THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINDSOR, Ont. — Welterweight champion Douglas (The Phenom) Lima stopped Terry Martin in short order at "MFC 29: Conquer" on Friday night.
A flurry of blows stunned Martin, prompting Montreal referee Yves Lavigne to step in one minute 14 seconds into the fight.
Lima (18-4) clubbed him down with a right and followed up with five rapid-fire blows. Martin (21-9) could hardly keep his balance when he staggered to his feet.
The six-foot-one Lima said he came into the fight with a goal of finishing the fight in the first round with his hands. He achieved both, earning knockout of the night honours.
In the co-main event of the mixed martial arts card at the Colosseum at Caesars Windsor, MFC light-heavyweight champion Ryan (The Big Deal) Jimmo won a decision over Zak Cummings in a lacklustre first title defence that drew scattered boos.
The judges scored it 50-45, 49-46, 50-45 for Jimmo, who posted his 15th straight win after a long 25 minutes in the cage.
Jimmo (15-1) celebrated by doing his trademark robot dance, which was about as entertaining as the fight that preceded it.
Martin then came out to "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, upping the tempo. Lima followed with a cornerman holding the championship belt high above his head.
Lima’s younger brother Dhiego (5-0) was also a winner on the night, choking out local favourite Josh Taveirne (2-2) at 3:35 of the third round on the undercard.
Cummings was a late injury replacement for Emanuel Newton and looked it. He was soft and pudgy but proved hard to dispose of.
And he managed to cut Jimmo in the first round via an accidental clash of heads.
Jimmo, who fights out of Edmonton by way of Halifax and Saint John, lashed him with kicks but Cummings (13-3) wrapped him up in lengthy clinches.
It was a measure of the entertainment factor of the fight when the two ring girls got out of their seats to work the crowd during the third round.
In the cage, Jimmo tripped Cummings and landed in mount, almost finishing him by arm triangle at the third ended.
Cummings, a wrestler with limited other skills, paid for a failed takedown in the fourth round. Jimmo moved into mount, took his back and was back on top as the round ended.
The Windsor show was the second officially sanctioned in Ontario, following on the heels of "MMA: The Reckoning" last Saturday at Casino Rama.
Like the Rama show, it featured top-drawer referees in Josh Rosenthal and Lavigne.
Friday’s card marked the debut of the MFC’s circular cage, which it has dubbed ‘the ring.’ Previously, the organization had used a real ring.
As with the show at Rama, most of the crowd sat in the slanting bank of auditorium seats, with the cage in front surrounded by floor seating and a smaller tier of banked seats behind.
The casino said it was a sellout at the 5,000-seat venue.
Based in Edmonton and formed in 1999, the MFC has held shows at the River Cree Resort & Casino in suburban Enoch in recent years. But once the Ontario government agreed to sanction mixed martial arts, the MFC joined forces with promoter S.L. Feldman & Associates to put on the show in Windsor.
The show, scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET, started 20 minutes late and moved slowly when it did with just three fights to fill time until the televised main card started at 10 p.m. One undercard bout was cancelled prior to the event.
Like the Rama show, MFC 29 appeared to go smoothly. But because the show aired on HDNet, it was not as seamless with delays between fights.
Toronto gets the next major show as 55,000 descend on the Rogers Centre for UFC 129 on April 30.
There was plenty of former UFC talent on display in Windsor.
Marcus (The Irish Hand Grenade) Davis won a split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) over Curtis Demarce of Brandon, Man., in a spirited lightweight bout that saw both men covered in blood.
The ring doctor visited both fighters midway through the second round after a ground exchange left both men leaking blood. Between rounds, an official was active with rags and cleaning solvent working diligently on the stained canvas.
"I’m like Frankenstein, I cut so easy," said the 37-year-old Davis, displaying a nasty gash on his forehead.
The 22-year-old Demarce (10-9) showed his grit in his last fight, a close loss to Richie Whitson at MFC 28, and he took everything Davis could throw at him. And then he gave some back.
"Hell of a performance," Davis (18-8) said of Demarce.
It was Davis’ second outing as a 155-pounder.
Veteran welterweight Pete (The Secret Weapon) Spratt defeated Demi Deeds (15-9) via armbar, snapping a two-fight losing streak and showing the former UFC vet still has teeth in the cage at 40.
Spratt (22-19) took charge in the second, hurting Deeds with strikes and then slickly transitioning into the armbar at 4:19.
"I’m getting old, man, so I’m trying to get out there as fast as I can with the least punishment," said Spratt.
Hermes Franca, another long-in-the-tooth former UFC fighter, stopped Robert (The Beast) Washington in a bout fought at a catchweight of 160 pounds.
Franca mugged for the crowd as the first round ended, putting his hands behind his back and daring Washington to swing.
The 36-year-old Franca connected early in the second, putting Washington down with a glancing right and then followed up with several blows from above. It ended 26 seconds into the round, with Franca pretending to holster a pair of pistols as he celebrated the win.
Windsor middleweight Ali (the Monster) Mokdad got the crowd on its feet early in the main card when he submitted Andreas (The Sweet Swede) Spang at 1:35 of the first round.
Spang (5-1) started well but lost position and Mokdad (4-0) was quick to take advantage, latching a rear naked choke on the Las Vegas-based Swede.
Mokdad was rewarded with submission of the night.
Windsor bantamweight Chuck Mady (4-3) got a great reception from the crowd and a rude welcome from Detroit’s David Bo Harris (5-2-1), who choked him out at 3:07 of the first round.
Lightweight Matt Spisak (3-2) of Barrie, Ont., opened the evening with a convincing 30-27 win over Pete Brown (2-2) of London, Ont.
Former boxing great Thomas (The Hitman) Hearns and singer Smokey Robinson, who plays the same auditorium Saturday, were both in the crowd.
