Last Friday, four of our coaches and fighters closed up the year for the team on Hex Fight Series 20 at Melbourne Pavilion. First up we had the French born Jack Nicola in his fourth professional fight, opening the show against opponent Rohan Pope, and what a start it was. Throwing a devastating right hook to the chin of his opponent, Jack secured the win at the 18 second mark of round one via TKO! A sensational result for Jack, and a great beginning for team Absolute MMA!
The second fight of the night saw Coach Sam Hibberd face off against Juan Lizama, judo black belt from Guam, and make his debut in the Bantamweight division. No stranger to the Hex octagon, Sam put on a dominant performance from the beginning, landing heavy punches and exerting great control on the ground. Ultimately, Lizama was overwhelmed by Sam’s grappling skills, with Sam scoring multiple takedowns before setting up a Japanese neck tie, securing a tight darce choke to get the tap after the two minute mark of round two! Congratulations to Sam on an incredible win via submission!
Bout number four of the night saw Coach Kevin Jousset battle it out in a welterweight match up against a familiar face in Mat Myers (Adrenaline MMA), who he has previously come up against in his amateur career. It was a heated rematch from the two, with the match going the full three rounds. Round one saw Kevin cut his opponent above the eye with elbows on the ground. Using his elite judo skills, Kevin also tossed his opponent from the clinch, using a strong wizzer control on the ground to do damage, switching expertly to a reverse triangle to control his opponent and attack the kimura. Myers did well here, escaping the submission before the end of the round. Round two saw another dominant performance from Kevin, who began the round with an expertly placed trip against the cage, controlling the majority of the contest with his expert grappling skills. The final round began with striking exchanges on the feet, but went to the ground in a scramble, Kevin escaping a RNC to return the fight to standing. With the fight going to the judges, Kevin took away a well-deserved win via unanimous decision. What a fight!
Coach Raja Shippen finished up the night for the team on the co-main event of the evening, going to war against opponent Michael Barber. Round one saw Raja come out aggressive, throwing elbows and knees, and defending well. Back stepping towards the cage walls, Raja got Barber on the front foot to land an expertly placed spinning back elbow and securing the win via TKO in round one! A truly impressive finish from Raja, and for the team, with all four of our fighters taking away wins! We are supremely proud of all of our team, and how hard they have worked to achieve this result. A huge thank you to all of the coaches and team who took the time out to help our team prepare, and to support them in the corner, and to all our students and members who came to cheer for our fighters on the night.
Overseas in Anaheim, California, The World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championships spanned four days and it was great to see so many of our students and staff head across the ocean to compete and prove themselves on the mat. Congratulations to the whole Absolute MMA team that competed and put their jiu jitsu on the line! While we are proud of all of our athletes, irrespective of whether or not they took away a medal, we would like to highlight Lisa Boyd for receiving gold at Master 3 (Blue Belt), Daniel Schuardt on taking bronze at Brown Belt, and purple belt Chisaki Akiyama‘s run at Light-Feather, in which she took away a Bronze medal. Chisaki showed beautiful technique in her No-Gi Worlds performance, and she has come so far in her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey. Congratulations Chi!
To all the athletes from Absolute MMA and the rest of the Aussies that made the trip and left their heart on the mats, we salute you. Thank you to everyone that contributes to the training of this wonderful martial art on our mats, and our training partners who make our performances possible!
At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Jiu-Jitsu made it’s debut as a sport, and we were proud to have a representative from our gym, brown belt Coach Apryl Eppinger as a member of the Phillipines National Team. Apryl has been training tirelessly for this competition in recent months and we are extremely proud of her result, taking away a Bronze medal for her efforts in the 62kg female division! Well done Apryl!
Photography: W.L Fight Photography, Livia Giles.