Donald Ouimet vs Blake Fredrickson
In the main event of the evening, Lightweight Champ Donald Ouimet was originally set to defend his title against physical specimen Steve Duquette. Licensing problems, however, kept Duquette from entering the ring and forced TKO to find another opponent to fill the vacant slot. Fredrickson stepped up to the challenge, in a rematch against the only fighter to ever defeat him. Ouimet controlled the action in all three rounds, taking Fredrickson down and punishing him on the ground. Fredrickson made a few worthy submission tries, but all were shaken off by Ouimet, on his quest to keep hold of the LW crown. Ouimet’s efforts worked in the end, with the judges awarding him the unanimous decision victory.
TKO 18 seemed to be cursed from the onset, with numerous lineup changes to the very last minute. The willingness of the fighters to step up to the challenges put before them and fill in for the vacant slots kept this show going. Despite the low audience turnout, the TKO organization put on another great show, and those fans that were in attendance did not leave disappointed. TKO’s next event is scheduled for January 28th in Montreal. One can only hope that it will not have to endure the challenges posed by this show, but can at least rest assured that, even in the face of these problems, TKO is still able to deliver a crowd pleasing event, thanks to the hard work and commitment of the fighters involved.
