Driller Promotions, Mecca X Live, returned to Canterbury Park Expo September 9. For those who were unable to catch the 30+ bouts live in person, streaming was available on FlocCombat. After substantial time and technical delays, the two-part card kicked off some of the memorable Muay Thai and MMA fights.

Matches of Note: Muay Thai Magic

Djamara Vers flew in from Netherlands to face off against Kaitlin Young for the Women’s World Light Welterweight title. The highly anticipated fight delivered on world class striking. Young appeared significantly stronger. She showed off beautiful grappling, knees and elbows throughout the first and second rounds. Vers, while a phenomenal athlete appeared to be outclassed by the extremely experienced Young. Young was able to score a TKO over Vers in the second round. Vers has a wonderful career ahead of her considering her age and the fact that she took this fight on only three weeks’ notice. The fans can expect more exciting matches from these two talented stars.

Ladies stole the show all night long with consistently technical, exciting matches. Of particular note were Bahr’s beautiful kick and elbow combos. Thomsen showed incredibly tenacity and heart throughout the match. There was no quit in her and no shame in that loss. Al-Hameed showed off smooth, clean striking and landed trips on Pickard ultimately adding another win to her record.

A substantial height difference made for an interesting matchup between Meza and Pelischek. Meza exhibited strong technique but Pelischek was able to use his size and push Meza back a bit in the first round. Meza was able to bounce back from a low blow early in the second round and showed off solid hard counters. Pelischek ended up eating quite a few brutal kicks and heavy hands from Meza. All three rounds were evenly match but Pelischek was able to score the unanimous decision.

Simmons, Driller’s 135 lbs amateur MMA champ made his kickboxing debut. He relied on his strong wrestling background to keep his hips engaged during clinch work. Simmons while less technical in his striking was able to land powerful shots as well as use his cardio to overwhelm Wawryzniecki. Simmons appeared a bit gassed in the third round and took more damage from Wawryzniecki. This third-round comeback was not enough to secure the win for Wawryzniecki and Simmons was able to squeak out a split decision.

Muay Thai Matches

PROFESSIONAL

142 – World Light Welterweight TITLE FIGHT – Kaitlin Young defeats Djamara Vers via TKO 2 rd – 1 min 54 secs

157 – Ben Locken defeats Devin Turner via unanimous decision

205 – Tom Jenkins defeats Adam VanderVeen via TKO 1^st rd

AMATEUR

185 – Tommy Matlon defeats Jeremy Lundergren KO 2d rd – 12 secs

145 – Akeela Al-Hameed defeats Shelby Pickard via unanimous decision

110 – Angela Bahr defeats Darci Thomsen via unanimous decision

150 – Jamey Simmons defeats Joe Wawryzniecki via split decision

155 – Tremayne Williams defeated Marcus Young via split decision

225 – Tyler Pelischek defeats Grabiel Meza via unanimous decision

130 – Megan Stein defeats Alisha Hayes via unanimous decision

170 – Jesse Poolaw defeats JJ Stamper via unanimous decision

190 – Leon Delgado defeats Mike McCormick via KO 1st rd – 1 min 59 secs

145 – Brong Vang defeats Scott Walenski via unanimous decision

165 – Chad Hildebrant defeats DaVonte McClam via unanimous decision

155 – Manuel Candaele defeats Dylan Merrick via split decision

155 – Deval Bugsdrucker-Garvey defeats Hunter Peterson via split decision

Mark Ricafort defeats Isiah Morales via unanimous decision

Matches of Note: MMA Mayhem

It’s hard to pick a standout fight as every single amateur fight ended in a finish. Not a single fight went beyond the second round, however there weren’t any glaring mismatches. The professional card followed suit with all fights ending in submissions. The fighters showed up to compete and their efforts in their respective fight camps shone bright tonight.

Eli Garcia won submission of the night. A barrage of vicious elbows led to him locking up a triangle choke.

David Vinje, donated all proceed from his ticket sales to local food pantry CAER. Good karma and skilled followed him tonight as he was able to pick up an impressive KO in only 24 secs into the first round.

Herrera returned from a recent deployment to pick up a decisive win against Dingman via TKO. Herrera gave an intense, inspiring post fight interview about his volunteer work. He’s devoted to doing the most good in the world. He fund raises as well as uses the proceeds from his ticket sales to buy Christmas presents for less fortunate children throughout the Minnesota area.

MMA card

PROFESSIONAL

125 – Eli Garcia defeats David Williams via Triangle choke 1^st rd – 3 mins 54 secs

125 – Jason Huntley defeats Chris Collins via Rear Naked Choke 1^st rd – 4 min 58 secs

170 – Craig Eckelberg defeats Ted Worthington via verbal submission after Worthington unable to obey the bell and start the round

AMATEUR

185 – Ammy Middleweight TITLE FIGHT Thomas Herrera defeats Kaleb Dingman via TKO 2d rd – 2 min 12 secs

155 – Dustin Klapperick defeats Robert Confer via unanimous decision

135 – Elliot Jurries defeats Ricardo Pacheco via Rear Naked Choke 1^st rd – 52 secs

195 – Alex Brown defeats Arkady Pichurin via guillotine choke 1^st rd

145 – Robert Andrews defeats Brad Pitan via TKO 2d rd – 1 min 22 secs

160 – Yamah Sadozai defeats Jeremy Lucas via TKO 1st rd – 43 secs

185 – David Vinje defeats Jens Nestingen via KO 1^st rd – 24 secs

170 – Ryan Schafer defeats Derek Gottlieb via TKO 1^st rd – 1 min 43 secs

155 – Coty Milhausen defeats Sean Keogh via KO 1^st rd – 2 min 59 secs

115 – Randy Rivera-Santiago defeats Denis Montero via Rear Naked Choke 2d rd – 1 min 54 secs

165 – Fernando Moreno defeats Jake Schorsch via TKO

Kelly Richards

Kelly Richards is passionate about combat sports. She has trained in Muay Thai kickboxing for over ten years. Recently she has added BJJ to round out her martial arts knowledge. She currently makes her martial arts home at Primal MKE in Milwaukee, WI.

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