Northern Kentucky Reality Fighting

Covington, Kentucky

A less than capacity crowd occupied the Holmes High School gymnasium in Covington, Kentucky, on Saturday night. Roughly 200 people were on hand for Northern Kentucky Reality Fighting. After a sloppy first few fights and one intermission, Griffon Rawl’s own Jason Dent took to the ring. Jason however only found out who is opponent was about an hour before the fight. After an initial cancellation two weeks prior to the fight, Jason was scheduled to meet Henry Baird. Baird however had other plans when he was a no-show. D’ Angelo Nichols (Black Dragon Society, Cleveland) stepped up on short notice and offered to fight. Jason, despite giving up more than 20 pounds to Nichols, showed he was a true warrior by accepting the match with the much larger Nichols. The fighters started the match by trading strikes. Nichols was throwing heavy hands that Jason avoided flawlessly as he chopped the legs of Nichols with excellent Thai kicks. Then Jason closed the distance and took down Nichols from a body lock landing in Nichols’ half guard. Jason proceeded to throw excellent body-head combinations and easily passed the half and took the mount. A series of elbows followed, as did a vicious knee Jason dropped to the body of Nichols. Obviously in pain Nichols took a straight down right hand from Jason to the jaw that knocked him out as well as Nichols’ mouthpiece, which almost hit corner man Shannon Nadvornik in the face. Jason was happy to get a victory after his disappointing loss at Superbrawl. Jason upped his record to 10-2 in MMA. The intensity of the crowd seemed to pick up after Jason’s fight and continued too, up to the Main Event. Featured in this fight was the other Griffon Rawl representative Mike Russo and Josh Souder (Ground Zero, Middletown), one of Jorge Gurgel’s top fighters. This fight definitely lived up to the hype. It started with both fighters feeling each other out until Souder shot a double-leg and took Mike down and captured side-mount. Mike however defended brilliantly and rolled Souder landing in Souder’s guard. Mike dominated with striking combinations until Souder caught him with an armbar that forced Mike to tap at 2:38 of the first round. A rematch however maybe in the making and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seeing Mike avenge his loss. Mike’s record moved to 3-3 in MMA.Written by:Josh BurtonOffical Fight Card Dustin Hazlett vs. Edwin Levine- Hazlett by KO in 1st after incidental stoppageJeremy Linville vs. Adam Rivera- Rivera by Rear Naked Choke in 2ndTom Bacon vs. Mike Johns- Johns by KO in 2ndTierre Hall vs. Mike Wells- Wells by Guillotine in 1stD’ Angelo Nichols vs. Jason Dent- Dent by KO in 1stBill Dexter vs. Tim Norman- Dexter by Armbar in 2ndLance Frimouth vs. Jamie Tony- Tony by Unanimous DecisionJosh Cooper vs. Chris Levine- Cooper by TKO in 1stSteve Neal vs. Chris Wells- Wells by Ref. Stoppage (CUT) in 1stMAIN EVENTMike Russo vs. Josh Souder- Souder by Armbar in 1st

Ajarn Surachai "Chai" Sirisute Muay Thai Seminar

Centerville, Ohio

This Seminar was hosted in a Gym by the name of Jeff Browns Martial Arts Institute. The President and founder of the TBA (Thai Boxing Association) Ajarn "Chai" traveled from Carson California to do this 2 day Seminar here in Ohio. GriffonRawl members Mike Russo and Aaron Veverka spent the weekend at this seminar training, learning, and fine tuning their fighting skills and knowledge. I am sure they have learned some cool new drills to bring back and torture us all with.Traveling to these seminars is defintily a plus for everybody in our gym and the next time a good seminar like this comes around I would like to see more of us attend.Written by:Jason DentThe Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. (TBA-USA), the oldest and largest Muay Thai organization in the United States, was founded in 1968 by Ajarn Surachai "Chai" Sirisute. (Ajarn is Thai for head instructor.) Ajarn Chai came to the United States with a vision to spread Muay Thai to throughout the world, and he is the first-ever Thai boxing instructor to teach Americans this art and he has worked tirelessly for more than 30 years to that end. We are indeed grateful to Ajarn Chai for his gift of the knowledge of Muay Thai. The TBA-USA now has representation in almost every state in the USA and has expanded to establish affiliate organizations in more than 15 countries around the world. Ajarn Chai continues to promote Muay Thai through a busy teaching schedule. Visit the official TBA website at www.thaiboxing.com/ for more information about this association and there upcoming events.