Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts Academy middeweight victorious in first-ever MMA fight at Extreme Fighting Challenge 12 in Grande Prairie
When he’s not practicing his martial arts skills as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu/kickboxing specialist, Gabe Black is immersed in his work as a firefighter with the BC Wildfire Service, ready to spring into action with his crew wherever they’re needed.
Now in his second year training with Kaiten Mixed Martial Arts Academy gym in downtown Prince George, the 23-year-old Black was put to the test in his first amateur MMA bout on Saturday, June 13 in Grande Prairie at the Extreme Fighting Challenge 12 fight card.
He took on Mark Dyke of Grande Prairie and pulled out a unanimous decision in the three-round 185-pound (middleweight) bout. After a rough start that nearly ended in a stoppage with Dyke raining down blows down in full-mount position, Black came out for the second round a much different fighter and did what it took to impress the judges.
“He has unreal heart, so impressive,” said Karm Manhas, his Kaiten MMA coach.
“It was so back and forth, the other guy out the pressure on him and (Black) was mounted for 45 seconds at the end of the first round and was absorbing shots and in an amateur fight in BC I’m sure they would have stopped it, but we were in Alberta, I was quite surprised.
“He sat on the stool and he looked fine so I wasn’t even going to talk about it. I just ignored what happened and said, ‘you did a great job, you’ve just got to win this fight,’ and he just pulled out the craziest performance in the next two rounds. It had everything, submissions, reversals, he landed a couple of those high-crotch lifts in the air and slammed him a few times. There were some judo, wrestling strikes and a Superman punch that landed and there a couple times where he could’ve ended it if he’d just disengaged and just tried to strike him, boxing.”
Black tuned up for his MMA fight on May 23 in Edmonton at the Vengeance Continuous Muay Thai amateur tournament. Manhas plans to get him involved in more jiu-jitsu matches before his next MMA fight in October at a Prince George boxing/MMA fight card.
“His work schedule is tough, he’s up at five in the morning training,” said Manhas. “That’s the most impressive thing, how he pieces it together.”
The 17-bout fight card was promoted by Prince George native Bill Mahood, a former UFC/TKO heavyweight who brought MMA to his hometown in 2002 with the first of the Extreme Fighting Challenge fight cards.
Mahood now lives in Grande Prairie and in April opened a new gym – Mahood Jiujitsu & MMA. Saturday’s card was the first since 2019 in the Extreme Fighting Challenge series.
In the main event, Mahood fighter Ian Stoby of Grande Prairie defeated Ash Mashreghi of Vancouver in a welterweight matchup.
“Bill is very experienced at doing it, the fights were really good, he really nailed it,” said Manhas. “There were five or six knockouts, one submission, the quality of fights was great.”
