THE CANADIAN PRESS
ENOCH, Alta. - Travis (The Serial Killer) Lutter spoiled middleweight Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald's return to the Maximum Fighting Championship on Friday night, winning a unanimous decision in the main event of MFC 22: Payoff.
The black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu used his ground skills to control MacDonald in the first two rounds. The Texan didn't do much damage but racked up the win 29-28 on all three judges' cards.
MacDonald (21-13) appeared in MFC 2 through 10 before making the jump to the UFC. Ten fights and three years later, MacDonald was released by the UFC after three losses in his last four outings. Lutter (10-5) was let go after losses to former middleweight champion Rich Franklin and current title-holder Anderson Silva.
Friday's fight for the first for Lutter since the April 2008 loss to Franklin at UFC 83 in Montreal.
MacDonald, who fights out of Red Deer, Alta., had lost five of his last eight going into the fight at the River Cree Resort and Casino.
Lutter scored a nice takedown and eventually got mount after a cautious start to the bout. MacDonald managed to control him but gave up his back as he tried to roll out. Lutter delivered strikes to the head to try to soften the Canadian up and lock in a choke but MacDonald survived the round.
In the second, Lutter used another clinch to take MacDonald down. After a lengthy grappling session, Lutter got side control and worked his way to mount again. But it was more about control than striking with Lutter doing little to hurt MacDonald. The crowd began to boo as the round wore on.
The round ended like a replay of the first, with MacDonald fighting off Lutter's choke attempt.
Knowing he needed to do something, MacDonald came out fast and took Lutter down to open the third. Lutter held on in half guard, then regained full guard. MacDonald was busy but a tired Lutter blunted a lot of his offence.
The fight ended with Lutter on his back in the corner and MacDonald diving down to deliver right hands. But it was too little too late.
In the co-main event, MFC lightweight champion Antonio McKee won a dull, lopsided decision over Carlos Prater in a non-title fight after both fighters failed to make 155 pounds. The 39-year-old McKee was 156, which is permissible, but Prater got on the scale at 158. As a result, McKee did not put his belt on the line and Prater relinquished 25 per cent of his purse.
McKee (23-3-2) took Prater down early and trapped his right arm behind his back, using the advantage to slice open his face above and below the eye. Prater (24-7-1) was on the defensive throughout the fight.
Mike Nickels (7-2) choked out David Heath at 4:02 of the third round in an entertaining light-heavyweight battle between former UFC fighters. It was a wild free-swinging affair that saw Nickels throw all he had at Heath, especially in the third round when Heath dropped his hands and invited Nickels to hit him.
"If anybody's dumb enough to put their hands down and give me their head, I'm going to tee off on it like a soccer ball," said Nickels, a former cast member of "The Ultimate Fighter."
An exhausted Heath (12-6) eventually slumped to the ground in the corner and Nickels, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, slapped on the choke.
The six-foot-four Nickels had five inches on his opponent, but Heath had quicker hands and cut the tattooed Nickels in the first round.
Nickels caught Heath early in the second round and pummelled him with elbows and knees in frenetic action. Heath got a respite twice when the round was stopped to allow him to put his mouthpiece back in. Heath had a point deducted in the third when the mouthpiece came out a third time.
In another matchup of UFC veterans, welterweight John (The Natural) Alessio knocked out Luigi (The Italian Tank) Fioravanti at 1:34 of the third round. Fioravanti (15-6) attempted to throw a left kick and Alessio (26-13) connected with a combination.
"Luigi is one of those guys that hits like a truck. I had to respect his power," said Alessio, a Vancouver native who trains out of Las Vegas. "He's an amazing competitor so the game plan was to go in there and kill him with footwork, try to move around. And he still landed some good shots on me. Then take him into deep water and try to go for that knockout."
Alessio largely used a stick-and-move strategy against the harder-hitting Fioravanti. The Canadian was slowed down in the second when he took a thumb to the eye but recovered to hurt Fioravanti with a combination later in the round,
Former UFC welterweight Peter (The Secret Weapon) Spratt knocked out Nathan Gunn of Thunder Bay, Ont., with a vicious uppercut at 4:19 of the second round. Gunn (7-1) crumpled immediately.
The 38-year-old Spratt (20-16) had spent a lot of time on his back in the first round, but he hurt Gunn early in the second with a roundhouse right, cutting open the Canadian under the eye. Gunn spent the rest of the round in survival mode before Spratt, who had lost six of his last 10 bouts, tagged him again.
Ryan (The Big Deal) Jimmo of Edmonton ran his win streak to 11 with a split decision win (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) over former UFC light-heavyweight Marvin (The Beastman) Eastman in a close fight that could have gone the other way.
Jimmo (11-1) nullified Eastman on their feet but took some punishment on the ground in the second round when Eastman reversed a Jimmo takedown attempt. Jimmo emerged from the round leaking blood from around the left eye. Eastman scored another takedown in the third, with Jimmo's other eye swelling up after their heads clashed in the process.
The 38-year-old Eastman (16-10-1) came into the bout 4-5-1 in his last 10 fights. The five-foot-nine Eastman was also giving up five inches in height.
