There’s a mantra at Kalispell’s Straight Blast Gym. You don’t really own a championship belt until you defend it.

SBG’s Gus Nolte defended his Fightforce middleweight championship on Friday in spectacular fashion, submitting Williston’s Brad Watterud in the third round via triangle choke.

Nolte, a gangly 185-pounder at 6-foot-6, was on the defensive most of the fight against the much more powerful Watterud. Watterud muscled Nolte around the cage, taking him down with viscious power slams multiple times in the first round.

“After he took me to the ground, it seemed like he was going to take me down no matter what, so I started working to submit him,” Nolte said.

A jiu jitsu specialist, Nolte tried to counter Watterud’s pure strength with arm bar attempts, and nearly had him multiple times before the powerful fighter was able to muscle out of Nolte’s grip with pure strength or another slam.

Nolte looked to be in trouble early in the third round. With Watterud landing hard shots to his head after getting yet another takedown to start the round, Nolte slipped his legs over Watterud’s shoulders to get in position for another arm bar. As the bigger fighter continued to ground and pound, Nolte quickly slipped into a leg triangle, choking him out 1 minute, 8 seconds into the round.

“The whole time I was working the arm bar and the triangle, trying to mix it up between the two,” Nolte said. “I finally got it on him.”

The fight was the highlight of a fantastic night of bouts, including the first two female fights in Kalispell history and a string of knockouts and submissions.

SBG coach Jen Johnson won in a unanimous decision over Butte’s Ariel Ann Beck, using her strong ground game to her advantage. Johnson went for the takedown early and often, keeping the strong boxer on her back. Johnson avoided a pair of near guillotine chokes from Beck, who reached for the submission hold at every takedown, and ended the fight with a pair of hard left hands.

In the first female fight of the evening, Helena’s Lisa Rummell made quick work of Kalispell’s Karli Volkman, catching Volkman in a standing guillotine in the middle of the ring.

In the main event, Kalispell’s Joaquin Calderon topped SBG product Duran Flaget with a TKO a minute into the third round, capping the night on a high note.

Spokane’s Ryan Mulvihill outwrestled SBG’s Zach Dickson in the penultimate fight of the evening, eventually catching Dickson in a guillotine choke with 35 seconds left in the bout.

Great Falls’ James Ogden edged Polson’s Sheldon Fisher for the vacant featherweight title, outpointing the Fighter’s Island product with a string of takedowns and a few near submissions for a unanimous decision victory.

Polson’s Badger Black led the list of fighters to walk away with quick wins on the undercard. Black, Shea O’Neill, Austin Conway and Sean O’Malley all won by TKO or submission in the first round.

Butte’s Wes Ogan beat SBG’s Randy Kopchinski in a closly fought kickboxing match in the only other fight of the night.