Three WKA Titles Cap Off a
Packed MMA and Muay Thai Fight Card at CSC 31!
Combat Sports Challenge presented its thirty-first
edition in Richmond, VA with the fullest card it's
seen yet--18 matches, with three of them being title
fights,
made
quite a night for fight fans. This card featured
amateur Muay Thai and MMA as well as three Juniors'
matches, both Original WKA (International) Rules and
MMA. Top teams from many states, including New York,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and
Georgia battled it out for numerous rounds of
heart-pounding action.
The evening began with
an exhibition match between two very brave young
ladies, Imani Holmes (13) of Kai Thai Academy, NC and
Casemira Smith (12) of Team Combat, VA. These girls
battled it out for three rounds, showing heart equal
to to any fighter on the card and blooming talent that
will one day win them titles.
The rest of the undercard, which featured five MMA
matches (one of which was a Juniors' match), eight
Muay Thai matches, and one International Rules
Juniors' match, yielded one submission by Roy Smith
(Team Combat, VA), six fights that went the distance,
and seven TKOs, five of which were consecutive.
In a WKA Maryland State Thai Boxing Light
Heavyweight Title, Diamond Watson of Team Combat, MD,
won the decision over Scott Drummond of Yamasaki
Academy, VA. Both fighters performed admirably on the
last CSC in September, and both battled out the full
three rounds of this card's match.
For the
Eastern Regional WKA Cruiserweight Thai Boxing Title,
Real Fighters' (KY) MMA and Muay Thai rising star
Marcus Mayes took the title, also by unanimous
decision over Boston Muay Thai's Mike Pennini.
The
last match of the night was a title defense by former
World champion and current North American and US
champion Brandon Mickens of Team Combat, VA. His
opponent traveled from Georgia to take this match and
gave the title-holder a run for his money. In the
first and second rounds, the more experience Mickens
demonstrated his gift for strategy as well as his
power by setting up power shots to the head by off
balancing or throwing heavy body shots at his
opponent, rocking him several times. In the last three
rounds, challenger Jeremy Barrett of Megalodon Gym
attempted to use his height and reach advantage to
land big shots on Mickens and then neutralized some of
Mickens' strategy by clinching and holding on. Mickens
maintained a slight edge in these rounds by working
enough in the clinch or dumping his opponent on the
canvas. In the end, after five grueling rounds,
Mickens maintained his title by taking the unanimous
decision.
All in all, despite the number of
matches on the card, the quality of the fights left
the crowd hungry for more. Combat Sports Challenge is
projecting another card in March of next year after
the WKA North American
Championships, which have been moved to February
18-20, 2011.
Click here for full
results.
Photography credits to
Terri
Degenaars
