The first time Niall McInness stepped into the Muay Thai squared circle, was only the second time he had visited Tiger Muay Thai and MMA Training Camp in Phuket, Thailand for training. It was tough to tell in last night’s (Sept. 20th) battle.
He impressed with his boxing skills that were peppered by sharp elbows and kicks to the body, defeating his 23 year-old English rival Danny in the fourth round. McInness, a 25-year-old Aussie native, was both bloodied and tired but managed to finish his fight to the end.
The fight started with McInness dictating the pace with several combinations and ducking under high kicks. The Aussie’s forehead was cut open in the second round by a vicious elbow, but managed to sweep Danny with a right leg towards the end of the round.
As the third round got under way, McInness bobbed and weaved from Danny’s elbow attempts and used his left cross effectively while throwing and landing several elbows of his own – opening up his opponent’s forehead in the process.
In the fourth round, McInness dominated a gassed Danny and eventually won by referee stoppage towards the end of the round. This was McInness first Muay Thai win as he expects to get one more bout before returning to Australia later this year.
In other bouts, Matthew Semper fought a tough bout against Sornrom, a veteran of over 200 fights. Semper, from the Bronx, NY, was measured in his attempts in the early round and kept Sornrom within jabbing distance. The Thai’s leg kicks wore down Semper and by the third round the American had switched from an orthodox stance to a southpaw in an attempt to minimize the damage to his left leg.
The referee stopped the fight in the fourth round after two more kicks wobbled a weakened Semper. See Semper’s blog post about the fight here.
Near the end of the night, Jake Drage of Australia, making his Muay Thai debut, battled it out with Wanchana, a Thai fighting in his 33rd bout. Drage fought hard, but lost in the third round by TKO, after Wanchana gave a swift kick to Drage’s stomach.
