Battlefield Fight League 16: Downtown Beatdown, lived up to the card title as some of British Columbia’s best amateur MMA fighters put on a great show from the historic Vogue Theater in Vancouver’s downtown core.
The show was headlined by BFL heavyweight champion Adam Santos of Team Narita, who put his title on the line against a very physically imposing Kyle Francotti. In round one, the fighters did their best to recreate a classic Pride match, Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama. Both fighters threw caution to the wind, and came out swinging with bad intentions. Both showed that they had very durable chins.
In round 2, the tides swung in favor of the champion, a jiu jitsu specialist. As the fight went to the ground, Santos secured a guillotine choke and Francotti was forced to tap. It was a great showing by both fighters.
The co-main event was a fight for the vacant BFL middleweight title, which was previously held by Micah Brakefield. Brakefield has made the decision to turn professional. Both contenders, Jer Kornelsen and Ryan Allen of Gracie Barra Vernon, were previous title challengers.
From the start of the fight, Allen smothered Kornelsen against the fence looking for a take down. Kornelsen was able to fend off several of the attempts on his legs, but Allen’s relentlessness eventually paid off and the fight was taken to the mat. Allen was able to take a dominant position in back mount, and was able to knock out Kornelsen with a flurry of punches.
The knockout of the night honor was an obvious choice as Achilles Estremadura of Axe Capoeira and Aegis Althletics made a successful return to the cage after a long layoff. He caught Perry Hayer with a devastating hook at :36 of round 1 that put Hayer out cold before hitting the canvas.
The two fights that had gone to judges decisions could have both taken the fight of the night honors.
Andre Silva, who was in the best shape of his life defeated a dangerous Tak Sasaki by split decision. Both fighters traded significant strikes and the decision could have easily gone either way. A future rematch between the two fighters would be easily justified and entertaining.
The “Prince of Persia” Saeid Mirzaei defeated “Quicksand” Chris Anderson by unanimous decision. Saeid controlled the first and second round with his powerful takedowns and ground control. However, in the third round Anderson was able to secure back control and attempted to steal the fight with several rear naked choke attempts but Mirzaei defended well, reversed the position and finished the fight on top raining down punches. Great fight from two top welterweight prospects.
In preliminary action a pair of submissions and a pair of referee stoppages highlighted some great new talent.
Alfred Leslie defeated Kalen Johl, and Jayden Martin of Franco’s Kickboxing and Pankration defeated Ben Smith, both by referee stoppage.
Bryce Kilpatrick triangle choked Braeden Szlabon and Chad Polson rear naked choked Dwight Joe both in round 1.
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