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Sarnia, ON - John Fraser applied a rear naked choke
at 2:54 of the first round and got Travis Reddinger
to tap out in the Main Event of Sarnia's first ever
MMA event, Meltdown in the Valley, held Saturday
night at the RBC Centre.
It was the
perfected ending to a high energized night, as the
Sarnia native Fraser won his 10th professional fight
in front of his friends, family and hometown crowd.
It may have only lasted just over two minutes, but
once Fraser got Reddinger against the cage and
turned over, the Sarnia crowd knew the end was near.
"I
expected it to be a little longer fight," said
Fraser after the match. "I got it done quick and
that's the best thing."
Fraser
felt the crowd coming to the ring, and enjoyed the
support and the chance to fight in front of his
hometown. Fraser planned to stay on his feet in the
fight, but once Reddinger hit the cage, he moved in
for the tap out.
"Once it's
on the ground I'm just going to finish it there."
Fraser's
victory capped off Sarnia's first MMA win, but it
took a little longer for the crowd to witness a
hometown victory. Earlier in the preliminary fights,
local fighter Joel Paquette made his professional
MMA debut against Jason Meisel. Paquette spent most
of the fight on his back and would tap out to a
choke by Meisel at 4:16 in the first round.
It wasn't
the debut he was looking for, especially in front of
the local crowd where he caught some
nerves.
"It didn't
go as planned obviously," Paquette said. "As soon as
the fight started I just felt the nerves take over.
I have never had that feeling before. I didn't stick
to the game plan. I was suppose to stand and box, I
ended up shooting. All I know is, that wasn't me."
Paquette
would love a mulligan and a chance to do it again,
and though it is discouraging, he wants to get back
into the cage as soon as possible. But he loved the
experience fighting in front of the locals.
"I loved
it. The energy from the crowd was amazing," he said.
"I've never had that before. The whole stadium
erupting. I loved the support from all the Sarnia
fans."
The 2175
paid attendees watched nine fights that spanned four
hours and were up and ready for every single match.
Craig
Hudson started the night with a victory in his fight
against Blake Nash. Hudson caught Nash with two
knees to the head, sending him to the cage wall
where he would follow up with a fury of punches
until the referee called a stop to the fight at 2:17
in the first round. It was Hudson's first victory,
and Nash's first loss, as this was a rematch from a
previous fight.
The
knockouts kept coming, as Randy Turner knocked out
Clint Kingsbury in the second round, after Turner
spent the majority of the first round on his back,
but in the second caught Kingsbury with punches to
the side of the head, causing the ref to step in and
stop the fight.
Ryan
Dickson got Josh Taveirne to tap out in the second
round of their match, catching Taverine with a rear
naked choke to end the fight at the 4:03 mark.
The main
card fights started with Jesse Ronson getting Torry
Hervey to tap out in the second round. Ronson got
Hervey on the ground in the first round, but
couldn't finish him off later on. Ronson would put
Hervey up against the cage twice in the second
round, sending blows to the head, only to pull out a
choke to end the match.
Misha
Cirkunov won the only fight of the night that went
the distance, winning by a judges decision 30-27
unanimously over Ali Mokdad. The first round both
fighters kept to their fight, but in the second
round, Cirkunov stayed on top, hitting some head
shots but not enough to end the fight. Mokdad had
the advantage in the third round getting on top of
Cirkunov, but it wasn't enough to score the card any
differently, as the Toronto native picked up his 5th
MMA victory.
The local
Sarnia crowd was on the side of Wallaceburg native
Jesse Gross, but the fight was stopped just 1:39 in,
as Gross fell to the mat and Daron Cruickshank
pounced, sending numerous punches to the head,
resulting in the referee stopping the fight, and
Cruickshank earning the TKO.
In the
co-main event of the evening, Dresden's Chris
Clements knocked out Rich Clementi from Louisiana at
3:17 in the third round. The first round the fighter
were mixed together, as they tried to break their
legs free from each others hold. But in the second
round, Clements would get the upper hand, opening a
cut on Clementi above his eye, and pounding him with
punches. Clements would finally finish it in the
third round, hammering him all round with punches to
the head and fianally the referee stopped the match,
as Clements earned his 11 victory by knockout.
"John and
Chris obviously stole the show," said Avant-Guard
Promotions CEO Woodrow James. "They came out and
beat top opponents. It seems impossible that the big
show is not going to take them from us and I
couldn't be happier."
2175 were
in attendance for Sarnia's first MMA event and
Avant-Guard plans to host more in the future, as
the success and turnout of Saturday's event, plus
the reaction from the fans. President Al Duffy says
he can't wait to do it all over again.
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