Skip to content

Red Deer’s Ryan gets big win to claim Havoc flyweight belt

After five years of training and fighting, Austin Ryan hopes he has fast tracked his mixed martial arts career.The Red Deer native improved his professional record to 5-0 by winning the Havoc flyweight belt with a TKO over Malcolm Gordon (5-2) on Friday night at Havoc FC8 at the Westerner Prairie Pavilion.
B04-mma-champ
Array

After five years of training and fighting, Austin Ryan hopes he has fast tracked his mixed martial arts career.

The Red Deer native improved his professional record to 5-0 by winning the Havoc flyweight belt with a TKO over Malcolm Gordon (5-2) on Friday night at Havoc FC8 at the Westerner Prairie Pavilion.

“It feels great, just like any other victory though,” said the Gary Vig trained fighter, who is now focused on recovery and helping other fighters train for their upcoming matches.

“MMA is not a team sport, but it takes a team to do it, you can’t train by yourself, you have to have your friends or your training partners.”

Going up to the UFC — MMA’s biggest promotion — is a step that Havoc co-owner and promoter Ryan Machan says Ryan should be able to make.

“Malcolm had a great record, he was knocking on the door to the UFC, Austin won the fight so now he’ll be knocking on the door to the UFC and it looks great as our promotion helping these guys get to where they’re going,” said Machan.

With the crowd of 1,400 chanting “Austin! Austin! Austin!” Ryan, 23, rallied back a few times from the edge of defeat before catching Gordon with a knee while in the clutch. He hurt the London, Ont., fighter, who was defending the belt for the first time, and then pounced to deliver a few more blows when referee Andy Social jumped in to call the fight at 3:20 of the second round.

“I knew it was going to be a tough fight like this, I didn’t think we would grapple so much, but I was ready for anything and he was hitting me real hard, he stunned me once or twice in there,” said Ryan. “There was one second where I was like ‘Oh ...’ but I have that fight in me, so I knew I just had to hit him hard and hit him back.”

Hearing his name chanted during the fight and after it was a new experience for Ryan, one of three Red Deer fighters on the card.

“They were definitely a good support group of mine, a lot of these guys I grew up with, it was just great, a great noise,” he said.

Ryan, who trains out of Arashi Do Red Deer and Absolute Fitness, has not lost in his professional or amateur career. He got into the sport chasing a desire to prove himself as the best, he is hooked and cannot see himself doing anything else.

“It’s the passion you’ve got to follow in life,” he said. “It’s the competition of it, it’s you and another man in there. It goes back to the beginning of time. That’s just the competition in men, I think.”

Friday’s card, sanctioned by the Central Combative Sports Commission, was loaded with potential, but had a number of short fights.

The co-main event was a rematch of one of the bloodiest fights in Havoc history, pitting Devon Neis (5-5) of Black Dragon in Red Deer against Grayson Wells (1-1) of Kelowna in a heavyweight fight.

Wells lost the first meeting when the ref stepped in and stopped it on account of the amount of blood he had lost.

It didn’t get that point this time as he stopped Neis 32 seconds into the first round, catching the Red Deer fighter flush with a right cross that stopped him in his tracks. Wells jumped in for two more quick punches before the ref stopped the fight.

“The first time they went in, they just brawled it out, the second time Grayson went in with a game plan and it worked out,” said Machan.

Trent Rowell (2-3) of Iron Fist Rocky Mountain House submitted Ronnie Oar (0-1) from Peerless First Nation, 46 seconds into the first round at 205 pounds, and Arashi Do Red Deer fighter Wolfgang Janssen (4-1) won a controversial fight against Jamark Brady (3-7) out of Calgary at 155 pounds, as the ref ruled Brady tapped out, a ruling Brady disputed.

In arguably the best fight on the pro card before the main event, Calgary’s Dan Juricic (1-0) TKO’d Calgary’s Zach Chalmers (1-2) at 1:54 of the second round in a 205-pound fight with both fighters throwing bombs.

“The first fight was a bit of a shame, because no one knew if he tapped, but the rest of the fights were all finishes and that’s what everyone wants to see,” said Machan.

The amateur card had some of the best fights of the night with Travis Marshall (Fort Saskatchewan) earning a split decision win over Daniel Yoner (Calgary) at 205 pounds, and Andrew Marsden (Edmonton) winning a unanimous decision over Austin Stewart (Fort Saskatchewan) at 170 pounds.

Simone Villetard (Fort Saskatchewan) beat Alix Beatty (Calgary) in the only women’s fight of the night at 135 pounds with a triangle choke at 1:55 of the second round.

Josh Strate (Calgary) TKO’d Patrick Leblanc (Rocky Mountain House) at 1:46 of the second round at 145 pounds and Mike Pyska (Sherwood Park) submitted Murray Hunter (Rocky Mountain House) with a triangle choke hold at 2:44 of the first round.

“The amateur card was really well matched up,” said Machan. “You never know because you can have two guys that are 0-0 but you never know how advanced they are or how nervous they are in the cage and how it affects them.”

Havoc FC 9 is set for June 19 at the Prairie Pavilion.