FightQuest a smash in return to Knights

For FightQuest co-promoter Stéphane Vigneault, it would have been hard to ask for a better show to put on for the 500 mixed martial arts (MMA) fanatics in attendance on Saturday at the Knights of Columbus for the latest FightQuest show.

“It was a big success. All of the fights, except maybe the main event, were very exciting, we’ve never had a show like that before,” said Vigneault.

“We have a lot of support from the fans and especially from our sponsors from Kahnawake. Without all that support, we could not do those shows.”

Indeed, the 13-fight card blew away the spectators at the Knights and Vigneault himself throughout the night - so much so that instead of giving two “performance of the night” recognitions and one “fight of the night” recognition, Vigneault said they gave three of each.

“It was too exciting not to,” said Vigneault.

The fights of the night went to Vince Nikiforov beating Keegan Chiasson by third round knockout; Jade Dumoulin submitting Nao Lapointe in the third round in the only women’s match on the card; and Felix Paquin defeating Kai Burns by unanimous decision in an extremely competitive match.

The three performances of the night went to JP Provost, Sarkis Panosyan, and Justin Lemay.

“The fight was very one-sided from start to finish. I was pushing the pace, being the intimidator, I dictated where the fight went and managed to get a KO in the end,” said Panosyan, who won by knockout punch in the first round against Mario Munoz.

Although he said grappling is his strength over striking, the fight did not really let him showcase that, and he was still very happy to win by knockout - especially considering this is his amateur debut.

“It feels amazing to get a KO win, I always knew I had it in me to deliver haymakers,” said Panosyan.

This was also Lemay’s first amateur fight, making his win by knockout 31 seconds into the fight against Raphael Grégoire-Durand all the more impressive.

“I feel like if I was floating on a cloud right now. I still have chills. This is the ideal scenario for me,” said Lemay.

When he won, he said he could see all of his family and friends celebrating in the crowd from inside the cage.

“I saw everyone standing up and cheering. That made me so happy,” said Lemay.

He has been practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu – one of the essential martial arts for MMA - since he was nine years old and has been practicing MMA for three years prior to his first fight.

He said that prior to the match, to get his striking up to snuff, he had been practicing for four hours per day for a month and a half.

“It definitely paid off,” said Lemay.

Vigneault said it was nice to be able to return to the Knights of Columbus for FightQuest, as the last show had to be held outside the Kahnawake Brewing Company under a tent due to the uncertainty surrounding the safety of the Knights hall in November 2024.

Since it was given the all-clear, some aesthetic renovations have taken place - cracks in the floor have been filled, and a new coat of paint put up, among other things.

“Even the crowd, they were saying that it looked like a brand-new building,” said Vigneault.

The Knights will continue to be the home of FightQuest, but given the success of the show under the tent in the fall, they’ll be going back to that environment for FightQuest 58 on May 31 for what they are hoping will be their biggest event yet.

“We’re going try to pull a big card and put more amateur championships on the line,” said Vigneault. “A lot of the fighters are messaging us right now, because they know it’s going to be a big show, so they all want to fight on it.”

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