THE MMA LAB ELITE FIGHT TEAM
Smooth Ben Henderson
Record: 12-1-0
Hometown: Federal Way, WA
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Benson-Henderson-20548
Efrain "Hecho en Mexico" Escudero
Record: 13-1-0
Hometown: Sonora, MEX
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Efrain-Escudero-16555
Chris "Gritz" Gruetzemacher
Record: 5-1-0
Hometown: Page, AZ
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Chris-Gruetzemacher-36924
Charlie "Hollywood" Brown
Record: 8-2-0
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Charles-Brown-25367
Victor "El Gallo Negro" Meza
Record: 10-2-0
Hometown: Santa Ana, CA
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Victor-Meza-24949
Yaotzin Meza
Record: 12-6-0
Hometown: Santa Ana, CA
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Yaotzin-Meza-15937
Jamie "The Headhunter" Schmidt
Record: 8-3-0
Hometown: Glendale, AZ
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Jamie-Schmidt-13402
Kelly Oser
Record: 0-0-0
Hometown: Glendale, AZ
Daniel Treguboff
Record: 0-0-0
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Saul Castro
Record: 0-0-0
Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA
Last Updated June 8, 2010
The LAB Elite Fight Team Keeps Rolling
March 22, 2010
Reynaldo Moreno
The Wild Horse Pass Casino and Hotel, on the outskirts of the valley of the sun, was the stage at which The MMA LAB fight team continued their establishment as a team and camp to be reckoned with by extending their team win streak to five in a row. Athletes Chris Gruetzemacher and Charlie Brown made short work of their opponents by each ending their contests in the first round.
Home grown fighter, Gruetzemacher, made a drop in weight by fighting at 160lbs and did not show any signs of slowing due to the weight loss. His opponent, also a local fighter from Peoria, AZ, Nadeem Al-Hassan had quite the cheering section as he entered the ring. The cheers were quickly silenced in just over 3 minutes of the first round as the referee stopped the fight and raised Gruetzemacher’s hand in victory. The fight started with “Gritz” demonstrating his ever improving stand up skills with powerful kicks and combinations. As expected, with both athletes having wrestling backgrounds, the fight went to the ground proving to be the beginning of the end for Al-Hassan. Gruetzemacher’s wrestling and jiu-jitsu was too much as he imposed his will and delivered brutal blows to the body and eventually repeatedly to his opponents face, causing the referee to stop the fight. It was an impressive showing for Gritz and set the stage for his teammate to follow.
Charlie “Hollywood” Brown fought in the Co-Main Event of the evening and ended The LAB’s night on the card with a stellar performance against Rage in the Cage veteran, Joe Cronin. Coming out of a loss from his title in his last fight, Cronin would be looking for redemption. Brown, who had not fought since October, was also poised to be back in the win column, resulting in fireworks from the opening bell. Cronin came out like a shot and threw quite a few haymakers trying to end the fight early. The calmer Brown picked his shots wisely and weathered the early and short-lived storm. Charlie, who had the considerable edge in the stand up game, exchanged devastating knees in the clinch making Joe take the fight to the ground. A well rounded fighter, Brown had no trouble on the ground as well and was able to get the fight standing again where Charlie went on a rampage and backing Cronin against the cage and resulting in another Cronin takedown, it would be his undoing. Brown was able to sink a triangle choke on the frantic Cronin in his guard which was secured deeper as Cronin attempted a slam. After a series of elbows Brown was able to finish the triangle choke on Cronin, making him submit and putting a cap on a great evening for The MMA LAB.
From John Crouch Head Instructor at The MMA LAB : Tonight the Lab Team went 2-0 at Rage in the Cage...Gritz won by TKO in the first round, and Charlie won by triangle choke in the first round. Thanks to all our wonderful MMA coaches, Andy, George, Brian.... Our success is due to your dedication and love. Thanks to Ben, who, besides being the champ, is the best teammate and role model anyone could ever have. And last... Thank you to our wonderful family at The Lab for all your support. We are just getting started guys!
The LAB's Elite Fight Team
L to R
Charlie "Hollywood" Brown
Ben "Smooth" Henderson
Chris "Gritz" Gruetzemacher