Magazines off the combat for the battle RK the column 26 June night 2010

In the first fight of the night in the ballroom at the Pinnacle Hotel in North Vancouver, Leemar Halim of Total Kombat Academy went against Vik Johal from the Lion’s Den for a full 3 rounds of kickboxing. The first found was fast paced and the next were more paced. In a fight with flying mouthguards and high kicks, the judges scored it close enough (28-28, 28-28, 29-27) to be declared a draw. Halim was the more composed fighter of the two 135 pounders it seemed.

A very impressive mma match featured lightweight Daniel Waterfall of Team Aikki in Chilliwack who is coached by Sean O’Halleran, a very good Jiu-Jitsu coach. He was against Mason Fehr from FAIRN Ultimate Fighting in Burnaby. Waterfall won convincingly by ref stoppage 1st round TKO at 2:29. Waterfall went for shoot right away, dominated, pushed into the corner, was still kicking after fighters were brought up, kept pressure on until the end where he could mount and pummel.

Joe Halfar from Posener’s and Houtan Ali Koshani KB-ONE were in a 155lb Muay Thai match in the third fight. This evenly matched fight went the distance but Joe showed he was winning it mentally with a front kick knock down in the dying seconds of round 2. The judges, however, had trouble with their decision and finally settled on a split decision for Joe.

Aaron Shin of Revolution Fight Team Langley, was set against Sparky Makrenko Wuji Systems for a lightweight MMA fight. Shin would win by TKO in the first round by way of a solid knee strike, having already delivered several strikes that way, lots of boxing and scrambles to the ground and back to their feet.

Brandon Babet of TeamHavok from Kelowna, BC was paired up wi th Brian Rudd of ITK in North Van for a 165lb Kickboxing match. By end of round 2 you could see that Rudd was gassed and from then on, Babet struck at will and achieved a knock down in round 3 with a combination spinning back kick. Soon after, the ref called the fight.

Carlson Gracie MMA would dominate the next two fights. In the lightweight class, Olivier Vajda took on Adam Saad of Team Aikki wth a quick superior attack that enabled a end by guillotine at 58 seconds of the first round.

Bryce Gougeon of the same team was up against Rami Kadi of Wolf’s den for a welterweight MMA match. Kadi looked disappointed with his loss by TKO in the first round. Gougeon took control, was agressive, and had several flurries of striking on the ground to cause the referee to intervene and call and end to the fight.

190 pounders Nygel Yargeau of Pure Self Defence in Campbell River and Mathew Vogleri of Total Kombat Academy in New Westminster squared off for a kickboxing fight. Yargeau was a totally solid and fluid fighter and delivered some stunning blows body shots in a mostly boxing fight. Volgeri turned his back too often and knew he was outclassed in the ring and wisely threw in the towel after round 2.

A first round ground and pound TKO was how the middleweight MMA fight between Dave Ferguson from Revolution Fight Team and Jacob Tournour would end up. Ferguson was persistent, kept attempting takedowns off the top. Tournour was able to get back to his feet, but eventually something worked and Ferguson put a quick end to the fight by referee stoppage.

Two heavyweight guys weighing in at around 260 lbs would face off for a kickboxing match. Clay Berg of Comox Valley MMA would win by unanimous judges decision against Curtis Baker of Wolf’s Den. Despite Baker rallying in the third, it would not be enough to even out the judges score at the end.

Chase Ingalls of Pure Self Defence in Campbell River, BC was matched against an impressively trim and fit Karim Pahalloo Lion’s Den for a 165 lb Muay Thai match. The judges handed Chase Ingalls a unanimous decision in well matched fight Ingalls was very effective at pre-empting Pahaloo’s attacks, and appeared better at fighting at multiple levels.

The main event put up Adam Santos of Morganti Ju-Jitsu from Richmond against Team Denarius fighter Neil Menard for a heavyweight MMA fight. Santos was declared the winner by referee stoppage in the first round. Menard had slipped and was in trouble on the ground, but the referee intervened before Menard had lost the fight completely. Menard could clearly be seen pushing the referee off to continue the fight but by that moment it had been effectively called. Menard’s corner was furious and indeed most people in the room would not agree with the stoppage. However, that is how the fight got called and after a great deal of dissatisfaction between all the parties, the referee raised Santos’ hand in victory. It is probably the worst possible outcome for a fight when a referee calls it before its done. There is also no way that I have heard of where a bad call of a referee can be overruled in a match.

Lance and Lisa from Comox Valley Boxing Club

MMA brothers Andy and Nick Marinos with their ladies

Victor Wang and the Card Girls

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