Vanyo Smoker Opens Fall Fighting Season

Matt Perez, Masda Diaz, Kaylee Maynard, & Rob Rizer

Vanyo Martial Arts Fall Smoker went off without a hitch Friday night.  A packed gym of enthusiastic fight fans cheered on every fighter like they were their hometown favorite.  GR sent four fighters, Matt Perez, Masda Diaz, Kaylee Maynard, & Rob Rizer, and an even bigger support group than last time.  Six gyms sent teams, with a wide range of experience.  Some fighters had only a few months of training, some had many years.   But a smoker is all about the experience.  The idea is to give fighters a chance to compete in an unfamiliar environment, against people they do not normally train with, but without the pressure of knowing the results will follow them forever on their official fight record.

Every GR fighter went the distance, and every fight was back and forth and competitive.  Given the wide range of experience in the fighters Mark Vanyo must be applauded for arranging matchups that were so successful

Since these aren’t official fights, the organizing gym has the latitude to run some parts of the event  there own way.  Vanyo chose to assign two judges to score the fights in terms of ‘performance points’.  The judgement wasn’t to determine who won or lost the fight, but considered the quality of the technique along with how effective a strike was.  At the end of each fight the judges issues a score from 1 to 4 for each fighter.

The GR Smoker Team is grateful for Vanyo Martial Arts for once again offering us the opportunity to compete at their Fall Smoker.  We look forward eagerly to the next event.

Vanyo’s Martial Arts website is HERE            

Written by: Bob Donaghy