A note to Robert Drysdale’s next opponent: get your strikes in, if you can.
Drysdale, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, had no plans to trade punches with Mike Nickels in the 205-pound bout at AFC 6: Conviction at Bear Mountain Arena on Saturday night.
Drysdale, based out of Las Vegas, won his third MMA fight, all of them coming in the AFC, over Denver’s Nickels, also a BJJ black belt.
Drysdale ducked a couple of early Nickel strikes, faked with one of his own and took out Nickels’ legs instead. It led to a Drysdale grappling clinic that ended in a guillotine choke, forcing Nickels to tap out.
The headliner featured AFC middleweight holder Kalib Starnes (Surrey) losing his 185 pound match to visiting John Salter of Alabama in the second round.
Salter’s power was too much, ending the fight by ref stoppage.
It will be interesting to see if Salter can return to the UFC following his AFC title win and a recent win in Strikeforce.
The most memorable moment of the night came when local fighter Derek Medler threw a clinging Jaret Evans from shoulder height onto the mat.
Medler was dominant but worked extremely hard to submit the hardnosed Jaret Evans with several sequences of strikes. It finally ended in the second round. Evans is as tough as they come and it demanded a real show of Medler’s broad skill set.
Medler (170 lbs) is now 6-0. The 30-year-old is a rising star in the Canadian MMA scene.
If not for Drysdale’s win in 1:04 of the first round, Victoria’s Ryan Janes (185 lbs) would have taken the fastest win of the night. Janes controlled the flow early to avoid the heavy strikes of Vancouver’s Duncan Wilson, and won with a rear naked choke at 1:17.
Janes is now 3-1 and is earning a reputation for controlling fights with his BJJ skills.
AFC 6: Conviction Results
Baz Cunningham defeats Corey Gower by Unanimous Decision (29-28 x 3)
Paul Cheng defeats Adam Querido by Unanimous Decision (30-27×2, 29-28)
Dan Ring defeats Chris Jones by Unanimous Decision (30-25, 30-27×2)
Karl Bergen defeats Bill Fraser by Unanimous Decision (30-27×2, 29-28)
Tristan Connelly submits Upneet Rai by Rear Naked Choke in Round 1, 2:30
