Adriano Bernardo laid claim to the King of the Cage Canadian Heavyweight Championship Friday night, at the promotion's "Accelerator" event in Edmonton, Alberta, as the Prince George fighter submitted fellow contender Curtis Suter in the first round with a rear-naked-choke. With the win, the 33 year-old Bernardo continues to demonstrate, that the judo black belt has a future in MMA.

"Originally my game-plan was to use a little bit of striking to get in close," Bernardo told KOTC Canada. "At the start of the fight I noticed that he was a little hesitant so I just went to close the gap with a single leg and I was fortunate enough to get in there. But I had this idea that I was going to start swinging but instincts just took over I guess."

"Kudos to Curtis," Bernardo added. "From watching his tapes, he's really worked on his ground game. He was using some pretty some pretty sound techniques and he was working almost to pull full guard, so I was using some strikes to disorientate him a bit."

King of the Cage Canada promoter Ken Kupsch had this to say about the bout:

"I had a feeling the Bernardo, Suter fight would not be a long fight but I was surprised how fast it actually went," said Kupsch. "Our fans were split about fifty, fifty on who would win this one but I felt it could go either way. We could see these two matched up again in later 2010."

Heading into the fight Bernardo told KOTC Canada that he was pleasantly surprised when he was offered a title shot, and now that's he's won the belt, the heavyweight is hoping to stay busy.

"It feels good," said Bernardo, discussing his title victory. "Going into the fight I was really calm. I knew that my cardio was good and that I had trained really well. A few years ago when I had a few fights it was really a mental game to get prepared. This time I just wanted to compete. Win or lose I just wanted to compete. I just want to get some fights in. Get more experience."

Bernardo has spent years training with Prince George instructor Murray Sholty, who has not only helped the newly crowned champ improve his skills for grappling competition, but also for the MMA cage.

"As his friend, martial arts instructor and MMA manager it was very rewarding to see a person that has such positive energy in his everyday life, which he carries over to all his aspirations and goals, fulfilling one of his dreams to win the KOTC Canadian Heavyweight title," Sholty said.

"It was a very special moment for me to see Adriano start out with minimal combat experience and then progress through various levels of competition and then to win in a title fight," the instructor added. "It has been just over 10 years ago that I competed in the Abu Dhabi World Submission Championships (1999) and then later that year winning the World Open Sambo Championship (1999), even though we as a club have been winning in both grappling and MMA events, in a sense it's been a decade since I've been involved in winning at a big level."

Of course Bernardo wasn't the only one to walk away victorious at KOTC Canada's "Accelerator" event Friday, as Curtis Demarce, Devin Murray, Brad Stewart, Lindsay Milikin, Mike Davis and Aaron Drewniak also added wins to their records.

"This crowd was a little lighter than usual, partly due to losing several matches in the last day or two before the show," Kupsch said while discussing the event. "Everyone still had a great time and King of the Cage fans are the coolest of all. The next Edmonton show is Jan 22 at the Mirage. We will be announcing it shortly along with lots of other King of the Cage news."