The Points Fighter Challenge, 1st October 2023, Llanelli

The Points Fighter Challenge 2023 - Round up!

First of all, we would like to thank all of the referees, table officials, coaches, fighters and spectators for their support! 

Also, a massive thank you to The Owens Group for sponsoring our event! Without your support, our vision would not have become a reality! 

When deciding to host this event, we wanted to bring a new level of competition, in terms of set up and professionalism, as well as a higher of fighting standard, to Wales. 

🥊284 Competitors

🥋670 Entries

🚀 18 Teams!

 

The standard at the event was excellent with top-class teams coming from around the UK! 

Just Blitz (Only Hands)

The Just Blitz category was introduced with the intention of creating a more fast-paced and accelerating form of point fighting. All of the feedback has been extremely positive! We have had three promoters who have asked to implement this discipline into their events. 

*We are happy for promoters to do so, however, all we ask is that they let us know and allow us to work with them for these divisions*


Grand Champion 

The Grand Champion categories were very strong and had many top-level fighters displaying their skill in both juniors and seniors. 

Congratulations to our Grand Champion winners:
Declan Taylor - CMA (Senior Male GC) 
Adriana Krygier - WKO (Senior Female GC)
Denis Signh - Tigerstyle Martial Arts (Junior Male GC)
Madison Ward - Xandao (Junior Female GC)

Should we do Just Blitz Grand Champion Divisions next time? 

Points Fighter British Title Fights

We also had x2 Points Fighter British Title Fights.

3 Rounds

1st round - Point Fighting

2nd Round - Just Blitz (Only Hands)

3rd & Final round - Point Fighting

The +94kg Title saw Michael Kehely and Caie Copp battle it out over three rounds in a very intense fight. At the end of the first round Caie Copp was winning 8-7. The second round, which was the Just Blitz round, was fast-paced, with the end of it seeing Caie winning 21-20. However, a last second point in the dying seconds of the third round saw Michael clinch the title with a final score of 28-27. 

The -74kg title fight was fought for by Tom Davies and Liam Johnson. This fight was extremely entertaining and saw Liam winning 10-3 at the end of the first round, however, Tom brought it back to 10-14 in the Just Blitz round, before a fast-paced and exciting final round, which saw Tom clinch the title with a 19-18 score. 

How can we improve?!

Although we are humbled by the amazing feedback we have received, they’re still a lot of things we would like to improve on for our next event!

  1. Control table - On the day, there were quite a few competitors who did not make weight and this slowed down the weigh in process. A control table specifically for moving fighters up to the next category and printing out the new category list will ensure a much smoother process. 
  2. Referees - Although every area was intended to have the correct amount of referees and officials, unfortunately, a few last-minute dropouts meant that we had to rely on coaches sometimes jumping in and refereeing. This is an easy enough fix. 
  3. The Venue - Although we acquired the biggest venue we could locally, we did not expect to get the numbers we had and therefore, next time we’re going bigger!
  4. Extra Tatamis - In order to finish earlier, we will also add in more fighting areas!
  5. Start time - Doors opened at 8.30am and fighting started just after 10:30 am… we are considering having an earlier start time for fighting. 

Overall, we are extremely happy to have brought this level of competition to the fighters and we are proud to have been able to host an event of that magnitude in Wales! However, the same way in which we continuously strive to improve our brand, we will strive to improve our events each and every time! We are not looking to put on these events to stay the same, we are determined to create one of the strongest competitions around!

Obviously, the above does confirm that we will 100% be bringing back The Points Fighter Challenge 2024! And maybe one or two other events… who knows?👀

Again, a huge final thank you to everyone who was able to make this event a reality. Myself and Cait are extremely thankful to you all!

Osu

Checkout the results via Kihapp: https://www.kihapp.com/tournaments/12243-the-points-fighter-challenge-2023/draws

 

Top 10 Individuals: