'RUMBLE IN THE RING - DISORDERLY CONDUCT' - (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) January 27th, 2007
Presented by PROGRESSIVE FIGHTING ACADEMY
Promoter Brad Wall and Trevor Hardy started the 2007 off with a bang and a strong card featuring Full Muay Thai, Modified Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and MMA bouts. The event was witnessed by a capacity crowd.
Many respected coaches were on hand and this event and added to the professional atmosphere. Coaches included Brad Wall, Trevor Hardy, Mike Miles, Trevor Smandych, Glen Kalesniko, Sincy Outhaivong, 'Noi' Yodkeripauprai, Junior Olsen, and Mike Bonde to name some of those in attendance. It was also nice to see respected coach from the past Cal Fuller at the event.
As is usually the case with (most) fight events, a few problems reared their ugly heads. Brad 'The Brick' Wall was supposed to fight on this event but a few weeks before the event took place his opponent pulled from the event. In the original Main Event, Trevor 'T.N.T.' Smandych was supposed to fight but his American opponent had problems medically in the USA and had to pull out 2 days before the event. The promoters tried to find a replacement but were met with no success. A few fighters were pulled from the event at the last minute due to not having proper medical documentation. Taking this all into account, the promoters still provided a strong card.
The Main Event featured Calgary's Scott 'Pitbull' Clark (Calgary, Mike Miles) squaring off against Toronto, Ontario's Oliver 'All Over' Davis (Siam No. 1, Suchart Yodkeripauprai). These two athletes were tentatively to meet in Calgary on December 2nd, 1996 at 'Icebreaker' in the 4 Man H2H Lightheavyweight Tournament. Unfortunately the December bout did not happen because Davis' medical documentation was not available from his doctor in time for the event. This meant that Davis could not fight. On the day before the scheduled event in Calgary, Davis spent a lot of time and money phoning long distance to persuade his doctor to fax the documents to Calgary but it did not happen. Tonight's event was different. Davis had what was required and the main event fight on this night was to see what possibly would have happened had these two squared off almost 2 months ago.
In the Main Event, the old adage that "styles (of the fighters) make or break fights", really proved true. Would Clark use his 'Pitbull' pressure to get in and work away? Would "All Over" Davis attempt to use his reach to keep Clark at bay? Would these two athletes war? The possibilities of what could happen with this fight had everyone anxious to see what the end result would be tonight. Unfortunately, the encounter of these two athletes was not the action packed bout many expected to see. This is not a criticism of the fighters as both fought hard but where the fight was expected to be contested did not happen. The majority of the bout featured Clark on the outside throwing some solid shots and coming in. Davis did not live up to his nick name 'All Over' and was instead very content to sit back and let Clark dominate on the outside. But the half foot taller and very lanky Davis would let Clark engage, and then use his reach and grab and pull Clark into a clinch. This tactic seemed to take the 'teeth away' from the 'Pitbull'. The problem is that there was not a great deal of successful work in the clinch by either fighter and the bout spent a great deal of time with the fighters tied up close nullifying each others knee attempts. The outside action featured a few highlights. In the opening round a stiff jab from Davis caused a little swelling under Clark's eye but this disappeared quickly after a little work by Clark's corner man. During the first half of the bout, Clark was landing some strong body shots and low kicks but Davis showed nothing. He looked at ease waiting for Clark to engage. In the later rounds, Clark did dump Davis twice to the ground. In the final round, Davis came alive in the clinch and tried to work hard from the knee to the elbow. Clark also landed some very strong shots and a low kick to Davis' right thigh dropped the Toronto athlete to the canvas. Clark tried to finish the fight by working the damaged leg, but Davis covered well and survived until the bell. Clark was to take the fight by unanimous decision. Speaking of 'styles' and just thoughts (no discredit to either athlete), as Davis was significantly taller, Clark could have avoided the clinch altogether. Clark expended a lot of energy here and could have used that energy on his outside attacks. On the other hand, Davis could have been busier on the outside trying to create some damage and score some points to win the fight.
The undercard featured the following results:
- In the Semi-Main Event, Victor Day Chief (Lethbridge, PFA) fought an MMA bout with Marcus Hicks (Calgary, ?). This bout was not as originally scheduled so full information on Hicks is not known. This bout was short as Hicks basically grabbed Day Chief, lifted him and then dropped him onto the ground landing on top. Hicks was to choke out Day Chief for the win.
- Cody Lauscher (Lethbridge, PFA) fought a modified Muay Thai match against Chris Moir (Calgary, Smandych). Lauscher looked strong in the first two rounds, even giving Moir a standing 8 in round one. In round three Moir came back but it was too little to late. Lauscher took the win.
- Mike Musto (Calgary, Smandych) jumped into the ring with Jiri Stolarik (Crowsnest Pass, Olsen). Jiri has not stepped into the ring in over a decade. When he was actively fighting in the past, he was known for his speed and evasiveness. During this fight, Jiri used his really fast hand's to score points and almost landed his jab at will. He also used a few karate style (hook) kicks which caught and surprised Musto. Musto' hands were as fast but he could not counter the jab. Musto landed some very nice body shots with both his hands and his feet. He followed up with some nasty low kicks which took the bounce out of Jiri's legs. Jiri could not answer the bell for round three and Musto walked away with a 3rd round TKO.
- Adam Henderson (Lethbridge, PFA) who has taken a long hiatus from the ring, returned and stepped into the ring with Chris McMillan (Calgary, Arashi-Do). Henderson came out very fast and in the first round pounded away with hard shots to the head and body. But the work rate was exceeding fast and the energy expenditure from Henderson would come back and haunt him in the follow up rounds. McMillan weathered the storm very well and capitalized in round two and three by just being busier. Henderson was never rocked by any of McMillan's shots, but just was too tired and could not keep up with the work rate of McMilland (especially in round three). McMillan took the decision.
- Heavy handed Connor Wood (Trail, Pride Gym) stepped into the ring with Jason Bryant (Calgary, Arashi-Do) in a kickboxing rules match. Bryant who has not been in the ring in quite some time (many years) has a fairly extensive background in Kickboxing fights. Tonight he was stepping into the ring with Wood who did not have as much experience but who has been fighting more recently and consistently. During the opening of the bout, Bryant would fire some nice kick combinations but Wood would immediately respond with strong hand combinations. A strong charge by the punching Wood would reap its rewards as he connected and dropped Bryant for the count in round one.
- In a MMA bout Dan Ferguson (Trail, Pride) stepped into the ring against Clayton Valance (Steinbach, SMO). The bout quickly fell to the ground and midway through the first round Wood secured a joint lock forcing Valance to tap out.
- Seth Grabinsky (Calgary, Smandych) stepped into the ring looking for revenge against Adrian Sutherland (Lethbrdige, PFA). The two had tangled in the summer of 2006. Grabinsky provide some good pressure and landed some excellent punches and kicks to Sutherland who appeared stronger in the clinch. Grabinsky took the decision and posted a win.
- Simon-Ellis Toddington (Lethbridge, PFA) stepped into the ring against Jeff Riggs (Jackson, USA). Toddington was to win this bout.