Written by Kelly Wednesday, 05 October 2011 13:22
Lenui Continues Winning Streak with KO over Muir at Nitro 4
Nitro 4 went off with a bang Saturday night as Felise "The FobFather" Leniu ended Joe Muir's 7 KO winning streak with a stealthy jab and overhand right in the main event of Nitro 4 on Saturday night.
Joe "The Massacre" Muir came into this fight the definite favourite but in the opening seconds, Felise had surprised the Queensland crowd moving in to aggressively trade early with Muir. Muir from 5 Rings Dojo countered attempting a single leg takedown in response. Lenui impeded the attempt and caught Muir as he threw solidly moving out of the exchange landing a damaging kick to Muir's head. Muir countered taking Leniu to the canvas where the Sydneysider worked of his back landing an up-kick to Muir's face with "The Massacre" dropping hammer fists from standing position as Felise defended from the ground.
Ref, Tony Hickmott stood the fighters up and battle is re-engaged with brutal trading from both men as Muir finished the exchanges with chipping kicks to Lenui's inner thigh and making use of every grapple to edge elbows against Lenui's unguarded face. In response Lenui takes Muir to the canvas with Muir landing in dominant position and taking full mount with Lenui rolling and giving Muir his back twice in the first round with Muir failing to maximise the opportunity. Muir moved in for his assault throwing solid strikes to the head and ribs of Lenui, who never took a backward step landing an uppercut to Muir's chin and rallying to finish Round 1 with determined striking against the cage.
Both fighters entered round two looking decidedly gassed after such a hard hitting opening round.. Muir begins proceedings with a kick, jab combo as he moves into the clinch where Lenui returned fire with elbows against the jaw of the 102kg Gold Coaster. Against the cage, Muir landed knees to Felise's middle with both fighters throwing down in the exchange that finished with a stealthy jab and overhand right by Felise "The FobFather' Lenui dropping Muir to the canvas in 2:06 minute of the second round to claim his 6th straight win.
In the co-main event, IMA Hervey Bay’s Greg Atzori made quick work of WBC Academy wrestler, Gokhan Turkyilmaz with a late first round submission. Gokhan came out looking for the takedown early and struggled to get Atzori to the canvas as they grappled against the cage. Atzori worked hard in the clinch landing a solid knee to Turkyilmaz who responded securing the takedown on Atzori. The IMA fighter worked well off his back, scrambling to his feet and locking in a guillotine choke that saw Gokhan tapping in the 3:58 of the first round.
Sonny Stewart came out firing in his bout against Jules “The Jackal” Rebaud unleashing an overhand right as he moved in for an early takedown. Rebaud stuffed this early attempt with Stewart persevering and securing the takedown moments later. Rebaud scrambled and got to his feet landing a solid knee to the head of Stewart which dropped him. The fight was waved off by the referee; a somewhat controversial decision considering Stewart, though slightly stunned was effectively positioning himself to attempt a single leg takedown. Controversy aside, Jules “The Jackal” Rebaud was declared victor by KO in 2:04 of Round One.
5 Rings Dojo’s Cam Brace well made super quick work of PUMMA’s Matt Walker needing only 55 seconds to claim victory in this heavyweight local derby. Bracewell caught Walker early with a well executed jab and followed Walker to the ground unloading heavy punches from full mount position with referee calling the fight in favour of Cam Bracewell in 0:55 sec of the first round by strikes.
In the only bout of the night to go the distance, Southside MMA’s Alex McDonald was awarded the unanimous decision win over local favourite Nathan “Nitro” Richards. Richards, who had gone up a weight division for this fight and lost a training partner in the days leading up ,made McDonald work for his win defending well against the heavy hands of the Southside MMA fighter and working hard off his back. McDonald however was able to effectively control the fight from the ground, taking full mount and landing successive ground and pound to be awarded the unanimous decision victory at the end of three rounds.
Integrated fighter Chris Lokteff took his winning streak to 5-0 with all wins coming via KO after beating Contender Gym’s Piki Te Ringa in 2:11 of the opening round. Lokteff opened proceedings with a flurry of combinations before moving into a grapple and landing knees from the clinch. Te Ringa scored an early takedown with Lokteff scrambling to his feet and engaging Te Ringa against the cage. As the fighters are separated and Te Ringa moves in, Lokteff counters, catching the chin of Te Ringa with a well timed right hook dropping the Contender Gym fighter. Lokteff followed up with solid punches to the grounded Te Ringa as the ref calls the fight in favour of crowd favourite IMA’s Chris “Igor” Lokteff.
Bloodshed Muay Thai’s Bruce “The Brawler” Irvine needed only 38 seconds to lock in a guillotine choke on self trained wrestler, Stevie Smith. Irvine was the recipient of two nicely executed head kicks in the opening seconds but controlled Smith’s takedown attempt moving easily into dominant position and locking in the choke that saw Irvine win by submission.
First up was 5-0 fighter Shindo New Breed’s Brodee Callinan facing off against Brisbane fighter, Brodie Crane who was making his MMA debut on Nitro 4. Crane moved into attack early but Callinan, the more experienced fighter faking out his opponent, took the fight to the ground where he made short work of his opponent submitting him with an Americana from full mount in 2:06 of round one.