The first fight on the main card featured Tom “ninja” Lam making his MMA debut against TKO veteran Steve “the snake” Claveau. Heading into this fight Claveau sported a deceiving 1-5 record due to the fact three of those loses occurred against Sam Stout, Ryan Diaz and Mark Hominick. With the UFC’s #1 welterweight contender Georges St. Pierre in his corner, Claveau was able to get a takedown very early in the fight but Lam countered with a guillotine. However, once Claveau escaped the submission attempt he was able to secure the full mount and worked an effective ground and pound en route to a referee stoppage at 1:18 into the 1st round.

Jarid Bussemaker claimed his fight with Martin Grandmont would be a bloody war and he backed up his statement by opening a nasty cut on Grandmont during a back and forth 1st round, nonetheless Grandmont controlled the majority of the opening round. In between rounds Grandmont’s cut was examined very closely and he was given the green light to continue. During the 2nd round Grandmont landed a beautiful kick to his opponent’s head, Bussemaker tried his best to make it look as though he wasn’t hurt, but obviously sensing his opponent was worse for the wear, Grandmont scored the takedown and in the process mounted Bussemaker from his back and began reigning down punches that prompted the referee to stop the contest at 1:23 of the 2nd round.

Greg Compton moved up 10 lbs to challenge 40 year old Stephane Dube at lightweight, and it was the elder Dube that controlled the stand-up right from the start. Dube dropped Compton with a high kick, and for a moment it appeared the referee was on the verge of stopping the fight. After some hesitation about whether the fight would continue Dube pounced on his downed opponent and delivered a series of unanswered strikes until the referee stepped in 55 seconds into the 1st round.   

Martin Desilets took his undefeated TKO record into the ring against newcomer Stephane Pinet, who was also making his MMA debut. Desilets, who was cornered by St. Pierre, survived an early guillotine attempt and once he escaped the submission he automatically gained a very dominant position on top of Pinet. Desilets was able to maintain top control and eventually took Pinet’s back, securing a rear naked choke for a 1st round submission win.

Brazilian Top Team’s Fabio Holanda battled jiu-jitsu ace Alvin Robinson, who entered the match 5-0 with all 5 victories via submission. Holanda controlled most of the first round, but Robinson did get his opponents back and came close to finishing Holanda with a rear naked choke, as well as an arm-bar just as the 1st round came to an end. However, it was all Holanda in the 2nd as he was clearly the aggressor and was able to get the full mount en route to a ground and pound stoppage near the end of the second round. 

Damacio Page, representing Greg Jackson’s camp out of Albuquerque battled submission specialist and TKO veteran Thierry Quenneville. To no one’s surprise Quenneville was working for an arm bar submission from the bottom, however Page was able to pick his opponent high enough off the ground so when he slammed Quenneville, the Quebec native was rendered unconscious, and Page registered a 1st round TKO (similar to the Rampage/Arona ending).

Page Hamming it up after the fight

In the co-main event of the night Edmonton’s Mike Bell faced the “Sidney Crosby of MMA” Chris Horodecki out of Team Tompkins and to the surprise of most in attendance it was Bell who answered the bell first. Bell rocked the young phenom with some very nice strikes that staggered Horodecki, and eventually dropped him. However, Horodecki showed great recovery and heart as he made it out of the 1st round and came out with a real sense of urgency to begin the 2nd. Bell looked somewhat fatigued and unable to match Horodecki’s energy in the 2nd round was taken down and completely controlled on the ground as Horodecki ground and pounded his way to a TKO stoppage.

In the main event of the night TKO’s new golden boy Mark “the machine” Hominick coming off his UFC debut defended his featherweight title against Shooto’s Hatsu Hioki. Hominick received the loudest ovation on the night but once the bell rang it was Hioki that pressed the action, as he continuously tried to apply a triangle from the top mount inside Hominick’s guard. “The machine” was able to avoid getting caught in the submission but it appeared quite evident that he was not comfortable grappling on the ground with someone of Hioki’s skill. As the round came to a close, Hominick’s trainer Shawn Tompkins was in the same predicament he was in during the previous fight with Horodecki, his fighter had lost the first round and he needed to ignite a spark heading into the second.

Unfortunately for Team Tompkins lightening would not strike twice as Hominick displayed good scrambles but Hioki finally locked in the triangle from the top mount, Hominick was able to reverse to a regular triangle with Hioki on his back with about 30 seconds left in the round. Hominick tried valiantly to hang on as his corner shouted out the seconds remaining in the round, but unfortunately the champion went unconscious just as the round came to a close (very similar to Liddell/Horn 1). The Montreal crowd was stunned and in disbelief with what had just happened, but Hominick showed his true class as he put the belt around Hioki’s waist as he was announced TKO’s new featherweight champion.