On a frigid night before the most romantic day on the calendar, Ekim’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre provided enough red in the cage as the fourth installment of the event went underway in front of a packed house in downtown Moline.
Midwest Martial Arts Group, F1 Fighters First, as well as Nick and Travis Tarpein fighters were represented well.
UFC star Antoni Hardonk attended as he was in town visiting Team Evolution to help train with Spencer Fisher as he prepares for his upcoming fight against kick boxer Duane Ludwig on March 21 on Spike TV.
The co-main event between John Soliz and Alex Vega started explosively as both fighters tested each other’s chins and ground skill as the fight went to the ground quickly. When Soliz sunk in a deep standing guillotine on Vega, he could have easily tapped.
However, he did escape, only to be on the mat this time succumbing to a rear naked choke giving Soliz his second mixed martial arts win. “2 fights and I have barley been touched yet.” said Soliz after the fight. “I think I’m doing pretty well so far.”
In the night’s main event, undefeated Rob Wakeland battled Jon Kennedy for the light heavyweight belt. Wakeland delivered an illegal knee to the top of Kennedy’s head as he was getting up and suffered a loss of a point for the gesture.
Only taking one of his allotted five minutes of recovery time, he was knocked out a minute later by Wakeland. Though early in his reign as champion, Wakeland will have to answer to those who wonder what the outcome would have been if there was no illegal shot.
With a handful of knockouts and excitement in and out of the cage, Ekim’s show was another success as the Quad Cities waits to attend his next show on April 10 at Spring Breakage at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.
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