MFC 9 "No Excuses" Full Report

A vibrant sold out Edmonton crowd looked on as Patrick "The Predator" Cote won an entertaining back and forth nail biter with Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald, in what could easily be described as the best fight in MFC history. Described by Patick Cote’s manager Stephane Patry as the fight of the year to date, MFC 9 saw a lot of the action take place on the ground with 6 of 10 fights end by way of various choke submissions.

The first round of the main event started with both contestants entangled in the corner jockeying for position and surprisingly it was Patrick Cote who looked to for the big takedown to start the fight. Cote lifted MacDonald high into the air but the crafty MacDonald latched on a guillotine choke while still hoisted in the air for his first offensive manoeuvre of the contest. Cote waited for the right moment and despite slamming his opponent on the mat he could not shake the hold loose, he continued to work feverishly to escape and eventually jimmied his head out to escape the dangerous submission. Through out the fight Cote showed a much improved takedown defence looked much stronger positionally then he did in the past, getting to mount and working on the back of MacDonald several times during the fight, doing so effectively in the first.

The first round was Cote’s but MacDonald was able to regroup and found himself on the offensive in the second. This would be MacDonald’s best round and early on he found himself on the back of Cote off a takedown and locked in the body triangle and put himself in good position to secure a rear naked choke with four minutes to go in the round. Several times “The Predator” appeared to be on the verge of tapping out but to Cote’s credit he was resilient from the precarious position and despite losing the round fought off the choke well. Heading into the third of a five round fight it looked to be dead even at one round apiece.

The third and fourth rounds were competitive with MacDonald opening a cut over the brow of Cote at one point that the doctor looked very closely and both fighters battled back and fourth in the most fiercely contested bout on the card. The see saw battle saw Cote take the third stanza with MacDonald securing dibs on the fourth and the fighters heading into the final stanza deadlocked again at 2 rounds apiece.

The fifth and final round would decide the winner and that winner was Cote who again surprisingly secured a takedown, took the back and eventually sunk in the fight finishing rear naked choke on MacDonald that sealed the victory as well as the MFC, middleweight belt in the process. In doing so Cote won the third Canadian belt in his collection, the 185 lbs MFC middleweight title, the Canadian King of the Cage 205 lbs belt as well as the TKO 205 lbs belt, a feat not matched by anyone else in the country.

In the semi main event of the evening, Football player Mike Maurer, who won the Canadian MVP in the Grey Cup game for the Edmonton Eskimos, made his MMA debut and won impressively over Darren Apels. “The Wolverine” took the fight to the mat quickly, and drove multiple knees to the body from side control before slipping his knee over Apels torso to navigate his way to the full mount where he let his hands do the talking, pounding out his opponent in the first round. After the fight Maurer told MMARR “It is a little bit different because it is one on one, there isn’t 21-22 other guys out on the field so it is a little bit more of a rush as all eyes are on you.” He took the pressure in stride on this day and the hometown favourite left the ring with the victory and the promise of another MMA day.

Jarid Bussemaker who snarled wildly as the bout was announced, prowled his corner as he glared at his opponent, the hometown favorite Kevin Dolan. Dolan for his part looked calm and collected, but things would not go well for Dolan. Bussemaker got a huge slam takedown on Dolan, worked his way to the mount, and defeated Kevin Dolan via tap out due to punishment in the first round.

In a very entertaining bout Graydon “The Cowboy” Tannis defeated Lance Gibson fighter Nick Perry with another rear naked choke. Graydon Tannis worked on a steadfast ground and pound attack that scored and fought off an armbar attempt that he escaped by lifting up his opponent of the mat and driving his head into the mat to escape. Perry at another point had a tight Kimura on Tannis but he gutted it out, absorbing the pain and eventually escaped from the submission with pure heart and went on to win with a submission of his own in the second, ducking in under a punch, taking it to the mat, and taking the back where he found the fight ending manoeuvre at :57 seconds of rd 2.

Jason Day made quick work of Yoosef Penny with a rear naked choke at 1:00 of round 1. The fight found it's way to the mat and Day was able to use his ground saavy to ensnare his oppoennt in a suffocating rear choke to end the contest almost as quickly as it began in the quickest bout of the evening.

At 3:37 of the first round Mike Bell grounded and pounded his way to victory over Josh Machan. Machan started strong coming out quickly and with a flying attack and followed up with a deep takedown and a flurry of punches in the corner. It was not to be however as Bell who weighed in heavy and missed the 155 pound weight limit, eventually got the top position, took the mount and drove deep punches into the head of Machan that eventually knocked him out and sent the referee in to halt the action.

The only fight on the card to go to a decision saw Tim Tamaki take a relatively close fight over the game Paul Forde. Forde who is a ground specialist, worked his slippery guard sliding in armbar, triangle and oma plata attempts, but he couldn't lock in the fight finishing submission and in the end it would cost him. Tamaki for his part worked a good ground and pound attack and a solid stand up game to garner the unanimous 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 decision after three rounds.

In the third fight of the night, Kent Brown worked what appeared to be a deep choke on Machan who somehow found a way to escape and come back to win the fight. Brown was doing very well going into the third, but Machan was very aggressive coming out in the final stanza firing a volley of strikes that kept his opponent on the defensive and eventually sunk in a triangle choke to get the come from behind victory.

Josh Kyrejto defeated Cory Knapp in the second fight of the night. Kyrejto opened up with a big slam on Knapp and for a while it looked like a bit of a grappling match with both fighters securing multiple identical reversals from the north south position several times over. In the end Kyrejto was able to tighten a guillotine choke to finish the fight at 2:49 of round one.

Neil Berry won the fight of the evening via rear naked choke, a few smart reversals highlighted the fight that Berry won quickly in the first round by taking the back and securing the rear naked choke at 1:11 of the first round.