Friday Night Fights now officially Friday Night Fights Muay Thai, new website launches

Earlier in 2011, North America’s longest running Muay Thai promotion; Friday Night Fights officially changed their name to Friday Night Fights Muay Thai. The name change came ahead of their new website launch, www.FridayNightFights.com. The official names change indicates their commitment to the Muay Thai community. When asked about the name change, FNFMT President Justin Blair had the following to say about the name change.

“While in addition to Muay Thai, we have also produced Boxing and MMA, our focus over the last few years has been predominantly Muay Thai. In 2011, we decided to produce Muay Thai exclusively under the Friday Night Fights banner and felt that our name should reflect our commitment to the sport.”

The Rise of Muaythai in the East

by John Wolcott

Practitioners of Muaythai have been asking the powers that be for the implementation of full-rules into the New York fight game for years, and for years our cries have fell on deaf ears. It seemed as if those governing the sport did not have the same desire to grow Muaythai as the purists who yearned for a better rendition. They continuously denied promoters the rights to put together full-rules events, and for some time it felt as if there were a conspiracy against the advocates of traditional Muaythai. Fighters and gyms on the east coast where forced to dumb down their ring techniques to suit the standards of New York’s Muaythai directors. Because of this, it was the fighters who had received all the scrutiny from their western counterparts. And not once had their been an intervention from the people in the highest positions to make a change; at least not until now.

Full Rules Muay Thai in New York, Alex Berrios vs. Ben Case headline Friday Night Fights Muay Thai January 20th, 2012

Muay Thai in the state of New York has been under fire from fans and fighters alike for not having full rules Muay Thai. Well, the longest running Muay Thai promotion in New York is about to change that. Friday Night Fights Muay Thai will feature the first full rules Muay Thai event in the state of New York on January 20th, 2012, with the evening’s main event featuring a bout between Florida's Alex Berrios and New Jersey's Ben Case.

While the state of New Jersey implemented full rules Muay Thai in July of this year, it seemed that this would be the closest full rules Muay Thai would come to the big Apple, the East Coast’s Muay Thai epicenter. We caught up with the President of Friday Night Fights Muay Thai, Justin Blair to discuss the recent development of full rules in New York and his organization being the first to do it:

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.

What is the unexpected?

With impeccable timing, New York City based Muay Thai promotional company Friday Night Fights announced that Muay Thai fans should “Expect the Unexpected” at precisely the same time as 5.8 earthquake shook New York City.

Friday Night Fights and its president, Justin Blair have been virtually silent since pulling their scheduled broadcast off of the air in lieu of what most expect to be a farther reaching broadcast arrangement. In addition to preparing for back to back shows in September that will feature a “who’s who” of the highest profile fighters competing on the East Coast (9/16 & 9/23), the organization has now added the “X-Factor” of September 9th.

Breaking News: Friday Night Fights TV debut postponed, bigger TV deal in the works

Muay Thai Authority has recently  heard that Friday Night Fights has landed a large distribution deal with a major and well known network to begin broadcasting this fall. As a result, Justin Blair, President of Friday Night Fights has postponed the broadcasting of Friday Night Fights "8-to-1" event tomorrow night. The event was originally scheduled to broadcast over 3 consecutive Saturday nights beginning on August 13th. While the last minute change is a bit of a surprise we managed to catch up with Blair to ask him about this and other developments with Friday Night Fights.

Friday Night Fights brings back the one night tournament for July 22nd event

On Friday July 22nd - Friday Night Fights, returns to the 8 man tournament format with the appropriately named: 8-to-1 Tournament. This will mark the 3rd time that the Friday Night Fights has utilized the tournament format since starting it in 2008.

This July’s tournament, like the original one will be held at 154lbs. In 2009 Friday Night Fights held the tournament at 140lbs and chose not to run the tournament in 2010.

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 promoter Justin Blair responds to Chaz Mulkey comments

The talk of the town the last twenty four hours has been the comments by Chaz Mulkey about New York Muay Thai. The feedback has been coming in, and there are people that agree and disagree. Friday Night Fight's promoter Justin Blair was kind enough to provide Muay Thai Authority with his opinion regarding the issue. Friday Night Fights's is the longest running Muay Thai promotion in New York, and they are at the epicenter of New York Muay Thai. They have hosted fighters who fight out of the Western U.S. such as Eric Utsch, and Douglas Edwards.

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?