Friday night in Edmonton was a big night for the Maximum Fighting Championship as the organization, in front of a capacity crowd at the Mayfield Trade Centre, crowned a new welterweight champion as Nathan Coy defeated E-town’s own Ryan McGillivray in a vicious and bloody fight . In other action, a stellar back and forth battle between Mukai Maromo and Adam Lynn, which resulted in a controversial decision, set up an August rematch between the two for the MFC’s currently vacant lightweight title. It was a night of entertaining fights, some odd outcomes and some unfinished business being left on the table, and here’s how it all went down…
Main Card:
Ryan McGillivray vs. Nathan Coy
Heading into the MFC welterweight title bout it looked like this would be a ground battle pitting wrestling against Brazilian jiu-jitsu and that is just how it played out. With both fighter relatively evenly matched on the feet, it was surprisingly McGillivray who initiated the first takedown attempt of the evening, after the two men had felt one another out. McGillivray’s decision to try and take the fight to the ground turned out to be his downfall as Coy, who trains out of ATT in Florida, used his wrestling pedigree to control McGillivray on the mat and used his knowledge of submission defense to deftly slip out of any submission attempts that McGillivray threw up at him. Coy’s weapon of choice on the ground was short elbows which he used to badly batter and bloody McGillivray in the first round as he opened up a deep gash on his foe’s hairline which bled like a ruptured pipeline forcing the referee to bring in the doctor to check it out in both the first and second rounds, the physician on both occasions deemed McGillivray able to continue fighting. The third round played out just as the first two will Coy savagely raining down elbows and punches from on top of his grounded opponent, whom he seemingly took down at will, with McGillivray unable to latch on any submission as both fighters were slick as ice from being covered in sweat and McGillivray’s blood . At the end of the third frame a visibly dazed McGillivray struggled to get back to his feet and had to be helped back to his corner. The referee once again called in the doctor to assess McGillivray’s ability to continue fighting, however, this time the doctor decided that he was in no shape to continue with the bout, thus crowning Nathan Coy as the new MFC welterweight champion.
– Nathan Coy def. Ryan McGillivray by doctor stoppage at 5:00 of round 3
Mukai Maromo vs. Adam Lynn
Maromo demonstrated throughout this bout that his Muay Thai striking skills are something to be feared as he lit up Lynn’s legs and midsection with vicious kicks right from the bouts outset, however it was Lynn who drew first blood as he dropped Maromo with a stiff left hook. Lynn followed his pray to the ground but was unable to seal the deal as Maromo quickly recovered his wits, though Lynn still layed a vicious beating on the “African Assassin”, landing several damaging elbows from the top that had his foe badly bloodied by the end of the first. In the second it was Lynn who came out firing on the feet landing several hard kicks and punches before taking Maromo to the ground. On the mat this time though it was Maromo who landed some hard elbows from the bottom that allowed him to escape back to his feet where he continued to assault Lynn with knees. Lynn though smartly took the fight back to the ground where he controlled Maromo for the remainder of the round. The third round played out much like the first two with each fighter landing a variety of damaging strikes on the feet, with Lynn eventually deciding to take Maromo out of his element by taking him back down to the mat. In the end it appeared Lynn was set to walk away with the win having apparently won at least two if not all three rounds in the fight. But to everyone in attendances shock, and the local fans pleasure, Maromo was awarded the split-decision victory as the judges apparently gave more weighting to damage inflicted by Maromo’s strikes in the third round then they did Lynn’s takedown and positional control. After the bout it was announced that Maromo would compete for the vacant MFC lightweight title in August, however subsequently at the press conference it was announced by Mark Pavelich that both men would in fact compete for the title in a rematch then at MFC 34. That bout promises to be one of the mostly highly anticipated re-matches in Canadian MMA in quite some time.
– Mukai Maromo def. Adam Lynn by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Luke Harris vs. Edwin Dewees
This bout was highly anticipated by those in the crowd as it was seen as a step up in competition for Harris, who runs the Hayabusa Training Centre in Edmonton, but in the end it turned out to be anything but as Harris quickly imposed his will on Dewees. After Dewees got things going with a few thundering leg kicks, Harris tied him up in the clinch and used his high level judo to quickly trip his opponent to the mat. Once on the ground it was all Harris as he held Dewees down and moved into mount where he synched in a crushing guillotine choke which quickly forced Dewees to tapout.
– Luke Harris def. Edwin Dewees by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:05 of round 1
Andrew Buckland vs. Jamie Toney
This 15 minute affair was back and forth in every aspect of the fight, with each fighter having their moments of dominance on the feet and ground. However it was Bas Rutten protégé Toney who was able to dictate where the action to place throughout the bout as the he and Buckland battled it out. On the ground Toney was able to land damaging strikes, though Buckland continually reversed Toney as the action went back and forth. It was a similar story on the feet as Toney was able to get off the cleaner strikes, though Buckland proved a game opponent who landed several nice kicks and punches throughout their tussle. In the end, it was Toney’s ability to get off first and dictate the fights pace that earned him a had fought unanimous decision.
– Jamie Toney def. Andrew Buckland by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Sabah Fadai vs. Diego Bautista
Both fighters were chomping at the bit to get this fight going and once it started it was Bautista who first connected with a combo before Fadai landed some vicios leg kick which Bautista returned in kind. As Fadai clinched up forcing his opponent to the ropes he landed a gut busting knee to the body that dropped Bautista, Fadai got a little over anxious and followed up the strike with another knee although this one was to head of his downed opponent. The strike caused the referee to stop the action and have the doctor check out a visibly dazed and confused Bautista, who unable to even stand up, was deemed to be unable to continue the bout. At the post fight press conference MFC President Mark Pavelich stated that the two mixed martial artists will rematch in August at MFC 34.
– Diego Bautista vs. Sabah Fadai is ruled a no contest in round 1 (illegal knee to the head)
Jared McComb vs. Derek Parker
It was grinding affair for the first two rounds of the bout as Parker showed that he held a considerable striking advantage that caused McComb to hold his opponent against the ropes repeatedly looking for takedowns which he was eventually able to secure with much effort. On the ground McComb was able to control Parker’s position but did little damage. It was on the mat though that this fight was decided as Parker landed an illegal upkick while McComb was in his guard that opened a cut on McComb and cost Parker a one point deduction in the first round. By the third, with the bouts outcome still in doubt Parker went back to his bread and butter as a former hockey enforcer and started throwing haymakers o’plenty hoping to finish the fight with one lucky strike, while McComb looked to take the fight back to the mat which he was able to do. Unfortunately for him Parker landed several hard strikes from the bottom before reversing the position taking mount and transitioning to McCombs back and sinking in a rear naked choke just as the bout came to a close.
– Jared McComb vs. Derek Parker is scored a draw (28-28, 28-28, 28-28)
Preliminary Card:
Matt Jelly vs. Garret Nybakken
After trading some strikes Nybakken secured a single leg takedown which he used unsuccessfully to secure a guillotine choke. On the ground it was all Jelly as he effectively used his rubber guard to nearly end the fight via gogoplata on three occasions, however as he was unable to do so on his last attempt his swiftly transitioned to an Armbar which quickly elicited the tapout from Nybakken.
– Matt Jelly def. Garret Nybakken by submission (armbar) at 2:01 of round 1
Mike Scarcello vs. Josh Kitchen
Kitchen landed a solid combo and body shots early on that softened up Scarcello for a takedown. Once on the mat Kitchen landed some hellish elbows that cut Scarcello and had him bleeding profusely from the nose. Scarcello managed to reverse the position but just as he did so Kitchen slapped on a triangle choke from the bottom, forcing Scarcello to tap.
– Josh Kitchen def. Mike Scarcello by submission (triangle choke) at 2:27 of round 1
