The Lebanese based up’n’coming and booming Phoenix promotion held its second event on April 29, 2017, and what a show it was. This night held major match ups where two WMC World Titles, one WMC Intercontinental Title and one WMC Middle Eastern Title were all up for grabs.
The WMC Titles of the Night:
WMC World Title – Musipon Pakorn (Thai) vs Morgan Adrar (FRA), 67kgs
Both Pakorn (Thai) and Adrar (FRA) showed a remarkable performance during their match up. Nothing else could have been expected by the two heavy record Muay Thai legends. The display of control, phenomenal reflexes, missile targeted hits of bone shattering power for the lay person, was a highlight of the night. The first round seemed to be more of a warm up session between the two. The fight progressed through the rest of the rounds when out came the clinch and sweep mayhem to which Pakorn demonstrated an elevated skill set. By unanimous decision Pakorn took home both the WMC World Title belt as well as the Phoenix World Title belt, rightly earned.
WMC Female World Title – Antonina Shevchenko (Peru) vs Isa Keskikangas (SE), 63.5kgs
These two international Muay Thai ladies put on a spectacular show as they fought it out for the world belts. From the get go Shevchenko exhibited her exceptional talent, taking control of much of the bout. Coming off as naturally inclined to dominate across the board she controlled the clinches, sweeps, kicks and well timed punches. Only during the fourth round did Keskikangas seem to pick up the pace of her offense. What could be called an uneven battle of the professional levels, both titles went to Shevchenko via unanimous decision.
WMC Intercontinental Title -Armen Grigoryan (AM) vs Xie Wei (CN), 70kgs
The eighth fight of the night thoroughly raised the heat of the arena as the Chinese Xie Wei laid the Armenian Armen Grigoryan to shame. This fight was also evident to be an uneven match up as Wei flew through the air the majority of the time with knees, kicks and punches worthy of the title he won. Unfortunately Grigoryan was not able to take control of the ring throughout the match. The energetic, flexible, incredible Wei stole the show to the dismay of the largely Armenian crowd. The WMC Intercontinental Title went to Xie Wei via unanimous decision.
WMC Middle East Title – Kassem Daher (LEB) vs Mohamand Salama (JOR), 82kgs
Lebanon’s Daher entered the ring to the huge support of cheer by the crowd as he prepared to fight Jordan’s Salama. Both fighters showed a great deal of spirit as they began the fight. Precision of kicks was in Daher’s favor where as precision of punches was tipped in Salama’s favor. The battle of dominance kicked up after the first round as the two exchanged kick for kick, blow to blow, destruction. Both found themselves on the ground at one point or another. High kicks ended up being Salama’s weapon of choice and Dahers focus turned to his boxing strength. A good match up well fought for, the decision of the winner of the WMC Middle East Title went to Daher, making Lebanon proud.
Phoenix honored all those watching yet again with exciting fights for world title belts.
Stay tuned for the next installment, only on Arabsmma.
