Three fighters from the local Avalanche MMA crew were in Chiliwack, B.C. on Friday night to compete in War Path IV.

TJ Woodman, Simon Pregent, and Miller Rogers stepped into the cage in front of a crowd of over a thousand fans.

For Rogers, his match-up against Rico Brinson carried a special meaning.

Rogers dedicated the fight to Whitehorse resident Tabitha Murphy and colon cancer research.

Murphy has been battling cancer for nearly three years.

"She's been a family friend for a long time and she has to deal with this everyday,” Rogers said. "It's kind of easy for us to go visit her in the hospital and then leave and not have to deal with it anymore but for her it's everyday and she can't just walk away from it.

"I just wanted to show her I support her and I'm always going to be there for her.”

Rogers, a crowd favourite for his theatrics and exciting fights, entered the ring with a blue cancer ribbon shaved into the back of his head.

His fight proved to be one of the most entertaing of the night but almost came to an end in the first round.

"I had him (Brinson) against the ropes and almost had him knocked out but then the bell rang,” Rogers said.

In the second round, Brinson was able to get Rogers onto the ground and chip away at his defence.

"I didn't have the best take-down defence and he executed pretty well,” said Rogers, of his more experienced opponent.

"Going into the third round I knew I had to finish the fight or I was going to lose.”

The fighters exchanged blows but as the final bell rang, the decision was in the judge's hands and they awarded the victory to Brinson.

It was the first loss for Rogers, bringing his record to 3-1.

He said while he was disappointed with the final result, it gives him more motivation moving forward.

"I'll be back stronger next time,” he said. "I really feel bad for the next guy.”

After the fight, Rogers addressed the crowd and talked about the widespread effect

of cancer.

"I just told them that cancer affects everybody, it's in our world and it's something that everyone has to deal with,” Rogers said of his post-match speech. "If you haven't thought about donating or helping somebody out, you should give it a thought.”

Cliff Schultz, co-owner of Avalanche MMA, spent the night as the crew's cornerman.

"I was in there wrapping their hands and yelling at them, it was a lot of fun,” he said.

Schultz was originally on the fight card but a knee injury suffered in training forced him to withdraw from the event. He's hoping to be back in the ring by mid-March.

The experience allowed Schultz to be in the corner for Pregent's fight, the first of his career.

Despite being new to MMA, Pregent has an extensive Muay Thai background and Schultz said that might have hindered his performance.

"He went in with confidence but he resorted back to his style and that's what got him into trouble. He ended up getting caught because his hands were low,” said Schultz.

The fight was stopped in the first round by the referee and Pregent's opponent, Chad Gerow, was ruled victor by technical knockout.

"He's very eager to get back into the ring again,” Schultz said of Pregent. "He knows exactly what he did wrong and he's ready to correct it.”

The third fighter, TJ Woodman also had his fight go the full three rounds where the judges awarded the decision to his opponent, Jamie Siraj.

"It was a close fight, back-and-forth and the judges just gave it to him,” said Woodman.

"It was a good show and a good production,” he said of the event. "We had smoke machines, lasers, entrance music, it was all pretty cool. I just would have liked to win.”

Woodman, who dropped down to the 135-pound weight class for the fight, now has a record of 3-2. He said he plans on staying in that weight class.

"I feel more comfortable at 135,” he said. "I'm not big enough to fight at 145 and I'm

ready to keep going.”

Schultz said the crew will be back in the gym on Tuesday and their next fights should happen sometime in May.

If it were up to Rogers, they would be back in the ring sooner than that.

"I'm ready to fight right now,” he said.

"I'm going to knock the next guy out.”