Take a look Canadians. This guy right here calls Toronto his home. Last night, he just became the WBC champion, and now has two of the most reputable titles in Muay Thai, winning them from two very worthy opponents. His fight last night was not even the Co Main event. I'll bet a large percentage of the country doesn't even know his name, or what he does.
If you don't know what Muay Thai is, or don't follow it, start! Google, youtube, ask questions. Canada has a hotbed of amateur talent and some budding professionals. Without your support, more people won't know about fighters like Matt Embree or Simon Marcus, who represent OUR country.
But enough banter...I'll give you the recap if you missed the fights here:
Simon fights Joe Schilling in a non title fight for the main event. Joe comes out relatively active and connects with a couple punches, while trying to transitioning to elbows. Bad Bwoy starts off in a slower Thai style, relaxed and stalking...only measuring with a couple switch kicks. When Joe really presses, they end up clinching with Joe pushing Simon's head back pretty far.
About half way through round one, with both fighters tying up (Joe with under hooks), Simon lets go a couple visious side skip knees, then turns Joe over his leg and dumps him.
**Here's where the controversy enters: Simon's dump is a common one, where the throwing fighter lands on top of the other. When Joe got up, he was a bit wobbly. Many eneducated fans are calling foul play on the throw, as they claim it was illegal and that Joe was damaged from hitting his head on the canvas. Let me tell you something, it's legit. I've used that toss and have had it done to me multiple times in amateur bouts and sparring. It's NOT rocket science, or an illegal voodoo trick.
More over, if you are as skilled as your opponent in the clinch (and with Joe claiming to be the better fighter, he should have matched up with Simon in that area), there are ways to avoid and EVEN reverse that throw. All I'm going to say is this: if people are doubting the legitimacy of Simon's throw, they are ignoring the gap Joe's performance as well. If Joe hit his head or got hurt when Simon fell on him, then the angry fans should start crying for everyone that WMC Middleweight champ Tum Madsua has ever fought.**
ANYWAYS, Joe gets up, and Simon walks straight up to him and gives him a left hook to the face, instantly resulting in a knockdown. The referee counts to 8, and sets them up to fight again. Simon walks right up to Joe again, this time sending his rear teep to Joe's face, then transitioning to a straight elbow that once again sends Joe straight down.
The referee counts, and Joe makes it up. His legs are not all there, and I can't blame him after 2 straight knockdowns of that caliber. The ref waves it off, much to the crowd and Joe's dismay (dude actually shoved the ref).
I wrote all this because the following link may not be up much longer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-oW9kNrJlA&feature=youtu.be
Unfortunately, there isn't any footage of Matt's fight yet. The only really odd thing to happen was Matt's cup coming loose shortly after round 1 started...and a giant pause in the action for him to fix it.
Otherwise, it was a competitive 5 round fight with both fighters connecting with Solid Muay Thai weapons. This was almost literally "chess with knives". Coke had a few well timed explosive punches, and Matt with some solid sweep and inside leg counters. However, Matt consistently landed the definitive shots of each exchange...his primary success coming from his straight right and some dirty hard low kicks. Matt got off with some good knees from the close clinch too. Coke was tough though, as he smiled with every strike.
In the end, Matt won the WBC 135 lbs title, by fighting probably the most clean Muay Thai of the night.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is what happened for those of you that couldn't watch it live. Congratulations to both fighters on the big wins!
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