Appeal launched for Krysa’s ECC fight

The backers for mixed martial artist Shaun Krysa of Ontario have launched a protest with the Nova Scotia Boxing Authority following his loss Saturday for the Extreme Cage Combat lightweight belt at the Halifax Forum.

The boxing authority regulates all combat sports in the province.

Krysa lost the match to Pictou County’s Jason Mackay when the ring doctor stopped the contest after an accidental foul when Mackay struck Krysa in the chin with an up-kick.

Mackay won the decision 19-18, 19-18, 19-18 on the scorecards despite being deducted for the kick. Both fighters were 4-0 entering the match.

Krysa was knocked woozy by the kick.

Chris Boreland, Krysa’s coach and the head of Boreland’s Combat team, filed the protest on grounds that under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts a fighter may not kick the head of a grounded opponent. Krysa was on his knees and Mackay on his back at the time of the kick.

Boreland maintains the kick was not accidental and Mackay should have been disqualified. Boreland said he had not heard back from the NSBA as of late Monday afternoon.

(Source)

Hollett on a roll heading into next cage fight

By Monty Mosher

Halifax’s Roger Hollett will take some major momentum into his next fight this summer.

He gave away nearly eight inches to Montreal’s Ricardeau Francois on Saturday night at the Halifax Forum, but still collected the East Coast Combat light heavyweight championship to highlight Extreme Cage Combat V before 4,500 fans.

Hollett, 5-0, is already confirmed for a June 22 mixed martial arts fight against Lethbridge’s Jason Day, the undisputed light heavyweight champion in the Alberta fight scene. Francois is 12-8 and has lost four in a row, including one to Day.

Hollett obliterated Francois, belting him to the floor at the outset and raining blows on his face and head until Francois curled up and surrendered.

Francois’ only chance was to keep the stronger Hollett at a distance, but had no answer for Hollett’s superior power.

"It went great," Hollett, a man of few words, told the crowd in accepting the belt.

Hollett’s last two fights have lasted a combined 56 seconds after he knocked out Mike Maurer in Edmonton in February in 36 seconds.

In two other ECC title matches, Pictou County’s Jason Mackay also went to 5-0 by defeating Ontario’s Shaun Krysa for the lightweight belt and Montreal’s Cory MacDonald bloodied Rowan Cunningham of Port Williams for the welterweight championship.

Mackay’s fight with Krysa ended on an accidental foul in the second round and went to the scorecards with Mackay winning 19-18 on all three cards. Mackay immediately offered Krysa, 4-1, a rematch.

Krysa’s camp is irate over the decision, arguing Mackay committed an illegal kick to Krysa’s chin to end the match and the bout should be ruled a no-contest.

MacDonald knocked out Cunningham, who had a gash on his nose, in the second round. MacDonald is 5-1 and Cunningham 4-2.

The night also marked the first female bout in the ECC with Fall River’s Tannaya Hantelman losing to Montreal’s Valerie Letourneau in the first cage action for either fighter. Hantelman weighed 138 while Letourneau was 140.

Hantelman and Letourneau delivered a spirited battle, much to the delight of the fans, with the two delivering strike after strike and shaking off the damage.

But in the second round, Letourneau worked a left jab that had Hantelman’s nose running red. She finished Hantelman with a series of strikes and a punishing kick to the body that led to the stoppage.

On the undercard, Amherst’s Tim Skidmore stopped Halifax’s Tim Kelly with an armbar submission in the second round (185 pounds), Peter McGrath and Mike Scudder, both of Halifax, went the full three rounds with McGrath winning an impressive decision via a barrage of kicks (150 pounds) and Halifax’s Craig Skinner knocked out fellow Haligonian Curtis Fiander with a crunching left 17 seconds into the first round.

Ontario’s Stjepan Vujnovic won a quick first-round armbar submission over New Brunswick’s Andrew Belyea (185 pounds), Halifax’s Adam MacDonald pummelled Fredericton’s Michael Waugh for a TKO in less than two minutes (175 pounds), Halifax’s Matt Dutkoski locked an armbar on Kentville’s Matt Hamilton for a second-round submission and P.E.I.’s Travis Axworthy won on a first-round armbar submission over Ontario’s Shawn Marchand.

(Source)

Hollett, MacKay, and MacDonald take ECC Title belts

By Andy Cotterill

HALIFAX, March 31 — Once again Halifax took a big step forward and proved that they're the little town that could. While other more well known, and better established promotions struggle to bring in a few thousand fans, Extreme Cage Combat drew close to 4,500 to see ECC 5 "Night of Champions."

This event is just now starting to see the benefits of their fighter building process, as several of ECC regulars are really starting to come into their own and show just how tough and skilled they are.

Sometimes it's a struggle to find even one fight in an event that can be called "Fight of the Night," but ECC 5 was an exception, as there were almost too many that qualified to count.

Claiming the ECC Canadian light heavyweight belt is Halifax's own Roger Hollett,who plowed through a towering Ricardeau Francois in only 20 seconds. Wary of the long legs of the French-Canadian, Hollett rushed in to get inside their range. A flurry of blows immediately followed, and a right hand caught Francois square on the jaw, dropping him to the mat.

As Francois lay there covering up, Hollett dropped blow after heavy blow, which forced Francois to tap. The referee didn't see the tap right away, and Hollett had to tell him. Hollett continued to hit until the ref finally came in to stop the fight.

For the belt ceremony, Hollett was joined in the center of the cage with his father Ralph, former three time Canadian middleweight boxing champion.

The ECC lightweight belt contenders — Jason MacKay and Shaun Krysa — put on a heck of a fight, which ended with a lot of controversy.

Krysa took MacKay down quite a few times in round one, but MacKay seemed very comfortable from down there, and displayed exceptional skills looking up at his standing opponent. Krysa tried to come in several times, but MacKay stopped him with accurate up-kicks and foot stomps. Krysa seemed a little frustrated and motioned for MacKay to stand.

Krysa was able to take MacKay down pretty much at will, and was even able to get the mount twice, but both times MacKay rolled back and escaped via TK scissors.

Round two looked to replicate the first. More of the same except at one point MacKay was able to take Krysa's back, although Krysa was able to twist to an escape.

Next came the controversy. Krysa was on his knees in MacKay's full guard, when MacKay let loose a wicked up-kick that caught Krysa flush on the chin, knocking him back to the mat.

The move was illegal since Krysa was on his knees. The referee deducted one point, and then the cage-side doctor came in to examine Krysa. After a minute the fight was called off.

In an unusual and puzzling move, the announcer claimed that since the hit was an "accidental foul" the fight would be decided by judges' scorecard, even though it was only halfway through the second round.

All three judges ruled the fight 19-18 in favor of the new lightweight champion, Jason MacKay.

There was a lot of anticipation coming into the welterweight championship bout between Cory MacDonald and Rowan Cunningham. Both fighters have excellent BJJ pedigrees and huge fan followings. Even though both weighed in at 170 pounds, MacDonald appeared to be twice the size of Cunningham.

The two fighters squared off and immediately Cunningham shot in. MacDonald showed some very strong looking sprawl technique and Cunningham tried again, but this time MacDonald caught him, dragged him down and went into his full guard.

MacDonald then put Cunningham in an anaconda choke, which he escaped right away. Cunningham was bloodied about his nose so the referee paused the fight, and the cage-side doctor checked him out.

After action resumed Cunningham immediately dropped down and drew MacDonald into his high guard. Cunningham's left leg crept higher and it appeared that he was going for a gogoplata, but MacDonald sensed it and escaped in time. Cunningham transitioned quickly to an omoplata and twisted MacDonald into a pretzel.

The shoulder lock looked tight, but MacDonald rolled out of it by using a beautiful combination of moves. Now in side control, Cunningham almost took the mount, and when MacDonald turned and gave up his back Cunningham went for it. One hook, then two, and Cunningham was tight on the back of a closed-up MacDonald to end round one.

Round two began with a Superman punch by Cunningham, who then used wrestled MacDonald to put him against the cage. For some reason referee Hubert Earle stood them up almost immediately, less than 10 seconds after hitting the mat, much to the consternation of the fans.

That was probably the turning point as MacDonald then caught Cunningham with a nice hit that knocked him down against the cage. Cunningham valiantly tried to get back up, but MacDonald was on top of him right away, raining down fists and elbows.

Cunningham was in serious trouble, and the referee was forced to step in and stop the damage.

ECC 5 "A Night of Champions" Undercard Results:
Tim Skidmore Def. Tim Kelly Submission (Armbar) R2 2:28
Peter McGrath Def. Mike Skudder Decision (Unanimous) R3 5:00
Craig Skinner Def. Curtis Fiander KO (Punch) R1 0:17
Stjepan Vujnovic Def. Andrew Belyea Submission (Armbar) R1 1:47
Adam MacDonald Def. Michael Waugh TKO (Punches) R1 1:59
Matt Dutkoski Def. Matt Hamilton Submission (Armbar) R2 2:23
Travis Axworthy Def. Shawn Marchand Submission (Armbar) R1 4:09
Valerie Letourneau Def. Tannaya Hantelman TKO (Punches) R2 4:02

ECC 5 “Night of Champions” Weigh-in Report

By Peter Parsons

Halifax, NS – The weigh-ins for Extreme Cage Combat 5 “Night of Champions” were held today at the Peel Pub in downtown Halifax. The ECC will crown it’s first ever champions tomorrow night at the Halifax Forum as ECC 5 boasts three ECC Canadian title fights.

In the main event Halifax’s own Roger Hollett (4-0) will take on Ricardeau Francois (12-7) of Montreal for the ECC Canadian light-heavyweight title. Hollett, 3-0 in the ECC in Halifax, is coming off an impressive first round KO over Edmonton Eskimos football player Mike Mauer at the MFC 11 event last month in Edmonton. Hollett is stepping up in competition facing the much more experienced Francois who is known for his win over Wes Simms and his split decision loss against Patrick Cote.

In a battle of 4-0 lightweights, Pictou County, Nova Scotia’s Jason MacKay will face Shawn Krysa of Georgetown, Ontario for the ECC Canadian lightweight title.

Apex Canadian Welterweight champion Rowan Cunningham (4-1), fighting out of Kentville, Nova Scotia, looks to add the ECC Canadian Welterweight title to his collection as he takes on Cory MacDonald (4-1) of Montreal.

In the first ever female fight in Atlantic Canada, Team Titans’ Tannaya Hantelman of Halifax will do battle with Valerie Letourneau of Montreal. This will be the professional debuts for both ladies.

ECC 5 Weigh-in Results:

• Ricardeau Francois (205.0 lbs) vs. Roger Hollett (204.0 lbs)
• Shawn Krysa (155 lbs) vs. Jason MacKay (153.0 lbs)
• Cory MacDonald (168.9 lbs) vs. Rowan Cunningham (168.0)
• Valerie Letourneau (140.0 lbs) vs. Tannaya Hantelman (138.0 lbs)
• Shawn Marchand (184.0 lbs) vs. Travis Axworthy (183.6 lbs)
• Matt Hamilton (167.6) vs. Matt Dutkoski (170.0)
• Adam MacDonald (169.2) vs. Michael Waugh (172.6)
• Andrew Belyea (183.0) vs. Stjepan Vujnovic (184.6)
• Craig Skinner (183.8) vs. Curtis Fiander (191.0)
• Peter McGrath (145.0) vs. Mike Scudder (147.4)
• Tim Skidmore (181.4) vs. Tim Kelly (183.6)

ECC 5 “Night of Champions” Press Conference

By Peter Parsons

Three new champions will be crowned and first female MMA fight to hit the Maritimes

Halifax, Nova Scotia - March 7 – Combat Productions held a press conference today at the Palace Night Club in downtown Halifax to announce their Extreme Cage Combat 5 card, taking place on Saturday, March 31st, at the Halifax Forum. ECC 5 “Night of Champions” will boast three ECC Canadian title fights as well as the first ever female MMA fight in Atlantic Canada.

Peter Martell, promoter of the ECC, Hubert Earle, director of combat sport for the Nova Scotia Boxing Authority, along with several local ECC fighters, were on hand to field questions from the local media. Much of the interest was placed on the first female MMA fight in the Maritimes, featuring Tannaya Hantelman of Team Titans who will be taking on Debbie Richards of Hamilton, Ontario . When questioned about the safety and skill level of female fighters, promoter Peter Martell responded, “There’s no reason why females shouldn’t fight in mixed martial arts, she has the skills that any mixed martial artist has and she will represent the sport very well.”

Having anticipated the interest, Martell quickly put Hantelman to work showing off her skills as she hit the pads with Titans teammate Jason McKay, who will be fighting for the lightweight title on the 31st.

Also on display was one of the three new championship belts that will be awarded at ECC 5. In the main event, the ECC light-heavyweight title will be up for grabs as local favorite Roger Hollett (4-0) of Team Titans will fight Team Nestor’s Ricardeau Francois (12-7) of Montreal . The ECC Canadian lightweight title will be on the line in a battle of 4-0 lightweights as Pictou County, Nova Scotia native Jason McKay will battle fellow ECC and Apex veteran Sean Krysa of the Boreland Combat Team in Georgetown, Ontario . Apex Canadian Welterweight Champion Rowan Cunningham (4-1), fighting out of Abhaya MMA in Kentville, Nova Scotia, looks to add the ECC Canadian welterweight title to his collection as he takes on Cory MacDonald (4-1) of Team Nestor.

ECC 5 “Night of Champions” Full Card:
205 lbs: Roger Hollett vs. Ricardeau Francois
155 lbs: Jason MacKay vs. Sean Krysa
170 lbs: Rowan Cunningham vs. Cory MacDonald
135 lbs: Tannaya Hantelman vs. Debbie Richards
220 lbs: Ryan Jimmo vs. Robert Haynes
185 lbs: Travis Axworthy vs. Chester Post
170 lbs: Matt Dutkoski vs. Matt Hamilton
145 lbs: Mike Skutter vs. Chris Barbeau
175 lbs: Adam MacDonald vs. Michael Waugh
185 lbs: Aaron Jollimore vs. Andrew Belyea
185 lbs: Craig Skinner vs. Curtis Fiander
150 lbs: Peter McGrath vs. Kristian Ndur
185 lbs: Tim Kelly vs. Tim Skidmore

Women to fight in ECC V

By Monty Mosher

Hantelman to meet Richards in first female bout in Maritimes.

Tannaya Hantelman smiled and giggled her way through a series of media interviews Wednesday. She didn’t look like a young woman with a mean streak ready to bust somebody up in a steel cage.

But Fall River’s Hantelman, a member of Titans Mixed Martial Arts in Halifax, says she can’t wait to take part in the first female bout staged in the Maritimes on the Extreme Cage Combat V card set for the Halifax Forum on March 31.

Hantelman, about to turn 25, will take on Hamilton’s Debbie Richards in the first match for both fighters. It will be at 135 pounds. "It’s exciting," said Hantelman. "I’m training really hard and I love doing what I’m doing. I expect to win. My mom says I’m going to win."

If she’s a pioneer in the region, that’s fine with her. She doesn’t see what she’s doing as anything special. "Hopefully, other girls will want to do it. I know lots of girls I train with love it, too. Once they train a little bit more they’ll do it, too."

Born in Regina, she moved to Fall River last April with her family. She is a student at Maritime Business College. She entered a martial arts academy while living in Winnipeg several years ago just for fitness training and grew to love sparring.

A powerful striker with strong kicks, she said she’ll have no fear entering the cage. She said she’s been knocked out a number of times in training and takes shots every day in the gym.

She views fighting as a natural extension of sparring, more of a physical chess match than brawling. "It’s fun," she said. "I’ll be ready." Hantelman’s mother, Karon Fiesel, said she supports her daughter’s ambitions. "I worry about her being hurt, but I have confidence with all the training she’s done that she’s not going to get hurt. I think she’ll be fine."



ECC promoter Peter Martell has rejected bouts for other women on previous cards on grounds they weren’t ready for the cage. An accomplished martial arts practitioner, he knows Hantelman is ready after sparring with her.

"She’s a competent fighter and I think she’s going to do very well," he said. "She’s a great striker and her grappling is coming along. She’s been working on defending against the ground game and she’s hoping to win with strikes." The fight card will be highlighted by three matches for new titles created by the ECC.

Halifax’s Roger Hollett (4-0) will take on Montreal’s Ricardeau Francois (12-7) in the main event at 205 pounds. Pictou County’s Jason Mackay, also 4-0, will strip down 15 pounds to fight Ontario’s Shaun Krysa (4-0) for the 155-pound championship and Rowan Cunningham (4-1) of Port Williams will meet Montreal’s Cory MacDonald (4-1) for the 170-pound belt.

Hollett, who will give away seven inches to the six-foot-six Francois, enters off a sensational win in Edmonton last month that saw him knock Edmonton Eskimos fullback Mike Maurer into unconsciousness in 36 seconds. His win was so dominating it got Edmonton promoters eager for more. Hollett is scheduled to fight in Edmonton against an opponent to be announced in April.

Hollett said he’s interested in at least three more fights in Canada before seeking some interest in U.S. markets as early as 2008. He said he’s not concerned that he keeps beating his opponents in a matter of seconds. None of his wins has lasted a round.

"No man, I’ve got to keep my mom happy," he said. "She says don’t stay in there too long and get hurt. I’ve got to wrap ‘em quick for mom." He said he likes the creation of the new ECC belts. "I’m excited to be the next champ," he said.

Other Nova Scotians on the 13-bout card are Tim Kelly, Peter McGrath, Curtis Fiander, Aaron Jollimore, Adam MacDonald, Matt Dutkoski, Mike Skutter and Ryan Jimmo, all of Halifax, Amherst’s Tim Skidmore and Kentville’s Matt Hamilton.

(Source) (Alternate Article)

ECC Announces “Night of Champions”

HALIFAX, March 7 — At a press conference held Wednesday by Combat Productions at the Palace nightclub, the full line-up for the promotion's fifth event, "Night of Champions," was revealed.

That particular moniker stems from the introduction of light heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight belts.

On hand were ECC co-promoter Peter Martell, Nova Scotia Boxing Authority rep Hubert Earle, as well as several fighters including Roger Hollett, Jason MacKay, Ryan Jimmo, and female newcomer Tannaya Hantelman.

Martell eloquently fielded questions from the press, and revealed some of the promotion's future plans. Halifax is a big university town, and Martell said that due to the mass exodus of students during the summer months the ECC is considering starting an "Unplugged" series during that time, similar to the Maximum Fighting Championship in Edmonton.

After the questions, MacKay and Hantelman quickly switched to ring attire and performed a 10-minute sparring session for those in attendance. Hantelman displayed some of the solid striking and kicking skills that she's developed during years of Muay Thai training.

Light heavyweight title match
Roger Hollett vs. Ricardeau Francois

Lightweight title match
Jason MacKay vs. Shaun Krysa

Welterweight title match
Rowan Cunningham vs. Cory MacDonald

Main Card
Tannaya Hantelman vs. Debbie Richards (135)
Ryan Jimmo vs. Robert Haynes (220)
Travis Axworthy vs. Chester Post (185)
Matt Dutkoski vs. Matt Hamilton (170)
Mike Skutter vs. Chris Barbeau (145)
Adam MacDonald vs. Michael Waugh (175)
Aaron Jollimore vs. Andrew Belyea (185)
Craig Skinner vs. Curtis Fiander (185)
Peter McGrath vs. Kristian Ndur (150)
Tim Kelly vs. Tim Skidmore (185)