Regional MMA

It has been one calendar year since mixed martial arts competitions were made legal in Ontario and one thing is becoming pretty clear. The Score Fighting Series has established itself as the hottest and most reliable local MMA show.  

The Score Fighting Series is again set to explode on the people of Hamilton and the GTA this Friday March 16th, and the card is stacked with prominent Canadian talent.

This will be the fifth show that The Score has put on in Ontario and they have some great momentum coming off a stellar night of fights on December 10th in Sarnia. In that show, hometown bantamweight wizard John Fraser gained a quick submission victory over Travis Reddinger and Canadian 170-pound multi-title holder Chris "The Menace" Clements paved his way to the UFC with a thrilling TKO over Rich Clementi.

The former UFC veteran Clementi was set to headline this weekend's card in a juicy match up with B.C.'s "Ragin" Kajan Johnson but Johnson had to withdraw due to injury. That blip aside, The Score has delivered on a very highly anticipated return to Hamilton. 

Top five Canadian lightweight veteran John Alessio will look to climb his way back to the UFC against Ryan Healy. Hometown up-and-comer Josh Hill will look to remain undefeated against Eric Wilson and the card is rounded out with established talent like Forrest Petz, Lyndon Whitlock, Shane Campbell and Ryan Dickson.

There have been some very good local shows held in the region in the past twelve months but most have been a one and done with nothing on the horizon to look to. Promotions such as The Maximum Fighting Championship, Professional Fighting Championship, MMA Live and Freedom Fight have all held single shows in the province with varying degrees of success. Elite fight cards have been tough to secure for the most part.

Bellator made it's debut in Ontario in November and is building a solid presence with two more shows set for the market in the next few months. They have been equal to The Score in the talent that they have been able to showcase to the fans, and these two promotions are delivering the type of shows fans want to see.

The entire March 16th card now lines-up as follows:

155lbs – John Alessio (33-14) vs. Ryan Healy (19-9-1)
135lbs – Josh Hill (7-0) vs. Eric Wilson (5-1)
170lbs – Sergey Juskevic (11-6-2) vs. Forrest Petz (24-9)
155lbs – Alex Ricci (4-0) vs. Iraj Hadin (6-3)
155lbs – Shane Campbell (3-1) vs. Derek Boyle (7-5)
145lbs – Lyndon Whitlock (5-2) vs. Corey Houston (4-1)
170lbs - Ryan Dickson (2-0) vs.  Brandon Johnson (2-1)
155lbs – Jason Meisel (2-0) vs. Mike Sledzion (3-2)
155lbs – Adam Assenza (0-1) vs. John Roche (0-0)
265lbs - John McPherson (1-1) vs. Craig Hudson (1-1)
185lbs – Elias Thedorou (2-0) vs. Erik Herbert (3-1)

Tickets for The Score Fighting Series event start at $30 and are on sale now at the Copps Coliseum box office and online at www.ticketmaster.ca. The entire event will be streamed live on thescore.com starting at 7:30pm.

Keep it tuned in here to Bleacher Report MMA for all fight week coverage including interviews, weigh-in video and fight night results

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

If you're looking for some free MMA to watch from the comfort of your own home on March 3, then look no further than the Driller Promotions live web stream of "Downtown Showdown III" on SterlingMN.com.

The event will take place at the downtown Hyatt in Minneapolis. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Central and limited tickets are still available to be purchased through Vitalculture.com. Tickets start at just $30 for this exciting event.

The fight card will feature a total of 12 professional and amateur fights including the main event between two of the area's best when featherweights Matt Veal and Courtney Buck step into the cage.

A few other fights to note include the semi-main event featherweight bout between Mike Plazola and Dan Kiser, a 135-pound grudge match between Brandon Buchholz and Fred Freeman, and Andre "The Diva" Tieva's professional debut as he battles fellow bantamweight Dan Wales.

John Castaneda will also defend his Driller Promotions lightweight amateur title against a very formidable opponent in Mitch Field. 

Here is the final card:

PROFESSIONAL FIGHTS—

145 — Matt Veal (9-7) vs. Courtney Buck (10-5)

145 — Mike Plazola (14-8) vs. Dan Kiser (6-2)

155 — Derek Varin (3-0) vs. Chris McCalister (3-1)

150 — Stephen Watt (4-2) vs. Ben Locken (2-0)

135 — Dan Wales (2-3) vs. Andre Tieva (0-0)

135 — Brandon Buchholz (7-8) vs. Fred Freeman (2-0)

135 — Craig Early (5-6) vs. Floyd Hodges (10-4)

AMATEUR FIGHTS—

155 — Mitch Field (3-1) vs. John Castaneda (7-1)

170 — Branden Bell (5-2) vs. Cameron Gilliam (3-1)

135 — Zac Paletta (4-0) vs. Randy Lene (5-2)

170 — Kevin Rush (2-2) vs. Corwin Nichols (2-0)

180 — James Clark (6-3) vs. John Melina (1-1)

Those in the area should make their way down to the Hyatt in Minneapolis, as experiencing MMA live is a completely different experience than watching it at home. However, it is definitely great to see the technological advancements being put to good use in the MMA world.

Again, the event will stream live at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night, March 3, on SterlingMN.com. 

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.

Home mat advantage turned out to be a key factor for Andrew Elliott at the 32-Man Showdown this weekend in London.  The Adrenaline Training Center grappler and former Lakehead University wrestler defeated Bryan Fedynszyn in the finals to cap off his undefeated day and take home the 2012 32-Man title.

The event was staged inside the Agriplex at the Western Fairgrounds as part of the Sports and Recreation show. Elliott used a great combination of agility, strength and crafty skill to run his way to the finals where he and the bigger Fedynszyn fought a razor-thin five-minute match that needed a sudden death overtime to determine the winner.

In extra time, Elliott was able to secure a solid throw-takedown and hold position for the sudden death win. It was a well deserved victory for Elliott, who currently trains at Adrenaline Training Center under the tutelage of Rowan Cunningham and James Haourt. Ironically, Elliott defeated his much smaller teacher Haourt in the semi finals.

I spoke with Elliott immediately after the event.

"I come from a wrestling background, I wrestled in high school and at Lakehead University. Actually one of my old alumni teammates won the Gi portion of the competition as well."

They are obviously doing something right at Lakehead University Wrestling.

"Since high school I have been training a bit of MMA as well at Supreme MMA in Sarnia with John Fraser and now I'm back down here at Adrenaline in London."

It is clear with his performance on Sunday that Elliott trains well as John "The Haggis Basher" Fraser is one of the best mixed martial artists that this country has to offer. Between training with the high-level talent at Adrenaline in London and training with Fraser in Sarnia, Elliott has aligned himself well to flourish in this sport in the future.

I asked Elliott if this was the toughest test yet for a competitor with his experience and his answer was clear,

"It's all different, it's hard to compare them. Wrestling, you get some very tough tournaments there but I mean you had great competitors here today. The final here was tough, I had to fight for every takedown and then even if I get a takedown I have to defend my arm or he's threatening me with chokes."

This was the third year for The Showdown, which is a unique event in that it is an "openweight challenge" where other events are all divided by weight class. All weight classes were represented well as the semi-finalists were Elliott (165 lb), Fedynszyn (215 lb), Dave Knowles (200 lb) and James Haourt (140 lb) and all matches were tightly contested. 

This is the third "32-Man Showdown" and was created, organized and run by Alex Gasson and Pecker'd Services. The competition pulled in a great crowd for the Sports and Recreation show in London.

Please see the attached video for highlights from the event and a word from the winner Andrew Elliott.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

ONE Fighting Championship’s second show had a little bit of everything, submissions, knockouts, all out wars and...Bob Sapp.

The evening got off to an entertaining start as Agus Nanang and Zuli Silawanto decided to just throw haymakers at each other until someone got knocked out. In the end, Nanang was the first to fall after 48 seconds of a fun fight which probably won't please the purists.

Next up was another Indonesian, Ngabdu Mulyadi who brought a respectable 5-2 record into his fight with Malaysian Peter Davis. The first round was a bit tentative with both men struggling to find their range, Ngabdi got a takedown but ate a few upkicks in the process.

Round 2 was notable only for a right hook from Davis which dropped the Indonesian. The fights should have been finished there and then but to his credit, Ngabdi recovered well as his opponent tried to finish him with ground and pound.

It would have been interesting to see whether the judges rewarded the superior striking of Davis or the takedowns of Mulyadi but the Malaysian saved them that dilemma by sinking in a triangle choke with about a minute left on the round, an emphatic ending to a fairly uneventful fight.

Next up was Irshaad Sayed vs. Jessie Rafols in what I had predicted would be a Fight of the Night contender. The Muay Thai champion came out very aggressively and landed some good combinations. As expected, Rafols tried shooting for the takedowns, but they were easily stuffed.

This seemed to affect the confidence of the Filipino who allowed himself to be backed up, although he did land a couple of counter-strikes. Sayed's stand up skills are world class and he was already starting to score with punches and kicks when a straight right hand knocked Rafold out cold.

As someone who watches a lot of Muay Thai, I always appreciate a good striker and Sayed is as crisp and technical as just about anyone in MMA today. Everything he threw was on point and perfectly timed. His ground game was never really tested but he is big for a bantamweight and looks to be an exciting prospect. Rafols might like to consider dropping down to 125 lbs.

With three stoppages in three fights, the crowd in the BritAma Arena were already having a good time and Geje Eustaquio vs. Alex Silva ramped the atmosphere up a notch or two. Silva is a BJJ expert and it was no surprise when he shot for the takedown. He ended up underneath in a bad position and Eustaquio started to tee off with hammerfists.

When the referee separated the fighters, Silva was bleeding profusely from a cut above his eye but the action was allowed to continue and with his face a mask of blood, the Brazilian worked diligently for a rear naked choke but Eustaquio was able to defend.

This would be a theme throughout the fight as Silva was able to get the fight to the floor but could not quite impose his BJJ skills on his opponent. Eustaquio has a couple of flurries in the stand up where he threw multiple strikes forcing Silva to cover up. In the end this probably got him the nod from the judges at the end of a highly entertaining contest.

Victorio Senduk won a silver medal for Wushu at the SEA Games and had the Indonesian crowd well and truly behind him when he tackled Malaysian Raymond Tiew. The fights started badly for Senduk who was taken down and mounted. However, after a sustained onslaught, he escaped and went for the leg lock.

Tiew looked to be in trouble and when he was eventually able to get back to his feet it was with a grimace of pain on his face. He continued a little longer but the leg lock had done its damage and he was forced to quit due to a knee injury, to the delight of the Indonesian crowd.

The main event started badly when Bob Sapp tapped almost immediately to strikes from Rolles Gracie. There was a certain inevitability to the outcome once the fight went to the floor after Sapp had attempted to land a big knee.

Fortunately, this fight was the only real disappointment of the night and was followed up by an entertaining scrap between Soo Chul Kim and Gustavo Falciroli. They exchanged strikes early and Kim appeared to be holding his own but his determination to try and take down the BJJ black belt cost him and he ended up falling victim to a rear naked choke.

The Korean is only 20 years old and his record falls to 4-3 after losses to Andrew Leone, Leandro Issa and Gustavo Falciroli. Those are three incredibly tough opponents to face at such an early stage in your career and I hope he is allowed to progress a bit more steadily in future because he is a fun fighter to watch.

The big question before Rustam Khabilov vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro was how well would the Russian's Combat Sambo stand up to the Brazilian's BJJ. The answer was pretty damn well, as Khabilov controlled the fight and landed some brutal ground and pound.

Ribeiro never gave up and kept looking for the submission, even when a lesser man might have tapped due to strikes. However, he was simply overwhelmed by the powerful Khabilov, who looks to be a very good prospect indeed and won a clear decision victory.

Honorio Banario had a 6-0 record but had never fought outside of the Philippines before facing Korean Bae Young Kwon. It was expected to be one of the closest fights of the night but Kwon capitalized on a slight error by the URCC Featherweight Champion to slap on a rear naked choke and hand him the first loss of his career.

The main event was one of the best fights ONE Fighting Championship viewers have ever witnessed as Ole Laursen and Felipe Enomoto went at it. The Filipino came out swinging, looking very wild, and got caught with some good shots by Enomoto who had been billed as the inferior fighter.

Laursen showed how confident he is in his ground game by electing to keep the fight there once Enomoto was down. He did this by throwing some flying punches and looking for stomps and soccer kicks although he also had to fight off a couple of submission defence.

Round 2 seemed to belong to Laursen who hit Enomoto with a series of solid left hooks which the Swiss-Japanese fighter just walked straight through. By this stage, Laursen was starting to find his rhythm and started to land leg kick after leg kick to the left thigh of his opponent.

All in all it was a very entertaining night of fights and rumour has it that the next ONE FC card, in Singapore on March 31st, is going to be a little bit special.

Results

Felipe Enomoto vs. Ole Laursen

Enomoto wins via submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 3:49 of Round 2

Bae Young Kwon vs. Honorio Banario

Kwon wins via submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 0:56 of Round 1

Rustam Khabilov vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro

Khabilov wins via decision (Unanimous)

Gustavo Falciroli vs. Soo Chul Kim

Falciroli wins via submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 1:12 of Round 1

Rolles Gracie vs. Bob Sapp

Gracie wins via submission at 1:18 of Round 1

Victorio Senduk vs. Raymond Tiew

Senduk wins via TKO (Knee Injury) at 4:02 of Round 1

Geje Eustaquio vs. Alex Silva

Eustaquio wins via Decision (Unanimous)

Irshaad Sayed vs. Jessie Rafols

Sayed wins via KO (Punch) at 1:49 of Round 1

Peter Davis vs. Ngabdi Mulyadi

Davis wins via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 3:54 of Round 3

Zuli Silawanto vs. Agus Nanang

Silawanto wins via TKO (Punches) at 0:47 of Round 1