Spisak, Courchesne, and St-Jean deliver convincing finishes at UGC 27

29 year-old Matthew Spisak (4-2) delivered a 2nd round TKO at UGC 27 to record his third win of 2011. Photo courtesy of Raymond Leduc.

Montreal – After threatening to knock his opponent out at Friday’s weigh-ins, Barrie, Ontario’s Matthew Spisak (4-2) effectively delivered on his promise, earning a solid 2nd round TKO over Jean-Marc Lalonde (2-5) at UGC 27. Though the night, and the 525 fans gathered, at times seemed more focused on the boxing portion of the card (the event was half-boxing and half-MMA), the finish lit up the crowd.

Taking place in a 16′ x 16′ boxing ring smack-dab in the middle of a Complexe Sportif Claude-Robillard gymnasium in northern Montreal, the evening’s MMA bouts generally delivered.

The lightweight fight’s wild 1st round kicked off with Lalonde landing an early takedown, after which the fighters, much to the crowd’s delight, spent five minutes exchanging position, punches, and submission attempts on the ground, ending with Spisak delivering two knees to Lalonde’s head from the clinch.

That set the tone for the 2nd round, where Spisak quickly began landing more knees, to the point of jumping to connect while holding an exhausted Lalonde in the clinch. Grounding Lalonde with punches, Spisak then pounded down on him for the TKO finish at 1:11 of Round 2. The win is Spisak’s third this year, following up on decisions at UGC 26 and MFC 29.

Courchesne dominant in pro debut

Jason Courchesne (center) delivered a 1st round TKO to win his pro debut at UGC 27.

After wrapping up his 10-2 amateur career earlier this year, Kanreikai Joliette’s Jason Courchesne (1-0) lived up to his ‘Spartan’ nickname, demolishing Anthony Doolittle (0-1) in short order, earning a 1st round TKO in an 180 pound catch weight bout. After defending an early takedown attempt by Doolittle, Courchesne took control, landing punches, and delivering knees to the head from the clinch, opening a cut on the right side of Doolitle’s forehead. After taking full mount, Courchesne soon after calmly rolled out of an ankle-lock attempt by Doolittle.

Again getting Doolittle down, Courchesne began landing punches from his feet, before regaining full mount and pounding down on Doolittle until the referee put an end to the fight at 3:11 of round 1.

Chris St-Jean makes short work of Justin Doyon

Ottawa's Christopher St-Jean improved to 3-2 with a 1st round rear-naked choke submission of Justin Doyon at UGC 27.

Looking to snap a six fight skid, Justin Doyon (2-8) came up short Saturday, losing for a seventh consecutive time, via 1st round rear-naked choke to Ottawa’s Christopher St-Jean (3-2).  After tying up early in the round, St-Jean landed a takedown, soon achieving full mount and dropping a vicious elbow to Doyon’s face. In no mood to absorb any more, Doyon began turning, leading to St-Jean going for his back. After a bit of work, St-Jean got his hooks in, and began moving his arm under Doyon’s chin. With the choke locked in, St-Jean quickly got the tap at 1:55 of round 1.

The win is the third straight for St-Jean, who began his career with two loses. Saturday’s fight was his first outside the Wreck MMA promotion.

Alex Jeffrey takes position-dominant decision

Alex Jeffrey (1-0, right) earned a unanimous decision victory in his pro debut against Maxime Fecteau (2-2, left) at UGC 27. Photo courtesy of Raymond Leduc.

Making his pro debut Saturday, Alex Jeffrey (1-0) used his size advantage to hold Maxime Fecteau (2-2) on the ground for most of the fight’s three rounds, earning a unanimous decision win (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

After briefly exchanging on their feet to start the fight, Jeffrey landed a takedown. Despite maintaining top position for much of the round, Jeffrey was unable to land much offense, forced to fight off arm-bar and triangle attempts by Fecteau.

The next two rounds saw more of the same, with Jeffrey landing early takedowns and working his position, but unable to seriously damage Fecteau, who threw up a gogoplata attempt in the 2nd, and an arm-bar he couldn’t extend in the 3rd. Moving up a weight class to featherweight (145 lbs) for the fight, Fecteau looked overpowered on the ground throughout.

The decision successfully kick’s off Jeffrey‘s career, while the loss for Fecteau sets him back to .500, after a quick arm-bar submission victory in May at Rising Star 3.

For a breakdown of the four boxing bouts, check out the report from Jeff Emond Jeffrey.

Check back Monday for post-fight interviews with Matthew Spisak and Christopher St-Jean.

Quick Results (including boxing)
MMA
– Matthew Spisak defeats Jean-Marc Lalonde by TKO at 1:11 of Round 2.
– Jason Courchesne defeats Anthony Doolittle by TKO at 3:11 of Round 1.
– Christopher St-Jean defeats Justin Doyon by RNC submission at 1:55 of Round 1.
– Alex Jeffrey defeats Maxime Fecteau by un. decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

Boxing
– Ali Nestor Charles defeats Edgar Ruiz by KO at 3:00 of Round 5.
Charles earns vacant WBC Latino Middleweight title.
– Arash Usmanee defeats Sergio Escobar by decision (80-72, 80-72, 79-73)
Usmanee defends his NABA Super Featherweight title.
– Tony Luis defeats Miguel Lombardo by TKO at 1:28 of Round 4.
– Roody Pierre-Paul defeats Victor Zampatti by KO at 1:19 of Round 2.