Fighters from the Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts Academy had plenty of reasons to celebrate on Saturday night.
The local club sent four of its athletes to the Ray House Memorial Fight Night in Dawson Creek and three of them raised their hands in victory at the end of their bouts. Dane Newal, Tate Rawling and CJ Strongheart all won their fights, while Brayden Kersey lost his but picked up a Fight of the Night award.
Despite the fact Newal was at a weight disadvantage, he scored a second-round technical knockout against Tanner Supernault of Dawson Creek. The referee stopped the bout when Newal connected with a punch that stunned Supernault and left him defenceless.
Rawling, meanwhile, scored a first-round victory when he choked out Vanderhoof's Chris Wilson in just 37 seconds.
As for Strongheart, he stopped a determined Jason Carter in the second round after Carter had survived a series of submission attempts. Carter was representing the Northern Warrior Academy of Dawson Creek.
Kersey took on Dawson Creek's Sean Cyr in a kickboxing bout, even though he would have preferred an MMA contest. Kersey and Cyr hammered away at each other for almost three full rounds before Cyr finally scored a knockout.
Newal, Rawling and Kersey will all be back in action at the end of February when they compete in a Five Star fight card in Grande Prairie. Mathew Gador of Kaiten MMA will also be part of that show.
