After all the fight hype leading up to the show, the Score Fighting Series 5 delivered and then some from the Hamilton Place Theatre on Saturday night.
In the highlight of the show for me—and clearly the “Fight Of The Night” on a card that had some good bouts—Jesse “The Body Snatcher” Ronson showcased a brilliant striking game to defeat Alex Ricci via unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Ronson was the sharper of the two from the get-go, and he knocked Ricci down with strong punches and kicks on multiple occasions in the fight. Ricci is highly skilled, as well, and despite the first loss of his career, he showed tremendous toughness and will. Ronson was technical as well as aggressive in his approach, and he is poised for bigger things in the very near future.
In the main event of the evening, hometown hero and undefeated bantamweight Josh “Gentleman” Hill dominated veteran Sarnia, Ontario native John Fraser in a fight that certainly wasn’t as close as I thought it would be.
Hill got takedowns early in Rounds 1 and 2 after Fraser came in wild and tried to strike. Once on his back, Fraser had no answer for the strength and conditioning of Hill. Hill cut Fraser in the first round with a short elbow, and he rained down punches throughout the fight. Hill took the unanimous decision win 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
The UFC should be next for him if it is looking to showcase the best in the world.
The Score once again delivered a strong card of high-caliber Canadian talent, and most did not disappoint when the cage door closed behind them.
In other main card action, Milwaukee native and Duke Rufous-trained featherweight, Rick Glenn, took out Tristan Johnson with a solid all-around performance that included takedowns that Johnson was unable to answer. Glenn won via second-round TKO and then took the mic in the post fight and called out local Canadian favorite Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki for a fight on the next show.
It was announced during the show that Horodecki will be fighting on the October SFS card in Sarnia.
Kyle Prepolec bounced back after a vicious low blow that almost ended his night to defeat the always-tough Jason Meisel. I had Prepolec up in the first round when a hard kick to the groin floored him for almost the full five minutes of allowed recovery time.
He then went on and submitted Meisel with a very impressive triangle choke from the guard. He moves to 5-1 in his pro career.
Many top fighters were in attendance either cornering or supporting other fighters: Ben Askren, Sam Stout, Chris Clements, Chris Horodecki, Antonio Carvalho, Mitch Gagnon, Sean Pierson and Claude Patrick were all in attendence.
The rest of the results:
Elias Theodorou defeated Simon Marini via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jason Saggo defeated Eric Attard via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:24 of Round 1
Ryan Dickson defeated Chris St. Jean via TKO at 2:42 of Round 1
Adam Assenza defeated Taylor Solomon via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Eric Montgomery defeated Frank Marques via TKO doctor stoppage at 4:20 of Round 1
Jeff Sharkey defeated Robert Thomas via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.
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