Four vicious technical knockouts shot the intensity of the night sky-high at the Battle of the Gladiators Mixed Martial Arts MMA championship which held at the weekend in Lagos.
Although it didn’t witness any knockout, but the Ghana vs Nigeria main card of the championship, put together by Akalaka Spirit of the Warrior promotion, lived up to it’s pre fight hype.
The Ghanaian champion Richard ‘King Boyka’ Asiedu silenced home fans at Muson Center in Onikan with a hard fought split decision win over Nigeria’s Richard Onem The Black Panther in the lightweight category.
King Boyka was more of the aggressor, putting together some striking and grappling clinic to earn the slim win over his Nigerian foe.
In one of the co-main events, the fast rising sensation Stanford Shaolin Tiger Ebere who represents the Spirit of the Warrior stable fought to an entertaining stalemate with his Ghanaian opponent Jerry Gaza Quansa.
Opara Good luck opened the floodgates of knockouts with a viscous demolition of Abel Emmanuel in the featherweight category while The Working Machine Emmanuel Nworie scored another knockout victory over Daniel Appah in the welterweight division.
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The ladies’ category, another co-main event, saw national judo champion The Woman King Terlumun Doose of Benue state knocking out her Togolese opponent Cynthia Jibidar in the batam weight class to improve her young career record to 2-1.
Doose subdued her opponent by unloading some heavy ground and pound which prompted the cage referee to dive in and saved Jibidar from further punishment.
For her sterling efforts, Doose received $150 from former American MMA champion D’Juan Owens who also rewarded the Nigerian Army paratrooper Uchejim Onyeka Chinaman and Ghana’s Edmond Galaxy Akhator with $50 dollars each for their sterling performance of the night.
Improving his record to 5-1, Onyeka edged the fight with an unanimous victory over Akhator after both fighters held the audience spellbound with some masterful performances over three rounds.
In a battle of two debutants Yahuza Smile Strong Mohammed battered Ephraim Onwunaya to a 2nd round knockout defeat in a middleweight clash just as Christopher Swande picked up another knockout victory over Cornelius Jaw Bone Godspower in a 63.5kg catch-weight class.
For headbutting a grounded opponent in the 3rd round, Daniel Iwuoha was disqualified by the referee and the bout awarded to Geoffrey Skullcobra John who earned his first win of his career, 1-2.
The audience sprang to their fee in awe when the heavyweight fighters pounded the cage.
Kabiru ‘Hawk’ Adeniran weighing 108.5kg submitted Utobo ‘Cardinal’ Arinze in the 2nd round of their bout leaving fight fans wondering the impacts from his multiple power body slams on his opponent.
The championship opened with two amateur bouts which is in line with the objectives of the sanctioning body, the Nigeria Mixed Martial Arts Federation NMMAF.
In the first bout, Tobiloba Owolabi wrapped up a split decision win over Small Pepper Precious Edwin whose mother received a two bedroom apartment from Spirit of the Warrior Foundation as a reward for her sterlings efforts in the Akalaka 1 Streetfight early last year in Ahoada Rivers State.
Elsewhere Mary Ayeloh scored a clinical submission win over Adeola Oyesiji in a high octane women’s 52kg class.
The organiser of the championship Dr Ebere Bernard who doubles as the Director of Youth Development in NMMAF promised a stacked calendar of exciting events this year from his promotion with the intention of nurturing talented fighters at the grassroots.
