HIT-FC III - Part 1

Photos from HIT Fighting Championship's post

RECAP HIT Fighting Championship III Saturday October 15, 2016 Maag Hallen, Zurich Switzerland Text by Matthias Plattner Pictures by Sarah Jaquemet Event Recap As a Mixed Martial Artist in Europe, chances to prove that you are among the very best are rare. The overall skill-level of opponents is high and there are not that many easy fights. The path to the top of the sport is reserved to the few who are capable to shine on specific occasions. HIT Fighting provides one of these rare occasions with their European MMA Championship events. The third instalment of their ongoing series just wrapped up this Saturday night in beautiful Zurich Switzerland. After crowning the Heavyweight Champion in UFC Veteran Denis Stojnic and the Lightweight Champion André Nogueira at HIT FC II, this event would crown the inaugural Welterweight and Bantamweight kings and put the spotlight on possible contenders for the other belts in the future. Main Event (Bantamweight World Title Fight, 5x5min Pro Rules) Briand Bouland (Red Kings MMA, Belgium) vs. Marko Kovacevic (Fight Move Academy, Switzerland) This, on paper was certainly the matchup between two of the more skilled and experienced fighters among all the matchups. But if you blinked at the beginning of this fight, chances are you would have missed it all. Kovacevic quickly took the action to Bouland, and rushed the Belgian Fighter with nice footwork and a flurry of well timed, fast and beautifully executed series of punches which stunned Bouland instantly. Floored by a short but precise left hook, he was dropping to the ground, not being able to defend the onslaught that was Marko Kovacevic. The following ground and pound by Marko was enough to stop the fight almost as soon at it began. Your first HIT FC Bantamweight and winner of this bout is, in dominating and convincing fashion: Marko Kovacevic. Co-Main Event (Welterweight World Title Fight, 5x5min Pro Rules) Daniel “Suico” de Maddalena (Icon JJ Biel, Switzerland) vs. Julien Piednoir (ABS Fight Team, France) The fight did not start well for “Suico” as he suffers a nasty cut above his eye shortly after the fight started. Medical Staff was attending to the cut and tried their best to stop the bleeding. Good old Vaseline did the job and luckily the fight could continue. The fight seemed evenly matched with both fighters trying to strike and grapple with their opponent and Piednoir quite impressively managed to defend the takedown attempts by Daniel who wanted to have the fight on the ground to work his impressive BJJ skills. Julien wanted to counter and even tried a takedown on his own which was quite surprising knowing about the BJJ chops possessed by “Suico” After a short period with a diverse and varied display of grappling, clinching and scrambling action by both fighters, the fight hit the ground where Daniel was able to reverse the top control position by Julien and quickly sink in one hook to gain more control. From there we saw a beautiful flow of transitioning to back mount where Daniel flattened Julien but opting against striking is opponent and instead reversing the position once again, transitioning into a beautiful straight armbar. After not getting it instantly he adjusted his grip and slightly changed position to lock the submission for an incredible armbar finish. The tap by Piednoir and on point referee stoppage sealed the deal and the first HIT FC Welterweight Champion is Daniel de Maddalena by submission victory. Featured Bout (Heavyweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Anderson “Braddock” Silva (Team Nogueira, Brasil) vs. Luke Morton (Dark Circle Gym Wolverhampton, England) The only Heavyweight bout on the card proved to be a stunner. Anderson Braddock Silva is certainly one of the top 5 Heavyweight Strikers on the planet. As he showed only 2 weeks ago when he fought in Glory Kickboxing. In his second MMA Fight he was challenged by 3-1 Luke Morton of Wolverhampton, England and it seemed on paper to be a bit of a mismatch. As you’d expect by an English guy, right at the start of the fight Morton rushed Braddock with a series of wild and winging punches which did not seem to have any technique behind it. But as it is so often in Heavyweight MMA, one of the punches found it’s way to straight to the chin of the Kickboxing superstar and floored him. The crowd was on it’s feet watching Morton ground and pound Braddock. The referee was almost stopping the fight when Braddock showed a glimpse of high fight IQ and managed to somehow escape the very dangerous position and take down the 120kg Brit. From there he showed us that he might be a force to be reckoned with as he side mounted Morton and smoothly transitioned into a ultra-tight Side choke which forced Morton to tap immediately. The winner by side choke in the very first round: Anderson Braddock Silva after Morton almost made magic happen with a knockdown of the Superstar. 8th Bout (Lightweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Emerik Youmbi (Kimura Nova Uniao, Switzerland) vs. Brian Hooi (Shaolin Ryu The Hague, Netherlands) In a lightweight affair these two HIT FC alumni clashed in an all out exciting fight of the night type matchup. In the beginning of the fight Emerik moved on Brian with wild and very hard single punches where on the other side Brian, in the kickboxing exchanges showed a very versatile striking game, chaining together nice combinations. Both where landing several strikes on their opponent, with Brian even landing a flying knee and a rare but beautifully executed shoulder strike on Youmbi. After a takedown by Emerik his opponent was able to retain guard on several occasions and even reverse Youmbi at some point, but a very precise elbow strike to the chin of Brian Hooi sealed the deal for Emerik who ground and pounded his opponent into a stoppage by the referee and a win by TKO. 7th Bout (Bantamweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Aziz Julaidan (Icon JJ, Saudi Arabia) vs. Ayton de Paepe (Perfect Team Antwerp, Belgium) The only fight of the evening going to a decision was the matchup between these two Bantamweights. Very soon booth of the fighters showed what their respective gameplan for the fight was. Aziz tried to close the distance with wild swinging punches to initiate a grappling match and taking down Ayton. On the other hand, Ayton used his superior sense for distance and single hard strikes to keep Aziz away from him and control the cage. Although Aziz was knocked down in the first, he managed to take down his opponent on two occasions, once in the first and a second time in the second round. He played a nice ground game but ultimately was not able to create enough danger with his offense and threaten Ayton with anything substancial in the submission department. During all 3 rounds Ayton was able to keep his distance and punish Aziz for his lacking boxing defense with low-, middle-, and high kicks and with single jabs. The takedown in the 3rd round by Ayton was enough for all of the judges to hand him the unanimous verdict on the scorecard for a win by decision. 6th Bout (Middleweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Albert Iveljic (Frota Team Nogueira, Zurich) vs. Danjiel Boyka (Jovan Kursula Boxing, Serbia) The most entertaining walkout/staredown combination of the evening happened in the odd matchup between “Boyka” and the local favourite Albert who visibly enjoyed walking out to a cheering crowd, standing still for at least 2 minutes on the ramp whilst fixating his opponent who was already waiting in the cage. Boyka tried a very odd and strange gameplan, running fast circles around his opponent whilst throwing random looping Chuck Liddell style overhands in the direction of Albert but missing all of them. When Iveljic had seen enough of this, he took down Danjiel, went straight into mount and finished his opponent with several hard and efficient blows to the head for a TKO ground and pound victory. 5th Bout (Welterweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Patryk Nowak (Kimura Nova Uniao, Switzerland) vs. Karim Bouraarassi (Tatsujin Dojo, Holland) HIT FC Alumni Patryk Nowak had his work cut out for him with a very versatile and technically skilled opponent in Karim Bouraarassi. The seven year freestyle wrestling career of Patryk was quickly becoming the main storyline of this fight. Within the first round Nowak was able to force Bouraarassi to the ground twice with huge slams, and even a straight single leg takedown was crowned by success. The fight on the ground was with the exception of a leglock attempt by Patryk mostly just holding positions for Nowak and good defensive work by Karim. At the beginning of the second round, the Tatsujin Dojo product was able to time a takedown attempt by Nowak and very nicely sprawled his opponent. But Nowak did not falter and continued his path to victory by taking down his opponent in the same fashion as seen in the first round, managing to catch Bouraarassi in a Guillotine Choke / Neck Crank combination at the very end of the second round for a beautiful submission victory. 4th Bout (Welterweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Kevin Ruart (Icon JJ Geneva, Switzerland) vs. Richard Mpayi (Perfect Team, Belgium) Another Fight of the Night type of performance was displayed between these two talented Men in a fight where Ruart was showing us a high level grappling game, chaining together several takedown techniques and forcing his opponent into unfavourable positions. Some good elbows and a well versed dirty boxing style was matched by Richard who had early success with good 1-2 boxing combinations and a well versed striking game. After a huge slam from a double underhook position Richard was not able to control the ensuing scramble and Kevin managed to move into a full mount position, elbowing his opponenent and forcing him to turn to his stomach. The beautifully executed rear naked choke from back mount sealed the deal for Kevin Ruart who establishes himself in the division with a submission victory. 3rd Bout (Lightweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Dzevad Muftic (Strikezone Zurich, Switzerland) vs. Diego Diserens (Team Yamabushi, Switzerland) In the beginning, this fight promised to be an entertaining and evenly matched affair with some nice back and forth action. Good mid kicks by Diserens answered by hard punches by Muftic which connected twice in the first round and staggered Diego for brief periods of time. After a takedown trip by Dzevad he showed some interesting offensive heel kicks from his back which proved to be effective to keep the nonstop kicks to the leg of his downed opponent by Diego at bay. The second round showed that Muftic was the better fighter of the two as he continued to punish Diego with very hard body shots, a takedown with a nice transition to side control and a steady diet of elbows and strikes. A perfectly timed knee to the head of Diego was the end for this fight as Dzevad moved in with a double leg takedown and finishing the fight with strikes for an impressive TKO victory. 2nd Bout (Lightweight, 3x5min Pro Rules) Reto Muff (Swiss Gold Team, Switzerland) vs. Marcio Oliveira (Team Oliveira, Portugal) After an unlucky debut in HIT FC II, Reto Muff proved why he was invited back by showing improved striking and an impressive all round martial arts game which let Marcio no time to breathe. Reto worked his opponent from the very first second of the fight with perfectly timed hard inside leg kicks and impressive boxing. After a trip takedown the Swiss Gold Team standout moved swiftly from half guard into side control where he softened Oliveira with elbows and effortlessly finished the fight with a D’arce choke 1 minute and 53 seconds into the first round. 1st Bout (Bantamweight, 2x5min Amateur Rules) Valerie Ntsama (Fight Move Academy, Switzerland) vs. Stephanie Claire (Icon JJ, France) The evenings opening bout was the debut of two female fighters in the Bantamweight division. The only fight with amateur rules prohibited strikes on the ground but the entertainment factor was not in the least hindered by this. Both fighters came out wild and determined to finish the bout fast. Some very wild exchanges with both fighters connecting with several shots somehow ended up on the ground with Valerie in a very advantageous position where she was able to secure an armbar, and after defending well in the beginning, Stephanie was not able to adjust to the movement and optimised second attempt by Valerie who wins by submission four minutes into the first round.

Timeline Photos

Last places please don't miss it ! HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL3o9MwfbTE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view + GMT 20:00 https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

Timeline Photos

Last places please don't miss it ! HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL3o9MwfbTE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view + GMT 20:00 https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

Timeline Photos

Last places please don't miss it ! HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL3o9MwfbTE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view + GMT 20:00 https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

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HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

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Last places please don't miss it ! HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

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HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III

HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/

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Reto Muff vs. Marcio Oliveira HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/

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Aziz Julaidan vs. Ayton de Paepe HIT FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP III 15 OKT 2016 MAAG HALLE ZURICH ,SWITZERLAND WWW.HITFC.COM TICKETS and VIP TABLES NOW ON SALE https://hit-fc.com/get-your-tickets/ HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZStsTOaUj8 For Pay per view https://hit-fc.com/hit-tv/