Live MMA returned to Edmonton with a bang Saturday night with Unified MMA 40.
In the main event, Graham Park (now 8-2) added yet another first round finish to his resume, finishing Neil Berry (now 9-10) via TKO to successfully defend his Unified MMA light heavyweight title.
Park said he was pleased with how the results fell tonight and was happy to put on a better performance than he felt he did when he won the belt initially.
“I’m super happy with how it went, five straight first round finishes now. I wasn’t aiming for that, but it presented itself, so I went for it,” said Park in an interview with MMA Empire.
“I worked super hard in this training camp and had a ton of great training partners who helped me get to this point. After winning the belt initially I wasn’t super pleased with it. I knew I was capable of so much more and I think tonight I really showed that and I’m happy to be ‘and still’ Unified light heavyweight champion.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting, Park was looking to stay as active as possible and continue working his way to the top.
Nothing has changed in that regard for Park as he said he wants to keep the momentum rolling and hopefully, eventually, earn an opportunity on a bigger stage.
“Before the pandemic hit, I was looking to stay busy, and I still plan on staying busy. I’m in my athletic prime, I have a strong desire to be great at this sport and I think I can do it at the highest levels,” said Park.
“I hope bigger opportunities present themselves, but if they don’t I’m just ready to get back in here and keep showing everyone in Canada whose number one.”
In the co-main event, Maged Hammo (10-5-1) scored the biggest victory of his career, submitting Neal Anderson (10-4) in the fourth round to become the Unified MMA featherweight champion.
Hammo said it was one of the toughest fights he’s ever been involved in and one he had to dig deep in order to come out on top.
“That was the hardest fight ever; that guy hits so freaking hard. Every time he hit me my forearms hurt, my ribs hurt, my ankles hurt, my legs hurt, my head hurts. Everything hurts,” said Hammo in an interview with MMA Empire.
“Something just told me not to quit.”
This marks the first title win of Hammo’s career, having had two unsuccessful attempts prior to this bout.
Hammo said it means a lot to finally earn his first title at this stage of his career, but even more so with how and when he finished the fight.
“It feels so good just because I’ve been trying for a long time. The way I won it too felt really good, I felt like I earned it. It was a war, it was a battle, everybody loved it,” said Hammo.
“I put on a really good show, everyone was happy and I won. And on top of that it was in the championship rounds that I finished, which felt really good. I wanted to go to those rounds to see where I’m at.”
After his two-fight UFC stint, KB Bhullar (now 9-2) returned to the Unified MMA cage with a three-round technical striking clinic, earning the unanimous decision victory over Anton Tokarchuk (now 4-5-1).
Bhullar said he was happy to come away with the win, but the method in which he won was not up to his expectations.
“I’m happy to get the win, but the expectation I put on myself was to finish him. He’s unorthodox, which made it a bit tricky, but at the same time I feel like I wanted the finish. I want the finish every time,” said Bhullar in an interview with MMA Empire.
“I look back on the fight, I’m going to learn and adapt and get back in there as soon as possible. There’s a card on tomorrow night too, if someone pulls out, let’s f**king do it, put me in.”
Bhullar’s ultimate goal is to make it back to the UFC, and the best to do that is to stay as active as possible, which is his plan moving forward.
“I’m going to talk to my management and see what happens, but ultimately I want to stay active,” said Bhullar.
“I want to take four or five days right now just to relax, catch up with friends, enjoy life for a bit, then right back to the grind.”
Nick Hrabec, Tyler VanKill, Ali Charkie, Tyrell Giselbrecht, Evan Piercey, Shannon Clark, Mitch Wiles, Arman Deol, and Leo Bonin were also victorious on the card.
