MFC 34 Results: Mukai Maromo Erases Doubts, but Doesn’t Get a Belt

Mukai Maromo erased all doubt arising from his earlier controversial win over Adam Lynn, using a spectacular display of striking skills to knockout his rival in the main event of the Maximum Fighting Championship’s MFC 34: Total Recall.

Fighting in front of his home-town fans in Edmonton, Alberta, and live on AXS TV Fights across the United States, Maromo blitzed Lynn with a vicious assault showcasing hand speed, damaging elbow strikes and uppercuts, and destructive knees. “The Afrikan Assassin” was all over Lynn early in the second round, pinning him in the corner and sending the sold-out crowd at the Mayfield Conference Centre into a frenzy with his punishing strikes. But the former U.S. Marine didn’t go away easy until a final knee caught him square on the chin, sending Lynn face first to the canvas.

Maromo (8-2) stood over his fallen foe as the referee stepped in to stop the assault at 1:26 of Round 2. Maromo’s fifth consecutive win also earned him the Knockout of the Night award – the second of his career. It was a gut-wrenching loss for Lynn (17-10), who not only failed to make weight causing the bout to be reduced from a title fight to a three-round, non-title affair, but had also lost a highly contentious split-decision to Maromo at MFC 33.

The Maromo result capped an exhilarating night of knockouts, two of which cemented the pairing that will vie for the MFC middleweight title in October. A beautiful combination from Joseph “Leonidas” Henle dropped Luke Harris to the mat, and Henle jumped in to finish matters just 1:57 into their bout. Henle (8-0-1) captured his fifth straight win in his MFC debut, while Harris (9-2) saw his nine-fight winning streak – all first-round submissions – come to a screeching halt.

Henle, who fights out of Thousand Oaks, California, will meet Elvis “The King” Mutapcic for the MFC’s 185-pound division belt after Mutapcic destroyed Jacen Flynn with a rabid ground-and-pound attack, and getting the victory only 1:39 into their matchup. Like Henle, it was a grand MFC debut for Mutapcic (11-2) who roughed up Flynn (10-3) in the opening seconds and never looked back. Mutapcic, who is originally from Bosnia and now fights out of Des Moines, Iowa, is slated to meet Henle for the title at MFC 35: Explosive Encounter on Oct. 26.

The MFC’s re-ignited heavyweight division was launched in impressive fashion as Mike “The Honey Badger” Hackert proved to be the undisputed No. 1 heavyweight in Canada with a quick demolition of Tim Hague in a rematch of their original bout from May that Hackert won via decision. Hackert left no doubt as to his standing in the rankings as he brutalized Hague with lightning-quick punches followed by an attack to the body that crumpled Hague to the canvas. Hackert, who was outweighed by 40 pounds, continued to bang away at Hague’s body before sealing the deal with more ground-and-pound at the 2:27 mark of Round 1.

Hackert (6-1) earned his first stoppage victory (five previous wins all by decision) in his first MFC fight, while Hague (14-7) came up short in his MFC debut.

The Submission of the Night award went to debuting Montana fighter Jason “The Savage” Zentgraf (6-1) who seized an opportunity and finished off Cody Krahn (11-5), coaxing a tapout via bar-arm choke at 1:15 of Round 1.

The MFC 34 main card was rounded out by the return of welterweight prospect Dhiego “Maluco” Lima, who started slowly but regained the form he had shown prior to the only loss on his record – a decision defeat to reigning MFC 170-pound division champ Nathan Coy.

Lima (7-1) began to pick apart opponent Nick Hinchliffe (19-9) in Round 2 and by the end of the fight, Hinchliffe was badly damaged by accurate punches and vicious leg kicks. Lima, who fights out of Atlanta, Georgia, showed all the signs that he had recovered from a couple of serious injuries, taking a unanimous decision with 30-27 counts on all three judges’ scorecards.

MFC 34 Other Results:

Derek Boyle (8-5) def. Dan Ring (5-1) – TKO, 0:20, Round 1

Derek Parker (4-1-1) def. Paul Grandbois (4-4) – Tapout via rear-naked choke, 3:24, Round 1

Smealinho Rama (3-0) def. Lee Mein – TKO, 2:49, Round 1