Canadian team sweeps MMA event

Allison Duck

Team Canada’s Derek Freeman attempts an armbar on Kawika Lagasca. Freeman went on to win his first fight.

Allison Duck, Hepi Mita

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 | 3:06 a.m.

Tuff-N-Uff: USA vs. Canada

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A Canadian based mixed martial arts team invaded the Orleans Friday night, winning all five matches against American opponents in the Tuff-N-Uff Amateur Fighting Championships: USA vs. Canada.

Canadian Derek Freeman picked up his first ever victory on the card and was simply happy with the opportunity to compete. The sport hasn’t been legalized in his home province of Ontario.

“Hopefully this justifies it back home so that we can fight in Ontario one day, but in the mean time we love coming to Las Vegas,” Freeman said.

The lone Canadian female fighter, Bobbi-Jo Dalziel, put on an impressive display in stopping American Moa Palmer with an arm-breaking kick 1:04 into the second round.

“I used a lot of kicks and a lot of strikes to stay away. She had a lot of muscle so I didn’t want to exchange with her,” she said.

Canada sealed the sweep when 145-pounder Forrest Cable rebounded from a poor first round performance against American, James Kytosaho, to win with a triangle choke hold late in the second.

The Canadian contingent was thrilled with the positive results.

“It feels awesome, everything we trained for, everything we worked for is right here,“ Dalziel said.

The card also included events not part of the challenge.

In the card’s main event, Odis Ruiz won a split decision over Tuff-N-Uff 155-pound champion, Kimo Yadeo, in a non-title fight.

Ruiz looked like he was in trouble when Yadeo caught him with an uppercut to his left eye in the third round, but was still awarded the decision.

“There was just a big shadow in the left corner [of my eye] so I couldn’t see him well,” said Ruiz. “I had to shut my eye and take him to the ground otherwise I would have let him take the advantage. I went blind for a second.”

Also competing was Israeli national judo team member, Oran Kahlon, who defeated 155-pound opponent Michael Angel of Hawaiian Fighting Arts.

The native of Israel spent the summer in Las Vegas training under the tutelage of Shawn Tompkins at the Xtreme Couture Gym.

“I am from Israel and my background is in capoiera and that is why I have a lot of exploding power,” said Kahlon, through a translator. “This fight makes me 6-0 after my first fight in the United States.”