South African takes advantage of lost point to capture world
light-heavyweight belt

They got their money's worth, and then some.
Trevor Prangley and Emanuel Newton poured every ounce of energy into the
main event on the MFC 21: Hard Knocks card at River Cree Resort and Casino on Friday.

In the end, Prangley, a tough South African, proved to be a little too much
in stealing Newton's MFC world light-heavyweight belt in a unanimous
decision scored 48-46, 49-46 and 49-46 by the judges.

"The fight was a lot closer than the scorecard showed," said Prangley, who
took advantage of a point taken away from Newton for a knee to the groin in
the third of five rounds. "He's a tough dude and I don't feel it was a
four-point difference.

"I wish I'd beat him better for this belt," Prangley, who improved to 20-5,
told the appreciative crowd of 1,750.

The fight ended on a vicious, right head kick by Prangley at the final horn
as he floored the champ, who bounced right back up.

"What's to say, man," said Prangley when asked about the kick. "The foot
came up and his head was there." The Cape Town native may have broken the
foot and the crowd went bonkers.

In the evening's superfight, Bobby Lashley didn't waste any time.

The former WWE star needed just 24 seconds to dispose of San Jose's Mike
Cook. Making the switch from pro wrestling to mixed martial arts, Lashley of
Denver upped his log to 3-0 with a submission, using a rear-naked choke
hold.

Cook came out taunting the much-ballyhooed opponent, wearing a Mexican lucha libre wrestling mask.

Bad move.

"I'm here for business," said Lashley afterwards. "Everyone tries to make
fun of the wrestling thing." Cook wasn't laughing afterwards, pounding the
mat in frustration.

"I felt him going out, so I just yanked him down and squeezed," said
Lashley, who nearly let loose.

It was much to the delight of the bloodthirsty crowd -- 24 seconds or not.
They then waited for the main event of the night and enjoyed every minute of
the highlight bout.

On the main card, Edmonton light-heavyweight Trevor Galbraith defeated David
Heath of Tulsa, Okla., in a split decision.

"I didn't really do the game plan I wanted to do -- take him to the ground.
The first round I blew a tendon off my thumb," said Galbraith, who then
opted to go toe-to-toe with Heath, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Also on the main card, Las Vegas's Marvin (The Beastman) Eastman took a knee
to the groin in the opening seconds of a light-heavyweight fight. After a
delay, he made Aron Lofton, also of Tulsa, pay dearly.

Eastman (16-9) ended it on a TKO, 59 seconds into Round 2 after a series of
elbow smashes cut Lofton (6-2) open and left him dazed.

John Alessio (29-13-1), also of Sin City, slapped a rear-naked choke hold on
Calgary's Andrew Buckland (8-4) 2:53 into the first round of a welterweight
matchup, and light-heavyweight Ryan Jimmo (10-1) of Halifax defeated Mychal
Clark (8-6) of Del Mar, Calif., on a unanimous decision.

On the undercard, Red Deer's George Belanger proved to be a good listener.
The welterweight took full advantage of coach Jason MacDonald's offerings
from ringside as Belanger improved to 3-1 with a first-round technical
knockout of Nolan Clarke (3-4) of Kamloops, B.C., at 4:25 of the opening
round.

"Any time your fighter wins, you're happy," said MacDonald, the former UFC
athlete who acts as Belanger's coach.

"Your job as a coach is, you're the set of eyes he doesn't have. You're on
the outside looking in." Also on the undercard, Dwayne Lewis of Fort
McMurray improved to 7-5 with a TKO victory just 29 seconds into the first
round over Jay Whitford (3-1) of Calgary in a light-heavyweight battle.

Lewis caught him early with a flying left knee and Whitford never recovered.
Jason Heit of Victoria kept his slate clean (3-0) with a TKO win at 4:17 of
the first round over Jeremy Combrink (5-2) of Tulsa in a welterweight clash.

In a heavyweight matchup, popular Leduc scrapper Ryan Fortin suffered his
first loss (4-1) in a split decision to William Richey (4-0) of Los Angeles.