GATINEAU, Quebec, Canada, Oct. 14 — The phrase “styles make fights” rang true on this evening at the Robert Guertin Arena as undefeated Brazilian sensation Wagnney Fabiano (Pictures) stood across the Apex ring from UFC and PRIDE veteran Jeff Curran (Pictures) for the vacant Apex featherweight belt.
Yet with every takedown Fabiano scored, he failed to improve on his position and made no attempt at finishing the fight, which was restarted in the standing position for his lack of action. On the bottom, Curran seemed to be the more active fighter, successfully tying up the Brazilian while looking to escape. Fabiano appeared to be comfortable just controlling from the top position.
Round two bore much of the same, with Fabiano taking Curran down while ducking wild strikes from the American. Again, Fabiano failed to improve position and was constantly stood up, which helped Curran because Fabiano’s cardio seemed to be the question. The pace of the fight had the crowd rather quiet as it waited for something significant to happen.
It was in the third round when Curran, on the advice of his corner, picked up the pace and started stalking Fabiano. A well placed high kick to Fabiano’s face brought the crowd to its feet until the two found themselves back on the mat yet again.
With neither fighter doing any significant damage throughout the 15-minute bout, it was clear this was going to be a very interesting decision. The pro-Fabiano crowd left disappointed as Curran won the fight — and Apex featherweight crown — by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 30-27), much to the dismay of the partisan crowd.
Thirty-seven-year-old Nabil Khatib (Pictures) had the hometown fans on their feet throughout his all out war with Fritz Paul (Pictures). Khatib, to his credit, survived Paul’s early onslaught, as the Quebec based fighter labeled him with a plethora of strikes.
Within the first few minutes, signs of wear began to show on the face and legs of Khatib. After easily losing the first round, Khatib rebounded in the second, finding his range and busting open Paul’s nose. With neither fighter backing down, the two traded blows and takedowns.
The third and decisive round saw everything but the kitchen sink thrown at one another, with the largest reaction coming after a Fritz Paul (Pictures) spinning back fist that caught Khatib flush. The Rockland, Ontario native shook it off, as best he could, and forged on to the final bell.
With yet another fight heading to the scorecards, the favored fighter fell yet again when Paul took home a unanimous decision and the vacant Apex Canadian middleweight championship. Khatib, as classy as a fighter as they come, lightly scolded his fans and the crowd for booing the judge’s decision, and promptly requested a rematch with Paul down the road.
Jeff Joslin (Pictures) made a triumphant return to Quebec after suffering a number of questionable decision losses in the province. Nuri Shakir (Pictures) was his opponent on this night for the vacant Apex welterweight world title. The two circled, looking to find their range, and it was a crisp overhand right that spelled the beginning of the end for Shakir, who never fully recovered.
Joslin, relentless in his assault, hammered away on Shakir, dropping him face first to the canvas, and actually backed off thinking the fight had been stopped. Seeing that the referee had not called a halt to the contest, Joslin resumed his attack on the prone Shakir knocking him out at the 2:42 mark of the first round to give Joslin a well deserved win in the province of Quebec.
Post-fight, Joslin stated he knew what he had to do in this fight to avoid the troubles of the past: finish the fight in the first and not let it fall into the hands of the judges.
The evening’s action also saw the crowning of the Canadian welterweight champion via a four-man one night tournament. In the finals, it was Port Williams, Nova Scotia’s Rowan Cunningham (Pictures) against Burlington, Ontario’s Jordan Jewell (Pictures).
Cunningham, who in his first round match with Eric Beaulieu (Pictures) dominated his way to a rear-naked choke at 1:57 of round one, was definitely the fresher man. Jewell, on the other hand, did his part in a two round war with Jason Motard, taking the win by corner stoppage at 2:24 of the second period.
Despite having fought a full round more, it was Jewell who took the early upper hand, landing crisp punches that forced Cunningham to retreat and shoot for a takedown.
Jewell continually stuffed the attempts and it looked as though Cunningham would not be able to get anything going. However it was late in the third and final round that Cunningham successfully trapped Jewell’s arm as he worked an omoplata. Jewell squirmed free but ended up in a mounted triangle. Cunningham reversed, but the triangle was too tight and Jewell tapped at 2:19 of the third round, giving Cunningham the win and Apex welterweight Canadian title.
Mark Bocek and Kevin Manderson (Pictures) tangled in a lightweight bout, and from the get go Bocek left a bitter taste in the mouths of many ringside. At the sound of the opening bell, Manderson extended his hand to touch gloves. Bocek responded by launching a right hand that clipped Manderson. He followed up by taking Manderson down to the mat and unleashing a series of illegal strikes to the back of the head, prompting the referee to separate the fighters and give Bocek a stern warning.
Upon the resumption of the fight, Bocek jumped on Manderson and took him down to the mat again, this time securing back-control. Bocek latched on tight with a rear-naked choke, forcing the referee to call a halt to the fight at 1:25 of round one.
In other action Mark Loft (Pictures) out-pointed Doug Keays. Dan Grandmaision stopped David Nash with strikes at 3:10 of round two. Stephane Lamarche made quick work of Jean-Sebastien Paul, finishing him 53 seconds into round one. Jason Mackay won a unanimous decision against Jacob MacDonald (Pictures). Cedric Grenon knocked out Rory McDonell just 10 seconds after the opening bell. Nick Denis stopped Justin Darbyson at 2:24 of round two.