The Ice Dome packs a punch, again

Fans of mixed martial arts packed the Havre Ice Dome Saturday night, for Lights Out at the Dome II.

And those who attended were treated to a dominating performance in the main event from Hunter Azure who forced Jay "Stickman" Sandvig to tap out.

The bout between Azure, a former Poplar and Montana State University-Northern wrestler, and Sandvig was the last of 10 fights in the event. The headliner did last into the second round, but not much longer, as Azure controlled things for most of the way before forcing Sandvig to submit around four minutes into the match. After the only professional match of the night, Azure is 2-0, while Sandvig is now 6-5.

The undercard opened with Darren Keith of Havre against Glen Cislo of Great Falls and in a rematch from the first Lights Out at the Dome, Cislo evened the score from a year ago, scoring a first-period TKO. The second and third bouts also featured fighters from Havre, but in each case, the hometown advantage wasn't much help. Dallin Young scored a win over Codie Nalder of Havre in the second match and in the third, in a boxing match, Dwight Gutierrez won by TKO in the second round over Havre's Bryce Miller.

The fourth match featured a return to MMA style and in a fight that went two rounds, Connor Rideout forced Braeden Tovery to tap out for his first career win. Caleb Mentz also registered his first amateur victory in the next bout, defeating Hunter Pasternack by TKO in two rounds.

Following an intermission, Xander Beston of Poplar proved to be better than Eric Sturchio of Great Falls, who competed in Lights Out at the Dome for the second straight year. James Dennis earned his fourth-career victory thanks to a knockout win over Michael Adams in an 185-pound MMA matchup.

Timmy Garcia and Chris Wagner battled each other into the second round at 125 pounds but Garcia (3-0) eventually came out on top. Wagner (1-1) lost and evened his career record. In the last match leading up to the main event, Andrew Long of Hamilton notched his fifth career victory after beating Ryan Ware of Great Falls.

That paved the way for Azure, who grabbed an early advantage over Sandvig, a 23-year-old out of Billings. Sandvig was able to land some counter punches, but Azure delivered a number of blows before the first bell finally rang.

Then, in the second period, Azure quickly gained control and forced Sandvig to tap out after placing him in a submission maneuver. It was Azure's second professional victory. His first came back in April.