Freedom Fight: Title Quest Coverage

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Road to Freedom Fight: Title Quest – Recap

Sean McManus

 

The road to Freedom Fight culminated in Gatineau, Quebec on an extremely hot and muggy Saturday night at the Robert Guertin arena.  The fighters weighed in on the Friday at the Hard Rock Café in Ottawa.  In MMA Canada’s first part of the Road to Freedom Fight we introduced Eric ‘Diesel’ Muir who was slated to fight Markhaile ‘ Showtime’ Wedderburn in a 170 lbs contender match.  Earlier in the week we learned that Eric had to pull out of the fight to due an injury sustained during training.  We also learned that Eric will be fighting on the next Freedom Fight card in October and we wish him all the best with his recovery and training. 

 

The other fighter we were following was Robin Black, who was making his MMA debut against a tough Chris Myra.  I spoke with Robin throughout the two days leading up to his fight and he seemed calm and ready to take the plunge into the harsh world of Mixed Martial Arts.  The following is the play by play for Robin’s fight against Chris Myra:

 

Round 1:

 

Robin makes his way to the ring amidst loud boos mixed in with some cheers.  Robin looks relaxed and ready to go.  Chris looks focused while waiting for him in the ring.

 

The stare down during the referee’s instruction is intense.  Both fighters show mutual respect and hook them up.  Robin comes out at the sound of the bell swinging and looking for a takedown.  Chris lands a few solid shots while Robin scrambles to get the fight to the ground.  Chris ends up in Robin’s full guard.  Robin’s guard is wide open, he throws some submission attempts and some elbows from the bottom.  Robin scrambles, Chris lets him stand…they clinch again and Chris attempts to throw Robin and Robin ends up in Chris’ guard.  Robin passes Chris’ guard rather easily and ends up in full mount.  Robin drops some ground and pound from the top, but Chris is really active on the bottom and attempts to bridge Robin and buck him off – Robin retains the full mount and tries to stack up with a high mount and transition into an arm bar attempt and then he transitions into a triangle attempt.  Robin ends up in Chris’ closed guard.  Chris attempts a triangle and Robin passes into full mount again.  Robin is tight on Chris and seems to be looking for some sort of arm triangle because he is not being active from the top with Chris holding his head tight.  The round ends with Robin being in full mount but he was inactive with that last position.  Robin’s nose is bleeding and he’s got a nice mouse under his eye.  10 – 9 round for Chris because of the effectiveness of his striking with the ground work was pretty even.

 

Round 2:

 

They meet in the middle of the ring and Robin misses with a high kick.  Robin shoots for a takedown and they clinch.  Robin lands some nice knees to Chris’ head from the clinch, Chris lands a few knees of his own.  Chris catches Robin with a few nice punches, Robin looks desperate to get the fight to the ground.  Chris attempts a guillotine while Robin takes him down, Chris transitions into a triangle attempt – Robin taps due to triangle choke 1:15 into the 2^nd round.

 

The evening’s fights weren’t without their fair share of controversy.  In the first fight, Mike Walton was in danger of getting choked out due to a rear naked choke.  He was two feet from me and although Stephane Bernadel had his hooks in, Mike was defending the attempt perfectly with his chin tucked and two hands on one of Stephane’s trying to pull out of the choke.  The referee stepped in late in the first round and called the fight.  I am taking nothing away from Stephane who showed some great striking ability with a load of kicks throughout the first round and had the instinct to try and finish Mike after he stunned him.  The controversy seemed to be a theme throughout the night. 

 

In the fight of the night, Ian Dawe from Xtreme Couture in Toronto took on his last minute replacement opponent in Remi Morvan who was fighting out of Ottawa.  Remi took the fight at the weigh-ins after Ian’s original opponent backed out.  The fight went back and forth with Ian and Remi showing some tremendous technical ground work.  They both displayed effective submission defense with Ian pulling out of a tight arm bar and both fighters tossing aside leg lock and rear naked choke attempts.  Ian was devastating with his ground and pound, but Remi stayed calm and active.  At the end of the second round Remi looked exhausted.  Early into the third round Ian threw a looping right hand and Remi took him down into side control and eventually worked to mount with Ian giving up his back.  Remi locked in the rear naked choke at 1:49 into the third round.  The controversy reared its’ ugly head again as there was no tap or verbal submission from Ian – the referee was on top of the action and said he was out to the surprise of Dawe.  Both fighters showed tremendous skill and courage.  Remi seemed to be overwhelmed and exhausted by Ian’s ground and pound but he persevered for the win.  You will definitely be hearing from these two again in the future. 

 

Markhaile ‘Showtime’ Wedderburn played into the crowd’s boos by defeating crowd favorite, Stephan Lamarche.  Showtime displayed some good takedown defense along with some nice stand up work to eventually dispatch his opponent at 2:04 into the second round via triangle choke.  While taking nothing away from Showtime, the referee called the bout again while Stephan was working and active while stuck in the triangle.  As I said before there was no shortage of controversy on Saturday night with Showtime provoking the crowd with his antics and speech at the end of his fight.  Both fighters showed each other mutual respect after the match.  ‘Showtime’ seemingly took a few steps closer to a title shot in Freedom Fight.

 

The media in Ottawa were also focused on the MMA debut of former CFL all star and WWE star, Glenn Kulka.  Glenn is massive at 6’3” while weighing in at 280 lbs.  He is menacing looking and it did not take long for him to outmatch his opponent, Wayne Xilon.  1:13 into the first round the referee stepped in and saved Wayne as Kulka was throwing a barrage of knees, punches and elbows with the fight ending due to a standing TKO. 

 

The night was also highlighted with three inaugural title fights.  The HW, LW and WW titles were up for grabs.  Andre Desrochiers, a Canadian Forces Major, took home the heavyweight strap by defeating Ilya Woronowski via TKO early in the second round.  Andre withstood some vicious ground and pound from Ilya in the first round and came storming back to capture the belt in the second. 

 

Mark ‘Boots’ Holst displayed some dangerous kickboxing skills while en route to capturing the lightweight title by defeating Kris Donaldson.  Kris showed great heart and determination but was coming up short in the stand up game.  Late in the first round it was obvious that Mark’s superior striking was winning him the fight.  Kris was bloodied and stunned at the end of the first round which translated into an early TKO victory for Mark in the second round.  Keep an eye on Freedom Fight’s lightweight champion, Mark Holst – this kid looked really impressive.

 

In the final welterweight title fight, Steven Vujnovic had Jason Motard pinned in the corner and was throwing some bombs in succession.  Jason was covering up and absorbing most of the punishment.  Jason picked his punches well and came out with a left right combo which dropped Steven with the referee stepping in after Jason gave him another for good measure. 

 

Freedom Fight: Title Quest was a success overall.  Robin Black showed tremendous heart by getting in the ring and seeing his quest of becoming an MMA fighter come to fruition, while Glenn Kulka showed the Freedom Fight family that he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.  Ian Dawe and Remi Morvan put on a fight that fans will remember for quite some time to come.  The newly crowned champions have their work cut out for them as some of these up and comers are eyeing their polished new hardware.  The controversy that surrounded some of the fights was frustrating – no one, including the winner of the fight likes a match to be called prematurely.  A few technical difficulties, along with the ring announcer calling every match a TKO stoppage, even if it was a submission win were a few other minor kinks to work out.  However, if the promoter can make some match ups for their next event like some we saw on Saturday night, fans will be in for another great night.

 

Official Results:

 

145lbs. Stephane Bernadel def. Mike Walton via RNC in Round 1

 

170lbs. Rob Tracey def. Nick Portieous via RNC 3:32 of Round 1

 

155lbs. Clint Martin def. Joey Ayres via TKO 1:15 of Round 1

 

170lbs. Louis-Philippe Carle def. Chris Hulme via submission 1:35 of Round 2

 

170lbs. Markhaille Wedderburn def. Stephan Lamarche via Triangle Choke 2:04 of Round 2

 

135lbs. Remi Morvan def. Ian Dawe via RNC 1:49 of Round 3

 

 135lbs. Chris Myra def. Robin Black via Triangle Choke 1:15 of Round 2

 

280lbs. Glenn Kulka def. Wayne Xilon via standing TKO 1:13 of Round 1

 

Title Fights

 

HW – Andre Desrochier def. Ilya Woronowski via TKO in Round 2

 

LW – Mark Holst def. Kris Donaldson via TKO in Round 2

 

WW – Jason Motard def. Steve Vujnovic via KO in Round 3

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