The Cellar Fight Team was back in action Saturday night at the Hilton Hotel in Minneapolis as Ring Rivals presented USA vs Canada, Kickboxing and Muay Thai fights.  Competing from the Cellar was Lisa Van Ahn (17-2), Bryn Ollerman (2-2), Dan Naing (3-2), and Nick Traffie (0-0).  Jon Cichon was also scheduled to compete, but his opponent was forced to withdraw before the bout due to injury so Cichon ended up doing a 3 round muay thai exhibition bout against The Cellar’s Brandon Buchholz.

First in the ring was Dan Naing taking on John DeFile (0-1) from Taylors Falls, MN.  Dan came after John from the opening bell with strong leg kicks.  After a couple well timed kicks, the referee called an end to the bout in the 2nd round.  Dan Naing won by TKO.

Next to the ring was 16yr old Nick Traffie making his amateur debut against Forest Lyon from the MN Kali Group in Minneapolis.  Lyon is also just 16 yrs old and these two put on a fantastic show for the fans.  Their bout was an all out war and the crowd was going crazy.  In the end Nick got the win by split decision.

Bryn Ollerman was the next Cellar fighter on the card in a rematch against Ontario’s Chris Schorrock.  When they first faced off, Bryn was making his amateur debut, but this time around he looked experienced and poised in the ring.  Bryn controlled the bout and took the win by unanimous decision.

In the main event, Lisa Van Ahn took on Canada’s Jackie Lachapelle.  These two ladies put on a fantastic technical fight for the fans and the fans truly got into the moment.  The entire bout was back and forth and extremely close as even the judges couldn’t agree on the first 3 rounds.  Lachapelle took the fourth round and Van Ahn came back to take the fifth, but it wasn’t enough as the Canadian took the bout by split decision.

It was another great night for the sport of kickboxing and another great performance by The Cellar Fight Team.  Congratulations to everyone and thank you to all our wonderful fans in attendance.

Congratulations to Sarah Salzgeber who won the Women’s Lightweight Division at the 2010 IKF World Classic in Orlando, Florida. Sarah won the 5 person division with one win by decision and one by TKO. Congratulations Sarah!

Sarah received a bye in the first round of the tournament, then went on to beat Georgia’s Tiffany Vennie by unanimous decision. That win put her into the finals against Florida’s Allyson Shumacher who Sarah defeated by TKO in the second round.

2010 was the 12 year of the annual kickboxing tournament.  It was also the biggest ever for the IKF.

This past weekend the Cellar Fight Team traveled to Des Moines, Iowa for the 4th annual Thai Boxing Association’s Muay Thai Classic.  This year was the biggest ever with 350+ registered fighters.  It was also the first year The Cellar has competed at the event (although Jon Cichon has competed the past 3 years as a member of Team Singto).

Competing from The Cellar was Jon Cichon, Sarah Salzgeber, Colin Taylor, Dania Weinberg, and Meredith Cummings.  All 5 fighters put on fantastic performances inside the ring.  They gave it their all and The Cellar came away with some big wins, close decision losses, and a very good experience.

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Congratulations to Nick Riley, Brandon Buchholz, Eric Ortiz, and the entire Cellar Fight Team for their performance at the “Fighting For Those Who Fight For Us”, MN Military Appreciation Fundraiser Event on Saturday night.

Nick Riley took on Cambridge, Minnesota’s John Profant in a rematch from last summer.  Their first bout was a back and forth battle that finished was scored a draw by the judges, but this night belonged to Riley.  Nick used excellent movement the entire fight to avoid Profant’s attacks, but also used his movement aggressively to land several sharp hand combinations.  Two judges at ringside scored the bout 40-36, and one scored it 39-37 as Riley captured the IKF Light Welterweight MN State Title.

Brandon Buchholz took on MN Fight Factory’s Todd Brooks in a 5-round Pro Muay Thai fight.  From the opening round Buchholz started landing leg kicks to the lead leg of Brooks, but it wasn’t till the 4th and 5th rounds that Buchholz really started to find his timing and start putting power behind his strikes.  Buchholz kept the pressure on Brooks and kept attacking his front leg until the 5th round when Brook’s corner threw in the towel.  Both fighters put on a great performance as Brooks showed a lot of heart fighting with the hurt leg and Buchholz gets back on the wining track while showing his ever improving striking game.

In the main event, Eric Ortiz took on MN Fight Factory’s Rico Washington in a Pro Muay Thai rules bout.  The two fighters started off very patient from the opening bell, early in the first round Ortiz caught a kick from Washington and threw a beautiful kick to his support leg sweeping him to the ground.  The kick didn’t hurt the MMA veteran, but it got the crowd into the fight and helped Ortiz take the first round.  In the final seconds of the 5th round Ortiz put Washington in the corner and executed a good flurry of short body punches and knees from the clinch, but both for the most part all five rounds were fought at a very patient and technical pace as both fighters gave the other lots of respect.  In fact, both fighters appeared fresh in the corner after the bout as they were jumping around and pacing while waiting for the judges decision.  Ortiz got the nod by unanimous decision.

Congratulations guys and thanks to all The Cellar fans in attendance.

Congratulations goes out to The Cellar’s Chris Dachel.  On Tuesday June 8th, Chris was promoted to the rank of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blue belt under Tom Schmitz.  Chris has taken his training to a new level over the past year and his hard work has paid off, taking first place in the white belt division at the last two Submission Hunt Grappling Tournaments in Champlin, MN.  Congratulations Chris!

The Cellar will be closed Friday June 4 and Saturday June 5th to celebrate the wedding of Chris Cichon and Jen Salveson.  Chris Cichon is a co-owner, instructor, and fighter at The Cellar.  The wedding takes place in Duluth, MN and we wish Chris and Jen the best on their big day!

Following their honeymoon cruise through Key West and the Bahamas, Jen and Chris will be having a small reception at The Cellar to help celebrate with all their friends that couldn’t make it to Duluth.  Come help them celebrate!  For more information, visit the Facebook Event page here:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=123717947661238.

Congratulations to the six members of The Cellar Fight Team that competed over the weekend at the USAKA Nationals in Crystal Lake, IL. The Cellar brought a young team to the inaugural tournament, but they stepped up big time against more experienced fighters. The Cellar’s Jon Cichon, Elijah Thibodeaux, Bryn Ollerman, and Sarah Salzgeber all won in impressive fashion.

• Jon Cichon won the 132lb Men’s K-1 Rules Division
• Elijah Thibodeau won the 156lb Men’s Low Kick Division
• Bryn Ollerman won the 165lb Men’s FCR Division
• Sarah Salzgeber won the 140lb Women’s FCR Division
• Derek Knudson fought a great fight in the finals of the 178lb Men’s FCR division, but lost a decision the the very experienced Michael Ried
• Dan Naing fought an exciting back and forth bout, but lost in the finals of the Jr. Boys 145lb Low Kick divison.

Kevin Nagel, Post sports editor
May 05, 2010
CANADIAN KICKBOXERS WIN FOUR OF FIVE OVER U.S.

Canadian kickboxers pleased the hometown crowd by winning four of five championship bouts at Saturday’s Night of Champions.

The amateur card, held at the Sherwood Forest Park dome, featured U.S. and Canadian champion kickboxers vying for individual and overall team titles.

The only bout the Americans won was the fifth and last of the night, when veteran U.S. kickboxer Chris Cichon won a split decision over Oakville’s Marco Capobianco in a five-round fight for the North American light middleweight full-contact championship.

Cichon, from Madison, Wis., at 31 was a dozen years older than Capobianco.

“I never figured him out all night,” said Cichon after earning the decision. “My hats go off to him. He’s an awesome fighter.”

Canada’s string of four straight wins started in the opening match, when Adam Hensen of Hamilton stopped Atlanta’s Tony Lester in the North American middleweight low-kick championship. Hensen’s strong left jab in the second round sent Lester to the ropes, but it took until the end of the third round before the referee stopped the fight.

“I had to be careful because he packed a good punch,” said Hensen, who like the other Canadian kickboxers all train under Muzammal Nawaz at Burlington’s Bay Area Athletic Club. “If I had opened up too much, he could have clipped me and it could have gone the other way. I kind of had to bide my time.”

Welterweight Brian Dickson of Burlington followed with a unanimous decision over Chicago’s Aaron Swenson in a bout the veteran Dickson said came down to longer combinations he inflicted on Swenson.

“It was very, very close,” said Dickson, who won the NA full-contact championship with the decision. “The few flurries where I had five, six or seven punches, that sealed (the win). He was throwing ones and twos, and that was it. Although I was as well, I mixed in a few flurries. We were very well matched, though.”

His coach, Nawaz, felt Dickson won the fight because Swenson was tagged with a couple of holding infractions in the fifth and final round.

The only female fight on the card featured Oakville’s McKenzie Wright taking care of Chicago’s Myra Ramirez in one round, after which it was stopped by the referee for the safety of the fighter. Wright exploded out of her corner at the start of the bout and within 30 seconds sent Ramirez reeling with a punch to the head, effectively ending the fight.

It turned out that an opening kick by Wright broke a rib, forcing Ramirez to protect her body, leaving her head exposed.

“I don’t remember if it was a kick or a punch,” said Wright. “My strategy was to go all-out from the start.”

Nawaz said the diminutive fighter is always surprising opponents with her power and determination.

“And she’s a very good student,” he added. “At practice, whatever you want her to do, she does, no questions.”

With the win Wright won the North American bantamweight full contact championship.

Canada’s fourth win was a unanimous decision in favour of Oakville’s Ross Mylet over hard-hitting Patrick George of San Jose in a full contact lightweight bout for the North American championship. Mylet piled up the points throughout the fight and in the fifth and final round stunned George with a spinning kick to the ribs that garnered a 10-count from the referee. George landed a few big punches after that, knowing he needed a knockout for a win, but his late strategy failed.

Notes: Nawaz was encouraged by the crowd of 700-800 who took in the fight, and plans to continue presenting kickboxing cards at the dome. He’s considering bringing in more U.S. champs or the best from countries such as Austria, Turkey and England.

Dickson’s win over Swenson and Cichon’s victory over Capobianco were the highlights, according to Nawaz.

“In both those fights, which we split, the U.S. fighters were defending world champions,” said Nawaz. “Both were very close, entertaining fights.”

We haven’t got much information yet because the internet was down at the guy’s hotel.  But we did get a short message from England that The Cellar’s Adam McDermid lost a close fight to Ashely Collins by judges decision.  The fight took place is Rochester, Kent, England and on the line was Collins’ IKF Light Cruiserweight World Title (Collins also holds the IKF Light Heavyweight World Title and McDermid currently holds the IKF Cruiserweight World Title).  From what we’ve heard it was a back and forth bout and many believed the winner of the 5th and final round would get the victory.  With :20 seconds remaining Collins scored a knockdown with a body kick that won the round and the fight.  It’s a tough loss for McDermid, but Collins is a very tough fighter.  We’ll post more information when we receive it.

McDermid and Collins first fought in October of 2009 at the USA vs UK event that took place in Downtown Minneapolis.  Collins won their first bout by KO in the second round when Adam ducked too low and ran into a well timed kick.

Bryn Ollerman has been working hard since moving to The Cellar Gym 6 months ago.  Bryn started at The Cellar with a record of 0-2 against very tough competitors.  Although things didn’t go his way on the scorecards, Bryn kept his intensity in the gym and continued pushing himself to new levels.  That hard work payed off!  On Friday May 7th at the “Rumble in the Valley” event in Eau Claire, WI Bryn got that first mark in his win column, and was it ever a big win.  Bryn defeated Eau Claire’s Zack Flikkeshaug by TKO at the end of the first round.  The two young fighters put on a busy show for the great fans in attendance, but Bryn landed the better punches in combination.  About halfway through the opening round Bryn dropped Zack with a flurry of punches.  Zack beat the count and returned to his feet, but a little while later Bryn landed another combination of successful strikes.  Zack got back to his feet once again, but referee Jim Peterson called an end to the bout just after bell for the first round rung.  Congratulations Bryn!

Also fighting from The Cellar was Elijah Thibodeaux against Eau Claire’s Dave Wright.  Elijah started off the first round very patiently, but landed some effective strikes.  Elijah also lost a point in the round for a knockdown that probably should have been ruled a slip.  Elijah came back a little stronger in the 2nd round but spent most of the time with his back to the ropes.  Although he may have landed more shots during the round Wright appeared the aggressor and controlled the ring very well.  Elijah came out much more aggressive in the third round and looked to have Wright on shaky legs on a few occasions, but it was too little, too late.  All three judges scored the bout unanimously in favor of Dave Wright, 29-27.  It was Elijah’s first loss, he falls to 3-1.

Also fighting Friday evening was Dave “The Scorpion” Pakarek.  Dave started coming to The Cellar recently to improve his sparring training.  He looked sharp on Friday in his bout against Chris Schultz.  Dave showed his quickness and landed good combinations of punches to get the win by TKO in the 2nd round.  Congrats Dave!