EDMONTON - The latest instalment of the Maximum Fighting Championship produced an exciting night of mixed martial arts action that saw three new champions crowned.

A capacity crowd of two thousand people filled Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre Friday night for MFC 38: Behind Enemy Lines.

The first title fight featured highly touted Smealinho Rama, Canada's top ranked Heavyweight, taking on Anthony Hamilton, a training partner of current UFC champ Jon Jones.

After a competitive opening round that saw both fighters looking to land knockout blows, the action came to a sudden end just 12 seconds into the second round when Hamilton landed a thunderous head kick that sent Calgary's Rama reeling.

"He was dropping his hands and he was tired," Hamilton said. "I figured I could throw a one-two and set up the kick."

Next up was a Middleweight title fight that saw Sam Alvey and Jason South both deliver impressive, gritty performances.

Alvey punished South with his boxing skills for the first two rounds, knocking him down several times — but not out.

With one eye swollen shut and breathing through a broken and bloodied nose, the South battled back as the fight ground on.

Both men traded attacks back and forth till the final seconds of the fifth round when Alvey landed a perfectly placed counter right hook that finished South with just four seconds left in the bout.

"It was there, I took it. My corner kept telling me: 'Press, press, press,'" said Alvey after the bout.

The bantamweight title fight featured highly touted prospect Anthony Birchak and respected veteran Tito Jones.

Despite his underdog status Jones put up a scrappy performance as he and Birchak battled back and forth in the clinch and in lightning fast scrambles for most of the first five minutes.

But in the second round, Birchak kept up a blistering pace and finally put Jones away with a rear-naked choke.

"I didn't want to try to punch myself out… so I went for the submission," Birchak said.

In other action, Aaron Gallant set a new MFC record for the fastest knockout in the promotion's 12 year history as he waylaid Matt Jelly with a vicious uppercut just seven seconds into the opening round of their matchup.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013