Kirk, Pehtatagoose Lose Pro MMA Debuts

Chatham’s Tyler Kirk and Tilbury’s Jo Pehtatagoose suffered almost identical losses to start their professional MMA careers Friday night as a part of the undercard at the Score Fighting Series in Sarnia.

Pehtatagoose, who was facing Kyle Nelson in the 145 lbs. division, tapped out at 2:54 of the first round after being locked into an arm bar.

Kirk, fighting in the 125 lbs. division, faced a similar style Malcom Gordon. This fight was touted by announcers as the one to watch on the preliminary card because of the quick and aggressive style of the fighters. Kirk, similar to Pehtatagoose, would be forced to tap out after his arm bar was reversed by Gordon and he was submitted at 2:16 of the opening round.

Both Kirk and Pehtatagoose will now look toward their next opportunity to fight. Kirk trains at Redemption MMA in Chatham, while Pehtatagoose trains out of Gracie Barra Chatham.

On the main card, Wallaceburg’s Jesse Gross was the lone local fighter to win his fight, defeating Seiji Sugiman-Marangos. In a colourful post fight interview, Gross called out Brad Cardinal, who headlined the event, as a referees mistake gave Cardinal a win over Gross last year.