The hospitable confines of the River Cree Casino and resort on the western outskirts of the city of Edmonton, played host to the sellout crowd of the Maximum Fighting Championships where Roger Hollett removed the “up and coming” tag from his name and officially indoctrinated his arrival party into the upper echelon of the light heavyweight division. The championship bout scheduled for 5, 5 minute rounds needed just over two minutes to settle, and two left hooks introduced a new champion into the MFC fold.

Victor Valimaki started off the bout well enough and actually appeared to land the first meaningful strikes of the night particularly a wide right that landed stiffly. It didn’t appear to hurt the “Hulk” however, and Hollett kept on coming. Valimaki then attempted a takedown that was stuffed soundly by the Halifax native and from there it appeared to be down hill for the two time UFC veteran who ate a left hook that appeared to stun him and another one that put him down to the canvas. A few hammerfists for good measure forced the “Matrix” to tapout at 2:06 of the first round. On a side note, Valimaki’s right eye looked like it was closed shut after the bout the result of an apparently accidental thumb in the eye.

 Excited about the championship win, yet subdued by conflicting emotions Hollett conveyed his thoughts on fighting a man he considers a friend. “Well you know we are buddies, it is never fun to beat up your buddy but we are in the same business, so as long as the fans enjoyed it we are going to have a beer right now so…” So according to Hollett, it now appears that a rematch is on the horizon on October 13th, this time taking place in Halifax in the ECC organization with both the ECC and MFC light heavyweight titles on the line.

In the semi main event, Ryan Mcgillivray had a taste of the 155 lb weight class for the first time and the outcome was a bitter one for the talented young Procamp member who tasted defeat for the first time in his young 6 fight career. Coming in as an undefeated 5-0 fighter, it looked like the “Kid” was eager to take on the challenge of a new weight class and a more formidable opponent but it appeared that he was just a little bit off on this night.

Sanchez pressed the action early looking to fire off combo’s with his hands in close and send in leg kicks from the outside catching McGillivray with both before getting taken down. Throughout the fight Sanchez was unable to stop the takedown except for very late I n the 3rd round but “The Kid” offense from the guard was limited by the guard of Sanchez who was also very adept and keeping his opponent from passing his guard. Much of the fight played out on the mat with Ryan unable to mount any significant offense and Sanchez working for submissions that wouldn’t stick.

On the feet Sanchez looked to be the sharper of the two especially in the final stanza where Sanchez poured the pressure on a quickly fading opponent. Landing wicked leg kicks and putting combinations together with his hands that had McGillivray on the defensive for most of the latter part of the fight easily giving him the last stanza. In the end the Judges gave it to Sanchez 29-28, 30-27, and 29-28 to secure the fight for the Albuquerque native who moved to 8-4.

Ryan Ford served notice to the 170 lbs division in the MFC that he will be looking to drive over his competition in the welterweight class and drive them into the mat while he is at it. In what was one of the most violent and aggressive displays in the history of the MFC, Ford out wrestled, out muscled, and flat out manhandled his opponent taking him to the ground and punching and elbowing his way into a ref stoppage victory to the approval of a partisan crowd that ate up the action with enthusiasm. With about as much action as you can pack into such a short fight Ford’s thunderous slams incapacitated Randy Valette who was incidentally cornered by the legendary Pat Miletch and eventually the ref was forced to step in to halt the onslaught.

In other action

Brad Zazulak defeated Luke Harris at 1:27 of Round 1. Zazulak caught Harris getting up off the mat with a punch that caught Harris flush and followed  up with a few more for good measure spraying blood all over the mat before the fight was stopped by the referee.

Ryan Heck was able to nullify Mike Bell’s strong stand up attack by taking the fight to the ground and eventually securing the rear naked choke at 3:44 of Round 1. Bell who appeared to be in the best shape of his MFC career landed a good knee to the body before the takedown but couldn’t stay off his back before succumbing to the choke.

Dwayne Lewis sprawled out on a shot by. Clay Davidson got on top, went to the mount and pounded him out at 1:41 of Round 1.

Jason Kuchera was impressive in front of the home town crowd in defeating Steve Dubeck dropping him to the mat with the punch and pouncing on his opponent and landing a volley of punches until the referee mercifully stepped in to stop the bout.

Nick Penner used his superior size to land a right hook that dropped his opponent David Lainof and eventually pounded his opponent on the mat en route to a Kimura victory at 1:57 of Round 1.

Mike Gates was very impressive in his bout totally dismantling his opponent Jason Biggeman taking him to the ground, working him over with strikes and finishing with a tight armbar at 1:23 of Round 1.

In Preliminary action

Mike Sorenson took out Lance Gibson product Josh Fletcher via ref stoppage due to punishment at 4:46 of Round 2 in a back and forth contest where he caught his opponent against the ropes with a flurry of punches forcing the referee to step in and halt the contest.

Jason Randle defeated Jason St Louis student J.C. Cousins at 1:13 of Round 1 ref stoppage due to strikes.

The president of the River Cree Casino Robert Morin, who is also a commission member for the newly formed Combative Sports
commission for the Enoch community, told MMARR he is excited about having more MMA events at his casino and appears to be willing and able to push the sport of MMA in Enoch. This is good news for MMA fans as the more events we have the more the sport grows and the next Edmonton event for the MFC will be MFC 14 “High Rollers” and will take place on November 23rd at the Shaw Conference center.  –MMARR-