Ripley Martial Arts Centre Light Continuous invitational
27th November 2005

U.S.K.A. were on the road again on the 27th November this time to the Ripley Martial arts centre at the invite of Centre coaches Doug Harrison and Lee Wragg.
It was a gym show with selected clubs invited to take part in light continuous competition.
Among the gym's in attendance were Derbyshire Panthers, Nottingham Gladiators, Newark Martial arts, Fighting fit, Wragsters and finally little old us U.S.K.A kickboxing.
A contingent of nine fighters turned out followed by a small but loyal group of supporters with cornermen Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn in tow.
All the fighters were called to the dressing room where they would meet their match and also give organisers a chance to iron out any discrepancies in age, height and weight.
After the matching had been finalised it was time to get the fighting started and first into the ring for the U.S.KA. squad was mighty midget Haroon Khan. Haroon who might be short in height but never short of confidence was matched against Jordan from the Nottingham Gladiators gym.
Round 1 saw Haroon the aggressor scoring well on the attack with a nice variety of technique that won him the round pretty handily.
Round 2 saw Jordan step up the pace knowing he was behind. Haroon responds well but tires near the end of the round.
An even round draws to a close with the referee awarding the win to Haroon for his cleaner technique.
A good start for the U.S.K.A team.
Next up was another of the Khan clan this time in the form of Haris Khan. Haris was up against it giving away age, weight and lots of experience to the very talented Ben Taylor from the Derbyshire Panthers gym.
In what was very much a mismatch on paper Haris was told to keep his hands up and to try and stay out of trouble in a fight that he was most certainly assuming the role of the underdog.
Very much outgunned but unfazed Haris shipped an awful lot of punches to the head and body over the two rounds but kept on coming and showed alot of heart, surprisingly in spurts catching Taylor with a few head shots in between the assault. No doubt when the bell went though that the well deserved winner was Ben Taylor from the Panthers gym.
Next up for the U.S.K.A crew was another tough fight. Jake Richards one of U.S.K.A's rising talents was matched against a very strong prospect again from the Derbyshire Panthers gym in Jack Clay.
Clay has a full contact style of fighting and we knew that he was going to be aggressive and take the fight straight to Jake.
As expected Jack was quick out of the blocks steaming forward and leaning on Jake against the ropes. Although not a great deal of clean techniques were landing Jack was clearly the aggressor and the referee might be taking this into account when it came to scoring the bout.
Nearer the end of the first round a little daylight appeared between the two lads and for the first time in the fight Jake was able to make his superior kicking ability felt scoring some clean kicks to the body and chest of Clay.
Anyone's guess which way the ref scored this round with it being a case of the aggressor Vs the technician.
Round 2 saw Jake decide to fight fire with fire and do some forward fighting of his own. A centre ring trade off commenced with both fighters going toe to toe. Again when a gap appeared Jake was able to make it count and he dropped a perfect axe kick to the side of Jack's head.
Jack again steamed forward but smothered his own work to the point where he could not get his own shots off effectively. Again sticking to the same formula a gap appeared and Jake dropped another axe kick bang on target to the top of Clay's headguard.
The bell sounded and it was now down to referee Dean Sugden to decide upon a result.
Thankfully for the U.S.K.A team Dean has a good eye for technique and scored the bout accordingly awarding the well deserved win to Jake Richards.
Time now for Ridwan Khan who was matched against another very talented fighter in the form of Regis Sugden from the Newark Martial arts gym.
In a very entertaining fight both lads went hammer and tongs exchanging fast and furious punches and kicks for every second of both rounds.
The feeling was at the end of the fight that although very close the tidier and more composed work from Regis was enough for him to get the decision.
Sure enough referee Doug Harrison awarded the decision to Sugden to the applause of both sets of supporters in appreciation of a good fight.
Next up was Qasim Nisar giving away a massive 8 kg in weight to Bradley from the Nottingham Gladiators gym. Bradley was thick set in frame and looked very strong and robust next to the tall athletic physique of Qas.
Making his weight felt Bradley was first to press the attack. Qasim for a moment went on the defensive and looked for gaps to hit his man in between his heavy assault.
Qasim's full contact experience put him in good stead for a type of opponent like Bradley and after he had settled Qas started to work behind a sharp accurate left jab followed by excellent boxing combinations to the head and body finishing with his now trade mark right leg straight leg round kick to the body.
This was technique at it's very best and to the U.S.K.A crowds delight Qasim ended the round in full control.
A supremely confident Qasim started round 2 with more of the same as the first round but this time only better.
Bradley was struggling to get past the jab and deal with the range of Qasim and now Qasim was picking the Notts. man off at will.
As the final bell sounded Bradley acknowledged the fact that he had been taught a master class by the Birmingham fighter and congratulated him in the spirit of good sportsmanship.
No doubt in this decision. The winner Qasim 'THE DREAM' Nisar.
Not content with his earlier win of the day Haroon Khan was back in action this time giving away weight to his opponent Dillon from once again the Nottingham Gladiators gym.
Dillon and Haroon's styles did not really gel in this match up which made for quite an untidy fight.
Dillon fighting going forward with the hands but not throwing or landing any kicks and Haroon exclusively fighting going backward but landing some good kicks on the counter.
Referee Dean Sugden called it right i think awarding both fighters a draw as this was a fight you could not have put a piece of paper between the two to split them.
The next bout was between U.S.K.A's 'RELENTLESS' Reiss Larvin and Mark from Nottingham Gladiators gym.
The bout opened up with Reiss landing a razor sharp lead leg side kick to the face of Mark. This seemed to wake the Gladiator fighter up as he responded with a flurry of hands to the head of Reiss.
The action never let up for the rest of the round with both fighters exchanging flurries of technique back and forth.
Reiss and his superior kicking technique had won him the round but he had had to work hard to do it.
Round 2 saw Reiss uncharacteristically take his foot off the gas drop down a gear and start to pick his man off on the back foot. Clearly the more technical of the two this was a strategy that was working well for him and seemed to be getting him hit less.
A good round again in the bank for Reiss as the bell signalled an end to the contest.
Two rounds to nothing saw Reiss awarded the decision.
Jay Collett Vs Carl from Nottingham Gladiators gym was next. jay was coming off the first defeat of his career the week before in his Midland title challenge against Mark Sedgewick and it was going to be interesting to see if the defeat had dented his confidence or made him gun-shy in any way.
We needn't have worried. 7 kicks, 7 punches and 9 seconds later saw an overwhelmed Carl turn his back and his cornerman Surge Johal pull him from the contest on the grounds that he had been outclassed.
Jay back with a vengeance with a nine second first round win.
After Jay's quick win we had brother Tommy Collett next in the ring giving away 7 KG in weight to the freakishly tall Chris from Nottingham Gladiators gym.
Not wanting to be outdone by his little brother Tommy started fast letting go with a fast punch combination to the head finishing with a left round kick to the body of Chris. The kick although controlled took all the wind out of him and because he was short of breath it triggered a panic attack. It is a scary thing trying to take a breath and no air coming in and after that there was no way that Chris was in a position to continue. Another 9 second win awarded this time awarded to Tommy Collett. Them Collett boys sure don't hang around do they!
U.S.K.A's only female competitor of the day Stacey Richards was matched in the next fight against Amy from Nottingham Gladiators gym. Both girls seemed very well matched and neither wanted to give an inch as they engaged in battle centre ring. The action swayed back and forth with the boxing being quite even but Stacey landing effective kicks on top.
The bout closed with an excellent cobra right hand from Stacey that brought cheers from the U.S.K.A supporters.
Both girls exhausted from the contest embraced again in good sportsmanship.
The kicks were the deciding factor in referee Dean Sugden's decision making awarding the win to Miss Richards.
In the final fight of the day for the U.S.K.A contingent Tommy Collett was back in the ring this time against Andrew from Nottingham Gladiators gym. Although again giving away weight Tommy was the more experienced of the two fighters and as a result took it easy, stayed in first gear and picked his man off with ease over the two rounds scoring a very convincing points decision win.
Tommy gave the crowd a treat and a demonstration of true light continuous kickboxing skill.
U.S.K.A finished the day with an impressive 8 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.
All in all it was a very enjoyable day giving the U.S.K.A team a taste of new opposition and for most of the less expierienced squad a chance to compete with head shot rules for the first time.
Referee and current W.K.A World Middleweight kickboxing champion Dean Sugden praised the U.S.K.A effort saying "Quality, really enjoyed and appreciated the professionalism, skill and spirit shown in the the fighters and supporters. A real credit to U.S.K.A"
Congratulations to the organisers for a succesful first time promotion and congratulations to all the fighters for once again doing the gym proud with some fine performances.
The next show in this series of competitions will be hosted by WKA World champion Dean Sugden and his team at the Newark Martial Arts Centre on the 22nd January.
Anyone outside of U.S.KA. interested in taking part in this competition should contact Dean via e-mail at: