Fighters Dec / Jan 2011

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EvolutionNot Revolution!EvolutionNot Revolution!

MARTIALARTSSHOWthe THE NEC BIRMINGHAM7TH & 8TH MAY 2011

BRINGING MARTIALARTS TO LIFE!!!

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PACQUIAO TO MAYWEATHER...You Don’t Belong in The Same Ring as me!FEMALE CAGE FIGHT!UK’s Top MMA OrganisationDebuts First Ever Female FightDEREK CHISORAHeavyweight Boxing Champion of The World?UFC CONFIDENT...of Four to Six UKEvents in 2011IRISH SECTIONNews & Views FromThe Emerald Isle

PACQUIAO TO MAYWEATHER...You Don’t Belong in The Same Ring as me!FEMALE CAGE FIGHT!UK’s Top MMA OrganisationDebuts First Ever Female FightDEREK CHISORAHeavyweight Boxing Champion of The World?UFC CONFIDENT...of Four to Six UKEvents in 2011IRISH SECTIONNews & Views FromThe Emerald Isle

KICKBOXING - MUAY THAI - MMA - K-1 - BOXING

RISE OF ACHAMPION!Elite FC

CAGEWARSCAGEWARS

FIGHTERS COVER (DEC'10) A-W 21/12/10 15:46

EFC002/03

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:39

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CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

CONTENTSWell, as another year draws to a close there is no doubt that 2010 hasbeen a big year on the Fighting scene! One thing is for sure, Full Contactmartial arts just seem to go from strength to strength and in particular2011 is looking pretty amazing for the whole MMA scene. This sport justseems to keep on growing and next year is looking BIG! Who knows,maybe we will even have a British UFC title holder?

Back to this months mag and once again we have it covered! From the first born of the mother art to Muay Thai, from MMA toKickboxing, we’ve got something to interest everyone! We even have aninteresting insight into one of Britain’s brightest boxing prospects, DerekChisora on the eve of his big heavyweight title showdown with currentchamp Wladimir Klitschko. We take a unique look at Derek’s path to atitle shot, from the first time he walked through the doors of his local box-ing club to a few short years later being catapulted into the number onecontenders spot for the unified Heavyweight Belt. Sound Unbelievable?Read on...

Back on the MMA scene we take a look at the rise of Cage WarsChampionships and talk to CEO Patrick Mooney about his plans for thefuture and what he has in store for 2011 to continue making CWC biggerand better.

Mark ‘Wartime’ Carling continues his regular look at the British MMAscene and this month gives us a rare insight into what it is like for a pro-fessional fighter before, during and after a big fight on his continued jour-ney from writer to fighter.

As usual we have all the latest news from Ireland in our Irish MMA sec-tion, this month including an exclusive piece on Women’s MMA super-star Aisling Daly and her continued efforts to concquer the US. There isalso a look at two of Ireland’s biggest organisations, Cage Warriors andCage Contenders.

This month’s tournament round up section is jam packed with top namesfrom across the entire full contact spectrum. We’ve got a full review of thelatest night of action from one of the UK’s biggest growing champi-onships, EFC. Every fight from this exciting action packed night of MixedMartial Arts is covered, along with some amazing pictures in our exclu-sive feature it’ll feel like you were actually their!!!

We’ve also travelled around the world to cover some of the best events onoffer, from Strikeforce in the US to Martial Combat in Asia we’ve got itcovered.

So read on and until next month, train safe, fight hard and above all else,enjoy what you do.

In closing, congrats go to Carlos Vemola on his spectacular win at UFC122 (read his exclusive interview in next month’s issue!), and if you seeme at UCMMA or the CWC event in Ireland be sure to say hello and I might even give you a free Fighters T-Shirt.

[email protected]

6 NEWS ROUND-UPDomestic & International

10 THE NEIL ADAMS SUBMISSION CLINICBy Fergus Dullaghan

12 JFCC - JUNIOR FULL CONTACT COUNCILFight Preparation

18 UNFIT2FIGHTWith Mark ‘Wartime’ Carling

22 NEW!!! FIGHTERS IRISH SECTIONAll The Latest News & Views From ‘The Emerald Isle’ inc...Aisling Daly, Graham Boylan & Cage Warriors, Norman Parke and Cage Contenders

36 EVOLUTIONS GOLDEN BOY!Evolution Not Revolution

40 DEREK CHISORAA Different Perspective

42 CASSIE ROBINSONRumbling at The Reebok

44 ISKA & MANNATECHJoin Forces to Aid Their Athletes

46 RICHARD SMITH’S BAD COMPANYClinchwork & Elbows Seminar

49 BIGFIGHT LIVEBy Alexander Evans

52 EFC - THE ULTIMATE BATTLERise of a Champion

58 STRIKEFORCEFeijao Shocks ‘King Mo’

62 MARTIAL COMBAT 11Evolve MMA Rules The Roost

66 MARTIAL COMBAT 12Stunning Finale For Asia’s Biggest MMA Event

70 HISTORY IN THE MAKING 4@ Kelham Hall

74 ROUND 2WAKO Pro Show

78 WORLD TITLE SELL OUTWorld Championship Kickboxing

Fighters1210 25/11/10 14:37

PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFPaul S. Clifton

[email protected]

SENIOR DESIGNER Mark John Davies

GRAPHIC DESIGN Kevin Thompson

ADVERTISING/SALES EXECUTIVEJan Harley [email protected]

UK THAI SUB EDITORDan Green

UK MMA SUB EDITORRob Nutley

UK BJJ SUB EDITORCarl Fisher

UK KICKBOXING SUB EDITORCris Janson-Piers

UK BOXING SUB EDITORSLuke Calvert, Mark Wilson Smith

THAI / KICKBOXINGTony Myers, Shaun Boland, Bob Spour,

Paul Hennessy, Neil Holden, Dean Sugden

CONTRIBUTORSSteve Dileo, Bryan Levick, Fergus Dullaghan,

Ben Cartlidge, Alan MacDonald, Christina Castellana, Teddy Galbally, Craig Bush,Seymour Yang, Rocki Sondhi, Tommy Thompson

HOW TO GET WORK PUBLISHEDDrop us an email at [email protected] or give the editorial team a call on 0121 351 6930

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Fighters1210 25/11/10 14:37

NEWS ROUND-UP Have you got news for us? You have? Then e-mail us at [email protected]

NEWS ROUND-UP - DOMESTIC & INT’

Jorge Rivera Vs. MichaelBisping Possible For UFC 127Originally revealed by the fighter him-self following his cancelled-at-the-last-minute UFC 122 co-main event boutwith Alessio Sakara, Jorge Riveramay next be seen in the Octagonopposite UK standout Michael “TheCount” Bisping. Sources have thebout taking place at the unofficial UFC127 card that will likely be going downon February 27th at the Acer Arena inSydney, Australia.

Rivera is currently on a three-fightwinning streak having racked up winsover Nissen Osterneck, RobKimmons and Nate Quarry.

20-3 as a professional, MichaelBisping has made it well known thathe is searching for a title shot, but theWolfslair Academy product will likelyneed to add to his current two-fightwinning streak before he gets there.

Though the UFC and Rivera’s campboth seem to be in favor of the bout,the fight may not happen as “ElConquistador’s” manager LexMcMahon recently said that hebelieves Bisping will not accept theoffer to face Rivera.

“UFC likes the fight, we like the fight,but I don’t think Bisping is manenough to fight Jorge,” McMahonsaid. “He has no warrior spirit, heknows Jorge will break his will andcrush him.”

UCMMA’s First Female Cage FightUK’s top MMA Organisation debutsfirst ever female fight, SaturdayDecember 4th, Troxy, London (London, October 28th) UltimateChallenge (UCMMA) the UK’s topMMA Organisation, is pleased toannounce its first ever female fighttaking place on December 4th atUCMMA 17: Kings of The Cage livefrom London’s Troxy.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is widelyrecognised as the world’s toughestand fastest growing sport. Attractinga celebrity audience including KatiePrice, Alex Reid, Dizzee Rascal,Danielle Lloyd and JLS, MMA is theultimate test of an athlete’s skills andendurance. Now for the very firsttime on the 4th December - due topublic demand - UCMMA is hostingits first female bout between 50 kg(flyweight) fighters: Michelle Tylerand Vickie Watts, both making theirprofessional debut.

This is a significant milestone forMMA. With the UK legislation ofwomen’s boxing only being approvedin 1998 - it remains a highly contro-versial topic which has caused amuch heated discussion, mostnotably by the vocal opposition ofboxing promoter Frank Warren.

Wokingham based former Thai Boxer,Michelle Tyler, fights out of London’spremier MMA gym LondonShootfighters. Michelle said: “This is afantastic opportunity for me to provemyself on the UK’s highest profileMMA Organisation and I’m traininghard to do myself and my team proud.”

Michelle’s progress from trainingthrough to her debut fight is beingfilmed by Arid Pictures, for a forthcom-ing televised documentary investigatingthe public’s attitudes towards womencompeting in combat sports. This docu-mentary invites the viewer into ashocking, roller coaster ride of what it’slike to be female, British, and a fighterand is set for broadcast in 2011.

Hull based Vickie Watts is managedby internationally ranked British fighterand Cambridge educated mathemati-cian, Rosi Sexton. Sexton said: “It’sgreat that bigger shows are nowputting women’s fights on and higherup on the card too. Previously UKfights have been mismatched andone-sided with someone less experi-

enced being brought in to fight some-one bigger. What stands out aboutthis show is that it is really wellmatched. This is a big thing and a realsign of progress that we have got to astage where we can see competitivefemale fights. This will be a chance toshowcase female MMA at its best.”

UCMMA Promoter Dave O’Donnellsaid: “It’s going to be mince pies andblack eyes on December 4th -Christmas has come early forUCMMA. There’s already a lot of hypearound this and it’s going to be one ofthe most talked about fights this year.”

Coming to a Live Stream Near YouM-1 Challenge XXII: Gallicchio vs.Zavurov Airs to a Worldwide AudienceFresh of the momentum of crowningtheir first-ever Lightweight andHeavyweight champions, M-1 Global isgearing up for its sophomore mega-event of 2010 with M-1 ChallengeXXII: Gallicchio vs. Zavurov whichgoes down Friday December 10thfrom the Druzhba Arena in Moscow,Russia. Fans worldwide will be able tocatch the action LIVE online for freeon the organization’s official websitewww.M-1Global.com starting 11:30amEST / 8:30 PST.

“Challenge XXI was our best event todate in 2010 and we’re building off itssuccess,” says Evgeni Kogan, Directorof Operations for M-1 Global. “The livefeed played a significant role in theevent’s positive reviews and because ofthis we’re making December’s M-1Challenge XXII available via live, stream-ing telecast as well. The fans have spo-ken and M-1 Global is listening.”

Free broadcast coverage of the entireM-1 Challenge XXII event will beavailable live to viewers worldwide onwww.M-1Global.com . To receive theiframe embedding code to air theevent, please email Eric Nicholl [email protected] or [email protected] for more info.

NEWS ROUND-UP NOVEMBER 2010

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Fighters1210 18/11/10 12:37 Page 6



Pacquiao to Mayweather:‘You don’t belong in the same ring as me’Actions speak louder than words.Saturday night eight time worldchampion Manny Pacquiao made abig statement in his dominating winover the bigger and stronger AntonioMargarito, and it was directed right atFloyd Mayweather Jr. -’you don’tbelong in the same ring as me’.

Going into the fight there was muchspeculation as to how Pacquiao wouldhandle the size difference between heand Margarito. Giving away 17pounds and nearly five inches, somethought that would be the end of theimpressive reign Pacquiao has heldover the numerous weight classes.

But he showed why is champion, andnot only escaped with a victory, butclearly outfought Margarito and was toomuch for the Mexican fighter to handle.

So if Mayweather was duckingPacquiao prior the light middleweightchampionship bout, then he must behiding under a rock now. Mayweatherand his camp bought time earlier thisyear when they failed to sign the con-tract to make the ‘superfight’ boxingfans have been yearning for happen,but now he is out of excuses.

It is his time to step up. He hasnever been too shy as to tell theworld that he is not only pound-for-pound the best boxer in the game,but also the best the sport has everseen. But it’s easy to talk that waywhen you don’t have a threat likePacquiao in your weight class.

Now that Pacquiao has been in hisface and is ready to throw hands,Mayweather has done somethingboxing fans have never seen him dobefore-be speechless.

The ‘superfight’ may never take placebecause Floyd Mayweather is scared

of losing his unblemished record.But if he continues to duckPacquiao his undefeated recordshould have a giant asterisk nextto it which reads ‘COWARD’.

If you want to be the best, youhave to beat the best. Plain andsimple. That is all there is to it. Sountil Mayweather mans up and signsto fight Pacquaio, he has no groundsfor claiming to be the best fighter, andwill only continue to tarnish whatwas once an impressivelegacy he was build-ing for himself.



Fighters1210 18/11/10 12:37 Page 7

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BAMMA Fight Card set for “The Beast vs. The Bear”BAMMA are pleased to announcetheir next event will feature noneother than Bob ‘The Beast’ Sapp in aheavyweight contest against Britishbrawler Stav ‘Crazy Bear’Economou!

December will see the best in mixedmartial arts action hit Newcastle-upon-Tyne when BAMMA 5 takesplace at the Metro Radio Arena!

Headlining the event are heavy-weights Bob ‘The Beast’ Sapp andStav ‘Crazy Bear’ Economou.

World-famous MMA star Bob ‘TheBeast’ Sapp is a man of many tal-ents; movie star, NFL player, profes-sional wrestler and kickboxer, Sappis a gigantic 6’4” fighter who tips thescales at 150kg (24 stone). With apro record of 11-6-1, Sapp is knownfor his explosive style and crushingpower.

Stav ‘Crazy Bear’ Economou is a 24-year-old British-Cypriot fighter with a10-1-1 record. A wild and unpre-dictable fighter, 70% of Economou’svictories have come inside the firstround. At 6’1” and 114kg (18 stone),‘Crazy Bear’ will have a size disad-vantage when facing ‘The Beast’, butwith power in both fists and a ruth-less ability to finish fights he’ll besure to make it a fight to remember!

The co-main event’s sees the longawaited return of none other than theBAMMA Lightweight andFeatherweight Champions, Rob

Sinclair and Mark Adams. Sinclairtakes on another ranked Europeanopponent in Olivier Pastor who is 10-5-0 and has a very high submissionpercentage in his wins.

The highly ranked Adams takes onnone other than the UK’s highestranked Featherweight in RobbieOlivier. The dangerous Olivier whohas held featherweight belts in manyother UK organisations and holdswins over Bendy Casimir, RonnieMann, Ashleigh Grimshaw and BradPickett is looking to make a return tothe big stage.

Featuring a supporting card ofexceptional fights that feature thebest talent from the UK, BAMMA 5takes place at the Metro Radio Arenain Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 4thDecember 2010.

UFC chief still confident offour-to-six UK events in 2011Following the UFC’s latest foray intoEurope for UFC 122 in Germany,British MMA fans can expect to seefar more events on UK and Irelandshores next year, according toMarshall Zelaznik.

The UK UFC president has spokenopenly with ESPN over his dream ofbringing “four to six” events to the UKin 2011, the majority of which wouldtake the form of a Fight Night.

Quite rightly, Zelaznik has taken acaution-first approach ever since heinformed ESPN of his plan at thestart of October, knowing there areplenty of obstacles to overcomebefore his vision becomes reality.However, six weeks further down theline, Zelaznik remains just as confi-dent of giving British MMA fans aregular diet of UFC action in the next12 months.

“It’s looking very good,” he toldESPN. “I was just in Vegas and we’re

making some really good progress. Idon’t know how close we are yet, butmaybe in 60 days we could have areally exciting announcement aboutthat.

“I think that’s still the number, ourbudgeting and the numbers we usein our planning remain based on thefour-to-six event scenario. There’s anappetite for it, and we have enoughquality matches to make those verysolid cards.”

Charged with the responsibility oflooking after the European wing ofthe UFC business, Zelaznik is moreaware than most of the demands thatneed satisfying in England, and hislatest update bodes well off the backof the suggestion that the UK couldhost a title fight in 2011.

Vemola DESTROYS PETRUZELLI AT UFC 122Former UCMMA and CWC champKarlos Vemola a former heavyweightmaking his light-heavyweight debut,dazzled on the night’s preliminarycard with a first-round TKO of SethPetruzelli. The Czech fighter simplyoutstruck and overpowered his oppo-nent, and after a vicious string ofpunches left Petruzelli bleeding pro-fusely, the referee halted the bout atthe 3:46 mark of the opening round.



Fighters1210 16/11/10 16:56 Page 9

In Fig 1 we can see that the opponent isin the turtle position, perhaps havingbeen tripped or having failed in a dou-ble leg attack. Neil takes advantage ofhis confusion and opens him up furtherbefore he can settle. He does this byusing a grip on the collar and the belt totug his opponent suddenly forwards (Fig2). As he does so he simultaneouslyenters his left leg behind the opponent’sright arm (Fig 3). He then drops hisweight on his opponent and brings hisright knee tight down beside his oppo-nent’s ear (Fig 4). Neil ends up kneelingon his right leg (Fig 5).

From the other angle we can see thatNeil now grabs the opponent’s gi to getpurchase for the following roll, but thiscan be done equally successfully with anunder-hook under the opponent’s leftarm (Fig 6). He now begins his turnover by going over his left leg (Fig 7-8).

Neil lands on his side (Fig 9) with theopponent’s right arm still trapped

behind his left leg. Neil then underhookshis opponent’s left arm and bends hisown wrist so that his palm is facingupwards. This traps the opponent’s arm.(N.B. if the opponent now releases hisarm in the direction of his feet Neil willsimply apply a straight arm lock -jujigatame) Fig 10. Now that the left arm issecure Neil seizes the opponent’s rightwrist with his spare hand and uncrosseshis legs (Fig 11). Looking back briefly atFig 10 you can see how Neil’s leg istrapped underneath the opponent. Nowthat Neil has taken control of both of theopponent’s arms he is free to correct thisby sliding his left leg back towards thehead and leaving it there like a pillow(Fig 12). Without letting go of either armNeil now re-crosses his legs but this timethe other way around, with the left foothooking behind the right knee (Fig 13).

This puts Neil in position for yokosankaku jimi or the side-triangle stranglewith the legs. To apply the strangle Neilsimply turns his hips in the direction of

the opponent’s head. Additional pres-sure can be brought to bear on theopponent by simultaneously applying aone handed kimura on the out-stretchedarm. (Fig-14-15).

Of course, more advanced grapplerswill have noticed that the other arm canalso be attacked either with a straightarm lock or a standard kimura. And as afinal tip for those of you who do com-pete with a gi, you can tie the oppo-nent’s left arm off to get even greatercontrol at the stage shown in Fig 10.This can be achieved by feeding eitherthe belt or the lapel into your waitingleft hand (Fig 16-17) before swappingthe legs over (Fig 18). Enjoy!

Neil Adams is a former World JudoChampion and Olympic Silver Medallist. Heis currently the Belgian national coach andhis new online tutorials featuring all his judosecrets are available from www.cagefilm.comin association with Combat Magazine andFighters Magazine.

THE NEIL ADAMS SUBMISSION CLINIC

TThhee NNeeiill AAddaammss

SSuubbmmiissssiioonn CClliinniiccYoko sankaku jimi is a submission that is currently almost exclusively a judo specialism. It has for somereason been overlooked by both MMA and jiu jitsu practitioners . It is however a devastating techniquewhen used correctly. Although the judo method relies heavily on using the gi to facilitate transition, it ispossible to perform the move in a no-gi environment.

Part 7 - Yoko Sankaku jimi

BByy FFeerrgguuss DDuullllaagghhaann

FFiigg 11 FFiigg 22 FFiigg 33

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 10

THE NEIL ADAMS SUBMISSION CLINIC






Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 11

JUNIOR FULL CONTACT COUNCIL COLUMN

JFCCFight PreparationJunior Full Contact Council Column

Written by Dean Sugden Head of JFCC “Junior Full Contact Council” Former Professional World Kick BoxingChampion & Trainer of several World, numerous European, Commonwealth & countless British / National Champions.

3 x KEY Elements to FightPreparation - Physical,Technical & MentalI promised last month to cover in somemore detail on the 3 Key elements.

Physical -Training as a junior you will have natur-al fitness and stamina. The key elementto your training schedule is to experi-

ment and ensure your training programworks for you. 6 weeks training pro-gram is more than enough of yourbuilding towards a peak for a champi-onship fight. For those who are fightingover 3 rounds continuous trainingthroughout the year will suffice.Personally speaking and as fighters getto 14/15 plus your training needs tochange and incorporate some strength

training and a specific program for fight-ing. Up to this age they will be able toget themselves physically fit by takingpart in 3 to 5 kick boxing classes perweek. At 14 they will need to add acouple of weight training programs plusstart to consider some cross training /running to cope with the physical differ-ences. In the week preceding a fight youshould rest and only be keeping yourselfticking over to ensure you are close toyour fighting weight. The kickboxingclasses should incorporate sparring, padwork and bags in addition to flexibilitytraining along with flexibility work.

Next issue I am going to cover the week aftera fight, Injuries, Diet & Nutrition.

TechnicalBasic Stance and feet are the MOSTimportant principles of fighting.Everything you do should ensure yourevert back to your stance. Use the mir-ror and a partner to ensure your feet arein the correct position. Weight distribu-

Over the next few issues I am going to cover Fight Preparation for juniors and will focus on the 3x KEY Elements. There are a number of aspects which are aimed at the older juniors due to thephysical stress the body will be put under. Before taking part in any serious training you must con-sult your GP and Coach to ensure this program or certain aspects of this program will benefityou. If in doubt email me [email protected]

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Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 12

tion is important and themagical gap between yourfeet so your balance is cor-rect if attacked from frontor side. If you are left hand-ed then practice your naturalSouth Paw stance but itsalways important to practicetechniques from both stances.On the basis there will bemoments in a fight when you arein your opposite stance and need tobe able to deliver any technique willcome in useful. If your balance isaffected by a kick, punch or defensivemove then you need to move or adjustyour feet.

Mental StrengthWhat should I expect from FullContact? A clear understanding of the contactallowed along with clear rules and reg-ulations. The standing 8 count, why isused and the protection it gives you ifyou are hurt or being out classed.Doctors & Paramedics ringside alongwith pre fight medical check to ensureyou are fit to fight. License and recordbook which shows you and your coachhow many fights your opponent hastaken part in prior to your contest.Rankings that are neutral and unbiased.The same skill level is required if notmore to be able to deal with the physi-cal stress of a full contact fight.

What should / can I do to preparefor this? Sparring at other clubs can benefityou in several ways. It createsnerves which are similar to howyou will feel on fight night. It alsogives you an opportunity topractice your skills againstfighters with different styles.Again with all the of thesethings its not ideal to experi-ence them for the first timeon fight night. If you prac-tice all of your skills devel-oped within your own school then home them when sparring at other clubs.


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 13

NEWS Despite only recently being formed,the JFCC has been responsible forattracting new talent to the FullContact scene with James Gridley fromStar Kickboxing. James featured onone of if not the biggest promotions ofthe year at the fantastic Kelham Hall inNewark. The show adeptly namedHistory in The Making 4 had a twist toit with the main event being AndrewTate v Jamie Bates. One of the mostanticipated clashes for some time.Other JFCC starlets were also in actionwith Dillon O Connor from IrelandIKF & JFCC 5 Nations Championdefeated WAKO Pro British AmateurChampion Ben Fahey.

Also James Gridley hot of his success atthe World Tae Kwon Do championshipswas in fine form as he took on anddefeated Tom Smart WKA BritishChampion. James another bi product ofthe JFCC 5 Nations tournamentshowed why the JFCC Juniors / Cadetsare the best out there with a win againstTom Smart from UFBDA for the vacantIKF English Title.

Regis Sugden another JFCC 5 Nationschamp was in action for the secondtime under K-1 rules. He destroyed theheavier and taller Robin Lowe fromGladiators gym in 2 rounds after land-ing some ferocious kicks and punches.

The Amateur card main event was noother than Chad “2 Slick” Sugden fight-ing against unbeaten David Lensonfrom Brooklyn New York USA. Chadthe highest profile JFCC fighter andCaptain to the 5 Nations Team wore hisJFCC Bottoms with pride. Chad willcaptain a team of 20+ fighters fromWinspers 3 Lions Impact BlackDragons & Ireland will travel to Floridanext year to take part in the IKF WorldClassic. David came into this unifica-tion fight which was billed as TheUndisputed with 2 x IKF World ClassicTitles. Chad 3 times World Championholding Golden Belt, EFK and IKF atthe lighter weight was moving up to -68kg to attempt to secure his 4th WorldTitle.

At the end of this fight which saw Chadtake on the Brooklyn Bomber and winover 5 rounds was presented with theJFCC World Title. Grand Master GoffBates who is the most senior and high-est ranking official in Full Contacttoday presented the belt. The JFCChad decided that they would presenttheir belt in recognition of the fact thatthese 2 cadets were regarded as thevery best in the World. Who couldargue with 5 x World Title Beltsbetween them and the 6th being on theline October 16th? In a climate wherethere are so many Champions, this wassomething which I was more thanhappy to support in my role of Head ofJFCC. In addition if there are anyjuniors / cadets out there who thinkthey are the best. Please send in yourdetails into the rankings officer PhilSwanwick [email protected]

All the fighters registered with the JFCCare actively competing on all reputablesanctioning body shows. All the fightersfrom the JFCC Championships havegone on and beaten the best out therefrom all other orgs following theChampionships at the beginning of theyear. They say success breeds successand that this will attract more competi-tors to our Championships next year.The plan is to hold JFCC events every 8weeks next year as the interest in thisexciting and safe format has grown.Culminating with a championships atthe end of the year where ISKA, WKA,WAKO, IKF, EFK, GOLDEN BELT,WRSA best of the best can come togeth-er and compete against each other at theJunior Full Contact Championships forthe second year running.


DDiilllloonn OO CCoonnnnoorr wwiitthhIIrriisshh FFLLAAGG oonn sshhoouullddeerrss

TToomm SSmmaarrtt vv JJaammeess GGrriiddlleeyy

CChhaadd && GGrraanndd MMaasstteerr GGeeooffff BBaatteesswwiitthh 22 BBeellttss IIKKFF WWoorrlldd && JJFFCCCC WWoorrlldd““TThhee UUNNIIFFIICCAATTIIOONN”” BBeelltt

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 14


Calendar of Events coming up...* JFCC Squad Training 19th

December 2010 @ NMA NG24IBE Start time 11am to 1pm

* CKA Gym show “ICO”Nov 7th2010 Walsham Le Willows PeteDunnett

* NMA /IKF & JFCC IrelandCappaquin 20th NovemberPromoter Ross Barrett

* WRSA Nottingham 28th NovemberLong Eaton Promoter Surg Johal

* WAKO Pro Show DinningtonSheffield Chad “2 Slick” K-1 DebutDec 4th 2010

* BLCC Light Continuous eventDerby held by Mushtak Khan A1Lions Dec 5th 2010

* WKA Full Contact Fight NightJuniors & Seniors 3 Lions GtYarmouth Dec 5th 2010

* IKF World Classic July 15,16,172011 Orlando Florida ( JFCC 5Nations Team attending)

Insurance for Full ContactWe have a very comprehensiveInsurance Policy for clubs, instructorsand students alike who want to trainand compete under Full Contact Rules.This policy can be seen on our web-site, I wish more Associations wouldfollow suit and publish their policy andcover. I know there are a lot of peoplein this sport who think they are insuredbut probably are not.

We can also offer event insurance forreputable clubs promoting FullContact, Light Continuous, K-1,White Collar Boxing & Muay Thai.As long as they are working with areputable body we will insure theirevent. Anyone interested in insur-ance quote or details please checkout our website or contact me [email protected]

If you have any questions youwould like to put to me or theJFCC please don’t hesitate toemail [email protected]

OR If you have a junior fighter thatfeels he deserves his / her moment inthe limelight please send details to mewith some high quality photos.

Dean Sugden Head of JFCC“Junior Full Contact Council”

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40 Page 15

JFC001/03

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:40


Name Regis Sugden Age 15 Weight 59 kilosTrainer Dean Sugden Kick Boxing /K-1 Phil Swanwick Boxing Regis would also like to thank Dave Munro,Bin Tyler & Leigh Edlin for their help inpreparation for his recent K-1 fight.How long been training 10 yearsWho is your favourite fighter?Damien Trainor K Star GymWhat is your favourite technique?Spinning Hook KickWhat are you ambitions for the sport?Win K-1 Max & K-1 Grand PrixNo of Fights by style K-1 2f 2w, FullContact 17f 16w 1d, Light Continuous50f 47w 3lTitles Won: Full Contact Titles EFK World Title, EFK European Title,Golden Belt European 2 x WKA BritishChampion, WKA WorldChampionships 2009 Gold Medalist Full Contact & K-1. JFCC 5 Nations Gold Medalist 2010,IMGC / WFK World Games GoldMedalist Thailand 2008 Full Contact,EFK British Champion & ISKA /BLCC English Champion.

Hardest Fight & Why? AaronTown Clan Kickboxing, he is veryawkward fighter and very effective.He has a great engine and also a greatwill to win. Very similar to myself:)Influences & Inspirations? My Dadhas been my biggest influence on mycareer and had a big impact in develop-ing my fighting style. He has encour-aged me to fight to my strengths. Mybig brother Chad has inspired me as hehas always been one step ahead of mein my career as a kickboxer. He has justbecome the undisputed Junior WorldChampion. I would like to achievethat accolade and alsoachieve a World Titleunder K-1 rules.

Interview withJFCC “Fighter of the Month”

jjuummppiinngg ffoorr jjooyy aafftteerrhhiiss KKeellhhaamm HHaallll vviiccttoorryyuunnddeerr KK--11 rruulleess

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:41 Page 17

UNFIT2FIGHT WITH MARK ‘WARTIME’ CARLING

I have just started full prep for my nextfight in February at UCMMA and now Iwill be trimming to a featherweight toreally cause some mayhem the cage.Apart from terrorizing people in the cageI have been filming ‘Gym of the Week’for the Cage Fighter show and we havehad some real crackers recently, so tunein every Wednesday night at about 10pmto watch the magic unfold on Sky Sportsand show your support for UK MMA.

There is an unbeatable new diet pill on themarket to help with all your hard cuts -Capsilite - check out http://capsilite.com/

Now it’s time for my monthly give away!and what a selection we have for you:

● One bottle of the best new diet pill avail-able Capsilite ( this helped me shed 25kilos of fat in 16 weeks!)

● One Ultimate Challenge T-shirt - dresslike a top fighter

● One Ultimate Challenge DVD - watchthe top fighters

● A full weeks complimentary gym pass toevery class at Gym Xtreme in Worthing(one of the best MMA gyms in the UK.)

What a month it has been! Tom Watson and Alex Reid put on the best UK fight I have ever seen,those two guys are pure warriors and prove that we are a nation of exciting fighters. UFC kickedoff in London with a few hard losses for amazing fighters like Dan Hardy and my favorite UFCfighter John Hathaway (the guy trains like a machine and is a real gentleman outside the cage,more people like John mean more big investors). Our own shores are now starting to really pushthe boundaries for fighters and promoters and for me Ultimate Challenge is easily the best showin Europe still, selling out tickets two shows in advance!

WWaattssoonn vvss RReeiidd

STOP, SHOCK AND KNOCKOUTWe caught up with the most famousman in UK MMA, the one and onlyTom Watson. Tom has done more thanmost for the sport that we all love,with his exciting fighting style andwhat many people have called thefight of the year - his victory againstAlex Reid.

Name: Tom ‘Kong’ WatsonAge: 28Fighting out of: Jacksons Submission Academy/Zahabi MMA (Tristar, Montreal)

Food: NandosFun: WomenColour: RedTime: WatchPlace: New MexicoStyle: PimpingMusic: AnythingHate: PosersLove: ?Fight: Club

If you want to find out more aboutTom ‘Kong’ Watson then go totomkongwatson.com

TToomm ‘‘KKoonngg’’ WWaattssoonn ((ppiiccttuurreedd rriigghhtt))

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:41 Page 18

UNFIT2FIGHT WITH MARK ‘WARTIME’ CARLING ‘‘

‘‘II’’mm jjuusstt hheerree ffoorrtthhee kknnoocckk oouutt!!

-- TThhee lleeggeenndd DDaavvee OO’’ddoonnnneellll

QQuuoottee ooff tthhee mmoonntthh......

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:41 Page 19

Talk-time with WARTIMEAs the lights beamed down on me andthe music shook the floor, I set footonto the runway. Hundreds of camerasflashed and the sound of the crowdchanting “CARLING, CARLING,CARLING” was audible well above themusic I’d chosen to walk into. I wasfocused and finally ready to meet mydestiny in that cage and it felt so good.No fear, no nerves, no doubt, just ready.

The incredible energy coming from thecrowd made me feel stronger and morepowerful with every step I took towardsthe cage. I could feel myself and mybody feeding off the intense atmosphere,absorbing the desire and will to winfrom the sea of support that was engulf-ing me. Like a tenacious parent, proudand supportive, the crowd was with meand I was grateful. The cage door waslooming, and my opponent was waiting.

Gary Turner was there for the finalchecks and words of encouragement,whilst Pete Mercer smothered my facewith the obligatory Vaseline. It was timefor me to cross the line into a world likeno other I’d experienced before. A placewhere you attack or be attacked, where

your every move is your armour againstdefeat. You do not stop, you must notstop, trained to never give in, until thesecond they pull you from your foe.

Gary and I had run through this sce-nario a thousand times in my mind andI knew what had to be done. I connect-ed gloves, smashed fists with JasonBarrett at the centre of the octagon. Notfor a second did I avert my gaze fromJason. Without breaking my stare away,I backed towards my red corner, andrested my leg against the ropes of thecage, in preparation to let myself go.

The moment had arrived, the time wasnow. All my training, all my mindcoaching and everything that GaryTurner had taught me about ring behav-ior was about to be put into practice.At that moment I ‘jump started myheart’ by beating my fist against mychest and shot across the cage, chargingat Jason with a fast hard jab, thenswung over the top with a powerfulelbow. Jason was ready, sparring withpace, the fight was really on.

All that was going through my mind wasto attack Jason, relentlessly, as I forcedforward trading punches with him, neverstopping and never giving him a mom-ent’s break. The whole time the rhythmicchanting from the crowd “CARLING,CARLING, CARLING” was pushingme on, encouraging me to fight.

The underdog was fighting back so hardand the crowd where lapping it up. ThenBANG a hard right sent me to the floor,but dazed I scrambled to my feet takingthe onslaught of punches determined tograb Jason’s head. The moment I feel hissweet canister in my hands I yank itdown straight onto my knee.

As Jason recoils I force him to thefence, smothering his face with myhand and smashing him with hook afterhook to the head, before he wrigglesout and returns the knee to me in dev-astating fashion.

Now overcome with rage, nothing canhurt me. I keep walking to Jason as heis hacking my legs, bang, bang I justlaugh and gesture him with my handsto “come on!. “ Now I start to see thefear in his eyes, still trading punches wekeep going round the octagon.

Jason lets out a massive round houseconnecting perfectly with my jaw andshaking me, but still I will not give upand keep forcing forward. I can’t seenow, I’m dizzy and receiving blow afterblow then it all goes blank...

As I sit in the dressing rooms with PeteMercer, Gary Turner, Nick Chapman,Paul Dash, Alex Reid, Jimmy Yardleyand Dale Hatt I receive a humblinground of applause. All the other fightersaround me are preparing for their ownfights and in the busy hustle and bustleof the changing room, I smile throughmy daze and it doesn’t quite register thatthe applause is for me. Through the fogof my concussion the messages of praiseand kind words continue, and I can hearAlex Reid tell me that I’m a “Warrior”.

I had my first cage fight and now Ihave the taste for it. My debut was spec-tacular, but I did not get the result I wasafter - so now it’s back to my trainingcamp and I will be stepping out againin February at the one and onlyUltimate Challenge.

After waking up from my first knockoutthe first thing I did was get my girl-friend and hit the UCMMA after party- and order in a pizza that I scoffed in acrowded bar. That was my first rewardto myself and it tasted better than anybeer I have ever drunk. 12 weeks with-out fast food was hard!

None of Unfit2Fight would have everbeen possible without the amazing teamI have around me and that made merealise one phenomenal thing. MMA isa team sport.

I never would have come so far in sucha short time had it not been for peoplelike Dave O’Donnell mentoring me andall the support from UCMMA, Gym


STOP, SHOCK AND KNOCKOUTPeter Mercer is the UK MiddleweightK1 Champion, holding three of thefive titles around the country and justabout to step out and fight UCMMAveteran Jake Bostwick for the fourth.He is a force to be reckoned with anda gentleman. In his camp he can nameGary Turner, Alex Reid, NickChapman and Jessie Sanders just toname a few - and every one of thoseguys means business.

Name: Peter MercerAge: 29Fighting out of: Indie FighterFood: I like eating way to much

Fun: Naughty sex parts and fightingColour: Purple is my favorite colourTime: Never enough, always shufflingfor more timePlace: Going to bed or in the ringStyle: My girlfriend looks after that Iwould be in shorts and flip flopsMusic: If I’m training metal or Houseand in the car Funky BuddhaHate: BullyingLove: Love itFight: Win always WIN

If you want to catch Peter Mercer fight thenclick on ucmma.com and get down toULTIMATE CHALLENGE on October23rd and see mayhem in the cage................

MMaarrkk wwiitthhGGaarryy TTuurrnneerrllooookkiinngg oonn

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:41 Page 20

Xtreme (giving me somewhere to doeverything), Miad Najafi teaching meground work. It has taken Mark Princeto help me strike, Dale Hatt to condi-tion, and Nick ‘Head Hunter’Chapman to perfect my ground andpound ability.

I’ve needed Gary Turner to teach halfbeats and a piece of his own personalmagic, Dede Dean with his strict diet,Peter Mercer’s ring dominance, andJimbo Slice with his perfect Triangle.Training has been in the form of JackMason for grappling, Kenny Moystonfor the kicks, Jesse Saunders for MauyThai, Brighton boot camp for the dawncardio classes, and Bikram Yoga for thehelp with my breathing.

Zara has provided the constanthumour, and the team at BlockhouseFilms for the birth of a great concept.

Final mention goes to my beautifulSophia for always being there at theend of it.

Keep happy, never stop training andalways help others as one good turntoday can become the most rewardingthing you have ever done tomorrow

Believe in yourself as you are only lim-ited by your own mind.

I have just started my own TV productioncompany called ‘Wartime Productions’, and we are all about MMA, find us atwww.wartime-productions.com


STOP, SHOCK AND KNOCKOUTThis month I’m going to interview myteam mate Nick ‘Head Hunter’Chapman. This guy has exploded ontothe MMA scene in the most spectacularstyle possible, defeating his first oppo-nent in 37 second and making everyoneat Pride Fighting down in Portsmouthgo mental in one of the most excitingfights I have ever seen - and catchingthe eye of legendary promoter DaveO’Donnell. Now let’s hit him with aone minute interview, ten words andwhat they mean to him, let’s go!

Name: Nick ‘Head Hunter’ ChapmanAge: 34Weight: LHFighting out of: Fight-Science Food: Nutrition, what the body needsto get betterFun: Punching people’s heads in!Colour: Black and it is a colourTime: As long as it takesPlace: Inside the cageStyle: Ground and PoundMusic: Motivates me Hate: LosingLove: My wifeFight: Is what we do!

NEWS IN BRIEF • Catch my new slot Gym of the Week

on Cage Fighter - Sky Sports.• I fight out of the Fight-Science Team• The donate button is up and work-

ing on unfit2fight.com, use it now!• I’m sponsored by Evolution Sport

Nutrition.• I’m now sponsored by Gym Xtreme.• Go to unfit2fight.com to see the new

trailer.

Last but not least my long term girl-friend Sophia agreed to marry mewhen I asked her at ULTIMATECHALLENGE, this was the only timeI have ever been lost for words...

CCaarrlliinngg vvss BBaarrrreetttt @@ UUCCMMMMAA SShhoowwddoowwnn

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:41 Page 21

FIGHTERS IRISH SECTION

FIGHTERS IRISH SECTION All the latest news and views from The Emerald Isle...

“Fighting Irish” Making Huge Progress in MMAWith the rapid rise in popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) throughout the world, we’ve seennew websites appear daily, clothing lines such as Silver Star, Badboy and TapouT being worn inthe high street on an increasing scale. New MMA gyms have been opening throughout the world.Fighters such as Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva and GSP are being talked about in playgrounds bya new generation of MMA fans throughout the country. All of which has helped bring MMAmore into the mainstream than ever before.

Ireland with its world famous reputa-tion for excelling in combat sports hasbeen making huge progress in MMAlately. Many of the “Fighting Irish”have been busy knocking opponentsout or submitting them to claim varioustitles. So much so that FightersMagazine have created a new IrelandMMA section which will include; gymprofiles, fighter interviews, fight reports,an opinions section and general IrishMMA news in order to keep up withthe growing reputation of Ireland as aserious player on the world stage.

Each month this column will look at allthe recent events and keep fight fans upto date as to the progress and state ofIrish MMA. Many Irish organisations

have been making a huge impactthroughout the UK and European pro-motional scene. Organisations such asCage Contender, Clan Wars and CageWars have had huge success over thepast few years in promoting Irish MMA.We shall feature each of these Irishorganisations in the Ireland section, talkto those directly in charge and look atthe future plans each of them have.

Irish fighters have enjoyed recent suc-cess in the octagon over the pastmonth with many being crownedchampions. Fighters such as Paul“Metabolic” McVeigh (17-6) regardedas Europe’s number 1 ranked MixedMartial Artist and one of Ireland’sgreat prospects recently won the Cage

Contender Bantamweight title inDublin on July the 27th, defeating atough and unpredictable ArtemijSitenkov via triangle armbar.

McVeigh believes that Ireland has somevery talented fighters coming throughthe ranks. He said: “Ireland andScotland suck at football and popularsports but we have some world classviolent merchants. No idea why it is butif you get wee man syndrome on anational level you tend to end up withsome really hard bantamweights andfeatherweight guys.”

Many of Ireland’s promising fightersappeared recently at Cage ContendersVI in Manchester on August 28. USbased Irishman Damian “The Rage”Rooney (7-2-1) earned a draw in atough fight against Declan “KidDynamite” Williams. Promising Irishfighter, “Stormin” Norman Parkes alsoproved victorious at Cage ContenderVI putting in a dominating perfor-mance against Stu Davies to win inround 2 via TKO and establish a 3 fightwin streak. We speak to this Irishprospect this month.

MMA giants Bellator have also takennotice of the fighting talent available inIreland. Female Mixed Martial Artist,Aisling Daley who we also feature inthis months edition and fighting out ofSBG Ireland, ranked number 1 inIreland and 3rd in the world, she

CCaaggee CCoonntteennddeerrss

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 22

recently signed for the organisation andsuffered her first loss to Lisa Ward viadecision at Bellator 26. The Dublinnative’s record now stands at (9-1) andis another great example of the stridestaken in Irish MMA.

There are exciting times ahead for IrishMMA. Team Kaobin have experiencedthe talent of Irish fighters. Ronan McKay based at EFR Antrim has been dub-bed the “Kaobin Killer” after defeating 3opponents based out of the UK team.

Irish eyes are smiling in MMA!

FIGHTING IRISH MAKING HUGE PROGRESS


By ThomasMcCullough

nnuummbbeerr 11 rraannkkeedd PPaauull ““MMeettaabboolliicc”” MMccVVeeiigghh

((1177--66))

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 23



Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 24

Aisling Daly“I feel sorry for the opponent who gets me next,” says Bellator fighter Aisling Daley. Ranked as Ireland’sbest female fighter and number 3 in the world, fighters would be wise to take notice of what this wreck-

ing machine plans to do when she enters the octagon again to avenge her loss to Lisa Ward at Bellator 26.

“Ash the Bash” Wants Pay Back!

‘ASH THE BASH’ WANTS PAY BACK!


Known as “Ash the Bash” she holds animpressive (9-1) record suffering herfirst ever loss in the prestigious Bellator26 female 115llbs tournament onAugust the 26th. The tournament fea-tured many of the worlds leadingfemale MMA fighters such as submis-sion expert Megumi Fujii.

The Dublin native, fighting out ofStraight Blast Gym Ireland (SBGI) feltdisappointed at her overall perfor-mance against Lisa Ward and was veryfrustrated at how the fight unfolded.She said: “To be honest, everything aboutme didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel at my bestand I don’t want to sound like I’m makingexcuses. In the fight I felt I’d no power orstrength especially at the 115llbs weight. IfI’m honest it was a boring fight. I think Iwill give it one more fight and see how itgoes before I would consider moving back upto 125llbs. If I perform well, hopefully Iwill remain at this weight.”

Daly has been having a huge impact onthe MMA scene and is one of Ireland’svery few fighters to receive the call upby a big international promotion suchas Bellator. She has helped put IrishMMA on the global stage and is veryproud of her achievements but is alsoquick to point out the quality involvedin UK and Irish MMA.

“I’m very proud of my achievements so farand especially to be signed by Bellator for a6 fight contract. I just kept my head downand kept plugging away and I’m verypleased with myself to be with the organisa-tion and give Irish MMA a platform.”

Travelling to the US to take part in theprestigious tournament also openedDaly’s eyes as to the superiority com-plex that exists outside Europe, onewhich has perhaps proved a factor inIrish and UK talent being overlookedby American promotions such asStrikeforce, WEC and the UFC.

“There’s an attitude which exists in the USthat European MMA is substandard tothem. A lot of the fighters and the fansbelieve that places such as the UK andIreland aren’t on their level and this attitudeis perhaps filtered down to the promoters ofthe big organisations who then ignore thetalent that we’ve got to offer. The UK andIreland aren’t substandard to the US as wehave some great coaches and great MMAexponents. There were even some negativecomments towards my own coaching team.”

Many fighters who aspire to reach thevery top of their fight game decide torelocate Stateside in search of bettertraining and sparring partners. “Ash theBash” however has no such plans ofdoing so and is very confident of herown surroundings and plans to keeptraining out of her Dublin camp.

“I’m still training in Dublin and I’ve no plansto go elsewhere. I might travel to the States anddo some training but I don’t think it will makea difference to me if I stay in Ireland. I’ve anexcellent coach in John Kavanagh. Many peopleseem to always define an expert in something ifthey come from out of town. In Dublin we’vegot some really good lightweight guys who Itrain with and I don’t think I would get thattype of training in the US with girls. Thefemale MMA scene is small so it could be com-petition I would be training with.”

AAiisslliinngg iiss llooookkiinngg ttoo aavveennggeehheerr oonnllyy ddeeffeeaatt ttoo LLiissaa WWaarrdd

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 25

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‘ASH THE BASH’ WANTS PAY BACK!

From the age of ten, Aisling first beganMartial Arts in the form of Karate andhas been doing some form of combattraining ever since. “I began Karate for afew years and was then introduced to JiuJitsu. My teacher used to take out old mats(when I was around fourteen or fifteen) andshowed us submission holds. I became hookedand started beating up guys on the mat andeventually quit karate and began Brazilian JiuJitsu training.”

“Ash the Bash” began MMA training ata time when most girls considered yogaand walking on a treadmill to a rockysoundtrack as punishable forms of exer-cise. “When I started MMA training notmany girls did it, maybe 4 or 5 at amateuror pro level. I was the only girl in the class.People started talking about the UFC and Iwanted to become more involved. Now youhear more and more girls training in MMA.Some are doing it to compete while others aredoing it for fitness. Many of them are shockedat my work ethic and how hard I train...I’m always willing to help those around meas well.”

Daly doesn’t base her style on any partic-ular fighter and believes that MMA hasnow evolved from being a one dimen-sional sport to a more, well rounded GSPtype fighter. She said: “I’ve my own uniquefighting style. I like well rounded fighters. Theera of one dimensional fighter’s is gone. MMAis now a complete sport and not a boxer thatdoes MMA or a wrestler that does it. I likeGSP as a well rounded fighter.”

Until she is matched up again byBellator, Daly plans to put in as muchcompetition and fight training as possibleand would even love to have a rematchwith her American opponent Lisa Ward.“I’m itching to get back. I would love tofight Lisa Ward again. I’m really hungryfor my next fight. There’s talk aboutBellator staging another tournament, so Iwould love to be involved in that. But inthe mean time I will take part in submis-sion wrestling competitions, boxing andMuay Thai.”

A highly ranked fighter and one of thebest female fighters to emerge from IrishMMA in recent years “Ash the Bash”likes comedy films when she’s not com-peting in the cage but it won’t be a laugh-ing matter for her next opponent!


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 27


Graham Boylan &

“Everything Stops With Me” says New CWFC Irish Chief

Established in 2001, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (CWFC) has grown to become oneof the UK’s longest serving and most successful Mixed Martial Arts organisations around, attract-ing many octagon stars.

Irish influence on MMA has beenmaking a real impact throughout theUK and Europe and this influence willbe felt at CWFC with Graham Boylanbeing appointed the new Director ofthe successful UK organisation.“Everything stops with me. The plans forCWFC and Warrior Promotions are totake what’s been created to the next level.Cage Warriors is a historical MMA Event

in UK MMA history and I will do what Ican to cement it more for years to come,”says Graham.

Graham Boylan, who runs 4 gyms, 3 ofwhich are in London known as theMMA clinic and 1 in Ireland, theBoxing clinic, first became aware ofMMA while having a beer in Australia.It became a life changing experiencefor the Irishman.

He said: “I was introduced to MMA in2000 when I was living and training inAustralia. I shared a house with 8Canadians who where UFC fanatics. I hadno idea what they were talking about whilehaving a few beers on my arrival to thehouse. At this point, everything changed forme. I was shown a few fights, guys such asGracie, Abbot, Shamrock and Liddell. I washooked like I had never been hooked on any-thing before. MMA became an obsession.”

His new found obsession took himincreasingly away from his various busi-ness interests and more towards MMA.“It made me realise how much I loved fight-ing. I honestly thought in my head there was

something wrong with me. I got majorly tiedup in business with a few companies to thepoint where I’d had enough. I went back toboxing and became a full time UFC fan”.

He added, “I started training with PaulHines who was head coach at PancreasLondon. I trained with Paul for about 2years in rented community halls, I got reallyfrustrated with the situation as we needed acage to train properly, so I established theMMA Clinic and we haven’t looked back,”said Graham Boylan.

Prominent fighters have entered theoctagon under the CWFC banner.Theses include, Dan Hardy, MichaelBisping, Ross Pearson and Rosi Sexton.As the new director, Graham Boylan isplanning to take the organisation to thenext level and Ireland features heavilyin his plans.

Ireland, with its “Fighting Irish” spirithas been making a huge impact on theUK and European MMA scene andthis is something that hasn’t beenmissed by Graham Boylan.


GGrraahhaammBBooyyllaann

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 28

He said: “Ireland’s been generating top ath-letes as far back as I can remember, not justin the fight game. For a small country wedon’t do badly at all. I will be taking a veryclose look at Irish based fighters and doingwhatever I can to help develop it.”

It’s quiet clear that Irish MMA will feelGraham Boylan’s influence as the direc-tor of CWFC.

“There’s a different breed of fighter inIreland. Irish lads are hungry, they’ve nofear but a lot of education in MMA is need-ed and that’s what I’m going to work ontheir. I’m not far away from finishing thedetails of a project that will help young tal-ent, both in the UK and Ireland.”

The future is bright; the future is green.

GRAHAM BOYLAN & CAGE WARRIORS FC


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:42 Page 29



Irish prospect Norman Parke“Stormin” through the ranksRising star of Irish MMA, Norman Parke (12-2) has been making a huge impact in Ireland andthroughout the UK with impressive victories in the cage. Based in Bushmills, the fighter knownas “Stormin” Norman currently fights out of the Institute of Mixed Martial Arts (IMMA) inBallymena under the tutelage of head coach Rodney Moore.

Over the last 2 years the Lightweightfighter, who has appeared at eventssuch as Strike and Submit, OMMACand Cage Contender has been makingfight fans sit up and take notice of whatis proving to be a potential star attrac-tion throughout Ireland and the UK.

Irish Lightweight Cage ContenderChampion and fellow Irish prodigy,Myles Price is just one of the fighterswho’ve lost to the talented IMMAfighter via guillotine. His latest wincame against Stuart Davies via TKO inround 2 at Cage Contender VI inManchester on August 28. It’s a fight

which the Irishman felt very comfort-able in and added to his impressiverecord even further.

Having enjoyed his victory, “Stormin”Norman said: “The plan was just to feelhim out (Stuart Davies) for a while thenclinch up with him. I knew he didn’t wantto clinch so I took him down with a sweepand the assault started from there. I workedmy ground and pound hitting him withelbows and I knew he didn’t want to bethere. I could’ve went for the finish a fewtimes but I was quite enjoying the fight andI was never in trouble. I wanted to get a fewrounds in the bag.”

Determined to add to his already grow-ing skill set in the cage the talentedfighter plans to travel to the US andobtain some high quality training withAmerican Top Team who can boastfighters in its stable such as ThiagoAlves, Denis Kang, Mike Brown andCole Miller, with the latter set to fightRoss Pearson at UFC 120.

His fight record and desire to travelabroad is something which he hopeswill make people take notice. He said:“I think people should start to take bignotice of me. I’m not to be looked past. Eachtime I step into the cage to compete I’m morecomposed and you get to see a better me. I’mgoing to American Top Team to train for a

while as I want to train with many greatfighters and coaches which can only make mea better fighter.”

A life of drugs and self destructionbecame a strong possibility for the tal-ented Irishman, who began Judo andboxing as a youngster. He began to fallinto the wrong crowd until a chancemeeting with a former Judo coach, AlanAshcroft, helped turn Norman’s lifetowards Mixed Martial Arts.

He said: “I’ve been doing judo since I wassixteen and started boxing around seven-teen. I’ve really started taking things seri-ously since last year. I was a really keenfootballer but it just wasn’t enough for me.I was out one night and met my formerjudo coach Alan Ashcroft who said he wasrunning a judo club in Bushmills. I decid-ed to give it a go and it all started fromthere. It was the best thing that happenedto me as I was mixing with the wrongcrowd and getting into drugs. It was justpaving a way for a self destructive lifewhich I didn’t want.”

Ireland’s lightweight division representsone of the most stacked and talenteddivisions in the country. Norman Parkesbelieves new emerging fighters arealways coming through the ranks justlike he did.

By ThomasMcCullough

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 30

“We’ve a great deal of talent in this country.There’s always someone popping up some-where just like myself for example. Last yearI had my first pro fight and I’ve came storm-ing through the ranks putting together a (12-1) record along the way (not including thetotal mismatch I had with Greg Loughran 4years ago). But for sure, we’ve got great tal-ent and it’s only getting better. Big showslike Cage Contender, Cage Wars are beingtelevised which is great exposure.”

It’s not surprising for “Stormin”Norman, who rates his ground game,takedown defence and offence as hisstrong point, rates George St.Pierre ashis inspiration, he said: “GSP is myfavourite fighter. He’s the complete package.For someone who never wrestled in collegelook at him now. He really inspires me theway he dominates top position and controlsopponents.”

Like all fighters, this ambitious and tal-ented fighter wishes to go to the verytop of his game with the US being theHoly Grail. He said: “I would love to fighton any of the big American promotions suchas Strikeforce, WEC or the UFC. Theses are

my priorities but there are a lot of other toppromotions. It would be an achievement get-ting into them and even bigger staying in it.I just want to push myself and see how far Ican really go.”

“Stormin” Norman Parke is one Irishfighter that talent scouts should keep aneye on..

IRISH PROSPECT NORMAN PARKE


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 31



“No Bull andNo Gimmicks”Welcome To Cage Contender“We put on fights that people want to see, we don’t put on washed up fighters from yesteryear.The MMA community have more knowledge now than to be fooled by this. We put on highoctane, value for money shows with no bull and no gimmicks,” says Cage Contender ManagingDirector John Ferguson.

It’s this attitude and philosophy whichhas propelled Cage Contender into oneof Ireland’s leading MMA promotions.The organisation hit the ground runningsince its creation in 2009. Its first eventwas a Lightweight 6 man knockout styletournament based at the Clarion Hotel,Carrickfergus. From these humblebeginnings, Cage Contender within 8months had signed various TV dealsand is now shown around 24 countriesthroughout the world highlighting thebest of Irish MMA.

Despite having no MMA background,John Ferguson devotes most of hiswaking hours to the continued successof the promotion. He said: “I really haveno MMA background. I’m purely a promot-er, that said, MMA and Cage Contendernow takes up 90% of my waking hours.Cage Contender is now owned by FightOptions International, a company owned bymyself and UK based boxing promoter/foot-ball agent Mick Carney. As MD of the com-pany, I look after the day to day running ofthe company including all match makingand strategic planning for the developmentof the brand.”

Such has been the rapid success ofCage Contender; the organisation hasstaged 6 promotions so far to thedelight of fight fans. From the ClarionHotel beginnings, it quickly spread itswings. The organisation packed out theworld famous Kings Hall arena inBelfast on May the 1st. Known through-out the world for staging world classfights, Cage Contender IV ensured itstayed true to its reputation.

From the Kings Hall in Belfast, Dublinbecame the next venue for the evergrowing popularity of Cage Contenderin Ireland. Cage Contender V saw 3Irish titles on the line at the NationalBasketball Arena on July the 27th. Fight

fans witnessed some of Ireland’s leadingMixed Martial Artists battle it out forvarious titles. Irish favourite andEuropean number 1 Bantamweight,Paul “Metabolic” McVeigh won theCage Contender Title defeating ArtemijSitenkov via triangle armbar.

Fight fans also witnessed Dublin native,Cathal “The Punisher” Pendred, defeatknockout specialist Liam Shannon viadecision to claim the WelterweightCage Contender Title. Lightweight Titleholder, Martin “The Heat” Begley, losthis Lightweight Title to hot Irishprospect, “Magic” Myles Price via rearnaked choke in round 2. Dublin, likeBelfast showed the continuing growthand popularity of Cage Contender as aserious MMA promotion.

Irish eyes began to look towardsEngland for the next edition of theCage Contender promotion. With somuch success in Ireland, Manchesterwas to be the stage for the first exportof the Cage Contender brand in whatbecame known as Cage Contender VIheld on August the 28th and sawIcelandic Welterweight Gunnar Nelsondefeat Danny Mitchell via rear-nakedchoke in round 1 to establish a 7 fightwin streak in the main event bout.

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 32

John Ferguson has been asked manytimes why Cage Contender decided tostage an event outside of Ireland and heoffers a simple response. “Why not”?“Wherever we go we put on local showsworking with local fighters and local gyms.This has been a feature of Cage Contenderfrom the very beginning. The first Manchestershow went really well, just one glance at thefight card of Cage Contender VI will showanyone the commitment we have to puttingon quality shows where ever we go.”

He added, “It was hard work breakinginto a new market, but we achieved ourgoals for the event, it was great to see RickyHatton and 5 or 6 premiership footballersin the crowd too, it again shows that peopleare willing to come and watch the showswe produce.”

Irish MMA is in a very healthy stateright now according to the CageContender chief. Many coaches andpromoters throughout the country aredoing exceptional work and is some-thing that hasn’t gone unnoticed byJohn Ferguson as well as scouting forstars of the future from Ireland.

He said: “Irish MMA has a massive futureahead of it. There are some great clubs andcoaches in Ireland with some cracking fight-ers coming through the ranks. I think it’s ina strong place right now.

There are a few big promotions and somedecent shows all giving opportunities tofighters to progress their career. The clubsand coaches around Ireland have put mas-sive efforts into their work and it is startingto pay off much more than ever before.”

He added, “As for fighters catching my eyethere a few but the one to watch in my viewis Joe “kid chaos” Clarke from the PCCBfight team. This kid has bags of talent and istotally dedicated to his craft.”

WELCOME TO CAGE CONTENDER


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 33

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WELCOME TO CAGE CONTENDER

Its talented prospects such as “KidChaos” who will benefit from the con-tinued growth of Irish MMA and thecoverage it’s starting to receive fromthroughout the world. Such coveragewas perhaps lacking in previous yearsand might be one reason why biggershows such as the UFC, WEC andStrikeforce ignored the “Fighting Irish”.It’s something that John Fergusonbelieves will certainly change.

“I can’t answer on behalf of the internation-al promotions (as to why Irish fighters wereoverlooked) but it could be down to a lack ofcoverage that Irish shows get on the worldstage. Hopefully, with ourselves on TV inover 24 countries and Cage Wars with agreat TV distribution, it will help get fight-ers in the frame quicker than before. I wouldlove to see more Irish lads on the worldscene. I’m sure it’s not too far away,” saysJohn Ferguson.

With the continued growth of MMAthroughout the globe, various promo-tions have been established much to thecriticism of some people who feel we’re

now stacked with too many promotions.Ireland, being such a small country,hasn’t escaped the critics either. JohnFerguson was keen to point out the dif-ference between a “Show” and a“Promotion”.

He said: “It’s important to understand thedifference between a “Show” and a“Promotion”. There are many guys runningshows that label them promotions when it’sclearly not the case. I think the way it maygo is similar to boxing, where there will bevarious local clubs level shows. In Ireland 2of the best are Rumble in Rush andImmortal, which are great at what they doand provide a much needed platform forfighters coming through the ranks. Thenyou will have the promotions who can offerthe next set of opportunities; TV, Mediacoverage etc to these fighters. Fighters andcoaches will then make the choice “Whichshow/promotion can bring my career fur-ther at this point”. It’s up to the coachesand managers to make the correct choicesfor the fighters in their charge.”

Pointing out the impact managers canhave on a fighter, John Ferguson said:“I’ve heard a story recently where a wellknown Irish manager told his fighters thathe will not put them on my fight cardsbecause he has a gripe with me, well that’sjust childish and holding the careers of thosefighters back in my view.”

Cage Contender plans to continue itsrapid growth throughout 2011. “Theplan for season 2 in 2011 is to have 9events, 3 in Belfast; 3 in Dublin; and 3in the UK. “What’s most important isthat we continue to put on quality fightcards stacked with the very best localtalent. This in turn will grow the brandfurther,” says John Ferguson.

For more information visit: www.cagecontender.net/


Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 35

Ever since the Ultimate FightingChampionship began making seriousmoney from the MMA business in2005, largely thanks to being bank-rolled by owners Frank and LorenzoFertitta, dozens of promoters havethrown their hat, and their cash, intothe ring in the hope of getting theirpiece of the pie. What most didn’t fac-tor in, however, was the patience thatthe Fertittas showed with the UFCbrand, taking a $40m hit to their casi-no-driven bank accounts before finallyturning things around four years after

their purchase of the company. Thelikes of Elite XC and AfflictionEntertainment, believing that moneywas all that was required to make themlong-term players in the MMA game,were gone before they really arrived.

How refreshing, then, to know thatwhile the new investment in the CageWars Championship group will be cele-brated with a huge event at Belfast’sOdyssey Arena (the UFC’s first-choicevenue to hold UFC 72 in June 2007) onDecember 10, the company’s philoso-phy on star names, match-making, andopportunities for local fighters willremain the same. Clearly, despite theadded resources at their exposure, it’s acase of evolution, not revolution.

“The philosophy for us has always been verysimple: to build something, and to build itwell,” Patrick Mooney, CEO of CageWars Championship, told Fighters.“Fundamentally, what we try to achieve is agood fight card every time we run a show.I’ve always felt that if we do that correctly,then on that foundation, all that we want toachieve will follow.”

“When people bring big names to their show,they tend to just focus on those names,” headded. “What we try to do is to shine the

light of those name fighters onto the youngerguys who need that push. Putting theyounger guys against the veterans is a greatopportunity for them; they may not win, butit’s a way for these talented people to beseen. It’s that break that everybody needs toget to make a real success of themselves. Sowhat we’ve always tried to do is elevatethese guys to a higher level, to make themmore noticeable, and to allow them to makea living out of the sport that they’ve put somuch into.”

“Validation”, as the upcoming show hasbeen subtitled, will afford the combat-ants the chance to do exactly that, butMooney is well aware that, havingtaken almost a year to negotiate newtelevision deals - which now see thecompany have significant viewing fig-ures in Europe, North America, andAsia - and created a public limited com-pany to house the CWC brand, now isthe time to let the fighters fight, and tolet the fans enjoy the show once again.

“A realistic goal for us would now be to runfour events every year in any single region,”surmised Mooney. “We would’ve liked tohave more events in recent times, but wewanted to build the foundation of our busi-ness. A lot of people that go into MMA pro-motion don’t have a model or a path that

MMA’S GOLDEN BOY! CAGE WARS CHAMPS

MMA’s Golden Boy!Evolution not Revolution

CCaaggee WWaarrssCCEEOO PPaattrriicckkMMoooonneeyy

It was the American businessman Howard Schulz, the man who led Starbucks to become ahousehold name, who said: “I’d encourage everyone to dream big, lay your foundations well,absorb information like a sponge, and not be afraid to defy conventional wisdom.” Oh, if only thevast majority of mixed martial arts promoters had taken heed.

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 36

they are certain that they want to take; forthem, it’s more a case of something soundinglike a good idea, and not thinking about theroad ahead. But we’ve always tried to dothings right, by creating a business structurebehind the shows that we run, and havingthat foundation for the future.”

“That future is being secured by the TV dealsand the DVD distribution that we’ve beenworking on, which mean that we’re beingseen by more and more people across theworld. Television remains the most popularmedium out there, and our goal is to get asmuch good-quality TV exposure as we can.Last year in North America alone we hadover 18 million people tune in to watch ourprogramming over the course of13 to 14 months. In Asia, we’rein 26 countries on 14 differentnetworks, and while a lot ofthose channels don’t release theirratings, if those networks arecoming back to us and asking formore content, which they are, theprogramming is being watched,and what we offer is obviouslyworking for that station. Andnow that we’ve furthered thebusiness, and created a public company outof it, we’re ready for a major rise in thenumber of live shows that we do.”

Speaking of the publicly limited compa-ny, anyone familiar with English foot-ball will be able to speak of howbecoming a PLC has spelled horror forfans of clubs like Manchester Unitedand Liverpool, whose owners have (orhad, in the recent case of Liverpool)driven the club into serious debt.

But anyone fearing a similar scenario forCWC can delight in the fact that whilethere may be new people involved thebrand, Mooney and his original teamhave retained creative control.

“We’ve always been approached by compa-nies that either wanted to work with us, oractually buy the company outright,”Mooney noted. “That wasn’t somethingthat we were prepared to do, but we’d talkto some people in any case, and sure enough,they’d ask for total control over the directionwe took. But always knew that we were thebest people to make the decisions, becausewe’d been doing this for a long time.”

“So what we wanted to do was keep 55% to60% of the shares, and have control of theboard, because we didn’t want someone com-ing in and saying that what we were doingwas now solely about the bottom line. Andwhile running a company is about the bot-tom line, in the growth period you have to beless concerned about that, and more so aboutthe value of what you are creating, becausethat will serve you well in the long run. Wehad to work with people that believed inwhat we were doing.”

“We went through various deals until we gotto a group of people that that would workfor. What we wanted to do was create ourown public company, a parent company forCage Wars, which is where CausewayEntertainment arose from - Cage Wars is

now a wholly-owned subsidiaryof that company. We wanted thecompany to be valued accurately,and not over-inflated in any way,and for the company to continueto be built responsibly, so thatwhen the share price goes up, it’sbecause it’s real, and not the fig-ment of someone’s imagination.We want to show people that ifyou invest in this company, you’llmake money in the immediate six

to 18 months, but if you stay with us, we’lldo much more over the course of the nextthree to five years. We’re thinking of the next10, 20, or 30 years as opposed to the nextfive or six months.”

If the new investment is not going tochange the company’s strategy, then,the question is begged as to exactlywhat benefit it is going to have, espe-cially for the fans. The answers to thatquestion may not be obvious from aviewer’s perspective, but will make theexperience of Validation, and futureshows, even better for those in atten-dance, and watching at home.


‘‘‘‘Lets be in no doubt, Cage

Wars was the first ever cagefighting event to take place

in the UK and Ireland

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:43 Page 37

“When Cage Wars first started, it was reallyjust a hobby. We worked at it andwe put our own money into it; wedidn’t make a lot of money, butthat was never our goal. All wewanted to do was turn over enoughon one show to be able to use it fora second. So what this investmentallows us to do is to plan muchmore in advance, and therefore tobe much more productive when itcomes to marketing because we canwork with advertising agencies, for example,on a longer-term basis.”

“What it also does is allow us to work onCage Wars full-time. We’ve taken the brandto where it is with around 20% to 30% ofour time, so now that we can work full-timeon it, every moment of the day is spentthinking about how to improve the brand,and putting those ideas into action. Even injust the last several weeks, the number ofdoors that we’ve opened around the worldhas been remarkable, with potential TV pro-jects that executives are excited to work withus on. Going forward, there’s going to be alot of stuff that we do that a lot of the otherEuropean brands can’t even come close tothinking of.”

Already signed to compete atValidation are UFC veterans JeremyHorn - who, with 111 fights (86 wins)on his record, is believed to be therecord-holder for the most professionalMMA contests - and Rich Clementi,

who is appearing for CWC for the sec-ond time in as many shows, after

defeating Chris Stringer via submissionin November 2009. Clementi is full ofpraise for Mooney and the entire CageWars Championship group, stating thatthey are among the best promotionshe’s ever competed for.

“I’ve run a lot of casino-level shows here inLouisiana in the past, and to be honest I’vestopped doing those for now, because of theamount of people that are just coming intothe sport to make a fast buck, and don’treally caring about the fighters, or what hap-pens on the shows in the area. But when Ifirst met Patrick and the guys from CageWars, I was really impressed with the old-school mentality that if you do it right, goodthings will come, and I really respect thatabout the brand. Cage Wars put on solidfights that the fans want to see, and that’struly what the sport is about. Y’know, that’swhat happened to boxing; the sport started

to become all about money, andnot about the fights, and that’sone reason that when CageWars call me, I’m all on it.”

Added to the bouts involv-ing Horn and Clementi, thegroup have signed a UKlightweight championshiptournament, to be contestedbetween Nomaan Khalid,

Tommy Maguire, Bobby McVitie, andAli Maclean. It’s a first championshipcontest for CWC, and for good reason,with the added incentive that the fighterthat claims the beautiful, brand newbelt will get to keep it.

“We’ve always stayed away from any titlebelt whatsoever, because it’s ridiculous toclaim that your company has a World titlebelt, when you don’t hold shows worldwide,”explained Mooney. “One thing that Iliked about the UFC in really early dayswas that when you won the tournament,and the title of UFC champion, you hadreally earned it. These days people ask ques-tions about where certain fighters areranked, and with all of the different promo-tions around, there’s just no way to tell howa fighter stacks up against someone in anoth-er organisation. But if a guy walks into atournament and wins two or three fights inone night, you have to give him the respectafforded to a champion, whether he’s aWorld champion or not.”

“What we want to do is set tournaments upin various regions around the world, like theUK, the rest of Europe, the USA, andCanada, and eventually have tournament


‘‘‘‘Cage Wars were the catalystfor the growth in the Cagefighting/MMA scene in the

UK and Ireland today

UUFFCC vveetteerraannRRiicchh CClleemmeennttii

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 38

champions in every region, in every weightclass. So that’s why the Lightweight tourna-ment on December 10 is for the UK champi-onship, because in a few years’ time, whenwe have champions in all of those territories,we’ll be able to bring them together to fightin a tournament for a legitimate, significantWorld championship.”

“With the belt, what we really wanted tohave was something of value. When we’vehad fighters come to our shows in the past,sometimes they’ve told us that they’re achampion, but when we ask where their beltis, they tell us that the belt gets taken fromthem when the leave the cage. There areobvious reasons for that, but when you aregoing to go to the bother of promoting achampion, you have to give them a belt thatthey can take back to their hometown, andkeep in their trophy room. So our belt is24karat, gold-plated, with silver nickel, crys-

tal, and nappa leather, and altogether itweighs over 4 kilos - and the fighter whowins the tournament gets to keep it. Andthere will be a new belt for every titledefence; if he defends the title 10 times, he’llown 10 belts.”

“The bottom line is that we want the fighterto be able to use the title positively, toenhance his career,” concluded Mooney. “Wewant to build those guys, and help to pro-mote them. We want fighters to see that ifthey work with us, we’re going to build theirprofile properly, and we’re going to getbehind them on a brand that is going places.”

Since November 2009 and their lastevent, “Nightmare”, those in charge ofCage Wars Championships have talkedTV deals, DVD sales, becoming a PLC,and many other pieces of behind-the-scenes business. But at the core, their

vision for mixed martial arts comesright back to providing for the fighters,and the fans.

Howard Schulz would most-assuredlyapprove.

Tickets for Cage Wars Championship“Validation” are available fromTicketmaster, or by calling the OdysseyArena Box Office on 028 9073 9074.

If you wish to invest in Cage WarsChampionship or Causeway Entertain-ment, stock is trading on the OTCBulletin Board, with stock symbol CIST.


By Tom Skates

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 39

DEREK CHISORA - A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

An experienced young boxer, around 15 or 16 years of age, trains at this local club. A new mem-ber walks in the door, who the young boxer (and other club members) can’t help but notice.Whilst the new member is of a similar age to the young boxer, their size couldn’t be more differ-ent. The new member exudes confidence as he walks in the door of the gym, his obviously heavy-weight frame not affecting the smoothness of his swagger. Sneering glances are shot at the newmember from all the existing boxers, so much so you can almost hear what they are all think-ing….‘this guy doesn’t have a clue of what he’s walking into here’ and ‘we won’t see him herefor long when the hard work starts’.

Derek Chisora

A Different Perspective on

Blessed with the confidence of hiscocky street attitude, the new memberstruts confidently around the changingrooms, claiming he ‘runs’ the localtown. That he is a ‘face’ not to bemessed with. The experienced youngboxer laughs and tells the new memberthat he’s lived in the local town all his

life and has never even seen or heard ofhim – the changing room full of boxerscan barely hide their sniggers at this,even feeling some sympathy for theseemingly deluded new member thathis ‘street cred’ will carry any weight inthe boxing gym.

But, despite reality check experiencedby the new member and the aliennature of the hard work to get himselfinto fighting shape, the new memberdoes keep coming back to the gym.Whilst the new member is perhaps notgifted with a rare god given natural tal-ent, he works hard to ensure that hemakes the most of the qualities that hehas in the ring; decent hand speed,solid power, a lot of heart. He’sextremely raw in terms of ability buthe’s extraordinarily hungry for suc-cess. Tough sparring sessions see thenew member’s skills improve,smoothening the rough edges. Hesoon earns respect in the gym. Theexperienced young boxer is impressedand despite changing boxing clubs, hekeeps track of the new member’sprogress from a distance.

A couple of short years later and theyoung boxer watches as the new mem-ber impressively reaches the heights ofBritish Amateur Boxing by winning theHeavyweight ABA (Amateur BoxingAssociation) Title, clearly defeating allopponents in front of him. The young

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 40

boxer is astounded. Whilst the newmember managed to earn respect in thegym, thoughts that he could reach suchheights seemed ludicrous.

Yet the new member’s ascent continuesas he turns professional. The new mem-ber remains unbeaten and wins theBritish Heavyweight Title, beating a for-mer Mike Tyson conqueror along theway. This is followed by adding theCommonwealth Title in a victory overanother rising British Heavyweight onthe biggest British boxing show inrecent years. The young boxer contin-ues to be astounded by the new mem-ber’s progress, but can only watch inadmiration, cheering him on from afar.The latest victory catapults the newmember to the upper echelons of box-ing – a shot at the unified WorldHeavyweight Title.

Sound unbelievable? I can understandthat. It sounds like a shortened versionof a Rocky movie, minus the excruciat-ing action sequences. But, the story is100% true and verifiable. This is thetrue story of Finchley, North London’sDerek Chisora. The 14-0 Heavyweightboxer who has been catapulted into aWorld Title shot on 11th December2010 against the Ukrainian Giant,Wladimir Klitschko.

Despite the fight only being made offi-cial in the past 24 hours, critics havealready rounded on Chisora, claiminghe’s not ready for this fight, that a sus-tained beating could end his top levelcareer for good, that he should gainmore experience before stepping intothe lion’s den. The young boxer’s storyof the new members perseveranceshould serve as a warning not to writeChisora off, that whilst success mayappear a long shot, Chisora does havea chance. A small chance, yes, but ifthe young boxer had been toldChisora would get this far when he firstwalked into the gym 10 years ago, hewouldn’t have been able to stop laugh-ing for days.

Chisora is undoubtedly the underdoghere as he is fighting an accomplishedand experienced World Champion, onhis adopted home turf in Germany. Thecrowd will be against him, the difficultyof winning a points decision as a visit-ing boxer in Germany will be againsthim. But, write Chisora off at yourperil. Even if you consider that he hasonly a one percent chance of winningthis fight, you can be certain he will doall he can to maximize that one percentwhen he’s in the ring with Klitschko.

Oh and the experienced young boxerthat traded insults with him all thoseyears ago? That was me.

DEREK CHISORA - A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE Page 3

By Luke Calvert

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44

Occasionally a student will arrive atyour gym gifted with natural talent,enthusiasm and a will to succeed. Thisis indeed a gift for any instructor.

Darren Morris, chief instructor forSalford Muay Thai, has received such agift with his student and fighter, 21 yearold Cassie Robinson.

Cassie ventured into the Salford gymback in April of 2009 on the advice ofher boyfriend at the time, who told herthat Muay Thai was an excellent way to

get in shape. Darren Morris remembersthinking that she must have trainedbefore as her technique seemed inchperfect and yet, in fact, Cassie hadnever had any formal training and hadnever had a fight, even at school.

Under Darren’s tutelage, Cassie trained 3times a week and took to Muay Thai likethe proverbial duck to water. In theAugust of 2009, after only 4 months oftraining, Cassie had her first professionalfight on the ‘Ultimate lad’s night’ whichDarren promoted at the Reebok stadium.

As a footnote; if you have ever been toone of Darren’s promotions, ‘Rumble atthe Reebok’ etc, you will know thatthey are thoroughly professional showswhich billboard some of the best fight-ers in the UK and International fighterssuch as; Damien Trainor, DaitanJackson, Andy Thrasher, James France,Frankie Hudders, Andrei Kotsur andTawatchai Budsadee to name just a few.

So not only was this Cassie’s first fightbut she was also being presented on oneof the best promotions in the country.

Her opponent was Paula O’Rouke fromMaster Alby Bipson’s gym in Liverpool.This was to be a risky first fight as Paulahad already chalked up 3 fights and hadbeen training for over 3 years. So, withjust 4 months training under her belt,Cassie was having her very first fightagainst a more experienced fighter.

It can always be a risk when youbelieve your student has a natural talentand you test them from the off, butDarren’s foresight paid off and Cassiedidn’t disappoint.

Coming out all guns blazing shestopped O’Rouke in the opening sec-onds of the 2nd round with a barrage of powerful punches.

CASSIE ROBINSON - BY KRU SHAUN BOLAND

CassieRobinsonRumbling at The ReebokAs an instructor/coach you guide and mentor your students to reach their full potential. Some stu-dents may take longer than others to reach their full potential and succeed, but nevertheless ifthey show commitment and heart you will always have something to work with.

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 42

Still into her first 15 months of trainingCassie racked up a further 10 fights withonly 2 losses and all this was done with-in 10 months of her first fight.

Cassie even travelled to Canada to fightunder full Muay Thai rules against thevery coveted Jessica Gladstone, theCanadian ranked number 1, Cassie con-troversially lost a hard fought fight onpoints even after putting Gladstonedown in the first round and the thirdcausing both the Canadian sport author-ity and the promoter to be baffled bythe decision. However, Cassie was nowmaking ripples in women’s’ Muay Thai.

Back on UK soil Cassie went up inweight from 57kg to 59kg, to fight thevastly experienced Gemma Coast forthe UKMF Northern area title. Cassiewas not fazed at all by Gemma’s experi-ence and won the title on points.

So, with a current record of 10 fights ofwhich she has notched up an unprece-dented 8 wins and only 2 losses and isthe current holder of the UKMF North-ern Area title, what’s next for Cassie?

Darren Morris is helping to prepareCassie towards becoming a new breedof UK Thai boxer in that she may wellbe one of the first to make a living as a

professional fighter. With the currentlevel of purse still very low for UKfighters, Darren says that with carefulmanagement and lucrative sponsordeals, Cassie is already making ahealthy living and this is a goal towhich he both personally and activelyis trying to achieve for our sport.

Cassie’s next challenge was at ‘Rumbleat the Reebok’ in Bolton on October 9thagainst Cornwall’s highly rated fighter,Lucy Payne. Lucy has a good pedigreeand after being in the sport for 8 yearshad racked up 16 fights, being trainedby one of the World’s best pound forpound female fighters, Julie Kitchen.The fight was under full Thai rules andwas for the coveted UKMF British titlebelt. Unfortunately Cassie lost the fightto Lucy via knockout in round 2 due toknees to the head. For a full report of‘Rumble at the Reebok’ check a futureissue of Fighters magazine.

This was a big step up for Cassie andhelping her prepare her technical skillswas non other than Ross ‘the real deal’Pearson who, along with Mike ‘TheCount’ Bisping, now trains at SalfordMuay Thai.

I refereed Cassie during her last fight atthe Rumble and this girl can punch and

kick. For a girl who has only been inthe sport for such a little amount oftime and with the careful managementand tutelage under Darren Morris,Cassie Robinson may well be a name toremember and a destiny to make some-thing very special of herself.

If anyone is interested in training at theSalford Muay Thai gym then you can contactthem on 0843 444 8462 or on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/salfordmuaythai

CASSIE ROBINSON - BY KRU SHAUN BOLAND

By Kru Shaun Boland

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 43

What is so important about this partnership for both organizations?

R.A SINNOTT: Anytime a prestigious athletic organizationlike the ISKA handpicks a dietary supplement company toendorse, it speaks volumes to the commitment it has in pro-viding health and wellness to its students. We are honouredto be a part of that mix.

C. SCHAFER: One of our chief priorities is to surround ourtraining center owners and their students with access to thebest in health and wellness. Mannatech has exhibited leader-ship in this industry for years, and we are proud to associatewith such a notable brand in the supplement field.

In the world of mixed martial arts, there are several partner-ships with health products. What makes this different?

C. SCHAFER: As event supervisor for mixed martial artsfranchises around the country, including Strikeforce, I knowthe dedication these athletes have to sustaining physical fit-ness with muscle building supplements. What this partner-ship with Mannatech allows us to provide is a naturalresource based upon science to provide our athletes with theproper nutrients necessary for healthier living.

R.A SINNOTT: From MMA to classical martial arts, ISKArepresents athletes who understand the need for healthy liv-ing. With the ISKA seal endorsing our proprietary “RealFood Technology” solutions, these athletes will have betteraccess to the standardized levels of natural- and plant-sourcednutrients that are so vital to the human body.

How do you see this partnership benefiting the martial artscommunity as a whole?

R.A SINNOTT: Since 1986, ISKA has set an unprecedent-ed standard for competitive martial arts. A reputation likethat requires a dietary supplement provider that stresses thesame excellence in its field. Mannatech’s Real FoodTechnology solutions combine cutting-edge science withfood-sourced ingredients to create the most nutritionally ben-eficial products for the human body.

ISKA & MANNATECH JOIN FORCES

ISKA& MannatechJoin Forces To Aid Their AthletesAn Interview with Robert A. Sinnott, Ph.D., MNS, Co-CEO and Chief Science Officer,Mannatech. Cory Schafer, President, International Sport Karate Association.

Robert Sinnott andinset Corey Schafer

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 44

C. SCHAFER: To Dr. Sinnott’s point, Mannatech wasselected by the ISKA because of the quality of personalhealth and wellness we want to provide to our elite athletesin training centers across the county and around the world.We share Mannatech’s outstanding commitment towards itsconsumers and associates, and we are proud to forge along-lasting partnership.

What is the outcome of this partnership?

C. SCHAFER: Several of Mannatech’s products willbecome the only health supplements in the global market-place to receive an ‘ISKA Certified for Elite Athletes’ sealto feature on its packaging. This product will be availableon Mannatech’s website and will eventually be featured intraining centers everywhere.

R.A SINNOTT: This partnership allows Mannatech’sbrand promise and scientifically based products reachmany more consumers who may not know about what weoffer, but hold the same dedication to real products, realpassion and real possibilities. We know this partnership willbenefit the thousands of martial arts competitors andenthusiasts in studios where health, fitness and perfor-mance are a priority, and it excites us that their memberscan have a business opportunity to develop out of this part-nership as well.

Mannatech has several impressive products in its cata-logue. Which ones are particularly ISKA certified?

R.A SINNOTT: Mannatech has always prided itself onthe science behind our products. They are both NSF- certi-fied and based upon the sustaining nutrients for healthy liv-ing. Those products are now recognized, respected andcertified by the ISKA.

They include: ● Advanced Ambrotose(r) capsules and powder ● Ambrotose(r) complex capsules and powder ● Ambrotose(r) AO capsules ● BounceBack(r) capsules ● Optimal Support Packets ● PhytoMatrix(r) caplets ● PLUS(tm) caplets

ISKA & MANNATECH JOIN FORCES

Chip Townsend, Team Mannatech athleteand 14-time ISKA world breaking champion

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 45

RICHARD SMITH’S BAD COMPANY SEMINAR

Richard Smith’s Bad Company

On Saturday 25th September 2010, Bad Company chief instructor Richard Smith gave his latest‘Clinchwork and Elbows’ seminar to a select group of Muay Thai exponents from around thecountry. Anyone with more than a passing interest in Muay Thai will of course be familiar withboth Richard Smith and the Bad Company gym, so it was obvious that those attending the seminar would be expecting to take away some useful knowledge. They were not disappointed.

After letting the attendees warm up,Richard started the seminar by askingeach of the participants to briefly intro-duce themselves to the rest of the groupas an ‘ice-breaker’. This set the scenefor a friendly and quite informal ses-sion, which was none the less intensivein terms of both the quality and quanti-ty of the information being relayed.

With the introductions out of the way itwas time to don the gloves, split intopairs and begin. The first section of theseminar concentrated on footwork, bothin the clinch, and moving into it.Richard revealed the dangers of tryingto close the difference with a big step,which leaves the front leg vulnerable toattack. He also encouraged the partici-pants to avoid going backwards in theclinch, which again, can leave one vul-nerable and off-balance.

Once happy that everyone had graspedthese exercises, Richard started to buildon it. Amongst those participating wasBad Company stalwart RichardCadden, and Richard first demonstratedconcepts and techniques with him,before moving around the group tocheck on their progress and provideadvice and correction where needed.

Next, Richard moved onto using foot-work for body evasion, steppingsmoothly around the opponent toalways remain in the best position. Aseach idea was absorbed and processed,he would add to it and develop it fur-ther so that the attendees were constant-ly building on techniques and ideas thatthey had already assimilated, ratherthan constantly jumping into new anduntried territory for each section.

To the outsider, whether from anotherMartial Art, or indeed, the layman, thetechniques of Muay Thai look very sim-ple and straightforward. Someone seeingthe art practised for the first time couldbe forgiven for thinking that it is purelyabout being the fastest and hardest hit-ter. Indeed, the techniques are verydirect with a great economy of move-ment, and none of them are made up oflong and complex series’ of individualmovements (there simply would be timein a genuine match to pull of those kindsof techniques). Muay Thai is, however,much more complex than it firstappears. Whilst the techniques might notappear as expansive as in some otherarts, there is a subtlety in their applica-tion at the more advanced levels.

This became apparent as Richarddemonstrated putting pressure on anopponent so that you can use his resis-tance and forward momentum to sethim up for a low kick to the leading leg.It is these, more subtle aspects that canbe hardest for practitioners of the art toget used to. However, everyone prac-tised and started getting a feel for itbefore the next section.

Richard then introduced elbow workinto the mix. It’s always the point atwhich people need to be reminded tobe careful, as the elbow is such a poten-tially damaging weapon. Fortunately, allwho were present were so absorbed inthe learning process that there were noover-zealous movements and everyonewas in the ideal receptive state forlearning; relaxed and focussed.

Clinchwork and Elbows Seminar

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:44 Page 46

Gradually, Richard had the groupputting together everything that theyhad learned so far, side-stepping kicksand countering; defending the pushkick and countering with an elbow;countering with the knee, and so forth.It became apparent that with good foot-work as a starting point, your optionsfor attack, defence and counter are con-siderably widened.

At this point in the proceedings,Richard gave everyone a well-earnedbreak. It was an opportunity foreveryone to get a drink and ponderon the information that had so farbeen imparted.

After the break, it was time to moveinto the ring for some application oftechniques against the ropes, againusing the opponent’s own resistance toopen them up to the attack. Onceagain, the subtlety and strategy inherentin the art showed through. When I firstmet Richard Smith in 2008, he told methat one of the attractions of ThaiBoxing was that it’s quite easy to getfairly good at it but very, very difficultto get very good at it.

Seeing how the layers of understand-ing of what initially look like very sim-ple moves can be applied, it’s obviousthat there is always something new towork on.

After adding in some turning and unbal-ancing techniques, Richard then took thegroup back out onto the floor to build upto throwing techniques. Throwing tech-niques are always spectacular (audiencesjust love to see people hit the deck), butthey can be quite difficult to pull of. Toanyone who has practised the throwsused in Judo or Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thaithrowing techniques can at first seem dif-ficult, even counter-intuitive. However,once the technique has been embraced,they are an effective way of dumping anopponent on the floor with a bang.

Finally, Richard gave a short-talk to sumup the ideas that had been practised, andre-iterated the importance of footwork. Itwas obvious that everyone had beengiven plenty to think about and work onin the future. As I have mentioned, it wasan insight into some of the subtleties ofthe art that are often overlooked. Indeed,much of what was practised today wouldbe readily transferable to other arts. Thisled me to wonder whether Richard hadconsidered giving such seminars to practi-tioners of other styles:

“Of course,” he confirmed. “In fact, alot of what we’ve been doing todaywould be of use to other styles. I’d cer-tainly be interested in working withMMA groups, for instance. It’s some-thing that I’m interested in and I thinka lot of this would be useful to them.”

For more information, visit the BadCompany website at: www.badcompa-ny.co.uk Alternatively, you can contactRichard by email at: [email protected] or by telephone on07885 270267.

RICHARD SMITH’S BAD COMPANY SEMINAR

Report by Rick Hinchliffe

Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:45 Page 47

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Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:45

KERRY LOUISE PR - BIGFITE LIVE

Kerry-Louise

BIGfiteLive

Dinnington, Sheffield, South Yorkshire! Is this little Mining town tucked away in the corner of our countywhere you would expect to see one of the countries most elite sporting spectaculars? In fact Dinnington isjust about to have its largest and most prestigious sporting event ever held right in the heart of the town.

On Saturday 4th December 2010“Kerry-Louise” (Kerry-Louise Norburyof Anston), the chief instructor toFalcon Fight Academy of Dinnington(www.falconfightacademy.co.uk) willtake centre stage at the Lyric Theatreon Laughton Road Dinnington to chal-lenge South African kickboxing champi-on Natalie van Niekerk in anIntercontinental title fight underWAKO K1 rules.

Kerry-Louise, who had a serious caraccident a few years ago was told shewould never fight again, but now is a 7times World Pro Kickboxing Championand was also a Gold Medalist in thisyears World Combat Games. She hasopted for the devastating style of K1Rules to contend this title and whenasked why she answered.... “ I haveachieved a lot in my sport, it is certainlynot over yet and it is at this time I feel Ineed another challenge. This time thereare dangerous techniques allowed suchas Low Kicks into the legs, Knees intothe body and face, clinching and thespinning backfist, but unless I testmyself I will never know my truepotential as an all round fighter. Ireceived the Mayors commendation formy contribution and success in Worldlevel sport and I am going to make sureI continue doing this for myself, my stu-dents and my coach”

Cris Janson-Piers who owns the localacademy is also the long term partner ofKerry-Louise and is well known for pro-

ducing many champions as NationalCoach to the British arm of the WorldGoverning Body to Kickboxing. TheDinnington gym has too many title hold-ers and accolades to mention. Cris com-mented....”This is going to be big! Iknow Kerry-Louise has put the work in,but I know the South African girl will notcome ill prepared. I used to fight at theLyric myself many years ago and I knowwhen I hear the National Anthem on thenight, I am going to have shivers runningdown my spine. We only fought at inter-club level here in the 80’s under thelocal greats of that day who have nowsadly passed away, Sensei’s Phil Milnerand John Robinson and the atmospherewas electric then. We have held twoevents at the Lyric recently which wereboth sell outs and this one is certainlyonly going to leave standing room!(Tickets are on sale now and selling veryfast! Ticket hotline 07973 748907).

The sanctioning through the Worldgoverning body and the cost to bringthe South African over and her coachand then accommodate them for 7 daysis phenomenal but one Cris says isworth it as this foreign fighter fromanother continent will add the finalprestige required for such a fight. Theticket sales will barely cover the fullexpenditure of the event but again Crissays he is very confident that Kerry-Louises sponsors and other sponsorswill help alleviate the burden. Kerry-Louises Local and long term personalsponsor has already placed some

money in the pot. (Cris will be lookingfor an event sponsor and individualbout and trophy sponsors.

This event will be covered by the localpress and by all the top Martial ArtsNational and International magazines. Itwill serve to promote not only local busi-nesses but any national companies wanti-ng to be seen at the forefront of the art.

For all fight fans, local people, family,friends and the inquisitive, come alongand watch for yourself the local home-grown talent in Kerry-Louise, who hastrained intensively for this event andwho promises to give 110% regardlessof the outcome. Her intention is to ful-fill her extended dream and makeeveryone proud of her and the area,county and country we all live in!

Kerry-Louise will be being interviewedby local radio, newspapers and hopefullytelevision I the next few months, keepyour ears and eyes open in the lead up towhat can only be one of the biggest fightsof this year on the kickboxing scene!

A massive thank you to AllsportsInternational of Doncaster (Who havesponsored Kerry-Louises sports food sup-plementation for several years now whichin turn has enabled her to maintain highlevels of intensity to win such titles).

Cris, who also manages Kerry-Louisecan also be contacted by email at [email protected]

ByAlexander

Evans

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EFC: THE ULTIMATE BATTLE

The UltimateBattle

Rise of a Champion - A rumble in Romfordends with a submission ace as champion

Two semi-pros collided in the cage first,but even with their amateur status theseguys put on a show that would giveprofessionals a run for their money.Team Conflict’s James Grieves showedexcellent wrestling skills in big doubleleg takedowns, but he had to be wearyof Peter Pressland’s superb guard thatwas constantly hunting for triangles andarmbars. In the end it turned out tooclose to call, Grieves’ aggressive styleand Pressland’s submission huntingweighed even in the judges eyes thatresulted in a well deserved draw.

From MMA we switch to the boxinggame, where Tony Munday and ChrisCooch donned the large gloves. Thetwo met under Queensbury rules and

which obviously suited Cooch well ashe comfortably knocked Munday downwith a right hook in the first minute ofthe first round. Although Munday wasthe faster fighter, Cooch’s aggressiveand powerful punches stormed throughMunday’s defences that sent him stum-bling around the ring on more than oneoccasion. The fight ended with thejudges giving a clear unanimous deci-sion to Essex’s Cooch.

The tension raised as the first round ofthe middleweight tournament beganwith Middlesex’s always dangerousDenniston Sutherland taking on sea-soned pro Steve Dossett in a stand upwar. Although Dossett landed a superbspinning back fist and Sutherland got a

takedown, it was the clean and power-ful strikes which gave Sutherland theadvantage. Dossett’s confidence wanedin the second and Sutherland brutalisedhim with punches in the clinch until thedoctor called a stop to the fight due acut over Dossett’s eye, giving the win toSutherland via TKO.

The second preliminary tournamentbout had two fighters that both had rep-utations for being the most fearless outthere. Sheffield’s Shaun Lomas usedhis big powerful hooks to keep SWSFightclub’s Earl Brown on the backfoot, but Brown had been working onhis wrestling and showed someslammed Lomas to the mat with sometakedowns. Loma’s aggressive ground

There aren’t many fighters who are willing to enter the cage three times in one night, but six mencame to Romford and stepped forward to test their grit by competing in the tournament for EFC’smiddleweight title. Those who made it to the final would have to participate in all stages of contestin one night, with the winner getting the belt and a £5000 prize. It wasn’t just a tournament withsome of the UK’s best middleweights on the September 12th card; several semi-pro fights, a box-ing bout and professional match ups all resulted in a night of fierce battles and dramatic finishes.

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and pound was too much for Brown’simpressive grappling and Lomas etchedout the win from the judges.

Claudio Henrique Da Silva is as wellknown for his submission skills as forhis superb performance at EFC’s lastevent. Although the mysterious fighterClaudio faced, simply known asAurelijus, marched forward with nofear, there was no time wasted in DaSilva taking the fight to his zone with adouble leg takedown. Aurelijus put up agood fight attempted to scramble out ofDa Silva’s mount, but the Brazilian JiuJitsu black belt set up a sweeping arm-bar from guard that got him the tap andthrough to the next round.

Next we came back to the semi-prosand Team Conflicts Dan Cowan strug-gled to find his ground against NathanCook of Ministry of Martial Arts,Rayleigh, Essex from the start.Although Cowan managed to reverseCook’s takedown, it didn’t take long forCook to sweep and then press on to getto the mount. After one painful lookingamericana and armbar attempt, Cookkept excellent control in the mount

until he tied up another americana sub-mission that Cowan could not gut hisway through, tapping out and givingCook the win.

Two Essex boys came to touch gloves,but Gracie Barra’s Greg Burrows put abit too much faith in Fight Club Essex’sLole Watts who came changing after himas soon as the sportsmanship gesture wasover. Burrows made his attentions clearin constantly wanting to get it to theground, pressing Watts against the fence.Showing excellent takedown defence,Watts kept the fight standing and hurtBurrows in several breaks with dirty box-ing and strong right hands. A staggeredfight that Watts won by decision due tohis crisp punching and clinch work.

The semi-finals of the tournament hadbegan with Denniston Sutherland fac-ing Shaun Lomas. Sutherland’s excel-lent grappling won him the first roundwith a huge takedown and solid con-trol on the ground, despite Lomas’good hip movement, that got intomount on a couple of occasions. In thesecond Sutherland kept the fight in hisfavour by getting the takedown again

after a strong right hand that shookLomas. Never giving up, Sheffield’sLomas always looked to recover buthad little counter to Sutherland’s supe-rior technique. It went to the final belland a clear judges’ decision in favourof Sutherland.

Earl Brown had been given the draw toget a second chance in the tournament,but his match up in the semi-finals wasthe submission magician Claudio DaSilva. Once again Da Silva straightaway got a big double leg take downand proceeded to pass to mount. Browntried to escape, but Da Silva was wait-ing for him and wrapped up an armbaras they rolled over. Brown struggled toget his arm free, but Da Silva extendedhis hips and Earl was in checkmate. DaSilva got the submission win and hisname in the final to face Sutherland.

MMA Clinic’s Ben Hair knew he hadto be wary of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brownbelt Spencer Hewitt’s ground skills, buthe must have been taken by surprisewhen Hewitt landed an uppercut thatknocked him onto his back. Hewittswarmed on his dazed opponent, butHajir recovered well to protect himself.Hewitt knew he could end it thoughand held nothing back as he raineddown punches on Hajir, leaving anopportunity for Hewitt to take the back.Once he had the hooks in Hewittworked slowly to threaten the neck,tightening it up until the rear nakedchoke was in and Hajir had to tap.

The main event was set betweenClaudio Da Silva and DennistonSutherland, both eager to becomeEFC’s first middleweight champion andthe bold claim they had defeated threefighters in one night. There was no mis-taking Da Silva’s intentions, butSutherland made his presence knownlanding a strong straight right hand thattemporarily put the Brazilian on shakylegs. Claudio knew he could not messaround in the stand up and dove for thelegs, tripping Sutherland down but notgetting him to the mat. As the twoscrambled Da Silva climbed onto theback of Sutherland as he stood up toescape, leaving Claudio to be carriedaround like a backpack. Sutherlandtried to fight off his impending fate, butDa Silva crept his arm round andclosed up the rear naked choke. After afew seconds Denniston collapsed to thefloor, going to sleep before he hit the


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Fighters1210 16/11/10 15:45 Page 54

ground. As Denniston laid passed outon the floor, the submission masterstood above him celebrating his winand the ownership of belt that said“Middleweight Champion”.

For more information about EFC and their upcoming events, head tohttp://www.efc-mma.co.uk


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EEFFCC pprroommootteerr IIaann GGeerrrraannss cceenntteerr wwiitthhJJaammeess KKnniigghhtt ((ll)) && MMaatttt PPiinnkkeerrttoonn ((rr))

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STRIKEFORCE - FEIJAO SHOCK’S ‘KING MO’

StrikeforceFeijao shocks “King Mo”

In an all-action fight, Mo (7-1) was theaggressor in the first, scoring a bodyslam in the opening minute of theround. But, Feijao (10-2) was unfazedby the take down and got to his feetwithout suffering any significant dam-age. After trading punches in the sec-ond, Feijao came out swinging in thethird. He landed a few strong combina-tions and caught Mo with a powerfulknee. Clearly wounded, Mo tried totake his opponent to the ground to min-imize the damage but, while locked upstanding, Feijao battered Mo with aseries of brutal slashing elbows to Mo’shead, knocking him out at 1:14.

“I hit him hard with the right hand and the

knee,” Feijao said. “I saw he was hurt, butI was just going to continue to hit him. Ifelt his grip loosening and knew that he wasdone. “I have a new coach in boxing andMuay Thai that made the difference. “I justmade my dream. I saw in his last fight hewanted to get inside. My strategy workedperfectly.” A wounded Mo was disap-pointed but not dejected in his perfor-mance.

“I just got to make a few adjustments,” Mosaid. “He fought a hell of a fight, but I’mnot worried. I’ll come back stronger.”

Jacare (13-2-1) wasn’t able to getKennedy to the ground, but his effec-tive and relentless counterpunching was

the difference maker in the fight. Adeep gash opened up over Kennedy’sleft eye early in the third round.Kennedy (12-3) tried taking the fight tothe mat, but it was ineffective againstJacare, who was the superior strikerlanding the harder, crisper punches.Kennedy continued to attack Jacarethroughout the fight, never giving up,but was unable to land anything thathurt his opponent. “I felt through the fightthat he felt my hand,” Jacare said. “I waslanding some big punches and I thought Iwas winning the fight. I was ready to fighteverywhere in the cage, but I was surprisedhow strong he was. He was strong, but Iwas the one connecting and landing thedamaging punches.” Kennedy, who land-ed more punches with a higher percent-age, was a bit surprised in the unani-mous decision loss. “I was really frustrat-ed with the end result,” Kennedy said.“Jacare is an amazing contender and now achampion. I was humbled that I was able togo five rounds with him, but I think it goeswithout saying that I’d like another fiverounds with that guy. It’s going to be differ-ent.“We’re talking about the most decoratedgrappler in the planet. I expected him towant to grapple. He countered with me thewhole time and I was surprised. I shouldhave put more pressure on him. The onlytime anyone got dropped in the fight waswhen I dropped him, but he’s got the belt.”

In a featured lightweight (155 pounds)bout, KJ Noons scored a second roundKO (:19) over fearless brawler and

HOUSTON – Hard-hitting striker Rafael Feijao shocked STRIKEFORCE World LightHeavyweight (205 pounds) Champion “King Mo” Lawal with a devastating third round knockoutin Saturday’s SHOWTIME® televised main event at STRIKEFORCE: Houston at Toyota Center.In a tactical co-feature, world-class submission specialist Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza captured thevacant STRIKEFORCE World Middleweight (185 pounds) Championship with a unanimous deci-sion over American military hero Tim Kennedy.

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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt JorgeGurgel in a short, but spectacularmatch.The two exchanged powerfulpunches in the first, but a powerful andcontroversial blow from Noons a splitsecond after the sound of the closingbell for the first round proved to be thedifference. Noons (10-2) came outswinging in the second, landing anoverhand right followed by a left hookthat sent Gurgel (13-7) flying to the can-vas. He followed it up with punches onthe ground, but the fight was clearlyover as Gurgel could not recover.

“By any means am I a dirty fighter, no,”Noons said. “I was just going in there totry to engage and get the round. I was in theheat of the moment and I couldn’t stop myhands as they were going. It wasn’t cheapand I’m not trying to be dirty – I’m just try-ing to finish the fight. I didn’t’ intentionallydo it, it’s just the rush”.

“I thought it was a great fight. He had areally good game plan. He was movingaround the ring and was trying to get me toengage more. I just knew I had to not overcommit on my punches and my kicks and I’dbe able to keep standing. I’m not surprisedhe didn’t take me down.” Gurgel didn’tmake any excuses or complaints in los-ing. “I apparently got hit a couple of timeswhen the round was up, but it’s not KJ’sfault,” Gurgel said. The referee isresponsible for separating the fighters.I’m not taking anything away from (KJ)He landed a good right hand and a lefthook. “I have no excuses whatsoever. I cameup short in my performance and I’m reallyupset. I thought I had his number. I’venever been rocked before. I’ve had 20 profes-sional fights and I’ve never felt that. KJ is aworld class fighter.”

In the opening fight of the SHOW-TIME telecast, Chad Griggs won anupset, TKO victory over previouslyunbeaten Bobby Lashley at the end ofthe second round. An experienced andtalented wrestler, Lashley immediatelytook the fight to the ground in the firstround. He expended a lot of energy try-ing to hit Griggs (9-1) while on theground, but Griggs was able to counterand opened up a gushing cut overLashley’s left eye.Once again, Lashley(5-1) took the fight to the ground in thesecond, but his punches didn’t doenough damage to the more experi-enced Griggs. The cut worsened withLashley apparently gassed in the closingmoments of the second round and thereferee called the bout immediately fol-lowing the conclusion of the round.


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“This is a dream come true fighting forSTRIKEFORCE. I got offered a big fightright off the bat and I’m super pumped I gotthe win,” Griggs said. “I know he wasbleeding all over me. I think he was tiredand he was hurt already. I think it was agood call to end it.“I felt him starting to fadea little bit at the end of the first round. Icould hear him breathing really hard andcould feel him using a lot of muscle to landpunches. I was comfortable because he was-n’t really catching me and he was using a lotof energy. I don’t think that he’s really beenhit before or been tested. I could see it in hiseyes that the fight was changing. He wasstill hustling, but I think he was losing someheart in there.”

Results: STRIKEFORCE World LightHeavyweight Championship Rafael Feijao def. “King Mo” Lawal –KO (elbows) – Round 3 (1:14)

STRIKEFORCE WorldMiddleweight Championship Jacare Souza def. Tim Kennedy –Unanimous Decision – 49-46, 48-47 twice.

KJ Noons def. Jorge Gurgel – KO(strikes)– Round 2 (:19)Chad Griggs def. Bobby Lashley –TKO – End of Round 2

NON-TELEVISED UNDERCARD Daniel Cormier def. Jason Riley –Submission (strikes) – Round 1 (1:02)

Andre Galvao – def. Jorge “Macaco”Patino – TKO (strikes) – Round 3 (2:45)

Vinicius “Draculino” Magalhaes – def.Rocky Long – Unanimous Decision –29-28, 30-27, 30-27.

Adam Schindler def. Kier Gooch –Submission (Rear Naked Choke)

Reynaldo “The Truth” Trujillo def. JoseSantibanez – TKO (Strikes)

Chad “Robo” Robichaux def.Humberto DeLeon – Split Decision –29-28 (Robichaux), 29-28 (DeLeon), 29-28 (Robichaux)

Artenas Young def. Chad Cook, – Unan-imous decision – 30-27, 298-28, 30-27


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MARTIAL COMBAT 11 - EVOLVE MMA RULES

Martial Combat 11

Evolve MMA rules the roost at Martial Combat 11.Penultimate Martial Combat fight sees first femaletitle fight go to Sun Jiao of ChinaSINGAPORE, 15 October 2010 - The crowd at Resorts World Sentosa were privileged to witnessfantastic, action packed fights at Martial Combat 11, highlighted by Evolve MMA dominatingMartial Combat 11 with three fighters hauling in first-round submission wins.

Zhang Mei Xuan China 4-0-0 vs Reggie Amarante Philippines 3-0-0Winner: Zhang wins via unanimous decision

Amarante had a troubled youth but isnow a reformed character who does allof his fighting inside the cage. He is aboxer who is famous in the Philippinesfor appearing on a reality TV show.His opponent, Zhang, comes from aSanda background but is also a compe-tent wrestler.

Zhang landed a couple of hard low kicksand followed up with a head kick whichdropped Amarante. This only seemed tobring out the brawler in the Filipinofighter and soon overcame his difficultyfinding his range against a taller oppo-nent. As the round went on, Amarantebegan to connect, chasing Zhang aroundthe cage and throwing wild hooks.

In round two, Zhang dropped Amarantewith another head kick but the Filipino

came back banging again looking to usehis boxing. Amarante went for the take-down but Zhang sunk in a deep guillo-tine which the Filipino fighter eventuallymanaged to escape from.

Sensing he is behind on the scorecards,Amarante attempted a takedownstraightaway in the final round. Onceagain, he walked straight into a guillo-tine attempt and again was able toescape. Zhang went for a kimura butended up mounted and gives up hisback trying to escape. Amarante wentfor a rear naked choke but Zhangexploded out of the submission attemptand gets back to his feet.

Zhang looked to finish the fight andlanded some heavy leg kicks, whichtook some of the spring out ofAmarante’s step.

Mitchell Wheeler USA Debut vsArthur Cesar Brazil 12-4-0Winner: Cesar by knee bar after 0:36 ofround one.

Cesar of Evolve MMA is a BJJ blackbelt who is currently enjoying a win-ning streak of five fights. His opponent,

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Wheeler, has an impressive amateurrecord but is facing a serious step up inopposition on his professional debut.

Wheeler is a beast of a man and looksto be the stronger of the two fighters butCesar is much more experienced andappears to be a strong favourite to win.

Cesar gets an early takedown, sinks in aknee bar and finishes the fight afteronly 36 seconds.

Wang Jin Gan China 5-0-0 vsBrian Choi South Korea /Singapore 3-1-0Winner: Choi via kimura after 1:57 ofround one

Choi is a wrestling instructor at EvolveMMA who already holds one MartialCombat win to his name. He is upagainst a Sanda specialist who also hasexperience in Muay Thai and boxing.

After a patient start, Choi shoots for atakedown and presses his opponent upagainst the cage where he is able to sub-mit him with a kimura.

Shannon Ritch USA 45-70-0 vsRay Elbe USA 24-11-0Winner: Ray Elbe after 0:57

This is a rematch which has been sixyears in the making. Both men are BJJblack belts but Ritch won by submissionthe first time they met, handing Elbe aloss he has been desperate to avenge.

With more than 150 incredible fightsbetween them, this was a rare match inAsian MMA history where two fightersbring so much collective experienceinto the cage.

Ritch somersaults to the centre of thecage to receive the referee’s instructionsand both fighters look motivated forthis contest. Elbe stalks his opponentbut Ritch goes for the takedown andhoists him up in the air. Elbe is unde-terred and looks to sink in a midairguillotine. Ritch slams him to the can-vass but Elbe sinks in a triangle choketo leave his opponent unconscious onthe canvass after less than a minute.

Sun Jiao China 3-1-0 vsElla Tang Malaysia DebutWinner: Sun Jiao via ground and pound4:25 of round three

The first female title fight in MartialCombat history saw Sun Jiao of Chinaagainst Malaysia’s Ella Tang. Sunmade her mark at Martial Combat 5where she fought impressively but lostagainst Claire Haigh of Englandand was looking to get back towinning ways. Tang wasmaking her MMA debutand has a background inMuay Thai and Sanshou.


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Both came out banging, and Sun landedsome accurate solid punches to the bodyand head of her opponent. The actionwas briefly interrupted when Tang losther mouth guard, but it was the calmbefore the storm as Sun began to unloadas soon as the fight resumed. Tang wasgetting absolutely battered but showed nosigns of quitting, while the question forSun was how much did the five-minuteonslaught took out of the Chinese.

Sun appeared to be pacing herself atthe start of the second round, and thatwas when Tang started to come backinto the fight. The Malaysian was stilleating punches but at a much lower fre-quency and both fighters looked likethey are beginning to feel the pace.

Sun appeared rejuvenated in the finalround and landed some vicious combi-nations to her opponent’s body andhead. Tang’s response was to go for thetakedown but she ended up in Sun’sguard. The Chinese fighter reversed theposition and ended up briefly in mountbefore Tang escaped as both looked forsimultaneous leg locks.

The referee stopped the action anddeducted a point from Tang for an illegalkick to the head of her grounded oppo-nent, meaning that the Malaysian fighterneeded a knockout to win. Despiteknowing that a decision win is virtually

guaranteed, Sun wanted to finish thefight and got her as she moved into themount and rained down several viciouselbows before giving the referee nooption but to call a halt to the contest.

Liu Guo Quan China 3-1-0 vsLeandro Issa Brazil 8-2-0Winner: Issa via arm triangle after 1:08 ofround one

Issa is a BJJ world champion and waslooking to make it three out of threeMartial Combat wins. His opponent LiuGuo Quan from China is an experi-enced Sanda fighter who has beenworking hard on his ground game.

Issa approached the cage accompaniedby an army of Evolve MMA teammates, and the Brazilian had a lot ofpressure with his club’s winning recordweighing on his shoulder. Liu wasexpected to have a slight advantage inthe stand up department but Issalooked very comfortable on his feet andthrew a few strikes of his own beforeshooting for the takedown.

Brazilian was in his element once thefight went to the floor quickly mountedhis opponent and swiftly submitted himwith an arm triangle.


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Yeun Seob Kwak USA 7-6-0 VS Zorobabel MoreiraBrazil/Singapore 3-1-0Winner: Moreira by rear naked choke after1:42

Both men were looking to bounce backfrom disappointing losses. Moreira wasknocked out by welterweight prospectJoe Ray after just 13 seconds in June’sMartial Combat 3 while Kwak suffereda first round submission loss toMoreira’s team mate Arthur Cesar.

Kwak is highly experienced and hasfought for a Muay Thai world title,whereas Moreira is a black belt inBrazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Kwak was supposedly the superiorstriker but Moreira looked confident onhis feet and landed a couple of kicksbefore taking his opponent down. TheBrazilian softened his opponent up withsome ground and pound before takinghis back and sank a rear naked choke.

The Evolve MMA team rushed to con-gratulate their fighter who would bedelighted to have bounced back fromthe first loss of his fledgling career.

Chris Barnett Spain 5-0-0 vsEric Prindle USA 1-1-0Winner: Eric Prindle by majority decision

Martial Combat keeps getting biggerand the final show of the year featuredthe two biggest fighters ever seen inSingapore. Eric ‘American Soldier’Prindle weighed in at 132 kg while hisopponent, Chris ‘Beast Boy’ Barnett hitthe scales at 136 kg.

Barnett is an up and coming fighterwho is amazingly agile for his size andhas already been tipped for the top.With a background in traditional mar-tial arts such as Judo and Taekwondo hehas a slightly unorthodox skill set.Prindle is a former US soldier and awell decorated boxer during his militarydays. He is now focusing exclusively onhis MMA career and has been trainingextensively with reigning UFC heavy-weight champion Brock Lesnar.

With a combined weight in excess of250 kg, these two fighters rocked thecrows at Resorts World Sentosa. At thestart of the fight, Barnett landed a hardkick and they clinch up against the cageand he looked for the takedown. They

break and Barnett connected with asuperman punch before the action isbriefly halted due to a groin strike.Barnett continued to surprise the crowdconsidering his size and attempted acrowd pleasing spinning back kick.

He looked for another takedown butended up underneath. Barnett was ableto escape and as they rise to their feet heflings Prindle to the floor. Barnettmoveed from side control into themount and used his massive weight topin his opponent to the floor and landedsome ground and pound. The ResortsWorld Sentosa crowd sounded theirappreciation for these giant warriors asthe bell rang to end the opening round.

Round two began with an eye catching,albeit ineffective, spinning kick fromBarnett who then caught Prindle’s kickand worked for the takedown. Theybreak and Barnett bull rushes Prindleagainst the cage, which withstood theimpact , much to the relief of the spec-tators in the front rows.

Prindle landed a big right hand butBarnett shook it off. Both men began tobrawl throwing wild haymakers to the

MARTIAL COMBAT 12 - CONCLUDES ON A HIGH

Martial Combat 12

Inaugural season of Resorts World Sentosa Martial Combatconcludes on a high Martial Combat 12 provides a stunningfinale for Asia’s biggest MMA event

SINGAPORE, 16 October 2010 - Martial Combat’s inaugural year ended with a stunningfinale in front of a sold out crowd at Resorts World Sentosa, highlighted by three mixedmartial arts super stars who have emerged over the course of the 12 shows.

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delight of the crowd. Barnett tried aspinning back fist but receives a hardkick for his troubles. A groin strike halt-ed the action again with both men grate-ful for a break. The fight resumed with afew seconds left in the round and Prindlelanded a head kick right on the buzzerbut once again Barnett shakes it off.

Prindle appeared to have more left inthe tank in round three as Barnettattempted to pick him up but wasunable to complete the takedown.Barnett is exhausted and Prindle beginsto systematically pick him apart withkicks and body shots. Barnett caught akick and took Prindle down, movinginstantly into mount. Prindle tied himup well and was able to land some

effective strikes from the bottom.Barnett preserves enough energy for anend-of-round onslaught, presumably forthe benefit of the judges.

Chee Jian Kai Malaysia 1-0-0 vs Ole Laursen Denmark/Philippines 4-2-0Winner: Laursen via ground and poundafter 2:18

Malaysia has never been renowned forits MMA fighters but there are growingsigns that this might gradually change.Chee is the latest to emerge from theburgeoning MMA scene in Malaysia buthe was facing a real baptism of fireagainst the crowd favourite Ole Laursen.

Laursen is one of the top fighters in theregion and was looking to put on showfor the Singapore fans after a slightlylackluster performance in his last fight.Born in the Philippines but raised inDenmark, he is a world class MuayThai fighter with a rapidly evolvingground game.

Chee is a veteran of over 30 Muay Thaifights but was a major underdog againstLaursen who has won his last fourMMA fights and has not been beatensince 2006. Laursen stalked his oppo-nent but gets rocked by a flush lefthook and Chee swarmed all over himlooking for an early finish. Laursenregained his composure and worked fora submission.


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He moved into mount and trappingChee’s arm, began to pepper him withpunches. The Malaysian clearly did notintelligently defend himself and the ref-eree had no option but to step in andstop the fight.

Eilleen Forrest Australia 0-2-0vs Claire Haigh England 5-0-0Winner: Haigh via rear naked choke after2:06 of round three

Featuring two top-ranked Muay Thaifighters from opposite ends of the globe- Claire Haigh from the UK has reallymade a name for herself by fighting andtraining in Thailand, while Forrest ofAustralia is fast establishing a reputationas one of the top Muay Thai fightersthere. Forrest also has professional box-ing experience, but Haigh has beenworking hard on becoming much morethan just a Muay Thai fighter andshowed off her new found versatility bybeating one of the most recognizablefemale fighters in the world, Angie Parr,on her MMA debut.

Haigh previously put on a great show atMartial Combat 5 to defeat Chinese

fighter Sun Jiao with her clinch workand superior ground game making thedifference. While both fighters will feelequally comfortable on their feet, Haighwas confident of imposing her superiorground game on Forrest if she couldtake the fight to the floor.

Both fought for position in classic MuayThai style, and Haigh landed a coupleof trademark leg kicks before the twofighters went for the clinch. Haighseemed to have the better of theexchanges and landed a couple of hardknees to Forrest’s mid section.Forrest shot for the takedown but it waseasily stuffed by Haigh. The Australianfighter used her reach to good effect,landing a series of jabs, but Haigh con-tinued to pepper the inside and outsideof her left leg with kicks throughout theround.

The second round followed a similarpattern to the first with Forrest’s leadleg taking some sustained punishment.They clinch against the cage again butonce again no fighter was able to gain aclear advantage. Haigh is the busier ofthe two fighters but Forrest counteredwith punches to good effect. Haigh nar-rowly missed a high kick at the end ofround two.

Forrest went for a takedown early in thefinal round but Haigh ended up in adominant position and moved into sidecontrol. Forrest tied Haigh up well butate a few elbows in the process. Haighwon her Martial Combat fight viaground and pound but she showed herversatility by sinking in a rear nakedchoke to win the fight.

Vuyisile Colossa S.Africa 2-0-0vs Eduard Folayang Philippines8-1-0Winner: Folayang via unanimous decision

This was probably the most eagerlyanticipated fight in Martial Combat his-tory. Colossa looked hugely impressiveagainst Alex Niu at Martial Combat 7and is a Muay Thai world championwho holds a win over Contender Asiawinner Yodsanklai Fairtex.

The South African who is now based inHong Kong has had no problem mak-ing the transition to MMA, showedsome crisp, accurate striking skillsagainst Niu. Colossa even held a sub-mission victory to his win and is work-ing hard to become a truly well-round-ed mixed martial artist.

Folayang is close to being the finishedproduct and has three wins to his namealready this year. He has a backgroundin Sanda but was forced to rely on hiswrestling to get a decision win in hislast fight against Bao She Ri Gu Lengafter being picked apart for the openingtwo rounds.

Folayang is rumoured to be on theverge of being offered a contract by theUFC but Colossa feels he has at least asmuch potential as the Filipino andwants to prove it with a win over him atMartial Combat 12.

Folayang landed a couple of inside legkicks before hoisting Colossa up andslamming him to the canvas. This wasnot where the South African wanted tobe but he escaped and exploded to hisfeet. Colossa patiently continued to stalkFolayang without ever really pulling thetrigger. Folayang was able to repeatedlytake Colossa down but was unable tocapitalize with strikes or a submission.

Colossa looked very composed but withFolayang seemingly taking him down atwill, needed to pick up the pace inorder to impress the judges. He finallymanaged to land a sharp left hook onthe break but Folayang is comfortablyoutworked him as the bell sounded toend the opening round.

Colossa started the second round withmore aggression but Folayang wastedlittle time in taking him down. Colossalooked for a guillotine but the Filipinofighter wriggled free. Colossa landed a

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knee and Folayang countered with acombination of punches which appearto wobble the South African.

Colossa began to impose his stand upskills backing Folayang up. The Filipinoappeared reluctant to engage but man-aged to take Colossa down yet again.This time Colossa was able to reversethe position and took Folayang’s backbut the Filipino escaped and reversedthe position.

Normal service is resumed at the start ofround three with Colossa stalkingFolayang and the Filipino backpedallingfrantically. Colossa took Folayang downand looked for another rear naked chokebut just when he seemed to have it sunkin, Folayang somehow escapes andreversed the position. Colossa showed areal willingness to attempt submissionsand Folayang was forced to escape froma standing kimura attempt but Folayang’stakedowns are still the story of this fight.

Colossa landed a push kick which sendsFolayang flying across the ring and pro-vokes a furious exchange at the end ofthe round which Folayang ended up onthe ground with Colossa on top of him

raining down blows, one of whichopened a sizeable cut above his left eye.Again Colossa looks for a rear nakedchoke and again Folayang appears to bein trouble but wriggles free.

With the clock ticking away Colossawent absolutely ballistic chasingFolayang around and throwing a flurryof strikes which saw the Filipino literal-ly running for his life. The bell rangwith both fighters engaged in a furiousexchange and the audience rose tosound their appreciation.

Mitch Chilson USA/Singapore 5-1-0vs Xue Guo Bing China 8-1-0Winner: Mitch Chilson via rear naked chokeafter 1:26 of round one

Local hero Mitch Chilson captured theimagination of the Resorts WorldSentosa crowd, as well as a Superfightbelt, at Martial Combat 2. Chilson, wholives and works in Singapore, emergedvictorious from a bloody battle withZhang Jing Xiong courtesy of a dramat-ic third round knock out.

He was originally scheduled to fightJong Man Kim but another opponent

had to be found after the Korean with-drew with injury. Xue Guo Bing, an Artof War veteran who is primarily aSanda fighter, has been working hardon his ground game.

It was fitting that the 2010 MartialCombat series should finish with a fightfeaturing Singapore’s most famous fight-er. Chilson was looking to make it anight to remember by adding to theincreasingly impressive collection ofbelts at Evolve MMA.

After a tentative start Chilson landed atakedown but Xue was able to springback to his feet. The Singapore basedfighter took him down again andescaped a guillotine to move intomount. Chilson began to tee off butXue was extremely composed andescapes again, only to be a victim ofanother takedown and mounted, as thebell sounded to end the round.

The game plan for Chilson was to takethe fight to the floor and he did so earlyin round two. Xue gives up his back in anattempt to escape and Chilson made himpay by sinking in his hooks and securinga rear naked choke for the victory.


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HISTORY IN THE MAKING 4 @ KELHAM HALL

Prior to this epic dust up Regis Sugden(15) was in action. Regis was up against alast minute change in opponent due to ahand injury of his scheduled opponent.Regis and NMA camp never to shyaway from a challenge or fight. Registook on the heavier opponent fromGladiators gym in Long Eaton RobinLowe. Regis weighed in at 59kg andRobin 62kg. When the boys came to themiddle of the ring Regis looked thesmaller of the 2 but was in immaculateshape. As the first bell sounded every-body waited in anticipation to see howRegis would take to the different style.Wearing just shin and insteps within afew seconds Regis connected with astunning round house kick to the headfollowed by strong knees. Robin tried torespond but Regis calmly and coollymade him miss and made him pay.

Robin tried to clinch Regis but Regispulled him in and worked even turninghim as they both landed on the canvas.Regis inside work looked natural and hispower and speed looked immense. Theend of the first round ended in Regisputting his man down for a count of 8with tremendous body kick. The secondround Regis was in devastating form andcarrying on with clinical knees, kicks tohead and body. Regis landed a perfectlytimed spinning kick which sent his oppo-nent reeling. This time Regis stepped inand knocked his opponent to the floor.The Ref started his count but on 8although his opponent was up wasdeemed in no position to continue. Asthe fight was stopped the celebrationsstarted. Regis winning his second K-1Rules bout with an immaculate perfor-mance and explosive stoppage.

NMA had a good night with wins fordebutant Stella Oxley stopping LauraBurnett from Kuei Ling from SouthShields in the second round. LewisFallon defeated Dimitri Kalatis fromScorpio gym in Middlesboro in a close3 rounder under full contact rules. Thiswin for NMA was followed by a defeatfor Mickey Blackburn against the upand coming Ryan Edmunson fromHighlander Kickboxing in Bristol. Thiswas a last minute change due to weightdifferences on the scales. Ryan originalopponent Mushy Younis from USKAdefeated the game and durable cagefighter from MDMA gym in Hull.

Shortly after these contests NewarkMartial Arts Irish Club (NMA Ireland)ran by Ross Barrett brought Dillon OConnor over to fight Ben Fahey from

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4History In The Making@ Kelham Hall Saturday 16th October 2010So much pressure was on the shoulders of Chad Sugden (16) History in the Making 4 / Who’s theDaddy? A packed Kelham Hall rocked as their local young sporting hero was due to face histoughest challenge to date against Brooklyn bomber David Lenson from New York. A greatAmateur Fight on the undercard to the most anticipated Professional contest of the year betweenJamie Bates and Andrew Tate.

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Chikara in Lincoln. It was a close fightbut Dillon the lesser experienced of thetwo fighters came away with a majoritypoints win. This was a real unificationbout as Dillon the current IKF andJFCC 5 Nations Champion took on anddefeated WAKO Pro British ChampionBen Fahey in a close contest.

Then it was time for Newark first titlefight and Kelham Hall is just the BESTvenue for any fight. Never mind a titlefight. Steve Salter from NMA againstTristan Tate from Storm Gym in Luton.This was the first Tate brother to fighton the show and it was a very close

affair with the fight swinging both waysduring the 5 rounds for the vacantBritish IKF Title. After 5 very hardfought rounds with both fighters landingbig shots it was anyone guess who wasgoing to get the judge’s decision. It wasdeclared a draw so watch out Newarkthese 2 big guys could be doing it again.

The main event on the amateur cardwas the UNIFICATION TITLEFIGHT between 2 cadets that hadproved them to be the best in theWorld after winning no fewer than 5World Titles. The stage was set forChad “2 Slick” Sugden, could he end

his Junior career with a win that wouldcap a career which is unrivalled and hasculminated in him winning 10 Champ-ionship Belts including 3 World Titles.

The stakes were high as not only wasthe IKF World Welter Weight Title onthe line. But the Junior Full ContactCouncil had agreed that the winnerwould receive their WorldChampionship Belt as this Title fightwas regarded as The Undisputed BestJunior / Cadet in the World. Chad still16 could technically defend this title foranother 18 months. But realistically theopponents U18 have dried up and


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David Lenson from Brooklyn New York2 x World Classic Champion was theonly one left out there to beat. Chadcame into the fight as IKF Light WeightWorld Champion, Golden Belt WorldChampion and EFK World Championunder Full Contact Rules.

The crowd went wild as all the Kids thatChad helps teach at The Martial ArtsCentre on Castlegate lead him out witheach of his belts. David looked unfazedand confident as he and Chad came faceto face in the centre of the ring. Thenoise and atmosphere was electric as thefight started. Within 30 seconds of thefirst round if anyone thought this wasgoing to be an easy outing for Chadthere were wrong. David had come tofight and had incredible hand speed and

timing. Chad attacked and David coun-tered. David attacked and Chad coun-tered. It was an incredible exchange ofskill, strength and speed beyond theiryears. This first round was without doubtprobably the hardest round of Chadskickboxing career. The NMA camp re-evaluated the situation and decided tochange tactics slightly to ensure thatChad remained in control. Winning thefirst 3 rounds in a 5 round fight isabsolutely crucial. Chad started to landsome of his trade mark kicks in secondand third round which David had evad-ed in the first. Chad also put his foot onthe gas earlier and went through thegears earlier than we had planned tocope with the Americans fast start.These tactics worked well as Chad gotstronger and David started to tire whichenabled Chad to really stamp his author-ity on this massive fight. David contin-ued to try and close the gap. Chad mix-ing it up really well showed an incredi-ble amount of flexibility and versatilitywith his punching and kicking. The vari-ety of techniques being used by Chadseem to cause David more problems asthe rounds went on. Although everyround was competitive Chad was con-vincing in his approach to winning eachround. Chad continued to showresilience and as always a slick fightingstyle. Choosing to trade and mix it up attimes then showing David why he iscalled “2 Slick” with head movementand awesome footwork. The last roundsaw Chad really step on the gas andpressure his fighter as someone’s unbeat-

en record had to go. Chad had his bestround of the fight and although theAmerican raised his arms there was onlygoing to be one winner. After a tensewait Chad’s hand was raised as he wasdeclared The Undisputed WorldChampion to delight of the NewarkCrowd. Everyone was on their feet asthe MC announced by UNANIMOUSdecision and NEW UNDISPUTEDCHAMPION OF THE WORLD fromNewark Chad Sugden.

Shortly after Grand Master Goff Bateswho is the most senior and highest rank-ing official in the UK presented Chadwith the Junior Full Contact Council Beltin recognition for what he had achievedin unifying all the World Titles. It wasprobably the most remarkable sportingmoment ever achieved by such a youngman. I have been saying for a while nowhe just improves and improves. Tonightthere was incredible pressure on hisshoulders at 16 years of age. Chad feltthat everything he had ever achievedwas on the line. I knew he was nervousand was concerned that nervous energycould affect his performance. To be fairseniors have folded under less pressurealong with seasoned professionals. Chadjust seems to take it in his stride...Chad“Undisputed Best Cadet in the World”just seems to take it all in his stride.

Next up from Newark was Grant DullerNMA White Collar Boxing HeavyweightKO King was in dominant form with apoints win. Although he had Phil Millerfrom MDMA Hull down several timeduring the bout, both boxers gave thereall and deserved to see the final bell. Butthere could only be one winner GrantDuller with a clear unanimous points winto the Newark fighter.

Newark’s Martial Arts Professionalfighter Chris Deakin showed massiveimprovement in his bout againstNathan Kirk from Gladiators GymLong Eaton. Chris looked to get hitwith a massive shot in the round 2which looked to shake up the Newark’sKickboxer. But it actually spurred himon to an absolutely clinical performancewhich ended in Chris forcing a stop-page in round 6. Nathan receiving his 3rd count in the round was stopped withthe 3 knock down rule being in effect.Chris looked to back to his very bestwith some new techniques and spring inhis step which will no doubt leave himtop of the -70kg division.

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The Main event had been talked aboutfor over a year as the 2 most excitingCruiserweights in the country talkedabout what they were going to do toeach other. Every pocket of the kick-boxing community had turned out towatch this one and they weren’t to bedisappointed. The fighters entered thering and Andrew went straight up toJamie and stood head to head eye ballto eye ball. The fight everyone hadwaited for was about to start. RefereeClive Tennant gave them their finalinstructions. The first 2 rounds werevery cagey and neither fighter wantingto over commit. Then Jamie started tofrustrate Andrew with his range andtelescopic legs. Jamie’s movement andspeed of combination frustratedAndrew for several rounds. Andrewtried to pin Jamie down but failed andlooked like he was going to have to set-tle for a close points loss until the lastround. Tate landed a perfect head kickwith the shin and knocked Bates cleanof his feet and out. Referee waived it allof as it was clear Jamie was not going tomake the count. It was an explosive fin-ish to a great fight that looked like itwas going to be a clinical and technicalpoints win for the previously unbeatenJamie Bates.

Andrew left it late but to be fair withoutdoubt said he would stop Jamie. I don’tthink going into the last round anyoneanticipated just what was going to hap-pen. Now I guess Andrew will be look-ing to avenge an early loss in his procareer to Scott Gibson. Other fightersbeing mentioned are Shaun Ford andAshley Collins. And after such a greatfight up to the Knock Out Jamie Batesis definitely still in the mix. Jamie issuch a young talent and will come backstronger from this loss I am sure.

The show event and venue has alreadybeen inundated with accolades about thestandard of Kick Boxing on display.Dean Sugden in association with NewarkMartial Arts will be doing it againMarch 19th 2011. Kelham Hall was offi-cially declared the best Kickboxingvenue in the UK and October 16th wasofficially the best line up to date.

Anyone who is interested in Fighting onthese great shows please contact dean viaemail [email protected]


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ROUND 2 - WAKO PRO SHOW (ESSEX)

Round 2WAKO Pro show at EssexStory and pictures by Cris Janson-Piers

Tony Willis has already earned himselfthe title of a “WAKO Pro Gold StarPromoter” in that his shows have con-tinually equalled or exceeded the exact-ing standards of the pro arm of theWorld Governing body for kickboxingan award only a few promoters hold inthe UK at the moment.

This time Tony was also keen to bringMMA into the mix under WAKO’snew amateur system. This was to pro-vide the opening of the show of whatpromised to be action packed and wasto include the exciting format ofWAKO K1 Rules along with FullContact. To add to the mix Tony hadsecured 2 Amateur British title fights,

one being a long awaited rematchbetween John Lee and Audifax Kingaand another for hometown girl HelenRobinson-Carey. To finish the night wasthe return of Ryan “The Hammer”Hamer who has remained mainly inac-tive this year due to the lack of oppo-nents and a couple who have veered offin other directions for some reason?

With the stage set, ring girls, MC and theWAKO Pro full medical team in place thestage was set and the show was openedwith 2 demo bouts introducing the newsystem in WAKO amateur MMA.

1st up was Jordan Waring from FalconFight Academy Dinnington and local

boy Neal Heather from 5 ElementsWickford, both showing a great displayof stand up and ground work for thepleasure of the audience. The 2nd boutwas Sean Helders from Falcon FightAcademy, Dinnington and Local fighterElliot Tubbs, a shorter fight finishing inthe first round with a triangle choke byHelders. Although demos, it had beenagreed a tap out would stop the boutbut with no winner announced as it wasonly a demonstration. This served togive essential experience to fighters,coaches and officials alike in the run upto many more proposed fights for thefuture. Truly a great display of WAKOMMA from all fighters.

Following on from the last show, “The Beginning”, another great show hosted by Tony and KellieWillis of 5 Elements Martial Arts in Essex and their staff from Wickford took place on Octoberthe 2nd at the Selex Club in Basildon this time aptly named “Round 2”.

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Emma Porter (NMA) v Ros Wilson (Bristol Lau Gar) A good start from Ros using good solid side kicks to the body and head. Emmathrew good attacks but Ros had goodmovement which made Emma misswith her own attacks a lot of the time.The second round had much of thesame with Emma trying new things butRos read them well. In the 3rd Emmadealt with the side kicks better but wasstill missing out on her own scoringshots. This was a great one for the ladies Winner unanimous Ros Wilson.

Wesley Scott (5 Elements) v DeanDrewery (Combat & Exercise) Both fighters started off a guns blazing,Dean got an early warning for throwingand then the fight appeared to settledown, both fighters throwing goodstrong leg kicks with maximum effect.Wes worked well in the clinch scoringgood knees to head and body. Excellentsharp kicking off Wesley. In the secondround good solid punches and kneesfrom Scott but a shoulder injury takenby Dean forced the fight to stop early inthe second round.Winner by way of injury stops contest,Wesley Scott

Ibrahim Heidari (kicks gym) vGareth Ford (Leicester PKA)After a rocky start to the day whereIbrahim had to return to the weigh sta-tion twice both fighters fought carefullyand were very cautious in the openinground, good kicks from Ibrahim includ-

ing jump kicks but Gareth appearedmore accurate with his boxing skills. Inthe 2nd Ibrahim continued with hisjumping kicks which certainly madeGareth more cautious. The 3rd roundsaw Ibrahim catch Gareth with a goodright hand which dropped him to thecanvas. The referee counted Gareth butamazingly he recovered and the fightcontinued. Ibrahim saw red and wentfor Gareth and the pressure was toomuch, all Ford could do was try todefend himself, but Phil Dews with hisexperience had seen enough and hewaved off the fight.Winner by RSC Ibrahim Heidari

Mark Allan (Bulldog Gym) vAlex Grigorjev (Musashi) With Alex Grigorjev coming out of oneof the newer gyms set up by Latvianinstructor Alexis Bolsunovs in North-ampton and taking the fight at just oneweeks notice people were not too surehow this fight was going to pan out?

Mark Allan started the fight with a verypowerful round kick to Alex’s thighwhich certainly got audiences attentionand the fight going. Alex was on histoes and moved around the outside ofthe ring and was using his better boxingwhilst countering with kicks well. Bothfighters keeping out of the clinch.Round two, Mark moved into theclinch and worked his knees well andthe low kicks. Alex working his move-ment and boxing well but in the 3rdround he started to tire and did well to

keep fighting. Maybe if he had beengive a little more notice he may havebeen a bit more prepared and it couldhave possibly have made a difference tothe outcome of this fight?Winner by unanimous decision Mark Allan

Wayne Russell (5 Elements) vAshleigh Bray (Combat & Exercise)A very energetic fight from start to fin-ish. Both fighters throwing strongpunches and kicks, but a little scrappy attimes. A hard one for the judges toscore. Both guys gave their all butmaybe the way it was fought didn’t actu-ally bring the best out in both fighters?Winner by unanimous decision Wayne Russell

Audifax Kinga (Spring Health) v John Lee (Grimsby MAA)The rematch everybody had been wait-ing for.....the hard and powerful JohnLee against the sharp and flamboyantAudifax Kinga.


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Both fighters for the first 3 roundsshowed excellent power, skill, move-ment, aggression and accurate boxingand kicking skills. John, more relaxedthis time round saving energy and pick-ing good shots over his usual steamtrain approach.

In the 4th round Audi hit john with oneof the best spinning hook kicks I hadever seen which no one including Johnsaw coming as his full foot landed onJohn’s head, he wasn’t fazed buy it,telling Audi “Good shot mate!” and thefight continued but it was clear to seeAudi had taken the fight up a level.

John took Spinning back kick after backkick body shot in the corner followedby a variation of crisp and accuratebody shot punches which physicallyhurt him. It was only a matter of timeuntil the referee stepped in and countedJohn who needed the recovery of 8 sec-onds. John fought from the heart, whichhe was wearing proudly on his sleevebut at 1 minute 54seconds of the 5thand final round and with just 6 secondsto go the referee stepped in as John hadtaken too much punishment andstopped the fight. John had fought like awarrior and accepted defeat in a veryprofessional manner. He even placedthe title belt around Audis waist, but I

will say one thing, Audi was a worthywinner but what a shame that John wasstopped so near the final bell, his effortsdidn’t warrant a stoppage as his effortswere immeasurable!!

A very worthy WAKO title fight and awell deserved winner. Winner By TKO and still WAKO Britishchampion Audifax Kinga

Helen Robinson- Carey (5 Elements)v Emma Leam (Grimsby MAA)The first punch from Emma causedHelen’s nose to bleed, great shots fromboth fighters with Helen being the moreaggressive and accurate fighter.

Round 2 Helen’s nose still bleeding butshe wasn’t flustered by it as she threwstraight lefts with good power most ofwhich were unanswered by Emma.When Emma got the confidence to useher own skill it was very effective andshe forced Helen to Clinch to stay outof trouble.

Helens nose still bleeding in the 3rdand 4th round with blood coveringboth fighters, Helen’s kicks hurting theside body of Emma with visual redness.Emma always pushing forward withsome great techniques. There was anexcellent 10 second exchange of boxingat the end of the 4th.

Both fighters gave 100% from start tofinish of the last round, both scoringwith a lot of powerful boxing and neverstopped until the final bell went. A fan-tastic and very close title fight.Winner and new WAKO British championHelen Robinson-Carey

James Cornick (Bulldog Gym) VHolder Ryan “The Hammer”Hamer (Falcon Fight Academy)This fight started off with a typical“pros” start, both fighters cautious andtrying to search out the faults and weak-nesses of their opponent. Both fightersalso showing early on the fantasticpower from both hands and feet.Towards the end of the first round bothHamer and Cornick stepped it up,James pushing forward and Ryan mov-ing and striking on the counter withvery powerful boxing.

The mid rounds saw James continuingto work, but Ryan just kept pushing for-ward using his ring craft well whichforced James to miss with his attacks on

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several occasions. James looked strongthroughout but couldn’t land that bigshot on an ever moving Ryan. Ryanthrew some of his big “Bombs” to thebody of James and he absorbed themwell even as the sound of the punchesechoed through the building.

The final round came and Ryan haddone enough to take the win and Jamesnow needed the KO. Knowing this hiscorner ( John Orchard) had told him totuck up and go for it and he reallypushed for it but Ryan played careful,just as coached for the last and he hitand moved to stay out of trouble. Avery technical fight with James Cornickcoming away from the fight he took at aheavier weight with so much valuableexperience. This man is certainly one towatch and one you may see as a cham-pion very soon himself!Winner and still WAKO Pro British cham-pion Ryan Hamer.

The night had been yet again anothersuccess with great fight matching and ithas already left Basildon in Essex yearn-ing for more shows of the same calibre.

The event was overseen by a team of“A” class officials, all actually ofInternational level, including the regu-lar and very popular figure of Mr PhilDews as Chief Referee.

Only one fight was ruled under themajority decision as with most WAKOshows where the officials are known forbeing unbiased and very consistent.This being due to the constant andongoing training of all WAKO’s officialsat the national headquarters.

No further ado, Tony Willis hasalready called and booked the nextWAKO Pro show which will includeMMA, K1 and Full Contact forSaturday 7th May 2011.

If you as a promoter are interested in pro-moting any WAKO titles or fight nightsplease contact Cris Janson-Piers on 07973748907 or contact him [email protected]


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WORLD TITLE SELL-OUT

World Title Sell-out at Coventry. 30/10/2010

Michael Patterson[ Stranraerkickboxing.] vs EthanPiggott.[coventry freestyle.]Junior Light Contact Bout.This was an excellent performancefrom these 2 young fighters. Showing ofgood technique and skills.very closebout but the results just went toPatterson. 2 fighters who can only excelin the sport if they work hard.and keepup the good work.

Jake Huebner[samurai kickbox-ing] vs Sean Morgan.[Coventryfreestyle.]Junior Light Contact Bout.Again both fighters showing excellentskills, huebner just showing a bitmore.both lads showing great promisefor the future,

Result going to Huebner on a majoritydecision.

Steve Crosby,[stranraer kick-boxing] vs Gurdeep Sangera.Birdies allstyles.Both fighters came out slugging inround 1 throwing everything but thekitchen sink in there.. sangera wasthrowing good head kicks in theexchange. Round 3 seen both fightersstanding toe-to -toe and just threw hellfor leather. Both fighters landed headshots.but the unaminous decision wentto the blue corner. Gundeep sangera.

Luke Fowler.[Jado f/c/Northampton.] vs Mark trey[Coventry freestyle.]An exciting bout of full contact. Fowlerdominating the first round with verygood techniques with both hands andfeet. Round 2 not many kicks thrown inthis round but trey came back with goodsolid punches.rnd 3. this last and finalround saw lack of kicks again from theblue corner. Good hand skills but as thebout was kickboxing the decision wentto Fowler on a unaminous decision.

Adam Bailey.B.D.M.A Lincoln. VsGavin Buckland,[Cov freestyle.]From the start of the fight seen Bucklandthrowing good solid shots. Lots of hold-ing in this round., baileys way of tryingto survive the round. I think.

Tom morris and Coventry freestyle presented a night of world championship kickboxing at theJaguar sports & social club. In Coventry. The night was A complete sell-out Got to have been750-800 attendees with many people ending up in the standing area. The bill was packed with 18fights on the bill. The show was sanctioned with the W.R.S.A here are the results.

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Rnd 2 having gained much confidencein the first round buckland came outlike a raging bull, wild and furousious,Bailey just didn’t seem to want to know.And retired.

Decision went to buckland, a good firstfight in the bag.

Craig Bailie,[StranraerKickboxing] vs Graham Russell.(Coventry freestyle.]Rnd 1 seen Bailie storming in swinging,punches and kicks, Russell was justweathering the storm and returningwith good clean techniques, rnd 2 seenbailie start strong but Russell came backwith good head kicks then uppercuts,then from nowhere threw an excellentax kick to the head. Rnd 3. both fight-ers came out for the win Russell landingwith some very good head shots withboth feet and hands. Bailie parring wellboth fighters were good in there thejudges decision went to Bailie.

Dean Ellis[Paras gym.] vsAaron Kavanagh.[Coventryfreestyle]This round started with Kavanagh com-ing out with a barrage of punches and asolid round house kick Ellis just soakedall this up.but kavanagh seemed to be tostrong for ellis,rnd 2 was a slower round.But still Kavanagh was catching ellis with

much better punches. Rnd 3 Kavanaghwas running out of steam on this roundwhich seemed to spur ellis on whoworked better this round all be it a bitscrappy at times, but left it to late in thefight, decision unaminous to Kavanagh,

Ashley Griffins[ B.D.M.A.Lincoln] vs AdamHedge.[Coventry freestyle].This bout was dedicated to the gary Johnsonmemorial bout.Whether this spurred Hedge on to do wellhe came out like a raging bull and provedto strong on this occasion for Griffins andthe fight was stopped in favour of Hedgewho won by KO in round 1.

Chris Ashforth,[U.K.C.B.A.Evesham] vs MichaelRimmer.[Mansfield k/b]These 2 fighters showed class out thereboth fighters showing good skill andringcraft. Rimmer was very com-posed,where as Ashforth was throwinggood stuff was more wanting to get thefight over. Rnd 2 saw a very evenmatched round with both fighters goingtit for tat. Nothing between the fightersin this round. Rnd 3 again a goodround for both fighters nothing betweenthem other than Rimmer still being themore composed of them both. Thejudges obviously agreed as the decisioncame out a draw. Which seemed fair toboth fighters,

Craig Allman.[samurai fitnessgym] vs Tobias White.CoventryFreestyle.This bout seen White Defend HisBritish title against Allman who beatwhite at boxing the last time out.

White Hasn’t Had a good year so faryet he seemed composed and deter-mind at the start of this fight he cameout all cylinders firing and totally domi-nated the round landing with somebody shots and Allman seemed to be onsurvival mode. Rnd 2 Allman definitelywas giving this fight a go, but White stilllooked focused on the job in hand.rnd 3Allman was saved by the bell in thisround and received a standing 8 count.There seemed to be no stopping Whitetonight . rnd 4 seen Allman gets anothercount and in the end the corner threwthe towel in. white was just on firetonight and no one was taking his titleon this night, good win for white per-haps needed to get his focus back on hisgame, fair play to Allman who took thefight on a weeks notice. After someonedropped out. Respect for that.

Josh Reeves.[Rugby thai Kick-boxing.] vs Luke Sanfilippo.[Coventry freestyle.]Sanfilippo came out strong in the firstround but Reeves seemed the morecomposed fighter throwing some strongshots which seemed to rock Sanilippo


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.rnd 2 the pace slowed down more thisround reeves throwing good straightpunches looking to follow in the shotthat done damage in the first round. Butan even round for both fighters

Rnd 3 both fighters showing signs offatigue reeves throwing good punchesbut no kicks which seen Sanfilippo steal-ing this round with the kicks he landedthe judges decision went to Josh Reeves.

Carl Swann.[B.D.MA.Lincoln.] vsBrian Layng.[Coventryfreestyle]Layng came out at the start of the roundand walked straight into a front kick butcame back with very heavy punches butswann was throwing some excellentkicks.rnd 2 was more scappy which seen

loads of holding onto each other andeven the odd rabbit punch thrown.rnd 3both fighters came out determind to winthe fight but forgot to use legs thisround, the decision went with a majoritydecision to Brian Layng.

Kevin Celia.[Jado f/cNorthampton.] vs SolomanSaghu. [Coventry freestyle]This was quite an even round with Celiastarting of strong but Saghu taking the2nd part of the round rnd 2 seen Saghutake more control of this round. Startingto believe that this fight was his. Thecrowd spurring him on, rnd 3 an excit-ing round this one both fighters landinggood solid heavy punches, rocking eachother the crowd were going crazy asyou just couldn’t tell what way the fight

was going to go. A fantastic bout likeout of a scene from the rocky movies.The judges decision went to Celia.

James Smith [Stranraer kick-boxing.] vs Jake Livingstone.Coventry freestyle.]Both fighters came out at right away youcould see that Smith had some boxingskills looking good bobbing and weavingand landing some good quality shots.But Livingstone was trying to hold hisown but Smith just seemed to dominatethe whole fight. Livingstone ended uphaving a nose bleed. The fight was goodtalent from both these young fighters buton the night the decision was unaminousto Smith definitely a young lad with tal-ent and one to watch for the future,

Mark Bruce.[Jado f/c/Northampton.vs Danny bull.[Mansfield.kickboxing.]Round 1 was very even stevens bothfighters throwing good kicks and punches

Rnd 2 both fighters keeping very busybruce just showing a bit more skill andmaiking very good use of the ring.rnd 3bull the more aggressor of fighters butforgot to make use of his legs this roundbut a good round for him never theless. The judges went for Bruce on thisoccasion but a good performance fromboth lads.

Eddie Smith[Paras Gym] vs KyleJefferies.[Birdies Allstyles.]These 2 heavyweight lads came outslugging Smith was throwing some hardpunches but Jefferies was just soakingthem up and plodded along, both fight-ers going tit for tat not the most excit-ing of fights however fair play to boththese lads for having a go, the judgesdecision went to Smith

Craig Bailie,[Stranraer kick-boxing.] vs Lee Duke.[Coventryfreestyle.]This fight was the JJ memorial belt,unfortunately about 4 fights before theoriginal fighter pulled out of the fight,so Craig Bailey very kindly offered tostep in again to save the night. TheMemorial belt was first presented toLee Duke in memory of JJ and the lightcontact bout followed,the fight wasevenly matched actually and both ladsshowed excellent skills and both donethere clubs proud, a good performanceand the decision reflected that with theresult being a draw .

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Akim Chayem. Team wiet France,vs Ricky [the gladiator] glover.U.K.C.B.A. Evesham.W.R.S.A WORLD SUPERLIGHT WEIGHT TITLE FIGHT.This fight was for the vacant title andboth fighters weighed in the nightbefore just touching 61kgs. Both fighterslooked extremely fit and ripped for thisbout. The crowd were on there feetbefore the fight even started it was obvi-ous from the start that glover is a verypopular lad. The first round seen Akimcome out with some of the fastest kicksI think I have ever seen in the ring.Using both legs. Glover trying to getshots off was using the ring well. It wasapparent at this point this lad camehere to upset and wanted an earlyknock out, glover finished this roundwith good head shots. Glover seemed tobe saying something to his corner abouthis ear.in the break.

Rnd 2 seen glover more composed andwas moving well, watching Akims everymove and just getting out of range, thenfrom nowhere glover threw a big right

hand and send Chayem to the canvas,it was a while before he got up and youjust knew he wasn’t going to come backfrom it, however at that the cornerretired him anyhow, the crowd were inuproar. The new W.R.S.A. ricky gloverwas announced. A well deserved titleholder. glover was sent of to hospitalwith a perforated ear drum he alsodamaged his wrist with the almightypunch, he is okay has been advised notto do any running or jumping in anyway, and is having regular appointmentto watch the progress. A bit upsettingfor the camp as they wanted to pushforward in the next 6 months with rick-ys fights, and to finish on the 8 mantournament that fighters magazinethemselves are staging. At ???????????

Glover spoke to me after the fight andexplained that he played the finalcountdown as his ring music as a tributeto the late chris sledgehammer ballardwho was a stable mate in u.k.c.b.a. andwas thrilled to have Stuart Awesomegreen at ringside who was also a stablemate but is definitely one of his idols.

A great night staged by tommy morrisand the lads at Coventry freestyle, pro-barly the biggest show they have doneto date, the next event will be held onmarch 26th. A big thank-you to alltrainers.fighters,officials, sponsors andthe W.R.S.A for all there help and con-tinuing support.


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WAKOWAKOWAKOWAKOWAKOFounded in 1970 WAKO is the largest unified kickboxing

organisation in the World with over 100 nations currentlyin membership. WAKO World H.Q. is based in Milan.

★ WAKO History ★WAKO started its activity in Europe in 1976. The founder was Mr Georg Bruckner from Berlin, who promotedthe first ever World Championships in semi and full contact karate (as it was called in those days) backin 1978 with 110 competitors representing 18 countries. WAKO immediately created the rules and regulationsfor the new fighting sports and acted, since the very beginning, as the authentic Kickboxing Federationof the world. In our Championships, only national teams are accepted. Each member country can presentonly 1 competitor in each weight class. The WAKO World Championships are NOT open competitions thereforeeach representative is the premier competitor in that category, from their country.

World Governing Body for Kickboxing

World and European Amateur Championships Title Fights held continually both Amateur & Professional

Regional Competitions are held throughout the year

British Amateur Championships to choose British Teams

Full-Contact, Light Continuous-Contact, Semi-Contact, Musical Forms

Licence, Membership and Insurance available to all of U.K., Southern Ireland and Republic of Ireland

Coaching courses, Referee Training, Seminars and Training

Dan Gradings and WAKO certificates for all Members

President: Tom Hibbert M.B.E., F.S.M.A.

For upto the minute details of all forthcoming W.A.K.O events visit our website

To see national ama/wako listings of over 13,000 instructors/clubs on the web, type: www.bt.com/thephonebook then in ‘business’ type: martial arts and town

WORLD ASSOCIATION OF KICKBOXING ORGANISATIONS

Contact: WAKO, 66 Chaddesden Lane, Chaddesden, Derby, DE21 6LPTel: 07973 507716 / 01332 663086 (after 6pm and weekends)

or Fax: 01332 280286 Email: [email protected]

www.wakogb.co.uk

Welcome to...

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What Does the WRSA offer you?• Insurance for Fighters, Instructors and

Promoters So you are fully protected• Regular Tournaments around the country.

Already 40 planned for 2009. See Website for details.• Gradings with Specially designed certificates and badges.

Each Belt Grade Certificate is Unique• Courses for Judges and Referees.

The WRSA encorages experienced fighters and coaches to take our judges and referees course so they understand what judges are looking for

• Regular MeetingsMeetings so member can express their views of how the WRSA is being run. What they think is good and what they feel needs improving.

• CoursesFirst aid courses run by qualified instructors.Training courses for ring craft, weapons course, etc.

• The WRSA does not interfere with how you run your club.It does not restrict you or your fighter as to which shows you fight on.

• The WRSA welcomes Kickboxing Clubs, Thai boxing clubs, Kung Fu Clubs, Traditional Karate clubs.

For Further Information contact the WRSAor Steve Humphrey, Cressdene, Evesham Road,Offenham, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 8SATel: 01386 48452 Mobile: 07881 784839Email: [email protected]

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Fighters Dec / Jan 2011

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