Fight League Atlantic 3
Fight League Atlantic is a combat sports promotion running events on the east coast of Canada. On April 30th, 2022 they ran their third MMA event, this time in the Moncton Coliseum located in Moncton, New Brunswick.
FLA has been a leader in Atlantic Canadian MMA and Jiu Jitsu events and put on competitions even in the rough times of 2020 and 2021. Their YouTube channel contains videos from their previous events if you would like to check them out.
For this pro-am show all fights except the main event were three round of three minutes each. The main event was three rounds of five minutes.
Dawson Sampson versus Dylan Sheppard
140lbs Catchweight
Dylan Sheppard was the first combatant to enter the FLA cage to start the evening. You can check out an interview with Sheppard here. Sampson entered next and was also previously interviewed by FLA on their YouTube channel. Both fighters came in with a Judo background according to the commentary, and were making their MMA debuts.
First round began with both men exchanging strikes in the middle, but the fight went to the ground quickly. Back on the feet Sheppard landed a big back kick and knocked down Sampson briefly. Round one was action pact and fairly even, but shortly into the second round a huge spin kick was landed by Sheppard to knock out Sampson. This was a really fun fight.
Levi Nickerson versus Jesse Opper
Featherweight
Here is a highlight of one of Opper's Jiu Jitsu matches that took place in a FLA cage. This fight started fast and Opper got Nickerson to the ground. They stand up after a bit of work and Nickerson took some punches to the head. Ended up being a fairly close round. Second round began a bit slower. Opper setup a guillotine on the feet then rolled and finished the guillotine in mount.
Fabian Ixkes versus Mike Macleod
215lbs Catchweight
You can see a previous fight of Ixkes' here. Macleod was interviewed by FLA about two week before this event on their YouTube channel. In the first round of this bout Ixkes caught the kick of Macleod and put him down to the mat twice, but did not follow his opponent to the ground either time. In the second round Ixkes seemed to pull ahead with Macleod being pressured and fighting off his heels for most of the round. The third round saw Macleod starting out aggressive, but it became a repeat of the second. Macleod was bleeding from the mouth (or it looked like from the mouth) quite a bit near the end. Fabian Ixkes won the fight by unanimous decision.
Simon McKeon versus Cam Nelson
Welterweight
Here is a look at Nelson inside the FLA cage as part of a Jiu Jitsu event. For this fight the first round ended up being all that was needed as Nelson hurt McKeon early then finished the fight.
Maria Clinton versus Sarah Wilson
Flyweight
An interview with Clinton can be found here while Wilson can be seen picking up a victory in a Jiu Jitsu match here. First round started and is mostly a striking battle til the end of the round when Wilson brought Clinton to the ground late. In the second round Clinton continued to throw heavy strikes and Wilson seemed to be trying to get a clinch going to take things to the ground. Near the end of the round the action went to the ground, but there was very little time left to work. Third round Wilson attempted to get the back of Clinton and did with some time left. She worked on getting the neck of Clinton, but without the ability to strike her opponent she found it difficult to sink in a choke. Entertaining fight! Maria Clinton won by split decision.
Rob Logan versus Owen Warren
215lbs Catchweight
An interview with Logan can be found here. A lot of strikes landed while against the cage in the first round of this bout. In the second round Logan made a big comeback and won by guillotine.
Luc De Ste Croix versus Jesse Heartz
Lightweight
Here is a FLA interview with Ste Croix. Heartz went for a throw early in the first round, but Ste Croix managed to get his back. Ste Croix then sunk in the rear naked choke and got the tap. Short but exciting fight!
Eric Wilson versus Morgan Rhynes
Featherweight
Here is an interview with Wilson. Crisp strikes were thrown to start to first round of the main event. Rhynes ended up winning this enjoyable scrap by decision.
Fight League Atlantic 3 was a really impressive event with great production values. Every fight was fun and the crowd was really into the proceedings. The replay of this event should be available on Monday, May 2nd for $19.99 on the Fight League Atlantic website. Check it out!
This work by Thomas Lloyd is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
RSS feed: https://blog.grappling.ca/feed/
If you have comments / questions send an email to thomas.lloyd@hey.com
You can also contact me on Mastodon where my account is @thmslld@fosstodon.org