Arab and International fighters made their way to Nouhad Nawfal stadium, Zouk Mikael, on Saturday 29th April for the one and only Phoenix promotion’s second installment. The Muay Thai event showcased some amazing talent and was awe inspiring fight after fight.
The event featured 2 WMC world title fights as well as a WMC Intercontinental fight and a continental fight alongside Phoenix’s own belts. The stadium was packed with over 8,000 spectators providing an electric atmosphere which was broadcast on Lebanese TV and 200 countries worldwide.
The first WMC world title fight of the evening saw the battle of the heavy record holders Pakorn former WMC World Champion (Thailand) and Morgan Adrar WMC European Champion (France). At 67kgs, these two used epic reflexes, counters, and offense true only to real Muay Thai athletes .Both athletes put on a stellar performance for 5 rounds utilising the clinch a high percentage of the time where knees of massive force were continuously exchanges. Adrar was swept several times as Pakorn clearly showed his dominate control with clinch. The WMC world Championship and Phoenix World Champion belts both went to Pakorn by decision.
The WMC female bout of the evening between Antonina Shevchenko fighting for Peru and Swedish Isa Keskikangas representing Sweden came up next. Both athletes are IFMA superstars and put on an amazing show and even though Antonina was slightly in the lead, Isa kept coming forward for the full 5 rounds. It was Shevchenko that took the win by decision, earning the female WMC world title belt, and the Phoenix Championship Muay Thai World Title. What a performance from both ladies!
The fight for the WMC Middle East Belt saw Kassem Daher from Lebanon battle it out with Jordan’s Mohamad Salama at 82kgs. The two showed a difference in precision when it came to kicks verse punches. Daher used his kicking skill to take out Salama’s legs several times leaving him to drop to a knee. Salama utilised slightly more combos, as round 3 through 5 became increased in intensity. Daher did go down momentarily after he got caught with a high kick, but by the end of round 5 though Daher seemed to have slowed his pace, his boxing picked up. The win went to Daher by decision and he became the new WMC Middle Eastern Champion.
Fight 8 of the night was a highly anticipated match between the Armenian Armen Grigoryan and the Chinese Xie Wei for the WMC Intercontinental title. At 70kgs, this bout saw the light on his feet, incredibly flexible, and speedy Wei dominate Grigoryan from the get go. The Armenian showed good defense and knee ability in the first round, but from there on out the Chinese athlete continuously showed an impressive wide range of sweeps, kicks, high impact knees and major control of the clinch technique. For most of round 3 through 5, Wei was air born. Flying kicks, knees and punches took the stadium by storm as the Grigoryan attempted to make it through to the end. The winner by decision went to the energetic Chinese athlete who finished the bout with several push-ups becoming the new WMC Intercontinental champion.
The highly anticipated main event of the night matched up the famous Saenchai from Thailand with the young and eager Azize Hlali from France. This entertaining fight saw the lighter side of both athletes as they taunted each other briefly with a few jester moves, but with all seriousness Hlali never lost sight of his mission. The Frenchman showed to be a strong opponent for Saenchai through out the rounds as he was able to catch kicks coming from Saenchai, and launch some decent combos. However, Saenchai has a big reputation for a reason. Clearly dominant on all levels, he seemed to allow Hlali to give it his best, while interjecting with momentarily aggressive trips, and in the first round threw a beautifully executed punch to Hlali’s stomach and follow up with a liver shot. Hlali went down momentarily, but got right back up and continued to do well against the mega Thai beast and managed to trip him to the floor. Saenchai of course returned the sweep with much higher aggression, a single front kick launched Hlali half way across the ring, and his double kicks and trips were no match for the young fighter. From there on out the Thai went on to display all the creative and famous moves known to him, and by decision happily enjoyed yet another win for his record. A beautiful little twist to this fight was the execution of Saenchai’s famous cart wheel kick by Hlali just as the bell rang signaling the end of the fight. A move that seemed to be well respected by the experienced Thai fighter.
Following the success of the first event Phoenix 2 didn’t disappoint with an amazing night of entertainment from international athletes. From all at the WMC we would like to thank Phoenix Promotions for such an amazing show and we are looking forward to the next one. Congratulations to all the athletes for being the best that they can be!