Jason Harris
If we were to sum up “The Aftermath 2” in one sentence it would be this: The Full Force Warriors came, they saw and they CONQUERED!
The Aftermath 2 was held last Saturday at St Marys Band Club and it was a Muay Thai competition which meant that there were going to be plenty of knees and elbows in the fights. The air definitely reeked of adrenalin as the predominantly male crowd got ready for a series of epic battles between well trained fighters.
The promoter/trainer of Full Force Gym Reinhardt Badato did an amazing job on all his fighters as the majority of his trained fighters dominated the competition. The Full Force fighters were fortunate enough to have Reinhardt as their coach since the legendary kickboxing champion already knew what they were going through first hand given that he himself was also subjected to the same pressures back in his previous championship bouts.
When Reinhardt was asked what he felt like as the fights began he said “Once the fight began I felt like getting in the ring myself especially when I saw the cuts, bruises and blood … I definitely knew that my boys will never back down.”
And never backed down they did. There was plenty of blood, bruises and torn ligaments all round, yet the Full Force Warriors did what they do best – dominate the competition and fight till the end!
The highlights of the night include Manuel Uy’s fight, Von Badato’s fight, Michael “Bad Ass” Badato’s fight and Joe “Killa” Concha’s fight. Unfortunately Von Badato lost to his opponent in his match, but we believed he fought well, he had a great heart and he had a solid technique. Alas, he ended up losing his match overall, but we are confident that his re-match with his opponent will have a different ending altogether.
Manuel Uy’s debut fight was nothing short of impressive.
He was pitted against an experienced fighter who went by the name of “Harry Lin” yet he remained unfazed as he simply dominated his match with great timing, solid punches and kicks and great footwork. Ultimately Harry Lin could not continue the match due to a shoulder injury but Manuel did dominate the fight even before Harry’s shoulder got injured.
“I could see that there was something wrong with Harry after the second round, then I realised that he couldn’t continue the fight because his shoulder popped out,” he quipped.
Michael “Bad Ass” Badato fight was another memorable match as he came toe to toe against Robbie Filliponi all the way through to the end of the fifth round. It was an extremely intense and fierce battle as both fighters stood their ground and went toe to toe. Robbie’s very technical and well calculated attacks were a nightmare to Michael, but it was Michael’s flying elbows, amazing stamina and solid knees and kicks that ultimately sealed the deal.
“My confidence boosted so high in the last minute when I used an uppercut elbow, leaving blood to pour all over Robbie’s body. I invited him to come closer for more but I knew he was too dizzy to walk forward,” Michael said about the match.
The main event of the night was the match between Joe “Killa” Concha and Ben Sandejas for the Lightweight WMC State title holder. They may be friends outside of the ring, but for that specific moment they had to cast their friendship aside for the meantime and battle it out in the ring.
Both fighters were very technical and very skilled, as they both took their time and waited for the right moment to strike. Joe barely made any punches and kicks on the first round as he waited and measured his opponent. He then became the aggressor on the 2nd and third rounds respectively when he finally figured out his opponent so he then unleashed a flurry of kicks and punches. At one stage they both got caught up in a grapple situation where Joe managed to knee Ben on his ribs, winding Ben which resulted to a standing eight count in favour of Joe. On the fourth round, the match drew to a close as Ben threw a right cross to Joe’s head which gave an opening for Joe to unleash a deadly elbow uppercut which then resulted to a deep cut on Ben’s forehead.
“When I saw that Ben’s guard was clear, I unleashed my ‘killa’ uppercut elbow to Ben’s forehead, cutting hit very deep as blood just started to squirt out,” Joe said. The doctor immediately went to Ben’s aid to determine the extent of his injury and then he ultimately deemed that the cut was to sever e for Ben to continue the match. Therefore Joe “Killa” Concha became the new Lightweight WMC State title holder.
Overall it was an entertaining action packed night. The sportsmanship between all the competitors is also quite commendable. There were plenty of glove touching, hugging and respect shown during the fights which is quite unexpected given the situation. We’d like to thank the beautiful Michelle Badato for inviting us to the event as well as kickboxer extraordinaire Reinhardt Badato.
It was definitely a great event and congratulations to all the fighters, win or lose every single fighter showed great heart and should be commended for their efforts.
Jason Harris
