REPORTAGE – Two fights raised the taste of a somewhat dull evening, marked by a lack of finishes.
Dome of Paris – Sports Palace – Porte de Versailles
Ares fighting championship is a young organization. So it still lacks a bit of bench depth. After the excellent cards of Ares 9, 10 and 11, this Ares 12 seemed much less dense. Fernand Lopez, the boss of the organization, recognized him half-word during the press conference.
The first scheduled fight on the card was for promising Nice middleweight Virgil Augen, who is on the team of France’s top fighter, Manon Fiorot. His fight with power and control was a little disappointing: Virgil greatly outclassed his opponent in the fight, without managing to finish him. The main card is not for now. Mitigating circumstance: his opponent Mahamadou Soukouna was very physically dense. The young Niçois is now 4-0 in career: hoping that the extra confidence in his soil that he has stored up this evening pushes him to be more daring during his next fight, which should not be long since he was not seriously injured beyond a few bruises.
Virgil Augen on the left. Mahamadou Soukouna on the right. Facebook Ares fighting championship.
There followed an opposition between two -52kg fighters who fought mainly in English boxing, with some generous takedowns but without follow-up in the ideas. Mona Ftouhi was beaten by the Italian Manuela Marconetto, from the Great-Britain top team. The Italian branch of Ares continues to trace its path.
Asilder Badouiev managed to submit his Paraguayan opponent Pedro Colman in the first round, with a support on the throat. Poor Paraguayan (8-3 in career, first in the ranking of his country): fight in -66kg and fall on an opponent of 1m86, what a nightmare! His nickname “kills giantswill not have been enough.
Rony Bouzy, impressive heavyweight from the Atch academy (Aubervillers) made a good copy in defense of the fight, but it was not enough to impose his boxing. His opponent Zaurbek Sabanov, representing Albania, suffered two knockdowns on hooks at the start of the recovery: once on his back, in this category where you weigh 120kg, you don’t get up easily. The referee relieved the two fighters on the second round for lack of activity. 1-0 in career for Zaurbek Sabanov. Hoping that Rony Bouzy is next time opposed to another striker.
Extraordinaire Turpal Younousov
Make way for the lightweights. Turpal Younousov honored the traditionally highest category of mma. By pulverizing his Italian opponent in 27 seconds. A show of strength. Daniele Scagliusi couldn’t do anything against an impeccably executed combination. Returned elbow strike from the start, take advantage of the confusion to land a knee strike, then an elbow strike on the lowered head, then follow up with a perfectly placed guillotine that he even has the luxury of returning. The whole panoply of boxing at very short range. Masterful. He will walk away with the evening’s bid bonus. The other lightweights in the organization can shake their knees. “Yes, he impresses me. Few people start a fight with an elbow like him. It will end immediately. You can hardly get more aggressive and more offensive than that.says Fernand Lopez.
Youssouf Binate (-66kg) easily got rid of his opponent Tito Martins. Working loosely and flexibly, focused, diligently, he did precise work with low-kicks protected by his upper reach. After cracking his opponent’s defense, he broke it irreparably with a particularly powerful back kick. The referee (irreproachable throughout the evening) hesitated for a fraction of a second to stop the fight but gave Martins a chance: Binate, effective, chained a last kick on the injury which ended the fight on KO technical. “He is determineddeclared the boss of the MMA Factory who rewarded him with an aggressiveness bonus. Youssouf Binate proved once again, if need be, that low-kicks are extremely underestimated in terms of efficiency. The public applauds sportingly the injured opponent who left the octagon carried by the rescuers. We do not want them to have to evacuate a heavyweight in the same configuration.
On to the main card! Alioune Nahaye was pitted against Felipe Colares, a UFC veteran who had just been fired from the queen organization for insufficient results. Nahaye had to drop from his ideal weight of 90kg to go down to -66kg. The physical trainer of Alioune Nahaye had predicted the death of his opponent. That will be for another time: Felipe Colares has largely outclassed Alioune technically in all areas, stricking as grappling. “We are very happy to have him on Ares. I hope to see him there again” declares the boss of the organization. The public too, no doubt. Coares thanked everyone profusely and said he too wanted to return.
There will be no development of our sport without the development of mass consumption
Fernand Lopez, about the fight of Ragnar le Breton
Business is business, the room was able to take advantage between the two main fights of a face-to-face between Ragnar le Breton (Matthias Quiviger) and Daniel Lentie. The first is a popular comedian on social networks, who will fight at the next Ares party (March 9). Against the second, kickboxer at the end of his career, who has notorious weaknesses on the ground. The fight will be in heavyweight at the very beginning of the map. After one asked the other for an autograph (“if you sign, you sign your death warrant!“), he heard himself treat in return “by Kaaris from wish». «There will be no development of our sport without the development of mass consumption“, almost defended Fernand Lopez in a press conference. “And that goes through promotion on social networks, whether we like it or not. But it is Matthias who comes to our sport and conforms to it, not the other way around.” Why not.
With all that, there is definitely a fight for the title. Elias Boudegzdame (who had not fought for a year) against Demarte Pena, in -61kg. The fight was very tactical, very cerebral. Pena was a cut above, especially in kicks and kicks, and preferred to play cleanly without great risk. Difficult to blame then: he defended his belt. It was more problematic for the insufficiently daring Elias Boudegzdame, who worked on the jab and whose wrestling attacks were fruitless. Too bad for a practitioner gifted in Jiu jitsu. In a press conference, radiant, he confided to having “regaled after a year without a fight“. But Pena, a calm and composed boy, won without forcing himself too much.
No evening combat bonus
Few fighters, even professionals, live exclusively from fighting. Often, they teach at the same time in a club, or work as a physical trainer. Therefore, the combat bonuses received in addition to the fixed pay have a great economic and concrete importance, beyond the symbol. However, this evening, the management decided not to give any bonus for the fight of the evening, and to give a double bonus of aggressiveness (to Mossab El Marzkioui, very first fight of the evening, and Youssouf Binaté).
The message passed is clear for the fighters. Most played it safe. Too much. “We did not reward those who played it safe. Tonight the heavyweights were not very academic but there was commitment. However, the Elias we had today was not the best. On the last 4 rounds it was passiveasked Fernand Lopez annoyed. The Ares 13 map is promising: for the “mass consumptioncalled for by Fernand Lopez snaps, it would perhaps be more strategic to smooth the cards, to avoid giving the impression of an alternating current organization. And Ares has all the potential to make it happen.