I’d like to share a little bit more of this fight night with you on my fight blog. I have 497 photos in my photo set for Fight at the View III and I would like to post a selection of my best shots from the night.

Link to full set on Flickr.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/detail/

Kiarash Moghaddam lifted high

Wrapping up

Massage Therapist Vernon Marshall Works Over Fighter

Sarah Mcleod

Fighter Warming Up

Fighters Warming up

Clinching against the ropes

Sony Sahota and Nick Marinos

Adam Blanchette and Kevin Mackenzie

Dave Logan

Hakeem Dawodu

Kiarash Moghaddam and Mike Downey

Kiarash Moghaddam and Mike Downey

Kiarash Moghaddam and Mike Downey

Link to full set on Flickr.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/detail/

I brought my fight blog and camera on the weekend to Fight at the View III, presented by Gerry Gionco International at Fraserview Hall, Saturday night, April 17 2010. Gionco, who has been presenting the local fight scene for years, proves yet again that there is a strong local following for martial arts fight nights with MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai all on one card. Real Vancouver fight fans aren’t going to wait for UFC 115 to see live fight action in Vancouver and they want to see the stars of tomorrow today. The full house in attendance on a hockey playoff night proved that without a doubt. With gyms from Victoria to Calgary on the card, the night was a great cross section of the hot young fight talent in Western Canada in martial arts.

Hasman Sandhu from the Lion’s Den in Calgary won by judges decision over Suneel Bangarh from Peteric’s in Victoria in this kickboxing match at 145 lbs between these two young fighters.

A bantamweight MMA fight was settled by a brutal knockout in the second round by Oliver Vajda of Raptor in Maple Ridge over Francis Montes of Columbia Martial Arts Burnaby.

In her first appearance back in Vancouver since that great fight with Wendy Roy at MMA At The Rock in January of this year, Sarah Mcleod of Team Denarius Calgary won her exhibition kickboxing match over Angela Business from Phantom Kamloops.

Alex Tribe of Peteric’s got the judges decision over Joe Halfar of Posener’s in Vancouver for a 160lb Muay Thai bout.

Sony Sahota of Wuji Systems Vancouver won by tapout, with some kind of twisted around front naked choke and arm bar with legs in round 2 in a fast-paced welterweight MMA bout against Nick Marinos. Despite the pressure Marinos put on Sahota, it was a calmer Sahota that won out over Marinos in the end.

Bryce Gougeon of Raptor won by tapout using a rear naked choke against Andrew Valiqutte of Columbia Martial Arts, Burnaby in that welterweight MMA match.

Adam Blanchette of Iron City Muay Thai, Richmond, earned a unanimous decision against Kevin Mackenzie of Phantom Kamloops for their Muay Thai fight at 195lbs. Adam’s record is now 4-0.

Dave Logan of Team Denarius won his middleweight MMA match by ground submission, called by referee against Clay Ares of Wuji Systems Vancouver.

Hakeem Dawodu of Mike Miles Muay Thai Calgary scored his 145lb Muay Thai victory by knockout in round 2 against local favorite Josh Jauncey of WKX in Surrey.

The main event was for the Western Canadian Amateur Muay Thai title for Cruiserweight (185lbs) between Kiarash ‘The Beast’ Moghaddam of Versus21 MMA Vancouver and Mike ‘Knock ‘em Down’ Downey from Peteric’s Kickboxing Victoria. After 4 intense rounds of action it seemed like Kiarash Moghaddam had the fight. He felt he had it, the crowd felt he had it, but there was some delay and discussion in the ring before the result according to the judges was announced. It was pronounced a draw. The capacity crowd at fight night went nuts, and were ready for the next round on the edge of their seats. Both fighters, having already left everything in the ring, laced their gloves back up and went back in for one more two minute round to decide the owner of the title. In the end, Kiarash Moghaddam won by unanimous judges decision with superior calm, conditioning, and strikes that would fill up the judges scorecards.

Full Photo pool from the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/

Full Photo pool from the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/

I was working on my fight blog last night at Fight @ The View III last night at Fraserview Hall. Kiarash Moghaddam, our guy at Versus21, won his Muay Thai fight against Mike ‘Knock ‘em Down’ Downey to win the Western Canadian Amateur Cruiserweight title. It was an exciting fight and at the end, everybody in the room knew who won the fight except the judges. In a rare turn of events, the fighters put their gloves back on and fought an extra round. In the end, it was a unanimous decision. Congratulations Kiarash! Versus 21 trainers Ben, Ali, and Imam are in the shot with Kiarash and his new belt.

I have lots more photos for Fight @ The View III and they will be up as soon as I can get some time tonight.

Fight Night @ The View III

Fight night is coming up tomorrow night with Fight at the View III, Saturday April 17 2010. Today was weigh-in, that last moment of calm where all the fighters on the card meet up, nice and peaceful like. We get to see the fighters, and if all goes well, we get a little show, complete with a few group shots and stare-downs. Here are some shots from the session today for readers of my fight blog.

There will be a few tickets at the door. The main event is a title fight, the provincial ISKA Cruiserweight BC Amateur kickboxing championship, between Kiarash ‘The Beast’ Moghaddam and Mike ‘Knock ‘em Down’ Downey. Come to think of it, I have sparred with Kiarash on several occasions at Versus21 and I can tell you he is a tough guy to go up against! Fight Night at the View III is where you want to be if you like martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and action. Never mind that you couldnt get tickets to UFC because it sold out in 15 minutes. Come out and support the local fight scene where you get to be a lot closer to the action.

flickr.com link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/

flickr.com link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623748559699/

Fight Cancelled

An hour ago I just got an email with a message that just floored me. Gionco International has announced at the last minute that the ISKA BC championship and 5 MMA bouts scheduled for tonight, Friday January 29, 2010, has been cancelled, a decision made by Mr. Gionco. It seems that there was a question related to the pro or amateur status of Victor Wang of Posener’s Pankration & Kickboxing. As such, there is an issue of contention from the City of Vancouver which cannot allow this fight, the main event. Cancel the main event, cancel the night. Gionco regrets having to take this action, and refunds are in the works for all ticket holders.

Update

The fight did go on after all. I hear that the hot fight of the night was Josh Jauncey, with a 1st round TKO.