Jimmo grabs MFC gold

It may not have been the finish he wanted, but Ryan "The Big Deal" Jimmo is a world champion nonetheless.

Jimmo won the Maximum Fighting Championship light heavyweight title Friday night at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alta., when his fight with Dwayne "D-Bomb" Lewis was brought to a halt in the third round due to doctor stoppage.

"Dwayne is one tough son of a — and he came at me with some good, hard leg kicks," said Jimmo immediately after the fight as he walked through a host of well-wishing fans towards the post-fight press conference. "He hit me with a really good right hand and some good leg kicks. He actually very much surprised me with how he was on his stand-up; just a tough guy and I give him all the props in the world."

The win not only gives Jimmo (14-1) the first major title in his career, but extends his mixed martial arts (MMA) winning streak to 14.

"It's pretty heavy," smiled Jimmo when asked about the belt. "My girlfriend said, 'You're going to have to take a diamond out of it so you can use it to marry me with.'"

Though Jimmo trains in St. Albert with the Hayabusa Training Centre, the crowd of 1,000-plus was heavily in favour of the Fort McMurray-bred Lewis. Lewis's entrance was met with a host of cheers while Jimmo found himself on the receiving end of more than his fair share of boos.

The intensity between the two fighters was prevalent before the bell even sounded. When receiving their instructions from referee Brian Beauchamp, Jimmo leaned in and touched foreheads with Lewis and grinned before Beauchamp separated the two.

The first two rounds saw the fighters feel each other out. Jimmo switched stances often and threw numerous leg kicks that reddened Lewis's skin, while Lewis looked for an opening to deliver the knockout punch. Towards the end of the second round, Lewis looked as if he was growing impatient with the lack of action and started to chase Jimmo around the ring more while throwing punches that never landed.

"After a while, Dwayne started to get a little bit desperate. He started to throw more and more, chase me more and more," Jimmo said.

In the third, Jimmo said it was time to confuse Lewis. Instead of making him chase, Jimmo engaged Lewis and caught him with a straight right hand that wobbled his opponent.

Sensing his opportunity, Jimmo forced Lewis to the ropes then took him to the ground where he got into the full mount position and hammered punches down on Lewis.

"As soon as I hit him, and I went into the ropes with him, I took him down and he was just like a jellyfish," Jimmo said. "I knew I rocked him, and I had him hurt and I could basically do whatever I wanted."

Lewis eventually worked his way up to his feet, but had developed a huge golf ball-like hematoma under his left eye. Beauchamp paused the fight to allow the ringside physician to look, while Jimmo played to the crowd after being sent to the opposing corner.

After assessing the damage, the doctor concluded that Lewis could not continue and the fight was called at 3:13 of the third round, with Jimmo declared the winner.

It was confirmed after the fight that Lewis had sustained a broken orbital bone.

"I saw the big egg under his eye and I was like, 'Whoa, they might stop the fight,'" he said about the fight being stopped. "I expected it to go on, and I knew if it did, he was going to come out pretty desperate and be throwing really heavy bombs, so it was really good."

Jimmo raced to the centre of the ring and jumped in the air upon hearing the news as his Hayabusa Training Centre teammates stormed into the ring to help him celebrate.

Lewis's corner was upset with the stoppage and said the broken orbital bone was as a result of a headbutt and not strikes.

Even Jimmo was unsure of how it happened, but knew that initial punch did a lot of damage.

"It might have been [a headbutt]. He came in, I threw and it might have been a headbutt, so if it was, that happens — it's MMA," he said.

It was the second career victory over Lewis for Jimmo. The two met early on in both of their careers in 2007, with Jimmo winning that fight on points.

Jimmo will get very little rest, though, as he will be competing in the 2011 Junior/Senior Wrestling National Championships set to run in Edmonton from March 23 to 27.

It was a case of win, lose and draw for Hayabusa Training Centre fighters as Jimmo's teammates Sheldon Westcott and Garrett Nybakken didn't fare as well Friday night.

Westcott (4-1-1), an Edmonton native who came out to arguably the loudest reaction all night, started strong in his fight with American MMA veteran Thomas Denny, but gassed out late in the second round and was dominated in the third to earn a draw.

Nybakken (2-2) tapped to a rear-naked choke in the second round to lose his fight to Vancouver's Dan Ring.

Source: http://www.saintcitynews.com/article/20110226/STALBERT0201/110229960/-1/stalbert/jimmo-grabs-mfc-gold