On Saturday night, the mixed martial arts calendar for 2020 got underway with the first show of the year, Ohio Combat League’s OCL 5. Columbus’ Express Live! was the setting for the 2020 MMA lid-lifter.
I have to admit that going into Saturday’s card, I had no idea what to expect from the promotion, as prior to OCL 5 this weekend, I had not watched any previous shows from the Columbus-based MMA promotion.
After having watched OCL 5 on the Internet pay-per-view stream provided by CombatSportsNow, I can easily say that I was very impressed with the product that the Ohio Combat League put out on Saturday night.
First off, let me take a moment to talk about the price of the PPV. Now look, I get that some of you may be wondering why I chose to start off this opinion piece by talking about the price of the PPV, but it was very affordable.
To order OCL 5 online, including a replay of the show following its completion, all it cost was a mere $15. That’s all it was.
Speaking comparatively, that $15 price for the OCL 5 pay-per-view on combatsportsnow.com was 25 percent of what used to be the cost for a pay-per-view from the UFC on ESPN+ pay-per-view before UFC 246.
Effective with the Jan. 18 UFC 246 event, it will cost an ESPN+ subscriber $65, the same cost that UFC pay-per-views had when the promotion still offered its PPV events through cable and satellite television providers.
As far as the fights themselves went, they were spectacular. Most of the card’s fights ended in stoppage. In fact, the first eight fights of OCL 5 ended this way.
The only fight that went to the judges’ scorecards for a decision was the night’s co-main attraction between Alfred Leisure and Corey Delaney in the OCL’s Featherweight division, won by Delaney via split decision.
Prior to Saturday night’s contest, Leisure and Delaney fought in an amateur boxing match last summer. It would prove to be the final fight in Alfred Leisure’s career in combat sports.
Sunday, he took to his Facebook to announce his retirement as a competitor:
Alright guys everything is looking good the bleed is healing requires no surgery and only have one more mri and keeping…
Posted by Alfred Leisure on Sunday, January 5, 2020
Finally, OCL 5 wrapped up with the main draw, a five-round Middleweight title fight between Travis Davis and John Poppie.
Due to a cut sustained above Davis’ eye, the fight doctor intervened and called the fight midway through the third round. Poppie took the championship by third-round TKO.
All in all, I found OCL 5 to be an exciting and entertaining night of MMA. I would gladly buy another OCL pay-per-view without hesitation.
The Ohio Combat League may be one of the newest MMA promotions, but already, I see bright days ahead for this organization.
Gambling this season? Want to try it just to see what it feels like? Go to MyBookie.ag and use promo code ARMCHAIR25 at checkout. They will match your deposit dollar for dollar. Putting in $100? You’ll now have $200.
For quality up-to-date sports reporting, visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
