The ladies team at AMMA have just returned back to Auckland from a very fabulous performance at the FightWorld Cup 9 MMA event on the Gold Coast in Australia. Promoted by Kerry Dunne of Shindo New Breed gym, the event was incredibly well run with efficient processing of 15 MMA fights at the Nerang PCYC. Our women fighters were invited on this card to fight three other women from Shindo New Breed in C-class rules in Queensland (no elbows or strikes to the head on the ground). The 3 women bouts were a co-main event with the theme “Australia versus New Zealand” and the atmosphere was very positive towards women fighters. All the fighters and coaches were well taken care of, and there were no hiccups in the processing.

Ruiha was up first among the three female fights. She was up against 21 year old Nesz McCloskey, who started training with Shindo 10 months ago and, like Ruiha, won her MMA debut earlier in the year. At the start Ruiha launched in with some great punch combos, and Nesz immediately launched into takedown attempts and succeeded in doing so in round 1, where she maintained a dominant position for several minutes. But Ruiha did not panic and managed to reverse the ground position, ending up on top with ground and pound activity just before the end of round 1. In round 2, Ruiha was more aware of Nesz’s desire to take the fight to the ground and effectively used her sprawl to stuff all the takedown attempts. While standing, Ruiha dominated with excellent punching combinations and punished Nesz for grappling with viscious uppercuts. Ruiha kept up the punching pace and would not let up on the attack. Nesz survived round 2, but did not come out for round 3 because her coach Kerry threw in the towel. Ruiha won by TKO.

Anastasia was up second, and she faced 22 year old Liz Warner. This was both women’s MMA debut, and it was obvious from the start that neither fighter wanted this to go to the ground. Liz established her kicks and knees on clench, but Anastasia kept coming forward with fabulous punch combinations. Anastasia effectively used her jabs whenever Liz would come in for the attack. On clench, Liz had good knees, but Anastasia would break the clench and then continue to counter punch. Although Liz came on stronger in the third round, but Anastasia kept up the dominating pace of punishing punches in all three rounds. Anastasia won by unanimous decision.

Last up with Tee against 45 year old Linda Nikeller with an MMA record of 1-0. This was Tee’s MMA debut fight, and she put up a great fight against Linda, who was a very fit athlete who had trained in kickboxing for over a decade. Round 1 started with both fighter landing great punch combinations on each other. Tee seemed to have the better reach and effectively used her jab to keep Linda away. However, Linda found her entry to the inside with with push kicks, which Tee did not effectively defend. On the clench Tee would attempt a take down, but Linda was too strong and would not allow the transition. Tee often had Linda against the cage, but Linda pushed Tee’s head down and delivered some nasty knees to the head when Tee would not give up the clench. Both fighters came out with all they had and would not back down. Even though Linda effectively stuffed all takedowns and often got on the inside with push kicks, Tee would not back down and kept coming forward with punch combinations. In the end Tee lost a unanimous as it was clear Linda landed more strikes in all three rounds. But Tee displayed a true fighter’s heart as she knew going in how strong Linda was in standup, but still gave it all she had. Linda approached Tee afterwards and showed Tee her broken swollen nose as a result of Tee’s punching, and Tee returned the favour with a cute smile and puffy black eye.

The event was a great experience for all three women, and many of the ozzy audience and other fight teams approached the team afterwards to say how impressed they were with how good their standup was and how well prepared all 3 of them seemed for the fights.

View photos from event.

Congratulations to Ev Ting for a hard earned victory over Mark Abelardo of Strikeforce last Saturday. This was Ev’s professional MMA debut, after 2 years of working up the ranks from his start in fight training. This was also Ev’s first fight under the banner of his generous new sponsor NZMMA. The fight was very close as Mark fought hard and fully utilised his elbow strikes. Ev, having never fought in elbows prior to this fight, did managed it quite well and threw several of his own elbows on the attack. Ev had the better reach and picked his shots from a good range, but Mark showed no fear in getting on the inside to throw his elbows and take Ev down. Both fighters were very fit and demonstrated very good wrestling skills. Both fighters were aggressive landing clean shots on each other. The first round clearly went to Ev as he demonstrated great standup skills and good takedown defense, and the second round clearly went to Mark as he took Ev down and landed several elbows and ground and pound strikes. The third round was very close back and forth action. The judges took a while to deliberate, but in the end Ev edged out the split decision from the judges. Although there was no “Fight of The Night” awarded, many audience members thought Ev and Mark’s fight was the most technical and exciting fight.

Thanks to Hamish, Dave, Makoto, Francis, Avi, and the AMMA fighters for all helping Ev in preparation of this fight. It was all worth it to see him demonstrate all his skills in the cage. And thanks to all the AMMA members and fans who came out in support of Ev.

Click here to see photos from the event.

—RESULTS FROM APR 30TH FIGHTS—

AMMA fighters represented very well last Saturday at the ARMAGEDDON fight show with all 3 AMMA fighters taking on kickboxing matches instead of MMA. Saturday was a great showcase of AMMA skills in the stand up game, not just in grappling or wrestling.

Ruiha fought a very close fight with Jesse Sabine of Shuriken in the first fight of the evening with both ladies having their debut fights. The fight was originally scheduled for B-class MMA at a catch weight of 65 kg, but Jesse couldn’t make weight so Ruiha agreed to a 67 kg catch weight in a padded kickboxing fight. Even though Jesse had an 8 in height advantage and 4-6 kg weight advantage, Ruiha stood toe-to-toe the whole way through, showing the better technique and cardio. But in the end, Jesse walked away with a split decision win, but Ruiha was the winner in all of AMMA eyes.

Kavi had the next kickboxing fight against Kadin Leuten of Roundhouse. Again, it was an action-filled fight with both men standing toe-to-toe. Kavi showed extreme heart giving it all he had, even in the later rounds when he became very tired. Kavi landed the more damaging and clean punches throughout the fight. It became clearer as the rounds went on that Kavi was pulling out all he had with more determination than ever to win the fight. It paid off when Kavi walked away with a split decision. Congratulations to this warrior for showing such great heart and skills in his debut fight.

Ev faced Jimmy Moorhouse from Roundhouse in AMMA’s third kickboxing fight of the evening. This fight was over within 1 min 55 seconds of round 1. The round started pretty even with both fighters cautiously feeling out each other’s skills. Then after the first minute Ev started to dominate with intensity and technique while Jimmy became overwhelmed with the barrage of strikes. The two fighters ended in a clench and Ev threw his opponent onto the floor. Jimmy refused to get back up claiming that he was unable to continue because his back hurt badly. The referee ruled Ev the winner by TKO because he deemed that the injury was not due to the throw. Ev walked away victorious in the second kickboxing match of his fight career.

Thanks to Makoto and Denny for helping in the corner for Kavi and Ev, and thanks to Anastasia for helping in the corner for Ruiha. Also thanks to all AMMA members who showed up in support. It was a fantastic night for the AMMA team!

—NEW KIDS TERM TUE MAY 3—

Don’t forget the new Kids MMA term starts on Tuesday May 3rd. We look forward to seeing the talent from the last term return this term. Price is $160 for 11 weeks (2 sessions per week), $90 for 6 weeks, or $10 per class. Term tuition is payable at the front desk at the start of the term.