Combat at the Capitale - 4.4.14

NEW YORK

The kickboxing scene in New York City runs deep through the fabric of combat sports entertainment - so deep in fact, that there can be two events going on within 25 blocks of each other on a single night, and there will be enough fighters and spectators to make both events viable. Such was the case on Friday night, with Friday Night Fights going down at a venue near Wall Street, and Lou Neglia's Combat at the Capitale taking place at the Capitale, a nightclub in Chinatown.

While ardent Muay Thai fans tend to gravitate towards the FNF product, those who appreciate MMA lean to what CatC offers - which isn't surprising, given that Neglia is the man behind the long-running Ring of Combat organization, and ROC and CatC often cross-pollinate each other. Case in point: the MMA fighters on the card, which included ROC champ Julio Arce, ROC and Bellator veteran Carlos Brooks, ROC amateur champ Mike Fischetti, and ROC amateur fighter John Bowman.

Want to know where Arce's timing and distance come from? Curious to see where Brooks sharpens his jab, where Fischetti has been mastering his footwork, and where Bowman is adding some killer striking chops to go with his Division 1 wrestling? CatC is all you need to know.

Some highlights from Friday night's CatC installment include:

• The spirited back and forth between TSMMA fighter Sophia Gegovic and Ray Longo-trained Lauren Braccia. It was a close one, and though Gegovic came away with the split decision, both ladies put a lot of skill and technique on display.

• TSMMA's Malik Blake, who put away a tough Georgui Smaguin in the third round.

• Brooks of TSMMA, who returned to action a year to the day after his loss to Tom DeBlass in the Bellator cage, and out-worked Shamir Garcia for the unanimous decision.

• They fought to a draw last year under Muay Thai rules, but TSMMA's Fischetti got it done against Jeff Brown under GLORY rules this time around.

• John Bowman of Team Serra/Longo could very well be the next big thing coming out of that camp - as evidenced by his solid performance against Nike Tsigaris and the subsequent unanimous decision win.

• Arce has yet to taste defeat in five pro MMA fights, 11 amateur MMA fights, and a slew of kickboxing fights, and he kept his streak alive at CatC with a dominant performance over Zarukh Adashov. If anyone in the Northeast is ripe for the UFC's picking, it's Arce.

Full results:

• Shannon Halstead def. Robert Reid via TKO at 1:35, R2
• Nicholas Robyn def. Eugene Leusenko via Unanimous Decision
• Daniel Bogdanov def. Javier Torres via TKO, R3
• Nazim Sadykhov def. Remi Singha via Unanimous Decision
• Justin Montalvo def. George Maldarelli via Unanimous Decision
• Sophia Gegovic def. Lauren Braccia via Split Decision
• Anna Shearer def. Jennie Nedell via Split Decision
• Malik Blake def. Georgui Smaguin via TKO at :44, R3
• Andrew Ball def. Paul Miller via TKO
• Dom Biondo def. Billy Rose via KO at 2:54, R1
• Carlos Brooks def. Shamir Garcia via Unanimous Decision
• Elvis Gashi def. Andre Schuler via TKO at 1:51, R1
• Mike Fischetti def. Jeff Brown via TKO at 1:03, R2
• John Bowman def. Niko Tsigaris via Unanimous Decision
• Julio Arce def. Zarukh Adashov via Unanimous Decision