Bout 11
Evolution Martial Arts Academy, Darlington vs Straight Blast Gym, Bishop Auckland
57kg Flyweight, 3 x 3 minutes of Amateur MMA
Round 1
With a touch of gloves, right hand to left hand as this was the classic southpaw vs orthodox. Ryan was the orthodox with Joel standing with his right hand forward.
Faints and counters as both guys started fast and threw plenty of strikes with hands and feet.
A couple of accomplished strikers.
No real advantage was evident until Joel turned Ryan into the fence and established a clinch. After absorbing three knees Ryan broke away and returned to space.
Crisp striking in a Muay Thai style. Joel does throw a good knee. They locked up again with Ryan pushed into the fence. One of Joel’s knees was low and judged a foul blow. It was unintentional, but might not have been the first drift south. Ryan wanted to return to action and took only a fraction of the time he was entitled to and the fight restarted. At the clapper we were back in a clinch with Joel controlling the position.
We stayed there until the horn.
A difficult round to score. Neither dominated the striking battle, but with periods of positional control I gave the round to Joel.
High level corner work from both sides. Joel got advice from Cage Warriors, Cameron Party Hardy and UFC’s Dangerous Davey Grant.
Round 2
The pace of round 1 had taken a toll on Joel.
Ryan came out just the same, but now was able to walk through Joel strikes and throw good combination of his own.
When Joel got the clinch he could not hold it with as much authority as he had previously.
Both had there moments and it was a close round, but I gave it to Ryan. One each all to play for.
Dan Gravey and Lee Graham attending to Ryan.
Round 3
The third started where the second had finished.
It did seem that Joel suffered from the pace more than Ryan. During the interval Ryan’s power bar was quicker to recharge. The heavier blows were now being landed by Ryan, but Joel was still in the fight. Ryan did faint a takedown by reaching for the lead leg of Joel, but it was from a miss-placed kick that enabled Ryan to push Joel to the canvas. Ryan was on top in side control.
Joel well drilled on the ground was quickly to his knees and ignoring a D’Arce choke he got back to his feet. At one point he was able to lift Ryan off the ground, but was not able to do anything more than hold the clinch position.
The clapper and then the horn sounded. This heart bursting, all effort encounter was to be decided by the judges sitting at cage side.
The result was an unanimous points win for Ryan Bowness.
A very hard fought victory and he was pushed all the way by Joel. Much respect shared between both contestants and both gyms.
A round of applause for both warriors.
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.