Generation Crossroads

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
WATERLOO — Chad Vance’s mixed martial arts career has spanned nearly two decades.

His son’s hasn’t even reached the 40-second mark.

For the latter, we’re talking time actually fought in the octagon.

At the Elite Fight League No. 5 card held Saturday night at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center, Dakota Vance once again displayed his blink-of-the-eye stoppage prowess.

Fighting for the EFL 185-pound amateur title, the former Charles City wrestler who was later a state podium placer for Rockford wasted little time in earning the first championship belt of his budding MMA career.

In the opening seconds against Trevor Bruse, Vance managed to lift his opponent off the canvas for a resounding body slam. Then — like he did in his MMA debut last August against Jonathan Ware — Vance went into hyper ground-and-pound mode prompting the fight to be stopped in just 22 seconds.

Like in the previous card, Vance’s victory was the shortest fight of the night though his win over Bruse took 6 seconds longer than against Ware.

During his post-fight interview in the cage, Vance thanked his father who was in his corner.

“I wouldn’t be up here right now if it wasn’t for him,” the younger Vance said.

As for the elder Vance, he was due to fight in the light-heavyweight main event to cap a rare if not unprecedented occurrence of a father and son fighting on the same card.

Against MMA veteran and former The Ultimate Fighter contestant John Poppie of LaCrosse, Wis., the 45-year-old Vance initiated the action and landed the first punch of the fight.

Poppie was able to counter by landing some punches of his own, but Vance seemed to be in a good position when the bout had both fighters still on their feet.

Eventually, Poppie was able to take the fight to the ground and began to unleash of torrent of punches from the top position. Vance was able to cover up and shield himself from the majority of the blows, but Poppie landed enough to prompt the fight to be stopped late in the first round.

“He didn’t hurt me … I just couldn’t get him off of me,” Vance said. “I knew if I didn’t escape soon, the fight was going to be stopped.”

Vance had earlier announced that the fight going to be his “retirement bout”. He finishes his career with a 20-6 MMA record.

“I wanted to go out with a win, but I also wanted to fight a tough opponent,” Vance said. “I could have taken a more easy route and fought someone who was 0-2, but I didn’t want to go out that way. You know, come back with my shield or come back on it.

“Now I can focus more on getting this guy (Dakota) to the top.”

Elite Fight League No. 5
May 4
AT FIVE SULLIVAN BROTHERS
CONVENTION CENTER,
Waterloo
Professional Fight Results
Main Event
John Poppie d. Chad Vance (1st Rd TKO — punches)
Co-Main Event
Jamie Medina d. Austin Smith (2nd Rd TKO 2:57 — punches, kicks)
John Simon d. Dallas Jennings (2nd Rd Sub 2:48 — triangle choke)
Clarence Jordan d. Jay Ellis (1st Rd Sub 1:43 — rear naked choke)
Amatuer Fight Results
EFL 185-pound Amateur Title Bout
Dakota Vance d. Trevor Bruse (1st Rd TKO :22 — body slam, punches)
Frankie McGlaughlin d. Reynaldo Rodriguez (1st Rd Sub :24 — kicks)
Adnan Pehlic d. Carlos Garcia (1st Rd TKO 1:01 — kick, punches)
Peter Keepers d. Dylan Pierceson (1st Rd TKO 2:37 — punches)
Trent Willison d. John Golle (1st Rd Sub 2:04 — rear naked choke)
Jordan Franks d. Wynston Bailey (1st Rd Sub 1:29 — guillotine choke)