Encana MMA event crowns new King of the Cage

Fortin is from Wetaskiwin, AB and lives and trains in Fort St. John. His win came two minutes and five seconds into the first round. The referee stopped the fight after Fortin took the defending champ down and pummelled him with multiple blows while in mount.

The fight started with the two trading punches and kicks, with Bergmann landing the majority, due to his much smaller stance. Fortin went into the fight ranked second in Canada with a 5-3 record, while Bergman was ranked fourth, with a record of 4-2.

Like the championship fight, all but one of the bouts were over in the first round. The clearly most exciting fight of the night went to an all Fort St. John match between Reece Doherty and Logan Jarrel.

Although Jarrel may appear to be the physically superior fighter, Doherty quickly changed the minds of the audience. As soon as the fight started, Doherty proved his worth with his tight technique, landing a big take down early in the first round. He quickly gained side control and stayed there for most of the round, feeding Jarrel with continuous elbows to his head. All 259 pounds of Doherty stayed on top of Jarrel, until he managed to break his way out in the last few seconds of the round.

The second round started differently, with Logan exploding with energy and the two fighters landing big shots. Once again Doherty got the clinch and scored another big takedown, resuming the ground and pound of the first round. In a bit of deja vu, Jarrel was able to spring up again in the last minute of the round, and gained Doherty's back, before he was saved by the bell.

The third round was considerably slower, with the two men spending a lot of time against the cage, even having to be separated by the ref, to the cheers of the crowd. Jarrel appeared to have the most energy of the two, landing a big shot which rattled Doherty, but he held on for the win. Doherty won by a majority decision, raising the question of who could've given Jarrel more than the third round.

The other fighters from Fort St. John all lost in their matches. Matt Whitten was submitted by the cocky Behrang Yousefi at 2:44 in the first round, after tapping out in a rear naked choke. Teejay Klassen lost to Conrad Krzysztan at 3:00 in the first when the ref stopped the fight. Mike Beaudoin was submitted by a guillotine by Tony Bibby at 1:53 of the first round and Steve McLeod was defeated by TKO by Brandon Budd at 1:00 of the first round.

Gary Peck of Charlie Lake was the only other fighter from the area to emerge victorious. He defeated his opponent Bobby Kalmakoff by TKO in only 18 seconds.