F.I.S.T. events always offer the U.S.K.A. team a place to
ply their trade, and the ever present squad again on the 19th
Feb travelled to the North Birmingham Hardy Spicers club to
continue in what is shaping to be a very busy year for the
team. Already benefiting from an early start to the fight
circuit for the year, this was to be U.S.K.A’s 4th event
in half as many months, with a just as busy calendar to follow.
U.S.K.A. prodigal son Murdock Kellyman
continuing in his ring comeback was heading this bill with
a F.I.S.T interclub title on the line against the clubs most
fought against opponent, Richard Sidwell. And indeed it was
Murdock who first ventured into the ring to meet his D.E.M.M.A
opposition, Richard who must be sick of the sight of the U.S.K.A.
gym having been matched with all the gyms top Jnr’s
at one time or another, was as always well up for the task
in hand, and the first exchanges were close with neither fighter
willing to take the foot off the pedal, Murdock fighting well
on the counter and Richard applying good pressure. The frenetic
pace eased only slightly in the second and now Murdock was
beginning to have more success with his hands countering the
missed kicks from Sidwell and then chopping a basic straight
leg on top to tally up his points. In such a close encounter
both fighters could take nothing for granted and would need
a big effort in the final segment to persuade the judges who
was most deserving to take the decision and the title. Murdock
starts the third round strong this time going forward and
pushing Richard back. This is working well for him but you
can see it is taking it's toll as Murdock is breathing heavy
and struggling with the pace. Fortunately for him though so
is Richard. Mid way through the round both fighters trade
it out toe to toe neither one wanting to take a backward step.
The final bell rings with Richards nose bloody and both fighters
exhausted in what was an enthralling fight for the crowd.
Nothing for certain now as both fighters await the decision
of the three scoring judges centre ring, both hoping they
had done enough to get the nod. The winner and new F.I.S.T
interclub 70kg Champion.........Murdock Kellyman. The U.S.K.A
lad gets the verdict in a close competitive match that surely
somewhere down the line will make a compelling rematch.
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Kellyman shows the sign of a battle against Sidwell.
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Murdock drops his trade mark Axe kick onto Richard.
Victorious and new interclub 70KG Champion Murdock
Kellyman!
The next bout was one you needed to pay avid attention to
as U.S.K.A. new boy Mark 'The Killer Kicker'
Sedgwick in only his third U.S.K.A. outing took
just 7 seconds to beat Lee Duke from the Coventry Freestyle
gym. With an awesome display of perfect head kicking, Mark
scored a TKO first round stoppage over an opponent who truly
had not known what had hit him.
The camera was only quick enough to take one snap
shot in Mark 'The Killer Kicker' Sedgwick's seven second stoppage
victory!
Jay 'Sugar Foot' Collett now in
full training for a super prestige junior match up in Ripley
on March 4th fired out a warning shot to his highly rated
opponent from Ripley Ben “The Terrier“ Taylor,
when matched with Assassins opposition Aaron Watson. The bout
ended up being scored a draw to the surprise of the U.S.K.A
crowd who had Jay winning pretty handily. Still the interest
in Jay's forthcoming bout with Taylor is still there as he
too scored a controversial draw on the day also.
Usmaan Ali showed great improvement
in his ring work beating Coventry's Jake Livingstone, Usmaan
now starting to bring to ring what he shows in training. Usmaan
is definitely one to watch out for in the future if he continues
to improve at the rate he is going.
Usmaan Ali scores with excellent kicking technique
to the head.
Oldham's Robert Sidwell on leave from his army regiment came
back to ring only to find waiting for him a rematch with U.S.K.A.’s
“Stepping Razor” Tyler Shakespeare,
and for the best part it was back to where the pair left off
in their last meeting, with Tyler taking the fight to the
Oldham fighter, and dominating from the outside, the ring
rust was apparent in Robert but the skills were still there.
Winner on points Tyler.
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No where to run and nowhere to hide for Robert Sidwell
against the Steppin' Razor Tyler Shakespeare
Haroon Khan struggled to find his
rhythm in his bout with Force one's Amy Halbon, The timing
seemed off and as a result burned an awful lot of energy missing
his target. A scrappy affair by both fighters left the referee
with not but choice but award the bout a draw.
Hakeem Farooq also had an off day
paired in a rematch with a fighter he had already beat in
Liverpool last year, Martin Phillips from the Eclipse gym.
Allowing Martin to get off first with his technique had Hakeem
giving up ground and coming off second in the exchanges. Unable
to change the direction of the fight a well deserved decision
was awarded to Phillips at the final bell.
Jake Richards U.S.K.A’s fast
maturing and ever improving 55kg fighter was pitched in with
Coventry's Jack Pearce and this one was not for the faint
hearted with Pearce initiating a very high tempo and strong
technique in a fight that threatened to get a little heated.
But with equally strong referee Bob Taggart demanding control
and Jake’s willingness to step it up to meet the challenge,
it was Jake and not the fierce Pearce who emerged victorious
in a tough tough battle.
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Jake Richards uses the space to land the side kick
on route to another victory.
Another of the gym’s rising Jnr stars 'Relentless'
Reiss Larvin was matched against Ying Yang's
prospect John Bluck over 3x 1½ min rounds including
head shots. This fight had all the makings of something special
after both fighters failed to meet in a scheduled Midland
area title fight last year due to weight discrepancies, but
this time it was full steam ahead, quite literally with neither
fighter willing to give ground in the opening exchanges. Reiss
and John seemed very well matched in the first round with
Reiss landing a few more kicks but not much separating them
on the judges score cards. Round two saw Bluck fast out of
the blocks only to run onto a well timed side kick to the
body. This seemed to take it's toll on Bluck with Reiss pressing
the action for much of the round. A more convincing round
this time for the U.S.K.A man with John Bluck finishing the
round looking tired. The Third saw both fighters resume their
toe to toe trade off. Both looking a little scrappy now and
both tiring big time. With not alot to split them the turning
point in the round came when Reiss fired a beautifully timed
side kick to the face of Bluck knocking his head back. This
kick in effect was the round winner for Reiss as the trade
off continued with Reiss finishing the stronger of the two.
Kick rate was the deciding factor for the referee in his decision
awarding the victory to the winner 'Relentless' Reiss larvin.
Expect to see the rematch of this one some tome very soon
in the future.
'Relentless' Reiss tallies up the points against
Ying Yangs John Bluck.
Sarah Lawrence the gyms newest
female fighting recruit continued to show a great deal of
promise in only her second fight this time giving away a mahoosive
14Kg and 2 fights experience against her opponent Marie Moss.
Sarah again took early control with ever pressing forward
momentum, what she's like fighting on the back foot we still
don’t know, cause so far she ain’t done it, and
shows no signs of it either, if attack is the best form of
defence then she’s got a great defence winner Sarah
making it two out of two for the new girl.
Sarah 'The Chic Kick' Lawrence piles the pressure
on in her fight.
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2 - 0 Lawrence builds her fight record with another
good win.
Stacey Richards obviously liked
the look of the trophy’s as on the day she fought no
less than three times, with two Demo’s and a full competitive
bout, in which she came out winner in over Karen Frizzle.
Stacey showed both control and compassion in her first demo
against a young Amy Watts from Coventry and skill and her
competitive nature in a duel with club mate and sparring partner
Emily Aston. Emily then went on
to show well also gaining a victory against S.M.W.S. opposition
and also taking part in two demonstrations to make it three
out of three for the U.S.K.A. girls.
Stacey Richards lands a perfect front kick before
scoring the stoppage of her overwhelmed opponent.
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Emily's well deserved win does not go down well with
her opponent.
On the whole a very fruitful day with the gym scoring a very
high win ratio against some talented opposition, next up it’s
to the south of Birmingham to the home of the I.F.A. where
U.S.K.A will continue to try and prove that only practice
makes perfect.
Here at U.S.K.A. we would like to extend our very best wishes
and bid a speedy recovery to Mr Paul Sutton F.I.S.T. event
co-ordinator who at the end of the month will undergo an operation
on his shoulder. Good luck Paul and we look forward to your
next promotion
