The fans at Majestic Valley Arena certainly got their money's worth at the Kalispell Kombat mixed martial arts fight on Saturday night.

Kalispell fighters gave the hometown crowd a show, winning 8 of 12 fights.

In the main event, local pro fighter Zach Dickson was rocked early on with a knee to the head by Daniel Swain, of Newport, Wash. Dickson, who fights out of Kalispell's Straight Blast Gym, recovered from the first blow but never was able to fully regain his equilibrium, getting hit with another knee that ended the fight by TKO at 2:08 of the first round. Swain earned the Fight Force featherweight (145) belt with the win.

Gus Nolte, another SBG fighter, faired much better as he easily finished Eureka's Brad Austin by TKO in 1:44 of the first round of their 185 pound bout. Nolte avoided a few haymakers and took the fight to the ground where he was able to quickly get in full mount and end the fight.

"I know he was a first time fighter so I figured he was going to come out swinging and throwing haymakers," Nolte said. "(My last fight) I got clipped within the first 10 seconds of the match so I figured just take him down and finish on top."

Among the big winners on the night were a trio of former Flathead wrestlers.

Middleweight (185 pounds) fighter Mikey Kuehne brought the crowd to its feet with a stunning knockout of Lethbridge's Lane Day Cheif.

Kuehne opened the fight with a huge takedown, and repeatedly used his size to overpower the Canadian. In the middle of the second round, Kuehne got a single leg takedown and finished the fight with a vicious ground and pound at 3:03 of the second. "The Hitman" moved to 2-0 in his amateur career with the victory.

Joaquin Calderon, fighting at 130 pounds, showed his wrestling prowess throughout his fight with Lethbridge brawler Leo Shoji. Calderon had a pair of big takedowns in the first round and caught a high kick for another takedown to completely dominate the period. After two more heavy takedowns to start the second, Calderon began to throw a barrage of punches from the guard, and after a brief attempt at a rear naked choke, got back on top and forced Shoji's corner to throw in the towel.

Duran Flaget won by unanimous decision over Lethbridge's Mitch Creighton in a 135 pound fight, earning a 30-27 decision on the cards of all three judges.

In perhaps the fight of the night, Kalispell's Joel ‘The Ninja' Ballad came back from a tough first round to submit Deer Lodge fighter Jeremy Sanderson on strikes in the second.

Despite controlling the fight from the ground, Ballad took a flurry of haymakers in the first round and his left eye was badly swollen in between rounds when the on-site doctors cleared him for the second. Even with the lack of vision, he got a takedown in early in the second round and was able to pin Sanderson against the cage, where he caught him with a series of right hands before Sanderson tapped out.

The 900 fans in attendance showed their appreciation for both fighters after the fight, each sporting battle scars from the match.

Bozeman's Matt Konoljnen had the quick knockout of the night, finishing Kalispell fighter Brandon Bailey in just 17 seconds of the first round. Konoljnen hit on a powerful leg kick to begin the fight and when Bailey missed on a jab, he caught the Kalispell fighter with a big left cross that ended it.

Kalispell's Mark Fallon defeated Eureka's Vinnie Rossi in just 19 seconds after catching him with a left cross. Fallon came out swinging with a series of rights before connecting with the left.

Mark Johnson, of Kalispell, finished Dan ‘Old Man' Bartlett 30 seconds into the second round. Johnson tried to lock in a series of submissions in the first but couldn't get anything in tight before the bell rung to end the round. At the beginning of the second, he caught Bartlett with a leg kick and followed it with a right that knocked the Lethbridge fighter to the mat, where he finished him on strikes.

Kris ‘Rubber Man' Putman, of Great Falls, lived up to his elastic billing, taking his fight with Kalispell's Tony Best to the ground and fought out of the rubber guard for the first minute before locking in a leg triangle and submitting Best at 2:06 of the first.

Hamilton's Ace Gingerich overpowered Kalispell's Greg Tatar in a 185-pound bout near the end of the night. Tatar was dominating the fight from the standup but couldn't avoid a takedown from the larger Gingerich, who earned the TKO at 1:44 of the first round.