BATTLEFIELD FIGHT LEAGUE 9

Battlefield Fight League 9 brought top-level amateur MMA back to Vancouver on July 16 2011 at Canada Place. A 14 fight card featured two championship battles and a great showing by fighters from West Coast BJJ. Both of the night’s titles were awarded to the fighters from that gym.

Under Card

155lbs, Levon Kinley of Universal MMA def. David Klonsky. Round 1 ended with a tapout that started with quick domination, to ground and pound, and then flattening out to rear naked choke. Kinley’s corner called on him to finish him quickly.

145lbs, Alfred Leslie of Team Huge def. Prince Mahey, Independent. It was apparent that the fighters displayed some nervousness going into the battle, and through round 2, spent a lot of time on the ground. Finally the ref stood them up, and then Mahey made use of over a dozen low kicks to keep Leslie at bay. Leslie had held Mahey on the ground in the first two rounds and this no doubt is what resulted in the judges all scoring, 29-28 for Leslie.

135lbs, Tony Huynh of Columbia Martial Arts def. Tony Nguyen, independent (cornered by Nick Marinos). Tony Huynh was showing the benefits of experience over Nguyen, holding him on the ground, dangerously to the end of round 2. Round 3 had one of those rare calls by a referee, a double timidity foul, as both fighters were pausing due to exhaustion. No doubt due to the series of punch exchanges in standup. Judges would give it unanimously to Huynh.

165lbs, Ben Cote of Carlson Gracie def. Sean Roche of Dojang Studios Vancouver. Roche started out round 3 with something different to mix it up, but ended up on the bottom end of mount after a scramble of reversals. 2:49 of round 3, the ref. called stoppage due to armbar.

165lbs, Andre Da Silva of Axe Capoeira, Clinch 4 Life def. Andrew Valiquette of Wolfe’s Den. A strong finish by da Silva. Valiquette had lots of troubles in round 3 avoiding rear naked choke attempts and control positions. The judges gave da Silva the decision with a score of 30 -28.

160lbs, Jacob Harkness of Spokane BJJ def. Morgan Bentley of West Coast BJJ, Port Coquitlam. Round started out anticlimatically with Bentley receiving groin strikes twice over, and everyone had to take a time out until that was over. Once the action got underway, both fighters came out with some good standup banging. Harkness got a takedown on Bentley and Bentley nearly got a kneebar out of the deal. In round 2, ground battles nearly enabled Harkness to get a leg scissor arm bar. Round 3 started with a huge right cross by Harkness followed later by a body slam on Bentley. Judges would give it to Harkness unanimously, 30-28.

200lbs, Hitam Treadwell, Independent def. Darren Cheekinew of Team Karma Surrey. Very fast attack and finish by Treadwell. Cheekinew had slipped early on and Treadwell took the advantage and punched out his opponent quickly until ref stoppage.

135lbs, Kirk Tse of Universal MMA def. Sabi Sanga of Carlson Gracie / Colombia MMA. Sanga almost pulled an armbar from the ground, working back against Tse, while on his back in round 1, running out of time in round 2 to lock in a triangle. Tse was dominating him in standup to that point. Tse would end up on Sanga against the cage and eventually they were stood up towards the end of the round to end with standup strikes. Tse gets the unanimous judges decision.

Main Card

170lbs, Jason Keller of Team Bad Boy Outreach def. Chris Hansen of Colombia Martial Arts. By the end of round 2, Keller was controlling Hansen on the ground, and had otherwise neutralized Hansen’s reach and height advantage. Keller was fully in control of Hansen by the end of round 3. Keller wins by judges unanimous decision.

185lbs, Jer ‘The Jerk’ Kornelson of Impact MMA Nanaimo def. Jesse Bird of West Coast BJJ Abbotsford. Jesse Bird had his share of ground attacks that were effective. The 6’6 fighter, using the body triangle and length to stretch out Kornelson to work the choke. In round 3, a takedown would give Kornelson to get in an anaconda choke and roll and was able to fold Bird over hard before the tapout called referee stoppage.

155lbs, David Kennedy of West Coast BJJ def. Johnathan Agnew of Suitela Fight Club Surrey. Kennedy demonstrated right away that he could stand and throw on Agnew with a couple of rights that rocked. He had good ground control but Agnew almost had him at the end of the first round. Kennedy would get an americana arm lock on Agnew from his back to call referee stoppage early in round 2 after shooting in for a takedown.

170lbs, Stuart Delurme of RDC Jiu-jitsu Kelowna def. Leo Xavier of Universal MMA. Leo Xavier demonstrated great kicks in standup but his defense alone wasn’t helping him score with the judges. Delurme was effective in pinning Xavier against the cage on several occasions. Xavier had top position through the end of round 3, to the end. The judges awarded the split decision to Stuart Delurme.

185lbs, Michah Brakefield of West Coast BJJ def. Justin Lansing of Carlson Gracie / Iron City Muay Thai. Brakefield got Lansing hard on the temple quickly and then again and it was over in 25 seconds. Brakefield awarded title belt for his division.

145lbs, Jeremy Kennedy of West Coast BJJ MMA Port Coquitlam def. Christian Storrs of Legacy MMA, Coast Falls Idaho. Round 1 was a clinch and standup game for Storrs and Kennedy and the next two rounds would be ground battles. Kennedy impressing the crowds with strikes setting up takedowns, Storrs still defending and attacking from his back. Kennedy had control of Storrs on the ground solidly, by the end of the 4th round. Kennedy had control of Storrs again through to the end of the 5th round. Storrs showed a huge amount of determination and gave a highly respectable defense of his position right to the end. The judges unanimous decision went to Kennedy.