Melbourne’s live MMA schedule continues to expand, with the debut offering from local promotion Minotaur taking place at the Reggio Calabra Club in Parkville, Melbourne on Friday night.
Minotaur 1 ‘Unleashed’ was headlined by a bantamweight clash between local fighter Richie Ivory and Queensland’s Aden Hawke. The fight was scheduled for five rounds, however it didn’t go past the first with Ivory catching Hawke with a pair of solid left hands just past the two minute mark to claim the victory. With the win, Ivory put a stop to Hawke’s four-fight win streak, and took home the promotion’s bantamweight title.
In the co-main event, coming off a first round submission of Shantaram Maharaj at Hex Fight Series 3 last month, local Nova Uniao standout Rodolfo Marques went home with the win but was pushed to the distance by Kiwi fighter Scott MacGregor.
The opening round was contested primarily on the feet. Marques opened up with solid leg kicks. After a period with MacGregor defending Marques’s takedown attempt up against the cage, the two fighters separated and continued the standup battle. There, Marques had his work cut out for him, with the New Zealand fighter holding his own and frustrating his more experienced opponent at times. Marques did land with a straight left midway through the round, however, and a right hand as the round came to an end, which rocked MacGregor to the canvas.
After a brief exchange on the feet to start the second frame, Marques connected with a solid left hand and worked for a takedown, before taking MacGregor’s back. The Kiwi did well to defend the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black-belt’s rear-naked choke for an extended period of time. With both hooks in, Marques eventually gained back mount, however he still couldn’t quite sink the choke in deep enough to finish it. MacGregor continued to show resilience and used his strength to roll and get to Marques’s full guard right before the round closed out.
MacGregor took center cage to start the final round and went on the attack. Marques, however, stayed composed and tied him up against the fence, and once again he soon found the Kiwi’s back. The round played out much like the second with MacGregor continuing to show good strength and resilience defending submission attempts from Marques. It wasn’t enough, however, as Marques was awarded a well deserved unanimous decision.
Among other results from the night, Melbourne based Kiwi Hera Tamati stopped Brooke McLeod with punches to take home the Minotaur women’s flyweight title. In what could be a submission of the year contender, Ballarat’s Sam Hayward stopped Regan Wyllie with an impressive rear-naked choke set up from an omoplata. Sean Gauci put Hayden Wright’s lights out with a one-punch KO in the opening round. Meanwhile, Danny Wairasi and Brad Cromack fought an entertaining back and forth standup battle which saw Wairasi get his hand raised in the second round by punches from back mount.
A full replay of the event is available now at GFL.TV for US$14.99.
Unofficial Results:
- Richie Ivory def Aden Hawke via KO, Rd 1, 2:14
- Rodolfo Marques def Scott MacGregor via Decision (Unanimous)
- Hera Tamati def Brooke McLeod via TKO, Rd 2, 3:10
- Fred Harrington def Steve Maxwell via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2
- Simon Scott def Ben Sosoli via Decision (Unanimous)
- Sam Hayward def Regan Wyllie via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:33
- Sean Gauci def Hayden Wright via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 2:53
- Danny Wairasi def Brad Cromack via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 3:00
- Raphael Scott def Scott Smith via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:37
- Anthony Barbuto def Ant Poke via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 4:05
