Rumble 57 began after a quiet weigh-in with the low key energy of a smaller fight card than normal. Many of the usuals were there; Eric Wander escorting one of the Aldens always gives the promise of a good match; Trent Standing looking healthy and fit, like he was wishing he might like one more time in The Slammer; Cage Mechanic Tate Koenig allowing a few comments on his cool 'citizen of the world' non-profit  dotcom,  Be A Cow. One thing consistently found in any Rumble at the Roseland crowd is the company of those seeking their personal best. The feeling permeates the crowd, defines the unique energy at every event, and is the pure DNA of the FCFF. 

 The fights started on that note, even though it was a fast Tapout of Team Quest's Marc Harris giving the win to Alex Corrales. But Corrales didn't pick up the win for free; he was forced to exhibit the quick thinking of a well-trained MMA fighter where, in the first seconds of any bout, an aggressive shoot by an opponent can be turned into the win via a guillotine. If not, that fast shoot can push the momentum necessary to control the rest of the bout.  The fight card skipped directly to Round three with an even faster match for Alive MMA's Dylan Atkinson. Even still, the action engaged Atkinson in a nice athletic assault with Kevin Walker from Sherwood. But Sherwood claimed the Read Naked, which was too bad for Atkinson's short show for Alive's visiting Bustamante celebrity. Bustamante sat cage side and seemed to enjoy the entire show.

 The third scheduled fight, bout #4, rounded out the first wave of under a minute fights by starting with a satisfyingly promising slam reverberating from the cage; not unsurprising from the two heavyweights going at it. But the fight wound quickly to Peter New defeating Joshua Ryan in: 54 with a Tapout due to an armbar. 

The featured fight between Freddie Bailey and Rod Jaques ended unsatisfyingly in a Majority Draw. It seemed the fight was trending in favor of Bailey due to good control of the pace and aggression, but lack of control in technique bought him a lost point call for a blow to the back of his opponent's head- it was enough to end the fight with a 'no win'.  But hard on the heels of the frustrating 'Draw' fight was the promise of another great Alden performance out of the TSN camp in a rematch of Jeff Alden with Journey Newson from Impact JJ. With two such experienced fight camps the match-up between these two is as much about the style of coaching and training as it is about the individual fighters. And Impact and TSN could not have two better representatives than Alden and Newson. The well matched pair was a pleasure to watch, exchanging strategies and response like the seasoned fighters they are. It was tough to see the win go to either way. But this level of fighting delivered a compelling 3 rounds and a catch on Alden by Newson at 1:29 of Rd. 3; Tapout due to a rear naked choke.

 Both fights, #7 & #8,  went the distance to a unanimous decision with 'Nasty' Nate Sarate from Richfield winning over Art of War's Peter Ramsden, and Dog Pound's Danny Modenessi exchanging lots of heavy pounding with Team Quest's Rafael Palma. Palma pulled it out with the great striking that has been coming out of Team Quest's Amateur team. It has to help with so many great strikers, like Chael Sonnen, Daniel Stewart, Willie Walden and Josh Bennett maybe occasionally hanging around to exchange a few hits with the up and comers. 

The Middleweight Championship in fight #9 went to John Bartlett with a surprising defeat over Josh Hitsman. Hitsman looked like he got clocked and couldn't quite get back and gave up the TKO to Bartlett due to strikes at 2:24 of Rd. 2. It was great while it lasted.

 Bout #10 brought the fans a nice back and forth with some great moves. But Ben Egli just plain, out wrestled Jason Novelli and took the empty belt for the Welterweight Championship in a Tapout due to Rear Naked Choke at 1:20 of Rd. 3.  Bout #11's Championship Fight for the 205-265 lb. weight class brought the action we all were waiting for; Chris DeLaRocha stepped out immediately and started boxing with 503 West Coast JJ's Damian Martindale. But when Martindale took a hard run at DeLaRocha you just knew it would go bad for him to end up down, under Martindale's impressive bulk. But DelaRocha withstands the assault somehow and stands to exchange a mutual pounding. Martindale goes down and tries to take DelaRocha, clutching and dragging DeLaRocha's leg like a mean dog latched onto a staked goat; DelaRocha resists and moves in on an opportunity to strike Martindale out in a TKO 1:13 of Rd. 2. Chris DeLaRocha is the new FCFF Heavyweight Champion. 

The last fight on a short fight card fills another vacant belt in the 135 lb. class, between Rise Above's Tyler Fryman and Touch M Up's Austin 'Pit Bull' Warner. The two fighters exchanged some relentless action with Kro Cop-style kicks and some brutal volleys. The second and third rounds brought both fighters digging into their tool box for some great boxing and a couple shows of endurance due to the kind of exchanges that separate Rumble at the Roseland matches from all other amateur shows; these two opponents went at each other as good as any Pro fight. But Fryman wasn't taking the action quite as well as he thought as his strategy to turtle up at the end of the third round gave the points to Warner in a Unanimous Decision to Warner, for the new FCFF Bantamweight Belt. A smooth finish and an early night for Rumble 57.

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