Hornbuckle Handles Khatib, Loiseau Flies Through Buckland at Raw Combat

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Calgary, AB -- Friday, June 20 at the Max Bell Centre, Alberta fight fans enjoyed a night of hard-hitting mixed martial arts action as RAW COMBAT presented Raw Combat: Resurrection. The event, which was sanctioned by the Calgary Combative Sports Commission, featured eleven fights held inside an octagonal cage and saw two champions win belts in hard-fought battles.

In the main event, 27-year-old Cherokee warrior Dan "The Handler" Hornbuckle won the Raw Combat welterweight belt by defeating Ontario's Nabil "The Thrill" Khatib. At the starting bell, Hornbuckle came out fast and scored a takedown that put Khatib on the mat. While "The Thrill" struggled to escape from beneath his opponent, Hornbuckle adjusted his position and moved to Khatib's back. From there, the seasoned warrior from Mahomet, Illinois remained calm and worked for the choke hold which he sunk in at 3:58 in the first round. Afterwards, the new Raw Combat 170-pound champion was humble in victory, thanking the Calgary crowd in attendance for their hospitality and praising the bravery of his 38-year old opponent. With the win, "The Handler" improved his overall record to 16-2 while Khatib suffered his third loss, dropping to 8-3.

In the semi-main event of the night, former UFC middleweight title contender David "The Crow" Loiseau showed that he is still one of the most dangerous strikers in the 185-pound division, knocking out Calgary's Andrew Buckland. After the customary touching of the gloves, Buckland landed only one kick to Loiseau's leg before the explosive fighter from Montreal, Quebec scored a crushing blow to the jaw. Falling to the mat unconscious, the young local fighter was saved from further punishment by the referee, who stopped the fight just 20-seconds into the first round. After the impressive win, Loiseau was presented with a five-thousand dollar bonus for "Knockout of The Night" by Raw Combat president David Houshiar and CEO Dave Feser.

In light heavyweight action, Edmonton's Travis "The Gladiator" Galbraith went to war with Montreal's Martin Desilets. Despite a language barrier between the two warriors, both men made their intentions clear with an intense stare down that had the crowd buzzing in anticipation of a sure-fire brawl. In the first round, both fighters immediately came out swinging heavy punches. Driven into the fence, Galbraith showed improved submission skills by putting Desilets in a standing guillotine choke. Although the Montreal fighter escaped, "The Gladiator" had another surprise in store for him. As Desilet shot in for a tackle, Galbraith flipped into a tight triangle choke that forced the brawler from Quebec to tap out at 4:14 into the opening round. Afterwards, as Galbraith celebrated with his team, Desilets remained kneeling on the mat unable to believe that the brawl had come to an end by way of a submission hold instead of a KO.

While most fans expected the match between Galbraith and Desilets to end by knockout, just as many expected the 145-pound fight between Bibiano "The Flash" Fernandes and Juan Barrantes to be decided by a submission hold. As a 5-time world Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion, Fernandes brought an impressive resume to the cage, while Barrantes brought a 7-3 record from his home in Costa Rica. Again, though, the crowd was given a taste of the unexpected. Fernandes overwhelmed his opponent from the opening bell but was unable to make the crafty young fighter tap out despite nearly securing an armlock in the opening seconds of the bout. Switching to "Plan B", the Brazilian fighter spent all three 5-minute rounds firing down punches and elbows from the top position, cutting Barrantes badly several times. Still, the warrior from Costa Rica survived to the end, where "The Flash" won a unanimous decision.

Fernandes wasn't the only Brazilian fighter on the show, as World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Carlo Prater made the trip to Calgary to face Vancouver's Garett Davis in a 170-pound match. With a record of 23-6-1, Prater was a big step up for Davis, who came into the Raw Combat cage with a record of 9-8. Despite the difference in experience, Davis came to fight and forced Prater against the fence for most of the first round. In the second round, Prater returned fire by landing several hard elbows to the side of Davis' head. Trailing on the scorecards, Davis tried to tackle Prater in the final round but was not able to put the Brazilian fighter on his back and absorbed several more hard punches. After three rounds of action, Prater won a close but unanimous decision victory.

A veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Douglas Evans flew down to Calgary from his home in Anchorage, Alaska to face "Ragin'" Kajan Johnson in a 155-pound lightweight contest. In the first round, both Evans and Johnson came out aggressively and each narrowly missed the head of the other with fast high kicks. After 5-minutes of back-and-forth action, Evans slammed Johnson to the ground in the final seconds to steal the round. "Ragin'" Kajan would have his revenge, though, knocking Evans to the mat and locking on a fight-ending choke at 57-seconds into the second round. Afterwards, Johnson treated the crowd to a pleasing display of break-dancing before leaving the cage with another win on his record.

In a match for the Legacy Fighting Championship's 145-pound bantamweight belt, British Columbia's Len Tam took on Regina, Saskatchewan's Chris Desautels. Standing 5'11", Desautels enjoyed a huge height and reach advantage over his 5'4" opponent and used a pumping jab to keep Tam at bay early in the fight. Taking down his shorter opponent, Desautels soon found himself in trouble on the ground, as Tam secured a tight omoplata shoulder lock to end the match, forcing the fighter from Regina to tap out at 3-minutes into the opening round. With the LFC belt around his waist, Tam improved his record to 5-1.

Competing in a 155-pound lightweight match, Saskatoon fighter Kurt "The Hurt" Southern showed Calgary fans where he got his nickname by taking out Vancouver's Charlie Zac. After Southern drove Zac to the mat, the B.C. fighter lost a point for using an illegal elbow strike to the back of Southern's head. Unfazed by the blow, Southern began raining down punches and elbows on his opponent from the top position. Hurt by the onslaught, Zac verbally requested that the fight be stopped, giving Southern the win at 1:57 in the opening round.

Hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Nathan Gunn brought an undefeated record of 4-0 to Calgary for his welterweight match against hometown fighter Max Dalsin from Team Emergent. With a record of 2-1, Dalsin had won his previous two fights in a dominating fashion but was immediately overwhelmed by the fighter from Thunder Bay, who took him to the mat and unloaded a series of elbows. When Dalsin turned away to avoid the strikes, Gunn sunk in a choke to end the match at 4:02 into the first round.

Red Deer's Adam Farr and Regina's Dami Egbeyemi spent most of their match trading hard punches and kicks. Although neither fighter showed signs of backing down, Egbeyemi was the more athletic opponent and out-struck Farr in most of the exchanges. Accordingly, the Saskatchewan fighter won by unanimous decision after three rounds.

In the first fight of the night, Barrie Ontario's Mike Rowbotham defeated Calgary's Mike Zvonick by armlock. Although Zvonick appeared to be the much larger fighter and had the upper hand early in the opening round, Rowbotham remained calm and seized his opportunity to lock on the submission hold at 2:14 of round one.