Saturday, May 25th saw Coach Kevin “Le Monstre” Jousset step into the Eternal MMA 45 cage in his second professional Mixed Martial Arts bout, hoping to continue his five strong streak of securing first round knockouts! Up against opponent Jimmy O’Brien in a welterweight match up, Kevin did not disappoint, displaying his world class judo skills, to take down Jimmy in the first round to secure the KO win via elbows, in a brutal ground and pound finish at approximately 90 seconds. This brings Kevin to a SIX win streak, all via first round KO. Le Monstre strikes again, a huge congratulations to Kevin who is establishing himself in the MMA circuit as a force to be reckoned with!
Three of our Muay Thai fight team members flew up to Sydney to compete on Yokkao 39-40, on the promotions fourth visit to Australia. Anthony Trejo was up first on Yokkao 39 for the team in a 65kg bout against opponent Nattakit Pakkawan, an experienced Thai fighter. Trejo came out super aggressive and strong, and despite sustaining a cut eye brow and fighting with a height disadvantage, he kept a good pace the whole fight but unfortunately didn’t get the win, the fight going to judge’s decision in the end. Massive respect for Trejo for showing great sportsmanship, continuing to corner and support his team mates after recovering from his own bout!
Smokin’ Joe Coverdale fought a fellow Australian fighter in Jordie Bargailie in a 62kg match up. This was a very aggressive bout, with plenty of back and forth! Joe got dropped with a spinning elbow at the end of the third round, but managed to miraculously get back up and fought the whole five rounds. What a warrior! Not the result we wanted with the fight resulting in a decision loss for Joe, however we are extremely proud of how much heart he showed and the way he fought in the ring. Well done Joe!
Closing up for the team on the co-main event, Albert “Timorese Assassin” Xavier was set to go up against a formidable opponent in full time Yokkao sponsored fighter Spencer Brown (64kg). The first round saw Albert moving well, keeping a good distance, controlling the ring well to land cleaner shots down the middle and work his low kicks on his opponent’s front leg. Spencer continued to load heavy body punches on in the second round, dropping Albert with a liver shot right at the end of the round, with the referee calling the finish. Devastated for Albert, but we are immensely proud of the sportsmanship he has shown, and the level of technique displayed in the ring against a tough opponent. The Timorese Assassin will be back stronger for the experience! Huge thanks to Coach Laos Toohey for flying to Sydney with the team to corner and support, our students would not have been able to get to this level without your guidance.
Our ever active grappling team continued their efforts to dominate competition this weekend, with Coach Craig Jones and team mate Jeremy Skinner both set to appear on Polaris 10 in Poole, England. Jeremy was up first for the team against opponent Kamil Wilk in a 68kg catch weight match up. Jeremy showed off his very impressive leg lock game to secure a submission via Aoki lock, submitting Wilk at the half way mark. Congratulations to Jeremy, who has solidified himself as a competitor to watch in the future with his recent performances!
On the main card, Craig Jones had a hard fought fifteen minute battle with Matheus Lutes, where he used his improving standup and excellent Z guard to threaten subs and sweeps, eventually securing the win via decision for his efforts during the match in trying to engage Lutes. Well done to Craig, who retains his 185lb belt! With no sign of slowing down in his efforts, Craig moves on to his next match against Miha Perhavec (ECJJ) this week, on Grapple Fest 5 (01/06/2019)! Watch Grapple Fest 5 live on https://www.flograppling.com/
Interstate in our capital city Canberra on Sunday, May 26th, Coach Lachlan Giles went to compete at the 2019 Senior National Wrestling Championships. Lachlan has been dedicated in his quest to become a complete grappler, and has been training in Wrestling seriously over the last 4 years. This paid off for Lachlan this weekend, with him taking out the 79kg division to become the 2019 Australian Freestyle Wrestling champion! Fantastic achievement by Lachlan, and we look forward to watching him continue to dominate through competitions as he prepares for ADCC Worlds 2019!
Locally, the AGC State Championship kicked off at the North Melbourne Community Centre, with many of our grappling team eager to prove themselves on the mats. We had some great results from the team, such as David Du taking away a double gold and Clay Lyne taking away a gold in the gi and a silver in the open. We overall came away with the team trophy as the best NoGi team as a whole, and would like to congratulations all of our students on their efforts, thank you all for being such great representatives of the gym!
Photography: Just Jits Australia, Yokkao, Joshua Zuccato and Lachlan Giles.
Written by Emilie Yap.