A small USKA team turned out and an even smaller USKA team got matched in actual fights in the latest of a long line of disappointing light continuous tournaments of the 2006 season.
Hardy Spicers in Erdington Birmingham the venue but yet again a disappointing turn out that raises the question of if Instructors and students alike are getting fed up with poorly organised and badly attended events and therefore choosing to abstain from attendance.
In fact out of the three USKA fighters that were matched one was mismatched in his first ever fight against a lad that on paper had three fights but we know categorically for a fact that had had at least 5 possibly even 6 contests prior to this bout and another of our fighters matched against a thai boxer who too could not find a suitable match within his own discipline.
Nevertheless we were there to fight so fight we did.

First to the ring was recently crowned ISKA European mat champion Mark 'The Killer Kicker' Sedgwick taking on an experienced young man by the name of Aaron from the well schooled Mark Barlow Assassins camp. The two had met before with Mark winning by decision but it was anything but an easy fight. It was going to be interesting to see if this encounter would be any different.
Mark stormed the first round mixing up shots well and outworking his man with fast fluent combinations showing exactly where he gets his fight name from.
Round two a lot closer with Aaron opting to stand his ground and repeatedly throw his power straight leg to break up Mark's rhythm.
Mark hard to work harder in this round and although Aaron did much better with his round kicks the variety in punch and kicks from Mark seemed to just push him ahead.
Referee Bob Taggart scored the first round to Mark and the second round even leaving Mark the winner on points.

Next up was the debut fight for Mahboob Hussain who unfortunately was pitched in against a lad from Force One kickboxing club who as stated above was far more experienced.Too late to moan about it now, Mahboob with true USKA spirit got on with the job at hand.
A hesitant start from Mahboob as you would expect with it being his first fight gave his opponent room to throw more and to press the attack. In fairness to mahboob although his opponent was throwing more he was hardly landing anything through to Mahboob's tight defence. The first round ended with the Force one fighter winning it purely on work rate.
A more aggressive start from the Force one fighter in round two maybe feeling that he needed to do more against the game Mahboob to make sure of the decision.
Throwing more and landing more he kept Mahboob at bay and on the defensive for the whole round and put any questions about the decision to bed. A worthy winner to the Force one fighter but a valiant first ring appearance by Mahboob against his more experienced counter part.


Next up in a demonstration bout 16 year old Murdock Kellyman climbed through the ropes to mix it with his 26 year old demonstration partner. In a fabulous two round demo Murdock showed exactly why he has earned himself a reputation as being one of the most technically correct fighters in the junior light continuous circuit. Great defensive skills and a brilliant show of kickboxing technique from Murdock with no sign of being fazed by his opponents age advantage.
Applauded by ref Taggart and appreciated by the spectators in attendance.

Time for another demo now with Stacey Richards giving away age, weight, experience and if that wasn't enough she was also up against a lad. Stacey also showing the trade mark USKA heart and soul got on with business pumping straight up to fifth gear making her opponent fight on the back foot for both rounds and on more than one occasion hurting him to the body with her deadly round kicks.
A good job for her opponent that this fight never went to the judges as in my humble opinion there would have only been one winner. Another good showing from USKA's femme fatale.

Guess what..........? Time now for another demo with Jay 'SUGAR FOOT' Collett giving away 5kg in weight and a great deal of height to a classy young fighter who looked while he was warming up to have some sugar feet of his own.
Jay started well soaking up the heavy shots from the taller lad and responding well with some fast accurate combo's of his own ending the combination with the exclamation mark of a beautiful spinning hook kick to the side of his mans head.
Early into the second round both fighters clashed knees with Jay coming off the worst of the collision. Following instructions from his corner Jay continued using only his boxing technique until he had shook off the effects of the clash sufficiently enough to start kicking again. The round ended again with the crowd being treated to an excellent demonstration between two quality operators. The more educated technique i feel coming from Jay with the power and pressure coming from the heavier fighter. This one would have been a tough one to call if it had gone to a judges decision.

Last up for the USKA team and thankfully in a fight this time Noor Muhammed was in against another of the Force one kickboxing team.
Both fighters looking well matched in age, height and weight met centre ring for a 30 second trade off with nothing to split the two with both lads excellent volume of technique.
As the Force one fighter started to tire Noor began forcing him back scoring cleanly and capturing the round.
Round two was again started in the trade off with Noor just edging it in quality of technique.
Again mid way through the round the Force ones fighters fitness was called into question as Noor took over landing good boxing combo's and two clean spin kicks to take the round. A competitive fight but the decision in no doubt going to the USKA lad.
One good thing about the days quick events is that we were out of there for about 1.30pm and had plenty of time to rest and compose our thoughts before the evening show at the same venue where five of USKA's finest would take to the ring in what promised to be a great night of entertainment.