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TKO has a new bantamweight champion. Colorado fighter Noah Thomas made a quick impression in his first fight for the Montreal-based organization, submitting Adrian Wooley, of Toronto, in the co-main event of TKO 35 Friday night at the Bell Centre.
Thomas wasted very little time getting the advantage on Wooley, who was making his first title defence after earning the vacant belt with a win over striker Danny Martinez in June. Wooley proved to find more trouble with the ground game of Thomas.
The fight didn’t come close to going five rounds, as the American was able to secure a guillotine choke at 3:22 of the opening frame to hand Wooley (5-1) his first loss.
Thomas (12-5) had built his pro career in miscellaneous promotions all over his home state, including Ring of Fire, Kickdown Classic and Sportfight.
In the main event, Japanese jiu-jitsu expert Hatsu Hioki retained his featherweight belt yet again with a triangle choke of home-town hopeful Thierry Quenneville at 4:14 of the first round.
The crowd was able to cheer one of its heroes as hockey player-turned-star MMA heavyweight Steve (The Boss) Bosse earned another knockout, this time of last-minute replacement Sebastien Gauthier. Bosse was supposed to take on Lance Evans, brother of to UFC light-heavyweight contender Rashad Evans, but he withdrew late in the week and Gauthier took the fight on 24 hours’ notice.
Sean Pierson, Wooley’s good friend and manager, made a successful return to the cage with a first-round submission of middleweight Jacob MacDonald. The Pickering, Ont., native had been out of action for over 14 months after injuring his shoulder and undergoing surgery. Pierson, who normally fights at welterweight, moved up to 185 pounds just for this return bout.
“I’m going to take a couple of fights just to make sure the shoulder’s good,” said Pierson ahead of the bout. “I don’t want to jump right into top contender’s spot. I want to move up slowly.”
The top contender’s spot appears now to be held by Dartmouth, N.S.’s T.J. Grant, who was a winner by submission over UFC veteran Forrest Petz. Grant got Petz in an arm-triangle at 3:55 of the second round to earn a second shot at Jesse Bongfeldt’s 170-pound title, expected to take place at TKO’s next event on Dec. 5.
The well-rounded Grant lost a well-contested fight to Bongfeldt, a fellow Canadian, by third-round arm bar at TKO 32 in February.
NOTES: Local favourite and featherweight contender Mark (The Machine) Hominick was supposed to be in action on the card, but had to pull out with a neck injury. The London, Ont., native and former champion has lost twice to Hioki. … None of the 13 fights on the main or undercard went the distance, and the entire event went just over four hours.
