Lion Fight 10 took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas tonight and it was an action packed night of fights. In the night’s main event Yodsanklai Fairtex out struck Chike Lindsay to capture the Lion Fight Middleweight World Title.
Lindsay looked solid in the first round while working behind his jab. In the second round, however, Yodsanklai turned up the pressure and took over. He beat Lindsay up with a well rounded attack. Heavy kicks to the body and legs combined with solid elbows scored for Yodsanklai. He opened up three cuts on Lindsay, two by his left eye and one on his nose. By the time the final round came around it was clear that Lindsay needed a knockout to win, but despite his efforts he came up short. It was a one sided unanimous decision victory for Yodsanklai.
In the night’s co-main event Canada’s Matt Embree proved he was the best super lightweight in North America with a unanimous decision win over American Kevin Ross. Embree used a pin point counter attack to score points throughout the fight. Embree looked a little more aggressive than usual at times and it paid off. He landed a few clean sweeps on Ross, and connected with several leg kicks. When the fight went to the clinch he immediately began to work knees to the body and legs of Ross. In the final round it seemed Embree slowed down quite a bit due to fatigue and Ross was able to capitalize and take the final round but it was too little too late.
Tiffany Van Soest had no trouble defeating Lucy Payne to capture the Lion Fight Women’s World Featherweight Title. In the first round Van Soest was clearly the more agile fighter as she looked limber on her feet while Payne looked flat footed. Despite giving up a nice height advantage Van Soest got inside and landed a punch that hurt Payne. Van Soest pounced and cornered Payne while Punches and elbows came fast and furiously from Van Soest. Payne curled up and dropped to a knee forcing the referee to step in and halt the bout giving Van Soest the dominant win.
Sean Kearney was looking to avenge his loss to Malaipet Sasiprapa earlier this year, but fell short. Malaipet looked strong in the first round and in the second knocked Kearney down with an elbow from the clinch. Kearney tried to battle back in the final three rounds but came up short on the judges cards. Two judges gave the fight to Malaipet while one scored it a draw giving Malaipet the majority decision.
Ognjen Topic defeated Coke Chunhawat by split decision in a fight that should serve as a perfect example of why fighting the traditional Thai style does not work in the United States. The first three rounds of the fight were close. As expected Coke started slow and in the fourth and fifth rounds picked up the pace and out classed Topic clearly outlanding him with strikes and controlling the ring, but allowing the first three round to be so close cost him. Two judges scored the bout for Topic and one for Coke. If Coke would have fought with the same aggression in the first three rounds that he fought with in the final two rounds the fight would have most likely gone in his favor.
In the night’s opening bout Jason Andrada improved to 3-0 with a solid performance against J.P. Cole. Andrada picked Cole apart throughout the fight constantly moving forward and keeping busy with punches and kicks. He knocked Cole down midway through the bout with a body kick but in the end Andrada had to settle for a unanimous decision victory.
Results:
Yodsanklai Fairtex def. Chike Lindsay via Unanimous Decision
Matt Embree def. Kevin Ross via Unanimous Decision
Tiffany Van Soest def. Lucy Payne via (T)KO at 2:30 of Rd.1
Malaipet Sasiprapa def. Sean Kearney via Majority Decision
Ognjen Topic def. Coke Chunhawat via Split Decision
Jason Andrada def. J. P. Cole via Unanimous Decision
Lindsay looked solid in the first round while working behind his jab. In the second round, however, Yodsanklai turned up the pressure and took over. He beat Lindsay up with a well rounded attack. Heavy kicks to the body and legs combined with solid elbows scored for Yodsanklai. He opened up three cuts on Lindsay, two by his left eye and one on his nose. By the time the final round came around it was clear that Lindsay needed a knockout to win, but despite his efforts he came up short. It was a one sided unanimous decision victory for Yodsanklai.
In the night’s co-main event Canada’s Matt Embree proved he was the best super lightweight in North America with a unanimous decision win over American Kevin Ross. Embree used a pin point counter attack to score points throughout the fight. Embree looked a little more aggressive than usual at times and it paid off. He landed a few clean sweeps on Ross, and connected with several leg kicks. When the fight went to the clinch he immediately began to work knees to the body and legs of Ross. In the final round it seemed Embree slowed down quite a bit due to fatigue and Ross was able to capitalize and take the final round but it was too little too late.
Tiffany Van Soest had no trouble defeating Lucy Payne to capture the Lion Fight Women’s World Featherweight Title. In the first round Van Soest was clearly the more agile fighter as she looked limber on her feet while Payne looked flat footed. Despite giving up a nice height advantage Van Soest got inside and landed a punch that hurt Payne. Van Soest pounced and cornered Payne while Punches and elbows came fast and furiously from Van Soest. Payne curled up and dropped to a knee forcing the referee to step in and halt the bout giving Van Soest the dominant win.
Sean Kearney was looking to avenge his loss to Malaipet Sasiprapa earlier this year, but fell short. Malaipet looked strong in the first round and in the second knocked Kearney down with an elbow from the clinch. Kearney tried to battle back in the final three rounds but came up short on the judges cards. Two judges gave the fight to Malaipet while one scored it a draw giving Malaipet the majority decision.
Ognjen Topic defeated Coke Chunhawat by split decision in a fight that should serve as a perfect example of why fighting the traditional Thai style does not work in the United States. The first three rounds of the fight were close. As expected Coke started slow and in the fourth and fifth rounds picked up the pace and out classed Topic clearly outlanding him with strikes and controlling the ring, but allowing the first three round to be so close cost him. Two judges scored the bout for Topic and one for Coke. If Coke would have fought with the same aggression in the first three rounds that he fought with in the final two rounds the fight would have most likely gone in his favor.
In the night’s opening bout Jason Andrada improved to 3-0 with a solid performance against J.P. Cole. Andrada picked Cole apart throughout the fight constantly moving forward and keeping busy with punches and kicks. He knocked Cole down midway through the bout with a body kick but in the end Andrada had to settle for a unanimous decision victory.
Results:
Yodsanklai Fairtex def. Chike Lindsay via Unanimous Decision
Matt Embree def. Kevin Ross via Unanimous Decision
Tiffany Van Soest def. Lucy Payne via (T)KO at 2:30 of Rd.1
Malaipet Sasiprapa def. Sean Kearney via Majority Decision
Ognjen Topic def. Coke Chunhawat via Split Decision
Jason Andrada def. J. P. Cole via Unanimous Decision
Amateur results?
ReplyDeleteChike said no one has ever taken the fight to Yodsanklai. Now he knows why. A lot of people would like to keep coming at Yod. Yod is not fancy. Yod does not showboat. Yod just smashes you with very powerful basics and breaks you down. Once he senses that you are starting to break, he goes for the kill. Yod carved Chike's face up, but Chike showed way more heart than I thought he had. It's hard to keep going forward after getting struck by such power. How one judge saw it as a one point difference is beyond me. Even the announcers called the judge an imbecile.
ReplyDeleteSo what's next for Chike. I think after he fought some older Thais, he was jumped up too fast to face the likes of Yod. He should come down a couple of steps and fight the likes of Moses Sangtiennoi first.
If Lion Fight could pull off a showdown between Yod and Buakaw, it would be the biggest Muay Thai event of the decade.
While I'm on a matchmaking spree, I would also like to see Romie Adanza vs Rambaa M-16. Good older experienced Thai for Romie, who has also been around for a while. A rematch with Jomhod Sagami would not go well for Romie. Jomhod is too far at another level.
I would also like to see Joe Schilling vs Artem Levin. Now that they've both lost to Simon Marcus, I'd like to see the match that Joe originally wanted.
Malaipet surprised me with a solid performance. I really thought he no longer had it in him at this age. Great to see the U.S. based Legend back in high gear. However, realistically, he is not going to be a contender against any top-level youngster. Malaipet will always be a great face for U.S. Muay Thai fans, but he is older now. Seems like he's been 31 for years. That can't be accurate.
Coke? Well, he beat Topic up too late. The review was right on. You can't stall for 3 rounds before going on the attack. Although Topic gets another win, I think this fight exposes him as not being yet ready for the next step up. Facing the likes of Jomthong Chuwattana would be devastating to the young fighter.
Van Soest? There's no one left for you girl. I guess there will be no more talks of you avoiding Payne because of her height. You chopped that girl down quick! A good opponent for you will have to be quick and powerful. You've shown that taller girls are just a "speed bump."
Kevin Ross - I thought you won. I will have to go back and watch it again to see if Embree did in fact countered you well enough to win. I didn't think so.
Overall, this was a good show. Keep it up Lion Fight!