After the successful Casino Fight Night, the Fightergalla crew knew it would be a hard act to follow, considering the quality of the Casino Fight Night event. It was up to Otto Knudsen, his team and all the fighters to make this event memorable and keep the wave of success going.
MMA Viking content partner FightFan.dk provides a full breakdown of Saturday’s Fightergalla. Photos by Jesper S. Baek COLORiZE.dk.
Skt. Jørgenshallen was packed
As always, Fightergalla 24 offered a wide array of both amateur and pro fights. This time the card included a whopping 21 fights, split between 2 shootfighting, 15 amatuer MMA and 4 semi-pro and pro bouts. A single fight between Tommy Hansen and Jacob B. Jensen was cancelled.
Nerves and excitement
Fightfan.dk arrived early, before the rest of the audience. The atmosphere was one of uncertainty – if not concentration and focus. Everyone involved was working their hardest to deliver a quality show.
One who also was nervous, excited and focused was Claus Skjoldborg Larsen. The 41-year-old debutant was walking around with a headset on, completely absorbed in his own world, until he saw yours truly and came to say hello. We managed to ask him if he was ready to fight. To which he replied “I have to be!”
We are liiiive
The new ring girl was ready
Another one who was ready to perform was Claus Elgaard, who again had the job as ring announcer. Just like when doing Casino Fight Night, he was very cordial and showed a lot of respect to both the sport and the fighters. He encouraged the audience to do the same, and actually told them they were allowed to boo everything, including himself, but not the fighters. This, ofcourse, resulted in a few boos.
As earlier mentioned, there were 2 fights under the shootfighting rules on the card and Michael Larsen from Fightgym in Odense won a decision against Mikkel Torp Bille in the first match (which he celebrated with a nice backflip).
“Bambi on ice”
The debutant Claus Skjoldborg Larsen was unfortunately defeated, but fought honorably and had bad luck when he slipped on the canvas, which made him vulnerable to the choke. Albeit brief, the fight was entertaining and the two big guys managed to throw some bombs. The ending was unfortunate for Claus, in which was his first and probably last MMA fight. Claus told us after the show that his slip had given him the nickname “Bambi on ice”. He took it with a smile.
Claus Skjoldborg lost his well fought debut
Marathon of amateurs
Not long after the disappointed Claus had left the cage, we were ready to being the marathon of amateur fights.
One of the more memorable fights was between Joseph Lokman Haddad (CSA.dk) and Morten Kjær Jensen (NeoGYM). It was an intense battle that included hard slams, submission attempts and technical striking.
Joseph Lokman Haddad in the air
Later Artus Paulins (Fightgym) won a TKO victory over Jon Jørgensen (MMA Viborg).
“I feel good”
In the last amateur bout, Thomas Iburg(Fightcraft) was defeated by Thomas Formo from Norway. Iburg came out to the entrance song “I feel good”, but probably didn’t feel well after receiving a big kick from Formo that led to the TKO in the first round. Afterwards Iburg had to get stitches, which delayed the event a bit. Feel better Iburg.
Thomas Iburg had to get stitches
On the other hand, the pause was a nice break for the audience. If there is anything bad to say about the event at all, it would be the limited amount of breaks. There wasn’t a lot of time between fights to get drinks, food or go to the bathroom. Moving on.
Big success for Pro-debutant
The break between the amateur and pro fights was, amongst other things, used to refill supplies and take a few pictures with the two ring girls.
Later it was time for Iwo Belak (Fightgym) to greet his Swedish adversary, Zeljko Pranjic. But that was the extent of his hospitality and he stopped the Swede with a first round KO.
No mercy from Iwo Belak
Rune B. Petersen was also well received in his pro-debut against Ricky Gransted, in a fight that went the distance. The young Rune has 6 amateur fights and has certainly learned a lot from those, but this was a tough fight. Three hard rounds against the strong Swede in his pro-debut will certainly help him in the future.
Strong pro-debut from Rune B. Petersen
Rune did not start well, but he came back strong and in the end, there was no questioning his victory. Even Ricky Gransted showed a lot of respect and recognition as he raised Rune’s arm in the air, declaring him the winner.
Return of an old hero
The two fights that concluded Fightergalla 24 was a comeback fight and a title fight.
The comeback fight was Peter Kirkegaard’s return to the cage after a brief break from MMA. Unfortunately the result was not great as he lost by submission. The last time we saw Peter in the cage, he also lost by submission, so naturally he was a bit frustrated with the whole thing. The question is, if he will try to make another comeback.
Peter Kirkegaard was caught in a submission
Successful title defense
The main event had a title on the line and was a fight between Malik Arash Mawlayi from Malmø and Ayub “Zap” Tashkilot from X-Gym in Denmark. As reigning champ, everyone was watching Ayub closely and he managed to live up to the expectations of the crowd, with a decision victory. Nearing the fights end, Ayub was close to danger a few times, but otherwise it was a solid victory.
Ayub Tashkilot won the biggest trophy
See you at the anniversary
After the last fight, the crowd slowly started to leave the arena. Some went home, others continued their night out on the town and some went to the Casino (a ticket to Fightergalla 24 included free access to Casino Odense). Everybody seemed content and satisfied with the event and how everything played out.
Fightergalla promoter Otto Knudsen is riding a wave of success at the moment. There might be other MMA shows that has gotten more attention these past months, but Fightergalla is still able to attract a big crowd and fill the empty seats. Skt. Jørgens Hallen in Odense was filled to the brink and it seemed the audience was very entertained.
We are looking forward to what the Danish MMA Godfather comes up with for the Fightergalle 25 anniversary show.
The last comment of the night stands for itself. It was Claus Skjoldborg Larsen who has heard yelling “What’s up? Want a night out with ‘Bambi on ice’?” to a buddy.
Results
Shootfighting 1 x 5 min
• Michael Larsen(Fightgym) won over Mikkel Torp Bille (Brøndby Fight Akademi) by unanimous decision
• Michael Christensen (Sønderborg MMA) won over Claus Skjoldborg Larsen (Fightgym) by 1st round submission (sidechoke)
Amateur MMA 2 x 5 min
• Omid Albazi (Fightzone Stockholm) won against Mikkel Kærsgaard Sørensen (NeoGYM) by unanimous decision
• Thomas Robertson (Sarpsborg Chi Fee Fight) won against Andreas Arents Nygaard (MMA Trondheim) by 2nd round TKO
• Michael Dyrensborg (Team Bushido) won against Michael Boelsmand (NeoGYM) by 2nd round TKO
• Erlend Ese (Sunnfjord MMA) won against Nicolaj Hempel (Fightgym) by 1st round TKO
• Simon Madsen (NeoGYM) won against Nicholas Witek (Team Bushido) by unanimous decision
• Martin Ladegaar Hansen (Fightgym) won against Jonas Mågård (CSA) by 2nd round submission (guillotine)
• Tommy Hansen (GBG MMA Gøteborg) vs. Jacob B. Jensen (NeoGYM) was cancelled
• Joseph Lokman Haddad (CSA) won against Morten Kjær Jensen (NeoGYM) by 2nd round submission (rear naked choke)
• Remi Pinker (MMA Trondheim) won against Lasse Valther (MMA Vibor) by 1st round submission (guillotine choke)
• Axel Apergis (CSA) won against Scott Mills (Skagen Fight Gym) by unanimous decision
• Artus Paulins (Fightgym) won against Jon Jørgensen (MMA Viborg) by 1st round TKO
• Jimmie Jensen (Fightzone Tyresø) won against Robert Finneide (MMA Trondheim) by unanimous decision (3-0)
• Robert Næss (MMA Trondheim) won against Skjalg G. Oppedal (Sunnfjord MMA) by 1st round submission (rear naked choke)
• Sune Knudsen (Fightgym) won against David Ekfeldt (Gentlemanna Fabrikken) by unanimous decision
• Thomas Formo (MMA Trondheim) won against Thomas Iburg (Fightcraft) by 1s round TKO
Semi Pro 2 x 5 min
• Iwo Belak (Fightgym) won against Zeljko Pranjic (VBC Stockholm) by 1st round KO
Professional MMA 3 x 5 min
• Rune B. Petersen (Fightcraft) won against Ricky Granstad (Balsta Dojo) by unanimous decision
• David Marcina (GCF Team) won against Peter Kirkegaard (Fightgym) by 1st round submission (guillotine choke)
Professional MMA 3 x 5 min – Title Fight
• Ayub “Zap” Tashkilot (X-Gym) won against Malik Arash Mawlayi (Malmø Muay Thai MMA) by unanimous decision
Article originally published by our partner from Denmark www.fightfan.dk. Translation from MMA Viking contributor Thomas Christensen.
