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Lima stuns Ford at
Retribution
McKee, Heath, Lewis among night's big winners
By MFC Staff
 It
wasn't the homecoming party that Ryan Ford wanted, but it was the
coming out party that Douglas Lima deeply desired.
Stunning a vastly partisan crowd in his opponent's home town, Lima
(15-4) scored a second-round submission victory over Ford (12-3) in
the co-main event of MFC 26: Retribution held Friday night at the
River Cree Resort and
Casino just outside Edmonton, Alberta, and live on HDNet Fights.
Following an exciting back-and-forth opening round, Lima found
Ford's arm
dangling after a takedown and smoothly transitioned into a tapout
finish at
the 48-second mark of the middle frame. From once unknown to instant
title
contender, it was a perfect turn of events for the ATT Atlanta
product.
"I want the belt now," declared Lima, who also secured the
Submission of the
Night award. "I was promised if I win this fight they will give me a
title
shot. That's what I want - please."
The victory was Lima's third straight and put a halt to Ford's
four-fight
string of success while also souring the much-ballyhooed return of
Ford to
the MFC where his promising career began.
While Lima positioned himself in the welterweight title picture,
reigning
MFC lightweight champ Antonio McKee left no doubt as to who wears
the
biggest crown in the organization. Much-maligned for his "boring"
style and
vowing to retire if his opponent could last the five-round distance
with
him, McKee (25-3-2) punished Brazilian foe Luciano Azevedo (16-9)
with a
wicked slam and then proceeded to demolish him with relentless
ground-and-pound.
Two devastating elbows strikes carved a huge gash in Azevedo's
forehead and
a after a brief check by the ringside physician, referee Frank Geric
waved
the fight to a rightful stoppage just 3:11 into the opening stanza.
The
victory was just McKee's third TKO win of his career and the
Lakewood,
California, product not only retained his belt but remains unbeaten
in his
past 15 fights spanning seven years. Though only seven of his 25
career wins
have been of the non-decision variety, this decisive verdict should
serve
some notice to McKee's many critics that he can truly be an
entertaining
finisher.
"Whoever the MFC puts in front of me next, I'll whoop their ass
too," said
McKee. "I guess it's not true - you can teach an old dog new tricks.
And I
want to thank (HDNet commentator) Guy Mezger for bringing the best
out of
me."
Two other fighters made serious impacts at MFC 26, both ending their
respective bouts with impressive knockouts. Despite spending much of
the
first round on his back, David Heath sent foe Solomon Hutcherson
back to his
corner after the opening five minutes with badly bleeding - and
likely
broken - nose. That was only the tip of the damage iceberg that was
in store
for Hutcherson.
Heath (16-6) brought a huge roar from the capacity crowd when he
opened
Round 2 with a spinning backfist that very nearly dropped Hutcherson.
And
moments later, Heath did put Hutcherson (11-7) down for good with a
well-placed right hand and follow-up hammerfists that brought an
explosive
ending to the fight at 3:46 of the second round. The result, which
garnered
Knockout of the Night kudos for the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native, was
particularly noteworthy for Heath as it was his first test in the
middleweight ranks, dropping down from light heavyweight. While
there's
still work to be done, Heath served notice that he is a serious
threat in
search of a title belt.
The same can also now likely be said of Dwayne Lewis, who redeemed
himself
for a poor showing at MFC 25 against Emanuel Newton by taking out
Mike
Nickels only 1:30 into their 205-pound contest. Lewis (12-5) dropped
Nickels
(8-4) twice with short uppercuts in the clinch and then pounded down
Nickels
for good with more sharp and heavy shots. Lewis, one of the
organization's
most-popular figures, made a clear-cut case for a new multi-fight
contract
with his most-impressive outing since dusting off Marvin Eastman at
MFC 23.
In another middleweight bout, Jesse "JT Money" Taylor (16-6) didn't
inflict
a lot of damage, but kept positional advantage and went after enough
submissions to easily pull away from brash Brit Tom "Kong" Watson.
While his
ring entrance electrified the crowd, Watson (12-4) was unable to
unleash his
vaunted striking attack under the relentless wear of Taylor's
well-executed
game plan. All three judges scored the bout 30-26 in Taylor's favour
-
Watson having been deducted one point in Round 1 for holding the
ropes
during takedown attempts.
The night's televised card opened with two of the MFC's newest young
guns
squaring off and it was Curtis Demarce (11-7) using a slick triangle
choke
to coax the tapout from Tyson Steele (6-1) at the 4:09 mark of Round
2.
Other results:
Ford Robertson def. Andrew Buckland - unanimous decision (30-27,
30-27,
30-27)
Aaron Berke def. Ryan Ballingall - tapout via rear-naked choke, 0:35
Round 2
Chad Freeman def. Theo Brisley - tapout via armbar, 3:04 Round 1
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