Marylands Most Active Muay Thai Gym

The Level Up Fight Team was back at it again this past weekend at the Thai Championship Boxing and Operation Octagon Double Header event. TCB has been putting on quality Mauy Thai Kickboxing events for the past few years now. This event promised to be another great night of fights bringing fighters from all over the Maryland, D.C. and Virginia area. The Mauy Thai portion of the event began at 3:30pm and would be immediately followed by the Operation Octagon MMA show. Level Up would bring 4 fighters to compete in Muay Thai, Mubashir Rana, fresh off his 1st round TKO victory from the previous weekends Revolution Fight Series. Kristan Childress who would be making her competition debut. Luther Smith would be making his official amatuer debut, and Erin Jimenez who returned to the ring after nearly a year off from fighting.

 

First up for the night was Mubashir Rana. Mubashir who finished his fight quickly the previous week would look to get a second win to add to his record. Mubashirs fight was action packed as expected. He and his opponent traded big punches and kicks. When available Rana would lock up the clinch to work his knees which have become the most dangerous part of his game. After 3 tough rounds a split decision was declared in favor of Mubashirs opponent. The fight was razor close, and could have gone either way, as the judges clearly agreed. Mubashir’s heart is immeasurable, not many fighters would be willing to compete two weeks in a row, and even more, not many fighters could perform the way he did. We are very proud of this young man and look forward to his next fight.

 

Second on the card was Kristan Childress. Kristan began her fight camp at close to 180lbs, with the goal of making 145lbs at weigh ins. With two months to do it, and the will and determination to get it done Kristan accomplished her goal, which in itself was a victory. She would face Kalyn Lee who was coming off a loss at the last TCB event. Kristan got off to a slow start but as each round progressed began to find her rhythm. After 3 tough rounds Kristan would fall short on the judges score cards and lose by decision. Although a loss is a tough thing to deal with, Kristan gains experience and has a new respect for her abilities and her training. This was a giant leap getting into the ring, not something that many have the courage to do. This is not the last you will see of her for sure.

 

Although off to a rocky start Luther Smith was determined to turn things around. Moments before he left the warm up area to head to the ring, he looked at his coach Jason Farrell and said “I got us”. This statement proved to be true apothekefurmanner.de. Luther a North Carolina native, is exactly what you expect of a southerner. Polite, friendly, and extremely respectful, but in the ring, he has only one thought, seek and destroy.  Due to the fact that we couldn’t find a Heavyweight match up for Smith, Luther would drop to 205lbs for this fight. We expected Luther to be the larger man in this match up, but quickly found out that his opponent Andre Villanueva was no small 205er. Although 2 inches shorter than Luther who stand 6’4, Andre was not someone to take lightly in the way of his size, and proved that he had skill to back it up. The two big men would exchange punches and kicks, with Luther finding advantages with his boxing, and threw a push kick that almost knocked Villanueva out of the ring! The first round was exciting as expected, and clearly won by Luther. Early in the second round Villanueva’s coaches called for an outside leg kick, Luther reacted with the speed of a lightweight and countered the kick with a big cross that spun Andre around and sent him face first to the canvas. Although he was able to get back to his feet he was unable to lift his arms for the ref, and was waived off to signal the end of the fight. This was a good call by the Ref as Villanueva would stumble into the ropes moments after the fight was called. This was a beautiful display of skill and speed by Smith. Luther is a hard worker and one of the great motivators at Level Up. We are excited for his career as a fighter and look forward to his Amatuer Boxing debut at Club 1 Fitness under the Jeter Promotions banner November 2nd in Millersville Maryland.

 

Last but not least was Erin “Big Ern” Jimenez. Erin who has been training with Coach Jason Farrell for the last 3 years has been one of the most active fighters Jason has trained. She is one of the hardest workers in the gym balancing her studies and experiments as a student/scientist/PHD candidate at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Maryland. Erin has competed in many smokers earning a reputation as an exciting and aggressive fighter. Her record as an amatuer in no way reflects her skill, at 1-3 before this fight, Erin dropped two spilt decision losses that should have been hers. After a bit of a hiatus with the focus on skill development Erin was ready for her return, and determined to win without question. She didn’t disappoint. Erin came out swinging the second the bell rang with a big Jab, Cross, round kick, as expected her opponent rushed her but was quickly clinched and tossed to the canvas. Erin would go on to win the round with perfectly placed, punches, round kicks, push kicks and knees. Each round was a true display of Muay Thai. Erin used all the weapons in her arsenal and kept a relentless pace from bell to bell. The highlight of the fight being erins hard clinch knees delivered to the body of her opponent. Her opponent Mary Irey proved to be a tough competitor and fought back each round, but in the end it was clear who the winner was. Erin picked up a unanimous decision in her first fight back in almost a year. The team can’t express how happy we are for her. She worked hard for this win and deserved it in every way. To say she was impressive was an understatement, she earned praise from fans, other fighters and even the promoters of TCB and Operation Octagon personally congratulated her.

 

Also on the MMA portion of the card was Cory Pazcoquin of Evolve Fight Academy and Darnell Murphy of Bowie MMA who spent some time at Level Up working on their striking. Cory pulled off a beautiful Gogoplata submission early in the first round, and Darnell used his boxing to set up his takedowns and spent all three rounds pounding his opponent with big punches and elbows. Both fighters looked impressive, we are honored to have been a part of their camp.