MFC 10 Report

Full Photo Gallery of this event is coming soon.

The sold out Shaw Conference centre in Downtown Edmonton saw its third MFC show in a year headlined by hometown fighter Victor Valimaki who took on the game Jason Day from Lethbridge in the main event. Valimaki continued his winning ways with a victory over Lee Mein student Jason “Dooms” Day with the 8th submission in 11 fights on the night. Valimaki appeared to be looking for the judo takedown but Day wanted to stay on his fight and showed resiliency keeping the fight standing for the early goings. Valimaki did his best work of the night from the clinch where he buckled Day with an uppercut from the inside that may have been the difference in the fight. Eventually he was able to take the fight to the ground, take the back and secure what appeared to be the popular submission of the day, taking the rear naked choke for the victory over the game Day.

Valimaki appeared to have broken the jaw of Day, who stayed hunched on the mat after the fight was over with blood leaking from his mouth onto the canvass and told MMARR,  “I think it was one of the uppercuts I got him with, he actually came up and said, that I probably broke his jaw. I think I broke my thumb on his jaw though so we are even.” Valimaki later yelled out “UFC here I come!” and appears to have his eyes on the Ultimate Fighting Championships. 

Jason MacDonald had his opponent change from Tyron Roberts, to Edwin Aguilar, to Neil Berry in the span of a week but it didn’t take him quite so long to choke out his game but overmatched opponent in the first round. Early on Berry looked to create distance and strike his way to victory, but MacDonald closed the distance, grabbed a hold of his foe, and didn’t let go until the referee pulled them apart as Berry tapped from the rear naked choke early in the first stanza. Berry deserves recognition for stepping up in a big way and taking on such a high caliber opponent on 48 hours notice, but lightning would not strike on this day and MacDonald took the bout with relative ease and ttold MMARR after the fight, “I got all the props in the world for Neil Berry for stepping up on two days notice. He doesn’t have nearly as much experience as me but showed some true grit by getting in there and taking the fight.” MacDonald appears to be focused on only one goal, and that goal is to make his way to the UFC. “I don’t know what more to say, I am just going to keep winning fights and surely Joe Silva and Dana White will take notice some day…Anyone who will get me that next step closer to the UFC that is who I want to fight.”

Brazilian Top Team black belt Fabio “The Mastermind” Holanda was looking to even out his MMA record to 4-4 after starting his career at a less then impressive 0-3. Going into this fight, Holanda was probably one of  the best fighters in the world with a losing record, he has shown the ability to compete with the best in the world starting off his MMA career with competitive losses to multiple time UFC veterans Thiago Alves, Drew Fickett, and Jay Heiron, all of whom currently fight at 170 lbs. Holanda has since gone 3-1 with his lone loss coming at the hands of Ultimate Fighter 4 competitor Rich Clementi in a fight he was winning until he gassed out in the third round.

Edmonton native Mike Bell has consistently shown the ability to throw down and gave undefeated Team Tompkins phenom Chris Horodecki all he could handle in his TKO debut, but Bell has had an up and down career of his own and this fight would prove to be the biggest test of his career.

Right from the get go Holanda had as much interest in standing with Bell as Bell had with taking Holanda down. “The Mastermind” dove for the takedown and secured it but Bell was wise to it and promptly popped back to his feet. It would all be for naught for Bell, as the ground game would prove to be dangerous territory for him. Holanda looked more like “The Blob” then the “Mastermind” as he almost enveloped his opponent on the ground, smothering him and transitioning seamlessly from various top positions, to back mount, sneaking in submission attempts at every angle. Eventually Bell was able to work himself to the top position but “The Blob” inhaled Bell’s head and arm to cinch in the ever tightening triangle choke, forcing him to gasp for air and tapout in the first round. It was almost ironic that Mark Pavelich who manages Fabio Holanda pitted his fighter against Bell who is managed by his son Dave Pavelich. It was father vs. son in this match and in the end the elder statesmen laid claim to the first battle as Holanda won the fight in impressive fashion.

In the Rugby match, two rugby players from rival teams faced off in a fight that saw
The crowd get behind their fighters for the first time in the evening. Weafer bullrushed his opponent early looking to take the fight to the mat via judo takedown but Montemurro showed a stubborn takedown defense that bent but never truly broke. At one point, Montemurro and Weafer got tangled up against the ropes and Weafer tumbled out of the ring onto the canvas outside the ropes. When the Melee died down and the fighters were restarted Weafer sported an ugly cut that was bleeding down his face. I am not completely sure whether it was caused by the strike or by falling outside the ropes but in the end it didn’t really appear to have a bearing on the outcome of the fight.

Weafer was having trouble taking the fight down but eventually he tumbled his opponent to the canvass right into the full mount. It appeared that Montemurro would be in trouble but he pushed off the mat and was able to reverse position into his opponents guard where he would find the daylight he needed to mount his first significant offense of the fight. From there he pummeled down on Weafer with accurate punches, eventually he passed to full mount where it was only a matter of time before the referee leapt in to stop the onslaught.

Chad Hamzeh returned to the MFC to take the early submission victory over Tim Tamaki. Hamzeh was able to take the fight to the ground and worked some steadfast ground and pound from the guard. Tamaki showed that his arsenal of tricks is ever growing and was able to reverse position and take the top position where he dropped some effective elbows of his own. Hamzeh’s ground game would not be denied on this night however, as he snaked his legs up and eventually strangled Tamaki’s arm securing the tight armbar and forcing the tapout from Tamaki who grimaced in pain as the referee separated the two fighters to end the bout.

Brian Constant was able to prolong Nick Perry’s losing streak knocking out his opponent with a stunning KO punch to bring the crowd to a rousing frenzy. He was able to knock Perry to the canvas twice in the first round, as well as work what appeared to be a tight guillotine, but Perry showed some heart in recovering from the first knockdown, regaining his faculties to trek on but the left hook bomb that would prove to be the final knockdown, was too much to overcome and Constant followed up with a salvo of strikes that prompted the referee to step in and halt the action. At 2:06 of round 1.

Ryan McGilvray stopped Dave Pogson working him over to the corner, taking the mount and securing the Rear Naked Choke to get the win in the first round.

Dan Chambers took about 3 quarters of a minute to find his range and make his mark over his much taller, lankier opponent. The fight would be over by the 1:00 mark of the first when Chambers found his range and connected with a looping punch that felled his opponent. Chambers followed up with a volley of punches from the ground forcing the referee to object to any further punishment and step in at 1:00 of round one.

Paul Boyd would lose to Garrett Curran who is a blue belt under BJJ black belt Josh Russell. Curran was able to avoid the early flying knee attempt and eventually took his opponent down and secured the dominant crucifix position trapping both of Boyd’s arms in a position reminiscent of Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton 2. Boyd was resilient however and eventually jimmied his arms free but in the end Curran would be able to sink the armbar and finish his opponent at 1:58 of the first round to add another first round submission to the MFC 10 docket.

Joshua Fletcher was able to secure a tight rear naked choke on Kent Brown to notch a nice victory over the MFC veteran in an entertaining back and forth battle that saw both fighters get the crown going. After a tie up in the corner, Fletcher was able to fall on top of Brown right into the mount and dropped elbows and punches that forced his opponent to turn over, that would prove to be the opening he needed and he was able to sink in the rear naked choke for the win at 4:24 of the first round in a fight that would prove to be the longest fight of the evening.

Josh Krejto won the rematch with Corey Knapp in the first stanza with the same guillotine that he finished his opponent with the first time around. Krejto kicked off the first fight of the MFC with a bang, catching Knapp with a big flying knee to kick start the card. Knapp proved resilient, shaking the cobwebs and even securing a takedown but it would prove to be his undoing as Knapp secured the neck and would hold on for the submission at 1:25 of the first round. 1:25 of the first round.

Submissions were the name of the game on this night as 8 of 11 fights went the way of the submission.  MFC president Mark Pavelich has clearly done a good job cultivating the MMA market in Edmonton, and has now sold out his show at the conference centre for two consecutive shows. This feat is all the more impressive considering it competed head to head against the biggest non playoff football game of the year with the Edmonton Eskimos taking on the Calgary Stampeders in the Labour Day Classic that very same evening. Speaking of the Edmonton Eskimos, the next show, MFC 11 is set for February and is rumored to have the Edmonton Eskimo’s grey cup MVP Mike Maurer making his second MFC appearance, and Adam Braidwood making his MMA debut, alongside Victor Valimaki, Fabio Holanda and of course hometown hero Jason MacDonald rounding out the card. The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers were also represented in the crowd with Matt Greene, Alex Hemsky, Jerret Stoll, Jeoffry Lupol, and Raffi Torres, along with several members of the Edmonton Rush of the national Lacrosse league all rumored to be in attendance at the event.  –MMARR-