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Local MMA fighter defies the odds

Campbell River’s Oren Hanscomb is an up and coming fighter who last Friday won the biggest fight of his career
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Campbell River’s Oren Hanscomb is announced as the champion at the Battlefield Fight League in Vancouver. Hanscomb

Campbell River’s Oren Hanscomb is an up and coming fighter who last Friday won the biggest fight of his career.

He defeated the number one contender Oliver Vajda who was 8-0 by unanimous 30-27 decision at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver Battlefield Fight League (BFL).

This puts Hanscomb in placee for a tittle shot in the biggest fight card in B.C. at the Vancouver Convention Centre May 25.

Before the fight, on “tapology.com” Vajda was favoured to win the fight by 95 per cent. Hanscomb, pulling the biggest upset of the card, according to the voting site had just a five per cent chance to win. What they didn’t take into consideration was Hanscomb’s determination and strong team at Pure Martial Arts in Campbell River.

Hanscomb was also coming off of a seven-second knockout win at AFC (Agression Fighting Champinships) in July, giving him a new level of confidence and belief in himself and his team.

In preperation for the fight, Hanscomb trained up to six hours a day, some days getting up at 4 or 6 a.m. to start training. Another advantage he had going in was taking time to travel to many places across the province to train, including Comox, Victoria, Vancouver, Port Coquitlim and Maple Ridge.

Similar to what GSP (Gorge St.Pierre) does before he fights, if he (GSP) sees something he wants, he goes out of his comfort zone and gets it.

During the travelling part of the camp, Hanscomb had improved so much that his coaches changed the game plan for the fight. Changing a game plan for a fight three weeks out is almost unheard of. Hanscomb being a high level striker, was now given the green light to use his wrestling and brazilian jiu jitsu to take Vajda down at will.

Leading up to a fight, a fighter can win or lose their match by having a good or bad weight cut. Hanscomb has had this problem more than once, but this time the weight cut (from 162-145lb) went great.

Leading up to the fight Hansomb was able to keep his emotions calm and nerves down. Becoming nervous from hearing the crowd roar from backstage came and went like a wave. This is yet another aspect that if a fighter cannot controll, they will likely lose their fight.

As the fight started it was clear Vajda was very fast, beating Hanscomb to the punch on all the first exchanges. After just 30 seconds Hanscomb’s eyes were swollen and his nose was bleeding. But as soon as he found the timing of Vajda’s punches, everything changed. Hanscomb’s mental and physical strength advantage carried him through the fight, following the game plan to smother Vajda everywhere the fight went. Vajda, having almost all finishes by submission, was no chump, throwing up a tight guilotine choke, triangle choke, and tight arm bar at the end of the second round.

Hanscomb was prepared for all of these with the help of the West Coast BJJ Team, was able to defend against all of them and stay in a dominant position.

As the fighters lined up for the final decision, the announcer slowly announced Hanscomb the winner, 30-27 winning all three rounds, and the crowd roars like a coliseum from the gladiator era.

Hanscomb, now 8-3, takes a breath of fresh air and will take a few weeks off to recover the body to prepare for an even bigger, tougher opponent May 25 for the battlefield belt.

All of this would not be possible without the help from training partners at Pure Martial Arts (PMA) such as Jodey Ingalls, Shawn Albrecht, Dillon Wheaton, Dillon Harris, Dillon Brown, Guy Guther, Spence Shaw, Daryen Grant, and the mental preparation from Hanscomb’s track coach of 10 years turned sports performance life coach, Dale Trenholm, who is now taking clients @ www.whatisnecessary.com.

Hanscomb’s main sponsor for the fight was Mountain Forestry, which enabled the funding for Hanscomb to be able to travel to train with the highest level fighters in the province.