VANCOUVER- UFC 160 wasn’t the only place to watch entertaining fights this past evening of Saturday, May 25, 2013. Battlefield Fight League was back in the scenic Vancouver Convention Centre with their 23rd show. This time, the main event crowned a brand new welterweight champion in spectacular fashion, through a scheduled 5 round bout between Kelowna’s Kyle Warman and Maple Ridge’s Bryce Gougeon.
In the first round, Gougeon shot for the early take down and was able to secure physically imposing Warman to the canvas. Then the majority of the round was spent with Warman attempting to regain guard from Gougeon’s side mount.
The next round looked like it was going to be more of the same as Gougeon secured another take down at the top of the round. This time though, Warman powered through the side mount and was able to sweep to standing in Geougeon’s full guard. As Warman started to pass, Gougeon decided to attempt a leg lock, but Warman was having nothing of it, punishing Gougeon with a storm of punches. Like a pitbull, Gougeon would not let go of the submission attempt until the end of the round, but paid for it with some noticeable damage to his face.
Round three brought both combatants to the centre of the ring, as they threw caution to the wind with a rock, em’, sock em’ robots style exchange of punches. No advantage was taken by either fighter in the exchange until Warman changed the pace with a devastating knee that powered straight through Gougeon’s midsection. The blow crumpled Gougeon and forced the referee to step in and stop the fight.
Warman extends his record to 7-0 with an huge exclamation point and a new belt around his waist.
The co-main event brought two game fighters together in a battle for the featherweight number one contender spot. Cleve Bentley of Toshido MMA took on former featherweight champion Andre Silva of Titan MMA. Bentley controled the first round with strong takedowns and ground positioning. The second round saw Silva land several kicks and punches, one of which had Bentley on wobbly legs, but the Toshida MMA product was able to survive until the end of the round.
An unfortunate turn of events came between rounds 2 and 3 as the doctor was called in to look at Bentley’s hand. He had broken a bone in his hand with a punch that landed on top of Silva’s head. The doctor deemed Bentley unable to continue, thus awarding Silva the win, and one step closer to his goal of another title.
Other notable fights:
West Vancouver Martial Arts’ Curtis Harriott defeated Brett Lucero in round one by submission. Lucero attempted to control Harriott on the ground when Harriott eased in with a slick rolling armbar that no one ever saw coming.
Universal MMA’s Kirk Tse got back into the winner’s circle with a masterful technical display of kicks, superman punches, take downs and strategy that would make Georges St. Pierre proud, as he defeated Bradley Nicholson by unanimous decision.
Also from Universal MMA, Nick Ghaeni put the featherweight division on notice as he rag dolled Will Shutter before pounding him into submission with strikes in round 1. The highly touted wrestler turned MMA fighter used sharp boxing to set up a belly to back suplex that rattled the Battlefield cage.
The evening began with an exciting BC amateur debut of Titan MMA’s Rafael Escobar against a very tough Martie Wyse. Escobar through multiple head kicks attempting to keep Wyse at bay for the first 2 rounds but Wyse was able to land strong knees to Escobar’s body. Escobar put his 10th Planet BJJ blue belt to good use as he took Wyse’s back from standing, took the fight to the ground with a leg sweep and secured a slick Rear Naked Choke to win the fight in the third round.
MMASucka.com’s BFL 23 Three Stars:
1. Kyle Warman
2. Curtis Harriott
3. Rafael Escobar
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