Our Mixed Martial Arts team got it started for the crew in Adelaide this weekend, flying to South Australia to compete on Eternal MMA 43. First up in Adelaide we had Jake Savic against opponent Luke Vidler, who put in a really dominant performance, taking down his opponent at will and landing some heavy shots early in the first round. In the second round he battled to get the takedown, eventually did get it and was dominating in top position, but unfortunately got caught in an armbar and submitted at the 2.28 minute mark.
Jason Gunawan showed a very complete performance, managed the striking transition between striking and grappling really well, to win the first round through striking and controlling the position. In the second round, he came out strong to take his opponent down, waited patiently for his opponent to turn, completed a nice backtake at the right moment and then followed up with a rear naked choke putting his opponent to sleep.
Imantha Alahakoon put in a gutsy performance, he was outclassed by a more experienced grappler, but he fought with no quit in him at all. Super proud of Iman’s effort as he took on an opponent with significant experience, having intially been matched against a white belt. Just got outclassed on the ground unfortunately for Iman, but he went the distance, losing via decision, having fought through to the very end. Great job Iman, you’ll be back stronger for the experience!
Last weekend also saw our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team showcase their skills on the mats at The Victorian Jiu Jitsu Championship (VJJC 2019), spread across Saturday and Sunday at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. It was great to see so many of our staff and members from Collingwood, St Kilda and Melbourne CBD competing on the day, a huge thank you to all the friends and family who came down to support the Absolute MMA team. As a team, we received a total of 16 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze medals. To everyone who competed and received medals, we would like to congratulate you on continuing to challenge yourself and moving forward in your BJJ journey!
We had some standout performances on the day, including Constandinos Haritou, who won the Absolute Male Gi Open (blue belt, adult) and Clay Lyne who competed both the Saturday and Sunday, coming back strong on the second day after a loss on the first to take away gold in the blue belt No-Gi medium heavy division (5-1) and silver in the absolute blue belt No-Gi open weight.
We would also like to highlight Rio Iskandar‘s performance in the No Gi white belt light divison. Rio did a great job, showing off some clean sweeps and taking away silver for his efforts! Great result for Rio, who kept his head in the game to secure the win given he was coming off a loss in the gi. Check out more results from the championship here.
Thank you to head coach Thiago Stefanutti and all our amazing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coaches who help our students grow in confidence and technique daily through their classes. We are lucky enough to have a strong community at all three of our gyms and our students could not achieve the results they have without the support of all their training partners and coaches!
Our striking team also stepped up to prove themselves, with Saturday seeing several of our aspiring amateur Muay Thai team head to Stan the Man Fitness Academy for the Stan The Man Cup 7 “Quest for Greatness”. This event saw the majority of our six of our fighters making their debut in the ring and testing their training for the first time!
Up first for the team was Licia Yeo, who faced off against a much more experienced opponent in Cathy Santos from Forged Warriors in an exhibition match. This was a very exciting fight to watch with plenty of back and forth action! It was a tough match, but Licia listened well to her corner and stuck to her game plan, throwing great combitions and well placed kicks and punches in a consistent pace throughout all three rounds. This epic war resulted in a draw, and Licia and her opponent being awarded fight of the day! Well done Licia on an impressive debut, we look forward to seeing you back in the ring for the next one!
Joseph Choundary made his debut against an experienced opponent in Noah Hamilton (6 interclubs, 4 wins, 2 losses). A solid, dominant first round from Joe, who displayed clean and sharp technique, stuck to the game plan and listened well to his corner. In the second round Joe sustained an illegal knee to the face and a deep cut across the nose which began to bleed profusely. After receiving prompt medical attention, the bout was ruled a no contest. We’re proud of Joe and how he held himself in the ring! Great work Joe, we wish you a speedy recovery.
In our third debut for the team, Rebekkah Dimase faced off against Leah Maxwell from Forged Warriors (Adelaide). An awesome debut from Bek who threw some brutal leg chops and body kicks, coming out strong in the first round. Her opponent’s experience showed, and the last two rounds were hard going on Bek, but she pressed on, showing a lot of heart, continuing to return fire consistently and throwing combinations. The bout ended up in a close decision loss for Bek, but lots to take away and we are so proud of her on getting in the ring, not an easy thing to do in the first place. We would like to wish Bek all the best in her travels to the UK, and look forward to seeing how her martial arts journey progressing!
Jasmine Choundary followed her brother into the ring, finishing up for the Choundary siblings for the day against her opponent Holly Davy. Jasmine did struggle in the first two rounds with her opponent’s strong forward pressure, but managed to win the first round on points. The third round saw Jasmine begin to integrate punches with strong kicks, breaking her opponents will to keep fighting. With the round looking to progress towards a potential KO, Jasmine’s opponent was granted a 30 second rest in which she was encouraged to complete the fight with 20 seconds to go in the final round. A controversial draw for Jasmine in the end, but it is all experience gained and we would like to congratulate Jasmine on a great debut!
Wilhelm Sisouw stepped into the ring next, fighting K1 rules against Mike Jia from Stan the Man Fitness Academy. Great performance from Will, who consistently returned kicks throughout the bout, and finished strong with a dominant final round. Will’s match resulted in a draw with the fight going the distance but we would like to congratulate him on showcasing his skill and a match well fought! Can’t wait to see you back in the ring Will!
Ben Ambas finished up for the team at the interclub, in a 3 x 2 minute round match up against Mislav Horvat. An even match up, in which Ben displayed good aggression, however the mental game got the better of him and his technique began to slide. An eventual loss for Ben via decision, however lots to take away and learn from, and Ben will be back stronger for his experience! Great work on getting in there Ben!
Thank you to all our students from Absolute MMA, and the friends and family who came to support. We would also like to extend our thanks to Coaches Laos Toohey, Jeremy Wharerau, and fight team members Georgia Verry, Fei Yen and Andre Nguyen who took the time to come down and support the team in the corner. Thank you also to Stan the Man Fitness Academy for having us an our team compete, and a job well done to all our students who fought hard!
The Muay Thai team continued to represent into the night on Saturday, with two of our students going to war on Hardcore Promotions at the Frankston Arts Centre. Danielle Franks was up first on fight one of the card, matched against Julie Balteskard (Supafight Gym) in a 3x2minute round bout at 60kg (mod-thai rules). Against a tough southpaw opponent, Danni kept the pressure on by staying busy and using her right cross and right kick. Strong performance from Danni who secured the win via unaimous points decision.
Fight three on the card came around, and Josh Grove stepped into the ring against opponent Jaiden Olive in a 3×2 minute round bout at 67kg. This was a very close fight for Josh and a great one to watch! Josh fought well against a strong opponent who favoured the clinch, with Josh holding his own at range. In a fight that could have gone either way, Josh came out of it just short to sustain a loss via split points decision. Great to see Josh back at it with us after his stint in Thailand, we look forward to what the rest of the year holds for him!
Subversion Jiu-Jitsu Invitational rolled around Sunday, and “Team ‘Steal Yo Girl” went to throw down on the quintet in Chullora. Comprised of Mikael Yahaya, Jeremy Paul Skinner, Keller Locke Sodhi, Lachlan Warne and Matt McGuinness. Despite the team sustaining a loss, it was great to see some high level grappling on display. Better luck next time boys!
Saturday, 6th of April at Novice MMA 9 at Adrenaline MMA saw two of our amateur MMA team test themselves in competition! Danielle Stevens was up first for the team, an showed impressive form for her second fght. She won both round in dominant fashion against Jess Beatson of Adrenaline MMA and was awarded the unanimous decision victory. We’re super proud of the way Danni conducted herself both in and outside of the ring. Congratulations Danni!
Next up for the team was Lou Kang against Jean Bezzine (Sting Gym Frankston). This was a fantastic fight with both competitors leaving it all in the ring. Initally set to go for just two rounds, they added in a third given how close the fight was. Despite Lou losing via split decision in the third, he should be very proud of his performance. Looking forward to seeing where Lou takes his martial arts journey next!
The eight man no-gi tournament at Kasai Pro 5 saw Craig Jones‘ first match as a relatively slow paced match against a strategic Pedro Marinho who was unwilling to engage, with the match ending in a draw. In Craig’s second match he beat Jon Blank via RNC after an impressive and crowd pleasing back-take. In the third match of the tournament Craig got his back taken and submitted by the eventual winner Kaynan Duarte. Finally, Craig defeated Jackson Sousa via straight ankle lock to earn himself a well deserved third place. In his post-match interview he expressed his disappointment, but also reminded the crowd – much to their delight – that it ‘was still a more exciting match than Palhares!’. Congratulations on your impressive perfomances out there Craig!
Photography: W.L Fight Photography, Stan the Man Fitness Academy, Emilie Yap, Rebekkah Dimase, Jasmin Frank Fight Photography, Kasai
Written by Emilie Yap.
As the main event for the evening, Albert “Timorese Assassin” Xavier stepped up against opponent Abbas “Golden Boy” Ahmadi, a long time veteran and former world champion with over 120 fights in a title match for the Welterweight Commonwealth title. In a 5 round bout with full Thai rules, Albert confidentally fought a clean and technical battle, making use of the push kick to keep his opponent at bay, and consistently landing combinations. He stuck to the game plan, scoring three takedowns, rocking his opponent and catching him off balance with his cross and hook on numerous occasions through out the fight. Great to see Albert using his swift, clean boxing combinations to get the better of Abbas, who is known for his strong kicks. In the later rounds, both fighters picked up the intensity, however the match ended up going Alby’s way. A well deserved win via SPD for Albert and we’d like to congratulate him on his shiny new title belt! Champion!
Great night for the Muay Thai team with two wins, thank you to everyone who made the trek down to Sunshine to support the boys, and of course a huge thank you to Coach Laos Toohey and Anthony Trejo for their hard work and support in the corner. It was great to see so many faces in the crowd from the gym!
Meanwhile, back towards central Melbourne at the heritage listed Melbourne Pavilion, one of the most anticipated events for our MMA team, Hex Fight Series 18 was also underway! It was a three man show for the team, with Coaches Kevin Jousset and Kaan Ofli, and sambo practitioner Bekhzod Usmonov set to jump into the fray. New to the team and all the way from Tajikistan after training in Thailand, Bek was keen to prove himself to an Australian audience in the cage.
Up against opponent Michael Barber, in the first and second rounds, Bek dominated with his wrestling skills, scoring a lot of takedowns and landing strikes. As the fight progressed into the third round, the high energy output of the earlier rounds left Bek with little in the tank for the last round, his opponent aggressively putting on the pressure through sharp strikes. It was a close fight, with the judges ultimately scoring in favour to Bek’s opponent, resulting in a loss for Bek via UPD. Job well done to Bek who took the fight on short notice, not the result we wanted, but he’ll be back in the cage soon and stronger for the experience!
Next up for the team in the cage saw Coach Kevin “Monster” Jousset make his professional MMA debut against opponent Sam McNally. Wasting no time, Kevin landed heavy strikes after the opening bell of the first round, dropping McNally, who to his credit soldiered on, getting to his feet to throw a body kick at Kevin. Kevin aggressively took control of the fight, finishing off his opponent with his striking skills, with the referee stepping in to put a stop to the onslaught. Hats off to McNally who got up in a situation where not a lot of people would have, and of course massive congratulations to Kevin on a great start to his professional career! This marks Kevin’s FIFTH fight in a row where he has secured a win in the first round via knockout.
Coach “Genghis” Kaan Ofli closed up for the Absolute team at Hex for the night, matched up against opponent Scott “Mad Dog” Macgregor. With both fighters known to finish fights before the final round, this was always going to be an explosive match! The fight opened with a few exchanges between the two on the feet, with Macgregor shooting eventually for a takedown. Kaan countered with a front head lock, using it to get back to his feet. Wrestling his opponent against the cage and showing great control, Kaan took him down quickly to work to the back and sink in a RNC for the win! A great performance from Kaan, who secured the submission just one minute into his bout. This brings Kaan to an impressive win streak of THREE in a row. What a weapon! We look forward to seeing you back in the cage again soon.
To finish up the weekend for the team on Sunday, Tina Trinh and Tim Baker, our in house Melbourne CBD power couple went to throw down on Slap Jiu Jitsu 3 (Combat Jiu-Jitsu) in Hobart. This is a promotion created by All Styles Grappling. Tim finished his match within the first two minutes on the mats, after a throw from his opponent Tim transitioned from the bottom to secure a knee bar for the win. Slick performance from Tim, a very well-deserved win!
It was a hard slog for Tina against opponent Claudia Gulino, and after over 11 minutes of aggressive back and forth on the mats, it went to overtime. Great work from Tina who has been training hard and working on her grappling, she showed great control in the match and was declared the winner via EBI overtime. Congratulations to Tina!
Written by Emilie Yap. Photography: TV Fight Photos, Emilie Yap, W.L Fight Photography and Fiona Gumboots.
In Siberia, Russia, the newest member of our professional team Jake “The Honey Bear” Heun was set to fight in a bout on RIZIN against opponent Vitaly Shemetov. Up against a strong opponent in Shemetov, who has been undefeated since 2010, Jake showed great heart and fought without a corner. Despite his loss via submission, we’d like to commend Jake on his dedication to the fight game, all the work he put in his fight camp with Coach Laos Toohey and Joe Boobyer, how far he travelled and for putting in all on the line on the mat! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for Jake and we’re proud to have him on board with us.
Congratulations to all of our Boxing team who competed on Sunday! All of you performed really well, and showed good technical improvements. It was a busy day with six of our team leaving it all in the ring, shout out to Aneira, who fought twice and displayed great skill. We look forward to seeing you all move into the amateur level next! Well done!
