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MMA: The Reckoning Ontario MMA Kicks Off With First Legal Show at Casino Rama, Orillia
Britto's ahead in this clinch but Young got the love from the judges in Ontario.
ORILLIA, ON – Saturday night at Casino Rama was a landmark event for about 5,000 in attendance at the first legal MMA card in the province of Ontario. While the first UFC is slated for April 30th, a promotion called Knockout Entertainment made it into the history books as the very first to run a card in Ontario.
The card featured such UFC veterans as Chris Horodecki and Josh Burkman, as well as local grappling specialists Misha Cirkunov and Jorge Britto.
Adrenaline MMA team member Chris Horodecki (17-3) wasted little time in taking David Castillo (9-3) to the ground in the opening seconds of their lightweight (155 lb) bout. Rather than use his dominant striking, Horodecki worked for a submission, eventually catching Castillo in a rear naked choke at 4:24 of the first round.
In a closely-contested welterweight (170 lb) bout, Canadian Jordan Mein moved to 15-5 with a decision win over Josh Burkman, whose record now sits at 21-9. Mein succeeded in keeping the fight standing; there were good exchanges, but the impatient crowd had difficulty all night dealing with any minor lulls in action.
Further down on the card, Xtreme Couture Toronto’s Misha Curkunov moved to 4-1 against a game Ion Cherdivara. With just one pro fight and one win on his resume, inexperienced Cherdivara fought like he knew losing was guaranteed, and merely attempted to survive throughout the light-heavyweight (205 lb) bout. Ion was successful in forcing the fight to go the distance by staving off most of Curkunov’s takedown attempts and remaining in a defensive shell during the stand-up exchanges.
Although Curkunov is an accomplished grappler—he was a Pan-American Games Gold Medalist (no-gi super heavyweight division) and North American ADCC Trials Champion—his inability to lock in a submission against a green opponent raises questions about how far he can go in MMA.
British fighter Jason Young (8-3) participated in one of the most riveting fights of the night against Toronto BJJ’s Jorge Britto (12-7) at lightweight. The pair traded knockdowns in the first round, with BJJ black belt Britto scoring an impressive spinning backfirst. Britto kept trying throughout to pull out a submission throughout the fight, but Young deserves credit for defending well. The final round saw Young in total control on the feet—landing shots that had Britto hurt and backing up. Thanks to the damage done with his punches, Young took a decision on the judges’ scorecards.
The well-organized show was free from any problems, and bodes well for the future of MMA in Ontario. Although the UFC sold over 55,000 tickets for a premium card at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, it remains to be seen if there will be good business for smaller promotions across various cities in Ontario.
Knockout Entertainment announced that it would run a second show at Casino Rama on July 19th; no word about which fighters will be on the card yet.
Full results were as follows:
Joel Powell submits Brandt Dewsberry via Rear Naked Choke @ 4:54 of Rd2
Misha Cirkunov defeats Ion Cherdivara via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Jason Saggo submits Taylor Solomon via Arm Bar @ 3:25 of Rd2
Matt MacGrath defeats Dean Amasinger via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rob Hill submits Spencer Rohovie via Arm Triangle @ 1:42 of Rd2
Jason Young defeats Jorge Britto via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Chris Horodecki submits David Castillo via Rear Naked Choke @ 4:24 Rd1
Jordan Mein defeats Josh Burkman via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Brian J. D’Souza is a Canadian writer who has covered Mixed Martial Arts for ESPN.com, FoxSports.com and FIGHT! magazine.
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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score
This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
Photo by naoki fukuda
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