Event 7 opened up with a thriller in the Women's Bantamweight division.
The first fight pitted Karate Combat newcomer Erica Santos 🇧🇷 against undefeated 2-0 KC fighter Omaira Molina 🇻🇪.
During Round 1, the two crashed together multiple times in close quarters combat, at one point illegally holding one another's heads with their left hands and delivering repeated punches with their right hands, propelling Pit-side commentator Robin Black to later remark:
And that's what we saw when Molina and [Santos] had each other and they were just pumping and pulling [right-handed punches]. That looked like a hockey fight!
Indeed it did! Yet, ultimately, it was not a hockey-fighting tactic that would prevail.
A mid-fight kiai! from Omaira Molina
Molina capitalized on her opponent's interest in thrusting forward to close the distance, and began timing straight right punches to thwart Santos's entry.
She correctly took advantage of her opponent's rhythm and delivered a perfect straight right hand during one such 'coming together.'
Bas Rutten remarked,
"Beautiful Shot! Wow! That was beautifully timed!"
Santos stumbled backwards onto the Pit floor, where Molina's fists followed her to finish the fight by TKO.
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Beautiful kicking form by Vitalie Certan, but this time missing the target.
The first round of the second match-up featured multiple attempts by Vitalie Certan 🇵🇹 to land fight-ending head-kicks.
Fans saw a wide variety of exciting karate moves - spinning attacks and question-mark kicks included. For all their flash, however, Daniel Viveros 🇪🇨 mostly evaded them.
It was rather the takedowns and a very solid slam by Viveros that stole viewers' attention.
Slammer-da-bam!
- Bas Rutten
In Round 2, Certan's flash began to pay off. He began landing those same head-kicks that failed to meet their target earlier on, in one case earning a knockdown.
That trend continued into the final round.
More big high kicks!
And more knockdowns!
Viveros was very tough in returning to his feet more than once, but Certan kept the pressure. And despite the high-kicks creating the finishing opportunity, Certan employed a series of punches to earn his TKO victory.
Smacka-da-smack!
- You know who
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Right down the pipe, from the gold-belted champ.
Event 7's Main Event featured a title defense challenge for undefeated Lightweight Champion Edgars Skrivers 🇱🇻 against undefeated challenger Bruno Assis 🇧🇷.
The challenger proved himself worthy early on, landing damaging kicks to the champion's body. The champ, on the other hand, landed the more significant strikes to the head.
Bruno did well early on to disrupt the flow of the aggressive Skrivers by kicking the legs and body, but it was the champion who had more success getting his opponent to the mat with trips.
The next round saw additional trips, but more excitingly saw the champion landing superman punches!
And later... Rolling Thunder!
Assis absorbed a lot of punishment from the champion, who spent the next two rounds grinding forward relentlessly - even despite repeated body-strikes (landing against him).
It must have been demoralizing for Assis to land so many powerful body blows and not have slowed down his opponent one bit. The Lightweight champ exhibited tremendous durability.
Ultimately, the champion demonstrated infinite forward pressure, mounting an offense that included a variety of striking forms, odd angles, accurate blows, and evasiveness-while-moving-forward.
And still... by Unanimous Decision.
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