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By Kelsey Mowatt Lethbridge hosted Rites of Passage 3 Saturday night at the Roadhouse Nightclub, which marked the latest of numerous MMA and kickboxing cards that have now been held in the city over the last few years. The Rites of Passage event is the sister card of Rumble in the Cage, formerly known as the Roadhouse Rumble, which has held twelve cards in Lethbridge since the year 2000. Rites of Passage is an event designed to showcase young or inexperienced fighters, a chance for fighters to gain some experience before moving onto the Rumble in the Cage. "The Rites of Passage came about because we decided to do a show to give the beginner fighter, in both MMA and Kickboxing/Muay Thai a chance to showcase their talent in front of a smaller crowd," promoter Gayle Sabey says of the show's concept. "It is just as it sounds, a Rite of Passage, growth of a green athlete into a seasoned pro fighter. We try to stick with the majority of fighters having under four fights for this card, with the exception of the main event. These green fighters are sometimes more fun to watch because they don't really know what to expect when they step in the cage, the just let their hands fly. " Typical Rites of Passage events have drawn around 500-600 people, while the Rumble cards, with more experienced fighters competing, usually draw an attendance of around 2,000. Lethbridge is also home to several local gyms such as the Canadian Martial Arts Centre and the Progressive Fighting Academy, which have trained numerous fighters up to the professional ranks, many of whom have fought consistently on the Rumble events. Notable MMA veterans that begun there career in Lethbridge include Jesse Bongfeldt and Justin Tavernini, who still continue to fight for the promotion. Rites of Passage 3 featured twelve fights in total, including five MMA fights combined with seven kickboxing matches. The Canadian Martial Arts Centre team impressed, winning nine of the ten bouts their fighters were in. "The surprising part of the night was our team won nine of the 10 bouts," says Sabey. "This has never happened that our team had such a winning night. Quite unexpected, Lee [Mein, the matchmaker] always sets matches for our team to be regarded as competition. We don't believe in padding the fight record of any fighter, nor will we ever set up 'easy' fights. It does not do them any favor." Matchmaker Mein, who is also a local MMA instructor and experienced fighter, watched his son and student Jordan Mein come away with an impressive victory in one of the evenings MMA bouts. "Lee's son Jordan Mein also had a very quick fight," says Sabey. "He defeated Marcel Waterhen by verbal tapout at 40 seconds of round one in a MMA bout. Jordan landed a good knee to Marcel's ribs, and it looked like this was the contributing factor to Marcel's decision to stop." "Our main event was 'Lethal' John Laing of Canadian Martial Arts Centre against Mike Bell, an independent from Edmonton," Sabey tells FCF. "This was a full Muay Thai bout in the cage. It went the distance and John Laing won by unanimous decision. It was a great action fight, really back and forth. John suffered a cut to the top of his head when Mike came in with a flying elbow and landed it nicely to his target. Both John and Mike are versatile fighters and they have done MMA in previous events. Mike has been to Lethbridge twice with MMA, and decided to switch it up and go with Muay Thai this time." According to Sabey, the Lethbridge crowds are well educated in MMA techniques and rules, a following and support for the sport that existed in here long before MMA gained widespread exposure from The Ultimate Fighter television program. "We have used an organization called CMMAC (Canadian Mixed Martial Arts Council) for our MMA referees, judges and rules from its inception, so our crowd knows which techniques are allowable and which are illegal," Sabey says. "Since this crowd has grown up with the sport before it became popularized by TV, they want to take in all the live shows they can. " The next Rumble in the Cage will be held January 21st in 2006 at the Roadhouse Night Club, with a tentative date of February 11th for a show in Calgary. Rites of Passage 3 Results MMA Fights
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