It is rare when a draw can result in a satisfying outcome, but on this night Blake McVittie and Tate Hacker packed as much action as two rounds will allow going to war in the fight of the night. Both young fighters found themselves in the dominant mount position, and in equally compromising positions throughout the bout as both battled to secure the top at every opportunity. There was no respite for either fighter as they criss-crossed with reversals and traded effective blows for the duration of the bout where both took their lumps. While it deservedly went to a draw, both McVittie and Hacker proved that the early bouts can be as entertaining as main event fights, as they set the tone for the rest of the evening by kicking off the fights at the Eagle Ridge in Langford B.C. in style.

The second contest of the evening proved to be the bloodiest as Kaluhea Laureta battled Ryan Ballingal in the second of three MMA bouts. It was almost all Laureta in this bout as he took the bout to the ground at every opportunity and assaulted Ballingal on the mat with a relentless barrage of punches from the mount that opened up Ballingal’s face spreading red on the ring mat for the first time in the evening. Ballingal was tough, enduring a plethora of strikes and soldiering on, but he could not stay on his feet long enough to connect standing and it would prove to cost him. With the exception of one rear naked choke attempt by Ballingal, Laureta was the dominant fighter taking the unanimous decision after two hard fought rounds.

The third and final MMA contest of the event ended with some controversy as Darcy Hardy secured a victory over Kevin Timothy. The bout started poorly for Hardy as Timothy grounded the fight at will, and imposed his will on Hardy applying multiple submission attempts and scoring with ground-and-pound. While Hardy’s ground skills were limited he proved to be slippery escaping several submission attempts after absorbing some punches on the mat until controversy struck. 

After escaping an armbar attempt, Hardy stood up and punched Timothy, who absorbed the attack and stopped moving. Hardy stepped back, but because referee John Cooper did not see the illegal strike he did not step in to halt the bout and Hardy was forced to throw another strike before Timothy tapped out ending the bout. After the bout, medics came into the ring as Timothy lay wincing in pain on the mat clutching his throat. After the bout MMARR learned that Timothy could not continue because of an illegal throat strike, but on the flip side, Hardy’s cornerman, and the promoter of the event Curtis Turcotte also mentioned two illegal elbows by Timothy. In the end there was no disqualification or no contest, it was declared a TKO victory for Hardy at 3:50 of the first round.

The lone women’s fight on the card was also the most lopsided bout on the card, as Lynell House had her way with Alana Joe who gave up after taking too much punishment. House beat Joe to the punch every time, landing jabs and combinations almost at will throughout the lopsided contest. House even offered her opponent advice telling Joe to “keep your hands up,” while they were fighting, but even that was not enough as House hurt Lynell with numerous combinations until to Joe waved the fight off mercifully put an end to her own bout.

Joe Walker of Island MMA was impressive in the first of two kickboxing bouts on the evening handing Craig Graham a quick KO loss in the first round. It started out competitively as both came out looking for the telling blow and it was Walker who would get it first, catching a kick with his left and planting a right hand on Graham that flattened him to the canvas. Graham showed heart getting back to his feet but Walker quickly swarmed him upon the restart and he was felled again as the towel was thrown in giving Walker an impressive first round KO.

Steve Thorne dominated his boxing bout with Sandy Hompton working a stiff jab and a right cross to good effect on route to punishing Hompton over three action-packed rounds. Thorne was just too much for Hompton on this night, despite Hompton's impressive chin making every effort to prove otherwise. It was a brave effort, but in the end, Thorne - who threw everything including the kitchen sink at Hompton – secured a unanimous decision victory after three rounds.

In an entertaining kickboxing bout Ron Price’s conditioning paid dividends against Kane Ireland who started strong but faded in the second and third rounds allowing Price to dictate much of the later action. Price drove in with combinations backing Ireland up several times per round and it was enough to take the split decision victory over a game but tired Ireland.

In the main event, the silky smooth John “2 Feathers” Williams controlled the bout against Anthony Varela taking the three round unanimous decision victory to cap off the event. Williams was in control from the outset working the body, and going with combinations that found their mark early and often over Varela who tried to defend and fire back to no avail.

As the rounds wore on Williams became more and more assertive and appeared to be on his way to a stoppage victory, but Varela proved to be as tough as advertised absorbing the punishment and firing back as best he could as he endured the full three rounds. 

Promoter Curtis Turcotte will hold his next event titled “Dignity” on July 18th at the Eagle Community Center in Langford.