MacDonald’s Continues ECC Roll

HALIFAX, Jul. 22 — Roughly 2,000 determined fans braved the month’s worth of rain that has hit Halifax in the past two days, and flooded (if you’ll pardon the pun) into the Halifax Forum to see Extreme Caged Combat 3: East Coast Warriors.

The main event put Jason MacDonald (Pictures) against tough Team Nestor fighter Fritz Paul (Pictures). After the initial feeling-out process, MacDonald rushed Paul and pressured him into the cage, where at first glance it appeared that he had him in a standing guillotine choke. Paul was able to get out of it though, and quickly reversed his position with MacDonald’s back now against the cage.

MacDonald had a serendipitous opportunity when Paul put himself in position for a standing Kimura, something “The Athlete” admitted to me later that he thought about due to just having seen the technique in a video clip earlier that day.

MacDonald applied the standing Kimura, then tripped Paul to the ground and transitioned to an armbar. Paul toughed it out and was able to keep his trapped arm bent for what seemed like a minute, but MacDonald wasn’t about to give up this chance and was finally able to straighten it out.

Paul refused to admit defeat, forcing MacDonald to look questioningly to the ref from his back. Unfortunately the ref didn’t step in, nor did Paul tapout, forcing MacDonald to really crank the arm. He squeezed and pulled and said he heard and felt a “snap, snap, snap, snap,” then Paul literally screamed a verbal submission.

This is the third time MacDonald has come to the Maritimes to fight and the third time his hand has been raised in victory. His submission win tonight gives him the trifecta, with his previous 2 ECC wins coming via unanimous decision and TKO. With wins over Gideon Ray (Pictures), Joe Doerksen (Pictures) and a war with Patrick Cote (Pictures), MacDonald is definitely a major-league caliber fighter.

The second-to-last fight of the evening saw local favorite Roger Hollett (Pictures) face late replacement Jason Cecil (Pictures). The pair went to the ground and stood up again several times, with Hollett finally getting in side control and attempting a keylock. Cecil defended well, using his knee to momentarily throw Hollett out of position. A second keylock attempt was only a few seconds away, and this time Hollett capitalized and won his second fight in a row by submission.

Fellow Haligonian Robert Colbourne (Pictures) sought to mimic Hollett and win his second fight in a row, when he entered the cage against Charlottetown’s Travis Axworthy, who was making his professional debut.

This fight was fairly even at the onset. Axworthy showing his Muay Thai roots by landing several hard kicks to Colbourne’s legs. The rest of the first round saw the same theme reoccur with Colbourne rushing in, head low, taking Axworthy down, neither fighter accomplishing much there.

The second round was much like the first, although this time Colbourne was obviously exhausted when he emerged from his corner. On one head-down rush-in, Axworthy played the matador to Colbourne’s bull, neatly stepping aside as his opponent passed him and fell, exhausted, to the mat.

At this point Colbourne had little energy but a lot of heart.

Axworthy was on top for several minutes, raining down blows with Colbourne showing defense only. The referee told Colbourne several times to show that he was still in the fight, and each time he responded by changing position or attempting to move. In the end Colbourne’s heart was not enough and Axworthy wins by TKO.

When Curtis Fiander came to the cage with his trainer, former Canadian middleweight boxing champion Ralph Hollett, little did he know that he’d be the cause of a truly scary moment.

Within seconds of the opening bell his opponent Jason MacKay (Pictures) was able to take his back and sink in an extremely deep rear-naked choke. Due to MacKay’s position on Fiander’s back applying the choke, it was extremely difficult to see how Fiander was faring.

Many shouts emitted from the crowd calling “He’s out!” The ref stepped in to pull MacKay off, but Fiander wasn’t moving. The event ‘s doctor came rushing into the cage and at this point Fiander started twitching and shaking as if having a seizure. The crowd was deafening in its silence as onlookers hoped for the best. Within moments though, Fiander was on his feet, seemingly back to normal.

Prior to his fight against Shane Lightle, Victor Valimaki predicted to his corner that it wouldn’t go past two minutes. Hopefully he bought lotto tickets because his prediction was right on the money as his stoppage of Lightle came at 1:46 of round one.

Neil Berry (Pictures) must have just finished watching “The Matrix” prior to his fight with tough Brazilian Top Team Canada member Nabil Khatib (Pictures), as he started the fight seemingly floating in air while doing a Trinity kick. It wasn’t long though before he had to return to earth, as he and Khatib spent the remainder of Round 1 on the ground against the cage.

Round two saw the pair up and down as the ref stood them up several times due to inactivity. Khatib finally got the mount and Berry did what many do and gave him his back. Many fighters give up their back, and many fighters are forced to submit to a rear-naked choke, and this is exactly what happened to Berry.

The fight between TJ Grant (Pictures) and Daniel Grandmaison (Pictures) was definitely a barnburner. Grandmaison started by launching a powerful kick at Grant, who was able to catch it, scoop up Grandmaison and execute a hugely powerful slam to the mat. Grant mounted Grandmaison but wasn’t able to remain there as Grandmaison used his hips to buck him off.

Grandmaison was able stand in Grant’s guard, where Grant made the only attempt at an ankle attack by any fighter tonight. Then Grant changed tactics and grabbed the nearest arm and executed a very tight armbar. Grandmaison held out for at least 20 seconds but ultimately had to tap.

Robert Haynes utilized his wrestling skills and performed an excellent takedown of Jared Kilkenny to start off their fight. Unfortunately this was the only real offense he could muster as Kilkenny bulled his way to his feet and used his overpowering strength to land bomb after bomb on Haynes. Haynes, now on the ground against the cage, was tapping to submit for at least five seconds before the ref noticed and stopped the fight.

Without a shadow of a doubt the fight of the night belonged to Nelson Akawui Riquelme (Pictures) and Jay Jenkins (Pictures). Both fighters possess amazing high-kick abilities and proved it to the roaring crowd on many occasions in the opening period, but neither was able to land one solidly.

Riquelme got Jenkins to the ground, where Jenkins defended very well against the cage. Now on their feet, Jenkins landed a very solid kick to Riquelme’s side, which obviously took its toll. Seeking to go back to the ground, Riquelme rushed Jenkins and forced him to the cage. This might have been a mistake as Jenkins was able to start a guillotine attempt. We’ll never know if Riquelme would have been able to escape as the bell sounded to end round one.

The second stanza saw both fighters start a little more tentatively as they maneuvered in the middle of the ring. Jenkins displayed tremendous ring (cage) control to keep in the center, always cutting off his opponent’s advances and forcing him to travel in a circle around the ring.

I think he traveled half the distance that Riquelme did. Riquelme burst forward with what Jenkins told me later he thought was going to be a spinning back kick. Unfortunately for Jenkins it turned out to be a spinning back fist, and he received it squarely on the temple. Jenkins toppled to his back and Riquelme was on him as fast as I’ve ever seen a fighter move, raining down powerful blow after blow on Jenkins, causing the referee to finally step in and call the fight.

Shawn Marchand (Pictures) and Dan Chambers started the first match of the evening, and the two fighters appeared very evenly matched. Marchand took Chambers to the cage and then down, but Chambers was on his feet in an instant. The pair stayed in the clinch against the cage, exchanging knees until Marchand took Chambers to the mat again. This time Chambers couldn’t stand up as Marchand was staying tightly on top of him. They stayed in this position for almost a minute until Chambers tried to escape and Marchand was able to take his back and secure a rear naked choke for the victory.

After holding three fight-cards in three months, Combat Productions has decided to slow down just a little. With ticket sales for ECC 2 and 3 not reaching the level of ECC1, there is a worry that the populace is getting oversaturated with mixed martial arts. The planned event for Cape Breton in September has been put on hold, and ECC 4 “Fury” is planned for late October/early November in Halifax.