SELECTED PREVIOUS EVENTS 2006

Results - December 7th, 2006



'ICEBREAKER' - (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) December 2nd, 2006


Presented by CAKMA


During the beginning of the 2006 Christmas season, Calgary was treated to the final Muay Thai event of the year presented by CAKMA (Calgary Amateur Kickboxing & MuayThai Association). Though a small event, H2H Icebreaker offered some excellent match ups to close the year. The venue had over 1100 people show up for the event.

Excellent athletes accompanied by their respected coaches included: Mike Miles, Trevor Smandych, Marc Hobers, Kim Ip, Clifton Brown, Phil Nurse, Lane Collyer, Christian Martin, Colby Snyder, Graham Weenk, and Laszlo Herceg.

As the event opened announcer Drew Atlas pulled the 4 athletes (Scott Clark, Calgary / Oliver Davis, Toronto / Luke Riddering, San Luis Obispo, USA / Ronald de Groot, Emmen Holland) in the H2H 4 Man Lightheavyweight Muay Thai Tournament into the boxing ring. Accompanying the athletes into the ring was promoter Robin Finley (President of CAKMA). Finley explained to the audience about the safety of the athletes and the medical requirements each athlete must follow in order to fight (for the safety of themselves and all involved). It is required that all athletes whether amateur or professional bring blood work with them (test results for HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C) to prove that they are safe to fight. Upon arrival in Calgary and at the weigh in the day before the event, 2 of the athletes mentioned that their blood work was to be faxed in the next day by their respective medical centers in their home towns to the promoter. Unfortunately, neither athlete had their blood work arrive and one athlete had his doctor report sketchy results which their medical personnel mentioned required a re-test. Suddenly the tournament became a 2 man affair with 2 athletes unable to fight due to medical requirements not being fulfilled. The result was a 2 man affair seeing Calgary's Scott Clark rumbling with Holland's Ronald de Groot. The audience understood the decision for the safety of the athletes by the Canadian Muay Thai Council - Amateur to stop the 4 man tournament and were ecstatic that the main event still featured hometown athlete Scott Clark.

The event had another problem occur. The television crew did not show up to film this event. "Luckily we had an athlete show up with a video camera to film the event so we have filmed the event for posterity sake but some of the excellent match ups on this event will not shown on television", said promoter Robin Finley. "I am very disappointed!"

The Main Event featured Scott 'The Pitbull' Clark (31 wins, 4 losses, 1 draws) stepping into the ring against Ronald de Groot (38 wins, 6 losses, 2 draws). As the bout opened it was very clear that standing in the ring was 2 very experienced athletes. The taller de Groot was to use his reach advantage immediately. Crisp long range punches were to set up a beautiful front tiip to the face of Clark. Angered by the 'insult' Clark became a little heated and he started pressuring and trying to corner the Dutch athlete. As he moved in, well timed long range punches and tiips from de Groot were to keep Clark off balance. In the middle of the round Clark made his way into the clinch and in doing so was greeted by an elbow which connected solidly from de Groot. "That elbow really hurt!", said Clark. In the second round Clark started playing with his rhythm and distancing and was landing more successfully and methodically. In the middle of the round de Groot chased Clark backwards by unleashing a fury of punches and elbows. In mid stream and while moving backwards, Clark grabbed de Groot in the clinch and landed a beautiful round knee which landed heavily on the left side of the Dutch athlete. de Groot went down hard and heavy and was not to beat the count. Clark was declared the winner by 2nd round KO (to the body). "I was disappointed as was Scott that the tournament was cancelled. Ronald de Groot has a very solid reputation and I was expecting and even hoping for a 5 round war between the two. I was happy that Clark won by KO but a longer fight for Clark is always good! I know Ronald is very, very good", said coach Mike Miles. Though the bout was short, an excellent Muay Thai match was witnessed by all. Congratulations to Scott Clark on a 2nd round KO Victory!

In the semi-main event of the evening, 'Nasty' Nate Smandych (Calgary / Mike Miles Muay Thai / Mike Miles) made his international fight debut at home. Standing in front of him was Hong Kongs' Choi Yiu Nam trained by Master Kim Ip. As the bout opened both athletes probed at each other with a few token shots. Suddenly Choi rushed in and for what was to become the norm for the majority of the remainder of the bout, both athletes fell into the clinch. Choi looked very comfortable in the clinch and delivered some very nice knees while Smandych answered with his own. Choi was to get ahead on the score cards with his clinch work but Smandych was to work the head of Choi as hard as he could and in the third round the work was to have a big pay off. The stress on the neck of the Chinese fighter made his head tired and easier to pull down. While in the clinch and pushing the Canadian backwards, Smandych unleashed a knee to the head of Choi. The Chinese fighter could not pull his head out of the way on time and he went crashing to the canvas for the count. Smandych was to pull off a win in his international fight debut at home against the respected Chinese athlete. "I was upset that Nate kept falling into the clinch and since he could not change his battle plan, the encouragement to work his opponent's neck really paid off. KO's by two athletes by knees while they were both retreating is very unexpected and very respectable", said coach Mike Miles. Besides enjoying a 3rd round KO victory, Nate Smandych was also to walk away with the Best in Town Fighter award.

2006 IFMA World Champion Sandra 'Heart' Bastian (Calgary, Mike Miles Muay Thai / Bastian) stepped into the ring against the less experienced Natalie Yip (Toronto / Siam No. 1 / Suchart Yodkeripauprai, Clifton Brown). In a 3 round modified Muay Thai match (no elbow attacks and no knees to the head), the bout was very competitive. Bastian seemed very flat in her performance on this day as her timing was off and she looked flat footed. Though Bastian was having an off day, Yip looked good and showed no intimidation at all attacking with some excellent punch combinations and making clinch work more difficult than Bastian expected. Sandra Bastian was to win the bout by unanimous decision. "I came down a little hard on Sandra and she was a little upset about this. Honestly I did not train Sandra for this fight because of other issues but this will change for her next fight!", said coach Mike Miles. "Natalie did a great job!"

Mike Musto (Calgary, National Kickboxing Northwest / Trevor Smandych) stood across the ring from Jack Johnson (Denver, USA / House of Martial Arts / Steve Alley). The bout was a 3 round war under full Muay Thai rules. In a war of hard exchanges of every weapon, the battle see-sawed back and forth. Just when Johnson looked like he was tired and Musto was about to have an advantage Johnson would pull another attack out of the hat. Musto was always in the fight and counter attacked with some great technique but the bout was to go to Jack Johnson by unanimous decision.

In a very interesting bout between two excellent athletes, Lindsay Rae (Calgary / Mike Miles Muay Thai / Mike Miles) stood in front of Lukasz Lang (New York, NY, Phil Nurse). This was an exciting match. In the first round, Rae came out quickly and made Lang miss while Rae attacked with a plethora of Muay Thai techniques including spinning back elbows, jumping elbows, knee attacks, and kicks. In the second round Lang was to start banging away with a heavy right cut kick which was starting to find its mark. By the end of the second round the bout was even. In the third round Rae seemed unwilling to throw techniques as Lang pressed forward. The third round was the deciding factor and Lang was to win the bout by unanimous decision. Lang was also to walk away with the trophy for the Best Out of Town Fighter. Congratulations to Lukasz Lang on the win and a very good fight!

The first international match of the evening featured Lindon Chambers (Calgary, Mike Miles Muay Thai / Mike Miles) making his Muay Thai debut against Timothy Hart (Atlanta / Global Kickboxing / Lane Collyer), who also was making his Muay Thai debut. The bout was scheduled for 4 rounds of 2 minutes between these 2 heavyweights. Chambers entered the ring with attitude (very unusual for an athlete trained by Ajarn Mike Miles), working the audience up. As the bout opened Chambers was to be relentless in his attack using good punching technique to try and find and finish Hart. Hart was to go down several times in the first few rounds from hard punch combinations which found their mark. However, showing great grit and determination, he got up and continued fighting. In the third round a hard swinging right from Hart found its mark and it wobbled Chambers for a quick second. Good use of the low kick also nullified a lot of the punching attacks of Chambers. In rounds three and four, the level of intensity dropped from both fighters but Lindon Chambers was to walk away with the well deserved win by unanimous decision.

The first Women's modified Muay Thai match bout of the evening featured Melanie Goulet - 0 fights (Calgary, Mike Miles Muay Thai / Mike Miles) fighting Ricki Steffen - 4 wins, 3 losses, 0 draws (Saskatoon, Alliance Martial Arts / Graham Weenk). This was an exciting match with Goulet attacking and counter attacking with pretty good success. Steffen started off the bout using her long reach advantage and teeping Goulet, but the Calgary athlete used some surprising speed and accuracy with counter attacks that surprised all. Steffen attacked with some good hand combinations and kicks. In round three, Goulet picked up the pace and moved forward with scoring right hooks to the head and roundhouse kicks to the legs and body. The result was an unanimous decison for Melanie Goulet.

The opening fight of the evening featured 2 Calgarian's bashing it out in a Kickboxing rules bout (the only Kickboxing rules bout of the event). Nathan Lenet - 1 win, 1 loss, 0 draws (Calgary / National Kickboxing Northwest / Trevor Smandych) squared off against George Habib - 2 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws (Calgary / Lion's Den / Laszlo Herceg). The fight opened with Habib charging Lenet and unloading a barrage of punches that Lenet mostly shelled to. Lenet was to weather the storm and come back chasing Habib around the ring. Habib did deliver some very good counter shots which knocked Lenet off balance but the Smandych athlete came back and continued pursuing Habib around the ring. It was a great fight to open the event and the fight was very, very close. The result was a split decision for Nathan Lenet.

The next proposed fight will be taking place on February 17th, 2007. With H2H ROULETTE RUMBLE, the theme of the event will be 'redemption' and 'pay back'. Currently in the works are fights between Jesse' Smiles' Miles (who won the 8 man 'King of the Ring' Tournament in Victoria on November 26th) against 2006 IFMA Gold Medalist Shawn Yarborough. It is hoped that Sandra Bastian will be squaring off with Lynda Loyce from the USA. More will be released as fights are signed.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!!!!