By Bryan Eneas

La Ronge fighter Smith goes the distance

Feb 25, 2018 | 9:11 AM

La Ronge based Mixed Martial Arts fighter Devon Smith turned his seventh bout into a three-round war.

Smith (3-5) took on Saskatoon’s Tyler Weran (3-0) in the light heavyweight division at a Modern Fighting Championship mixed martial arts event in Saskatoon on Feb. 23. Despite losing on the scorecards, the Air Ronge Fighter managed to keep the fight close throughout all three five-minute rounds.

The fight started in Weran’s favour, as the hometown fighter took Smith to the canvas and rained strikes onto his ribs, but Smith managed to slip out of the attempted choke and reverse the position, drawing cheers from the sold-out crowd.

Both men continued to show off their jiu-jitsu during the second round, and while Weran was more often in control, Smith showed both heart and technical skill by escaping a full mount and another attempted choke.

Smith came close to a win during the third and final round, taking Weran’s back after a scramble and nearly securing a rear naked choke of his own. With two minutes left in the fight, Smith pressed for the submission, visibly, straining, but Weran was able to break free and finish the round on top.

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Smith lost by unanimous decision – the first time one of his fights was decided by the judges – but was in good spirits when he spoke with larongeNOW after the bout.

“It doesn’t feel physically that great,” Smith said. “Mentally, just in terms of I’ve never had a fight go to a decision before, so to know that I can do that, and that I can stay in there through some pretty difficult moments and just keep on going.”

Smith was expecting the fight to feature more stand-up action than there was. He hadn’t seen many of Weran’s fights, but Smith was aware of who he was and had talked about his style with people who’d trained with Weran.

Fighting in Saskatoon is the closest he’s ever fought professionally to home. He said he’s had to commit many hours of travel in the past in order to get to bouts in Regina, where he’s fought a few times. Most of Smith’s fights have taken place in Alberta.

“That’s part of what drove me to come back and fight again, it was so close to home,” Smith said. “Last year in April I fought in Lethbridge and lost… it wasn’t so much that I lost, but I thought maybe I’m not invested enough.”

He was also worried about the amount of time he was spending with his daughter, who was one-year-old at the time. Smith said he fought two or three events in the first year of her life, which amounted to missing roughly six months with her. Training for a fight in Saskatoon meant he was able to bring his daughter, now two, with him when he had to train.

Smith said living in La Ronge and training in Saskatoon while working week-in week-out took a toll on him. Moving forward, he said he wants to spend more time with his family and is not ready to commit to another fight just yet.

“That’s what’s most important. I’m going to go home happy. I’m a little dinged up, but nothing too bad… I won’t scare my daughter with bruises or anything,” Smith said.

Because Smith never had the opportunity to train at home, the thought of opening his own mixed martial arts gym has crossed his mind.

“To be able to offer that opportunity to some people coming up in La Ronge, where they can train, I think that would be great, and I know there’s a lot of interest that way,” Smith said. “It’s something that I’m interested in and if the right opportunity comes up, I’m certainly open to it.”

bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca, taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas, @TaylorMacP