What an exciting weekend! It was actually my first time at a MT Tournament, but I’m glad I registered as a Class B/-45 kg Blogger! After this blog, I think I can negotiate moving to Class A.
The first day, when I looked at the schedules, I was a little disappointed that there were no Class A fights, but I have to admit, those Class C fighters really stepped up. I had a chance to have a quick chat with Samantha Skinner (Class A, TKMT). Sam mentioned that Class A fighters are hesitant to register for tournaments because the headgear makes their heads a bigger target and easier to hit, and that the shin guards tone down the power from their main weapon, which is low kicks.
Kingdom was going to have one fighter at the Provincials, and that was our 13-year-old/63 kg, Lucas Brandao. I think all the boys in Luca’s weight class heard he was making a debut, and they went running. But Lucas was there all weekend learning, cheering, and mainly clearing out all the pizza.
Here are only some of the highlights from the Provincial Tournament:
Senior Male / C Class/-75 kg: Graham Waybrant (Old School MT) fought against Natt Charrasse (Budo Canada) first. Our legendary Simon Marcus was cornering for Natt. Natt may have been a little too excited because he managed to fall off the ring all on his own. Five seconds into the fight, I noticed Graham had the biggest grab marks on his back. I think they had happened the night before. Natt demoed the spinning kick in slow motion right in the middle of the ring, when Graham wasn’t in range. That may have confused Graham since they were in a fight. Graham also fought Adam Saeed (Evolution Petawawa MT) and Christian Macphee (Fifth Round MT) and won gold at the tournament.
Senior Female / C Class/-54 kg: The fighters raised enough heat to make the A Class fights feel icy cold. Danielle Levasseur (Old School MT) fought Euraysia Duhaime (Phady’s MT) first and Brittany Cabral (Renfrew MT) second. Danielle’s push kicks and knees didn’t miss! She was strong and fast. Her fight with Brittany was particularly interesting because Brittany seemed to have confused the rules of MT with those of playing Tag, being under the impression that Danielle was “It”! Brittany kept circling the ring with her back against the ropes, trying to stay out of range for anyone to do anything, but it was a waste of effort because Danielle kept breaking range and tagging Brittany again, and again, and again… Danielle won the gold.
So, Sabrina Campbell (C class, Legacy MT) and I kissed and made up (you’d know if you’d read the blog “Lexi’s First Fight”)! I have to admit, I have come to admire Sabrina. She played hockey for 18 years, hoping they would eventually fight in women’s hockey too, but she finally gave up and started MT about three years ago. She has set new standards for female/Class C/-50 kg. I asked her to take a picture with me showing our iron rings, but she rolled her eyes. Sabrina won gold at the tournament.
Senior Female / C Class/-57 kg: Krystyna Lavryk (TKMT) went against Julia Nakanishi (Fighters United). I was surprised that Julia could still stand up straight to receive her silver because Krystyna’s knees even bruised my ribs, sitting all the way in the audience. I should say my attention was a little divided between Krystyna and her Kru! I was waiting to see if he was going to do the shimmy dance again (read the previous blog)! But nope! I think he was determined to give himself a heart attack this time. When he yelled out to Krystyna, “SEND HER HOME,” half the people in the audience reached for their phones to call Julia an Uber! To all those who just got worried about him, he is very much alive and hunting in the woods.
Senior Male / B Class/-71 kg: While Dani Olea’s (TKMT) first fight with Aleksei Kiriukhin was as clean and slow as a marathon, lacking excitement, his second fight with Hamza Hashimi (5th Dimension Training Academy) was the perfect finish to the tournament. Imagine a MT tournament finishing without a single bloody nose… what would people say? Dani won the gold.
Our youth, less than 35 kg in particular, did absolutely amazing over the weekend. Little Ninjas on fire, wore elbow pads nearly as big as their heads and threw punches so fast it was difficult to follow. The kids from Black Tiger made two-leg sweeps look way too easy. After Rachel Love (-54 kg, Redemption MT & BJJ) landed her third head push kick, I felt I needed an eight-count.
Marielle Ong (Diamond MT) and Reeda Awan (Ajax MMA) had the only Senior Female/B Class fight. I’m pretty sure they had agreed upon throwing one elbow each! I get it! They are both too pretty.
The tournament had several other gold medalists who are not mentioned in my blog due to one of the following reasons: they weren’t cute, didn’t fall off the ring, or they simply didn’t have a very interesting Kru in their corner.
TKMT had 13 fights and 13 wins! Kru Dylan hugged everyone from ringside, all the way to the front door!
Kru Daryl proved to be the only man on earth capable of multitasking. He DJed, announced, cornered fights from inside and outside the ring, managed equipment, all while searching for a Senior/C Class/Female/-45 kg match for me!
I had the pleasure of meeting Diana Belbita, a UFC fighter in the flyweight division. Diana’s first MMA fight was a misunderstanding, as she was under the impression she was signed up for a kickboxing match! When Diana was handed MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves, she asked the equipment manager why the boxing gloves had cut weight! Not being given a straight answer, she fought anyway, and that’s how she won her first MMA fight.
Just a few notes on our community:
Kru Dylan celebrated his 22nd birthday. Happy birthday to this young and very accomplished Kru!
Kingdom is hosting an all-female seminar on International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2025. The seminar is open to all identifying as she/her. Gentlemen, if you wake up on Saturday and feel particularly feminine, send me a message, and I might be able to sneak you in. Click on the link for more detail: Women's Seminar
Kingdom is also offering free drop-ins to all females for the entire month of March/Women’s Month. Ladies, come take advantage!
See you all at the next event!
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