Take-On Productions “Battle at Bally’s” Crowns Promotion’s First Champion

October 22, 2011 marked a night of many “firsts” for TakeOn Productions, and the Muay Thai scene. The first TakeOn show held in Atlantic City, NJ; The first full-rules amateur Muay Thai fight in New Jersey, and the first TakeOn title belt awarded.

In the Main Event, Justin Greskiewicz of Cool Hearts Muay Thai took on Eddie Martinez of Sitan Gym NY. Both of these fighters share a common opponent for their previous fight in Turan Hasanov. Greskiewicz has been very active in 2011, battling tough opponents. His experience and composure may have given him the slight advantage he needed to win the close split decision. Much like his fight with Hasanov – Greskiewicz had his hands full with Martinez, who pushed forward with crisp boxing combos and a healthy mix of kicks. In similar fashion to his previous fight, Greskiewicz was able to successfully counter with low kicks, body kicks, and teeps to keep his opponent at bay. In addition, Greskiewicz was also able to land a few counter left elbows, and attempt flashy elbow strikes – one of which may have caused the cut above Martinez’s hairline. Overall, it was a great fight, and worthy of it’s Main Event status.

In the co-main event, contested under full (amateur) Muay Thai rules – we saw Nick Vaughan of The Wat stop Jessie Cronier with a powerful left body kick. Vaughan – who recently captured the WKA North American Title from Gaius Ebratt (5 Points Academy) – added to his belt collection by capturing the first ever TakeOn Productions 165lbs. Championship.

Saving the best recap for last. Hands down, the fight of the night, and possibly the best fight in the history of NY/NJ Muay Thai – courtesy of two highly skilled fighters in Jay Matias of Sitan Gym NY and Jake Mainini of Boston Muay Thai, both of whom where making their professional debuts. The fight was a beautiful display of pure Muay Thai, and contested under full rules (elbows and knees to the head).

In the first round, both fighters were feeling each other out. Mainini caught Matias’ first few body kick attempts, and was able to sweep him cleanly twice. Mainini also threw the first elbow attempt – but Matias remained calm, and very technical as he continued to establish his attack. Towards the end of the round, Matias turned up his attack. He barely missed a spinning back elbow as well as a jumping downward elbow strike. It was a very close round to call.

Matias opened up the second round by landing the first clean elbow of the match. The Sitan fighter was able to control his opponent, and walk him around the ring using good boxing combos. Both fighters threw a good amount of kick attempts which seemed to all get blocked or caught by both opponents.

Hit the jump for the rest of the results and recap!

As round three started, Mainini had a slight bloody nose, and was developing a black eye from the strikes thrown in the previous round. Matias continued to move forward and walk his opponent down all round. Matias started to find a home for his left body kick, and continued to throw it with perfect form. As the round ended, Matias attempted a spinning back elbow that nearly landed. Matias continued to press forward in round four, as well as throwing the left body kicks that have been landing. Mainini found a hole in Matias’ solid defense and landed several hard low kicks that began to swell up Matias’ legs.

Neither fighter showed any signs of fatigue as the final round began, they both obviously trained very hard for the fight, and were in peak physical condition. Matias came out more aggressive this round, and forced Mainini to backpeddle. Matias lands a flying elbow, and follows up with a sweep from the clinch. The story of the round was Jay’s left body kick vs. Jake’s low kicks – and both men landed with high frequency. They also exchanged multiple elbow strikes towards the end of the round, and closed out the match trading shots all out in the final seconds.

Jay Matias won his professional debut with a unanimous decision over a tough opponent. Both fighters deserve much respect and displayed very high level technical Muay Thai skills. While neither fighter is nationally recognized at the moment – fans should remember their names, as you can be sure to hear a ton of buzz about Jay Matias and Jake Mainini in the future.

In the first female fight of the night, Caitlyn Dempsey of Impact Martial Arts took a unanimous decision from Christina Rodriguez (Girl Fight MMA NJ). Dempsey came out guns blazing in the first round, throwing and landing a non-stop “one-twos” while using her height and reach advantage to dominate the first round. Each time Rodriguez tried to close the distance, Dempsey clinched and threw non-stop straight knees. Rodriguez herself took the second round by opening the round very aggresively, using good boxing, head movement, and footwork to land her own punch combos and heavy straight rights that found their mark. Both fighters gave it their all in the third round, fighting at an incredible non-stop pace. Dempsey won a close third round – and the decision.

Molli Barg of Cool Hearts Muay Thai and Watt Sriboonruang of Church Street Boxing put on the most technical female matchup of the night. Sriboonruang threw a high volume of punch/low kick combos and took the split decision. The last female fight lasted just 1:06 after Prairie Rugilo TKO’d Tianna Uman. Rugilo was aggressive from the second the bell rang, and overwhelmed her opponent with a flurry of punches for the entire first minute before the final right hand ended the fight.

Complete Results:
Andrilo Suarez def. Kerry Broughton by Unanimous Decision
Rich Brattole def. Tim Schmeier by Majority Decision
Heath Walton def. Flavio Brito by Majority Decision
Caitlin Dempsey def. Christina Rodriguez by Unanimous Decision
Ramon Maldonado def. Tim Sylver by Unanimous Decision
Watt Sriboonruang def. Molli Barg by Split Decision
Prairie Rugilo def. Tianna Uman by TKO 1:06 in Rd. 1
Ariel Abreu def. Casey Von Brookhoven by Split Decision
Anthony Santiago def. Ruben Lopez by Unanimous Decision
Jay Matias def. Jake Mainini by Unanimous Decision [Pro]
Nick Vaughn def. Jessie Cronier by TKO 2:00 in Rd. 2 [TakeOn 165lbs. Championship]
Justin Greskiewicz def. Eddie Martinez by Split Decision [Pro]