On Saturday 11th June, seven fighters from UK-ITF (Scotland) Region 1 and their supporters travelled down to Cheshire to participate in Mr Alasdair Walkinshaw''s UK ITF Fight Night.
 
This was the second Fight Night that Mr Walkinshaw had hosted and after success at last year''s event, Mr Scott''s QMU Taekwon-Do Team and Scotland Region 1 were keen to get in on the action once again. 
 
After arriving at the impressive venue and taking in the professional setup, the fighters found out the running order and their allocated time slots for their fights.
 
Mr Walkinshaw addressed the fighters and spectators, welcoming us all to the event and introduced all the officials and guest of honour Master Michael Wood, VII Degree.
 
The fights were quickly underway, kicking off with the smaller kids who as always, put on an outstanding display of determination and indomitable spirit with some of the best performances of the night coming from the youngsters.
 
The first QMU fighter to take part was Struan "Swift" Mackenzie who was fighting Sam Owens from Master Wolf''s Taekwon-Do Academy. Struan, not one to shy away from the flamboyant techniques put in a skilful performance to deservedly take victory and a Gold medal in what was to be his first of two fights of the night.
 
Next up for QMU was Brad "Hardness" Holleron, who was also fighting a MWTA student in the shape of Adam Boycott. The fight was a back and forth battle but Brad''s spectacular start to the second round ensured that he took home QMU''s second Gold of the night.
 
After a short break, Struan “Swift” Mackenzie returned to the action for his second fight of the night after bravely accepting the challenge laid down by Mr Walkinshaw. Struan was up against one of Mr Walkinshaw’s Blue Dragon TKD students this time but he was not to be denied, putting in an even better performance with even more spectacular kicking combinations to add to the excitement. Struan again took Gold, and along with it, several kind words of praise from Master Wood.
 
Up next was last year''s Fight Night Gold medallist Chris "Red Mist" Devine in the third QMU TKD -vs- MWTA match-up of the night, fighting Dan Owens. The first round was a fast paced battle with both fighters trading heavy blows. The second round started at a slower pace and after the initial exchanges was unfortunately stopped due to Dan suffering a nose injury, earning Chris QMU''s 4th Gold of the night.
 
The final fighter representing QMU TKD was Brad “Braveheart” Robertson who has taken Gold in sparring in every competition he has entered in 2011 so far. Facing Brad was a familiar opponent Sam “Mr Ooosh” Richards from Richards TKD in Cornwall, eager to defeat his long running rival. Brad was keen to keep his 100% record in tact however and fought an excellent fight, keeping Sam at bay with his long legs and mixing it up when in close to earn victory and ensure that QMU TKD had a 100% record in the scheduled fights.
 
Due to a late withdrawal, Mr Walkinshaw found himself short of 1 adult male black belt to fight current Welsh & Scottish Welterweight Champion and one of the most in form fighters of the year, Jake Stevens from Heart of England. Mr Walkinshaw approached Brad and Sam and offered both boys the chance to fight Jake. Both boys wanted to test themselves against Jake and so it was decided that each of them should fight 1 round against him.
 
Sam took the first round and after the initial settling in period, Jake was looking good, picking Sam off with skilfully selected techniques with Sam firing back enough to do himself justice and keep the boys in with a shout. Brad faced off against Jake in the second round and it was clear that this was going to be an interesting round to say the least!!!
 
Brad fought outstandingly well, utilising his long legs once again and managing to pull off some excellent techniques which he had no right to throw, never mind land, against a seasoned fighter like Jake. The fight was a true display of both Jake’s and Brad’s abilities and all of us from QMU thought Brad fought well enough to secure his round.
 
At the end of the fight the official decision was given to Jake, but credit should be given to all three fighters. To Jake, for accepting the fight against two juniors (albeit very good ones!) and keeping a level of control in his fighting and to Sam and Brad for stepping up and fighting a fierce competitor like Jake. Hats off to all of you!!
 
The Fight Night ended with an “England –vs- Scotland” fight for the second year in a row with current British Heavyweight Champion, Curt Stevens from Heart of England TKD, facing Ayrshire TKD’s Ryan Vogwell. In the first round Ryan, admittedly short of fight time this year and carrying an injury, struggled to judge Curt’s speed and timing and found it difficult to land any telling blows. In the second round, Ryan changed his game and was much more successful, making much more of a fight of it. Curt, though knew what he had to do to win and landed the more telling shots over the course of the two rounds and deservedly took the Gold medal.
 
Two other Scottish fighters were also in on the action, Richie “Baby Face” Harkin and Ross “Bang Bang” Buchanan travelled down from Mr Desmond Harkin’s No.1 TKD Studio and both of them put in excellent performances to win. Ross fought Tom Owens from MWTA, who was a much larger and more experienced fighter, but Ross fought excellently to ensure that Tom’s size did not stop him getting the victory. Richie was faced with Mr Walkinshaw’s son Robert who stepped in at the last minute as a late entrant to ensure Richie had an opponent. Despite Robert’s lack of recent training he put up an excellent fight against Richie, but in the end, it was Richie’s experience and ring-craft that earned him the Gold medal, making the final tally for UK-ITF (Scotland) Region 1 an impressive, 7 Gold medals and 2 Silvers from only 7 fighters – not a bad result at all!!
 
A massive thank you to Mr Walkinshaw once again for hosting an excellent tournament which should be on every fighter''s radar for 2012 and thank you to all the visiting instructors and coaches including Master Wood, Miss Parker, Miss Cornwell, Mr Richards, Miss Richards, Mr Horan, Mr England, Mr Mullin, and our own Mr Scott and Mr Robertson and to all the other people who worked tirelessly throughout the night to ensure the night was as memorable as possible.
 
Fight Night 2012...........We’ll be there..........will you?