By Joe Osborne

On Saturday night,  The Halifax Forum hosted quite possibly the biggest MMA card ever to hit the Maritimes with W-1: New Ground.

The co-main events featured two high-profile names in Brett ‘The Grim’ Rogers (11-2) and Maurilo ‘Ninja’ Rua (20-11-1) who each took on relative unknowns. These international MMA stand-outs had generated lofty expectations, but, due to lacklustre performances, those expectations weren’t met, leaving many frustrated and unhappy.

That said, few in attendance could truly complain about this major step forward for the sport on Canada’s East Coast

Rogers Wins Over ‘Warpath’, But Winds Up Sucking Wind:

In the main event, Rogers took on MMA journeyman Ruben ‘Warpath’ Villarreal (18-19-3) who had a .500 record going into the fight. Two fights removed from his showdown with Fedor Emelianeko (31-2), Rogers was expected to run over Warpath, but he barely mustered the energy to complete the fight and only managed to squeak out a decision victory.

Midway through the first round it looked as if Rogers would finish the fight when he dropped Warpath with a brutal leg kick. Rogers went in for the finish and landed several punches, but Villareal weathered the storm and made it back to his feet. The fight really slowed down in the second round as Rogers looked extremely tired. After going to the ground twice, the fighters were stood up both times due to inactivity. When the middle stanza came to an end, Rogers was bent over with his hands on his knees gasping for air. A somewhat uneventful third round saw two low blows to Rogers and a nice double leg takedown by Warpath.

The bigger story happened outside of the cage, though, as a large percentage of fans began leaving before the round was over.

When the fight finally came to an end, the reaction was a mix of boos and stunned silence. The main event turned out to be one of the worst fights on the card as Rogers earned the unanimous decision victory, but was totally exhausted and showed no signs of the skills that earned him a top-fifteen ranking. His being unable to finish Warpath, or even put on a dominating performance, could lead one to believe that Rogers’ 15-minutes of MMA fame are up.

Too Much Fight Was Broughton To Rua:

The Co-Main event saw PRIDE veteran Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua (20-11-1) take on Team Cesar Gracie fighter Roy Boughton (5-1) in what turned out to be a very uninspiring performance by Rua. The first round saw Boughton showing some impressive skills with a beautiful throw and also a nice suplex. Boughton really took over in the second round as he was able to gain full-mount twice, which led to some big punches and elbows that opened a cut above Rua’s left eye. The third round went very similar to the second with Boughton gaining top position and staying there for the majority of the round. He attempted, but failed, to put Rua away with a rear naked choke.

The clearly-exhausted Rua was lucky to make it to the end of the round. Boughton walked away with a unanimous decision victory by simply out-classing and over-powering Rua, though it should be noted that Boughton came into the fight well over the agreed upon 190lbs catch-weight at 195.2lbs.

Maritimes Fighters Represent In Victory And Defeat:

The hometown boys from Titans MMA in Halifax and Fit Plus in Dartmouth had mixed results in front of their boisterous fans.

Leading the way was Roger ‘The Hulk’ Hollett (11-3) who took on California-native Mychal Clark (7-11). On his way to the cage Clark showed off some serious dance moves, but went a little overboard as it took him a good two minutes to boogie his way to the cage. Hollett was all business though, taking it to Clark early and often.

In the first round Hollett landed a big left hook which dropped Clark. Hollett went in for the kill, but Clark was able to escape. In the second round, Clark displayed some of the flash that he showed in his entrance when he landed a spinning back elbow that didn’t seem to phase Hollett too much. The third round saw Hollett dominate from top position for most of the round, which sealed up a unanimous decision. Following the fight, Hollett said he was disappointed that he didn’t get the knock-out and admitted he felt a bit of ring rust.

Ricky Goodall (6-4) of Titans didn’t have his best day in the cage as he was dominated by imposing Toronto-native Sean Pierson (10-4). Right off the bat, there was two heavy striking exchanges with Pierson coming out on top of both. He then landed a nice takedown, got Goodall’s back, flattened him out and began landing some big bombs to the side of Goodall’s head. The fight was stopped at 1:44 of the first round, with Pierson earning a very impressive TKO victory.

Another bout saw Doug Evans (11-7), a veteran of two UFC fights, taking on Dartmouth’s Tristan Johnson (5-2). Evans’ game-plan was obvious, he landed several takedowns and grinded on Johnson for the majority of the fight. In the first two rounds, Evans attempted several submissions, but Johnson was able to defend them. In the third round, Evans’ experience and drive was the difference as he landed another big takedown, gained a full mount, and eventually slipped in a rear naked choke to earn the victory at just under the two-minute mark.

Matt MacGrath (9-4) out of Titans MMA evened the score for Maritimes fighters on the main card as he ground out a workmanlike victory against Alberta’s highly-respected Ryan Machan (12-6). MacGrath was able to take Machan down at will and was further able to keep his position on top for the majority of the fight, which earned him a unanimous decision.

Other Maritmers in action were Chad Cox (5-2) from Dartmouth who lost a unanimous decision to highly skilled Tri-Star Gym member Nordine Taleb (3-1). Truro‘s Jason Mackay (9-4) was dominated by the wrestling and ground work of California’s Musa Tolliver (8-6) who fought his way to a 30-27 unanimous decision. Chris Johnson (3-3) of Rogerville, NB was flat out beaten-up by Jeremy Hamilton (7-0) of Minnesota, who showed plenty of confidence, often standing with his hands down and chin out. Hamilton was able to slip in a rear naked choke for the victory at 2:56 of the first round. Jeremiah Bernard (3-3) of Summerside, who was celebrating his birthday, earned a very impressive head-kick KO victory over Todd Henry (0-1) from Moncton. In the first fight of the night, Cape Breton’s Jeff Black (2-7) was absolutely pulverized by Michael Imperato (1-0) who was making his pro debut. Imperato landed a quick takedown to start the fight, landed several flurries of punches and elbows, and eventually submitted Black by armbar towards the end of the first round.

Also on the card,  Pat Schilling (2-0) earned an impressive submission by kneebar victory over Tom Waters (4-2).

Final Thoughts:

Overall, W-1: “New Ground” was entertaining; especially early on with the first four fights ending in the first round. Although their production seemed slightly amateurish at times, mainly due to the event starting almost an hour and a half late, they showed a lot of promise for the future. With the MFC having so much success in Western Canada, the door is still open for a promotion to be the leader on the East Coast. If W-1 can continue putting lots of local and international talent under the same roof, they’ll have lots of success in the Maritimes going forward.

For more info on the latest news related to MMA in the Maritimes, visit maritimesmmafan.com. To read more articles by Joe Osborne, please visit WhatUpSports.