First of all, said article states “A low-level MMA show at a bar last weekend featured a fighter getting hurt and taken out in an ambulance.” First of all, Warriors of the Cage is not a “low-level” MMA show. It is fully sanctioned by the Oklahoma Boxing Commission, and is run by professionals. It is made up of professional fighters, and I can tell you as a fighter for the organization, the event was as “professional” as they come. Second, the said show did not take place “at a bar”. It took place at the historic Farmer’s Market Convention center in the heart of Oklahoma City. Third, the said fighter was not “hurt.” He was merely knocked out (a regular occurence in all contact sports including boxing, kickboxing, mma, football, etc.) and was taken to the hospital by ambulence as a safety precaution. I actually witness Mr. Shorman, the afformentioned fighter, plead with the commission to let him leave on his own and that he was fine. However, due to the strict code of conduct in pertention to safety of the fighters in the state of Oklahoma, once again, he was taken to the hospital as a safety precaution.

I was to fight on the Warriors of the Cage II card. My opponent, however, did not show up due to an injury. Because of this, I was able to witness first hand how the organization was run from a fan stand point as opposed to a fighter, but as watching it from the inside; from the weigh-ins, to the fighter’s rules meetings, to the warm ups, all the way up to the fights, the outcomes, and the payout procedures. This show was ran as professional, if not better, than any I’ve been to in the state of Oklahoma.

The above being considered, Larry Shorman was a late replacement the week of the fight. He appeared to be about 6′4, and weighed in around 220-230 I’m assuming. His opponent, Jeremiah Constant, is about 6′1, and weighed in at 238 I believe. This was a very competitive matchup in that Shorman appeared to be a striker with long legs and a good reach, and Constant the ground fighter. Like is typical in any contact sport, a knockout occured during the fight. It was not worse than any other knockout I’ve ever seen in any sport. It was a knockout – welcome to the wonderful world of contact sports.

When a boxer gets knocked out 4-5 times in a 12 minute round, yet is allowed 10 seconds to recover, only to be knocked out again, and then repeating the same pattern, nobody throws a fit and raises cane, nor calls for the removal of the sport. Yet, the same knockout occurs in a mixed martial arts event, in which the fighter is only knocked out ONCE, not allowed 10 seconds to recover and continue being knocked out throughout the fight, nay-sayers want to attempt to squash our great sport.

Larry Shorman is a professional fighter. He signed a release, as well as a contractual intent stating that he realized the risks involved with the sport, and was willing to perform to the best of his ability despite those risks. That he did, and the fight just didn’t end in his favor. Straight from the mouth of Mr. Shorman as stated above, you see that he as a PROFESSIONAL realizes this is a sport with risks, just like any sport, and upon entering into the sport of MMA, we all knowingly as fighters accept those risks.

People like Zach Arnold, the writer of this article, are one of the many who attempt to cripple our great sport of mixed martial arts. People like Mr. Arnold have no clue what level of training is required to compete in such a technical and complex sport. Fortunately for us, however, people like Mr. Arnold, despite his best efforts, will NEVER even put a small dent in our great sport. So type away sir – you only make the millions of supporters of MMA across the world snicker at your complete lack of knowledge for not ony the sport, but your credibility as a writer/reporter in that after reading my first paragraph, we can all see that Mr. Arnold does not even have his facts straight!

- Justin McCorkle
- Heavyweight Fighter

“After the fight, at the hospital all they did was they took xrays of my shoulder because it was hurting a little then they did a cat scan of my head – it was fine – I didn’t have anything wrong with me at all. They put a little glue on my eye and sent me home – everything was fine,” said Shorman.

“As far as everyone worrying about me when I got knocked out – that’s normal sometimes when you get knocked out hard – I’ve seen it a lot in fights – it’s nothing new, nothing uncommon – he’s just got a good shot …”

“For those that want to speak for me – there shouldn’t be anybody that should be speaking for me, I’ll speak for myself … As far as people hating on MMA – get a life – stop worrying about other people and worry about yourself.”

“I took that fight as an opportunity … And as for anybody that wants to call me a scrub, then I’ll humbly ablige you to step in the cage and compete against me and I won’t scrub – I’ll mop you up!”

FOR THE FULL STORY ON THE LARRY SHORMAN VS JEREMIAH CONSTANT FIGHT, PLEASE SEE THE AUGUST EDITION OF THE FIGHTERS VOICE – http://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEFIGHTERSVOICE. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL 405-519-5763.

By the way, thanks for posting my links.

Richard Rowe
TaosActionPhotos.Com