‘Farmer’ Brown Wins Again at Freedom Fight
GATINEAU, Quebec, Jan. 26 -- Freedom Fight returned to the Robert
Guertin Arena on Saturday for its first show of 2008.
Perennial Freedom Fight fan favorite Craig "Farmer" Brown was back in the headlining role against the "Loud Mouth Assassin," Marcus Hicks. Hicks came out shooting in with reckless abandon for the takedown, but Brown muscled him to ground and into full guard. Brown then administered a heaping serving of elbows that immediately showed their effects.
The fight was paused, and a swollen and bloodied Hicks was checked
out. After he was cleared to continue, Hicks went on the defensive,
covering up and shooting at any chance.
Sporting an almost two-inch gash above his left eye as well as a bloodied nose, Hicks kept pressing the action. A Brown combination had Hicks covering up against the ropes, and "The Farmer" began to unload. Most of the shots just bounced off the arms of Hicks, who landed a thundering punch before delivering knees in the clinch.
After Hicks recovered, the two picked up where they had left off in the clinch. This time an inadvertent knee found its way to Brown's groin, and he also took a moment to speak his mind to the official.
With the pace now slowed considerably and the raucous crowd still on its feet, the two fighters battled it out to the final bell, much to the delight of the fans. After the scorecards were tallied, the unanimous decision was awarded to Brown.
In the semi-main event, Stephane Lamarche met Team Shredder's Dan "The Big House" Grandmaison.
Lamarche opened with a low kick. Grandmaison sprawled and swept to top position. A failed armbar attempt found "The Big House" on his back with Lamarche looking to drop bombs. Grandmaison latched on to a triangle that looked sunk, but his opponent escaped.
The second stanza picked up where the fighters left off in the first, working countless positions on the ground. Lamarche did well to escape a deep armbar, but he found it difficult to keep Grandmaison on his back, yet alone to stay out of submissions. Finally, Lamarche succumbed to an armbar at 4:29 of round two.
Justin Doyon opened with a hard low kick against Mark Holst (Pictures), who replied with fast hands as the two worked feverishly in the clinch. Holst managed to grab hold of a textbook muay Thai plum that he used to fire a relentless barrage of knees, the first of which opened a cut on the forehead of Doyon and immediately began spouting blood.
After a dozen more clean knees to the body and head, Doyon succeeded in taking Holst down, but the sheer amount of blood that covered the canvas was a sign this fight was all but over. The doctor called a halt to the contest at 2:02 of round one.
Steve Hazelton and Jason Bissonnette clinched in the corner, exchanging knees and punches to the body while swapping positions. Hazelton exerted a lot of energy while pressing Bissonnette into the corner. Eventually Bissonnette swept his opponent, dropping him directly on his head.
Bissonnette wasted little time mounting and blasting away, only to pause for a moment to check if the referee had any inclination on stopping things. A few additional shots followed for good measure, and the fight was finally stopped at 2:25 of the first round.
Markaille Wedderburn opened his fight against Joel Davis with a snapping leg kick. He used a body-lock takedown to gain full mount, but Davis tied him up well. Davis then gave up his back briefly and escaped out the back door.
The relative inexperience of both fighters showed as they were unable to capitalize on dominant positions. Both also looked exhausted working in the clinch, with Wedderburn getting another takedown to end the round.
Davis came out aggressive for round two and started to connect with more frequency. After a trip takedown by Wedderburn to half guard less than a minute in, the Toronto native began raining punches down on Davis. David did nothing but cover up, giving Wedderburn the win by TKO at 1:10 of round two.
Eric Muir ate a lot of leather to open his fight against Rob Tracey. With Tracey dominating the action on the feet, Muir pressed him against the corner and elevated him high for a slam. On the ground, Muir escaped a myriad of submissions, including a triangle he was trapped in for well over a minute. The first round concluded with Tracey being deducted a point for escaping through the ropes while Muir closed strong.
Tracey opened the second with a wild and ill-timed haymaker that spun him around. Muir capitalized, taking his back, though he was soon warned for punching to the back of Tracey's head.
With Tracey fading, Muir upped his attack and was relentless with ground and pound until the fighters became entangled in the ropes. After a break, Tracey was slow to stand. Upon numerous inquiries as to whether the fighter wanted to continue, the referee called a stop to the action at 2:37 of round two.
In what can only be described as an all-out war, Ian Dawe and Todd Wood (Pictures) fought arguably the most intense back-and-forth action of the night during the four-plus minutes they were in the ring.
The two went toe-to-toe and exchanged takedowns and dominant positions. At one stage in the contest, Wood had Dawe in a tight keylock that bent his arm 180 degrees, but miraculously Dawe freed himself. Back on the feet again, Dawe and Wood swung with reckless abandon. Dawe eventually connected and Wood crashed to the canvas 4:36 into the first round, launching the crowd into a frenzy.
In preliminary action, Andre Desrochers survived an early onslaught from Michel Aubin to put him away with a barrage of uppercuts at 2:13 of the first.
Clint Martin made good in his home debut, stopping Dimitri Waardenburd by armbar at 57 seconds into the opening round.
Perennial Freedom Fight fan favorite Craig "Farmer" Brown was back in the headlining role against the "Loud Mouth Assassin," Marcus Hicks. Hicks came out shooting in with reckless abandon for the takedown, but Brown muscled him to ground and into full guard. Brown then administered a heaping serving of elbows that immediately showed their effects.
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Sporting an almost two-inch gash above his left eye as well as a bloodied nose, Hicks kept pressing the action. A Brown combination had Hicks covering up against the ropes, and "The Farmer" began to unload. Most of the shots just bounced off the arms of Hicks, who landed a thundering punch before delivering knees in the clinch.
The crowd was on its feet as the third round began. Hicks and Brown
loaded up, throwing one punch at a time. The trend continued until
the fighters found themselves entangled in the clinch, exchanging
punches and knees to the body when an errant knee caught Hicks
low.
After Hicks recovered, the two picked up where they had left off in the clinch. This time an inadvertent knee found its way to Brown's groin, and he also took a moment to speak his mind to the official.
With the pace now slowed considerably and the raucous crowd still on its feet, the two fighters battled it out to the final bell, much to the delight of the fans. After the scorecards were tallied, the unanimous decision was awarded to Brown.
In the semi-main event, Stephane Lamarche met Team Shredder's Dan "The Big House" Grandmaison.
Lamarche opened with a low kick. Grandmaison sprawled and swept to top position. A failed armbar attempt found "The Big House" on his back with Lamarche looking to drop bombs. Grandmaison latched on to a triangle that looked sunk, but his opponent escaped.
The second stanza picked up where the fighters left off in the first, working countless positions on the ground. Lamarche did well to escape a deep armbar, but he found it difficult to keep Grandmaison on his back, yet alone to stay out of submissions. Finally, Lamarche succumbed to an armbar at 4:29 of round two.
Justin Doyon opened with a hard low kick against Mark Holst (Pictures), who replied with fast hands as the two worked feverishly in the clinch. Holst managed to grab hold of a textbook muay Thai plum that he used to fire a relentless barrage of knees, the first of which opened a cut on the forehead of Doyon and immediately began spouting blood.
After a dozen more clean knees to the body and head, Doyon succeeded in taking Holst down, but the sheer amount of blood that covered the canvas was a sign this fight was all but over. The doctor called a halt to the contest at 2:02 of round one.
Steve Hazelton and Jason Bissonnette clinched in the corner, exchanging knees and punches to the body while swapping positions. Hazelton exerted a lot of energy while pressing Bissonnette into the corner. Eventually Bissonnette swept his opponent, dropping him directly on his head.
Bissonnette wasted little time mounting and blasting away, only to pause for a moment to check if the referee had any inclination on stopping things. A few additional shots followed for good measure, and the fight was finally stopped at 2:25 of the first round.
Markaille Wedderburn opened his fight against Joel Davis with a snapping leg kick. He used a body-lock takedown to gain full mount, but Davis tied him up well. Davis then gave up his back briefly and escaped out the back door.
The relative inexperience of both fighters showed as they were unable to capitalize on dominant positions. Both also looked exhausted working in the clinch, with Wedderburn getting another takedown to end the round.
Davis came out aggressive for round two and started to connect with more frequency. After a trip takedown by Wedderburn to half guard less than a minute in, the Toronto native began raining punches down on Davis. David did nothing but cover up, giving Wedderburn the win by TKO at 1:10 of round two.
Eric Muir ate a lot of leather to open his fight against Rob Tracey. With Tracey dominating the action on the feet, Muir pressed him against the corner and elevated him high for a slam. On the ground, Muir escaped a myriad of submissions, including a triangle he was trapped in for well over a minute. The first round concluded with Tracey being deducted a point for escaping through the ropes while Muir closed strong.
Tracey opened the second with a wild and ill-timed haymaker that spun him around. Muir capitalized, taking his back, though he was soon warned for punching to the back of Tracey's head.
With Tracey fading, Muir upped his attack and was relentless with ground and pound until the fighters became entangled in the ropes. After a break, Tracey was slow to stand. Upon numerous inquiries as to whether the fighter wanted to continue, the referee called a stop to the action at 2:37 of round two.
In what can only be described as an all-out war, Ian Dawe and Todd Wood (Pictures) fought arguably the most intense back-and-forth action of the night during the four-plus minutes they were in the ring.
The two went toe-to-toe and exchanged takedowns and dominant positions. At one stage in the contest, Wood had Dawe in a tight keylock that bent his arm 180 degrees, but miraculously Dawe freed himself. Back on the feet again, Dawe and Wood swung with reckless abandon. Dawe eventually connected and Wood crashed to the canvas 4:36 into the first round, launching the crowd into a frenzy.
In preliminary action, Andre Desrochers survived an early onslaught from Michel Aubin to put him away with a barrage of uppercuts at 2:13 of the first.
Clint Martin made good in his home debut, stopping Dimitri Waardenburd by armbar at 57 seconds into the opening round.
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