Angela “Overkill” Hill is an undefeated Muay Thai fighter based out of New York’s Evolution Muay Thai gym, whose last appearance for Lion Fight in July resulted in a lovely falling-tree KO against Miranda Cayabyab. (See video above.) After compiling a 14-0 amateur record, Angela will now make her pro Muay Thai debut at Lion Fight 11 against the also-undefeated Monique Travis.
Not only should Hill vs. Travis be a heck of a scrap, it will also give you a first look at “Overkill” before she transitions to MMA, as Hill is slated to make her atomweight debut for XFC in December. Follow Angela on Facebook and Twitter, and check out her latest highlight reel after the jump…
Angela “Overkill” Hill is an undefeated Muay Thai fighter based out of New York’s Evolution Muay Thai gym, whose last appearance for Lion Fight in July resulted in a lovely falling-tree KO against Miranda Cayabyab. (See video above.) After compiling a 14-0 amateur record, Angela will now make her pro Muay Thai debut at Lion Fight 11 against the also-undefeated Monique Travis.
Not only should Hill vs. Travis be a heck of a scrap, it will also give you a first look at “Overkill” before she transitions to MMA, as Hill is slated to make her atomweight debut for XFC in December. Follow Angela on Facebook and Twitter, and check out her latest highlight reel after the jump…
I’ve been speaking with Ray Sefo for a few minutes now and it doesn’t seem like he understands my question. I asked the multiple time Muay Thai world champion and successful kickboxing and MMA coach why he ever felt the need to step out of his comfort zone and fight under MMA rules.
The former K-1 star, now in his early forties, has fought three times in MMA and will once more tonight on the World Series of Fighting 4 card in California. The striking legend is also the President of WSOF.
I asked Sefo the question and he began to tell me of how he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA by his friend Royce Gracie, the first ever UFC champion, back in 2000 in Japan where they were both competing at the time. He then went on to describe his next step into MMA, then his next, but I felt I had to politely interrupt and reiterate my initial question. I wasn’t asking for a step by step process of how he got into MMA but why he ever decided to.
He had made a name and good living from kickboxing. He transitioned into a full-time career coaching other elite fighters and now Sefo is a top executive at a major MMA organization.
He understands me quite well. Turns out that I was the one that didn’t understand Ray Sefo. “Listen, I’ve always fought,” he explains patiently.
“I’ve been boxing since I was a kid. I did Kung Fu for years. Back home when I started kickboxing my family all thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, they were suspicious of it because boxing was so big. But then they saw me fight and their minds changed. I love to learn and love to develop and challenge myself as a martial artist and fighter. MMA was the next natural step in that.”
I had been confused. To Ray Sefo, fighting isn’t a means of procuring and then protecting status at all costs. He wasn’t afraid of stepping out of his strength and comfort zone and fighting MMA. He isn’t afraid to continue to fight MMA now, in his forties and against younger opponents and risk losing.
I’ve been speaking with Ray Sefo for a few minutes now and it doesn’t seem like he understands my question. I asked the multiple time Muay Thai world champion and successful kickboxing and MMA coach why he ever felt the need to step out of his comfort zone and fight under MMA rules.
The former K-1 star, now in his early forties, has fought three times in MMA and will once more tonight on the World Series of Fighting 4 card in California. The striking legend is also the President of WSOF.
I asked Sefo the question and he began to tell me of how he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA by his friend Royce Gracie, the first ever UFC champion, back in 2000 in Japan where they were both competing at the time. He then went on to describe his next step into MMA, then his next, but I felt I had to politely interrupt and reiterate my initial question. I wasn’t asking for a step by step process of how he got into MMA but why he ever decided to.
He had made a name and good living from kickboxing. He transitioned into a full-time career coaching other elite fighters and now Sefo is a top executive at a major MMA organization.
He understands me quite well. Turns out that I was the one that didn’t understand Ray Sefo. “Listen, I’ve always fought,” he explains patiently.
“I’ve been boxing since I was a kid. I did Kung Fu for years. Back home when I started kickboxing my family all thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, they were suspicious of it because boxing was so big. But then they saw me fight and their minds changed. I love to learn and love to develop and challenge myself as a martial artist and fighter. MMA was the next natural step in that.”
I had been confused. To Ray Sefo, fighting isn’t a means of procuring and then protecting status at all costs. He wasn’t afraid of stepping out of his strength and comfort zone and fighting MMA. He isn’t afraid to continue to fight MMA now, in his forties and against younger opponents and risk losing.
For Ray Sefo, fighting is breathing. He fights, that’s it. The particular rules he does so under are incidental.
Even though Sefo always respected MMA enough to view it as a new and unique challenge, at first he says he underestimated certain elements of it.
“I always had respect for submissions because of my friend Royce Gracie but when I started training for MMA I honestly kind of dismissed wrestling at first. I thought that stuff was easy,” he says with a chuckle, acknowledging the profound ignorance of his old attitude.
“Then I met Randy [Couture] back in 2005 and started training with these guys in wrestling. Man, wrestling is one of the hardest workouts you can do. There’s so much skill involved in it.”
Sefo tells CagePotato that, heading into tonight, he’s gotten a full training camp behind him. He’s had a chance to work on just those skills and others needed to fight his opponent, twenty five fight veteran Dave Huckaba. He partially blames an abbreviated training camp for his 2011 Strikeforce loss to Valentijn Overeem.
Sefo says that the plan is for this bout to be the final fight of his career. He says a sense of finality has not permeated his training camp, however.
“This possibly being my last match isn’t something that I’ve been thinking about each day. It’s the same thing it always is,” Sefo says.
“I go into the gym and train with the guys each day like always. I do that when I’m not fighting, I do it now training for my own fight and even if this is my final fight, I’ll do it every day afterwards. I first put on a pair of boxing gloves when I was a kid. I put them on today and I’ll keep putting them on the rest of my life.”
I’ve been speaking with Ray Sefo for a few minutes now and it doesn’t seem like he understands my question. I asked the multiple time Muay Thai world champion and successful kickboxing and MMA coach why he ever felt the need to step out of his comfort zone and fight under MMA rules.
The former K-1 star, now in his early forties, has fought three times in MMA and will once more tonight on the World Series of Fighting 4 card in California. The striking legend is also the President of WSOF.
I asked Sefo the question and he began to tell me of how he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA by his friend Royce Gracie, the first ever UFC champion, back in 2000 in Japan where they were both competing at the time. He then went on to describe his next step into MMA, then his next, but I felt I had to politely interrupt and reiterate my initial question. I wasn’t asking for a step by step process of how he got into MMA but why he ever decided to.
He had made a name and good living from kickboxing. He transitioned into a full-time career coaching other elite fighters and now Sefo is a top executive at a major MMA organization.
He understands me quite well. Turns out that I was the one that didn’t understand Ray Sefo. “Listen, I’ve always fought,” he explains patiently.
“I’ve been boxing since I was a kid. I did Kung Fu for years. Back home when I started kickboxing my family all thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, they were suspicious of it because boxing was so big. But then they saw me fight and their minds changed. I love to learn and love to develop and challenge myself as a martial artist and fighter. MMA was the next natural step in that.”
I had been confused. To Ray Sefo, fighting isn’t a means of procuring and then protecting status at all costs. He wasn’t afraid of stepping out of his strength and comfort zone and fighting MMA. He isn’t afraid to continue to fight MMA now, in his forties and against younger opponents and risk losing.
I’ve been speaking with Ray Sefo for a few minutes now and it doesn’t seem like he understands my question. I asked the multiple time Muay Thai world champion and successful kickboxing and MMA coach why he ever felt the need to step out of his comfort zone and fight under MMA rules.
The former K-1 star, now in his early forties, has fought three times in MMA and will once more tonight on the World Series of Fighting 4 card in California. The striking legend is also the President of WSOF.
I asked Sefo the question and he began to tell me of how he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA by his friend Royce Gracie, the first ever UFC champion, back in 2000 in Japan where they were both competing at the time. He then went on to describe his next step into MMA, then his next, but I felt I had to politely interrupt and reiterate my initial question. I wasn’t asking for a step by step process of how he got into MMA but why he ever decided to.
He had made a name and good living from kickboxing. He transitioned into a full-time career coaching other elite fighters and now Sefo is a top executive at a major MMA organization.
He understands me quite well. Turns out that I was the one that didn’t understand Ray Sefo. “Listen, I’ve always fought,” he explains patiently.
“I’ve been boxing since I was a kid. I did Kung Fu for years. Back home when I started kickboxing my family all thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, they were suspicious of it because boxing was so big. But then they saw me fight and their minds changed. I love to learn and love to develop and challenge myself as a martial artist and fighter. MMA was the next natural step in that.”
I had been confused. To Ray Sefo, fighting isn’t a means of procuring and then protecting status at all costs. He wasn’t afraid of stepping out of his strength and comfort zone and fighting MMA. He isn’t afraid to continue to fight MMA now, in his forties and against younger opponents and risk losing.
For Ray Sefo, fighting is breathing. He fights, that’s it. The particular rules he does so under are incidental.
Even though Sefo always respected MMA enough to view it as a new and unique challenge, at first he says he underestimated certain elements of it.
“I always had respect for submissions because of my friend Royce Gracie but when I started training for MMA I honestly kind of dismissed wrestling at first. I thought that stuff was easy,” he says with a chuckle, acknowledging the profound ignorance of his old attitude.
“Then I met Randy [Couture] back in 2005 and started training with these guys in wrestling. Man, wrestling is one of the hardest workouts you can do. There’s so much skill involved in it.”
Sefo tells CagePotato that, heading into tonight, he’s gotten a full training camp behind him. He’s had a chance to work on just those skills and others needed to fight his opponent, twenty five fight veteran Dave Huckaba. He partially blames an abbreviated training camp for his 2011 Strikeforce loss to Valentijn Overeem.
Sefo says that the plan is for this bout to be the final fight of his career. He says a sense of finality has not permeated his training camp, however.
“This possibly being my last match isn’t something that I’ve been thinking about each day. It’s the same thing it always is,” Sefo says.
“I go into the gym and train with the guys each day like always. I do that when I’m not fighting, I do it now training for my own fight and even if this is my final fight, I’ll do it every day afterwards. I first put on a pair of boxing gloves when I was a kid. I put them on today and I’ll keep putting them on the rest of my life.”
It hasn’t even been two weeks since Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino fought and won in MMA against Marloes Coenen at Invicta FC 6, but the new featherweight champion has booked not one but two Muay Thai fights for herself on August 25th in Thailand. “Cyborg will take on France’s top kickboxer Angelique Pitiot and Italy’s Annalisa Bucci, with one taking three rounds and the other two rounds,” Wombat Sports reports.
“Cyborg” represents the famed Brazilian Chute Boxe team, which has Muay Thai as its base, but according to the report, the fighter has never previously been to the kickboxing style’s motherland of Thailand. While many fighters travel to exotic locations in the weeks after fights for vacation, Justino is going to Thailand to fight two women back-to-back just because she can.
Say what you will about her questionable Tito Ortiz-driven decision of turning down a contract with the UFC, but this lady isn’t afraid to fight for her money, that’s for sure. We don’t know much about her two scheduled opponents but considering the fact that five rounds of shadow-boxing — much less actual fighting — gets us winded, we’re quite impressed with Cyborg’s latest goal.
Oh yeah, Kim Couture is also on the card, fighting Thai fighter Petchrocha Looksaikongdin. First off, we didn’t realize that “Sugar Free” (ugh) was still competing. Secondly, fighting someone with that many syllables in their name, in their own backyard, doesn’t seem like a great idea for Kim, who is no stranger to unfortunatebeat-downs.
After the jump: Cris Cyborg destroys some broad named Edna in a Muay Thai rules bout back in 2006.
(Photo via Esther Lin/Invicta FC)
It hasn’t even been two weeks since Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino fought and won in MMA against Marloes Coenen at Invicta FC 6, but the new featherweight champion has booked not one but two Muay Thai fights for herself on August 25th in Thailand. “Cyborg will take on France’s top kickboxer Angelique Pitiot and Italy’s Annalisa Bucci, with one taking three rounds and the other two rounds,” Wombat Sports reports.
“Cyborg” represents the famed Brazilian Chute Boxe team, which has Muay Thai as its base, but according to the report, the fighter has never previously been to the kickboxing style’s motherland of Thailand. While many fighters travel to exotic locations in the weeks after fights for vacation, Justino is going to Thailand to fight two women back-to-back just because she can.
Say what you will about her questionable Tito Ortiz-driven decision of turning down a contract with the UFC, but this lady isn’t afraid to fight for her money, that’s for sure. We don’t know much about her two scheduled opponents but considering the fact that five rounds of shadow-boxing — much less actual fighting — gets us winded, we’re quite impressed with Cyborg’s latest goal.
Oh yeah, Kim Couture is also on the card, fighting Thai fighter Petchrocha Looksaikongdin. First off, we didn’t realize that “Sugar Free” (ugh) was still competing. Secondly, fighting someone with that many syllables in their name, in their own backyard, doesn’t seem like a great idea for Kim, who is no stranger to unfortunatebeat-downs.
After the jump: Cris Cyborg destroys some broad named Edna in a Muay Thai rules bout back in 2006.
Riddick Bowe was once the boxing heavyweight champion of the world. That was a long time ago.
The forty five year-old last fought and won in the boxing ring five years ago. By that time, he was already obese but was still able to out-point journeyman Gene Pukall. Unfortunately, someone was able to convince Bowe to come out of retirement and fight Muay Thai in Thailand yesterday.
The result was sad and ugly. Bowe clearly has not been doing any type of physical exercise and showed up not just fat and sloppy, but worn looking all around. The fight went predictably – with Bowe getting dropped over and over by leg kicks, before ultimately not being able to get back to his feet.
Knock out via kick to the leg. I don’t know the name of the guy that beat Bowe, and no one really cares. This fight shouldn’t have happened. Bowe clearly is in no shape to compete in any athletic endeavor these days, much less a fight sport that he has no training in.
A public workout video (after the jump) before this spectacle foretold the ugly scene that would play out during the fight itself. There ain’t no union for retired fighters. No pensions. There are, however, plenty of bills to pay as well as exploitative promoters.
Riddick Bowe was once the boxing heavyweight champion of the world. That was a long time ago.
The forty five year-old last fought and won in the boxing ring five years ago. By that time, he was already obese but was still able to out-point journeyman Gene Pukall. Unfortunately, someone was able to convince Bowe to come out of retirement and fight Muay Thai in Thailand yesterday.
The result was sad and ugly. Bowe clearly has not been doing any type of physical exercise and showed up not just fat and sloppy, but worn looking all around. The fight went predictably – with Bowe getting dropped over and over by leg kicks, before ultimately not being able to get back to his feet.
Knock out via kick to the leg. I don’t know the name of the guy that beat Bowe, and no one really cares. This fight shouldn’t have happened. Bowe clearly is in no shape to compete in any athletic endeavor these days, much less a fight sport that he has no training in.
A public workout video (after the jump) before this spectacle foretold the ugly scene that would play out during the fight itself. There ain’t no union for retired fighters. No pensions. There are, however, plenty of bills to pay as well as exploitative promoters.
(Dekkers, seen here with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and Invicta FC fighter Marloes Coenen. Via Coenen’s Twitter.)
Some terrible and unexpected news from the world of kickboxing, Potato Nation. Yesterday afternoon, it was made public that kickboxing legend and former Muay Thai world champion Ramon Dekkers had passed away at the tender age of 43. According to various reports, the Golden Glory coach collapsed in his hometown of Breda, The Netherlands during a bike ride after complaining about light-headedness. Attempts to revive him on the scene were unsuccessful and Dekkers was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
Within hours of the announcement of his death, the MMA community took to the internet to express their condolences, including world-renowned trainer and fellow Muay Thai legend Duke Roufus, who posted the following on the UG:
I wanted to express my gratitude & respect to late great Ramon “Diamond” Dekkers. Ramon & Rob Kaman were my early influence in Muay Thai. The first time I saw Ramon was early 1989 via video tape.
I was in a family of very involved in the PKA Kickboxing. My older brother Rick a Champion & my father a coach, manager, promoter, judge & ref. Pursuing Muay Thai was foolish to them at the time but it paid off. I went to Thailand trained at SitYodtong where Rob & Ramon had before me. I wanted to follow in foot steps of their greatness.
(Dekkers, seen here with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and Invicta FC fighter Marloes Coenen. Via Coenen’s Twitter.)
Some terrible and unexpected news from the world of kickboxing, Potato Nation. Yesterday afternoon, it was made public that kickboxing legend and former Muay Thai world champion Ramon Dekkers had passed away at the tender age of 43. According to various reports, the Golden Glory coach collapsed in his hometown of Breda, The Netherlands during a bike ride after complaining about light-headedness. Attempts to revive him on the scene were unsuccessful and Dekkers was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
Within hours of the announcement of his death, the MMA community took to the internet to express their condolences, including world-renowned trainer and fellow Muay Thai legend Duke Roufus, who posted the following on the UG:
I wanted to express my gratitude & respect to late great Ramon “Diamond” Dekkers. Ramon & Rob Kaman were my early influence in Muay Thai. The first time I saw Ramon was early 1989 via video tape.
I was in a family of very involved in the PKA Kickboxing. My older brother Rick a Champion & my father a coach, manager, promoter, judge & ref. Pursuing Muay Thai was foolish to them at the time but it paid off. I went to Thailand trained at SitYodtong where Rob & Ramon had before me. I wanted to follow in foot steps of their greatness.
I had to the pleasure to see Ramon fight live in France a few times. I never reached the heights that he did as a fighter but he was inspiration for me follow my dream. I am the coach that I am today because of these guys inspiring me.
1994 down the road from SitYodtong I had my Thai Shorts on after training to get a M150 Sponsor re-hydration drink. A Thai guy says to me “You train Boxing? You want to be the next Lamon Dekkaa”? Yes I did! RIP Champ
Boasting over 180 fights to his credit including 95 KO victories, Dekkers lone MMA appearance resulted in a first round submission via heel hook loss to Genki Sudo under the K-1 banner in 2005.
We’ve placed a fantastic highlight reel showcasing some of Dekkers handiwork below, so give it a look and share your thoughts/condolences in the comments section.
(Dekkers, seen here with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and Invicta FC fighter