OSHWEKEN, Ontario, Feb. 9 -- The Grand River Athletic Commission welcomed MMA legend Dan Severn (Pictures) to the second Iroquois Mixed Martial Arts Championships on Saturday. With MMA veterans Jeff Joslin (Pictures) and Claude Patrick (Pictures) on hand to call the action, "The Beast" simply did what he has done so well all these years: take his opponent down and delight the crowd with an easy submission win.
In his post-fight interview, Severn thanked those in attendance and reminded them that he was the past in the sport while athletes like Jeff Joslin (Pictures) are the future.
Having moved from the opening prelim slot to the co-main event due to an injury sustained to William Romero during pre-fight warm-ups, Darryl Pinter had a rather difficult night with late-replacement Brian Edge.
The opening portion of the fight saw Pinter control the action after catching his opponent with a right hook on the jaw that dropped him to one knee. On the ground Edge looked for a triangle, but Pinter eventually worked free and the fighters stood to trade again.
This was the beginning of the end for Pinter. He was stunned following a series of strikes and backed into the corner. Edge then unloaded a barrage of uppercuts and straights, and the referee called an end to the contest at 2:25 of the first.
Chester Post (Pictures) showed better standup than Josh Powell, dropping him twice in the first round with punches. Powell rallied with the crowd firmly behind him, though, to eventually take the fight to the ground, where he pounded out a hard-earned TKO victory.
With a horde of fans supporting him, Stjepen Vujnovic grabbed hold of a tight guillotine that looked to be locked in 10 seconds into his fight with Stephan Lamarche (Pictures). But with the arm in, Lamarche managed to free himself.
Working from the active guard of Vujnovic, Lamarche delivered rights and lefts before landing an absolutely crushing left hand. Vujnovic's eyes rolled back, and the referee jumped in to save the Croatian-Canadian from absorbing further punishment at 2:58 of the opening round.
New Brunswick's Tim Skidmore (Pictures) wasted little time in taking his bout with Frank Pirone to the mat but spent most of his time defending a menagerie of submissions. After almost falling prey to an early triangle attempt by Pirone, Skidmore worked well to free himself. He never seemed to be out of trouble, however, and after a brief scramble, Pirone secured a rear-naked choke at the 4:30 mark of the first round.
"El Matadoro" Chris Vorano impressed en route to a submission win over Jason Pimentel. After a very brief exchange, Pimentel went for a standing arm-triangle and slammed Vorano to the mat. Vorano escaped and moved to full mount, where he started reigning down punches. Pimentel then gave up his back, and Vorano sunk in the rear-naked choke for the win at 2:48 of round one.
Hometown favorite Dwight Garlow fell short in his bout with Suffer System's Brandon Curts, who did his best "Colossus" impersonation in the corner before the fight and came flying out at the bell in prime James Thompson (Pictures) fashion.
Garlow met him with a low shot and worked for the takedown in the corner while Curts worked feverishly for a guillotine. After finally getting the takedown, Garlow moved into the mount. Curts swept him, though, and worked within the closed guard, pounding away at the body and head until the end of the round.
The fighters came out swinging for round two. Garlow shot in for the single, but Curts defended well and fired two well-placed knees that sent Garlow to the mat 16 seconds into the second round.
A UFC veteran of the single-digit events, Geza Kalman met London, Ontario's Jason Cecil (Pictures) in heavyweight action. Cecil opened the fight with a blistering right that sent Kalman off balance and followed up with a huge knee that almost knocked him through the ropes.
A miscalculated takedown attempt from Kalman eventually found Cecil in the full mount. In something out of the ordinary, though, Cecil stood and invited Kalman back up. Kalman obliged and continued to absorb punishment until Cecil latched on a standing guillotine. Cecil was slammed, but Kalman could do nothing to escape and tapped at 2:11 of the first round.
Joel Powell, Josh Powell's twin brother, opened his bout against Jon Irwin with a spirited exchange of punches. A failed Irwin takedown allowed Powell to hammer away from the dominant side position. Powell then swiftly transitioned to mount and teed off. Irwin could do nothing but cover up, and after some consideration, the referee stopped the bout at 1:45 of the first.
Ainsley Robinson and Andy Houser kicked off the evening with a slow opening period that saw Robinson, a former 1996 Canadian Olympic wrestling hopeful, control the first.
Hauser came out in the second active with his hands, forcing Robinson to take the fight to the mat, where he worked some elbows from the half guard. Eventually Robinson trapped the right hand of Hauser from the rear mount and pounded away with hammer fists until the referee called a halt at 4:40 of round two.