Sunday evening, 8th November, saw the cage come to Ballarat for the first time since the ban was lifted in Victoria earlier this year. The event, Gold Rush, did not disappoint with hometown favourite Sam Hayward extending his record to an undefeated 6-0 with a first round submission in the main event against Hoshi Friedrich.
The event took place at the Ballarat Mercure Hotel & Convention Centre in Victoria, Australia.
Friedrich landed solid punches and kicks in the early stages of the round however a checked shin-kick from Hayward would lead to his demise. With Friedrich unable to defend himself, or hold himself up, Hayward capitalised and got the standing guillotine submission to claim the inaugural Cage Rush welterweight title. The end came 3:43 into the opening round.
The co-main event ended in much the same fashion with a submission win from Jesse Medina who scored his fifth victory this year against previously undefeated Regan Neoh. The fight barely left the mat from start to finish, with Medina, a BJJ brown belt, controlling every position before sinking in the rear-naked choke 3:50 in the first round.
In amateur bouts on the card, Jake Chynoweth defeated Junior Faatui via unanimous decision while 18-year-old Andrew McIntosh made a spectacular amateur debut moved his amateur record to a reported 6-0, defeating Mafi Ahokava with a first-round armbar.
Other notable fights of the evening included Darren Gn, out of Absolute MMA, who put on a dominant performance against Dom Macri. Gn stalked Macri from start to finish, pressuring his opponent against the cage and out-striking him with kicks and punches before finally taking him to the ground in the early stages of round two where he ended the fight via ground and pound..
Results (Pro):
- Sam Hayward def Hoshi Friedrich via Submission (Standing Guillotine Choke), Rd 1, 3:43 – Gold Rush welterweight title
- Jesse Medina def Regan Neoh via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1 3:50
Results (Amateur):
- Jake Chynoweth def Junior Faatui via Decision (Unanimous)
- Andrew Mcintosh def Mafi Ahokava via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 2:45
- Darren Gn def Dom Macri via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 0:43
- Andre Nguyen def Yuting Wang via Decision (Unanimous)
- Rhylie Kim def Junior Milo via Decision (Unanimous)
- Frank Swagler def Dylan Bishop via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 1:40
- Lendyl Borganah def Conan Sinclair via Decision (Split)
