Ontario Based MMA League "Iroquois Mixed Martial Arts Championship" Coverage!

View Gallery

Sean McManus

Shonie "Mr. International" Carter kicked off the evening while sauntering around in his finest pimp suit mingling with the fans and the media alike. Shonie was slated to fight in the main event, but unfortunately had to pull out with an injury. Also in attendance was UFC, Pride, K-1 and K-1 Heroes veteran Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge.

On a personal level, Gary Goodridge was a hero of mine while growing up and devouring the early UFC's. Gary's KO of Paul Herrera at UFC 8 remains a legendary memory in many longtime fans minds. Being able to sit with Gary and chat about that fight added a special tone to the evening.

The night began with a quick and tough looking Chris Verona winning via TKO stoppage in the first round. Fan favorite Randy MacDonald squared off against a tough Chuck Monture. The light heavyweight bout began with both guys throwing bombs. In an early exchange Randy got caught and was cut over his left eye. Apparently the referee called a stop to the action at which time Chuck dropped his hands only to receive a knockout blow from MacDonald. After the smoked cleared the fight was awarded to Chuck Monture due to a stoppage from a cut in the first round – much to the crowd’s displeasure.

Josh Powell squared off against Noufel Amellouk in a 185 lbs match up. Josh came out throwing some heavy hands, a lot of which were finding their mark backing up the Amsterdam native against the cage. Amellouk kept his hands up but was absorbing a lot of punishment. The referee called a stop to the action early in the first round due to a standing TKO. Noufel, along with a majority of the crowd felt the stoppage was early. The referee clearly had the fighter’s best interest in mind when he halted the fight. Amellouk, visibly upset with the verdict began yelling at the referee and proceeded to throw his blood soaked towel at him. When leaving the cage after the winner was announced he threw another towel at Jeff Joslin, who was doing the post fight interviews with the winners. Jeff was obviously disrespected by the foreigner and after a heated exchange commented that he doesn’t fight for free.

The main story of the night however was the three fighters who made their way up from California. Juan Nunez, Josh McDonald and Bret "The Angry Hick" Bergmark, all hailing from Cesar Gracie's school walked away with wins. Juan won his debut with a second round stoppage and Josh and Bret both came through with unanimous decisions. Everyone was calling it the Gracie Sweep. We hope to see more of these up and comers in Ontario.

The Iroquois organization was fantastic. There were a slew of fans in attendance and they were treated to some great fights with top notch talent. My hat goes off to Bill Montour, and James Procyk who put together a great evening of MMA for everyone in attendance. It is through dedication to this sport along with top notch organizations like IQMMA who are forging a path in the province and subsequently Mixed Martial Arts is taking necessary, albeit risky, steps to becoming sanctioned in Ontario. We are all looking forward to witnessing what the next IQMMA night of fights has in store.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Chris Vorano def John Pirone by Ref Stoppage, Round 1 (1:28)
Curtis Demarce def Matt Ferraro by Submission, Round 3
Juan Nunez def Andy Houser by Ref Stoppage, Round 2 (4:07)
Chuck Monture def Randy MacDonald By Doctor Stoppage (cut), Round 1
Mike Roberts def Daryle Pinter by Submission, Round 1(4:06)
Josh McDonald def Joel Powell by Decision
Dean Martins def Bernard Rutherford by Stoppage (dislocated thumb), Round 3
Josh Powell def Noufel Amellouk by Ref Stoppage, Round 1
Bret Bergmark def Jesse Juarez by Decision

Back