Hey,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my account of Roar Fighting Championship 25 on November 5th.
So you know I always cut to the chase but I lost this one by split decision. That being said, it was my best performance of the year.
So on November 5th, I had the pleasure of fighting against Antony Thomas from the Knowlesy Academy on Roar Fighting Championship 25 (RFC).
This fight was very last minute as Antony's original opponent had pulled out so my coach Jose put my name forward without me knowing. At that moment in time, I did not know who I was going up against until I saw the poster on Instagram.
To be quite honest with you, before Jose had told me, I had no clue I was fighting. It wasn't until I received a message from Katie Knowles (RFC organiser and online fitness coach) asking for my teammate Nim's IG handle and mentioned that she heard I was fighting on the show about 14 days prior. I was really confused as I was literally chilling, not training, getting fat (not dieting) and very focused on building the community classes.
That being said, I was excited to go up against a Muay Thai AM World Champion x Pro K1 English Champion. For my first A-Class fight at 69kg, I was going up against a really experienced fighter. For those that don't know, A Class means a 'Full Thai Rules' fight. It was my first dose of Muay Thai without elbow pads and 5x3min rounds.
As I mentioned above, I hadn't been training, so my gas tank was the only thing I could think about. Despite not training myself, my teammates had been competing every week since the beginning of August so I had been doing my bit to keep them sharp with sparring, cornering and just being a good teammate.
Well, I think I was, but I'll leave them to let us know if I'm a good teammate.
Now let's do a little time skip to Thursday 4th November!
It was the day before the weigh-in and for a few weeks, I had been helping Jose with the morning classes as they were getting packed. During this session, he received a message that a fighter had pulled out at the last minute and if we had anyone willing to jump in at the last hurdle.
And you guessed it, we did. It was Cali-Boy Joonas to the rescue with the goal of losing 2KG in just under 24 hours.
Fast forward to Friday 4th November, weigh-in day!
It's the morning of the weigh-in and Joonas comes over to have my mum do his hair. I had to shoot off to do the live weigh-in so this is all that I got to see before I left. >>>>>
I usually fight at 70KG so this was the first time competing at 69KGs. I usually weigh in way under the 70KG margin in normal circumstances so making weight is never a problem.
This time around, I was consciously thinking about the weight so it felt like it was coming off slower. Alternatively, it could have been the fact that my diet was in shambles at the time.
Either way, on the day at 1:30 pm I hit the scales at 68.4KG and Anthony at 67.6KG. I was chuffed as it was the first time someone had weighed in lighter than me since I began competing in 2018.
That being said, it was now time to refuel for the war ahead of me. I would usually be on the hunt for fried rice which is now my substitute for fried chicken. I think because it was such short notice, I did not crave this for the first time in the year after cutting weight.
November 5th - Fight Night
As always, I had prepared and packed enough fruit & sweets to feed an army as we had 4 fighters on the night. Nim, Joonas, Alejandro and myself. We all know the Fightzone corner needs its fair share of sugar to get through an evening of cornering.
I almost forgot, but there were train strikes on fight night so we had to leave super early to arrive but still somehow arrived later than most. It couldn't be helped.
RFC23 & RFC24 reports were held at the promotion's more recent venue in Bushey, but for their last show of the year, they returned to their original venue at Harrow Leisure Centre. This brought back memories as this was the venue of my first appearance on the Roar Combat League back in 2018. It was my last fight of 2018 and also my first defeat of 6 bouts ending my winning streak that year.
So you guessed it, I had a bone to pick with this venue.
Anyway, the boys met at the gym and we met Nim at the venue. As we arrive, we get ourselves settled and the rules meeting went underway.
Everyone got their hands wrapped and started to prepare for war.
I did not get to watch Nim fight as I was warming up Cali-Boy and Kenneth was warming up Alejandro. She was nervous again but she went and did her thing. Lost via points but again, came back with that fire in her eyes for more.
Then it was Cali-Boy's time to go do his thing. He lost the fight and was disappointed in himself after the fight was concluded. But to fight the way he did on a few days' notice and not having a fight camp at all was something he should be more than proud of.
Next up, Alejandro. He fought against one of our old teammates Shahid Zaman and won the fight via unanimous decision. As I write this account, I still have yet to have seen the fight so I cannot share any details for now.
We had a little time before my fight so you already know I went for my pre-fight nap. I forgot to mention this but my fight was the co-main event. I was pretty excited about that.
Anyway, I don't need to tell you about my fight with Antony as you can watch it below.
Even if you did not watch the fight, I lost via split decision. To me, this is the same as a win when fighting on the opponent's home show.
Antony utilised his teep during this bout and secured himself the victory. Overall, I was happy with my performance so I had no complaints about the decision. I was excited to go 5 rounds of full Thai rules with the experienced fighter from the Knowlsey Academy.
In the 5th round, I went into "Gear Secondo" #IYKYK. I came out relentless in the final round and the fight took a turn in my favour for sure. About a minute into the round I cut Antony's left eye with a right elbow and continued to walk forward applying pressure. I also rocked him but as an experienced fighter, he used his wit to wrap me up and recover so I was unable to force a count.
All of that said, I still lost but I was able to get an elbow cut in my first A-Class bout.
Look look look...
The Fightzone crew went out in force and did what we had to do. We may not have won the war but we sure left letting everyone know what we are about.
Well, I guess that's about it for the RFC25 retake. Of course, we all love to win but there are lessons in defeat. I learnt that there is so much more potential dormant in me just waiting to come to burst out for you all to see.
Watch this space as 2023 is going to be an exciting year for me and the Fightzone London Crew.
If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read.
Peace and Love, Andre
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