Montreal Quebec's TKO 31: "Young Guns" full report and coverage

View Gallery

Article by Adam Reid

As the warm-up fights wrapped up, the sound of thousands of fans emerged. They were looking for the best show in town when we speak of MMA, and they got it!

TKO31:Young Guns arrived into Montreal with followers from as far as the United States, Toronto, and Eastern parts of the country as well. It was simple...They wanted to see technical fighting, they wanted to see revenge, and they also wanted to see a few old faces which were making their comeback to the "TKO" family.

On top of all of this, the crowd was treated to an interview with George St-Pierre and Patrick "The Predator" Côté who made sure that everyone knew they were proud to be Canadian and that they were going to continue their tear in UFC. After all of this, a special announcement had been made that none other then "Big" John Mccarthy was in attendance. He was brought to the
center of the stage and the people similar to everywhere in the world greets him with cheers.

"*TKO has to be one of Canada's best kept secrets, and some of the fights tonight have been spectacular*" he said. It was clear with all of the special guests, the beautiful Bell Center, the gorgeous "Lifestyle" models, that this night was going down in the books.

Speaking of books, the first fight of the night showcased a newcomer to "TKO".

Josh Bitner vs Yannick Galipeau:

With a thundering crowd chanting his name, the first timer was greeted to a beautiful array of cheers and support from his KYUOKUSHIN family. 8-Time North American Champion Yannick was definitely here to prove a point. After the first kick was landed by Yannick we clearly knew which way this fight was going. His physique was impeccable, he was in great shape and very
focused. As we all know stand up fighting is the trademark of "Kyuokushin" style of fighting without hits to the head in their international bouts. It was clear that tonight however, Yannick was going to go straight for the head. Straight for the head he went pummeling lighting strikes with his legs that people up in the stands could hear. Josh Bitner looked fatigued, tired, disoriented after the devastating blows that he experienced and in front of all of his family, his friends, his training partners, and the Montreal public YANNICK landed a devastating blow to the head, and charged right for Josh to finish the job. Josh was knocked out, the crowd went absolutely nuts, and Yannick in an excited fashion jumped to the top of the ring, waved to all his fans and did this at the 4 corners of the Bell Center. What is most impressive is that his style of fighting is not well known for technical moves on the floor, but Yannick not once, but twice reversed a floor grab. He is definitely an up and comer and it will be interesting to see how he will react to a floor specialist.

Mark Fraser vs Eric Leclerc:

For personal reasons and sickness this bout did not occur. Mark Fraser came out to the crowd to apologize and the crowd of course understood and cheered him on. Mark Fraser is definitely well liked in Montreal, and it was one of the fights that people really wanted to see.

Thierry Quenneville vs Yoon Heo:

After everything was over I decided to go for a bite to eat at a local restaurant with a friend of mine. To my surprise Thierry was seated right next to me. I looked over to my friend and said "You think you can take that guy over there", my friend of course answered he would destroy him. Little did he know what Thierry had done to Yoon Heo 3 hours previously. Quenneville is a local favorite and was making his comeback and did he ever!!! If there is one fighter on this card that hard pure destruction on his mind, it was Thierry. His combinations were out of this world, he was lighting quick with his legs. Ironically he was working Yoon's left leg for an entire round. Yoon had not reply for this and when he did, Thierry would land incredible combinations almost knowing him out every time. Yoon retreated, pulled back and was on defense mode for the rest of the rounds. Yoon's speciality was the floor, and he just never got him down. Thierry was too quick to catch and because of this YOON paid the price. With all of the blows delivered to his face, the kicks to his knees I've got to give it to YOON he's got courage. In my opinion that's all he has because he did not showcase anything that was spectacular and worth of TKO caliber fights. The fight went into decision, but if the last round had another 10 seconds to it, the fight would of been over, Thierry would of knocked his lights out. Great return for Thierry and he's definitely a fighter that we'll be following and watching closely in the short future.

Lance Evans vs Bob Landry:

Talk about mind games!!!!!! Lance Evans was supposed to fight "The Boss" but because of issues at the border he was unable to enter the country a short while ago. As if Bob Landry knew this, he decided to walk in with "The Boss" Bosse at his side. The crowd went nuts and we could feel that this fight was going to get ugly. Lance looked very cool, very collected, and he trained
hard for the fight. His body looked great, he was composed on the other hand Bob Landry was all over the place. Running around in the ring at the start of the fight, sticking his tongue out, taunting his opponent, it was either going to be REAL BEAUTIFUL or REAL UGLY for BOB LANDRY. Yes you guessed it, he hate his words and was knocked out! Bob Landry was over confident, too
cocky, and because of this was knocked out the hardest out of all fights that happened that night. There was controversy in this fight as well. During the second round, Lance found a way to take Bob down to the floor. Once this happened, it was a free for all, however he Lance wasn't landing big blows to the head because BOB was moving well and ensuring protection to his head. After a few punches to the head, Lance landed a big blow that Bob thought was illegal. He lifted his head and hands to the ref as if to say "What is that Ref" and at that exact moment Lance landed a punch that completely threw Lance off his game. Once that hit was connected, more punches followed, the pummeling continued and the ref had to stop the bout. Great victory for Lance Evans and a fight with Steve Bosse would be exciting to watch as they are both stand up fighters with incredible punching power.

Ben Greer vs Stephane Vigneault:

It was clear for Ben Greer. Erase the tough loss handed to him by Mark Homilick comeback in force and stick to his original game plan that got him an impressive 9 straight wins. With this string of wins he also became the #1 contender to fight in the 145 pound category. He had one message, and that message was to show that he was still the #1 contender in this weight class. Stephane on the other hand had not been around for almost 2 years and was making a comeback. With his devastating loss to "Damacaio Page", he would love to cross cross paths again with him but before that the goal in mind was simple, defeat the #5 contender in the 145 pound category Ben Greer. Watching the fight progress it was very clear. BEN needed to get Stephane down, and Stephane had to keep Ben up if he wanted any chance at beating this great fighter. Stephane landed a few great kicks, but Ben unphased by this kept control of the match by remaining quick, hard to hit, and very frustrating. When Stephane fell to the floor the first time, we knew he was in danger but we also knew how much of a fighter he was, and that anything in this sport is possible. Round 1 went to Ben with his quick combo's, his in and out style of fighting, and Stephane was left thinking how we would compete with this fighter. The second round came around, the same usual style of fighting occurred when suddenly Ben managed to get Stephane to the floor. Once this happened, it was all Ben. It was clear he was going for the "Kamora" but he couldn't lock in his arm. Stephane putting up a great fight and using alot of his energy to avoid that was tossing and
turning, yet Ben stayed right there in the hunt for the submission. With time ticking away, the arm got placed, Ben jumped on his chance, and made Stephane tap out. A surprise? Not when you think of how powerful Ben has been in the past, and how intense and impressive his stats are. Great Fight, Great Action, and one of the most technical fights all night.

Chad Reiner vs Stephane Dube:

Stephane hands down was the fighter who looked in the best shape. He was focused, he had a great team and trainers behind him, and he had the right game plan, the question is would he execute it the right way? Ben Greer is a carbon copy of Mark Homilick. He's patient, he's calm, he's quiet, and he stalks his prey. With one of the best entrances of the night, the crowd of
course was behind Stephane. The roars for this fight were surprising, and I asked myself, if it's this loud for this fight, imagine for the final one!! As the fight began it was chess in motion. Each fighter testing each other out, throwing jabs, seeing how the other reacts. Stephane landed a few good punches, and when he missed one Ben moved in and brought him to the floor. One word describes what happened next. Total Fatigue! Although Stephane reversed many of the holds Ben put on him, the question everyone was asking themselves was "How will he keep this up for an entire round? How will he recuperate his energy, and will he be able to have enough to fight?". After a significant amount of time on the floor it was clear in Stephane's face that Ben was tiring him out. He was sucking the entire energy, life and hope out of his huge body. Stephane however never gave up, he kept on reversing, and trying to get back to his feet. The second round was coming to a close. 10 seconds, 9,8,7 at this point we all were surprised that Stephane was still fighting. At that exact moment with 7 seconds left, Ben wrapped his arms around his neck, put a choke hold on him, and it didn't look good. Could Stephane hold on for another 7 seconds???!!! 6 seconds, 5 seconds, 4
seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.......................The fans at the edge of their feet, this is his only chance of survival.............With one second left Stephane taps out and the entire building erupts in cheers and goes absolutely berserk. It was clear that Montreal fans had changed their minds about Ben Greer.

Danny Martinez vs Mark Homirick:

Talk about fans going crazy! One thing is clear, Montreal doesn't just like Mark Hominick they love him!!! Throughout the years, he's built his name in Montreal with some of the most spectacular, stellar and inspiring fights ever. The youngest champion ever in the history of TKO, Hominick has had 12 championship fights in which he has won 9 of them. Of course the question on everyone's mind was "Who is this Danny Martinez fighter?" We soon found out on the jumbotrons that this wasn't just another fighter, he was one of the United States best hopes for glory and undefeated in his first 6 fights. Undefeated vs Experience, now that's what you call a roll of the dice!! It was made real clear at the beginning of the fight why Mark is Mark. Why he is considered one of the most patient, and cool headed fighters out there. After a few landed combinations, the public was waiting to see how Danny would react. Sadly, he never did and it was looking more and more like a mismatch. Danny yes was undefeated, but he's now fighting "La Creme De La Creme" as we say here in Montreal. Ironically, Mark had dozens (and that's not exaggerated) of chances in the first round to knock him out, but didn't. He then had better chances and more solid chances for a TKO, but didn't
flinch. I mean even the bell lady could of knocked out Danny at that stage of fight, but Mark, nope he refuses to. He's a surgeon, he's methodical, he's magic. The word on the street and in the press is that "Mark was unable to land that final big punch to put his opponent way". Let me be the first one to tell you that this man had ALL the time in the world, he had a tired
fighter, he had a crowd of people chanting knockout, he had all the chances in the world but he didn't bite for the easy win. He was clearly the winner after round 2 yet he never flinched. What a fighter, what a mind and what a gentleman. Every second sentence that came out of his post interview fight in the middle of the ring was along the lines of "I love you all Montreal, thank you for the support, thank you for the warmth, I'll be back that's for sure".

STEVE BOSSE vs ICHO LARENAS:

Alright so I figure that we will jump the whole "THE CROWD LOVES BOSSE" talk and let's talk some serious MMA here. No doubt in all of our minds for those in attendance that Steve "The Boss" Bosse is a man that is strong, well built, good vision for stand up fighting and delivering punches that could knock the living day lights out of you. What's scary is he can take a beating, and he'll still throw punches. He is a hockey players after all!! We also know that Steve is unproven, he's inexperienced, and he doesn't as
we all know possess the floor techniques that might come in handy in this kind of fight. What made this fight interesting is that his opponent, the former TKO Heavyweight Champion Mr. Icho Larenas, is fearless he wants to fight Steve and show the world that this Steve "The Boss" Bosse needs to be BOSSED around a bit and put into his place. In short he wanted to send a clear message.....This isn't Hockey, this is MMA. Get ready. Right from the opening bell, it was clear that Bosse was hungry and that at any cost he'd go toe to toe with Icho, ex champion or not. If you open up "Precise Puncher, Ex-Hockey Player, Can Deal Blows to the Head, and Can Take Blows to the Head", you'd see Steve "The Boss" Bosse's picture there. This guy is incredible with his hands no doubt about that, but what wasn't factored in is how tough Icho is, how much experience he has and how hard he trained for this fight. When you talk about perfect physique, Icho's name should come up because that's how good he looked. Alright back to the fight, for the first round it was all Bosse in my books, landing punches, moving in and out quickly, taking the blows, but staying focused, he was on top of his "Bosse Game Plan". At the beginning of the second round, a finger clipped Icho's eye and the fight was brought to a stand still. I sat in my chair, and I kept on saying "Oh no...If these two fighters don't fight here tonight, there will be a serious amount of frustrated fans, and the event will be deemed as a disappointment". As time went on, the chances of Icho getting back in there to fight dimished drastically. Everyone in the media section, up close and personal with the ring, saw how bad it was, and there was way that this fight was going to continue. All of sudden, he looked down at his trainer and I could read his lips saying "I think it will be okay, let's give it a shot", they agreed and the fight resumed. The overall opinion was that Bosse looked tired, he looked fatigued, yet we all knew that considering his style of fighting. If Bosse doesn't take his opponent out in the first 2 rounds, round three will be difficult for him. Round three opened up with the usual punches being thrown, but this time ICHO capitalized on his chances, brought Bosse to the floor, seize the moment and started breaking Steve Bosse's face with everything he had. David Loiseau to his feet, the Bell Center in Shock, and the eventual defeat for these fans was imminent. The referee came in broke up the beating, and Icho was declared victorious of the fight. A big disappointment for this one time "Unbreakable" fighter, but knowing Steve Bosse's Quebecois blood, he will be training twice as hard and will be ready to fight again. Icho known for his love of going head to head with punches with his opponents did just that and walked away victorious and is worth of the "YOUNG GUN" title that was set forth by TKO president Stephane Patry.

Back