Professional Fighters League signs the 22-Year-Old to Exclusive, Multi Fight Contract. The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest-growing and most innovative sports league, today announced the historic signing of   Hattan Alsaif  to an exclusive, multi-fight contract. Alsaif becomes the first woman from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to sign a contract with a global MMA promotion. Alsaif, is a 22-year-old gold medal winner at the 2023 International Federation of Muay Thai Associations World Championships, an event in which she was awarded “Breakthrough Female Athlete.”  Continuing her success, Alsaif took first place at the World Combat Games and at the Saudi Games; she anticipated making her amateur MMA debut for the PFL in 2024. “Receiving a contract from the PFL is a dream come true,” said Hattan Alsaif to sign with the PFL. “As the first Saudi woman signed to a global MMA contract I do not take the responsibility lightly, and I am committed to representing my country. I hope to pave the way for aspiring female fighters. I am thankful to God and the PFL for this incredible opportunity.”  “We are thrilled to welcome Hattan Alsaif, a truly groundbreaking athlete to the PFL,” said Ray Sefo, President of Fighter Operations of PFL. “In collaboration with our partner, SRJ Sports, PFL is dedicated to discovering exceptional fighters like Alsaif and championing the cause of women in MMA in the region. Our goal is to provide them with a global platform to showcase their skill sets.” Hattan Alsaif will train predominantly with  PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions  competitor  Abdullah Al-Qahtani . The signing of Alsaif bolsters a roster that will have opportunities to compete in PFL MENA, PFL’s second regional league outside of the United States. The disruptive model will provide top fighters from across the Middle East and North Africa with the opportunity to earn their way to the PFL Global Roster.. PFL is the only organization in MMA with a sports-season format, where individual fighters compete in a regular season, playoffs, and championship each year. The combined roster of PFL and Bellator boasts 30% of its fighters independently world-ranked in the top 25 of their respective weight class, the same percentage as UFC. PFL has an expansive global vision for the sport and is building the “Champions League of MMA” with PFL Europe, PFL MENA, and more international leagues in development. PFL leads in technology and innovation, with its proprietary PFL SmartCage, powering fight analytics, real-time betting, AI scoring, and a next-generation viewing experience. PFL is primetime on ESPN/ESPN+ in the U.S. and is broadcast and streamed in 150 countries with 20 premium media distribution partners.

Fighters Patrick Lehane and Michael Reyes will represent Combate Global and compete under Shoot Boxing rules. COMBATE GLOBAL has announced that it has partnered with the Japan-based Shoot Boxing Federation for a live event in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, Feb. 10. As part of the agreement, COMBATE GLOBAL will send two of its roster fighters –   Patrick “The Leech” Lehane  (6-2 MMA) and  “Malicious” Michael Reyes  (9-6 MMA) – to represent the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organization in bouts that will be contested at Korakuen Hall under shoot boxing rules. “COMBATE GLOBAL is looking forward to returning to Japan with two exciting fighters in Patrick Lehane and Michael Reyes, and is appreciative of the opportunity to partner with the Shoot Boxing Federation,” said Mike Afromowitz, COMBATE GLOBAL Senior Vice President, Operations and Communications. Shoot boxing bouts take place in a boxing ring, and permit throws and standing submissions in addition to kickboxing, without ground fighting. The 24-year-old Lehane of Cork, Ireland will square off with   Ryoga “Volcano” Imoto  (13-9, 4 KO’s Shoot Boxing) of Aichi, Japan at 143 pounds (65 kilograms), and Reyes of Oxnard, Calif. will collide with 22-year-old  Shota Tezuka  (12-8, 4 KO’s Shoot Boxing) of Saitama, Japan at 132 pounds (60 kilograms). Lehane is coming off a stellar victory over fellow striking sensation Roberto “El Gallo Negro” Romero at COMBATE GLOBAL’s first-ever ‘Ireland vs. Mexico’ event on December 17. After being sidelined with an injury throughout the year, Lehane came back in top form, slugging it out with Colina Oyama-trained Romero, eventually earning a unanimous decision victory after the third round that was arguably the best round of the year in La Jaula, the COMBATE GLOBAL cage. Lehane burst onto the professional fight scene in 2021, defeating two opponents in one night to win the first-ever COMBATE GLOBAL European tournament. Reyes, 31 years of age, was also victorious in his last effort in La Jaula, putting on a display of striking and scoring a first round (2:19) TKO on Carlos Reyes with a body punch on September 2, 2023. The event in Tokyo marks the latest instance of COMBATE GLOBAL fighters taking on Japanese fighters from other organizations.  Last year, the promotion produced a ‘Mexico vs. Japan’ event in Miami, Fla., while also twice sending French women’s MMA standout Claire Lopez to compete under the promotion of RIZIN FF. Lopez notably defeated Japanese star Rena Kubota by way of submission with a knee bar in the third round (4:21) of their matchup last April 29.

Superlek Kiatmoo9 shined as brightly as his ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship on January 28 at ONE 165 . The Thai superstar defeated Takeru Segawa to retain his title with a sensational performance that left the Japanese star unable to walk under his own power after ONE Championship's return to Japan. Still, "The Kicking Machine" had nothing but respect for his challenger. Throughout all of the punishment, he could not drop his Japanese foe. "There's no surprise [about what he displayed today]. That's why he's the top fighter in the world. I thought that I'm the heavy hitter, but I could not take him down, I could not drop him at all. He just kept coming right at me, so he deserved to be one of the top fighters in the world," Superlek said after the event. Although it was a clear decision win, it did not come without some drama. In the third round, Takeru came alive with combinations that rattled the 28-year-old. It was a moment that Superlek admits had him in some peril. "It was at the end of the third round. I took that shot from Takeru, and my body literally froze, and the only thing that I thought in my head was that I have to have a fighting spirit; I have to do whatever it takes to survive on the third round and continue fighting on the fourth round," Superlek recalled. After regaining his composure, Superlek rebounded in the championship rounds. The devastating leg kicks came back in full force and left Takeru's leg a myriad of colors that would make a rainbow jealous. Superlek talked about how the kicks were a major part of his game and how the in-fight adjustments had to be made due to Takeru's tremendous preparation. "I believe that my leg kick definitely had some effects on Takeru. I must say that he did his homework very well. I've been studying with the team on how to take him down. And one of the things is that every time Takeru came in and tried to throw left hook and right hook, I planned to do a high kick. And then, at the match, everything was so different. Takeru had been preparing himself very well to block my counterattack, so I had to adapt and survive in the ring as well," Takeru stated. After another successful defense, Superlek has many options at his disposal. But there is one thing that is making him itch enough that he may just have to scratch — a move up to bantamweight. "For me, going up to bantamweight is a very good thing because I think that I want new challenges in my life. I can still continue in the flyweight division, but going up to bantamweight is something I am very interested in as well," Superlek said.

The historic GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix takes place March 9 and reintroduces an important pillar in the sport of kickboxing – the eight-man, one night tournament. Winning three fights in one night, against the best in the world, is one of the hardest feats in all of combat sports. As a result, it needed the right trophy to present to the overall winner. Therefore, GLORY Kickboxing is delighted to announce a collaboration with 4Champions, a leading jeweller in the Netherlands who creates championship concepts of excellence. Their vision and expertise have led to the creation of the new GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix trophy. This unique concept introduces an innovative twist to the traditional draw with each participating fighter receives a personalized ring. This ring not only symbolizes their participation but also serves as their entry ticket to the tournament. The most striking aspect of this concept is that the rings will be integrated into the trophy as the tournament progresses. After each fight, the ring of the losing fighter will be added to the trophy. This dynamic adds an extra emotional and symbolic dimension to the competition. The ultimate winner of the tournament will not only take home the grand prize of $500,000 but also a trophy enriched with the personal rings of the seven fighters they have defeated. In addition to this revolutionary concept, 4Champions has also designed a range of 'GLORY Exclusives.' These exclusive pieces of jewellery, ranging from replicas of the rings to memorabilia, are available through the official GLORY Kickboxing online store. The draw for the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix will take place this Wednesday, January 31, and will be available to watch live across GLORY’s social media channels as well as  sportnieuws.nl  in the Netherlands. The road to capturing all the rings officially begins then!

Nkosi Ndebele has returned to his former school to a hero’s welcome as the BRAVE CF Bantamweight world champion was invited to give a speech to students following his triumphant return to action last month. Ndebele became the first South-African world champion in MMA when he beat Jose Torres at BRAVE CF 80, and he is now enjoying the fruits of his labor and looking to give back to his community. Ndebele visited Diepsloot Secondary No 3 and was welcomed by nearly 300 students who keenly listened as Nkosi spoke about his road towards the top of the mixed martial arts world coming from the same background as them. He inspired the students by speaking on how he was able to rise above his own circumstances and spoke on how the youth mentality should change. ''The results you produce here are top! Am I lying? So the mindset must change. Please focus. You have yourselves a world champion coming from  this ground, standing in front of you!''. Nkosi made sure to bring along his first coach, a Kyokushin Karate master, Sensei Byoka, whom he credits with being the first man to teach him the discipline of martial arts and making him focused to become a future champion of the world.  Ndebele spoke about the impact of Sensei Byoka in his life and encouraged students to sign up for martial arts classes as a way of keeping off the streets and bringing themselves towards a better future. ‘’I went there to motivate the students to believe in whatever dream they have and work towards it. They couldn’t believe I came from the same ground they were standing on and that I went to the same school. I brought one of my sponsors in, as they’re always keen on giving away bursaries to top students and I’m happy to be able to give these opportunities to the students at my school, which is something I didn’t have growing up’’, said an ecstatic Ndebele. While Nkosi gets back to training and awaits for his first world title defense, the Bantamweight division continues to grow, with the additions of Velimurad Alkhasov and Khurshed Nazarov, with the 135-pound weight-class also containing the likes of former champion Jose ‘’Shorty’’ Torres, Hamza Kooheji, and Nicholas Hwende.

The 23-year-old is the latest signing in a stacked Bantamweight division led by champion Nkosi Ndebele and also featuring the likes of Jose Torres and Velimurad Alkhasov BRAVE Combat Federation continues to beef up its roster with the addition of Bantamweight Khurshed Nazarov. The Tajik superstar has signed a multi-fight agreement with the most global organization in the world and is expected to make his debut in early 2024.  The new signed Khurshed Nazarov is undefeated in 10 professional fights thus far, with nine wins and one draw. He currently rides a five-fight win streak and is eager to return to action following a lengthy lay-off.  In a statement after signing his BRAVE CF contract, Khurshed expressed his pride in representing Tajikistan in a global organization and sent a message to the Bantamweight division, currently led by world champion Nkosi Ndebele. ‘’I’m very proud of this moment – signed to the most global organization in the world. I can’t wait to represent my country, my teammates, and myself on the global stage. I am ready to become the first Tajik champion of the world in BRAVE Combat Federation. I am coming for all the Bantamweights’’. At 23, Nazarov is in prime position to make a run to the Bantamweight world title. He will join a truly stacked roster at 135 pounds. Aside from the world champion Ndebele, the BRAVE CF Bantamweight division has the likes of sambo world champion Velimurad Alkhasov, former titleholder Jose ‘’Shorty’’ Torres, as well as the legendary Hamza Kooheji, and Zimbabwe’s own Nicholas Hwende in its books.

This Wednesday, January 31, will see the official draw deciding the first-round matchups and brackets for the upcoming historic GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix on March 9. Taking place live from the Harbour Club in Amsterdam, the special draw, which is presented by Unibet, will be broadcast live across GLORY social media channels starting from 1pm CET | 12pm GMT | 7am ET. All participants will discover their opponents for the first round of this eight-man one-night tournament in this unique format that will require strategy and quick thinking. Some fighters may choose to chase a particular rival, others may select a certain route to the final, but only one thing is for certain: anything can happen this Wednesday! Tune in to watch the drama and stories unfold, first explosive face-offs, and see who will face who in the opening round of the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix. The eight entrants for the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix are: Rico Verhoeven (61-10, 20 KO), the Netherlands Levi Rigters (15-1, 7 KO), the Netherlands Tariq ‘Cookie’ Osaro (25-3-1, 13 KO), Nigeria Nordine Mahieddine (28-15, 13 KO), Algeria Sofian Laïdouni (35-2-1, 17 KO), France Uku Jürjendal (20-8, 16 KO), Estonia Bahram Rajabzadeh (65-1, 58 KO), Azerbaijan Nabil Khachab (25-18, 13 KO), Morocco The GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix will take place March 9 live from the GelreDome football stadium in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Eight of the best heavyweights on the planet will compete in this one-night tournament where the winner will walk away with a life changing $500,000 and the title of ‘GLORY Grand Prix Champion’.

John Dodson vs. Dagoberto Aguero: BKFC Flyweight World Championship Headlines Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), returns to the famed Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico with BKFC-59 on Friday, March 29   as local fighting legend, BKFC Flyweight World Champion John Dodson defends his title against fast-rising contender Dagoberto Aguero of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. "Ticket information for BKFC-59 can be found at BKFC.com " The Tingley Coliseum is located at 300 San Pedro Dr. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. BKFC-59  will also be broadcast internationally as part of the BKFC+ Subscription for $7.99 per month on the BKFC App – The Best Value in Combat Sports  and is sponsored by Forged Irish Stout, Bucked Up, Grunt Style, Fubo Sports, MIT 45, Only Fans and Crescent Tools.   “We love promoting events in Albuquerque whether it’s the huge shows at the Tingley Coliseum or our tremendous sold-out BKFC Prospect Series event this past Friday night at the Revel,” said David Feldman, President and Founder of BKFC. “The deep local talent pool of great bare-knuckle fighters and the overwhelming support we’ve received from local fans over the last two years makes Albuquerque one of the very best cities for BKFC.” “John Dodson has looked sensational in his first three BKFC fights but Dagoberto Aguero is a tough and talented Dominican with an impressive professional boxing record and he made a remarkably impressive showing in his BKFC debut in November. “   “As our two previous events at Tingley Coliseum have sold-out, I strongly encourage fans to purchase tickets in advance to ensure entry on fight night.”   Following an acclaimed MMA career in the UFC and with other international promotions, John Dodson made his BKFC debut with a first-round stoppage of Ryan Benoit at BKFC-28 on August 27, 2022. He followed that up with two additional first round knockouts; Jarod Grant at Knucklemania 3 and JR Ridge at BKFC-48, the latter earning him the inaugural BKFC Flyweight World Title. All three fights took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico.   After compiling a professional boxing record of 15-2 with ten knockouts, Dagoberto Aguero made his show-stopping BKFC debut with a third-round knockout of veteran Chance Wilson at BKFC-53 on November 3, 2023 in Orlando, FL.   Additional fights for BKFC-59 will be announced shortly.

by Floyd Burk Managing belt ranks and promotions would appear to be a straightforward part of running a martial arts school, but for many instructors, the process is not easy to implement and keep up with. If you’ve owned a school for long, you might have discovered that for yourself. You probably also know that for many who train at your dojo, earning rank is important. For that reason, you need a good rank-advancement program. Many people fail in this area, and that can be a key reason for low retention rates and even the collapse of the school. Why is it so important internally? Your school’s rank program provides goals for your students. Those goals then supply the motivation they need to work hard and achieve success. Furthermore, the testing fees deliver a substantial income stream to your operating budget. It’s a win-win. Your belt-rank system should be easy to understand. If you can explain it to a 4-year-old, you’re on the right track. At my school, we’ve found that it helps to create a graphic of the system with colors and visuals that enable students to immediately comprehend the progression. This is important for goal setting. I suggest putting your rank system on a medium-size poster that’s placed in a conspicuous location in your dojo. I hung such a poster in the lobby of our dojo and posted it on our website. It’s positioned low on the wall so children can easily see it. On the left side are the 10 colored belts, and on the right are the 10 levels of black belt. The message conveyed to students is this: “We start at the lighter colors (white, yellow and orange), and the belts get darker (blue, green and brown) until we get to black belt.” They know exactly where they’re going. Your rank requirements must be attainable within the estimated time frame you’ve established for students to advance from one belt to the next. If yours don’t meet this standard, you need to adjust them. Reasonable time frames are two to five months for each lower colored belt and six months or more for each higher colored belt. For levels of black belt, a year or more for each is common. To maximize attainability, the requirements should be set on a sliding scale for the age groups you establish. Our school uses four such groups: 5 to 7 years old, 8 to 10 years old, 11 to 15 years old, and 16 and older. The reasoning is obvious: The older a student is, the more material that student needs to know and the more he or she can retain. Your delivery system for those rank requirements works best when it supports your estimated time frames. Many years ago, I tried to just go with the flow and teach kata one day, situational self-defense the next day, sparring the day after that and so on. Sometimes I would teach a little of each in every class. It turned out to be a mess. Although it was fun for me, it wasn’t very effective for learning. Finally, we settled on a system that divides the year into quarters. January is kata month, February is self-defense month, and March is sparring and combinations month. In April, the cycle restarts with kata month. We’ve found this system to be the most productive for getting students where they need to be. The next component is “requirements met,” and it’s more important than you might think. Students get notified that they have met the requirements for a promotion, which breeds excitement. The notification also fosters some healthy nervousness related to the upcoming test, which is good. At the beginning of the month in our school, we post on the dojo bulletin board the names of those who are ready to test. We then give them a belt-test slip that lists the cost of their test. Because testing is a week or two away when they’re notified, they have time to look forward to and prepare for the test, as well as turn in the testing fee. We’ve noticed that students are thrilled when they see their name on the posted list. Belt testing is done monthly at our school, usually during the third week of the month. Personally, I would rather do the testing quarterly, but monthly works better for our staff and students. When we run a test during class, we have a handful of candidates on one side of the dojo demonstrating their mastery of the material while the other students are training. Our tests are always closed to spectators because we prefer to focus on individual progress and potential rather than universal requirements. We chose this path because all kids have unique motor-skill development and attitudinal maturity, with some having special needs. Therefore, we evaluate them on an individual basis. The reason we do the same thing for adults is they have differences in age, body type, physical limitations from injuries and so on. Because potential observers wouldn’t be aware of each person’s uniqueness, not allowing spectators avoids problems. Testing is usually completed within the class period, and we give students the results right then and there. We don’t make them do all their material every time. That’s a mistake for many dojo, especially those that teach a lot of content. We’ve learned that it’s overly stressful for people to prepare for their “final exam” all year long. Promotions are held a week or two after tests during the final 15 minutes of class. We invite parents, family members and friends to the dojo. Students line up (with social distancing), and after a few words from me or another instructor, each one walks to the front to receive a new belt and certificate. Then they all put on their new belts, and we go through a few formalities. After we bow out, I invite the visitors into our dojo photo area, which has our school logo painted on the wall. One at a time, they take pictures of their loved ones. Many parents then post the photos on Facebook and other social media. In December, we do things a little differently. We rent a large facility (usually a church or parks-and-rec building) and have a formal promotion ceremony that can include demonstrations and the presentation of special awards. Sometimes we have guest speakers. This is when black-belt promotions happen. To those who haven’t experienced the joys of teaching martial arts, all this might seem like a lot of work, and it is. Properly training students while making sure your business thrives is not a walk in the park. It takes effort and energy to do it right — but as you know, there’s no better job in the world. For more information about testing and promotions, consult the Martial Arts Industry Association at maiahub.com .  Floyd Burk is a San Diego–based 10th-degree black belt with 50 years of experience in the arts. To contact him, visit Independent Karate Schools of America at iksa.com . This article originally appeared in a 2022 Black Black Magazine edition.

If you can get your hands on one, take look a through any martial arts magazine in the entire world that was printed before the year 2000, and you’ll notice something missing from all of them that we take for granted today. That something is reality-based content, and by “reality-based” I mean the techniques, tactics, and training methods of law enforcement, military, bodyguards, criminals, terrorists, bouncers, executive protection, bouncers, private security, etc. Yes, prior to 2000 there was the occasional article written by a cop or a soldier, but those articles were usually about stick fighting, knife fighting, or gun disarms, but that was the exception and not the rule. And, the articles that were written by those professionals were basically the same content already inside the many publications, but with the addition of the still shots of the practitioners wearing police or military uniforms. There was nothing about surviving an active shooter, a bombing, combat first aid, a sniper attack, the use of moulage and stage blood for realistic training scenarios, and many other things we are facing now. At that time the mainstream martial arts knew nothing of Israeli Krav Maga, KAPAP, HISARDUT or LOTAR. Nobody outside of Russia knew anything about Systema. The law enforcement term and system “defensive tactics,” or military “combatives,” were virtually unknown to the civilian martial arts community. However, that all changed when in November 1999 I wrote my very first article for Black Belt Magazine in my monthly column titled High Risk . It appeared on newsstands (for there were no digital issues at that time in history) in December, and it was this January 2000 issue that started off the second millennium, a new era for the martial arts, with the birth of the reality-based movement. I should know, because I coined the term “reality-based self-defense,” and just over three years later named my newly formed system Reality-Based Personal Protection, to make a clear distinction between the sport-based and traditional-based martial arts. Yet, the reality-based movement that I founded would have been delayed by years had it not been for Robert Young, the newly appointed editor of Black Belt Magazine, who solicited the readers, via a letter from the editor, to provide him with any new ideas for the publication, if anyone had any. I came forward, and the rest is history. However, what isn’t well known, for I have never written much about the connection before, is how the late Bruce Lee influenced me in the creation of the reality-based movement. Therefore, in tribute to my Grand Master, of which whom we are all honoring this month of November, I’m going explain this little-known part of the martial arts history. I started my martial arts training at 14 years old when a friend of mine from Middle School, Alfonso Uceda, taught me the basics of Korean Tae Kwon Do. He had been a student under Rich Roth at Olympic Karate Studios in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Southern California, and had also attended a seminar by Bill “Superfoot” Wallace. After a year of private lessons with Alfonso, behind a local grade school a few times a week, he told me, “I taught you everything I know. You need to go to a martial arts school if you want to learn more.” Although I was disappointed that our training together was ending, I took his advice and sought out a school within walking distance. My mother was willing to pay for the lessons at the nearby Japan Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai in Anaheim, California, which was not far from Disneyland (that investment certainly paid off). The instructor was legendary Kiyoshi Yamazaki, and he took me under his wing. By the time I worked my way up to green belt, Alfonso invited me to go see the movie Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee that was playing in a theater in Los Angeles. I had never heard of this recent legend before, for he had died five years earlier. After watching this classic martial arts movie, I was convinced that I had to study Chinese Kung-fu also. I couldn’t help but be impressed with Bruce Lee’s fluid powerful techniques on the big screen, and I knew that I was missing that in Karate. Three days later I went to my Karate lesson, and before class began, I privately asked my sensei, “I want to also study Kung fu. What do you think?” Mr. Yamazaki snapped at me, while glaring at me with his piercing samurai warrior-like eyes, and with his heavy Japanese accent barked, “Kung fu no good!” I wanted to reply, What do you mean ‘no good,’ but just I saw all of those incredible moves by Bruce Lee, but I dared not. I didn’t know why, but I knew I had just crossed the line with him. I was indeed young and naïve. Had I watched a few more dubbed Hong Kong made Kung-fu movies before shooting my mouth off, I would have picked up on the animosity between Karate and Kung-fu practitioners. Just as the Bamboo Curtain existed to separate the West from the East, so too there was an “invisible curtain” separating the various martial arts systems from one another even in the United States of America. In 1976 you just didn’t mix systems. You stayed within one system, and you were loyal to one master. That was just the way it was. 1976 was also the year that I first discovered Black Belt magazine on my local newsstand, and I bought my first issue (December 1976 issue) with my allowance money. Although all the articles inside were about Karate and Judo, Editor Paul William Kroll, in his letter to the readers titled BLACK BELT and the Martial Arts Change , wrote, “In order for the martial arts to remain healthy and growing, we must somehow break through what one person called ‘the provincialism of the dojo.’ We must reach out and attract more people of all ages and all strata of our society.” The new “frontier” Paul William Kroll also said that he wanted to explore was introducing articles about “internal energy (ki),” and acupuncture. OK, the magazine was not exactly heading in the direction of reality-based, but changes were happing slowly. What really caught my attention in my first issue were the Ohara Books about the Chinese, Korean, Okinawan, and Japanese martial arts. There were also several advertisements for Bruce Lee books. So, I thought to myself after seeing this, Why can’t I study Karate and Kung-fu at the same time? I didn’t want to give up Karate. I loved the system, the subculture, and even Kiyoshi Yamazaki even though he snapped at me, and yet I want to explore these different martial arts that I was becoming aware of. For the next couple of weeks in my Karate classes I knew I was getting the cold shoulder from Kiyoshi Yamazaki. I don’t know if it was because I had offended him because of the question I had posed to him earlier, or if a fellow Karateka had told him that I was secretly looking for a Kung-fu school, which I was, but the atmosphere had definitely changed. I received the “message” loud and clear. Of course, I had no animosity toward my sensei, nor do I to this day 45 years later, because I’m still “old school” where I have nothing but respect for him for imparting his knowledge and skills upon me. It was merely time to move on. As I continued to buy Black Belt Magazine I eventually saw an advertisement that caught my attention. Dan Inosanto, friend and protégé of Bruce Lee, was going to be in Aspen, Colorado teaching a combination of Bruce Lee’s system Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, and Filipino Kali. The Aspen Academy of Marshal Arts, run by Marshall Ho’o, was a one-month immersion program, and labeled as a “modern-day Shaolin temple.” I just had to go. I brought this ad to the attention of my mother, and to my surprise she sent me there, all alone, as my 16th birthday gift. Not only did I take a cross-country trip by myself for the first time ever, but I was going to learn the same stuff I saw Bruce Lee do in Enter the Dragon , and more! Meeting Dan Inosanto literally changed the trajectory of my martial arts studies. Two weeks into the training in the Rocky Mountains, at 7,000 feet above sea level, my fellow classmate, Jose Luis Hinojosa, and I lost our daily ride up to the Academy from the town of Aspen. Mark, our roommate, had to return home early to participate in a Karate tournament, and with him went his black 1975 Datsun 280Z. When Dan found out that Jose Luis and I had no transportation up to the Academy and back he said, “You can ride up with me each day.” Needless to say, not only was it a blessing that I longer had to squeeze into a sports car, but having one hour each day, 30 minutes up and 30 minutes back, with our famous teacher, all to ourselves, five days a week for a couple of weeks, we learned things about Bruce Lee that were not in the movies or printed in books. We were getting it first-hand. Although I specifically went up there to learn Bruce Lee’s system Jeet Kune Do, I also discovered that Dan’s Filipino Kali was just as important to me as JKD, especially when Dan told me, “You know that part of the movie in Enter the Dragon where Bruce is fighting everyone underground with the double sticks?” and I nodded my head up and down in expectation of a secret coming my way, “I taught him all that. Bruce was a natural at Kali.” Larry Hartsell, also a student of Bruce Lee, taught alongside Dan for a week at the Aspen Academy of Martial Arts. The specialty he taught was grappling. I related to Larry because, like me, he started studying the martial arts at 14 years old. We had something else in common, but that would not be for some years later for me – being a Military Police soldier. Before heading back to California, Dan suggested, “You should start coming to my school in LA. There’s much more I can teach you,” because he knew that I was hungry for more, and that I lived only 50 minutes south of his school in Orange County. I took him up on his offer, and after my high school classes ended I drove up there twice a week in my stepdad’s dune buggy for two years. Dan Insanto and Richard Bustillo’s martial arts school, the Filipino Kali Academy in Torrance, California, was not only a training facility where I learned Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, Filipino Kali, and Chinese Kickboxing, but it was a mini–Bruce Lee Museum. It was not officially a “museum,” but Dan had original Bruce Lee items in there everywhere making it feel like a museum: original photos and JKD signs on the walls, and Bruce’s Wing Chun Gung fu dummy he used to practice on (nobody was allowed to train on it). Although I never met Bruce Lee, as a Jeet Kune Do student, he was indeed my Grand Master, and his portrait hanging on the wall overlooking us was a reminder of that every training session. Anyone who has studied Bruce Lee’s book Tao of Jeet Kune Do , published in 1975, knows that he was a pioneer of the martial arts. In this book it is evident that he not only studied various martial arts system, but he mixed them as well. Again, this was revolutionary at that time in Western martial arts history. Dan Inosanto kept this philosophy alive and well by quoting his friend often in class, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.” Many of my fellow classmates did exactly that when they moved on: Ted LucayLucay who founded the LucayLucay Kali/Jeet Kune Do Association, Paul Vunak with his Progressive Fighting System, Richard Burton with his JKD Unlimited, Mark Denny “Crafty Dog” of Dog Brothers Martial Arts Association, Brandon Lee carrying on his father’s legacy, and me of course. Dan didn’t just quote Bruce Lee, but he lived it. He also made us, his students, live it. When he opened his new school in Marina Del Rey, called the Inosanto Academy, he brough in Salem Assli (who just died a year ago on November 5, 2021) to teach Savate (French kickboxing). Many instructors would have felt threatened bringing in an instructor of another martial arts system to teach their students, but not Dan. In fact, after I had trained with Salem, Dan brought in yet another instructor to teach us, and he was Chai Sirisute who taught me and my fellow classmates Muay Thai. After a few years at the Filipino Kali Academy and little time at the Inosanto Academy, plus attending a few martial arts schools closer to home (Kenpo, Tae Kwan Do again, and Western boxing) simultaneously over the years, I was thoroughly mixed. When I was going through Boot Camp (Basic Combat Training) as a Soldier in the United States Army, arriving at Fort Jackson in September 1980, I discovered very quickly that there was something lacking in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, and all the other systems I had studied. That missing something was firearms, explosives, and modern military tactics. It’s not Bruce Lee’s fault this was absent from JKD, he just didn’t have a military or law enforcement background to draw upon. However, Dan Inosanto had served as a paratrooper with the 101stAirborne Division from 1959 to 1961, but for whatever reason none of that training or experience was blended in what he taught in his schools. Karate and different martial arts were being taught in the military, but military skills were not being taught in civilian martial arts school. At the time in history, it was a one-way street. Nonetheless, the fertile soil of martial arts diversity that Dan Inosanto had plowed in my young mind was ready for the seeds of “war arts” my Army training and experience fell upon. When I was in the United States Army, as early as in Boot Camp, I started teaching private lessons to some of my fellow Soldiers. While I was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina Dan Inosanto wrote me a letter since I was a part of the JKD family. Throughout my four years in high school, from 1974 to 1980, martial-artist-turned-actor Chuck Norris was a big star among the martial arts community, and that’s because of his appeared as the villain in Bruce Lee’s movie The Way of the Dragon (1972). However, it wasn’t until his movie Breaker! Breaker! (1977) that he caught the attention of the general public. From there he began to take on the roles of either a former Soldier or a law enforcement officer, which gave the martial artist character a reason for carrying firearms. Although portraying a martial artist this way was groundbreaking, the fighting techniques Chuck Norris used against the bad guys in these early movies were always scripted to having him fight with empty hand techniques; mostly disarming armed attackers and knocking them out with a punch or a kick. It wasn’t until his movie Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) did he start to combine shooting at criminals with empty hand techniques. It must be noted that the movie First Blood (1982), starring Sylvester Stallone, who played the role of a U.S. Special Forces Vietnam War veteran named John Rambo, included a mix of hand-to-hand combat and shooting scenes – lots of shooting. This genre was followed by Chuck Norris in the movie Missing in Action (1984), Missing in Action 2 (1985), Code of Silence (1985), and many more to follow. In 1982 I played my first game of Paintball, only a year after the game was invented. It was originally called “Survival Game,” and it was played using a marking gun that used a CO2 cartridge to propell paint-filled balls that would break upon impact. Any hit on a human target was a “kill.” For protection only goggles and surplus military fatigues were worn. Immediately after this experience I went out and bought two paintball guns and I started incorporating them into my martial arts training, and I was the first civilian self-defense instructor to do so. Instead of just telling them how to get behind cover to protect themselves during a gang shooting or terrorist attack, using non-firing training guns, now I was able to fire projectiles at them. There was no, “You didn’t hit me,” anymore. When students got hit, there was no doubt about it. Paintballs hurt, and a black and blue mark for a few days on the body is a constant reminder of failure. When airsoft guns first appeared in the United States in the early 1990s, I was the first self-defense instructor to recommend that they be used as a training tool by all martial artists. Just a year after Paintball went public, I joined in on my first game of “Survival Game.” After this I then introduced paintball guns to self-defense training. Then in the 1990s, when airsoft guns came on the scene, I was the first self-defense instructor in the United States to introduce them. Although I had taught private lessons, for free, to fellow Soldiers, and a few students after my service, it wasn’t until I got married in 1986 that I decided to start teaching professionally, and I wanted to do it under my own name. Therefore, I named my system WAGNER’S MODERN FIGHTING METHODS with the tag line UNARMED AND ARMED SELF-DEFENSE. My new system made firearms and military tactics the priority. That was evident by my logo, which prominently showed an AR-15 rifle over a shield with a throwing star (shuriken). The hand-to-hand combat I started to teach was a mix of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun, along with traditional-based and sport-based martial arts techniques that I thought were realistic for modern situations. No sooner had I placed an eighth page advertisement in my college newspaper to draw students to my new system did my local police department contact me by telephone to find out what I was “up to.” Apparently, they didn’t like the clip art of an AR-15, Israeli Uzi, shuriken, and a combat knife boldly displayed in the add, or the words “designed to familiarize the average person with modern weapons, skills and tactics for the purpose of self-defense. They obviously had never heard of a martial arts instructor “combining firearms training with martial arts training” before, at least not in Southern California, and they were extremely concerned that I was forming some sort of militia group under the guise of “self-defense.” I assured the investigating detective on the other end of the line that I wasn’t looking for any trouble, that I was a veteran, and I was going to used paintball guns as a training tool, and go to the gun range for any live-fire training. Going off on my own to spread my Reality-Based techniques, tactics, and training methods I named my new system Wagner’s Modern Fighting Methods, which brought about the disapproval of the local police department. I wasn’t sure if he just couldn’t grasp my intent to combine the two worlds, or worse yet, that he did in fact fully understand what my intentions were and he wanted to shut me down before I even started to prevent me from taking the martial arts in a perceived dangerous direction in his corner of the world. After all, the police had never viewed the traditional-based or sport-based martial arts as a threat before. They were considered benign to the government. Somehow mine wasn’t. Although I thought this fear odd at the time, as if citizens shouldn’t be able to adequately protect themselves, this same concern was later repeated in my career when I taught my very first seminar in the country of Holland in 2006. Without me, or my host Maik Konstantinides, knowing anything about it, every day the Amsterdam Police Department had registered a different undercover police officer to attend my one-week course. On the fifth and final day, a deputy chief of police came up to me privately after the lunch break and politely, but authoritatively, said to me, “We were very worried about what we heard you were going to be teaching. You know, we have the power to shut you down, and the power to have you never teach in this country again.” After letting that sink in for a few seconds, giving me just enough time to imagine myself being put on the first plane out of Schiphol Airport, he continued, “But, after all my officers reported to me daily on your classes, and after what I saw myself attending this class today, we like what you are doing, and you may continue to teach in Holland. Also, would you be interested in training our police department?” This turned out to be a very fruitful relationship because I helped develop many of their police programs, which in turn were taught to other law enforcement officers throughout the country. One year I was even issued a police badge and made an honorary Police Officer Instructor of the Amsterdam Police Training Center (Politie, Regiopolitie Amsterdam-Amstelland). Always on the cutting edge (pun intended), I was the first to introduce combat first aid to the civilian martial arts community. I guess the reason my local police didn’t share my revolutionary vision for making civilian martial arts more realistic, which included using paintball guns, was that during this time in history the MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) was only being used by the military, and it would not be for another two years before the law enforcement officers in my county would be training with it. Since most law enforcement agencies were also not using paintball guns for realistic training, what I tried to articulate to the detective was foreign to him, and he warned me that if I taught “in his city” I would be paid a personal visit. I took the threat as a possible arrest for something, and I decided to turn my dream into a reality another way. A way that would keep me off the police’s radar. In the following advertisements I placed in my college newspaper, I didn’t mention firearms at all. Rather, I listed the training as a mix of knife fighting, Filipino stick fighting, simulated situations, American boxing, and Chinese kickboxing. It was in the “simulated situations” that I would introduce firearms and military tactics to my students. The police never bothered me after that. I taught courses for the City of Costa Mesa (left), but on the side, out of public view, I trained a select group of students how to be terrorists. I was given permission by the police department to train an OPFOR (Opposing Force) for the SWAT team. In December 1988 I was hired by the Costa Mesa Police Department to be a jailer. After several prisoners attacked me, a couple of them life-and-death fights that I obviously survived, and in those days we didn’t carry any less-lethal weapons in the jail to protect ourselves, I realized that many things I had been taught in the traditional-based and sport-based martial arts were not adequate for real conflict against criminals. So, taking Bruce Lee’s advice, I did a major overall of my martial arts arsenal and I followed the formula - absorbed what was useful then rejected what was useless and I made it my own. I “made it my own” because having been in the Army, and now gaining real-world first-hand knowledge about the mind and behavior of criminals, coupled with having taught a wide range of people for eight years by then, I started developing my own original techniques, tactics, and teaching methods. After I had gained a fair number of students, even police officers, an opportunity has arisen for me to teach for the city’s Community Services Department. The City of Costa Mesa allowed me to teach two different courses, but since it was a city government sponsoring my courses, I had to repackage it for the general public. The first course was titled STREET SELF-DEFENSE, which I listed as a mix of Filipino Kali, French Savate, Thai Boxing, American Boxing, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, plus “police and military tactics.” I also inserted a phrase that I started to use, and that was “Simulated Reality Training (SRT).” The second course I named Women Against Rape, and in the course description it stated, “situations that seem so realistic you’ll wish at times that you’d never signed up for the class.” That course was so far ahead of its time that SWAT magazine published my article titled Close-Quarters Combat FOR WOMEN ONLY (November 1988 issue), and five of the seven photos in the article showed paintball guns: me pointing out the features of the paintball gun to my female students, a woman firing from “her bed” at an attacker about to leap upon her, students on the “firing line” in a shooting stance, a woman taking aim as I supervised her, and a photo realistic human target with paint splatter around the holes in the paper. Of course, my belief at the time, and it still is, that every law-abiding American citizen should learn how to use a firearm since it is our God-given Constitutional right (the Second Amendment), then edged weapons, followed by impact weapons. The very last resort is empty hand techniques and tactics. 80% of one’s training should be weapons, and 20% empty hand. The publication Women & Guns also published a similar article I had written two years later, and it even had on the cover of the magazine (the April/May 1990 issue) a photo showing seven of my female students on the “firing line” with replica pistols as two assistant instructors supervise them. Although guns were an important part of Women Against Rape, later in history to be renamed Women’s Survival, the realism also included scenarios where an assistant instructor played the role of a police officer, even dressed in a police uniform, and took the report from the “victims” (part of the post-conflict training) as if a real crime had taken place. From the get go I was big into not only teaching realistic and effective techniques, but also teaching pre-conflict and post-conflict. The following year, 1991, I was hired as a police recruit, and sent to the police academy for five months. Upon graduation, and receiving my badge and gun, I was a patrol police officer. As a police officer for eight years, which included three years on the SWAT team, I experienced what any police officer experiences in a city of 100,000 people south of Los Angeles: robberies, burglaries, car chases, gang activity, domestic violence, writing traffic tickets, and a couple of people who tried to hurt or kill me. Obviously, my fighting knowledge, skills, and teaching methods became more and more refined. There was no more what is theory and what is reality? when it came to the martial arts for me because I was immersed in a life of violence. I lived it literally every day. However, by this time in my life I had developed the us against them mentality, and I stopped teaching civilians. The “us” was law enforcement, and the “them” were the civilians. I’d stop teaching civilians for a full decade. Instead, I found myself teaching not only law enforcement officers outside of my own agency, but federal agencies and military units throughout the United States were requesting that I teach them also. At the Inosanto Academy in Marina Del Rey, California there were all kinds of original Bruce Lee memorabilia throughout the school. In this photo stands, from left to right, Muay Thai instructor Chai Sirisute, Moroccan Karate Champion Mohammed Jounir, Dan Inosanto, me, and one of my students, Mike DiGiovanni who today is 85 years old and practices my Knife Survival techniques every morning. This photo was taken when Black Belt editor Robert Young was watching me (in the red helmet) teach U.S. Marines and SWAT team members defensive tactics/combatives at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Here I am an unarmed “bad guy” challenging two SWAT officers. For those 10 years of teaching “the world’s elite,” while simultaneously still being a law enforcement officer (municipal police, then a deputy sheriff team leader of a dignitary protection unit, then a U.S. federal agent counterterrorist) I was teaching off and on around the world because foreign agencies and military units also wanted me to teach them. Although I referred to any self-defense training that I gave to law enforcement as “defensive tactics,” and any self-defense training I gave to military personnel as “combatives,” which were generic terms at the time and still used today for these groups, the blend of techniques, tactics, and training methods were uniquely my own. As I mentioned before, in 1999 the new editor of Black Belt Magazine, Robert Young, wanted any reader with any new ideas to submit them. So, I did just that. I basically wrote to Mr. Young that Black Belt Magazine was ignoring the other half of the martial artists, the “war” artists: corrections, law enforcement, and the military. I promised him that if he allowed me to write regular articles for the publication that not only would those “who fight for a living” start reading the magazine, but the civilian readers would embrace my “reality-based” techniques, tactics, and training methods as well. After, Mr. Young personally watched me teach a class (full contact hand-to-hand combat and realistic scenarios) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to the Marines and local SWAT teams, he was sold. He said to me, “This is the real thing.” However, he told me that I wasn’t just going to just write articles for Black Belt Magazine, but I would be given my own monthly column, which I named High Risk ; a police term for the most dangerous situations. And, true to my promise, the professionals started reading the magazine, and martial artists around the world were indeed given new and original content. Most readers liked what I presented, but many hated it, and they made their hatred of me and my methods known with many letters to the editor over the years. For example, before terrorism was a problem in the United States, many practitioners and instructors didn’t see any need for my articles on how to survive a terrorist attack. Then America was attacked on September 11, 2001 and a year later I was the first person in Black Belt Magazine to appear on the front cover holding a real firearm, two no less. One in my gun hand, and a second one in my tactical vest. Then before active shooters in the United States were a thing, some martial artists wrote that learning how to survive a shooting by rifle fire was a complete waste of time. One prominent martial arts instructor wrote, “What’s next, learning how to survive a nuclear bomb?” Well, because of that snarky comment I did write an article about surviving not only a nuclear blast, if one is far enough away from it, but also how to survive a “dirty bomb.” After all, I was trained by the United States Army and Army National Guard for nuclear warfare, and as a counterterrorist I trained and worked with the FBI and other agencies to know about dirty bombs, and since it was a part of my “reality,” and I felt that sometime in the future such an attack could occur, why not share it with my students and like-minded martial artists? Here we are now, in 2022, and some serious threats are being slung back and forth about using nukes by the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, and Iranians, and in turn there are responses of retaliation by Western nations if they dare use them. Just recently the United States government has purchased $290 million worth of radiation sickness medication (romiplostim) for government officials. So, despite the criticisms from my critics over the past 22 years, I’m still writing for Black Belt Magazine, and thanks to this publication the Reality-Based movement was born, which has literally saved many lives around the world. In 2006 I was voted by the Black Belt readers, 70,000 readers at the time, as Self-Defense Instructor of the Year for the Black Belt Hall of Fame. It was at this award ceremony that I had the privilege of meeting Bruce Lee’s wife, Linda Lee, and his daughter Shannon Lee, both remarkable ladies. When I told Linda Lee Cadwell that I studied her husband’s Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto and JKD masters, and how much I admired her late husband, she told me how impressed she was about my background and accomplishments. That’s because she, and everyone in the room attending the Hall of Fame ceremony, saw a 2-minute 49-second video presentation that Black Belt Magazine had produced showing parts of my history, from my start in the martial arts as a teenager to developing Reality-Based. It also showed the covers of my book, titled Reality-Based Personal Protection, and the many videos Black Belt Magazine produced about my system. The voiceover on the video stated towards the end, “For his more than three decades of expertise, and the ingenuity to bring a fresh approach to self-defense training, Black Belt is proud to induct Jim Wagner…” I was the first person ever to be on the cover of Black Belt magazine with a firearm, and holding it no less (left). The next time I was on the cover (right) I was back in the military Reserve Soldier Combatives instructor. By this time the civilian martial arts community were used to me blending the martial arts with many tactical techniques, tactics, and training methods. When the readers of Black Belt Magazine selected me as Self-Defense Instructor of the Year 2006 for the Black Belt Hall of Fame I had the privilege of meeting Bruce Lee’s wife Linda Lee and his daughter Shannon Lee. Writing for Black Belt Magazine is, without doubt, what launched my new system, Jim Wagner Reality-Based Personal Protection, around the world. It’s because of those professionals reading this publication that I ended up teaching at the Israeli Police Academy and then for the Israeli Defense Force at the Wingate Institute Bahad 8; the very place where Krav Maga was born. It was Major Avi Nardia that read my articles in Black Belt magazine, viewed one of my videos, and then emailed me stating, “None of our knife systems are any good here. I like what you are teaching. I think it is better. Will you come out and teach my unit?” I accepted the invitation, and now I am part of the martial arts history of Israel, because several police and military units incorporated my original Knife Survival techniques and tactics, and because I convinced Avi to teach KAPAP outside of Israel it’s now known throughout the world. Thousands of KAPAP students around the world, from Argentina to Austria, even wear my logo that I designed for Avi Nardia. It’s because of Black Belt Magazine that German national counterterrorist team GSG9 flew me out to St. Augustin, Germany, not once but twice, to teach all four of their teams, and that led to me training all kinds of German police agencies and military groups. My fingerprints are all over many of Germany’s current fighting systems, and even their Air Marshal program that I helped develop after 9/11. It’s because of Black Belt Magazine that I found myself teaching the Helsinki Police Department, Amsterdam Police Department, NATO forces, the DEA, San Diego Sheriff’s Department Training Academy, London Metropolitan Police, Trinidad & Tobago Anti-Crime Unit, and many more. But, as I stated before, none of this would have happened, not by me anyway, had it not been for Bruce Lee’s influence on me. “Grand Mater Bruce Lee, you helped me to BE A HARD TARGET, and also those whom I’ve taught.”

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC),  The World’s Fastest Growing Combat Sports Promotion, kicked off its 2024 campaign with a bang on Saturday, January 27 with an action-packed BKFC Prospect Series event at the sold-out Revel Arena in  Albuquerque, NM.   In the main event, Donald Sanchez electrified his hometown crowd with a jaw-dropping, 35-second TKO victory over Noah Cutter of Fort Walton Beach, FL in their highly anticipated middleweight showdown. With the impressive win, Sanchez upped his BKFC record to 2-1. Cutter fell to 3-7 as he became just the seventh fighter in BKFC history to compete 10 times in the squared circle.   “I was born to do this – I just love it,” Sanchez told the jam-packed Revel Arena. “I love it, and I want big fights. I want the belt. Let’s go – let’s get these big fights happening.”   "Kelly McCann Combatives 2: Stick & Ground Combat: Buy at $59.99" I n the co-main event, Albuquerque’s  Taylor "Killa Bee" Starling returned to the win column and improved to 4-2 in her BKFC career with a hard-fought, unanimous decision victory over Jenny “Savage” Clausius of Clarksville, TN in their hotly anticipated strawweight clash. Starling, a former BKFC Championship challenger, earned a bit of redemption with her victory over Clausius; Clausius defeated Starling in their 2019 MMA match. The judges scored Saturday’s bout 48-47, 50-45, 49-46 in favor of Starling. Clausius’ BKFC record fell to 3-3 with the loss.   “This is my home. I wasn’t born here, but I was raised here, and that’s why I am the fighter I am,” Starling told the sold-out Revel Arena, adding, “I just want to keep fighting. I’ve fought a lot of demons over the last two years, so it feels good to be back in the win column.” In the feature fight, Albuquerque’s  Eric “Thuggy Bear” Dodson also returned to the win column in style with a 40-second KO over Great Falls, MT’s Dakota “MontanaDak” Highpine. Dodson, the brother of BKFC Flyweight World Champion John Dodson, is now 3-1 in the BKFC featherweight division, with all of his victories coming by first-round stoppage. Highpine is now 1-3 under the BKFC banner.   "Every time I take a little step up towards that title and we're definitely looking to take on some contenders," Eric Dodson said to much applause at Revel Arena.   Saturday’s event featured an exciting mix of established BKFC stars and fresh-faced rookies.   In a spirited battle of Albuquerque light-heavyweight prospects,  William Albrecht, (1-0),  floored  Freddy Sandoval, (0-1), three times in the first round, paving the way for the technical-knockout victory with just one second remaining in the opening stanza of their BKFC Prospect Series matchup.   Making history as the first fighter from Chechnya to compete in the BKFC squared circle,  Ismail Israilov, (1-0), needed only 72 seconds to knock out Danasabe Mohammed, (0-1), of Napa, CA in their middleweight bout.   Albuquerque’s  Juan Adams, (1-0), dug deep in his BKFC debut as the heavy-handed UFC vet defeated Matt Adams, (0-1), of Heath, OH via TKO in the third round of their back-and-forth heavyweight battle. Time of the stoppage was 1:30. "Burton Richardson's Silat for the Street: Buy at $59.99" Karla Alvarez, (1-0), entertained her hometown crowd with a first-round TKO victory over Belen, NM’s Brittany Horton, (0-1), in women’s strawweight action. Time of the stoppage was 1:59.   Albuquerque’s own  Felipe Chavez opened up a series of nasty cuts under the eye of Shreveport, LA’s Michael Manno, forcing the ringside doctor to call a halt to their fight 1:27 into the third round of their middleweight matchup. Chavez, the cousin of combat sports legend Diego Sanchez, improved to 1-0 with the win, while Manno’s record fell to 1-2.   Kaine Tomlinson Jr., (1-0), of Roanoke, VA needed just 33 seconds to knockout  Apostle Spencer, (0-1), in their welterweight fight. Tomlinson is the son of BKFC fan-favorite Kaine Tomlinson Sr., and brother to BKFC vet Zion Tomlinson.   In the highly anticipated first fight of the BKFC 2024 campaign,  Zach Pannell, (1-0), of Lancaster, PA overcame a knockdown just seconds into his bout with Albuquerque’s Kasey Yates, (0-1), to claim victory via standing KO in the first round of their lightweight bout. Time of the stoppage was 1:44.   The event streamed LIVE worldwide on The BKFC App, on FuboTV and the official BKFC YouTube channel. Saturday’s action was BKFC’s fourth event in Albuquerque.    BKFC Prospect Series Results Donald Sanchez def. Noah Cutter via TKO in Round 1 (0:35) Taylor Starling def. Jenny Clausius via Unanimous Decision (48-47, 50-45, 49-46) Eric Dodson def. Dakota Highpine via KO in Round 1 (0:40) William Albrecht def. Freddy Sandoval via TKO in Round 1 (1:59) Ismail Israilov def. Danasabe Mohammed via KO in Round 1 (1:12) Juan Adams def. Matt Adams via TKO in Round 3 (1:30) Karla Alvarez def. Brittany Horton via TKO in Round 1 (1:59) Felipe Chavez def. Michael Manno via TKO doctor stoppage in Round 3 (1:27) Kaine Tomlinson Jr. def. Apostle Spencer via KO in Round 1 (0:33) Zach Pannell def. Kasey Yates via KO in Round 1 (1:44)

Superlek Kiatmoo9 is dialed in ahead of his ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship title defense at ONE 165 . The Thai star will meet Takeru Segawa in the main event inside Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, January 28.   Facing off with “The Natural Born Crusher” in his home country has Superlek excited about the possibility of spoiling the star’s ONE Championship debut.   “If I beat him in Japan, it’s going to be awesome. But to fight in Japan is not easy. Beating him is even less easy,” Superlek told ONE . “The Kicking Machine” is not taking the task at hand lightly. Takeru is one of the world’s preeminent strikers, and Superlek has been taking a deeper look into the intricacies of his game.   “His fighting style has karate and punches combined, like a scary melting pot. He’s good in his own way. Plus, he is durable,” the 28-year-old said.   The speed and precision of Takeru has put Superlek on notice. The reigning flyweight king has enjoyed tremendous success of late but plans to exercise caution in this crucial title defense.   The Kiatmoo9 Gym representative knows the windows of opportunity will be short-lived on Sunday.   “What I need to be extra careful of against Takeru are his punches. He strikes so well in combination, too,” Superlek commented.   “I can’t be careless because he’s great with lots of experience. I can’t just be reckless, especially fighting a fighter at this level. Reckless isn’t even in the dictionary.”   For all of his caution, Superlek is not unnerved by the main event collision. He has met the best strikers on the biggest stages while in ONE. It is just another day at the office for “The Kicking Machine.”   “For Takeru, I’m not intimidated by him. There are things I just need to be careful of. There’s nothing to be scared of because I don’t get scared in the ring,” Superlek stated.   But with the stakes so high and the stage set for a massive night in Tokyo, the 28-year-old still wants to shine brightly.   As such, Superlek wants to revert to what brought him his nickname and accolades to upend the Japanese superstar. “[Takeru] and I have different styles. I’m slower but I have heavy weapons to save me,” Superlek said.   “My stronger points would be my more powerful kicks. My kicks are powerful and can be effective against anyone. So, I could kick his legs to stop him from moving or slow him down.”   ONE 165 airs live from Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, January 28. The event is available via global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com  for $39.99.