Honour Combat hosted one of the first MMA event in Vancouver with the fight night at Edgewater Casino in November of 2009 and returned on Friday May 21st with the second instalment in their fight series, Circus Maximus outdoors at the Plaza of Nations, a big fight night to kick off the long weekend in May. Circus Maximus promised and delivered ‘…16 of the most explosive and exciting fighters that the lower mainland has to offer…’, plus ex Big Wrecker and Juno nominee Thornely to keep everyone entertained. Awesome locals Southern Death Threat kicked off the fight night.

The amateur fights were sanctioned under MMABC, the association in place to group together the best judges, referees, and regulators as MMA emerges as a truly sanctioned support in BC. Fight rules are defined by the association as ‘A’ class rules, with bouts scheduled for 3 rounds of 3 minutes. Being an amateur MMA fight night, it’s an MMA fight, excepting elbow strikes, knees to the head, suplexing and of course groin shots.

The event would be graced with the special appearance by Bibiano Fabricio Fernandes, BJJ Champion 5 time winner of Japans Dream Fight series in the featherweight division. Bibiano now calls the Vancouver area his home and trains with Revolution Martial Arts in Langley.

The Fight Card

The first fight was for 185 lbs between Brendon Leong and Colton Miller. Leong looked like a tough and stacked fighter in the ring but they were well matched after the first round. There was a lot of trading in the second round, ground, knee strikes, good boxing, and ground battles did not last. Leong dominated on the ground at the end and won by judges unanimous, but it was clear also that Miller fought a good fight nonetheless.

Ryan Ince battled James Pratt in a 150 catchweight fight. Both demonstrated they were explosive, light fighters in the standup and at one point, Ince crawled Pratt across the mat in guard but they were back to the feet by the time they got close to the cage, no giving up and both were good strikers. Ince dominated by end of the match and won by unanimous judges decision.

Jeremy Fitzkennedy won by a quick TKO against Kurtis Waterstone in the first round of at 1:20, by mounting and passing the guard and then pounding until the referee intervened.

Roman Wheeler went up against Timothy Parker for a 150 lbs catchweight fight where they would trade knees, body shots, and neither fighter wanted to stay on the ground. Wheeler almost had Parker in an armbar at the end of the first round, and potential setups for submissions were seen at least a couple of times. Parker also laid in some punishment on Wheeler as seen by a cut to Wheeler’s head, body slams, and pressure against the cage. The judges however would award the fight to Roman Wheeler by a split decision, who did not give into any tactics and fought back well throughout.

Andrew Small of Revolution went against Andrew Chevrie from Franco’s for a 160 lb bout. Small sensed a vulnerability in his opponent and chased him down across the cage and got him down with a head shot. The fight was over with a knockout in about 40 seconds of the first.

Two big guys were in fight number 6 of the night, at 190 lbs, Nathan Swayze and Jer Kornelson, both from clubs on Vancouver Island. Kornelson defended well against Swayze, who was strong, throughout. Swayze however was strong enough to pull through the fight with a unanimous win from the judges at the end.

The next fight was  at 155 lbs between AJ Foulds from Sniper, and Abe Monte de Ramos from Franco. The fight was slow on ground after the first. Foulds had a chance at a rear naked victory in the first but it did not happen so easily. Foulds would dominate and pound and win by TKO in the second round when the referee stopped the fight.

The main event of the evening was a 185 lb matchup between Rysom McIvor and Eric Ramsey. McIvor proved he was a hard striker, and both fighters exchanged strikes kicks, and control. The tapout came during the second round as a result of ground pressure against the cage. A rear naked choke was what was announced as how McIvor won the fight but it was hard to see with the fighters up against the fence.

There are 288 photos I snapped for my fight blog around the cage at Honour Combat Circus Maximus. If you got this far, you should go hit my flickr.com photo pool for this event:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157624111575058/

Honor Combat Presents Circus Maximus, Honor Combat’s next MMA fight event, to be held on May 21st at the Plaza of Nations. Also appearing at the event is Thornley with special guests Southern Death Threat. Hard driving rock for hard driving fights. The Martial Arts Nomad will be there to report for his fight blog.

Honour Combat Championships presented MMA exhibition fights at Edgewater Casino, Vancouver BC, Canada. Nov. 27 2009.
The event was a true first – an all-amateur MMA event in downtown Vancouver, with 8 fights on the card. The event was under the microscope as City of Vancouver and BC provincial authorities ponder how to sanction MMA events properly. With the support of the appropriate sports regulating body, Vancouver will be able to host professional MMA events like UFC.
Reports back from the local media indicate that the attending politicians were quite impressed with the conduct of the event, while those who continue to oppose sanctioning these events are becoming more and more isolated.

More photos from Honour Combat in my flickr pool

More photos from Honour combat.

more photos at my flickr pool