SELECTED PREVIOUS EVENTS 2002



"WOMEN'S FIGHT NIGHT # 1" - (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) February 9th, 2002
Desire, Skills & An Aerial
On Saturday February 9th, 2002, Promoter Mike Miles held his first fight event of the new year. It was Canadian history in the making, as it was the first time that a fight card (Martial Ring Sports) took place that involved female athletes only. "I have tried to do this type of concept for years, and every time I did, female athletes would always pull out at the last moment and the only way I could save the show, was to arrange alternative bouts between male athletes. This defeated the idea of a complete women's fight event. Well, this time, the event took place, and was very successful, though it had many surprising hitches and changes in direction, the day of the event", said Mike Miles.

The event was a small show at Schanks Athletic Club - Northwest in Calgary and it was sold out to over 600 spectators. The attendance was split equally between male and female spectators. The Calgary media was there to support the event in force. Topping this off, the event was filmed for TSN (Canada's National Sports Network) and there is talk that the new WTSN (Women's National Sports Network) is interested in looking at the card as well.

The co-main events of the evening featured two athletes from Canada (originally it was to be three - but Canadian Shelley Evans had to withdraw from the program) against experienced athletes from the Philippines in International Prestige Muay Thai Bouts. The first of these bouts featured Canada's Erin 'Nitro' Linley (Mike Miles Muay Thai - Alberta) stepping into the ring against Filipino athlete Aliehya Arriola. The Canadian had a significant height advantage but the Filipino athlete had both a weight and experience edge. The bout started off with both athletes probing each others defenses with kicks. Linley used her reach to her advantage and when the aggressive Arriola would get in close, Linley would fall into the clinch and work her knees to her opponents body. At first the knees did not seem to be very effective as Arriola would hold onto Linley tightly. But as the rounds progressed, the barrage of body shots and knees from the Canadian were to drain Arriola's gas tank. By the third round, Linley was dominating the fight and a fast attack had Arriola back-pedaling on the run. Linley pursued in and delivered a jump knee which caught the Filipino athlete on the solar plexus. There was no way for Arriola to disguise the fact the knee had hurt. Cluing in on her success, Linley immediately fell into the clinch and delivered another heavy knee to the belly of Arriola who crumbled to the canvas after the follow up knee. Arriola was counted out and Linley was to win the bout by 3rd round TKO. As soon as Arriola was counted out, Linley took to the air with an unexpected and impressive jumping aerial, garnering additional support for her effort and skills from the crowd.

The second International Prestige Match featured Canada's Jennifer Cutbill (Mike Miles Muay Thai - Alberta) battling against the heavier and more experienced Lorina Hallasgo. The Filipino girl fought in Canada several years earlier, coming to fight promoter Mike Miles athlete, Vanessa Bellegarde. Bellegarde had sliced her finger at work and could not fight and Hallasgo was to step into the ring against Canada's Kate Dunn. Hallasgo was to impressively win this match with Dunn. Cutbill was not going to let Canada go down to defeat again this time. Tenacious, and wanting to fight, Cutbill was to take this fight to Hallasgo from the start of the opening bell. The initial problem with this was Hallasgo had good skills to block Cutbill's advances but even when countering the Canadian, the blows seemed to have no effect at all. For the first couple of rounds Cutbill looked somewhat frustrated at not being able to do what she wanted, but on the other hand, Cutbill's pressure and desire was tiring the visiting athlete. By the third round, Cutbill had become a hurricane and had forced Hallasgo to the corner and was delivering combination after combination. The majority of the blows were being blocked but the impact of the storm was taxing the Filipino's reserves to the max. Mid way through the round, the referee had seen enough and he separated the two athletes to give Hallasgo a standing eight count. Even with this reprieve Cutbill's kicks had taken their toll on Hallasgo's shins. The Filipino girl was in obvious discomfort with her legs but even so, she had taxed her energy reserves from Cutbill's relentless pressure. The referee called the fight and Cutbill also won the bout by TKO. The Filipino girls provided excellent skills and competition to the less experienced Canadian's, with Linley and Cutbill learning a lot from their encounters. Both are working their way to the IFMA World Championships (King's Cup) in Bangkok in late July.

The semi-main event featured Calgary's Raylene 'The Blonde Bomber' Kellock (Mike Miles Muay Thai) stepping into the ring against Brandon, Manitoba's Oralee Molberg for the vacant WKA Canadian Welterweight Muay Thai Title. This was to be a fight of desire from opening to finish. Exchanges at times would unintentionally appear to resort to the gutter, as a lot of knees exchanged and crashed in to found their way into each others groin area's. In the first and third round, Molberg was to be busier athlete and take these rounds convincingly. The final round was a big round for Kellock. The remaining two rounds were extremely close. The second so close that it could gone either way easily in terms of scoring effectiveness. Most felt the fourth, though close went to Kellock for the stronger knee exchanges while in the clinch. Molberg would throw her knees but Kellock would deliver and land with strength and effectiveness. After the 5 rounds the decision was to be split. Kellock was declared the winner and Molberg's corner were disappointed with the decision. "When I work the corner I am emotionally involved in the fight and sometimes I do not see the bout as clearly as I would like. I am sure it is the same way with the other corner. I felt Molberg had the upper hand in the fight but again, I was not a judge. We have offered a rematch to Molberg if she desires. It is up to them to entertain the offer", said Kellock's coach Mike Miles.

The rest of the event was to feature bouts battled under Kickboxing (low kick) rules. The results are as follows:

- Jessica Reid (Aurora - Saskatchewan) was to win an unanimous decision over Stephanie Marshall (Victory - Alberta). Both athletes were first timers but this was a big crowd pleaser of a bout. Marshall was to be sat on her fanny by some of the attacks she absorbed but she was to come back with big punch combinations. Her fighting spirit was to have the audience adopt her as the favorite in the bout. A nail biter, and something right out of a Hollywood script.

- Sandra Bastian (Mike Miles Muay Thai - Alberta) was to win her bout over Kari Leibel (Spirit of the Dragon - Saskatchewan). The shorter Leibel used very disciplined movement and good skills to put her combinations together and battle the taller and more experienced Bastian. However, Bastian was to start using some fakes and set her opponent up for a big right hand. The punch was to have the Saskatchewan native stopped by punch KO. Both athletes have come a long impressive way in terms of fighting skills. Promoters please heed the advice of the ringside doctor and the WKA that Leibel is on a 45 day medical suspension to recover from this blow (March 26th).

- Randi McRobbie (Cheney's - Alberta) was to use her experience over newcomer Jaimes Bue (Aurora - Saskatchewan) with the bout stopped towards the end of the second round. Bue wanted to use her hands but McRobbie used a strong and disciplined kick attack to nullify Bue.

- Newcomers Megan Aebig (National - Alberta) stepped into the ring with Melissa Diamond (Double Dragon - Manitoba). Aebig was to win the decision through a continuous and tenacious attack. Diamond would fight back very well but the pressure from Aebig was overwhelming.

- Iona Mackeith (Mike Miles Muay Thai - Alberta) was to win her bout with Shannon Singleton (Aurora - Saskatchewan). MacKeith was to use good pressure going from her hands to her legs to tire out her opponent. Singleton came out strong in the first round but into the next round, the pressure had taken it's toll. Singleton did not come out for the third round and MacKeith won the bout by TKO.

- Shauna Leduchowski (Double Dragon - Manitoba) was to win a split decision over Julia Ivan (Kickboxing Club - Saskatchewan). Julia did a good job of attacking. However, Leduchowski did a great job of pressuring and countering. A very good bout on both athletes parts.

The week leading into the event saw two athletes pull out and as such, the two remaining athletes did an exhibition bout. Dallas Johnson (Mike Miles Muay Thai - Alberta) traded punches and kicks with Carla Hopkins (Medicine Hat Karate Do & Kickboxing - Alberta). The weight and experience difference avoided allowing this encounter to be a full blown bout.
Then due to come last minute problems while being examined by the fight physician, a few athletes could not fight. This left 2 bouts being cancelled and the two athletes who could not fight but were capable of doing so, perform an exhibition bout. Jessica Gladstone (Medicine Hat Karate Do & Kickboxing - Alberta) stepped into the ring with Christy Beach (Cheney's - Alberta).

The event was a tremendous success with massive feedback supporting another such event. "I hope to try and do another one of these all female events early next year", said Promoter Mike Miles. The next big international fight event in Calgary, which will be filmed for Pay-Per-View as well as TSN is on April 27th. It is called 'The Clash of the Titans' and will feature athletes from Japan, China, Mexico, and the USA against athletes from Canada.