First up for the USKA team
was Isa Hanif
in his bout against Lewis
Holland from Rok-Ard gym.
A good fight that saw the more aggressive
Isa against the slightly more technical Lewis.
In a fight of two half's it was Lewis who
outpointed Isa in the first only to see Isa
dominate the action with forward fighting
in the second. We felt based on this the bout
should have been called a draw but the close
decision went to the referee and he scored
it to Lewis based on the number of kicks thrown
Isa has a
close one but loses out on kicks against Rok-Ard's
Lewis Holland
Next up it was time for USKA
unbeaten Mark
Sedgwick matched against another
Rok-Ard fighter in the form of Ross
Beadsworth. Both Mark and
Ross showed great skill in the first round
matching each other punch for punch and kick
for kick. Excellent variety of technique saw
a close round come to a end with Mark marginally
in front.
Round two saw Mark settle first and with a
slower more controlled pace pick at his man
to clock up a nice lead on the scorecards.
The winner Mark Sedgwick.
The killer
kicker meets the killer kicker!
and then outkicks
him!
So with our first win recorded
it was up to Adam
Eyaz to continue the winning
streak matched against
Sam from Derbyshire
Panthers.
A tough slugfest of a first round saw nether
fighter really do more than the other but
the second round saw the superior fitness
of Adam take over and push his man back and
score throughout to win conclusively.
The judges however must have been watching
something different as they scored the bout
to Sam. This was to the surprise of everyone
watching the fight even the Panthers cornerman
Doug Harrison. I have to say on this occasion
I really do feel that the judges got it wrong.
So disappointing to say the least and a decision
from the judges that had many people scratching
their heads in disbelief about, From the amount
of people that approached us on the way back
from the ring it was clear that we were not
the only ones who thought that the judges
had got it very wrong.
Adam hard
done by in his bout against Sam from Panthers
Ridwan
Khan up next matched against
another Gladiator's gym fighter now
named Kyle Valentine.
Kyle had a bit of weight advantage over Ridwan
but Ridwan's experience and skill negated
this easily picking off his man with control
over the two rounds to emphatically take the
decision and win the fight.
Ridwan makes Kyle turn
and run at the sight of his axe kick
Megan
Kelly who had turned up without
bag or kit not expecting to fight courageously
took a fight offered at a couple of minutes
notice against Leah
Tattersall from the Gladiators
gym in Nottingham. This is even more impressive
given that Megan had lost her two previous
fights against tough Newark girls and was
in need of a confidence boost.
A slow start from Megan allowed Leah to tee
off first with Megan having to settle for
the counter attack that was clearly less effective.
As the round went on Megan went up the gears
and found more success but the early work
from Leah had left the round even.
Round two however was all Megan's bossing
it from the bell and showing a more aggressive
style that we had previously not seen from
her. A good second round in the bank and an
even first leaves Megan with her arm raised
in victory and proudly notching up her first
win.
Megan turns up the heat
in the second round to score her first win
One of the
contenders for fight of the day... Miss Megan
Kelly
Noor
Muhammed next would now face
a fighter who he had previously beat in a
very close encounter at the contender competition
last year. The rematch would see Ace kickboxing's
Zeeshan Khan
looking for revenge and to reverse the previous
loss on his record.
These two continued where they left off in
December with Noor just managing to outscore
Zeeshan in the first round with good boxing
combinations.
The second was a much closer affair with Zeeshan
coming back into the fight strong and fighting
the round on the counter attack moving laterally
and clocking up the points.
The judges seen it as we did with one round
a piece and declared the contest a draw.
Noor's rematch
is harder second time around with Zeeshan
Khan
Haroon
Khan next into
the ring for USKA now to face Gladiator gym's
James Kirk.
James the bigger and more aggressive of the
two but Haroon looking the more technical.
The bout went back and forth over the two
rounds with nether fighter having any extended
spells of success. The feeling was if Haroon
had got just that little more fitness he could
break away but James kept finding a way to
get back in the fight when Haroon tired.
The final bell sounded and the judges decision
was based on one extra head kick coming from
James's corner claiming him the win.
Haroon battle it out
with Gladiator James Kirk (Hey wasn't he in
star trek?)
With the USKA fighters seemingly
losing their momentum it was now up to Qasim
Nisar to turn things around
matched against the less experienced but game
Crown Kickboxing fighter Shaun
Hurdman. Qasim in his usual
style picked off his opponent with good control
and his usual measure of flamboyance to clearly
and concisely take the judges eye over the
two rounds and claim the win for the USKA
corner.
Qasim wins one for a
change!
Another Crown fighter opponent
now this time for Jake
Richards as he climbed through
the ropes to face Jonathan
Warnes.
This fight was shaping up nicely with Jake
in control but showing a few more of his tools
and mixing his attacks around to body and
head. Unfortunately for Jonathan he sustained
a bloodied nose that the Crown corner could
not quite get under control so they decided
to cut their loses and pull their fighter
from the contest.
Jake was declared the winner in a somewhat
unsatisfactory ending to the fight through
no fault of his own.
Jake's fight
ends early with nose damage to his opponent.
USKA debut time now for Nadeem
Mohammed who would face the
excellent kicker from ACE Kickboxing gym Musadik
Rizwan. Nadeem is in transition
with his new fighting style and this his first
competition in USKA colours it was going to
be interesting one to see if he could implement
his new found skills against decent opposition.
Nadeem struggles at first with his timing
but soon settles into the bout. Musadik has
excellent movement and kicking ability but
seems to be out of range alot and missing
with his technique. This is giving Nadeem
the opportunity the counter attack effectively.
the round ends and although Musadik has thrown
more it is clear that Nadeem has landed more
with his good connect economy.
Nadeem ups his work rate in the second and
the ring rust seems to at last be shaking
off him. Musadik is still very dangerous and
every now and then catches Nadeem with a single
kick or punch to the head to show him he is
still there.
Nadeem is particularly impressive with his
straight one, two punch combination and as
the second round draws to a close he lands
three on the bounce to put the decision beyond
doubt. A good comeback win for Nadeem and
the first of many God willing in USKA colours.
Guess who's
back! but this time he's in an USKA suit!
Adam
Kiani sporting a shoulder
injury but needing a tune up before a proposed
full contact fight next against Crown Kickboxing's
Richard Saddington.
A nice and fluent Adam with and constant work
rate and variety of technique somewhat overwhelms
Richard not allowing him to set and get any
offence of his own off.
Adam wins the first round hands down and shows
some good skill and control.
More of the same from Adam in the second and
in full flow Richard is not even able to land
with a single punch or kick. The fight is
stopped 10 seconds from the end of the bout
due to a bloody nose and Richards corner sensibly
pull their man out to avoid him getting taking
any more punishment. The winner is declared
in favour of Adam Kiani.
Adam showing
good variety cruising to his win.
Possibly the most eagerly
anticipated fight of the day saw the new and
improved USKA's Reiss
Larvin take on experienced
cadet full contact fighter Nathan
Kirk from Gladiators gym.
Nathan brought with him a reputation of being
a tough nut and Reiss knew he had to fight
with brains as well as brawn in order not
to turn this one into a war.
Reiss punched, kicked, slipped and moved his
way in and out of range putting on a near
perfect fight and making Nathan look novice
like at times.
Nathan did not seem to have any answers to
Reiss's style and Reiss looked to be bossing
the action in every department over the two
round fight.
No question about the decision with Reiss
winning by a landslide.
The Reiss that turned up today and that has
been showing so much more in the gym of late
is going to be very hard one to beat at his
age and weight in the country.
The Kirk,
Larvin stare down!
Introducing the new
and improved RRL
Career best
win and performance for the relentless one.
Last fight of the day for
the USKA and Zain
Rafiq steps into the ring
to take on home fighter
Sameer from
the ACE kickboxing gym.
The action was non stop, fast and furious
with neither fighter taking their foot off
the pedal over the two round duration. Zain
looked to be landing more and closed each
round on top but the judges because of the
good work rate from both fighters saw fit
to declare the bout even and awarded the draw.
Zain and Sameer
go toe to toe looking for the win.
A mixed bag then from the USKA crew but on
the whole and given that there was some rust
to be shaken off after the new year break
not bad performances across the board.
So all in all a really good day and well organised
tournament that we would most definitely hope
to attend again. Fair matching, absolutely
amazing trophies for both the winner and the
runner up, pretty good judging (for the most
part) and lets not forget the amazing food
on offer that all the USKA crew took advantage
of.
The two fighters of the day in most peoples
eyes were Megan Kelly and Reiss Larvin. Megan
first for getting the first win on her record
against her tough Gladiators gym opponent
and of course Reiss for his career best performance
against another Gladiators fighter Nathan
Kirk.
Congratulations to the ACE promotional team
and all we can say is Roll on the next one
so that we can do it all again.
