By REBECCA STEVENSON

There may not have been a cage but the over 500-strong crowd packed into the Kennel Club on March 24 certainly saw a spectacle as Ring Wars – The Beginning kicked off.

The event boasted the first mixed martial arts fights in the Porirua area alongside traditional Muay Thai kickboxing.

The main event, a light heavyweight MMA title bout between local Alex Richardson and Auckland’s Sam Brown, saw the Jiu Jitsu specialist Richardson taking on the boxer.

In the first round the Porirua fighter had the better of Brown, wrestling him to the ground and landing some savage blows. Brown struggled to escape but learned early on going to ground would only result in a win for Richardson.
In the following rounds Brown kept Richardson at bay, fighting gamely to stay on his feet and staying busy with his hands. In the end a split decision went in favour of Brown, the title heading up to Auckland with him.

Event promoter Rex Redden says Richardson was disappointed to lose his belt but plans are already afoot for a rematch.
“It will be at the end of June at the Wellington Town Hall. We will be unveiling our new cage there so it’s going to be great.”

Redden says the fight night was the best he’s seen, all of the bouts back- and-forth affairs with no fighter dominating. Usually the Porirua faithful like to see knockouts, but Redden says a no knockout night – like this one was – is a sign of quality match-ups. He says the fight of the night was between Alpha’s Scott Simpson and Danny Robinson. Both fighters weighed in at a trim 110 kilograms, Redden saying both were so cut they could have been mistaken for body builders. “It was so close, right from the first round, with non-stop action. At the start of the third Danny hit Scott with a stunning kick in the stomach, and you could tell he was hurting. But he came back to knock over Danny and the crowd went berserk.”

Local Northern United rugby player Anare Ko-livau also had an “awesome” win as did Kevin Dick, says Redden.