North American MMA Results and Commentary: 3/28-4/03

Like the international version of the weekly piece, there were a few events that I missed.  Basically, there are a lot more MMA cards each weekend than I ever expected, covering at least 13 states and two provinces.  This is an ongoing process though, and my goal is to be able to cover all of them preemptively one day.  We'll see how successful I am with that.  In the meantime, let's get to the goodness.

The first Ontario MMA card went off without a hitch in Orillia and was, by all accounts, an entertaining night of fights that drew a sellout crowd of around 5000 at Casino Rama.  Fighters from four different countries (Canada, Australia, England, Latvia) picked up wins on the internationally-flavored card, with Canadians strutting their stuff in the two top fights.

21 year old Jordan "Young Guns" Mein (21-7) continued his hot streak with another win over a UFC vet, taking a unanimous decision over Josh Burkman, while Chris Horodecki (17-3) picked up a first round submission victory (via rear naked choke) in his first fight since being released by Zuffa.  Horodecki, normally a standout kickboxer in the cage, was given an easy takedown off a David Castillo high kick and patiently worked his way to a submission on the ground over the next four minutes.  In other fights, Canadian Matt McGrath's (10-5) wrestling was too much for Brit Dean Amasinger, with McGrath taking a unanimous decision; and Latvian LHW prospect Misha Cirkunov (4-1) completely dominated his opponent on the way to a unanimous decision.

On the other side of Canada, it was a ladies fight that took top billing in suburban Victoria, BC (and about half a kilometer from where I lived for part of my childhood) on Armageddon Fighting Championships 5 . Ex-Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman (13-1) battered a very game Megumi Yabushita for over 13 minutes, adding a plethora of kicks to her formidable boxing and finally finishing Yabushita by TKO late in the third round.  Nick "The Juggernaut" Hinchcliffe (18-7) won a majority decision over Ryan Machan in a welterweight contest, possibly setting up a future contest with fellow WW and AFC 5 winner Derek Medler (5-0), who has fought and won on every AFC card thus far.

Below the 49th parallel, there were events all over the place.  The biggest was likely down in Florida at Fight Time 4, where Jeff "The Snowman" Monson (41-11) went the full five rounds with Tony Lopez, with Monson taking Lopez down seemingly at will and winning every round in a lopsided decision.  Monson picked up the ISKA Heavyweight Title with the win, but has talked of dropping to 205 in the near future.  WEC vet Rafael Dias (15-8-1) picked up an expected win by submitting overmatched Jay Ellis in 75 seconds, while ATT fighter and Bellator vet Derek Mehmen (11-3) picked up a decision win over Matthew Thomson.

Here's how things went down across the rest of the US:

Alaska: Alaska Fighting Championships Mat Su Showdown 4 - Only 1 out of 8 fights got out of the 2nd round, with 7 TKO victories.  The only guy that didn't finish was probably the best AFC prospect on the card, Daniel Cook (3-0), who won a unanimous decision over Jesse Vasquez.

Colorado: Gerald Sedillo (11-1) apparently did not compete on King of the Cage: Underground 67 in Cortez, and will instead be fighting on a May 15th KOTC card.  No results off the card yet.  No Mercy Extreme Fighting ran Annhilation 32 in Colorado Springs on Saturday night.  Results here.  High Altitude Face Off 3 results here.

Florida:  Art of Fighting 12: Static, in Jacksonville.  Michael "Boom Boom" Buchkovich (11-4-1) picked up a victory over late replacement, the imfamous Jimmy Ambriz (15-15-1).  Welterweight Raul Amaya improved to 8-0 with a victory as well.

Louisiana:  Bloody Cajun MMA: SugArena Rage in New Iberia.  Results and pictures here.

Minnesota: Cage Fighting Xtreme: Fight Night at First Ave in Minneapolis.  Results here.  Seconds Out/Vivid MMA: Tour of Duty 3.  Results here.

And of course, there were about 15 other events from Oregon to Texas where the results haven't trickled in yet.  Hint to promoters - update your webpage and/or facebook page with a rundown of the card!  It's good for promotion!

I will get started on a whole new week of cards in the next couple of days.