Alex Gasson vs Antoine Coutu
The opening round of this bout began by resembling a Muay Thai match, putting up Team Tompkins trained kickboxer, Alex Gasson, against Fabio Holanda student Antoine Coutu. Coutu brought Gasson down to the mat, quelling the kickboxer’s strong stand up skills. Coutu was throwing short punches and looking for a submission while Gasson struggled to escape from under his hold. Coutu dropped a series of forearms to Gasson’s face that allowed him the chance to move from side control to mount. Chasing after a kimura, Coutu moved back to side control, giving Gasson the opportunity to escape. Coutu managed to get to Gasson’s back, hooks in, and searched for a rear naked choke. Gasson reversed into Coutu’s guard and handed out his own forearms to close out the round.
Gasson’s Muay Thai skills were evident in the opening seconds of round two, with the solid knees he was landing, and the flying knee he rocketed at Coutu. The Tompkins kickboxer attempted to bring his opponent down but landed in the bottom position. Reversing the ground fighter, Gasson gained the top position before the fight was stood back up. Playing the clinch game, Gasson landed some painful foot stomps, forcing Coutu to try to take the fight back down. Gasson reversed Coutu’s leg trip takedown and ended up once again in the top position. Coutu again looked to end the fight with a kimura from the bottom, but Gasson was able to power out of the strong submission attempt right before the bell ended the round.
Within seconds of the third round opening, Gasson locked on a standing guillotine and jumped to guard to tighten the position. Coutu tried to escape by rolling over, but Gasson followed through and landed in the top position, still holding onto the submission that was now solidly secured. Coutu had no choice but to tap at 1:06 of Round 3.
