MFC 14 "High Rollers" Report *UPDATED*

ENOCH, November 23 - The River Cree hotel and casino played host to the Maximum Fighting Championships 14 "High Rollers to a sold out capacity crowd. In a rather Bizarre main event, “Mr. International” Shonie Carter lived up to his reputation as one of the great showmen of the game coming out to the fight in a robe and crown. He looked every bit the veteran early on, coming out with a nice takedown and working the back looking for the rear naked choke on the unknown Brad Zazulak. Zazulak proved resilient and Carter was unable to capitalize on the situation and it cost him. Zazulak punched from the guard to land a few solid blows, and when the referee stopped them to move them back to the center of the ring after getting tied up in the corner, Carter got up slowly clutching his shoulder. From Zazulak continued his good ground and pound after the restart until Carter verbally submitted to referee Herb Dean due to the injury. It is unknown at time how severe the injury is, but the River Cree Athletic Commission's Dale Kilparchuk told MMARR that Carter had reinjured torn ligaments in his shoulder. It was an impressive win for Zazulak who earned the biggest victory of his career at 2:09 of the first round, but a disapointing way to end an entertaining night of fights.

Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford absolutely dominated his bout with Mike Sorenson on his way to a second round TKO stoppage. In the first round Ford scooped up Sorenson several times lifting him into the air and dropping him on his back. Ford just appeared to be the much stronger fighter engaging in the clinch and firing powerful knees when given the opportunity from the stand up position and dropping hard punches on the mat. Ford continues to be impressive and got the loudest ovation from the crowd on the night despite having only 4 fights to his name. Despite the beating Sorenson hung tough throughout the match but was ultimately overwhelmed by the highly explosive Ford and the fight was stopped at 0:51 of the second. Ford appears ready to take on a step up in competition and could be well on his way to fruitful MMA career.

Ryan "The Kid" McGillivray showed a tremendous heart battling Stjepan Vujnovic but fell short in the end and has now lost 2 consecutive fights in a row. McGillivray started well popping Vujnovic with a solid punch but it was downhill from there as Vunjovic was able to secure McGillivrays back and body triangled him trapping one of his arms in the legs a la B.J. Penn vs. Jens Pulver 2. Most of the first round was spent in this position with McGillivray eating leather to the side of the face and defending rear naked choke attempts with only one arm. In the process McGillivray multiple punches off the ear as it almost exploded with blood leaking everywhere in what could possilby be the bloodiest bout in MFC history. His ear looked horrible, almost minced after the first round but despite blood smeared all over his and his opponents body McGillivray smirked on his way to his corner and came out hard to start the second. Vujnovic was up to the task however and locked in the fight finishing triangle choke at 2:48 of round 2.

Ryan Heck was able to secure his place amont the MFC's 155 lbs elite class but it wasnt easy against Donald Sanchez. Sanchez looked great early on stuffing a handful of takedown attempts and throwing the jab from the outside but it wasnt meant to be, for the New Mexico native. Heck used his superior strength and wrestling to take the fight to the ground and work his ground and pound game. Because of his reach disadvantage Heck had trouble landing elbows on the face of his opponent but he was able to land some solid punches throughout the first two stanza's to move into the third round ahead by 2 rounds. Things fell apart for Heck in the third as he got trapped in a standing guillotine that appeared to sap his energy. From here on out it was all Sanchez who worked hard to find an oppening from the back that would give him the best opportunity for a finish. He transitioned from working on the rear naked choke to pounding his opponent and Heck could only hold on until the bell sounded and the tallies came in 29-28 3 times over in favor of Heck after three rounds.

Ray Penny was able to take out Dwayne Lewis in a Unanimous decision that saw him control the action on the ground when he needed to, nullifying the stand up skills of Lewis and doling out punishment on the mat to outpoint his foe after three rounds.

Ryan Jimmo was able to make quick work of Nick Goetz, taking him down to the mat off a tie up, and softening up his opponent a little until Goetz able to get back to his feet. Jimmo was able to jump on the back from standing position from there and finish with a rear naked choke at 0:44 seconds of the first.

Jason Kuchera simply overwhelmed his opponent David Lainoff firing off a myriad of explosive strikes, including windmilling punches, and hard knees until Lainoff crumbled to the canvas en route to the TKO loss at 0:23 seconds of the first.

Dan Ferguson looked very sharp in defeating Josh Kyrejto in the second bout of the main card, it seemed Ferguson beat Kyrejto to the punch every time, popping his opponent a handful of times forcing Kyrejto to look for the shoot. Kyrejto's lips were bloodied and tried to work his offense but Ferguson looked like he was just a little sharper in all aspects on this night , and he was able to take home the winning effort at 2:51 of round one.

Hometown favourite Sean Wright was able to utilize the guillotine to finish his opponent Dave Logan. Wright started off with a flurry of body kicks and eventually locked in a guillotine off a scramble and sunk it in deep until his opponent passed out and the referee stopped the fight at :42 seconds of the first. In a somewhat scary moment Logan came to, and started to twitch as the referee attended to him but everything was fine in the end and Logan was able to walk out on his own after the bout with no problems.

In Preliminary action

Gavin Neil was able to submit Jason Zorthian with a slick triangle choke at 2:20 or round one. He was slammed twice for his efforts by the game Zorthian who tried to break the hold with 2 big slams but Neil would have none of it and eventually locked in the fight finishing triangle choke to take the fight in the first.

In a wild fight that got the crowd in a frenzy crowd favorite Kevin Dolan marched to war with Jason Biggeman in the second fight of the evening. The wild slugfest saw both fighters throw technique to the wayside in favour of wild haymakers that put both fighters in the pocket for the duration of the bout. Both fighters traded huge bombs and in the end, the back and forth fight eventually saw Biggeman drop Dolan to the mat with a punch forcing the referee to stop the fight .

Troy Sorenson was able to win via Armbar in the first round of a fight that started poorly for Sorenson. His opponent Randy Valette landed a nice punch early that dropped Sorenson but he was eventually able to get the fight to the mat and apply the fight finishing armbar at 2:33 of the first.

MFC 15 "Rags to Riches" will take place on February 22 again at the River Cree Hotel and Casino. On November 24th they will also play host to a Herb Dean Seminar from 12pm-4pm.