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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.

We had a great belt test on Thursday night. I finally got my green belt. Thanks to Juanita Odin and Mike Linton for shooting pics for me. Ill post more on Flickr as soon as I get some time! Great work everybody, Osu!

Update: The flickr.com set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623744092645/

The flickr.com set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157623744092645/

In addition to the pictures I took for my fight blog from Tiger Balm 2010, there was also some video recorded. Here is a short youtube of one of the guys I train with at Versus21, Aaron Blanchette. Aaron won this 90 second fight. Its good quite good feedback to watch the video to see how Aaron did. Aaron fought quite well and put his skills together and stayed on top of his opponent.

This video is also available on Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/10843487

Welcome back to my fight blog. The poster is up for this upcoming MMA fight night, with MMA and Kickboxing fights on the card, FIGHT NIGHT @ THE VIEW III, presented by Gionco International, Saturday April 17, 2010. The event will also feature a full banquet dinner.

The feature fight of the night will be Kiarash ‘The Beast’ Moghaddam vs. Mike ‘Knock ‘em Down’ Downey. This is a title match for the ISKA Cruiserweight BC Amateur Kickboxing title. 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 @ The View III

Fraserview Hall is located at 8240 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC ( South end of Fraser Street ).

The event is on Saturday April 17, 2010, show at 8 PM.

Nothing like starting off the weekend by blowing off a little stress. Sparring what its all about; its where you bring everything from your classes and put it all together. We were supposed to be at fight night, but upon hearing that it was cancelled, I came to do a little training instead. Here are a few photos of what we got up to on Friday. Osu!

Sparring on Friday

Sparring on Friday

Sparring on Friday

Sparring on Friday - perfect leg block

A great fight night

River Rock Theater, inside River Rock Casino in Richmond on Saturday, January, 23 was host to the first ever MMA fight night inside the cage since the City of Vancouver agreed to sanction Pro Mixed Martial Arts Fight events on a two year trial basis. West Coast Promotions, together with River Rock Casino Resort put on this amateur fight night with all the preparations that a pro event would have.

Cage Night at the Rock

FightNews.com has awarded the team of Manny Sobral, Neil Pope, and Alister Brodie all of West Coast Promotions as the Promoter of the year. In recognition of their work putting on top level fight nights at The Rock and Red Robinson, calling them ‘… a real class act’. They are of course also the guys who run the North Burnaby Boxing Club.

Manny Sobral talked about the transition to MMA in an interview with boxingcinema.com: “It was an evolutionary decision on behalf of West Coast Promotions as we are in the combative sports promotion business.  There is a lot of cross over between the fastest growing sport in N. America, MMA, and boxing so we felt it important to be promoting yet another very exciting avenue of sport.

There are people still wondering about the safety factor of Mixed Martial Arts. Fighters attended pre-fight medicals, and as pointed out ahead of the event in their press release, “…all the officials for the event have been trained and certified by either IPRO (International Professional Ring Officials) or C.O.M.M.A.N.D. (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts Development) training programs and have many years of experience in their respective fields.” Paramedics are also on hand for the duration of the event.

The first cage fight in greater Vancouver was a very well organised event. The River Rock Theatre had an enthusiastic full house.

MMA Cage

And like any event I have seen, trainers and fighters from gyms from various cities around BC and as far away as Alberta came together to make a great night. Fight of the night was awarded to the women’s MMA match between Wendy Roy and Sarah McLeod, which ended in a draw based on identical scores by all three judges. These two fighters fought a determined match until the end and demonstrated skill, strategy and surprises. MMA is all about the surprises, that is what the crowd has come to see.

Iman Rahmim of Versus21

An award was also handed out to Versus21 (disclaimer, where I train), by F.I.L.E.S News, for the best new martial arts gym in Vancouver.

MMA in a cage had a great debut in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. UFC 115 is slated for June at GM place, and there are going to be more great fight nights to come in this town.

Photos

Link to full set on Flickr.com.

Fighers on the ground

Fighters in Guard

Coaches shouting directions

Card Girls Are Lovely

Fighter Wendy Roy

Fighters Sarah McLeod and Wendy Roy

Emilio Ditrocchio and Bazooka Joe

Fighters in Guard

Right Cross

Ground Work

Fighter Ready To Enter

Link to full set on Flickr.com.

Fight results

Fight Decisions published from West Coast Promotions, January 26, 2010.

Source: WestCoast Promotions, Press Release.

The Audience at River Rock

Other Sources of news for this event online:

Photos: MMA at the River Rock, Vancouver Sun.

MMA rolls into River Rock, Vancouver Sun.

Ground and Pound: Swinging Sisters Highlight MMA Event, Vancouver Sun.

Saturday Night Nearly Sold Out, Vancouver Sun.

More photos from my shots at Honour Combat Championships

Link to more photos from my flickr.com pool

Here is the Versus21 flash fight video, as  a followup to my earlier post with photos of the event. Lets hope that by showing people what MMA is we can help overcome the fear and misunderstanding around it. Its the worlds fastest growing sport, and a great way to train as much as any other form of martial arts. Please watch the video and add your rating on YouTube.

Update:

Congratulations to Sensei Dean Lirette, I saw on Sensei Blake’s blog that Dean won his fight decsively in Victoria at Quest For The Title IV.

Osu!

Sensei Dean Lirette from the gym where I train, Versus21, is fighting at Quest for the Title IV. Go Sensei Dean! Hit em hard!!!!

Saturday October 3, Doors @6, Fights @7.

Victoria Arts Connection
2750 Quadra St.
Victoria BC Canada

More info to be found at: http://questforthetitle.com/

Update: Kirash Moghaddam and Adam Blanchette both won their fights in convincing fashion. Ali says in is blog: ‘Adam looked great and managed to use his jabs and low kicks really well… just like that Adam improved his record to 3-0 in less than a year and a half of training… Kirash was a whole new fighter this time around. His opponent looked quiet dangerous up until the bell rang after that he just looked more beat up every second of the fight. Kiarash was truly a “beast” out there.

Way to go guys! Osu!

A couple of friends of mine, Adam Blanchette and Kirash Mogghadam are fighting at Fighter’s Realm 3. If you are in Courtenay, come by and see the action!

Saturday September 26, Fights @ 7 PM, Doors @ 6 PM
Warrior’s Realm Academy
2785 Mansfield Drive
Courtenay, BC
250.703.0092
www.warriorsrealm.ca