King of the Cage Prangley stops foe

WORLEY - It was a crisp, clean, workmanlike effort for Coeur d'Alene Mixed Martial Arts fighter Trevor Prangley, who used an Americana choke, similar to a Kimora, to stop Justin Davis at 2:54 of the first round during the 205-pound main event at the King of the Cage Free Fall 2 on Friday night at the Coeur d'Alene Casino.

Prangley (28-9-1), the reigning King of the Cage light-heavyweight champion, slammed Davis (13-11) to the mat early in the fight, before throwing some power-packed elbows leading up to the submission, much to the delight of the standing-room-only crowd of more than 1,700.

"He was blocking punches, I saw the opportunity, and I took it," said Prangley of the choke, praising Davis for taking the fight on a week's notice. "I want to thank Justin for coming over on short notice after my opponent (Brandon Anderson) decided to fake an injury a week ago."

After the fight, which capped a solid night of MMA action, Prangley announced to the crowd that he would be defending his title on June 13 at the Coeur d'Alene Casino. Prangley won the title in a controversial fight against Tony Lopez in December, after being kneed in the head while on the ground, and is eager for another shot at Lopez to legitimize the title.

"Basically, I want to set the record straight. I asked King of the Cage to put that fight together," said Prangley of the rematch, admitting there is some bad blood after the first meeting. "I'm going to do my best to end his career. I don't want to be that guy, but the way he (Lopez) handled the fight, I have very little respect for him."

Prangley called the King of the Cage event the best MMA show he's ever seen in Idaho.

• In other action on the 10-fight card, Post Falls 135-pound fighter Zach Lari (9-3), who trains at Prangley’s American Kickboxing Academy in Coeur d’Alene, registered the quickest submission of the night, rolling into a triangle choke against Elliot Gillbert (0-5) at :59 seconds of the first round.

“It was over quick. Get in, get paid and get out,” described Lari of the action. “That kid was wiry. I was in mount, so I just rolled into the triangle.”

Lari announced to the crowd after the fight that he was dropping to 125 pounds for a future title fight with Terry Treblecock in June.

Coeur d’Alene’s Jordan “The Wolverine” Cook (1-2), who trains out of AKA, was controlling the action against Ryan Mulvihill in a fast-paced and exciting fight at 145 pounds, including a first-round body slam. The more experienced Mulvihill (8-4) rallied and was able to lock in a rear-naked choke at 3:36 of the second round to earn the win.

“I knew it was deep in there,” said Cook of the choke. “I fought it the best I could, then said ‘[expletive] it, I’m going to sleep.’”

Fight promoter and matchmaker Kevin Martin said Cook’s performance in defeat left a lot of people impressed.

“King of the Cage was highly impressed with his performance,” said Martin. “It was a top-notch fight even though it didn’t go the distance.”

The knockout of the night belonged to Spokane’s Dave “Insane” Courchaine (10-5), who landed a nasty straight right hand to rock Rex Payne (7-12), only to follow it up with an even nastier knee to the head, which sent Payne sprawling to the mat at 31 seconds of the first round in the 160-pound fight.

Jacob Harkness (3-2) landed some vicious body blows on Levi Peaslee (2-2), ultimately winning by submission at 4:45 of the first round of the 170-pound fight.

Daniel “Agent Orange” Swain (8-2), who trains with AKA, came out throwing blows early and often against Michael Craig, scoring a TKO at 2:10 in the first round when the referee stopped the frenetic fight.

Coeur d’Alene fighter Zane Douglas (1-2), who also fights out of AKA, lost by unanimous decision to Spokane’s Solomon Jones (10-6). Jones used a couple of body slams to control the action, with Douglas nearly stealing the fight after just missing an arm bar submission in the third round.

Lewiston’s Reid Hazelbaker (8-4) used a big roundhouse kick and straight jab in the third round to win a 29-28 decision over Newport’s Mike Peterson (7-4) at 230 pounds, eliciting some boos from the crowd in the closest fight on the card.

Sandpoint’s Tanner Weisgram (4-1) suffered his first defeat by unanimous decision to Andrew Ramm (9-0-1) in a fight that was mostly spent on the mat. Ramm, who features one of the better Jiu-Jitsu games in the Northwest, controlled most of the action, with Weisgram landing a couple of big blows to start round three before running out of gas.

Jason Grey (7-1) used a suplex throw and superior wrestling skills to hand Chris Sowell (6-1) his first loss by unanimous decision.

Among the big names in attendance were Herb Dean, considered by most the preeminent MMA referee in the sport, and Big D, an MMA stalwart who has taken on the likes of Kimbo Slice.