MFC 12 Report

An interesting night of fights in Edmonton was capped by Scott Junk winning the first ever MFC Superheavyweight crown. In one of the more bizarre fights in recent memory Scott “The Punk Haole” Junk continued his march to the UFC with a win over Jimmy “The Titan” Ambriz. Early on in the fight Ambriz was able to get a nice hip toss on Junk but was unable to capitalize on position. Junk was able to work his guard and scramble back up and although only a short period into the fight, Ambriz, who took the fight on relatively short notice, already seemed to be fading. Ambriz looked very strong in the early goings in the tie up, but as the fight went to the clinch Junk landed a knee to the groin of Ambriz that crumbled him to the mat.

Ambriz winced in pain and a bucket was even brought for him in case he vomited but nothing came of it and Ambriz was given the full 5 minute break to rest while he recovered from the groin shot. From here on out it was downhill for him as Junk turned up the heat landing strong shots to the face of Ambriz, he also ate one of his own for his efforts that briefly knocked him down before he sprang right back to his feet, but Junk appeared to have the match in control as the fight wore on. The end of the round closed with Junk landing knee’s to the thighs of Ambriz in the corner but after the next round was set to start the fight was called as Ambriz couldn’t or wouldn’t continue for the next round. Junk was declared the winner due to abandonement and took the Championship belt to be come the first superheavyweight champion of the MFC.

MMA Ring Report spoke with Ambriz briefly following the fight but the ring official would not allow us to speak very long as he was led to the doctor for a check-up. In the end Junk was able to use his superior footwork and cardio to lead him to victory and the first championship belt of his career in the main event.

In the semi main event of the evening, Roger Hollett continued his winning ways making short work of Shane Biever knocking him out at :16 seconds of the first stanza. Hollett landed a clean left hook in the first meaningful exchange of the fight and Biever fell to his knee’s with his hands down stunned and completely defenseless, out. The ref didn’t step in so Hollett landed another short shot that felled his opponent for good to close out the quickest fight of the night. Biever attempted to walk out on his own accord before he was ready and nearly fell out of the ring for his efforts! A stretcher was brought out for him by the ringside paramedics but he eventually gingerly walked out on his own steam to the applaud of the crowd. Hollett has looked extremely impressive of late and appears to be on a collision course with Victor Valimaki in a future MFC event for the light heavyweight crown, possibly on August 24th at the River Cree Casino.

Cornered by UFC veteran Patrick Cote, Fabio Holanda used his strong ground and pound tactics to take out the durable and game Shaun Krysa in the second round of their fight to get back on the winning track. Holanda was able to show a solid punching arsenal landing some solid shots to the face of the previously undefeated Krysa and took the mount and pound victory in the second stanza via ref stoppage. After the fight and at the post fight press conference Holanda asked the MFC president Mark Pavelich to put the 155 lb lightweight belt on the line for him to fight for, it remains to be seen if Holanda will indeed fight for the belt.

Ryan McGillivray was able to eek out a razor thin decision over the always entertaining Graydon Tannas via split decision after three rounds of back and forth action in the fight of the night. This fight was an entertaining affair with both fighters working diligently to finish the fight and in the end 2 of 3 judges saw it in favour of McGillivray and Tannas who lost the fight took home the MMARR fighter of the night award for his efforts. MMA Ring Report scored the fight for Tannas by the thinnest of margins but it was a close decision and could have gone either way.

The semi main event that was set to see UFC veteran Victor Valimaki face Marcus Hicks never happened as Hicks reportedly broke his hand the day of the fight punching the mat too hard and was forced to drop out due to what the athletic commission described as a broken hand. MMARR did not have a chance to speak with Hicks and it is unknown at this time what he was doing punching the mat so hard in a warm up session with only hours to go before the biggest fight of his career. 

The second quickest fight of the evening saw Jason Zortian get his revenge over Kevin Dolan in a fight that appeared to have some real animosity. Zorthian quickly took the fight to the ground and secured a nice armbar to win the fight at :35 seconds of the first. After the fight Zorthian looked down over his Dolan and celebrated. Dolan didnt like it got up and pushed Zorthian across the ring after the fight was over and reportedly secured himself a 2 month suspension from the commission for his efforts. Edmonton Commisioner Dale Kliparchuk told MMARR it was the second such infraction on his part thus warrenting the suspension. Dolan pushed Zorthian twice, once at the weigh ins and once after the fight but it was the Roger Machado blue belt who got the win when it mattered.

The entertaining event saw it’s fair share of odds and ends but in the end it was an entertaining effort and that is what matters. The next MFC aptly titled "Lucky Thirteen"  takes place at the River Cree Casino on August 24th and is rumored to have a main event featuring Victor Valimaki taking on Roger Hollet in the main event with the Light Heavyweight crown on the line.

In other action

Jason Biggeman defeated Gerry Johnson in a battle of firefighters, with Biggeman taking the win by almost tearing his opponents arm off with one of the deepest Kimura's in recent memory.

Andrew Buckland defeated local favorite and the man with possibly the loudest cheers of the night, Sean Wright via Guillotine choke in the second stanza.

Ryan Ford beat Aaron Gallant in another fight that was a potential fight of the night candidate with Ford, a man who Victor Valimaki told MMARR trained only a matter of weeks in MMA gritted out a wild and aggressive fight with both fighters puttin on a show for the fans.

Josh Kyrejto defeated Dillon Walton by executing a beautiful reversal right into mount and stopping the game Walton with strikes from the mount.

In preliminary action, Josh Gallant defeated Justin Graber in the first round and Brad Zazuak took out Ron McNulty also in the first.