It was a clean sweep of the title fights for Shaved Bears MMA at Unified MMA 38.
In the main event, undefeated KB Bhullar (now 8-0) took down the toughest test of his career in Matt Dwyer (now 11-6) with a unanimous decision in what was a five-round war for the Unified MMA middleweight title.
Coming in having won six of his seven fights in the first round, Bhullar said he was happy to have been able to experience what a gruelling five round fight feels like against a skilled opponent like Dwyer.
“It was a great experience. Already, I’m just thinking how much I’ve grown from it, having that opportunity to go to war for 25 minutes with a warrior like Matt Dwyer,” said Bhullar in an interview.
“I hit that guy with everything and he just would not go down, and that just goes to show you the level of toughness that guy has.”
Still just 27 years old, undefeated, and now coming off a win over a UFC-veteran in Dwyer, Bhullar will have likely placed himself on the radar of the bigger promotions.
And while he may be a potential candidate for a call-up, Bhullar said he’s looking to defend his title a few times and gain a little more experience.
“I want more fights and I want to grow more,” said Bhullar.
“I want to have more opportunities to have fights like this, but where I’m able to not make it a war.”
Park Keeps Finish Streak Alive
Graham Park (now 7-2) extended his first round finish streak, stopping Sheldon Doll (now 7-4) by TKO late in the first frame to take home the Unified MMA light heavyweight title.
It was a back-and-forth fight up until Park’s finish, with both he and Doll coming close to finishing each other on separate occasions.
Park said Doll came out in the same fashion he was expecting, but took him a little longer than he would’ve liked to respond.
“I was kind of expecting that, but just didn’t react as well as I should’ve. I expected him to come out, be a heavy-hitter and put the pressure on me,” said Park in an interview.
“I wasn’t phased by the fact that he fended off some takedowns. My game-plan was to be tenacious and keep going for it. It wasn’t as pretty as I wanted it to be, but I got it done.”
This was Park’s first title of his career, and achieved that feat on the same night two of his teammates also earned their first championships.
Park said he’s honoured to now be the Unified MMA light heavyweight champion and hopes he made his supporting cast proud.
“I hope I made my team, my coaches and my friends and family proud. That was a mantra I was repeating to myself a lot through this fight camp,” said Park.
Revenge And Reward For Larsen
Christian Larsen (now 5-1) successfully avenged his 2017 loss to Jared Kilkenny (now 13-12), scoring the first round TKO stoppage and having the Unified MMA heavyweight title wrapped around his waist.
Larsen said it felt fantastic to win the title himself, but was also equally happy for his team, Shaved Bears MMA, to come away with the gold.
“These were vacant titles, but I think we were all looking at them as title defences. We wanted to keep them with the gym,” said Larsen in an interview.
“I’m just looking forward to the defence now.”
Larsen said he’ll be looking to make that first title defence in early 2020 and already had a name in mind of who he’d like to challenge him.
Larsen said Victoria’s Dustin Joynson had said he wanted to fight the winner of he and Kilkenny, and Larsen would like to grant his wish.
“Dustin Joynson called out the winner. I don’t know if Kilkenny’s going to fight again, but I don’t think Joynson deserves to be in the ring with Kilkenny even,” said Larsen.
“He’s got a few months now to come up with an excuse why he won’t fight me, but we’ll give it to him for now.”
Lee Mein, Josh Kwiatkowski, Cole Campbell, Nick Hrabec, Robert Kovacevic, Laine Foxton, Mitch Wiles, and Tyrell Giselbrecht also earned victories in earlier action on the card.
