Shane Campbell too strong for the competition

Par Étienne Bouthillier

Shane Campbell once again proved that he shouldn’t be on the regional scene. He was able to win the vacant Unified 165lbs title with a dominant 4th round rear-naked choke win over experienced Darren Smith Jr.

MMA fans had their money worth with the second show in as many weeks for Unified, their first ever on Ontarian soil. Unified 48, live from Toronto’s International Centre, gaves us epic wars, spectacular finishes but also slower decisions.

In the main event, we were awaiting the finish for a little while. After only one ground exchange in round 1, Smith was already breathing by his mouth, a usual sign of a lowering gas tank. Shaolin Shane stayed the course and showed out in the striking and wrestling realms before submitting his opponent in the fourth.

He gets his sixth straight win and keeps knocking on the door of the UFC! Campbell used his post fight mic time to get at Michael Hill, who was fighting earlier on the card and who notoriously pulled out of their scheduled title fight on fight day last year.

Fight of the Night

Scott Hudson and Austin Tweedy got involved in a crazy ass war! Both fighters traded throughout the first round but things really started to get going in round 2. After a knee that hurt his opponent, Hudson threw everything but the kitchen sink at him! Punches, elbows and some more knees!

Tweedy was able to survive the storm, and he even got a break when he was on the receiving end of a contentious eye poke. In the end, Hudson resumed where he left it off and was able to get the clear cut decision win. We still need to salute Tweedy’s toughness as he never gave up and stopped trying.

Amazing war between Scott Hudson and Austin Tweedy.

Pat Pytlik did not look like he wanted to stay in the cage for a long time. His enormous knees from the clinch crumbled Michael Hill down in the very first round. Pytlik took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend in the cage (she said yes)!

Another crazy war took place between Vladimir Kazbekov and Jesse Stirn. The American was able to resist Vlad’s pressure and crazy hooks and he also was able to get up quickly from his takedown attempts. It’s probably a Stirn takedown at the very end of round 3 that gave him the close decision win in a very good fight.

Louis Perfect

It’s been a while since we last saw Louis Jourdain in the cage. The fighter from Beloeil was eager to show us the work he had done in the last year against the grappler Gabe Sagman, especially in his takedown defense. It turned out great for the younger Jourdain brother as he was able to fend off the takedowns and outstrike Sagman by a large margin.

The Mad Prince’s strikes were quick, efficient and techincal. So much that the referee had to put an end to the fight after round 2 as Sagman was becoming a sitting duck for the Québécois.

Qui allait perdre sa fiche sans défaite entre Ergys Sigeta and Kaecy Raddon were both undefeated coming into their fight on Friday night. After 4 years off, Ergys came back like he never left, with a dominating wrestling game, suffocating top control and a second round technical submission by Arm Triangle!

The main card started with a wrestling clinic by Teshay Gouthro against Morgan Rhynes. After walking out to the cage with the whole Niagara Top Team crew, Gouthro dominated his opponent from pillar to post for the decision win.

Premières victoires

The three winners on the prelims got the first win of their pro careers. It took three attempts for Amin Almelik put he finally got a win as a pro with a decision win over Kristian Bouchard in a surprising grappling performance by the striker.

After saving a fight on two days notice, Patrick Connors wasn’t able to defeat Bilal Nasari, who was making his pro debut. Nasari got the better of the two first rounds before fading in round 3, leaving the door open for a Connors comeback. Pat was, however, unable to finish the fight and therefore lost a Majority Decision.

Pat Pytlik didn’t have no time to waste in the cage.

Finally, Mohamed Ado was able to step in the cage as a pro after many cancelled fights. Fighting against undefeated Matt Speciale was never going to be an easy task. The fight was tighlty contested heading into the third where Ado rocked Speciale with a head kick before finishing him with strikes. Mohamed Ado will be a name to keep an eye on in the future!

Unified closes out its incredible year tomorrow, December 17, in their home base of Edmonton.

Results

165lbs (C): Shane Campbell (21-8) def Darren Smith Jr (22-13) by RNC round 4

165 lbs: Scott Hudson (14-5-1) def Austin Tweedy (11-4) by UD

170 lbs: Pat Pytlik (8-1) def Michael Hill (11-8-1) by KO round 1

145 lbs: Jesse Stirn (14-6) def Vladimir Kazbekov (7-5) by UD

130 lbs: Louis Jourdain (6-3) def Gabe Sagman (7-6) by TKO round 2

170 lbs: Ergys Sigeta (5-0) def Kaecy Raddon (3-1) by Arm Triangle round 2

135 lbs: Teshay Gouthro (7-1) def Morgan Rhynes (5-6) par UD

165 lbs: Mohamed Ado (1-0) def Matt Speciale (4-1) by KO round 3

155 lbs: Bilal Nasari (1-0) def Patrick Connors (5-6) by Majority Decision

145 lbss: Amin Almelik (1-2) def Kristian Bouchard (2-2) by UD