June 13, 2016 12:02 pm

Battle of the Millennium 3: Recap

Battle of the Millennium 3-NewYorkFighting.com-65

New York’s kickboxing fans were treated to another night of action on Friday, June 10, when Lou Neglia and Artyom Sahakyan presented Battle of the Millennium 3 at the Master Theater in Brooklyn. The event as a whole delivered several action-packed amateur and professional bouts, all of which were contested under Glory rules.
In the main event of the evening, regional veteran Lashawn Alcocks took a well-earned unanimous decision over Avaz Achilov from Lions MA in Brooklyn, to claim the Battle of the Millennium pro championship belt at 162 lbs. Alcocks left no doubt for the judges as he consistently pressed the action with power punches over three hard fought rounds, while his opponent looked to maintain his range and employ a variety of kicks. In the first round the Dambakly Martial Arts representative dropped Achilov with a hard right hand, followed by a quick left, to score an early knockdown. Although he returned to his feet quickly and spent the rest of the round looking to land a well-timed kick, Achilov never seemed to fully regain his legs. On three occasions he went to the canvas off of blocked punches, which the referee deemed to be slips.

The second round was more competitive, as Achilov appeared to look more comfortable and landed some solid kicks to the body and legs of Alcocks, and some knees as well. Alcocks, for his part, landed a hard right hand early on in the round that again put Achilov on the canvas but was not ruled a knockdown. The third round was similar to the first, with Alcocks continuously moving forward and scoring a knockdown off of a hard right hook, from which Achilov barely answered the count. The decision was never in question as the hometown favorite suffered a tough defeat.

In the previous fight, Achilov’s Lions MA teammate Zarrukh Adashev sent the partisan fans home happy with a first round TKO win over Gladiator Pankration‘s Samad Mobley in a brief but action packed 135 lb pro matchup. The fight started up with both fighters tensely coiled up, and Adashev struck first with a blitzing volley of punches when he had Mobley trapped in the corner. Mobley escaped, but Adashev was undeterred, remaining crouched in his southpaw stance looking almost exclusively to use his hands. He trapped Mobley in the corner and unloaded with punches again, drawing a standing count from the referee, who determined that Mobley was unfit to continue following the count, bringing the fight to an end just before the close of Round 1.

The only scheduled women’s pro fight of the evening was cancelled, when Canadian Tiffany Cass unexpectedly failed to show up at the venue to fight Longo Competition Team representative Jennie Nedell. Although the promoters had flown Cass in and confirmed her arrival in New York, she was not in the building and as a result Nedell was awarded the Battle of the Millennium championship at 135 lbs.

The first pro bout of the evening saw Jonathan DiBella of Dibella’s Kickboxing in Montreal showcase a well-polished and technical kickboxing game in picking apart the overmatched David Weintraub inside of two rounds. DiBella wasted no time, dropping Weintraub in the first round with a hard left cross. The remainder of the round consisted of DiBella landing fast, crisp strikes that included several leg kicks to the inside of Weintraub’s lead leg. The second round was almost a carbon copy of the first with Weintraub again getting dropped by a left hand. DiBella followed up by dropping Weintraub twice with stinging leg kicks before the referee called the fight. It was a stellar performance overall by the talented 19 year old.

In a featured amateur bout, Neglia Competition Team representative Andrew Ball leaned on superior conditioning and strategy to take a unanimous decision over Mike Moyer from Team Red Planet. The fight started competitively with Ball looking to counter kicks with straight right hands and use his reach advantage, while Moyer pressed aggressively. Ball began to land more consistently in the second round, and drew cheers from the crowd as he opened up with more kicks and knees in the third, including a knee that scored a knockdown for Ball to solidify the victory.

In a featured women’s amateur championship bout, Team Tiger Schulmann‘s Dian Zhivanaj put her hands on display in a dominant performance over Yulia Guseva from Lions MA, claiming the victory and the title belt by knockout in the second round. Zhivanaj controlled the action from the outset with superior boxing and speed, particularly a stinging right hand that she landed repeatedly. Guseva was dropped in the second round and could not answer the count, capping off a dominant performance for the 130 lb champion Zhivanaj.

In earlier action John Temperino from Longo Competition Team proved a bit too much for for Jersey MMA‘s Brian Rast. Over the course of three rounds, Temperino was very aggressive and looked to close the distance and use his hands, while Rast unsuccessfully tried to maintain his distance and employ knees and kicks. Fatigue took its toll in the third round but the pace did not slow, with both fighters swinging until the final bell. Ultimately, Temperino won by unanimous decision.

Lions MA‘s Iskandar Usmanov defeated his taller and rangier opponent Luke Todd from Striking 101, by unanimous decision, in an amateur bout at 180 lbs. After a heated first round, Usmanov took control in the second and third rounds by repeatedly swarming Todd with punches.
Adam Duncan made the trip all the way from Montreal to New York for his amateur fight at 168 lbs., only to fall to Team Tiger Schulmann‘s Andy Segovia by unanimous decision over three hard-fought rounds. The Canadian, fighting out of Evolution Tristar MMA, had his best moments in a close first round, before Segovia utilized his superior hands to claim the second and third rounds more decisively.

Diego Jagessar from Striking 101 took a lopsided decision over Anthony Lopez from Alpha Omega MMA by utilizing a diverse attack of kicks and flying knees to drop his opponent in the first and second rounds and earn scorecards of 30-25 across the board.

A scheduled bout between John Giordano (Longo Competition Team) and Ian Hastings (American Top Team) was cancelled due to Hastings suffering an injury. It was announced that Giordano will fight on the next Neglia-promoted event.
Danny Ramirez (Tiger Schulmann) took a clear-cut unanimous decision over Manny Collado (Alpha Omega) in which he leaned on superior boxing to send his opponent into retreat mode late into the fight. Earlier, Raquane Alexander (Longo Copetition Team) showed superior combinations, particularly to the body, to defeat Zackery Powell (Evolution Tristar MMA) by unanimous decision. Powell was dropped by body shots from Alexander in the second round, and seemed to tire in the third.

An early women’s bout resulted in perhaps the quickest finish of the night, as Budokan Martial Arts representative Taneisha Tennant thoroughly outclassed her opponent Kathleen Paiva from North Jersey MMA, winning by KO in the first round. Tennant’s jabs set the pace, and her knees sealed the deal, as she scored a knockdown with knees to the body before finishing the fight shortly thereafter with an uppercut and knee to the body.

In the opening bout of the evening, Anthony Dilemme (Longo Competition Team) defeated Mike Casill (Alpha Omega).

Overall it was a tremendous night of action that showcased some of the best talent from the region, and shone the spotlight on some up-and-coming talent in the kickboxing world. New York Fighting will continue to bring coverage of regional amateur and pro kickboxing events, so stay tuned to follow the careers of these rising stars.