Friday Night Fights Muay Thai ready for TV

The United States Muay Thai scene right now is stronger than ever before, quality shows are going one from the west coast to the east coast. The next big step will be when a promotion lands a TV deal in the United States that doesn't relegate them to a 2AM time slot. The newly re-branded Friday Night Fights Muay Thai originally announced a deal with SNY, but after deciding to hold off on airing their "8-to1" tournament this past August they have been very quiet about what is going on with their TV deal. FNFMT President, Justin Blair usually known for being tight lipped with their plans has been especially so since their initial announcement regarding broadcasting the series, so one can only wonder what is going on behind closed doors.

Results and Recap: Friday Night Fights "Fall Brawl"

by David Sanchez

Friday Night Fights "Fall Brawl" took place at the Hall at St. Pauls in New York and featured three pro Muay Thai fights. All three bouts were action packed and featured a variety of talent.

In the night's main event Dwight Grant and Dan Cucueta were each making their pro debuts. Grant established himself in the fight by successfully using his boxing and transitioning effectively to using his knees. Despite Cucueta being a very tough and game opponent, Grant seemed to be a bit too much in the end. A knockdown and a standing eight count in favor of Grant helped put his stamp on the fight as the judges awarded him the fight by unanimous decision.

Fight Card for Friday Night Fights "Fall Brawl" event

Friday Night Fights Muay Thai is back in action again with the "Fall Brawl" at the Hall at St. Paul's in New York tonight. The card will feature three pro bouts with the remainder of the card being filled with amateur bouts. It has been another successful year for Friday Night Fights Muay Thai as they can continuously held great show after great show month after month. "Fall Brawl" is expected to be their second to last event of 2011.

The night's main event will feature Pittsburgh Muay Thai's Dan Cucueta against New York's Dwight Grant, both fighters will be making their pro debuts. The co-main event will feature what is expected to be an action packed fight between super middleweights Daniel Finz and Travis Lerchern, while the final pro bout will feature the Muay Thai debut of UFC veteran Dave Branch as he takes on Virginia's Strahinda Ivanovic.

Joseph Valtellini talks about his win over Alex Berrios and his future plans

Joseph Valtellini scored one of the most important victories of his career in dominating fashion on September 23rd under the Friday Night Fights banner. Valtellini defeated Florida's Alex Berrios via (T)KO after Berrios was unable to answer the bell at the end of the second round. Muay Thai Authority recently caught up with Valtellini to speak about the win against Berrios as well as his future plans.

MTA: You recently defeated Alex Berrios and once again it was a dominant performance. Did you feel you would be able to put him away so easily?

Joseph: I knew going into this bout that Alex was a tough and skilled opponent, and he was coming off a big win against Rigel Balsimico. I trained really hard for this match and wanted to move up in the rankings and show that I deserve to be amongst the top fighters in North America. A got a bad sinus infection the week of the fight and wasn’t even sure if I was able to fight. But I didn’t want to disappoint the fans, supporters and Friday Night Fights and my Team. But I was still well prepared and confident that my hand would be raised by KO/TKO. I felt early on in the first round that the fight would end early, but I was waiting for the right opportunity.

Justin Greskiewicz: Looking to continue his climb to the top through rough terrain

In 1958 The Purple People Eater climbed up the Billboard pop charts and reached #1. There is now only one Purple People Eater and he lives in Philadelphia. Much like the 1958 Sheb Wooley classic, he is looking to climb to the top, though not in the music industry, to a beat of his own nonetheless. For those not familiar with him, Justin "The Purple People Eater" Greskiewicz fights out of Cool Hearts gym in Philadelphia, PA where they train and fight under the slogan, "We fight sexy." Greskiewicz has made his name in the American Muay Thai scene by taking on all comers. With his trademark purple hair, his exciting and dynamic fight style, he has become a top contender in the U.S. Muay Thai scene.

Currently on the mind of Greskiewicz is a rubber match with Turan Hasanov at Friday Night Fights September 23rd event in New York. Greskiewicz and Hasanov have split a pair of fights, though in Greskiewicz' opinion, the score should be 2-0. He strongly feels that he won the last fight against Hasanov, despite the judges awarding Hasanov a split-decision to even them up at one fight a piece.

Keys to Victory: Alex Berrios vs. Joseph Valtellini

Friday Night Fights will hold its second of back-to-back events on Friday September 23rd. The event will feature a bout between the number nine (Alex Berrios) and ten (Joseph Valtellini) ranked fighters on Muay Thai Authority's North American rankings. The winner of the bout can easily claim to be the top 165-175 lb fighter on the east coast. The bout should prove to be very exciting as it is an interesting style match-up between the very explosive Joseph Valtellini and the very technical Alex Berrios. Both fighters will have to exploit any advantage they can find in order to be victorious and each fighter will have their keys to victory.

Results and Recap: Friday Night Fights Sept. 16th event

by Peeloshmee Deonarain

Friday Night Fights Muay Thai kicked off the first of back-to-back events at the Broad Street Ballroom with their September 16th fight card, which featured five pro fights. The night's main event action was a bout between New York's Chris Kwiatkowski and Canada's Joe Marchand Tipping. Both fighters seemed equally matched in the ring, Kwiatkowski used his hands to do most of his damage, while Tipping used his kicks to score. The fight started off slow as both fighters felt each other out. Kwiatkowski clearly knew his hands were going to be key for him as he scored with them through out the bout, utilizing his reach to land his jab. Tipping was the smaller fighter of the two as he moved up a weight class to face Kwiatkowski, but clearly had no problem mixing it up with Kwiatkowski as he successfully implemented body kicks and leg kicks throughout the fight. In addition to landing his jab Kwiatkowski followed up with body kicks that successfully landed and in the end took home a unanimous decision win.

Friday Night Fights banking on pro fights as they continue to evolve

Friday Night Fights Muay Thai will hold the first of back-to-back events on September 16th at the Broad Street Ballroom in New York. The promotion, run by Justin Blair has continuously improved their position in the Muay Thai market. In a time when most shows rely on heavy ticket sales from amateur fighters to bring in their local crowd, Friday Night Fights has consistently changed things up by featuring a high number of pro bouts on their cards card, including this evening’s.

Pictures: A night at the Friday Night Fights weigh-ins

Scott Hirano was on hand at Church Street Boxing Gym in Manhattan, NY to capture some shots of the weigh-ins for Friday Night Fights 8-to-1 event which will take place at the Broad Street Ballroom tonight (July 22nd).

Fixing the Bank with Joseph Valtellini

by Flip English

Due to logistic issues a traditional face-to-face interview with Joseph Valtellini was deemed impossible. The Canadian Muay Thai artist was hard at work in his hometown of Toronto Ontario, making final preparations for his showdown with Ben Case in New York. As one of last year's contender for North American Muay Thai Fighter of 2010, it was expected that his concentration would be with his camp members at Ultimate Martial Arts. But regardless of how the interview was conducted, what's important is that Valtellini is here and he is ready to make his mark in Muay Thai. And judging by the result of that match, it looks like he and Team Ultimate made excellent use of that time.

Friday Night Fights sell out three consecutive events, looking to set New York Muay Thai attendance record

On June 10th, New York's longest running fight series, Friday Night Fights sold out it's third consecutive event in a row.

After starting off the 2011 season with one of the most impressive bout line ups that the east coast had seen, it seems as though the momentum from that event's success has built up speed.

March 4th, April 29th & now June 10th were all sold out shows marking for the first time that the series has achieved such a feat. While the venue for the last 3 Friday Night Fights events holds approximately 1,500 attendees, this recent accomplishment follows 2010 when Friday Night fights set the record for the highest attended Muay Thai event in New York City at the Armory with an attendance of over 2,500 people.

Pictures: Friday Night Fights Valtellini vs. Case & Hasanov vs. Greskiewicz

As always Lance Burns was on hand for Friday Night fights to take some great pictures of all the nights action. Below are some of Lance pictures of the Friday Night Fights even which took place on April 29th. You can visit PhotoBurns.com to see more great photography from Lance Burns.

Alex Berrios vs. Rigel Balsamico set for June 10th Friday Night Fights main event

Friday Night Fights will return with some great action set for June 10th. Headlining the event will be a fight featuring Alex Berrios from Khanomtom Muay Thai in Tampa, FL against Rigel Balsamico from Cool Hearts Muay Thai in Philadelphia, PA.

Berrios has been out of Muay Thai action since defeating Anthony Nieves in May of 2010. Balsamico was last set to compete against Ryan Madigan earlier this year, but the fight did not happen due to a miscommunication reagrding the type of equipment which could be used in the ring. Madigan pulled out when he as told he could not wear the knee protector he was wearing. 

Keep checking back here at MuayThaiAuthority.com for more information regarding Friday Night Fights June 10th event.

Friday Night Fights Recap - Hasanov wins via split decision, Valtellini wins by TKO

by Peeloshmee Deonarain

New York, NY -- Turan Hasanov and Justin Greskiewicz met in the nights main event in a re-match. Greskiewicz had previously defeated Hasanov via TKO due to leg kicks. Hasanov pressed the action, coming forward with big punches looking to knock Greskiewicz out. He succeeded in pressing Greskiewicz up against the ropes several times, but Greskiewicz covered up or slipped the punches. Greskiewicz mixed it up throwing punches in combination with kicks and won the battle in the clinch. He did not utilize the leg kicks that won him the first fight as much this time around, but when he did Hasanov blocked or moved out of the way. Greskiewicz was able to dodge many of Hasanov's punches and caused him to come out in the second round with a bloody nose. The judges gave the win to Hasanov via split decision with the scores being 48-47 Hasanov, 48-47 Greskiewicz, 48-47 Hasanov. The fight was extremely close and some could argue that Greskiewicz deserved the nod.

Someone is saying goodbye to being undefeated

In the fight game your only as good as your last fight, however, in Muay Thai you are also measured on the level of competition you face. Keeping your record as immaculate as possible is important, but that doesn't mean you dodge good fighters. Some fighters understand this and are willing to put their record on the line against good fighters on a consistent basis, others don't and prefer to fight lesser competition to keep that record looking good but in reality are living behind a false facade. 

Friday Night Fights "Muay Thai Madness" Fight card for March 4th set

Friday Night Fights is back with some Muay Thai action, after having a successful MMA event in New England the week before. This time they are treating fans to a main event that will feature Ryan Madigan vs. Rigel Balsamico. Balsamico fights out of Cool Heart Muay Thai in Philadelphia, and is by far more experienced that Madigan. Despite the experience gap Madigan is a game fighter, and this bout should provide some fire works.

Mark DeLuca talks wins over Kevin Molina at Friday Night Fights Season Opener

Mark DeLuca opened his 2011 campaign with an exciting come from behind victory over Kevin Molina. The  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania fighter was behind on early on the cards, but showed resilience rallying back in the final three rounds to take home a unanimous decision. Mark was kind enough to take some time and talk to Muay Thai Authority regarding the fight, and his plans for 2011.

MTA: You had an exciting fight against Kevin Molina at the Friday Night Fights season opener. You won a unanimous decision, after the first two rounds did you feel you were down on the judges cards?

Mark: Yea, I tend to start my fights slow and knew I had to turn it on for rounds 3, 4 and 5.

Friday Night Fights promoter Justin Blair talks season opener, and future plans

Friday Night Fights promoter Justin Blair took some time to answer a few questions for Muay Thai Authority. He talks about the most recent Friday Night Fights event, and the great fights that took place, the comments made by Turan Hasanov, future plans for the promotion, and more. Take a few minutes to read the interview and see what one of New York's top promoters has to say.
 

MTA: Your the top Muay Thai promoter in New York, and you put on another great show this past weekend. What was in your opinion the best of the January 14 event?

Roli Delgado talks win over Turan Hasanov at Friday Night Fights

MTA: Did you see the comments Turan made about hardly training for you, and that he was disappointed in having to fight you?

Roli: I actually heard from the promoter at weigh ins about his comments. I told my team that I didn't want to look, hear or talk about it. The fight is the fight, I've had 29 fights including kickboxing & MMA and the only thing that matters is what happens in the cage/ring.


MTA: If so did these comments give you any extra motivation to make sure you came out of there with a win?

Roli: I kind of knew that he would take me lightly. The degree that he did was crazy though. I mean, I just can't imagine talking so much sh&% and not training hard for the fight. It didn't give me extra motivation, it was just an observation. Had I read his interview where he disrespected me and MMA in general, it would have upset me, that's why I didn't read it. My friends did and I know it bothered them. 

Friday Night Fights NYC 1/14/2011 pro results

Friday Night Fights was in full swing when it held its season opener.  In the night's main event Alexander Lavurshin defeated Chris Romulo via unanimous decision. Lavrushin proved to do most of his damage in the second round when he dropped Romulo twice, once with a straight right hand, and then with a knee. In the final round Romulo tried to rally, but it was to little late.

Chris Kwiatkowski proved too much for Mike Erosa as he defeated him via KO. Erosa played with fire by keeping his hands low, and paid for it.