New champion crowned, three titles defended at Victory MMA 4 (amateur)

Victory MMA returned Saturday night in Montreal with its fourth, and biggest event yet, with a main card featuring defenses of all four of the promotion’s amateur titles.

After a slow start to the evening, with six of the opening eight fights going the distance, things went into overdrive for the final five bouts, each of them ending in exciting fashion via 1st round stoppage.

Champions Alex Morgan (Lightweight), Derek Dexter (Featherweight), O’denva Phillips (Welterweight), and Xavier Aloui (Bantamweight) all stepped up to defend their belts for the first time. Three of them were successful, with only Dexter falling to his challenger. (see recap below for details).

One of the first events to take place following the announcement of the new FQAMMA amateur federation, Victory MMA 4 was sanctioned by the original ‘Federation Quebecoise de Boxe Mixte Amateur (FQBM), which promoter Jamie McGowan stated he intends to stick with going in to 2012.

Saturday night they fight, Sunday they 'come through the block in the brand new Benz.'

After only pulling in 125 fans for October’s Victory MMA 3, McGowan bounced back, filling Club Soda with a crowd of about 450, the best turnout yet for his young amateur promotion. The spacious venue was in stark contrast to the crowded confines of the Academie Sportive gym, which hosted his first three Victory events.

Normally a concert venue, Club Soda last saw MMA action in May, when it hosted a pro-level Rising Star event from the now defunct sister promotion of Ringside MMA.

Simon Cormier and Julien Dumont split the refereeing duties for the evening’s thirteen bouts. Saturday’s fights took place under amateur rules. On top of being in a ring, the three rounds are two minutes each (three minutes for title fights). Fighters wear 12 ounce gloves and shin pads. Elbow and knee strikes, hammer-fists, and submissions involving twisting (e.g. heel hooks), are prohibited.

Main Card results (weight divisions in bold)
160 – Alex Morgan (Gladiator Fight Club) submits Francis Paquette (Ness Martial) via rear-naked choke at 0:43 of Round 1. Morgan defends his Victory MMA Lightweight title.

Morgan (center), made quick work of Francis Paquette in the evening's main event, submitting him in 43 seconds.

Despite lasting less than a minute, the main event made one thing clear. Francis Paquette (5-3, am) was completely overmatched as he challenged champion Alex Morgan.

As Paquette came in throwing wildly to open, Morgan caught an errant kick and took him to the ground. With what looked like a high level of ease, Morgan soon took Paquette’s back and proceeded to lock in a body triangle. Working for a bit to take Paquette’s neck, Morgan was soon able to sink in a rear-naked choke and get the tap.

Ever the crowd-pleaser, Morgan played it up for his fans post-fight, much to their delight.

Coming off a controversial draw in his last fight, Morgan bounced back nicely with this tune-up bout, improving to 11-2-1 as an amateur as he defended his Victory MMA lightweight belt.

HW – Martin Trempe (Sparmax) def. Farid Lokdai (McGowan’s MMA) via guillotine choke at 0:45 of Round 1.

Heavyweight Martin Trempe (file photo) won Saturday via 45 second guillotine submission.

After falling short three weeks ago against the returning Bob ‘the Train’ Landry, Trempe bounced back with this quick submission win.

Up against Lokdai, who was making his amateur debut, Trempe looked rather sloppy to open, winging punches wildly with little success. In response, Lokdai put his kick-boxing background to work, repeatedly attacking Trempe with leg kicks, which he then began combining with right straights.

As the fighters locked into the clinch, Trempe pushed Lokdai to the ground and entered his guard. Lokdai escaped from his back by working his way to top position, but in the process left his neck out, allowing Trempe to catch him in a guillotine and force the tap.

The submission improved Trempe to 2-2 in his latest run as amateur (he is 0-2 as a pro).

150 – Michael Dufort (Fight Club St. Jean) submits Derek Dexter (Cornwall MMA) via guillotine choke at 1:04 of Round 1. Dufort captures the Victory MMA Featherweight title.

Dufort (right) added the Victory MMA Featherweight title to his EFL title with his submission win Saturday.

Continuing a successful month of November, 17 year-old St-Jean fighter Michael Dufort captured a second Featherweight belt, utilizing his signature guillotine choke to make short work of champion Derek Dexter.

After exchanging briefly to open, Dexter dove in for a takedown, with Dufort taking advantage to catch his neck for the guillotine. As the fighters nearly went through the ropes, the fight was restarted in the ring. Dufort was allowed to continue his guillotine attempt by the referee, angering Dexter’s corner, who appeared to have expected a clean break.

Despite managing to get to side control, Dexter was unable to escape from Dufort’s vice-like grip. Rolling with his choke, Dufort moved Dexter back to half-guard as he continued his submission attempt from his back. Finally, with no escape possible, Dexter tapped.

Recently moving up to the 145 lbs. division after spending most of the year at 135 lbs., Dufort staked his claim as one of the province’s best Featherweight prospects by capturing his second belt and improving to 11-3 as an amateur. He won his first title three weeks ago over Summum Featherweight champion Mario Pereira (the bout was for the EFL title, not the Summum one).

The bout marked a second straight loss for Dexter (6-5, am), who himself dropped a decision to Pereira at Impakt Fight Night 3 two weeks ago.

175 – O’denva Phillips (Toronto BJJ) def. Kevyn Thouin (Team Venom) via TKO (punches) at 1:45 of Round 1. Phillips defends his Victory MMA Welterweight title.

O'Denva Phillips defend his Welterweight title via 1st-round TKO.

After taking his title by punishing his opponent over two rounds, to the point where he voluntarily exited the ring in submission, Toronto’s O’denva Phillips returned to Montreal with his devastating and precise stand-up offense to defend against Kevyn Thouin.

With his clear upper hand on the feet, Phillips came at Thouin from everywhere in the opening round, attacking with straight rights, hooks, body and leg kicks, as well as uppercuts.

Thouin, who toughly fought through the onslaught, finally buckled after Phillips connected cleanly with a powerful right hook. Instinctively, Thouin tried to shoot for a single-leg to survive, but Phillips blocked him.

As he hammered down relentlessly with punches to the dazed Thouin’s head, the referee stepped in to stop the fight, awarding Phillips the TKO.

In only his third amateur bout, Phillips remained perfect, improving to 3-0 with the convincing title defense.

140 – Xavier Aloui (JKS) submits Mathieu Boisvert (Fight Club St. Jean) via rear-naked choke at 2:02 of Round 1. Aloui defends his Victory MMA bantamweight title.

Xavier Aloui (file photo) defended his Welterweight title with a 1st-round rear-naked choke win.

Ever the intensely-paced and powered fighter, Xavier Aloui followed up on the dominant 25 second arm-bar win that earned him the title in October, as he battled through a tough start against Mathieu Boisvert, a short-notice challenger for his belt.

Charging in with punches to open, Boisvert quickly took Aloui to the ground, moving smoothly from a guillotine attempt to Aloui’s back. Flattening the champion, Boisvert then fully locked in a rear-naked choke.

With no sign of intentions to quit on his face, Aloui calmly survived, eventually breaking out of the hold, with Boisvert moving into his guard. After attempting an arm-bar from the bottom, Aloui was nearly caught in an ankle lock, which he escaped by rolling out.

Getting to Boisvert’s back, Aloui returned the submission favour by locking in his own rear-naked, thus forcing the tap, defending his title, and improving to an unblemished 7-0 as an amateur.

Undercard quick results
160 – Stephen Oppong (McGowan’s MMA) submits Pierre-Olivier Turgeon (Team Bergeron) via rear-naked choke at 1:54 of Round 1.

140 – Kevin Chauvette (Ultimaction) def. Kevin Legris (McGowan’s MMA) via unanimous judges’ decision.

180 – Jean-Francois Lepine (Sparmax) submits Jonathan Blanchette (Team Venom) via standing guillotine choke at 0:49 of Round 2.

165 – Pascal Asselin (McGowan’s MMA) def. Josh Williamson (Big Country MMA) via split judges’ decision

170 – Nick Couture (Sparmax) def. Danick Leclerc (Ultimaction) via unanimous judges’ decision

160 – Joe Elliot (Big Country MMA) def. Darnell Jones (McGowan’s MMA) via unanimous judges’ decision.

HW – Adam Daszcy (Speedy Gym) def. Romeo Alexander (Revolution BJJ/Thai Long Muay Thai) via unanimous judges’ decision.

155 – Samuel Watson (McGowan’s MMA) def. Dwayne Durel (Razorwear MMA) via unanimous judges’ decision.

Victory MMA will be back at Club Soda for its fifth amateur event on March 3rd of next year.