THE CANADIAN PRESS
QUEBEC — Former NHL tough guy Donald Brashear got off to a quick start in his mixed martial arts debut, making short work of Mathieu Bergeron at Ringside MMA on Saturday night.
Brashear rushed across the cage and dropped Bergeron with a right hook after the opening bell.
Brashear, who had over 2,100 penalty minutes in 1,000 NHL games, finished Bergeron off with hammer fists before the referee stopped the fight after only 21 seconds.
The victory was Brashear’s first as a mixed martial arts fighter, and the Quebec City crowd roared in appreciation of his win.
It was the third scheduled opponent for Brashear who thought the opponent changes were "pretty tough."
"I threw a little of what I practised for the first guy and a little of what I practised for the second guy and put it into the fight with the third guy."
Brashear, who arrived at the former home of the Quebec Nordiques carrying his Philadelphia Flyers hockey bag, called his first MMA fight "nerve wracking."
"It also felt like I was home," he added. "As soon as I got in there (the cage), I was comfortable."
Brashear, who has a three fight contract, said that he will "certainly" fight MMA again.
"I’m having fun learning it," he said. "I haven’t done much fighting yet. I love learning it and the fight was fun."
In the main event, Patrick Cote made a great case for his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and increased his MMA record to 15-7 with a unanimous decision over former UFC fighter Todd Brown (15-4).
Cote dominated the fight for his second win over a veteran UFC opponent in as many attempts.
Cote rocked Brown in the second round with a straight right. He also nearly finished his opponent with a kimura in the third round before Brown was saved by the bell.
"I thought I had the kimura. I thought he tapped out but the ref wasn’t in the best position," Cote said. "I didn’t get the exciting finish but I thought it was an exciting fight."
Earlier, Stephane Pelletier was crowned Ringside MMA’s inaugural bantamweight champion after his opponent Dimitri Waardenburg retired due to injury between the second and third rounds.
The fight was even after two periods with both fighters winning a round each on the judge’s scorecards.
Waardenburg suffered a dislocated shoulder after a takedown in the second round.
In other matches:
The event opened with a fight-of-the-night performance by Jerome Martin and Tommy Cote, where Martin took home a close split decision victory.
British Columbia’s Marcus Hicks played the spoiler by defeating the favoured Yan Pellerin in Pellerin’s return to the cage after a two year absence.
Keven Tremblay recorded the sole submission victory of the night with a rear naked choke over Maxime Leger in the second round.
Keven Morin defeated David Lafond by unanimous decision.
Dany Laflamme defeated Justin Doyon by unanimous decision.
