Last night Fight Hub TV was lucky enough to see Lion Fight Promotions set the bar for Muay Thai in Las Vegas. Battle in the Desert was a stacked card before any of the fighters even walked out, with names like Kevin Ross, Amy Davis, Chaz Mulkey and other fighters on the card it promised to be a great night of fights.
The night started off with 5 amateur fights the first being 3 X 2 minute rounds. The first three fights saw no title being put on the line.
In the first fight of the night Shawn Yarborough (Las Vegas) took on Brandon Banda (Concord) in a 175 lbs match. Round 1 saw a lot of feeling out and not so much action. I will say that Yarborough landed the better shots and I have to give him the nod on that alone, with little action. Round 2 we saw a great round from Banda landing solid combinations to the chin of Yarborough, with Yarborough mounting an assault at the end. Banda wins this round on my card. The third round saw the momentum swing back to Yarborough with Banda eating some solid shots and not wanting to engage the last 20 seconds of the round. Round 4 things don’t look good for Banda as Yarborough claims the knockdown from a front kick, but Banda gets up and keeps fighting. I love the heart that these guys have displayed. Round 5 was an overall uneventful round, with not much action. Both fighters did fall towards the end of the round with Yarborough looking to have been injured from Banda falling on top of him. Yarborough does look to be bleeding from his mouth after they both went down. The round ends and that one was a tough one to give to either fighter. I have Yarborough winning this fight. We will go to the judges scorecard.
49-46 48-47 48-47 Wow and they have Brandon Banda winning this fight.
I don’t want to take anything from Banda but with the knockdown and the solid shots landed, I don’t know how anyone could’ve seen that fight going in Brandon Banda’s favor.
Next fight is one that I have been waiting for all week. Amy Davis (Idaho Falls) takes on Emily Bearden (New York) in a 114 lb. match. Amy Davis is one of the best in the world in her weight class, but did come up in weight to make this fight happen. Davis is the underdog coming into this fight, but moving up in weight is something Davis is used to as she has had to do it in the past to secure fights.
Amy Davis dominated the majority of the fight, she was much smaller but continued to move forward landing shots. Davis did not let size affect the outcome of this fight. She was very comfortable looking and picked her shots. Emily Bearden looked to be in great shape and was very cut for this fight, however she was very stiff and her movement was far from fluid. I haven’t seen Bearden fight before, but she looked tense the whole fight and just didn’t look to be able to let loose with her shots. Let go to the scorecards this should be a unanimous decision.
49-46,49-46,50-46 and the judges have it for Amy “Lil Dynamite” Davis
Our next fight brings action in the 160 lb. weight class with Chaz Mulkey (Las Vegas) vs. Douglas Edwards (San Francisco). This fight was dominated by Chaz Mulkey with solid shots to the face of Douglas Edwards. Mulkey unleashed a barrage of knees and elbows throughout the fight. Mulkey ended the fight in the 2nd round by TKO. I will tell you that this guy means business, Mulkey came out hungry and it showed. This is one guy I will be keeping an eye on and I would tell everyone else to do the same. Mulkey also takes home the first $500 TKO/KO bonus from Harley Davidson.
Chaz Mulkey wins by TKO in the 2nd round.
Remy Bonnel (Miami) takes on Singsiri Por Sirichai (Thailand) at 155 lbs. and this looks to be a great fight. Remy has the reach and height against Sirichai in this fight. The first round treated us to some solid action and Sirichai landed some nasty body shots and Remy’s front leg took a lot of shots and is purple and red throughout. The second round saw a lot of Remy using his jab and reach to keep Sirichai at bay, but Sirichai is still peppering the body of Remy with kicks to the ribs and lead leg. Remy puts Sirichai on the ropes and is landing some great shots, and the REF STEPS IN AND CALLS IT! WHAT? The crowd is not happy about this call. Tony Weeks is taking a lot of booing and Sirichai and his corner are very upset. I understand Weeks was looking out for a fighter taking abuse, but Sirichai was still standing, not wobbled, and I question the call. Weeks was however doing his job and protecting a fighter, I’d rather see an early call then one that didn’t get called early enough.
Remy Bonnel wins by TKO referee stoppage 2:10 into the second round.
Scotty Leffler (Las Vegas) takes on Coke Chunhawat (San Francisco) in a match up at 140 lbs. This fight saw Coke Chunhawat landing shots on Scotty Leffler throughout the first two rounds. Coke was calm and relaxed and picking his shots and landing them when he threw them. Scotty showed his huge heart with continuing to come forward and be aggressive. Coke just seemed to have an answer for everything Leffler had in his arsenal and proved to be too much at the end of the second round. The Referee calls an end to this fight at the end of the second round before the start of the third. It looks like the referee is not going to allow Leffler to continue this bout. Coke Chunhawat will be taking home a $500 bonus for the TKO victory from Harley Davidson.
Coke Chunhawat wins by TKO with Scott Leffler not being able to answer the bell at the start of round 3.
It’s time for the Co-Main Event where we get to see 2010 North American Fighter of the Year and local Favorite Kevin Ross (Las Vegas) taking on Sittisuk Por Sirichai in a 145 lb. fight that should be a war. Wow this fight delivered the way that a Co-Main event should. Kevin Ross is an amazing fighter with a ton heart that comes to put on a show. Not only did Kevin Ross continue to come forward putting pressure on Sirichai, but when Sirichai was landing shot after shot Ross continued to fight and land some amazing shots.
As mentioned this was a fight that fans, promoter, and anyone in attendance had to be happy they got to see. Sirichai was great in the fight and really brought the fight to local favorite Ross. Ross ended up with a cut on his left eye that bleed heavily from the time it was opened to the end of the fight, with the referee asking the doctor to step in and check the severity of the cut. Ross was covered in blood from the cut and even left Sirichai a nice red at points in the fight when both fighters would enter the clinch. This was fight that Ross won due to heart, but heart doesn’t win fights unfortunately. I think that we will see a unanimous decision for Sirichai, so let’s go to the Judges’ scorecards.
48-47 Sittisuk 49-46 Ross 48-47 Sittisuk, Sittisuk wins by split decision
It’s time for the Main-Event and one that has gone down before seeing Malaipet getting the decision victory in the first match-up. Michael Mananquil (San Francisco) taking on Malaipet (Los Angeles) for the 147 lb. Title. I was just told by a guy pretty deep in the sport that Malaipet only trained one solid week for this fight, I guess we will see how he holds up if that is true, cause Mananquil looks ready for battle.
This fight was a GREAT Main-Event, Mananquil took off a little slow, but let Malaipet have everything he had with flurries of fists, knees and elbows from the clinch, and even elbows on the way in. Malaipet didn’t have an answer for Mananquil and it really showed in the latter rounds as Malaipet ate shot after shot, I will say though he ate every shot and kick with a smile and continued to stand and fight. I have to say that I was impressed with Mananquil’s ability to put together combos and find ways to land shots on Malaipet. I had this being an easy fight to call on the cards and expect to see a Unanimous Decision come from all three judges.
48-46 Unanimous Decision for Michael Mananquil and he leaves the Welterweight Champ.
Amazing night of fights from not only the fighters, but Lion Fight Promotions has secured its place in Las Vegas as one of the premier promotions when it comes to Muay Thai. I personally can’t wait for the next card and can only recommend if you missed this card get your tickets in advance and support some of the best in the sport!
