ELYRIA – The middleweight main event at “Midway Mayhem” on Saturday night had blood, brutality and a buzzer-beating finish.

Lorain’s Jose Martinez took the early lead with a dominant first round, but injured his knee in the second round and suffered a technical knockout by North Carolina fighter Adam Dehart with less than 30 seconds remaining in their match.

“That first round was close … a lot closer than I like it to be,” Dehart said. “He is a tough (blank) dude. He stunned me and I know he was liking that.”

It was actually Dehart who stunned Martinez with a punch early in the round, but the Southview grad recovered quickly, prepared for Dehart’s rush and slammed the Team Husky fighter hard to the mat. Martinez gained side control and landed some hammer fists, and later sunk a guillotine choke on Dehart.

Later in the round, Martinez slapped a headlock on Dehart and landed some big shots to Dehart’s face. The slam and ground and pound left a bulky mouse under the left eye and a large gash on Dehart’s forehead.

Dehart reversed the momentum in the second round, gaining full mount early and spending most of the round using ground and pound to rack up points on the judges’ scorecards. Martinez managed to sweep Dehart for a reversal late in the round – bringing a huge roar from the partisan crowd – but damaged his knee making the move.

Members from Martinez’s Team Powerhouse group said they believed Martinez suffered a severe sprain or tore his ACL. Martinez, who was rushed to Elyria Memorial Hospital’s emergency room after the fight and unavailable for comment, couldn’t put pressure on his left leg, and was hopping in his corner after the second round.

Dehart could see Martinez was injured, but said he didn’t need the extra advantage at that point.

“I went into kill mode after the second round,” Dehart said. “I just kill for that third round. I wanted to end him.”

Dehart finished Martinez with a flurry of strikes that left several cuts around the bridge of Martinez’s nose and around his right eye. Dehart improved to 9-3 with the win – all of his fights coming in 2009 – and he was just happy that he got to fight after the long trip from Fairview, N.C.

“I’ve traveled to Pennsylvania twice and Illinois once and my opponent pulled out of the fight all three times,” said Dehart, who has also traveled to Tennessee and Georgia for fights. “I just love the competition aspect of this sport.”

In the other main event – a lightweight showdown between Lorain fighters Pierre Greenhill and Angel Cardona – Greenhill improved to 2-0 when Cardona asked for the fight to be stopped early in the second round.

“I was willing to go wherever he wanted to go,” Greenhill said of the fight going to the ground quickly in both rounds. “We work hard at practice and I knew I was prepared for anything in this fight.”

Several other local fighters found success in undercard fights:

• Elyria’s Manny Lafarya stopped Jay Hammonds, also from Elyria, with a rear naked choke in the first round.

“We met about a month ago in a bar,” Lafarya said of Hammonds. “I was actually supposed to fight my best friend in the world, Mike Hazzard, tonight but he didn’t make weight.”

• Lorain’s Brandon Vasquez kick-started the night with a victory over Oberlin’s Jeremy Burrer in both fighters’ MMA debut. Vasquez won with a rear naked choke in the first round.

“I’ve been really nervous about this fight, I haven’t got a lot of sleep this week,” Vasquez said. “I’ve been training in Brazilian jiu jitsu for the past four years, so when I got him to the ground I knew the fight was over.”

• Lorain’s Brett Williams picked up a first-round technical knockout against Elyria’s Sean Rittwage at 145 pounds.

“I was able to get him in a Muay Thai clinch and land some big knees,” said Williams, who earned an MMA green belt while with the Marines. “You get a few of those in there, and all of a sudden he’s not throwing his punches as hard.”

• Elyria’s Charles Coleman earned a second-round TKO of Cleveland’s Mike Sayre in a light heavyweight bout.

“I have a black belt in jiu jitsu, so I wanted to take (the fight) to the ground,” said Coleman, who improved to 2-0. “I was a bit winded in my first fight, so I’ve been working on my cardio and it definitely paid off tonight.”

• Avon Lake’s Jason Eisele earned a win over Pennsylvania fighter Robert Ambers, who asked the referee for the fight to be stopped.

“I got a big knee to his body that pretty much ended the fight,” Eisele said. “I felt it go up and under his ribs and I heard him let out a loud groan. At that point, I knew it was just a matter of time before he tapped.”

Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

145 POUNDS – Stephen Harness (1-0) def. Walter Ruiz (0-1) by rear naked choke at 1:08; Brett Williams (1-0) def. Sean Rittwage (0-1) by technical knockout at 2:51; Carlos Arroyo (1-0) def. Josh Pittman (1-2) by TKO at 1:18. 155 POUNDS – George Berlinjen (2-0) def. Carlos Arroyo (1-1) by medical stoppage at 3:00. 170 POUNDS – Manny Lafarya (2-2) def. Jay Hammonds (0-1) by RNC at :35; Domonique Thompson (1-1) def. Kevin Hasa (0-1) by TKO at 4:24. 185 POUNDS – Brandon Vasquez (1-0) def. Jeremy Burrer (0-1) by RNC at 1:31; William Bratz (3-2) def. Andrew Ricketts (0-1) by triangle choke at 2:06; Hamza Mutalibb (3-0) def. Mike Stuck (0-1) by TKO at 2:43. 205 POUNDS – Charles Coleman (2-0) def. Mike Sayre (0-2) by TKO at 3:57. HEAVYWEIGHT – Jason Eisele (1-0) def. Robert Ambers (0-1) by verbal submission at 1:38.

155-POUND CO-MAIN EVENT – Pierre Greenhill (2-0) def. Angel Cardona (0-1) by verbal submission at 3:46. 185-POUND CO-MAIN EVENT – Adam Dehart (9-3) def. Jose Martinez (3-2) by TKO at 8:37.

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