Prangley strikes gold, Lashley wins at MFC 21

A five-round battle in the Maximum Fighting Championships on Friday night resulted in a new light heavyweight champion as American Kickboxing Academy fighter Trevor Prangley took the belt away from now former champion Emanuel Newton.

After looking somewhat gassed early on, Prangley battled back and used superior striking to outwork Newton for the remainder of the fight. The end of the fight gave the most exciting moment as Prangley threw a haymaker kick that connected flush to Newton's jaw, sending him flopping to the mat. The South African then fell down himself, dealing with a foot injury that he sustained in the second round and was aggravated by the head kick.

Now the MFC light heavyweight champion, Prangley expressed that he has no problem giving the former titleholder another shot after a very close battle between the two warriors.

"[I] feel bad taking the belt from him in a fight that was that close," Prangley said after the win. "I think he deserves another chance. I'm willing to, but ultimately it's not up to me."

Bobby Lashley spent more time walking out to the ring than he did actually fighting during the MFC show on Friday night. The former WWE superstar turned MMA fighter made short work of Mike Cook, submitting the San Jose, Calif., native at just 24 seconds into the bout.

Cook entered the ring wearing a traditional Mexican lucha libre mask, obviously making reference to Lashley's professional wrestling roots, but the jab did him no favors as his opponent would not shake hands before the action started. Almost as soon as the fight began, it was over. Lashley locked his arm around Cook's neck, choking him out while sprawling away from his opponent, and just like that the fight was over.

"I'm here for business. Everybody comes out there with this [pro] wrestling thing, and tries to make fun of the wrestling thing. I'm real, and I'm coming out here to fight," Lashley said after his third professional MMA win. "If they don't want to fight me, they can play around. If they play around, I'm going to knock them out or choke them out. And that's what I did today. Choked him out, made him pay. Now, he can go put back on the mask and have fun with himself."

Lashley will benefit from the quick fight, as he turns around and looks towards his June 27 showdown with former Pride heavyweight Bob Sapp when the two big men battle it out in Biloxi, Miss.

"I'm just going to keep going, keep the competition rolling, keep the fights going," Lashley commented about his fight future. "That's what I want to do."

Just a few strikes seemed to separate light heavyweights Travis Galbraith and David Heath, but when the split decision was read it was Galbraith who got the nod for the victory. Both fighters had bright spots during the fight, but neither contender was able to put the other away. Galbraith seemed to do just enough with some well placed body kicks and other strikes to eke out the win.

Galbraith, a former EliteXC and Pride fighter, will now make his move to the middleweight division for the MFC as he announced on Friday night.

John Alessio stopped his two-fight losing skid with a quick rear naked choke victory over Andrew Buckland. Alessio got his opponent down to the ground early, before moving to mount, and then locking on the fight ending submission.

Picking up his 10th win in a row, Ryan Jimmo got a three-round decision win over Antonio McKee student Mychal Clark. Jimmo landed takedown after takedown en route to a lopsided victory for the young Canadian.

Former UFC competitor Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman got back on a winning track on Friday night with a strong TKO win over Aron Lofton. Following a low blow that kept him cringing for a large part of the first round, Eastman came back and dominated the second session, putting Lofton on his back, and blasting him with elbows until referee John McCarthy stepped in to stop the punishment.