Jason MacDonald over Joe Doerksen
The first round started with a brief exchange on the feet and it was Doerksen who quickly moved in and secured the nice takedown. From here Doerksen’s jiu jitsu came into play as he sliced through the guard and secured the mount and eventually took the back of “The Athlete.” MacDonald was in a bad position but remained calm and defended the choke eventually working out into the guard where he did the best work of the round. About half way through the round and from the guard of Doerksen he was able to land what appeared to be a nice elbow that cut the UFC veteran on the forehead. The referee called the doctor in to check the cut and the doctor worked on the cut for what seemed like several minutes before they allowed the contest to continue. The action resumed from the same position and MacDonald finished strong working a steadfast ground and pound attack.

Multiple reversals painted the early goings of the second round. Doerksen again secured the initial takedown but MacDonald was able to get back on top into the half guard where he again initialized his ground and pound attack that looked to be wearing on Doerksen whose cut was bleeding again. Near the end of the second stanza Doerksen would have his best chance and what started off as a Kimura off his back, ended up as an armbar but the bell sounded as the armbar was applied and the 3 time UFC veteran saw his best opportunity dissipate with the sound of the resounding bell.

MacDonald controlled much of the third round on the mat, again with the ground and pound that was clearly taking it’s toll on Doerksen at this point. At points he attempted Kimura’s and looked to be working towards a submission but MacDonald smothered any potentially dangerous situations and appeared to be settling into a groove that Doerksen  could not disrupt.

One thing that MacDonald’s management were pushed heavily for was to have the fight be a five by five minute round fight instead of a three round fight, and it proved to be a good strategy as MacDonald was able to get the fight to the mat, secure the back, lock in a body triangle and finish with a rear naked choke in the forth. Doerksen appeared to fade down the stretch and after the cut in the first round did not seem to be able to get off first. MacDonald made a clear statement with the victory and after a four consecutive loss slide has seen his stock skyrocket with consecutive victories over Chris Fontaine and Doerksen. MacDonald gets the tapout victory over “El Dirte” in what has to be the biggest upset in UCW history.

Rowan Cunningham over Aaron Tregear
In only his second fight, things didn’t start so well for Abhaya / Joslin fighter Rowan Cunningham who ate a couple hard leg kicks courtesy of Team Tompkins fighter Aaron Tregear and looked tentative in the stand up in the early goings. He would change his fortunes quickly however, and was able to take the fight to the fence where he was able to get the judo takedown, secure the mound, take the back, and finish with the rear naked choke in a classic striker vs. grappler matchup. After the fight was over Cunningham matter of factly told interviewer Jeff Meszaros about the victory, “He kicked me in the leg really hard, and that hurt, so I wanted that to stop.” Stop it did as Cunningham is impressive defeating the talented Aaron Tregear at 2:38 of the first round.

Kevin Manderson over Alex Gasson
In a competitive first round Kevin Manderson was able to get the takedown, early but was unable to assert an overpowering ground attack over Gasson while he was there, as the round progressed he was able to work himself onto the back of Gasson near the end of the round and worked on the rear naked choke but was unable to find the submission he was looking for. The pace of the fight seemed to slow considerably in the second but Manderson was able to finish the fight with a Rear naked choke at 4:19 of the second round.

Antonio Banuelos over Justin Tavernini
Tavernini fired off a head kick to start that fight that Banuelos blocked, but from then on out the San Luis Obispo fighter who trains with John Hackleman and “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell seemed intent on taking the fight to the mat at every opportunity and did so in scintillating fashion. Banuelos used wrestling to control the bout sending Tavernini careening into the canvas several times in the fight. When the fight got to the mat he pushed him against the cage and fired off hard punches and elbows to the face at a dizzying rate but to Tavernini’s credit he was unfazed and worked submission attempts from his back in between trying to get back to his feet.

Tavernini was able to land a couple of good up-kicks off his back, and landed a few good body kicks in the short time that he had on the feet, but all three rounds played out in similar fashion with Banuelos getting the hard takedown and firing solid accurate punches and elbows on the ground while keeping the stand up fighter grounded at all times. Banuelos did slow down in the third and final round as Tavernini had his best round in the final stanza but it was not enough as Banuelos who took the fight on short notice won the fight in dominating fashion over the rising star Justin Tavernini who didn’t win but showed tremendous heart in the loss and continues to improve by leaps and bounds each and every fight out.

Grant Tennant over John “Fever” Yim
Grant Tennant defeated John Yim in the first bout of the main card via submission in the second round. Yim was aggressive early and applied a guillotine choke at one point, but Tennant slammed him to the mat hard for his efforts. Early in the second round Tennant applied a Kimura from his back after being warned for illegal elbow strikes, and secured the victory at 1:38 of the second round.

Preliminary Bouts

Steve Taylor over Jacob MacDonald
The third Preliminary bout saw Jacob MacDonald take on a fighter with one of the most unique nicknames in the sport. Steve “Gimme half a sandwich” Taylor was very aggressive early swinging for the fences and turning himself around with the force of his own punches. MacDonald on the other hand used a more conservative approach to score early picking his punches and winning the standup exchange. After a takedown attempt by MacDonald, Tayler applied a tight guillotine choke that finished his opponent early in the first stanza.

Tim Tamaki over Sonny Leong
Team Tompkins fighter Sonny Leong lost to Lee Mein’s CMC Lethbridge fighter Tim Tamaki. Leong struck first with the initial takedown to take the fight to the mat, but from then on he fought off armbar attempt after armbar attempt until he finally succumbed to the submission to drop his overall record to 1-8-1. At one point Leong slammed Tamaki on his head twice in an attempt to escape the submission but in the end it would not be enough as Tamaki took the fight at 3:39 of the first round.

Kyle Hobe over Graydon Tannis
If there is one fight that shows the camaraderie between MMA fighters this was it. The night before the event, both Graydon Tannis and Kyle Hobe went out to the movie theatre together, taking in “The Rock’s” sci fi action flick “Doom.” The very next day they both faced off in the UCW cage in a fast paced fight that saw the first Gogo Plata submission I have ever seen successfully applied in the sport of mixed martial arts. Kyle Hobe of team Franco/Behring ate a few punches, got taken down, and appeared to be losing the contest to the Canuckles MMA fighter from Calgary. Hobe would not surrender and before he met his “Doom” he began working on an oma plata from his back, and successfully transitioned into the seldom used submission the Go Go Plata late in the first stanza to take out the always entertaining Tannis at 4:52.

With one fight going to decision and the remaining 7 fights ending via submission, much of the event saw the fighters work from the ground but the crowd in Winnipeg appeared to be very educated about the fights and I didn’t hear the same volume of asinine comments and incessant booing that I usually hear five seconds after a fight goes to the mat. This is good news for MMA fans in Manitoba and with the strongest main event in their short history, the UCW seems ready to grow the sport of MMA in Winnipeg and Matchmaker Kzysztof Soszinki appears to have all his ducks in a row for the event to continue to impress. The Ultimate Cage Wars 4 “Mothers Day Massacre” will see it’s next show take place on May 13th At the Winnipeg Convention Center in Winnipeg Canada and Soszinski tells MMARR it should be their biggest event to date. –MMARR-