McGillivray, Coy win to set up welterweight title showdown
Press Release – January 28, 2012 – Wilson Gouveia truly proved he is on the right comeback road, while Ryan McGillivray and Nathan Coy each secured their opportunity to win the MFC welterweight title as the Maximum Fighting Championship hosted MFC 32: Bitter Rivals.
The event, emanating from the Mayfield Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, went down before a packed house and live throughout North America on HDNet Fights.
In the MFC’s inaugural five-round, non-title fight, Gouveia (13-8) demolished the lead leg of opponent Dwayne “D-Bomb” Lewis with a barrage of kicks, wearing his foe down to the point that the Brazilian was able to dole out some severe ground-and-pound. After a brief respite as Lewis regained his feet, Gouveia pummelled Lewis again, flattened him out, and rained down punches until referee Jerin Valel stepped in at the 3:19 mark of Round 2.
It was an impressive return to form for Gouveia, who now lives in Miramar, Florida. Gouveia halted a three-fight losing skid and looks to be a dominant figure in the MFC’s light-heavyweight ranks after picking up his fifth career KO/TKO. The loss was especially bitter for Lewis (12-8) as the Fort McMurray, Alberta, product had hoped to also be on the comeback trail following injuries and a failed quest for the title at MFC 28. The defeat was just the second via KO/TKO in Lewis’s career.
Meanwhile, McGillivray (12-5-1) needed to pull out all the stops in the final round of his welterweight clash with Diego Bautista. The submission specialist was nearly choked out in the second round by Bautista (7-1) who also opened a sizeable gash on McGillivray’s forehead in the middle frame. But McGillivray, fighting in front of his hometown crowd in Edmonton, survived and executed his favored armbar to score the victory at 2:25 of Round 3.
It was a triumphant return for McGillivray whose career began in the MFC in 2006. And McGillivray, who earned the Submission of the Night honor, locked up a shot at the vacant MFC welterweight title – a matchup he’ll get against Coy at MFC 33: Collision Course set for May 4.
Coy (10-4) worked an impressive combination of wrestling and striking to outdistance himself from top prospect Dhiego Lima (6-1). Coy, who fights out of Coconut Creek, Florida, registered seven clear-cut takedowns in the fight on his way to a dominant unanimous decision by scores 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28.
Relegated from a title fight down to a three-round affair, former MFC lightweight champ Antonio McKee, who was stripped of his crown after missing the contracted weight by seven pounds, was unusually aggressive early on, and then held on late during a torrid comeback bid to take a unanimous decision from Brian Cobb.
McKee (27-4-2) dropped Cobb twice in Round 1 with side kicks and threw in a mat-pounding suplex late in the opening frame. Cobb (19-7) was all over a fatigued McKee in the third round and appeared to have a rear-naked choke sunk in a couple of times, but couldn’t get the decisive grip. McKee took all three judges’ cards by a count of 29-28.
In an early frontrunner for 2012 MFC Fight of the Year, Jamie Toney (15-7) pounded out a unanimous verdict over Kyle Jackson (7-2). Jackson may have had the highlight of the night with a wicked Superman punch that rattled Toney, but the Bas Rutten-trained Toney battered Jackson throughout to get the clear-cut nod at 30-27 on all judges’ cards.
Other results:
Dan Ring (6-0-1) def. James Haddad (4-2) – majority decision
Matt Jelly (2-1) def. Garrett Nybakken (3-4) – split decision
Brendan Kornberger (3-0) def. Allen Hope (9-10) – TKO, 4:45 Round 1