Robert Drysdale submits Bastien Huveneers

The championship belt has officially left the building.

The Armageddon Fighting Championships first-ever title went to Ultimate Fighter and UFC veteran Kalib Starnes (11-5-1), who snagged an armbar submission victory over up-and-coming Nick Hinchliffe (15-6) to claim the belt at the Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria, B.C.

The fight started well for the heavy-handed Hinchliffe who had Starnes on his back and absorbing some ground-and-pound, but Surray's Kalib Starnes snaked his legs up and claim Hinchliffe's right arm and induced the the fight-finishing tapout with a nice armbar to bounce back from a submission loss to Falaniko Vitale and take the belt to the Mainland.

Only a minute of cage time is hardly enough to see whether a fighter will one day be a force in MMA, but Robert Drysdale proved his jiu jitsu is well suited to a smooth transition into mixed martial arts. The jiu jitsu coaches for former UFC Champion Frank Mir, was impressive evading a quick combination from Bastien Huvaneers (8-3-1) ,  quickly dragged the bout to the canvas, moving deftly from the mount, to side control, to an arm-triangle submission against the cage to win his MMA debut.

Drysdales submission against the fence was somewhat reminiscent of Frank Mir's first bout in the Octagon when he spun for an armbar with little room left against the cage against Roberto Traven. Drysdale set up the arm triangle beautifully and jumped over the body with almost no room left against the cage to turn into the choke, but induced the tap from the veteran to mark his first foray into the cage with a victory over a fighter with over 10 MMA bouts.

Nick Driedger chokes Baz Cunningham

Nick Driedger (4-1) was absolutely dominant against the undefeated Baz Cunningham (5-1) battering his opponent with his boxing, slamming him to the mat and slapping an old-school guillotine choke onto a kneeling Cunningham to secure the tapout and his third-consecutive victory. 

Mike Hackert (4-0) was able to secure a methodical but uneventful unanimous decision victory over the game Dan MacIver (6-2) over three rounds (30-27, 30-28, 30- 28). After a very close first round, Hackert was able to assert his wrestling prowess on MacIver who was unable to stop the takedowns or secure a submission. While neither fighter was able to really damage the other, Hackert was able to control the pace of the fight enough to gain the victory on all three judges cards.

Zuma product Diego Wilson (5-0) was impressive enroute to a referee-stoppage submission victory over Dan Lin (2-1). Wilson got the better of a couple of wild exchanges between the two fighters getting the bout to the mat with a twisting takedown and quickly maneuvered to the full mount. Dropping numerous unanswered blows to the head, he scooped the left arm and cranked the armbar prompting referee Mac Danzig to stop the bout. While the stoppage did appear to be a second or two on the early side, Lin's arm was bent backwards and Lin appeared to have nowhere to go.

Justin Shaw's (2-0) fights seem to bet getting shorter as the Canadian Football League veteran rampaged his way to an 18 second victory over an over-matched Rob McCormack (0-2) early in round one. Shaw cracked McCormack with an early right hand sending the fight to the mat where Shaw dropped a number of unanswered blows from the mount before the verbal submission came sending Mac Danzig in to stop the bout.

Misha Cirkunov (2-1) reasserted himself as a promising up-and-coming fighter finishing short-notice replacement Shawn Pauliuk (0-4) early in the first round via ground and pound referee stoppage.

Future shop employee Derek Medler (3-0) continued his ascension with another dominating ground-and-pound victory over Myles Dearden in the first round. After missing an early guillotine attempt, Medler got back to his feet, muscled the fight to the ground to gain the top position and finishing by pounding away at his opponent from back mount until referee Mac Danzig stepped in to stop the bout.

Darcy James (4-3) was impressive taking out Connor Wood (1-2) in the first round. James rocked Wood several times standing before dropping Wood to the mat and following up with punches until the referee stepped in to stop the bout.

Dajan Kajic (1-0) was able to stay away from the big right hand of Adam Gabel (1-2) long enough to get the fight to the ground and sneak in a fight ending rear-naked choke in round 1.

Local favorite Keri Scarr (1-0) stopped Sarah McLeod (0-1) in an action-packed affair where the local gym owner stayed on her feet to control the early stand up exchanges and batter the undersized McLeod with punches when it hit the ground. McLeod winged hard shots and tried everything she could to drag the bout to the mat but accrued too much damage in the first to answer the bell for the second round.

Theo Brisley (3-2) was able to get the come-from-behind victory over the hard-hitting Iury Aquino (1-1) with a guillotine choke at 1:15 of the second round. Aquino had the upper hand in the first stanza shucking off takedown attempts and firing off hard combinations, but Brisley was able to turn the tide in the second finishing with a guillotine to secure the victory.

The first fight of the night proved to be the best fight of the night as Dan Ring (0-0-1) and Conner Riddell (1-1-1)  went to battle in a three-round slugfest that had both fighters taking and losing advantage throughout the bout. Conner Riddell appeared to have a slight advantage going into the third round but in the end the bout was ruled a draw, and a rematch may be in order for the two game competitors.

The Armageddon Fighting Championships returns to the Bear Mountain Arena November 6.