Two fighters with plenty of local support put on a pretty good show Friday to cap off Xtreme Cage Wars Fighting Championship 50: Redemption.
Dauda Keita defended his XCWFC lightweight title by beating Moose Jaw’s Rodney McNabb via submission late in the first round of the mixed martial arts event at Mosaic Place.
“I’m feeling great. I did not put on the greatest fight or show, but I did my best,” said Keita who moved to Moose Jaw after growing up in a refugee camp in Guinea. He currently lives in Saskatoon and trains with Champion Fight Club.
“I am OK with it, it wasn’t the best, but I am going to keep going.”
Keita and McNabb had some good early exchanges before Keita managed to escape a McNabb throw.
“I wanted to try to get it done in the first,” said McNabb. “I missed my throw and I ended up on the bottom and that’s not usually the scenario we have to work with.”
When the fight went to the ground Keita had the upper hand and managed to force a submission after some good exchanges on the ground.
“Every fight I see myself getting better and doing some corrections and taking care of my mistakes,” said Keita. “I have to keep training every day, every night. No rest.”
Keita’s family lives in Moose Jaw and while many of them have already traveled to see him fight, it was the first time his mother was able to see him in action.
“I have never, ever competed in front of her. I feel so happy,” said Keita. “She was about to cry, but I told her not to cry. I said ‘I did it for you.’”
McNabb said fighting in front of the home crowd was nerve wracking. He had fans chanting “Moose Jaw” as he tried to rally at the end of the first round.
In other fights Friday, Medicine Hat’s Gauge Beck started the night off with a bang as he beat Mitch Stewart in 40 seconds, Beck landed a series of blows to Stewart’s head before forcing him to tap out.
The second fight went a full two rounds as North Battleford’s Kevin Peyachew and Biggar’s Ryan Moore fought to a unanimous draw.
Chad “The Stun Gun” Sutherland recorded the first knockout of the night when Alfred Swindler-Horse. Sutherland knocked Swindler-Horse to the ground with a series of punches and when Swindler-Horse got up, Sutherland pounced and finished him off with four more solid punches to the head.
Stacy Obchansky beat Chrystal Thornton via technical knockout in the second round to defend her middleweight boxing title.
Ashton Ledoux, 18, beat 41-year-old Roddy Busler via tapout at 1:36 of the second round to win the XCWFC featherweight title.
