Week 2: Out of this World Results! Mardhi and Quayhagen Dominate
A KO, a TKO that definitely hurt, and the first ever 4th round lit up the Pit at Anger Wat
By Toni Gannon
As Karate Combat launched our second episode, we learned that monkeys go crazy over a man in a Spacesuit (uniform?). While we can’t understand what the attraction was between Katie the Monkey and Bas’s head, we can’t deny that Bas is also bananas over this new season of Karate Combat.
On a serious note, we couldn’t move forward without a statement from the man himself, Jerome Brown, who, as you may remember from the final moments of Episode 1, collapsed moments after being announced winner of the Main Event. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can see it here.
Karate Combat sends The Brown Bear good thoughts on his continued recovery, and we look forward to his next fight, just as Brown himself looks forward to taking the Gold Belt.
Literally kicking off the night was the Qualifier Match between Craig Ryan, from Ireland, and Rita
Boutadaout, from Marseille, France. There was so much riding on this fight, since the winner would secure his place in Karate Combat, so both had to bring their A game, and AgGame they did bring. While Boutadout had the height advantage, he kept his hands low and his eye on the prize. Craig Ryan wore each strike on his body like a lesson learned from his opponent, and rolled with the punches as best he could, until his corner threw in the towel. Winner by TKO was Boutadout.
The second fight of the night was Joshua “The Preacher” Quayhagen vs Reda “The Cobra” Messaoudi. As the commentators pointed out, “Reda is from Morocco. Josh is from Louisiana. You couldn't get two more opposite parts of the world to come together here.”
Worlds collided as both Fighters came at each other fast and furious, no surprise given Quayhagen’s background in American Karate, kickboxing and MMA, and Messaoudi’s extreme conditioning training in the Moroccan desert. The energy both brought to the pit caused a stir, immediately getting Marshawn Lynch sitting on the edge of his Commentator’s seat ready and waiting for someone to get knocked out.
Despite the impressive show of skill, The Cobra was no match for Quayhagen’s back hand, ultimately breaking his nose, giving Quayhagen the win with a KO.
Post-match words with Sam Ericson, made The Champ from Louisiana’s intentions clear: “Man, I want the championship. I want the title. I went on a killer row, beat three guys in a row and that's what I'm here to do. To fight the best and beat the best. And I just want to go for it, man. And to be honest, I'm just blessed to be here, man. I got out of combat sports a couple of years ago. I felt like God gave me Karate Combat. Thank you, Karate Combat. But now I want to fight for the title. I want to fight the best.”
What do you think of Quayhagen’s win? Let us know below.
Saving the wildest match of the night for last, the Main Event, featuring Ilies Mardhi vs Pedro Roman Roig, proved to break records for Karate Combat.
Both fighters worked the pit with passion, each answering back as strong kicks and jabs were exchanged. It was clear that Mardhi had the advantage early on, as his game plan seemed the clearer of the two, however no one knew that this fight, despite how tired both competitors seemed to be, would go into overtime, a Karate Combat first.
“These guys are swinging for the fences now-- they're just standing there throwing bombs,” said the commentators. It was hard to see who was connecting at one point, as the fatigue of the prior three rounds was surely setting in, however, a sudden burst of adrenaline not evident in Round 1 gave Mardhi the advantage, allowing him to connect and step back, while Roig was catching air. The sudden change gave Mardhi the confidence professionally and personally, causing Bas Rutten to dub him the Moroccan Connor McGregor, and earning him the win. (Though he is of Morroccan descent, he grew up in Paris’ notorious 83rd Arrondissement).
As Bas said, “That was a great event you know, four rounds---- first time we saw that here at Karate Combat. I think Mardhi did a phenomenal job. I also believe that Pedro will be back.”
We sure do, as well.
This concludes episode 2! We hope you enjoyed it, and if you haven’t got the chance to see it, you can here. We’ll be back at the same time, same place for the next 10 weeks so don’t miss out on the action – who knows, we may even be able to get Marshawn Lynch into the pit, if Bas has anything to do with it!