The World Combat League Western Conference Finals was a great event with over 4,000 cheering spectators in attendance. In my opinion when this hits the television it will take over as America's top combat sport. I do not want to steal any of the WCL's thunder by posting the results here on this site. I will comment on what went on with me.
  I arrived in Dallas on September 19th. After being picked up at the airport I was driven directly to the studio to do all of my pre fight interviews for the WCL TV show. After doing those I went back to the hotel and felt kind of tired from the travel. I took a long nap and later on that night my fellow Oklahoma Destroyer Ryan Madigan and I went to eat and to watch a movie. While in the theater I started to get a little bit of a runny nose. I thought nothing of it since everywhere we went in Texas had the AC set at 60 degrees or at least it seemed that way. We left the hotel the next morning at 8:30AM in WCL vans for Austin. It was a 3 and a half hour drive. During the drive I started to feel aching with some flu like symptoms. When we got to Austin I took a three hour nap. When I woke up I felt much better again I just figured traveling had got me tired.
  On Thursday morning I woke up and felt really bad with 12 ulcers inside my mouth. I took some vitamin C and rested as much as I could. Around noon time I asked the WCL managers if they would take me to the doctor. I went and got checked out hoping I could get a Z pack or some sort of antibiotic to knock out my sickness before it got started. In my appointment the saw the ulcers and the symptoms and said that I had a viral infection and antibiotics would not help me. The doctor did prescribe me Valtrex and said it would help and virus sometimes if taken in the first four days after contracting the virus but was not sure what it would do for me.He advised plenty of rest and fluid which was going to be pretty hard to follow since I was weighing 201lbs and had to cut 6lbs that night to make the 195lb weight class.
  I returned to the hotel and let coach Dale "Apollo" Cook and WCL commissioner Cory Schafer what was going on. I went to Dennys for the my last meal before I started the dry out period before weight in. Mr. Norris and his wife were eating at that time. Mr. Norris came over and asked me how I was feeling since he had heard that I was sick and his wife offered me some vitamins C. Mr. Norris and his wife are really nice people.
  I did what I had to do and made weight at 194.5lbs. The combination of making weight and the sickness had drained me. All that my team mates kept telling me was you have 32 hours to re-hydrate and feel better. I kept repeating it to myself. That night throughout the night I kept waking up in cold sweats. When I woke up the next morning vomited and was still feeling really bad. Usually I would have had my weight back up to at least 200lbs or so and I had only gotten back up to 197lbs. I went to Mr. Schafer and told him of how the night and morning had gone. I told him that I did not want to hurt my team so I was going to pull out and let the alternate fight in my place. Mr. Schafer agreed and supported my decision. I then walked down the hall and let coach Cook know what was going on. He also agreed and got the alternate Jessie Lawrence in place.
  I have fought sick a few times and I won a couple and I lost a couple but that when the only person I was fighting for was myself. With a team depending on my performance and a healthy alternate ready to go I thought I made the right decision.
  During the matches I helped my team by wrapping hands and warming up the fighters. Probably the most important role was cheerleader! LOL
  After returning home I found that alot of people that I have been around have got the virus which makes me feel a little better I guess. I am not in the boat all alone. The team did not advance so we won't be mixing it up again until March of 07 when the new WCL season starts! Thank you for your support. God willing I am looking towards a kickboxing match in Chicago in November.
Thank you
Ronnie Copeland
 

 

 

 

 

RON"G Block"HILTON and ETHAN ELLINGTON both come home from the WKA North American Combat Sports Championships with wins and North American titles in the full contact novice division. More details soon!

 

Attention All Kickboxing Trainers!!

 

Now that the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) has become the world’s only official representative for the amateur sports of open style karate and kickboxing, it is extremely important that trainers, coaches and gym owners in North America familiarize themselves with the goals, the rules and the regulations of the WAKO.

 

It is important that everyone understands exactly what is going on. The main thing that you should know is the fact that the WAKO does not belong to any private individual. It belongs to you! WAKO has no dictator. Every single aspect of the WAKO is controlled by you. All decisions regarding rules, sanctioning and politics are made by one vote from each member country.

 

Reading rules and regulations is about the most boring thing we can think of however, being knowledgeable about everything that affects your fighters is of the utmost importance. So please bear with us and study all correspondence affecting your athletes carefully.

 

WAKO-USA Priorities Regarding Competitors

 

Priority Number One: Safety of the Fighters

Everyone gives lip service to safety, yet they never really do anything concrete about it. As most kickboxers are very young, there is nothing that takes priority over their safety during combat.

 

Priority Number Two: Fairness

Again, having truly neutral, qualified officials to ensure fairness is something else everyone gives lip service to, but nothing ever happens to really train and qualify officials….thereby guaranteeing fairness.

 

Priority Number Three: Fun & Enjoyment for All Participants

It is extremely important that everyone attending WAKO-USA events has fun. If they don’t have fun, then why should they attend? Cheap, low class promoters who wish to take fighter’s money while giving nothing in return will not be allowed to promote WAKO events more than once.

 

WAKO U.S. Open Classic Kickboxing Championships

Virginia Beach, Virginia

 

Based on pre-registration, the “WAKO CLASSIC” will be the largest kickboxing tournament ever held in North America. The promoters have made the appropriate moves to ensure safety, fairness and fun.

 

In order to ensure safety and fairness, all athletes will be provided by the promoters with identical protective equipment. Only TOP TEN gloves and head guards may be worn. This gear, as proved by extensive tests paid for by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is, by far, the safest equipment in the world. The TOP TEN head guard, unlike leather head guards, is also very hygienic, as it is 100% washable. (Leather headgear soaks up sweat, blood and puss, so it is very unhygienic).

 

There are only two brands of equipment tested and approved by the AIBA (Olympic Boxing): TOP TEN and GREEN HILL. Unfortunately, Green Hill is only good for boxing, as there is no protection on the top of the head to prevent against axe kicks. So, TOP TEN is the best gear for karate and kickboxing.

 

The official equipment for the WAKO U.S. Classic is as follows and will be provided by the promoters:

Head Guard- TOP TEN

10 oz. Boxing Gloves- TOP TEN

Kicks- KOBRA

Shinguards- KOBRA (Both for regular kickboxing and muay thai)

 

Important Note:

As TOP TEN head guards, TOP TEN 10 oz. Olympic boxing gloves, KOBRA Kicks and KOBRA regular and muay thai shinguards are made with molds, they are all identical. This means that competitors who have their own TOP TEN or KOBRA gear can wear it at the CLASSIC. Otherwise, they must use the gear provided by the promoter.

 

KOBRA and TOP TEN gear will be sold at the event. Martial Arts Marketing Associates (MAMA, for short) is the North American distributor for these products. MAMA does not like to sell their equipment directly to students, because it takes away from the much-needed profit for the gyms and dojos. So, MAMA is making all the required equipment for the CLASSIC available for the gyms at a 10% discount off the wholesale price until August 5, 2006.

 

For these special discount prices and brochures contact MAMA at:

Toll Free: 1-800-430-3850

Email: mama-usa@tampabay.rr.com

 

These products may be viewed at www.MAMA-USA.com, however, this website only shows the retail prices, not the reduced wholesale prices for school and gym owners.

ROLLING !
The WAKO U.S. CLASSIC is rolling! The open kickboxing tournament with Thai/Kickboxing, Full Contact, and Low Kick has more than 110 competitors registered with over 3 months left until the tournament. Some the sports Legends are coming out to support the event. In attendance will be Joe Lewis, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Jeff Smith, Mike Anderson, T. Rondo Van Cleif, Jim Harrison, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, Peyton "The Artist" Russell, Dale "Sunshine" Frye and many more. The event is turning out to be a TRULY International affair with fighters registered and working to get registered from United Kingdom, Sierra Leone, Guatamala, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Chile, Russia, and Republic of Georgia and many many more. It is going to be a heck of a competition. Go to www.usclassickickboxing.com to register.

    WAKO Comes to the United States

The World association of kickboxing organizations W.A.K.O. in now here in the USA. WAKO is the largest sanctioning body in the entire world with more than 80 countries in its membership. The fighting sports that WAKO sanctions are Full contact, Thai Kickboxing, Low kick, semi contact and light contact. The organization has flourished since it inception in Europe in 1976. Currently the president of WAKO Ennio Falzoni is in meeting in Korea working with GAISF to make kickboxing a recognized sport. WAKO is the front runner with the GAISF. Now back to the point September 15,16,17 in Virginia Beach , Virginia will be the first ever US OPEN Kickboxing Championships. Fighters will attend from all over the world. With over 5 months to go to till the event already 40 fighters have pre-registered http://www.usopenkickboxing.com/fighter_list.htm . The website www.usopenkickboxing.com has only been up since March 31st and so far as of today 4/6/06 it has had over 1500 hits. A great response! If it keeps up the pace it will be one of the largest events in U.S. history.

 

The Animal Wins
FMike "The Animal" Harris puts another slash in the winners column tonight against a tough Scotsman. This was only Mike's third international rules bout. Clayton Roberts of the School of the Fighting Arts in Walnut Cove has brought a lot of talent to us from Scotland. In my opinion the fight between Harris and the Scotsman was the best fight of the night. The match up was the classic kicker vs. boxer. Mike although a good high kicker is not as adept in the low kick game. His opponent was a very powerful low kicker but was not as seasoned with his hands. So the fight came down to who could execute their game plan better.
Round 1 the Scotsman came out firing the a lot of powerful low kicks keeping Mike off of his game. The onslaught of the leg attack took Mike's movement out of play and made it more a war.
In the second round Mike the Scotsman started where he left off firing low kicks. About 20 seconds into the round both fighters were kicking at the same time and the Scottish fighters kick went under Mikes, hitting the base leg and knocking Mike down. Referee. Al Coley gave Mike a standing 8. I was screaming from the corner I felt it was a bad call since in North Carolina the commission rules state that it is illegal to kick the support leg of a fighter. It was an accidental foul but the result was Mike falling down from the force of the illegal blow therefore I thought that it should not have counted. Anyway, Mike got up and started to put some hard hard combinations together hurting the Scotsman,
As soon as the bell rang to end round two I went to the referee. He agreed that he had made a mistake and that he was going to change it. So Mr. Coley went to all the judges and told them it was not a knock down.
Round 3 both fighters were tired after a war. Mike stayed inside and kept his opponent against the ropes landing powerful hand combos.
At the end of all three rounds my unofficial score card read
ROUND 1: 10-9  SCOTSMAN
   ROUND 2: 10-9  HARRIS    
ROUND 3: 10-9 HARRIS
DECISION : 29-28 HARRIS

If the knock down would have counted the second round would have been a 10-8 for the Scotsman's which would have made the fight 29- 28 For the Scotsman. Anyway it was the best kickboxing match of the night the call was the call so it is how it is. I would like to see a rematch for the entertainment value of it either fighter could win the rematch.
BIG Ron Hilton returned to the ring with a 3 round exhibition in which both fighters looked good. Ron's opponent did not show up so instead of nothing Ron did an exhibition with another fighter who opponent decided not to show.   

 

 


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