Standing across the cage from 190-pound Polson fighter Kelvon Kallowat, Kalispell native Mike Kuehne said he had a simple plan.

"I just wanted to take him down at the start and just pound away," Kuehne said. "I was looking for a finish real fast."

To say the 23-year-old successfully executed his plan would be an understatement.

Twenty-four seconds and a powerful barrage of left and right haymakers later, Kallowat was on his back and Kuehne was celebrating a knock out.

It was that kind of night for local fighters taking part in Ultimate Cage Wars, a mixed martial arts event held Saturday night at the Majestic Valley Arena.

Overall, Montana fighters triumphed in four of seven bouts to take away bragging rights in an event dubbed as Montana versus Washington.

All three fighters trained at Kalispell Straight Blast Gym were successful in defeating opponents who had traveled in from Washington for the event.

"From my perspective I think all three of my guys just looked like they were well rounded and kind of at a different level," Straight Blast Gym owner and trainer Travis Davison said.

Straight Blast's undefeated Zach Dickson was 9-0 overall and 2-0 professionally entering his bout at 145 pounds with Colville, Wash., native Roy Bradshaw.

Dickson rolled Bradshaw into a submission hold with about two minutes left in the first round, but couldn't force him to tap out.

After a back-and-forth second round, Dickson sealed the deal two minutes into the third with a quickly applied choke hold to extend his undefeated record to 10-0.

Afterwards, he said he simply saw an opportunity and took it.

"You're really not thinking in there, you're just responding," he said.

The opening fight was a debut bout for both 19-year-old Kalispell resident Jarrett Smith and his 17-year-old opponent Riley Hersey out of Woodinville, Wash.

Asked what he was thinking just prior to his first taste of MMA action, Smith said he was in the moment.

"I was just thinking, ‘OK, this is happening,'" said Smith, also a Straight Blast Gym fighter.

Smith and Hersey - fighting at 135 pounds - battled back and forth for three full rounds with Smith keeping Hersey on his back for much of the fight.

Both fighters' arms looked heavy as they threw labored punches back-and- forth until the horn sounded to end the bout.

"It was just an adrenaline pour," Smith said. "I was exhausted."

Smith didn't get the knockout he was looking for, but judges ruled him the winner by unanimous decision to give him his first amateur victory.

His teammate, 23-year-old Flathead High School graduate Duran Flaget, had some success of his own later in the night.

Flaget slammed Yakima's David Ahto to the mat again and again throughout their fight at 135 pounds. The crowd chanted his name, reaching a fever pitch late in the third round.

Flaget took Ahto to the mat for the final time with 40 seconds left in the fight and finished up with a strong combination of left and right strikes.

He got the unanimous decision and afterwards was surrounded by friends and family, dozens of whom wanted their photograph taken with the now 7-5 fighter.

"It's way more nerve wracking, that's for sure," Flaget said of the home crowd. "All my friends, my family are here. You don't want to disappoint them."

In other action, Columbia Falls resident Mike Hader was knocked out by Yakima's Brad Prather in the first round of an amateur title fight.

Kalispell's Thomas Lamaar evened his amateur record at 5-5 with a knockout of St. Ignatius fighter Brandon Gahnan in the first round.

Great Falls fighter Leo Belcier knocked Spokane's Carmen Cassela out cold in the first round of their professional bout.

In the heavyweight main event, Will "Big Medicine" lost by technical knockout to Moses Lake, Wash., resident Jared Torgerson with only seconds remaining in the first round.