The French Team Haute Tension (High Voltage in English) reigned supreme at Saturday's Shooto Belgium: Encounter the Braves in Charleroi, as David Baron and Bendy Casimir both took the prestigious SHOOTO European Championship belts home to Paris.
Spectators at the well filled Parc des Sports witnessed a spectacular show with some of Europe’s premier fighters showcasing their skills, reviving the old SHOOTO Japan tradition, where the best fighters participated in a big New Year’s event.
In the opening bout Belgian Muay Thai stylist Zelim Felican pushed the pace early against Yannis Jacquet from Team Lenogue, scoring a knockdown with a right hook in under ten seconds. The SHOOTO standing eight-count rule saved the Frenchman, who recovered and took his opponent down without inflicting much damage. Round one saw Felican come out on top after one of the scrambles forcing Jacquet to submit due to well placed punches from the top position.
Yohan Quoniam wasted no time in getting Vincent Latoel to the floor, where the young French fighter scored the submission victory via heel hook at approximately fifteen seconds into the match, defeating the far more experienced Dutch fighter.
The evening’s only G-SHOOTO bout saw Romy Ruyssen dominate Nadia Van der Wel, as she took the Dutch fighter to the floor and scored the armbar submission after the first attempt was successfully defended by van der Wel.
Belgian ADCC 2006 Qualifier winner Tarec Saffiedine and late replacement Raymond Jarman from the Netherlands were the first fighters to reach the full time limit of the evening, after Saffiedine dominated round one with his crisp striking, forcing the referee to let the doctors check Jarmans bloodied nose three times. The second round saw the Belgian welterweight waste no time standing as he took Jarman down immediately and move to side control. Jarman was able to get out of trouble as he slammed his way out of an armbar attempt, earning cheers from the specatators, who saw him prove his toughness fightng with a busted nose and a wide open mouth - even attempting a cart wheel guard pass. Round three ended without much action, as Saffiedine didn’t go in for the kill and Jarman was unable to land anything decisive. Saffiedine earned the unanimous decision.
The first Muay Thai title fight of the evening pitted Zourdani Nordine against Massimango Gego. Without much technique the two heavyweights went at it and threw haymakers at each other for five rounds. Gego was the better wrestler throwing his opponent around at times, but that didn’t earn him any points in Muay Thai, as Nordine eaked out the decision to capture the vacant WKN Belgian Muay Thai title.
French PRIDE veteran David Baron put his SHOOTO -76kg European Championship belt on the line, as he faced unbeaten Marc Duncan - protege Niek Tromp. Receiving a huge cheer from the crowd, Baron started with a bang landing a big right hand that dropped Tromp. The young Dutch fighter was able to get back on track momentarily, taking Baron down after clinching up, only to be stuck in a tight guillotine choke from where he had to submit, ending the bout in less than thirty seconds. Baron retained his title and proved why he is widely considered one of the best fighters in Europe.
In the first match after the break, Russian Vitaly Shemetov had a stiff task ahead as he took on Spanish MARS tournament winner Daniel Tabera. The Spanish shoot fighter immediately went for the clinch, unwilling to exchange blows with Shemetov. Working for the takedown, Tabera was caught in a tight guillotine that nearly ended the fight. Showing heart, he managed to get himself out of trouble and took Shemetov to the floor, where Tabera demonstrated his technical superiority by catching his opponent in an anaconda choke. Shemetov fought out of that only to be mounted by Tabera who started raining down blows, forcing the Russian to give up his back for the submission via rear naked choke.
Belgian welterweight standout Wim Deputter went to battle with Willy Ni from the Netherlands, focused on keeping his impressive ten fight win streak intact. Ni started with strong kicks forcing Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist Deputter to take the fight where he usually does; the ground. Positioning from Ni`s guard into side control Deputter kept working throughout round one, but struggled to do damage as Ni stayed in the fight. The second round saw more of the first, as Ni landed kicks, only to be taken down by Deputter again. Showing more heat, the Belgian fighter achieved full mount and rained down punches on Ni. Giving up his back, Ni managed to escape the incoming rear naked choke, but had to succumb to Deputters superior grappling, as he tapped out to an arm-triangle choke seconds later.
The knockout of the night occurred, as Czech powerhouse Tomas Kuzela duked it out with Belgian karate fighter Verin Fernandez. Gladiators Prague fighter Kuzela showed no sign of willingness to exchange strikes at first, landing three consecutigve takedowns against Fernandez, who scrambled back to his feet after every single one of them. Kuzela changed his plan and nailed Fernandez with a perfect right-left combination that sent the Belgian fighter to the floor unable to continue, earning Kuzela the KO victory.
Fighting for the vacant SHOOTO -70kg European Championship were SHOOTO Japan veteran Marc Duncan and French rising star Bendy Casimir, who won his last five fights all by submission. Round one started with both fighters exchanging takedowns and showcasing equal grappling skills, with a slight advantage to Casimir, who caught Duncan in a guillotine choke, which the Dutch fighter was able to defend after some effort. In round two Duncan came out guns blazing, immediately rushing Casimir with a flying knee that didn’t land completely. Duncan followed up and landed a big punch, dropping Casimir for a standing eight count by the referee. Unwilling to exchange with his Dutch foe, Casimir took the fight to the ground, working for a leglock, but it became evident that the momentum was on Duncan’s side. Scoring a takedown himself, he landed heavy ground and pound followed by some crushing knees to the body to end round two. Casimir turned the tides in the last round, taking a page out of Masakazu Imanari's book, by instantly rolling in for the takedown on Duncan, grabbing his leg and aplying the kneebar. Duncan tapped out, visibly upset and left the 27-year old Casimir the winner and new SHOOTO champion, sending both titles that night to the Paris-based team Haute Tension.
Yassin Maihon, fighting out of the Osman Gym, stepped up to face Rihai Foued for the WKN Belgian Muay Thai title at 63.5 kg. In a fast paced fight, Foued was the aggressor early, punishing Maihon with leg kicks for two rounds. Maihon came back strong though, sending his opponent down to the mat multiple times, ultimately ending the bout in round five when his leg kick left Foued unable to continue. Maihon took home the vacant Muay Thai WKN title.
In the main event of the night Rodney Moore from the Irish UFR Fight Team stepped up on short notice for the WVR-bound “Killa” Siyar Bahadurzada to face French PRIDE veteran Jean Francois Lenogue. “Jeff” notched the best entrance of the night as he was introduced by a rastafari and entered the stage in a white suit. After a short dance session with his singer, Lenogue had enough of the fun and turned towards Moore, who was not to be underestimated.
The first round started with both fighters exchanging leg kicks and Lenougue going for the takedown. In a rather uneventful round Lenougue set the highlight with a superman punch to the downed Moore.
During the second round it became evident that Lenougue was avoiding the striking exchanges where the significantly shorter Moore landed some solid punches. The French fighter opted for the takedown, again without doing much harm to Moore.
Round three saw Moore go for it all and turn it up a notch with his boxing. The evading Lenogue scored with some leg kicks but lost the round after being taken down at the end by Moore. Lenogue was awarded the unanimous decision victory to crown a night of excellent fights, which put the youngest member of the SHOOTO Europe family, SHOOTO Belgium, on the map.
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