It too less than a minute for Miller Rogers to get his opponent, Russ McCumber, on the ground at Warpath 3 this past weekend in Chilliwack, B.C.

A minute later, the fight was over.

Rogers defeated McCumber by a rear naked choke submission.

"I executed my game plan one hundred per cent,” said the 20-year-old Rogers.

‘I dotted all my I's and crossed my T's.”

With the four teammates he traveled with losing each of their fights, the gregarious Rogers described the victory as bittersweet.

"The rest of the of team didn't do so well but I took home the win for us and for Whitehorse so it definitely felt good,” he said.

With the win, Roger's record improves to 3-0, with each of his victories coming by submission.

Rounding out the Whitehorse fighters were Ryley Johnson, TJ Woodman, Stefan Brynolfsson, and Cliff Schultz.

Despite the losses, Schultz, the co-owner of Avalanche MMA, said the event was a good learning experience.

"The fights didn't go too bad, we just got caught on a few of them. So now we come back and train to correct what we did wrong and tweak things so it doesn't happen again,” he said.

Schultz's fight was stopped by the referee late in the first round after Schultz was stunned by a strike.

Johnson, Schultz's son, was fighting in his first event while also being the first junior fighter to represent the Avalanche.

Unfortunately for the 15-year-old, his fight also resulted in a loss.

His opponent, Gagon Gill, 16, fighting out of Abbottsford, BC was also making his fighting debut.

"I almost had him in a triangle (hold) but when he stood up I was caught in a bad position,” said Johnson. "He started punching me and that was it.”

Johnson, who was fighting in the 145-pound class, learned from the loss and is looking forward to getting back into the ring, preferably at a heavier weight class.

"I want to tweak my training for the ring,” he said. "I'll be more prepared next time.”

Schultz said that Johnson was a little shook up after losing his first fight but that he will benefit from the experience.

"He's turning out to be a pretty good fighter,” he said.

In the main event of the night, Woodman faced Kelowna's Cam Deluerme for the 145-pound Warpath title.

In the fourth round, the ref stopped the fight after Woodman was struck by repeated blows and Deluerme was declared the victor.

"It was a good fight and it was a good, strong opponent, it just didn't work out my way,” said Woodman.

He's also hoping to change his weight class and drop down a level. "I've been fighting at 145 and it's not my natural weight class,” he said.

"I won my first fight at 145, then I asked to fight at 135 but they offered me a title shot and I'm not going to turn down a title fight.”

Woodman is eager to get back in the ring but has some healing to do first.

"I'm pretty sure I've got a broken rib and my face is mashed up so I have to rest a bit before I jump back in there,” he said.

"But you always learn from a fight and I know now where I went wrong and where I can improve my training.”

It was the first loss for Woodman and drops his amateur record to 3-1.

Brynolfsson's fight also ended in a loss for the Avalanche, losing by a split-decision after batting his opponent for the full length of the fight.

"It was a close, close fight,” said Schultz. "It could have gone either way.”

Despite suffering the losses, Schultz said the trip brought the fighters closer together and that they will be back in the ring, training together by the end of the week.

Roger's, the lone victor, views the losses as a source for further motivation.

"In our sport you have a one in two chance to win. They all fought a hard fight you just don't always get the win,” he said. "It motivated me to train even harder for the next one.

"I don't want to have to feel defeat quite yet.”

For Roger's each fight is a reminder of his troubled past. He knows how easily he could be on a different path.

"I was out at the pub one night and one of my buddies told me he was training a little bit so one day I went and checked it out and fell in love. It was an instant change in mentalities for me, I went from not being motivated to do anything to training six days a week,” he said.

"I love training so much, I love the guys at the gym and I can guarantee you it

changed my life 100 per cent.

"I was on a path for self-destruction, it was the only thing I could see in the future.”

Schultz and Woodman, who have been training with Rogers since he first stepped into the ring echoed those sentiments.

"Miller didn't have much going for him, he was into alcohol and didn't really care,” said Schultz. "He had a lot of anger in his life. Now he has something to stabilize him and he realizes he's good at something. We've seen major changes.”

"I knew him right when he started,” added Woodman. "We told him to cut out all the crap he was doing and he smartened up. I've seen a change.”

The fight was one of the larger events of Rogers' career; he referred to it as a test and one that he believes he "passed with flying colours.”

The next step for Rogers is to enter the ring at the professional level.

"The only guy that can hold me down is myself,” he said. "I'm going to listen to my coaches and wait until they say I should go pro.

"I like to talk and I like to be cocky but in my head it's definitely up to the coaches, I'm never going to override them.

"They've been around longer, they know what's right for and they want me to succeed.”