Crash and burn: Listless Richards loses title fight
BY DON WILLIAMS l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Rex Richards felt lousy Saturday night just trying to warm up in the City Bank Coliseum dressing room. He’d feel even worse a few hours later, losing a big mixed martial arts match with a listless performance in front of a partisan crowd.
In a co-main event of “Shark Fights 4,’’ Darrill Schoonover scored a fourth-round technical knockout of the former Texas Tech football player to win the MMA Texas heavyweight championship.
To make the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds, the 6-foot-5 Richards has lost 55 pounds since December. Too much too soon, as it turned out.
“I didn’t even feel good back here (in the locker room),’’ said Richards, adding that he had no energy warming up. “It was very disappointing to lose here in Lubbock. I always did well here, and tonight I let everyone down. I apologize to everyone that supported me.”
Schoonover, a former U.S. Army specialist from Fort Hood, remained undefeated in more than 20 amateur and pro fights. Referee Kerry Hatley stopped the fight at 1 minute, 19 seconds of the fourth round when Richards, on the mat, couldn’t defend himself against Schoonover’s strikes.
Josh Sheppard, right, and Aaron Garcia, left, both of Lubbock, compete during the second fight of Shark Fight 4 Saturday at City Bank Coliseum. Garcia forfeited after the first round. Nine of Saturday night's competitors were from the Lubbock area. (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
It could have been stopped earlier. Richards spent the final minute of the third round flat on his back at the side of the cage. With Richards’ left arm underhooked and Schoonover sitting on the other, Schoonover delivered about three dozen lefts with his opponent unable to counter.
“He took a tremendous amount of blows,’’ Schoonover said. “Rex is a tough guy. He’s a very tough guy. I think a lot of it was, it was championship fight, there’s a lot of favoritism toward him, so they weren’t going to stop it just for anything. They wanted it to be for sure I won.’’
The large majority of the fight was a ground battle with the two spending long stretches of every round trying to gain control on the mat. During the brief insterchanges at long range, Richards occasionally stuck out his chin to show Schoonover’s punches weren’t hard enough to hurt him.
He said he still felt that way late in the third.
“I never felt in any danger, because he never had enough behind his punches where I thought, ‘The next one, I’m going to go down,’ ’’Richards said. “That was never the case. I just felt, ‘Well, I can’t stop this one. I can’t even hold my hands up.’ The 10 punches that I landed, he almost fell down. The 200 that he landed, I wasn’t in any danger.
“I just couldn’t hold my hands up, I had no energy, and I lost.’’
Richards’ first nine pro fights were as a super heavyweight, but he wants to fight heavyweight because that’s where more marquee matches are to be found in MMA. The former all-Big 12 Conference offensive lineman dropped from 320 to 280 for his last fight in February, and said Friday’s weigh-in was the first time he weighed 265 since age 15 or 16.
The quick weight loss turned out to be a tactical error.
“What I need to do is just get about 5 to 10 pounds away and maintain that weight while training for a fight rather than train for cutting weight,’’ he said.
In contrast, the 6-foot-1 Schoonover said he weighed in Friday at 244, only after a buffet meal. He had to shake off doubts based on Richards’ size advantage.
Richards’ one good chance came in round three of the scheduled five-round fight. A black belt in jiu-jitsu, Richards applied a straight arm lock that made Schoonover yelp in pain.
“My arm was popping; I just wouldn’t give up,’’ said Schoonover, an El Paso native who got out of the Army in September.
The constant ground battle made for a less-than-entertaining fight for fans, who occasionally booed.
Schoonover said it wasn’t always fun for him either.
“It was pretty grueling,’’ he said. “Damn, he’s just a big guy. I wanted to finish it a few times, but also I didn’t want to burn myself out, because I knew that would happen if I kept going and going. He landed some mean shots on me, backed me up, and I just came back. I’m not a quitter by any means.’’
Earlier on the card, T.J. Waldburger captured the Texas welterweight belt, winning by submission over Shannon Rich with an arm bar in the first round. Fans also were treated to an appearance by early MMA icon Don Frye. The former Pride and Ultimate Fighting champion, now 43, stopped former judo national champion Ritch Moss with a rear naked choke in the first round.
To comment on this story:
don.williams@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8734
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So, try again!
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I’ll be rooting for Rex any time he fights but I do wonder if his handlers are giving him good advice. Did they not think losing all that weight quickly before a championship fight would affect him? I’m not even in the business and I know that. I hate to see them use that as an excuse when it was their choice to lose the weight. I think they should just say he was beaten by a better fighter that night. Rex will have more chances to prove himself.
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Guess ‘ol Rex isn’t as much of a bad a** as he thought he was! What a way (to try) to make a living! LOL
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It sure is a slow time for the beat writers at the AJ when most of the news is about an old TTU football player getting the crap beat out of him at an “organized” brawl. If he wants to fight, he could get the same results in an alley at 50th and Ave. Q!
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Rex has had some success in this sport and it has become as viable and maybe even more so than boxing. He gave it his best shot and came up short to an extremely talented individual. There is no reason to rip him for the loss?
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That’s a lot of weight to lose in a short time. Hopefully he can get his weight stabilized so he can make the 265 weight easier next time. MMA is a rough sport and and to be successful you have to compete at your best. I still believe Rex has a chance to do some great things in the sport!
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i agree with norman that rex is not as bad assas he thought, but freddie is a very uninformed moron! it takes alot of skill and training to do what these guys do. they work hard for it and deserve respect. now these guys are not ufc calibur yet, they are training to get there. rex is a black belt in brasillian ju-jitsu and that is a very hard art to master. he might not have the stand up but hes getting better. schoonover is getting there a little more quickly i have been following his carreer for a wile now and he has dispatched his opponents everytime. dont put the sport down if you have never tried it just because someone likes to push their bodies to the limits and give everything they have to what they love and you doesnt give you the right to show an un informed opinion about their soprt.
oh and i know icant spell
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bfmc : and YOU call me a moron!!! I think you’ve taken a few too many blows to the head……………………LOL
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is that all u can come up with? wow i applaud u way to prove me wrong. why dont you go get educated on the subject at hand and then come back to talk
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Hey Norman – I’m sure Rex wouldn’d mind whipping your tail. Try not to hide behind a computer screen all your life and talk trash. Just buck up and be a man. Say what you think to Rex in person.
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There is no telling how many hours Rex Richards puts into his MMA career and what it takes to be ready for a fight.
No one in this sport gets an easy ride moving to the top or going down to retirement, it’s just not something that gets handed to you because you look good doing it.
I have witnessed the greatest in the game have a bad night and suffer a quick beating so, Good Luck Rex and keep training hard and keep a winners attitude…..
This game ain’t for the weak at heart……
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DWR: Blogging with you incest-laden fools has given me a headache so enjoy your own company! I’ll even leave you with an old saying that you all can relate to: “Some people are like catfish, all mouth and no brains”!! All have fun at the WWF, MMF, MMA, NWO, or whatever it’s called………….
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Seriously? This is big news in wubbick now? A couple of dudes with IQ’s under 90 trying to beat each other up? And people are paying to see this stuff?
Priceless.
Should have figured it.
Ahhh, wubbick. wittle biddy wubbick. what a bunch of small minded people.
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whats it to you dude? why do you care? were you the onewho didnt get picked for the sports teams or are you the one who was scared to try out? 90 IQ? your just another guy who doesn’t do his research most of the guys who fought the other night hold degrees 1 of whom i know has a political science degree and also has his name attached to a few papers that are published. what do u have? oh and alot of the top guys in this sport also hold college degrees the ex ufc champ rich franklin was a school teacher for gods sake. so please b4 you get on here and try to sound like u know what your talking about please do some research.
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