The Art of Fighting 7 card at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa on April 3, 2010 was stacked with local talent and included a guest appearance by The Ultimate Fighter season eleven contestant, Clayton McKinney, who has already made a name for himself as professional mixed martial artist in Tampa MMA circles.
With a professional fight record of four wins and two losses McKinney now competes on the MMA reality show, TUF 11, for a UFC contract along with 13 other fighters.
At AOF 7 he supported two of his training partners from The Jungle MMA gym in Orlando, Tony Huertas and Daniel Lovett.
Lovett faced Raul Amaya in a three-round bout that looked very much like a submission clinic with several reversals. Although Amaya caught Lovett in a guillotine choke in the second round, Lovett was able to escape and later return the favor with a guillotine choke attempt of his own. Lovett was mostly defending on his back while Amaya dished out some ground and pound. In order to take advantage of the position and his reach advantage Lovett tried to lock Amaya in a triangle choke over and over again. But each time Amaya saw it coming and let his fists fly to get some distance in between himself and Lovett. In round three Lovett made the fatal mistake to give up his back while trying to escape Amaya's hammer fists. Amaya did not miss a beat and locked Lovett in a rear-naked choke that he was forced to tap out to at 1:00 in round three. Watch the fight video below!
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2010.