Tap or Snap: King of the Hill

Tap or Snap: King of the Hill
It’s time to add another name to the short list of local fighters that are primed for breaking out big.
Let me introduce James Funny.
First of all, his opponent, Jeff Ford, has the credentials that no doubt caused worry for Funny's supporters. Two time ISKA champion; two time USKA champion; two time Muay Thai champion; golden gloves champion. This man is a legitimate fighter. No, make that a serious threat to anyone coming inside the ring. Throw in that he is a personal trainer at LA Boxing and you are left with the image of a lean-mean-fighting-machine with a past history of proven success.
James Funny isn't any slouch either. With a fantastic record of 15-1, Funny brings a local reputation as a heavy hitter who enjoys trading leather. The son of a Tae Kwon Do instructor, this Widefield high graduate entered the U.S. Marine Corp out of high school and served his country as an infantryman. For some reason, Semper Fi, just seems to fit him. Now at age 30, he finds himself the underdog at his biggest fight of his career.
We have one world class kick-boxer (Ford) vs. one local heavy hitter (Funny). The bell rings, the crowd stands, and Funny moves around the ring quickly. He is ultra aggressive and doesn’t let Ford set anything up. Ford wants some space to strike and Funny takes it away. If you saw the infamous UFC fight -- CroCop vs Gonzaga, same idea, same fight. Funny gets inside and uppercuts, Funny takes him down and introduces his elbow to Ford's face over and over again. Here is the critical part: Funny doesn’t stop hitting Ford even when his hits are non-effectual, he just constantly pounds Ford's head. Eventually Ford stops protecting himself and the referee calls the fight at 3:28 in the first round.
Add to Funny's resume – this is one smart fighter. He tells us after the fight that he watched tapes of Ford and had a plan of attack on how to beat him. He knows Ford’s game is standing up. He knows Ford is one dangerous man face to face. So the plan is Ground and Pound. Funny had his game-plan and stuck with it. For those that don’t know what Semper Fi means, the Marine credo translates to: Always Faithful. He was faithful to his plan and it worked.
Funny, when he isn't upsetting fighters, works as a heavy equipment operator outside the town of Security (S. of Colorado Springs). Married with one child, this former high school wrestler and football player trains 6 days a week. His night-before ritual is always watching either ‘Gladiator’ or (lately) ‘300’ before his fights to prepare himself. It gets him in the right state of mind, "It’s what we do, were modern-day Gladiators."
Before the fight started, Ford shared, "on paper, I should win but I've learned everyone has a puncher's chance." When this Kansas City native was growing up, he found out that because of his mixed race heritage, he never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Fights came to him whether he wanted it or not. "Not black enough or too black, not white enough or too white. I started fighting early and often." At the end of 7th grade, Ford had been in numerous fights and suspended multiple times. That is when his first mentor found him and helped him channel that energy into the ring. A champion fighter was born. After winning a golden gloves championship, someone told him about MMA. "He said, you can punch, knee, kick, elbow to win, and I said, seriously? Sign me up!"
The Tap or Snap promoters, Steve Valdez and Brian Lee, are expanding their area of comfort with this latest event held at Douglas County Fairgrounds. Usually promoting out of Pueblo and Colorado Springs, the Douglas County Fairgrounds gives them their first 'toe in the water' for the Denver metro area – bringing the Colorado Springs and Denver crowds together. Each promotion has it’s own vibe and Tap and Snap seems to have more of a small town feel to it. It reminds me of the state high school wrestling championship judging by the customers.
The promoters have a few good new ideas we haven’t seen at other local venues. First of all, they had a Pride-like walkway for the fighters. Fighters enter on this elevated walkway to music, lights and even smoke. If the walkway was longer, the fighters might have more of their song to enter to instead of just 10 seconds but it was a good idea nonetheless. They also had a large, catered VIP section to view the fights from. With a good number of vendor tables at the event, including a Marine Corp table offering prizes for the most chin-ups, the event seemed like a great success. They have never had a single serious injury in the Tap and Snap career (28 events in 2 years). Unlike some promotions, they relied heavily on radio ads featured on the Fox (103.5 Denver) and Kilo (94.3 Colorado Springs) instead of pre-booking tickets through gyms or fighters. This impressive show-down sold out 2,000 tickets without a website or much on-line presence. This is proof the MMA is gaining in popularity and appeal. Families, couples on dates, tough-guys and even ladies’ night out – Tap or Snap is doing a great job of bringing MMA out of the back alleys and into the mainstream.
Bill Chamberlin / Misha Schryer
bchamberlin@coloradofightevents.com
bill@mma-colorado.com