The House of Pain fielded three fighters that won their bouts and represented Cranbrook in the North American Challenge 29 in Vancouver a week ago.
Adam Wills, Donovan Hack and John McKinnon were all victorious in their fights as they participated in the undercard for the event, building up hype for the main event.
McKinnon fought Daniel Richard out of Universal MMA, based in Vancouver, in the featherweight division.
“It was a pretty good first round,” said House of Pain Sensi Mike Corrigan. “Some pretty good stand up, they had some good techniques going—both of them. Went to the ground, John tried a couple of good submission attempts from side control, but they were close.
“Second round, they came out, went to the ground about a minute in, and John finished him off with a Kimura [submission].”
The victory boosts McKinnon’s fight record to one win and one loss.
Hack faced Jared McCann, representing Mamba MMA out of Abbotsford, in the welterweight division that ended with a decision and giving him a 2-0 record.
“Donovan controlled the standup, he controlled the range really well,” said Corrigan. “He stopped every takedown attempt that Jared tried on him. When it finally did go to the ground, Donovan got good back control, was dropping some really good ground and pound on McCann at the end of the second round, to the point where the ref was almost stopping it, but the bell went.
“Went to the third round, and again, a really good battle, standup and on the ground, and it came out with a unanimous decision for Donovan.”
Wills’ opponent was David Cunningham, who represented Island Warriors out of Campbell River, and his victory gives him a 4-1 record.
“First round they came out, it was pretty good standup, they did a little feeling out at the beginning of the round, and then it kind of went a little serious, a couple of good clinches, a couple of really good inside knees from Adam, and some good inside boxing—some good body shots—when they were clinched up,” said Corrigan.
After the first round, the fight was called for Wills, because Cunningham didn’t answer the bell for the second round.