04-11-23 - Title Success for USKA at War Of The Warriors 6 Fight Night!
Two USKA Fighters took to the ring tonight in title fights on the 'War of the Warriors 6' event at the Oakengates Theatre in Telford.
The Show promoted by Joanne Underwood and sanctioned by the International Combat Organisation had an impressive 25 fight card with no less than 12 title fights from Area through to World Titles.
First up for USKA we had 'Killah' Kaifah Imran take on the tough and talented Myleigh 'The Lioness' Lawrence from the Venture Martial Arts gym in Brierley Hill.
Both girls had met before on a previous War of the Warriors promotion with Kaifah winning a close but scrappy Unanimous decision in a non title fight over three rounds.
Matched this time over 5 rounds for the ICO -50kg Midland Area Title and with both girls knowing what the other was all about it was going to be an interesting affair.
In a very different fight this time both girls were very stand off, probably not wanting for it to be another scrap fest, and the action was few and far between over the first three rounds.
The fight caught fire a little bit over the last two rounds but it has to be said that it wasn't a great fight to watch for the crowd with the lack off clean work from both girls.
In a fight that could well have gone either way a Split Points Decision was announced with Kaifah being awarded the decision with score totals of of 46/49 (Kaifah), 46/49 (Myleigh) and 48/47 (Kaifah).
There would have been no complaints from the USKA corner had the fight gone the opposite way.
Sometimes styles gel and sometimes they don't which we feel was the case here but irrespective to the result, well done to both girls for their efforts.
In the main event of the evening we had USKA's Shakeel 'Showtime' Hussain defending his recently acquired ICO Amateur -60kg World Full Contact title against the Undefeated American Kevin Clark in the battle of the unbeatens with somebody's '0' having to go!
Shakeel had put on a Master Class display of kickboxing only two weeks ago at the ICO World Championship Gala to win a Unanimous Points decision against Frenchman Siliman Bouteillier and this defence against Clark in such a short space of time was a pretty bold move and show of confidence by Hussain and his team.
The bout started with both fighters firing off powerful exchanges in the first two rounds with Shakeel getting the better of the action but Clark showing he had the potential to be a real danger man countering strong with heavy hands.
Shakeel from the third round onward followed his corners instructions perfectly, switching strategy and playing to his strengths of using his speed and movement to pick off his American opponent.
Shak was mixing up the speed with the great variety with his hands and finishing off with hard body kicks to keep Clark honest.
At the sound of the final bell Shakeel had his hand raised in victory by way of Unanimous Points Decision winning every round on all three score cards.
With this victory it marks an amazing achievement for Shak winning and defending a World Title within the space of two weeks and now sets his sights on making history in two weeks time again where he attempts to unify the division by adding the WRSA belt to his collection.
A big thank you to Joanne and the JBS Promotional Team for the opportunity to feature on the show, the USKA corner team of Qasim Beg, Mushy Younis and Sami Kelly for looking after the fighters on the night and to the USKA Supporters who purchased a ticket to watch our fighters do their thing.
We look forward to the last Fight Show of the year on 19th November where Shakeel will attempt to win a second World title by adding the WRSA strap to his collection and Qas will be back in the ring in his comeback fight after a two year lay off to challenge for the ICO Light Welterweight Professional World Title.
Tickets are still available for the great event from the USKA Fight Factory gym.
WATCH SHAKEEL'S ICO WORLD TITLE DEFENCE HERE