COUNTDOWN: Just seconds into his fight against Manly’s Adam Ellenor, Matt Moss (furthest from camera) already has him in a tight grip. PHOTO: MATT BATE
Four local fighters from the Southern Martial Arts Fitness Centre stepped into the fearsome mixed martial arts cage at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre on Saturday night, and while not all were victorious, the vocal crowd cheered each fighter for putting on a gutsy performance.
Local boys Ray Moore, Michael Moss, Josh Jackson and Cameron Howes climbed into the cage to face tough opponents from Illawarra, Sydney and Canberra.
Moss scored the most impressive victory of the night when he required just 30 seconds to knockout his opponent, Manly’s Adam Ellenor.
Not to be outdone, Moss’ stable-mate Cameron Howes claimed the fight of the night award with his tough victory over Blake Stage from Wollongong. The win took Howes’ undefeated run to six fights.
Josh Jackson may have lost his fight in a points decision, but he won plenty of fans during his full distance bruising encounter against Canberra’s Jack Brunswick, and it was a clash of two boxers when local fighter Ray Moore faced Luke Birch. The toe-to-toe match gave fans plenty to cheer about, but Moore was outpointed by the Illawarra fighter.
Cage Conquest promoter Richard Neradil said a full house of cheering fans had the entertainment centre buzzing throughout the event.
“The crowd were vocal from the start which filled the place with a great buzz and atmosphere,” he said.
“It was a great to see the local fighters do well, even the guys who didn’t score a win tried their best and pushed their opponents the full distance.”
Neradil said it was hard to select a stand-out performance from the evening.
“Cameron Howes’ fight only just pipped Josh Jackson as the fight of the night, and Michael Moss’ 30 second opening round knockout was incredible,” he said.
Unfortunately Chad McGillick did not get a chance to step into the ring due to his opponent pulling out at the last minute, and Nick Martin failed to secure an opponent leading upto the event