the four title fights didn’t happen.
Team Powerhouse fighter Dominic Jones was unable to fight for his lightweight championship belt when his opponent, Brian Karmolinski, failed to make weight. The other championship fight was called when one of the competitor’s didn’t show up, earning the fighter an automatic six-month suspension.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

RESULTS

FEATHERWEIGHTS: Ricky Garrett (1-0) def. Paul Troutman (1-2) by TKO at 4:57.
LIGHTWEIGHTS: Mike Maderitz (2-0) def. Troy Beebe (0-1) by arm bar tapout at 8:56; Kevin Bolf (2-2) def. Jason Taylor (1-4) by TKO at 1:47.
WELTERWEIGHTS: Danny Anderson (1-0) def. Nick Kessler (1-1) by RNC at 5:00; Eric Parks (1-0) def. Mike Stephenson (0-1) by Kimura tapout at 4:58.
MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Mike Garcher (2-0) def. Justin Stanton (0-1) by TKO at :16; Jason Robinette (2-0) def. Eric Smith (1-1) by RNC at :40.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS: Jason Fragoso (3-0) def. Darcy White (0-1) by RNC at :56.
HEAVYWEIGHTS: Matt Hanshue (1-0) def. Jeff Newcomb (0-1) by tapout at 2:42; Zach Dziak (2-0) def. Jason Manubi (0-2) by TKO at 6:00.
MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE: Trey Duplessie (3-0) def. Josh Gregorek (2-1) by TKO at 6:00.
WELTERWEIGHT TITLE: Reggie Parks (4-1) def. Tony Rottari (2-3) by TKO at 1:56. 

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