Hardcore Championship Fighting "Destiny" Report & Results
by Robert Sargent
MMARising.com was on-site to provide coverage of Hardcore Championship Fighting's "Destiny" event at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in a night which concluded with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira stopping Todd Gouwenberg.
The crowd was very large, but well-behaved, and loudly cheered on the numerous fighters from Alberta throughout the night.
Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira vs Todd Gouwenberg
In an exciting conclusion to an incredible - albeit long - event, Nogueira stopped Gouwenberg early in the second round after a barrage of Thai-clinch knee strikes to the ribs and jaw.Early on in the first round, the fighters circled each other, with Gouwenberg landing occasional strikes and Nogueira countering. Nogueira scored the first takedown of the fight, but, to the surprise of many, Gouwenberg more than held his own on the ground against the Brazilian tactician. The Langley, British Columbia, native kept Nogueira in his half-guard, and did the same in each of the following two trips to the mat. With Denis Kang in his corner, Gouwenberg seemed to be completely comfortable on the ground, but Nogueira landed a few good strikes on the feet just before the end of round one. A very close round that truly could have been scored either way.
The second round was similar, at first, with Nogueira continuing to use the Nogueira-famous leg trips to take Gouwenberg down, but Gouwenberg continued to neutralise any offence from Nogueira. As the round neared completion, however, Gouwenberg managed to get back to his feet, but Nogueira punished him with a knee to the body, followed by nearly a dozen more knees to the body and jaw, with Gouwenberg stumbling and eventually crumpling into the cage. The referee called a stop to the fight at 4:34, with the crowd cheering loudly for the finish.
Winner: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO (Knees) at 4:34 of round two. He improves to 13-3-0.
Gegard Mousasi vs Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos
With an ending reminiscent of Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn II, PRIDE veteran Mousasi pinned Cyborg down and landed dozens of unanswered punches that forced a controversial referee stoppage in the first round.Early on, the fighters circled and traded quick strikes, with each wary of the other's power. Soon after, Mousasi landed a couple of hard leg kicks and reversed a takedown, then moved directly to side-control. After landing a few minor strikes from the top, the Armenian used his body and legs to pin down both of Cyborg's arms, leaving Cyborg unable to move or escape position. From there, Mousasi landed dozens and dozens of small, relatively undamaging strikes with his free arm, which Cyborg seemed to be having little trouble with, save for his inability to move.
Cyborg managed to buck up a few times, which forced Mousasi to regain his position again, but the Brazilian could not move his head to block the strikes and the referee eventually stopped the fight at 3:42. It was clear that Cyborg was not at all injured, and had taken next to no damage from the strikes, and he immediately leapt to his feet and protested to the referee. However, with Cyborg being unable to defend himself at all, the referee didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, even if the strikes weren't causing much damage. To his credit, Mousasi looked very good in this fight, especially considering that he had to cut a massive amount of weight the previous day, after confusing the dates of the fight and weigh-in.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi by TKO (Unanswered Punches) at 3:42 of round one. He improves to 19-2-1.
HCF Lightweight Championship
Thomas Schulte vs Garett Davis
The Albuquerque-based reigning champion, Schulte, made it 2-0 in Hardcore Championship Fighting, as he battled back from an early scare to submit Vancouver, British Columbia's Davis in the first round.Davis caught a kick attempt from Schulte early on and landed a hard punch that sent Schulte crashing to the canvas. As an awe came over the audience, Davis dove in to try to pound out a stoppage, but Schulte landed an up-kick from his back, then reversed position and got Davis's back. Mere seconds later, Schulte sunk in a rear naked choke and Davis was forced to tapout. As HCF CEO Keith Crawford told me backstage after the event, it's going to be difficult to continue to find top competition to compete with the surging star, Schulte.
Winner: Thomas Schulte by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:15 of round one. He improves to 16-6-0, 1 NC.
Jason "Dooms" Day vs David "The Crow" Loiseau
This last-minute addition to an already stellar card saw Montreal, Quebec's Loiseau dictate most of the fight over fan favourite, Day, but the judges awarded Day with a highly controversial Split Decision victory, which was met with a hearty chorus of boos from the crowd, despite the fact that Day, of Lethbridge, Alberta, had had the crowd's backing for the entire fight.Loiseau came out with a flying kick attempt, but that was about as flashy as round one would be, with most of the rest of the round spent on the ground. Loiseau held top position, and landed numerous small shots from Day's guard, but neither fighter was able to do anything to put the other in danger. As a result, the round was a close one, but Loiseau's controlling of top position should have given him round one.
The second round was much of the same for the first few minutes, with Loiseau again attempting a big kick to open the round. He clinched Day against the cage, then took him down and again worked from Day's guard. The fight remained there until the later stages of the round, when Day managed to reverse position. From the top, an urgent Day landed a series of punches and forced Loiseau to roll over and give up his back. Rather than working for a submission, Day continued to punish Loiseau with punches to the head, and Loiseau seemed to be hurt for a moment. However, the bell sounded to end the round, with Day coming back to win round two.
Round three was very similar to the first, with Loiseau again taking Day down and working from his guard or half-guard. An emphatic slam by Loiseau, in the middle of the round, got the crowd back into the fight, but the remainder of the round saw little damage dealt. Loiseau clearly won the third round, controlling position for the duration and scoring with the slam. At this point, even though the first round was close, anything besides a 29-28 win for Loiseau would be surprising.
However, to a deafening chorus of boos from the crowd, the winner was announced as Day, who, himself, later commented to Loiseau that it was Loiseau who should have been declared the victor. Backstage, following the event, I spoke with Loiseau about the decision. He was not angry, but definitely very frustrated because he had worked very hard on his wrestling and felt that he had controlled the fight and done more than enough to earn a victory. He will have a chance for redemption at HCF's next show on March 29th.
Winner: Jason Day by Split Decision after three rounds. He improves to 15-5-0.
Derrick "The Eraser" Noble vs Brendan Seguin
In a battle of American fighters, Illinois prevailed over Michigan, as Noble defeated Seguin after a vicious right hook in the second round.Seguin took Noble down early in the first round with a hip toss, but that was the most exciting part of the first round. Both fighters scored takedowns and landed strikes on the ground, but the pace slowed. A brief striking exchange on the feet saw both fighters land quick shots, but nothing damaging.
The second round also began fairly slowly, and led to a long period of clinch work against the cage. After a few more brief exchanges near the very end of the round, Noble went for a high kick on Seguin as the fighters broke from a clinch. Seguin blocked the kick, but Noble followed up with a brutal right hook that sent Seguin crashing to the mat against the cage. Noble landed a couple of follow-up punches before the referee could step in, but Seguin was out from the right hook. A slow fight, but an exciting ending that had the crowd cheering.
Winner: Derrick Noble by KO (Punch) at 4:34 of round two. He improves to 22-10-1.
Mike "Quicksand" Pyle vs Damir Mirenic
With Randy Couture in his corner, Pyle, a native of Las Vegas who is one of only two people to ever defeat UFC contender Jon Fitch, submitted Damir Mirenic with a lightning-fast keylock in the second round.The first round of action was completely dominated by Pyle, while the crowd soundly chanted "Randy! Randy!" at Randy Couture. Pyle manhandled his Croatian opponent, winning on the feet and then taking the fight to the ground. Pyle went for numerous submission attempts, but Mirenic somehow found a way to escape from all of them. Pyle alternated between arm triangles, armbars and other assorted submissions, and controlled essentially every second of round one.
In the second round, Pyle again won the striking exchanges, then scored a takedown near the edge of the cage. From half-guard, Pyle latched on to Mirenic's arm as Mirenic tried to manoeuvre to escape, and quickly applied a keylock (reverse Kimura) to end the fight in the blink of an eye.
Winner: Mike Pyle by Submission (Keylock) at 1:22 of round two. He improves to 15-5-1.
Undercard Fights:
In a battle of Alberta natives, Lethbridge's Dan "Torture" Chambers - a warrior competing in his 18th fight since July of 2006 - controlled the entire fight until a punch from Calgary's Andrew Buckland spelled the beginning of the end in round two. Buckland was in all sorts of trouble in round one, and again in the early stages of round two, but followed up his punch on the ground with a horrifying Kimura that broke Chambers's arm and probably separated his shoulder as well. A disappointing end for Chambers, who seemed to be seconds away from victory numerous times. Winner: Buckland by Submission (Kimura) at 3:19 of round two.Costa Rica's Ariel Sexton rebounded from his HCF Lightweight title loss last October with a win over Surrey, British Columbia's Myles "The Cowboy" Merola. Sporting a cowboy hat, Merola was instantly a fan favourite with the Alberta audience, and put on a great showing in his defeat to Sexton. Merola looked to be the smaller of the fighters, but he seemed to have the advantage in strength in round one as the high-paced action alternated back and forth. However, Sexton got Merola's back in the second round and finished the fight with a choke. Merola had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, as he fought very gamely throughout. Winner: Sexton by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:08 of round two.
Illinois native Miodrag "Pele" Petkovic picked Edmonton's Tim "The Thrashing Machine" Hague apart with more vicious leg kicks than any spectator could ever hope to count. Petkovic unleashed his leg kicking fury in the first round, leaving Hague visibly limping on his left leg within minutes, but Hague caught Petkovic's leg and took him down. Hague controlled most of round two, but Petkovic came back with many more leg kicks and controlled position in the third, and was rewarded with a Split Decision victory. Hague was badly favouring his leg after the fight, but was a true warrior to even perservere until the end. Winner: Petkovic by Split Decision after three rounds.
Rockland, Ontario's Nabil "The Thrill" Khatib survived an early onslaught from Brazil's Lucas Rota to earn a Unanimous Decision victory. Rota, who had lost his first professional fight at the last HCF event, was clearly looking to make an impact, and came out swinging with punches, kicks, knees and anything else he could throw at Khatib. However, Khatib managed to survive the vicious knees in the first round, and controlled the remainder of the fight with ground and pound strikes from top position on the ground. Rota easily won round one, but Khatib won the latter two. Winner: Khatib by Unanimous Decision after three rounds.
Costa Rica's Juan Barrantes got back in the winning ways with a quick submission victory over Calgary's own Fabian Cortez, in Cortez's professional MMA debut. After a takedown and numerous reversals and transitions, Cortez escaped Barrantes's rear naked choke and triangle choke attempts, but could not escape from an armbar in the middle of the first round. Cortez was forced to submit, and the night of fights began with an action-packed ground clinic. Winner: Barrantes by Submission (Armbar) at 2:20 of round one.
An originally scheduled bout between The Ultimate Fighter alumni Solomon Hutcherson and Amir Rahnavardi was cancelled when Hutcherson's passport was invalid and he could not enter the country. Despite this, the eleven fights that went on still took four and a half hours to complete, making this one of the longest mixed martial arts events in quite some time.
The event will air on The Score television network in Canada at some point in the near future. Commentating was done by Mauro Ranallo, with Denis Kang providing backstage interviews for television. Pictures from "Destiny" will be uploaded to MMARising.com shortly.
In addition to covering the event, I had the opportunity to speak with many fighters backstage after the show ended. While many fighters were anxious to get back to their hotels to escape the frigid Calgary weather, I spoke with a number of the top fighters on the card, and an exclusive post-fight interview with Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira can be found here.
I will also be conducting an in-depth interview with Mauro Ranallo, arguably the best commentator in mixed martial arts history, very shortly. Check back frequently for more exclusive top fighter interviews at MMARising.com.
Hardcore Championship Fighting's next event is on March 29th in Montreal, Québec, Canada. Their next event in Western Canada will be late in the Spring in Edmonton, Alberta, and I will once again be providing on-site coverage.
Overall, this was an incredible night of fights, which I was privileged to be a part of.
