W-1’s mixed bag mostly satisfies, despite the peeler bar atmosphere

Wanderlei Silva was in the house. Likewise Carlos Newton, Patrick Cote and Denis Kang. Ditto the ugly fight gear. And the strippers. Oh, the strippers, a silicone-and-spandex armada of sluttiness that shrieked and slinked its way around the cage, even provoking one fat, sweaty middle-aged fan in the front row to drop his pants round about the time a Janet Jackson-sized wardrobe malfunction occurred center-cage. So much for MMA’s bid for family friendly status.

Welcome to W-1, the Montreal-set event put on by Jack Bateman’s upstart Ontario promotion Saturday night in the near-vacant Pierre Charbonneau Centre.

Atmosphere aside, the card delivered a solid if unspectacular night of fights. For a full fight-by-fight breakdown, check out the Fighting Words Twitter feed. But I will say I was mostly impressed.

Of course, seeing my jiu-jitsu professor, Jorge Britto, put on a grappling clinic with his first-round armbar sub of Wanderlei protege JJ Mix was especially satisfying to see. Britto looked chill like ice water as he pursued Mix, took him to the ground and transitioned from guard to side control to mount to taking his back to locking in a triangle to the finishing armbar. Text book. And it was his second win in three weeks, having just earned a 37-second TKO victory at CCF 5.

Other highlights included former UFC fighter Jason MacDonald subbing Vernon White via triangle in the third round of their headlining tilt; John Alessio guillotined Chris Clements; Nabil Khatib took a majority decision from the spinning-backfisting Shonie Carter, who was making his 78th pro appearance (he announced post-fight that it was his 213th career fight); Antonio Carvalho got a lackluster unanimous decision over Eddie Fyvie; and John Fraser armbarred Tom Waters.