Karate Combat returns with another live edition this Sunday night.
Here’s the Card:
Main Event
Shahin “The Lion” Atamov (1-0) of Azerbaijan vs. Franklin “The Bullet” Mina (1-1) of Ecuador
Co-Main
Dionicio “El Capitan” Gustavo (2-2) of Dominican Republic vs. Reda “The Cobra” Messaoudi (3-1) of Morocco
Gilmarcos de Bastos Jr. of (0-0) of Brazil vs. András “The Titan” Virág (1-1) of Hungary
Here’s more on the Main Event:
“Both Atamov and Mina are coming off of big wins. Mina beat Calum in a tough match this season and now fights Atamov who is smaller but is going to be a very difficult opponent for him.
Atamov’s last win was a huge K.O. against Jorge Perez at Karate Combat Evolution.” [Watch that K.O. here] “Who ever wins this one has the chance to move up the ladder!”
About the Co-Main, Adam says, “This is a great match up in the 75kg division. Both have lost to Josh “The Preacher” Quayhagen recently–No shame in that he’s our Golden Belt champion!– Dionicio is a tough guy with an iron chin, almost impossible to knockout. Reda has excellent, elegant technique and we should see some amazing kicks from him. They’re both experienced with Karate Combat, each with 4 fights, and they know how to use the pit to their advantage—we’ll also see what they learned from fighting Quayhagen!”
And the opener: “Gilmartin took this fight on very short notice–a couple of fighters went down (one with COVID) and so he stepped up. It’s his first fight with us so it shows who is that he was willing to accept it. And he’s taking on a guy with a ton of experience, Virág has 3 fights with Karate Combat and comes off a big win over Adam Sabry at Karate Combat One World in New York. Virág is a hard hitter and has the heart of a champion and a lion. He was losing in New York and didn’t give up, he finally made a great comeback in that fight.”
Also this week we’ll visit Virág training in a historic castle outside of Budapest, Messaoudi training on the edge of the desert in Agadir, Morocco, and Gustavo training for his day job with the Navy where he is sometimes called to protect the President and other VIPs as part of a super secret security detail.
News
ICYMI: We’re Part of the ESPN Family Now
Karate Combat can now be viewed in Spanish on Thursday nights at ESPN Deportes. Their news team is also doing a series of interviews of our fighters in Spanish: Check out their chat with Pedro Roman Roig of Ibiza, Spain here. (And thanks Ariel Helwani for the warm welcome to ESPN!).
Louisiana Welcomes a Local Hero Home
Josh “The Preacher” Quayhagen won the Golden Belt last week in the 75kg division. “He’s a tank,” President Kovacs said. Louisiana’s best news station NBC’s KPLC sent a crew right out to meet him at his temporary training facility to give him a hero’s welcome. The gym he owns and runs was destroyed by hurricanes in September and he is rebuilding. Watch the KPLC segment here. And thanks to their great team Taylor Verrico and Brady Renard! Also don’t forget to listen to Quayhagen’s Christian hip-hop-heavy inspirational training playlist on the Enter the Pit! Blog.
There’s always more at Karate.com.
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