History was made at the Giftland Mall, Liliendaal on Sunday as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) combat fighting was introduced locally with four sensational fights.
In front of hundreds of combat sporting fans, Guyanese of all walks of life flocked to see the first ever MMA action and were thoroughly entertained.
With two professional fights including world ranked fighters, the extremely physical sport saw blood shed, knockouts and tap outs as the athletes pushed their bodies to the limit.
Ahmad Khan (red) is tossed on his neck by Gershom Griffith
In the first professional fight, Joseph Martin of Trinidad and Tobago made a remarkable counter to have Emerson Hurley of Barbados tap out two minutes and 20 seconds in the second round of the five minute fight to his heel hook submission marking a debut Hurley would want to forget. This fight began slowly as both fighters marked up their opponent waiting for each other to make a move but constantly locked with no progress forcing the referee to break up the two at least three times.
Prior to the Tap out, Hurley had looked to break the hand of Martin however left his foot open for Martin to capitalize and made him pay the price in the end of what looked like a short lived fight.
Trinidad born Keron Bourne knocked out Lawrence Hearwood of Guyana in just three minutes and 20 seconds in the first round to spoil his undefeated run. Entering the fight with a 5-0 record, the Trinidad-based Hearwood seemed overzealous while the aggression was there in the eyes of Bourne who has only been defeated once. A quick roll over and pin to the mat was all it took to put Hearwood into twilight with seven punches to the face. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight as the seriousness of the blows had Hearwood out for close to 30 seconds.
After the fight Hearwood refuse to accept the decision causing a lot of commotion prior to the announcement of the next bout but in the end accepted the judgement.
Meanwhile, in the amateur bouts, the controversy was not short as all Guyanese fighters pulled out of their slated cards forcing the management to reaffix the cards.
Lashawn Sladden who was booked to face Kwanza Thompson fell victim to Erland Maloney’s triangular submission, tapping out in two minutes and 27 seconds. This fight went down to the wire in the third and final round, the perfect exemplification of the talent the sport has to offer, fitting start for the first fight of the night.
Also a gruelling match between Ahmad Khan and Gershom Griffith saw the latter winning on points. Khan, who made his debut in the sport was out matched but nevertheless brought the fight to Griffith. In the first minute Griffith had already thrown Khan to the mat twice but the feisty Trinidadian was quick on his reversals.
At one point, it looked as if Khan would make his debut with a victory however the judges saw it differently.
The event was organised by Ruff N Tuff MMA and Fight Central 592, Guyana.
