Home mat advantage turned out to be a key factor for Andrew Elliott at the 32-Man Showdown this weekend in London. The Adrenaline Training Center grappler and former Lakehead University wrestler defeated Bryan Fedynszyn in the finals to cap off his undefeated day and take home the 2012 32-Man title.
The event was staged inside the Agriplex at the Western Fairgrounds as part of the Sports and Recreation show. Elliott used a great combination of agility, strength and crafty skill to run his way to the finals where he and the bigger Fedynszyn fought a razor-thin five-minute match that needed a sudden death overtime to determine the winner.
In extra time, Elliott was able to secure a solid throw-takedown and hold position for the sudden death win. It was a well deserved victory for Elliott, who currently trains at Adrenaline Training Center under the tutelage of Rowan Cunningham and James Haourt. Ironically, Elliott defeated his much smaller teacher Haourt in the semi finals.
I spoke with Elliott immediately after the event.
“I come from a wrestling background, I wrestled in high school and at Lakehead University. Actually one of my old alumni teammates won the Gi portion of the competition as well.”
They are obviously doing something right at Lakehead University Wrestling.
“Since high school I have been training a bit of MMA as well at Supreme MMA in Sarnia with John Fraser and now I’m back down here at Adrenaline in London.”
It is clear with his performance on Sunday that Elliott trains well as John “The Haggis Basher” Fraser is one of the best mixed martial artists that this country has to offer. Between training with the high-level talent at Adrenaline in London and training with Fraser in Sarnia, Elliott has aligned himself well to flourish in this sport in the future.
I asked Elliott if this was the toughest test yet for a competitor with his experience and his answer was clear,
“It’s all different, it’s hard to compare them. Wrestling, you get some very tough tournaments there but I mean you had great competitors here today. The final here was tough, I had to fight for every takedown and then even if I get a takedown I have to defend my arm or he’s threatening me with chokes.”
This was the third year for The Showdown, which is a unique event in that it is an “openweight challenge” where other events are all divided by weight class. All weight classes were represented well as the semi-finalists were Elliott (165 lb), Fedynszyn (215 lb), Dave Knowles (200 lb) and James Haourt (140 lb) and all matches were tightly contested.
This is the third “32-Man Showdown” and was created, organized and run by Alex Gasson and Pecker’d Services. The competition pulled in a great crowd for the Sports and Recreation show in London.
Please see the attached video for highlights from the event and a word from the winner Andrew Elliott.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.
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