Our Absolute MMA Mixed Martial Arts team were back at Eternal MMA on the Gold Coast this weekend, keen to repeat our winning streak from Eternal MMA 33 (May 2018).
Josh Grove was up first in his second appearance on Eternal MMA and having brought home a win in May, was keen to repeat his result. Up against opponent Mitch Bayliss, Josh dominated the match with his wrestling and took his opponent down in a solid grappling performance. Definitely not the most conventional way for Josh to spend his birthday, however we are sure it is not one he will be forgetting anytime soon. Happy Birthday and congratulations on your win via Unanimous Decision Josh!
We had Choi Sung Wook up second for the team in his bout against Matthew Yung Lee-Manwar, who is known for his wrestling skill. Choi did well to shut down the wrestling skills of his opponent and had moments where the fight was turning in his favour, landing heavy strikes and doing significant damage. This unfortunately was not enough to win the judges favour and Choi sustained a loss via Unanimous Decision. Great to see you getting in there Choi, you’ll come back stronger for the experience and we can’t wait to see you in the octagon again.
Coach Sam Hibberd closed up the night for the team on the co-main event, against an opponent with an undefeated record, Aaron Blackie. Sam showed everything he’s been coaching the team in his MMA classes and shut down multiple takedown attempts, keeping his cool under pressure. As soon as the fighters started trading, Sam began to land strikes, building significant momentum and damage. This was a definite contender for fight of the night with a barn burner of the third round, with the judges giving Sam the win via split decision after a tough match. Congratulations Sam on a triumphant return to the cage!
Although not from Absolute MMA, we’d like to shout-out to the unsung hero (Michael Letizia) who got a point deducted at the start of his match for his glorious mullet. You the real MVP.
Sunday rolled around, and Coach Lachlan Giles represented Absolute MMA at Polaris 7 in London in his bout against Oliver Taza as the opening rounds for the welterweight championship.
This was a super technical match that went the whole distance of 15 minutes, both fighters going hard with balanced moments of attack and defence. Lachlan showed a lot of his single X game and had some excellent reversal and attacks in the match. Taza showed a super aggressive game which eventually led to the judges awarding him the match. This was an amazing, technical match and we couldn’t be prouder of Lachlan as our representative for his performance and how he conducted himself. Well done Lachlan!