Fighters, trainers, promoters and sponsors from around Australia will be recognised on Saturday 14th January at the fourth annual Australian Muaythai Awards (AMTA).
This coming Saturday the Australian Muaythai Awards will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the Gold Coast to celebrate and recognise the year that was in 2016 for muaythai in Australia. Now in its fourth year since commencing in 2013, the Australia Muaythai Awards aim to give recognition to the athletes and supporters involved with the sport throughout Australia. Nominated and voted on ‘by the people’, the awards are supported entirely by a volunteer committee made up of promoters, fighters and generous sponsors.
Queensland again shows why it is one of the top muaythai states in Australia with a raft of fighters from the Sunshine State nominated for the Male Fighter of the Year award for 2016. Amongst the incredible field of fighters is veteran fighter Ghot Seurnoi who is coming off a title win on the last Caged Muaythai show, while other Caged Muaythai regulars such as John Wayne Parr, Bradley Traynor, ‘ and Michael Badato also make up the list. Young Victorian fighter River Daz, who is set to make his United States debut next month on Lion Fight Muaythai, lands a nomination while other nominations for the award include Jake Lund, Kurtis Staiti, Ben Mahoney, Daniel Williams and Charlie Bubb.
The Female Fighter of the Year award for 2016 sees an incredibly strong field of impressive women from across the country. Amongst the contenders is Melbourne based fighter Claire Foreman who is currently unbeaten in over two years and hoping for a chance to fight in the newly established women’s division in Glory Kickboxing. Another highlight in this stacked field is Sydney-based Yolanda Schmidt who is coming off a big year in which she was able to win both the WMC state title and the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) Australian title. The other nominations for the award include Sam Brown, Melina Yung, Pia Salgado, Victoria Callaghan, Leonie Macks, Carly Gangell, Emma Rae Graham and Steph Glew.
In each and every show there are countless ‘wow’ moments with certain fights seemingly standing out from the pack for their quality, excitement and entertainment value. This year was no different and 11 fights have been nominated at the AMTA as the ‘Best Fight’ of the year. Some of the fights will be no surprise to fans with big-name bouts such as Western Australian favourite Marco Tentori against Thai Superstar Yodsanklai appearing on the list. Joining them is one of the most anticipated bouts of 2016, if not the last decade, in the third (and perhaps final) fight between Australian muaythai icon John Wayne Parr and former world boxing contender Daniel ‘The Rock’ Dawson. While perhaps not having headline names, the fight between two top Victorians in Abbas Ahmadi and Richard Fanous to finish off the year is also closely in the running after a five round non-stop battle.
Along with the previously mentioned categories, the AMTA will also be awarding prizes to the following categories; Male Teenager, Female Teenager, Kids (12yo and under), Best Knock Out, Upcoming Female, Upcoming Male, Most Technical Fighter, Sponsor of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Referee of the Year, Trainer and Youth Training of the Year, Ambassador of the Year, Most Inspirational, and MC of the Year.
Fight News Australia will be on hand to cover all the awards and winners on the night.
