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 1^st 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 (Team Narita) from Richmond against Team Denarius fighter Neil Menard for a heavyweight MMA fight. Menard was a late substitution for Clayton Smith from Edmonton who could not make the fight. Menard went down early and was in trouble on the ground. But what happened next depended on one’s point of view. At about the first minute of the first round, Referee Jason Williamson had to make the call about stopping the fight. Menard was on the ground while Santos was in the process of passing guard and mounting to finish. But Neil Menard, the figher on the ground, wasnt ready to give in. When Williamson jumped in between the fighters to stop the match, Menard then tried to push the referee off to continue defending. But by that moment the fight had been called. Marcus Hicks, the coach in Menard’s corner was furious and indeed most people in the room were howling with disbelief. Reviews of the fight night by the Vancouver Sun, MMARingReport.com and others described the end a little differently, saying that Santos was still striking after the referee intervened. Apparently, both fighters didnt think the fight was over just yet. The media reports already published focused harshly on this unhappy ending to an otherwise decent amateur fight night. While there was a great ‘verbal tirade’ by Marcus Hicks and others, he did not immediately ‘storm the ring’ as was implied in reports, even though he did eventually step in. Hicks, team Narita, and everybody else calmed down afterwards outside the ballroom. Hicks submitted an apology for rushing the ring, his tirade, with other comments about the quality of the event later to the media.

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.

In the referee Williamson’s defence, stepping in between fighters to call a fight is probably the most difficult decision a MMA referee has to make. Williamson chose as any referee must, to intervene when a fighter is on the ground, is taking hits, is unable to return hits, and is unable to improve his position. But you dont have to be an MMA fan for very long to have seen a match preempted by the referee just a touch early, acting on legitimate concerns for safety. From the fighter’s point of view, it is probably the worst possible outcome when a referee calls it prematurely. But MMA has its quirks and everybody knows that. One of the things that could improve MMA the most is greater support for the referees in the ring. More referees could be added to the night to alternate between fights and more instruction could be provided to fighters and coaches beforehand to establish a solid understanding about how and why a fight is going to be called the way it is. What went down after the fight just proves again that the stuff that goes on outside the ring is tougher than what goes on in the fight.