SALAMANCA - Saturday night, Knockout Promotions proved they can compete with any fight league as they put on a top-notch performance at the Jo-Jo Redeye Building as they presented There Will Be Blood 3.

In just their third Mixed Martial Arts fight, Knockout Promotions made considerable leaps in bringing fans action-packed cage fighting. Co-owners Jaymee Minner and Mike "Snake" Tome were able to turn a middle-school gymnasium into a legit MMA venue.

There Will Be Blood 3 had something for everyone. For the first time in New York state history, Knockout Promotions brought fans the first ever women's fight. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez was in attendance and a 50-50 raffle for an inspirational man was held.

"We learn and change as we go," Minner said. "We are always adapting and finding out what did work and what didn't work. Very few things need to be changed after last night. This show was almost there. Everything turned out really good. We learn more with experience. We wanted to pull out no stops. This is the standard of whats going to be seen."

Angola's Dennis Brown improved his record at the 130-pound division to 2-0 with a technical knockout at the 1:20 mark of the second round.

Brown came out with a southpaw stance and quickly took down opponent Greg Leet. Brown then unleashed a flurry of punches that almost looked as if the fight could be stopped soon. However, Leet recovered and reversed Brown to control some of the action for a while. Leet even got Brown into two rear-naked chokes. The action continued to

"I got off to a slow start," Brown, fighting out of Knockout Factory, said. "When you get in trouble like I was, you get warmed up real quick."

As the first round winded down, Brown almost got Leet in a Kimora, but time expired in one of the best three-minutes of action of the night.

In the second round, dominated with punches that were reminiscent of World Extreme Champion fighter icon Urijiah Faber. The punches proved to be too much for Leet as the referee called the fight at the 1:20 mark.

"I don't even remember the last few seconds of the fight," Brown said. "I remember feeling him limp up so I knew I rocked him. I just started punching. That's my style take him down and pound him out."

Brown's performance drew satisfaction from Knockout Promotion Co-Owner Jaymee Minner.

"Dennis Brown had a great fight," he said. "He has a great heart and great stimina. When the ref stopped it, everyone went nuts."

Another local fighter, Michael Schimek, of Cherry Creek, wasn't so fortunate in his MMA debut losing by unanimous decision to Dan Dwyer.

Schimek was clearly outsized in the fight, but as the old saying goes, it's not the size of the dog in the fight it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Schimek, fighting out of Western New York Self Defense, recorded the early take down and gained side control. However, Dwyer showed his strength and reversed Schimek to his back. Despite being in a position not many like to be in, Schimek was still effective and was able to keep Dwyer off guard.

"A lot of misconceptions about this sport is being on bottom," Schimek's cornerman and fighter Anthony Richter said. "You're not always losing when you're on the bottom."

Schimek proved the point throughout the fight as he almost got Dwyer in a Kimora on several occasions.

Despite the loss, Schimek's coach Chris Howard was encouraged with what he saw from his newest prodigy who has been training for just two months.

"In order to train, we have to know where he is at," Howard said. "We got him a fight right away and we didn't know anything about (Dwyer). We know what we have to work on."

In the first ever women's fight, Priscilla Cueva, of East West MMA, made her MMA debut with an impressive TKO over Jenn Martin of Elmira Fitness.

With much anticipation about the fight, it did not disappoint from the very beginning as Martin quickly shot at Cueva, who saw it coming and blocked the failed football tackle, which earned cheers from the near-capacity crowd as the two hit the mat together.

"I expected her to come in and shoot on me," Cueva said. "I anticipated it. When she did, I was prepared and didn't let her take me down."

Cueva was able to recover from the tackle and jumped on Martin's back to gain back control. From there, Cueva unleashed a series of punches. Martin was helpless and could not defend herself forcing the referee to stop the fight nearly two minutes into the opening round.

"I have been training for a year and a half with a really good group," the winner said. "My coach Mark and coach Boda push me to the limits. I am the only girl in the school and I get knocked around pretty good it helped me for this."

"That fight had everyone excited," Minner said. "I didn't see it going that away. It's first one in New York State. We would actually love to have them back on the card sometime soon. It was the first female bout with current rules. That turned out to be a great fight. Jenn was prepared, but Priscilla came out ready."

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez was impressed with what he saw from the evening.

"It was really nice to see Mike (Tome) bring this event and give the community a chance to get involved in the fastest-growing sport in the world," he said. "He is bringing it right here in his hometown. He is promoting positive things.

"The sport has jumped leaps and bounds," Rodriguez said. "Mike is doing a lot. These promoters don't make big money doing this. What they are trying to do is make it great for families. We are out on a Saturday night. There was no liquor involved. No one got in trouble or hurt. They are having good, solid fun. It's something different. I would have brought my kid because there was no alcohol involved. Therefore, it was totally respectable, and by far, the cleanest bout I have ever seen."

Notes: A 50-50 raffle was held last night to benefit Salamanca resident Les Whitepigeon, who was in a car accident more than a year ago and lost a leg. Shortly after, it was discovered Whitepigeon had bone cancer and has been through six surgeries in the last eight months. The winner of the 50-50 graciously gave his half to Whitepigeon.