After a brief trip to Southern Virginia, the Valhalla series returned to Northern Virginia with Valhalla 5 at the Dulles Sportsplex on Saturday, March 15th.  If you have read any of our previous Valhalla reviews it is obvious we are big fans on the Valhalla series and Valhalla 5 was no different.  Like the ancient Greeks, Valhalla seems to live by the principle of moderation.  Not to much side show stuff to take the focus away from the fights.  Not to many fights.  Match-ups that are fair but competitive.  Enough room for fans to be comfortable.  Good times all around.

As for the specific fights, the card was very well rounded.  It was a little heavy on MMA Institute fighters (which in no way is a bad thing) but that may just be a product of many local fighters taking part in the DC Metro Showdown a few weeks ago and the upcoming CageFest and Operation Octagon shows.  Like the previous Valhalla shows there were no glaring mismatches and all were hard fought.

In my opinion the fight of the night was probably Kris McCray (Gold Medal Grappling) defeating Roger Carroll ( Superior Martial Arts) via Unanimous Decision.  It was a great back and forth fight with McCray being the aggressor for most of the fight, but Carroll effectively countering McCray's aggressive wrestling based style with a couple near match ending armbars.  In the end McCray was forced to rely more on his striking then wrestling skills and ended up winning a tight unanimous decision.

For submission of the night, I am going to have to give it to 2 different fighters for 2 totally different reasons.  The first goes to Allen Greenway from Team Superior who defeated Arvin Terrell of MMA Institute via a nice armbar.  While the arm bar was nice the reason Allen is getting the award is because no one saw it coming.  The entire match was a tentative standup fight where neither guy seemed to want anything to do with the ground.  Even when the fight finally hit the ground, it seemed like Allen wanted nothing to do with it, then, BAM, leg over, knees together, sit back, match over. As for the other submission of the night, I am going to have to give it to Taylor Dixon from Capital Jiu-Jitsu.  Taylor defeated Rich Patishnock from Pereira MMA by choke early in the 1st Round to move on in the Middleweight Tournament.  The choke was great but since I dont have an award to give to his fans and supporters, I am giving one to him.  Steve Blackman of WWF (or I guess WWE) fame was in attendance cornering some fighters from his school and during his height of popularity he may have not gotten a fan reaction like Taylor got at Valhalla.  The level of support and enthusiasm he gets from the people at Capital and his family and friends is amazing and as a MMA fan is great thing to see at a local show.

In the coming days we will post round by round reviews of all the fights from the card as well as pictures from Valhalla.  If you went to the show and have any pictures or videos you would like to see on DCMMA, you can send them to dan@dcmma.com.  Also, dont forget to head over to our forum and talk about the fights..

In the meantime, here is a quick look at results.

Valhalla 5 Quick Results

145 Pounds
Kendall Herring (MMA Institute) v. Alejandro Richardson (VBAMA)
Kendall Herring by Decision

135 Pounds
Bao Khong (Yamasaki/Kims Karate) v. Bryan Robey (Gold Medal Grappling)
Robey by Ref Stop

155 Pounds
Steve Turel (Kore Kombat/MMA Institute) v. Tim Mohr (Baltimore BJJ)
Turel by RNC

145 Pounds
Nick Gentile (Steve Blackmans Fighting Systems) v. Joey Ponce (Hybrid Academy of Martial Arts)
Ponce by Armbar

155 Pounds
Bryan Tevalt (Kore Kombat/MMA Institute) v. Ned Vergara (Gold Medal Grappling)
Tevalt by Ref Stop

170 Pounds
Arvin Terrell (MMA Institute)  v. Allen Greenway (Team Superior)
Greenway by Armbar

170 Pounds
Stan Myaskovsky (Kore Kombat/MMA Institute) v. Jody Morgan (Hybrid Academy of Martial Arts)
Morgan by Ref Stop

155 Pounds
Anan Aiadeh (TKR) v. Justin Dalton (Mid Atlantic MMA)
Aiadeh by RNC

135 Pounds
Eddie Abramski (Kore Kombat/MMA Institute) v. Bryan Lashomb (VBAMA)
Abramski by Triangle

205 Pounds
J. Daly (MMA Institute) v. Randal Gordon (Milton Fighting Academy)
Daly by Ref Stop

195 Pounds
Terrill Leech(Steve Blackmans Fighting Systems) v. Matthew Aten (VBAMA)
Leech by KO

185 Pounds
Roger Carroll (Superior Martial Arts) v. Kris McCray (Gold Medal Grappling)
McCray by Unan. Dec.

GCA EAST COAST WELTERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT
Taylor Dixon (Capital Jiu-Jitsu) v. Rich Patishnock (Pereira MMA)
Dixon by RNC