Jac Nicell crowned new Irish champion as Strike hosts incredible ‘HEAT 9’ show

Jack Nicell was crowned the new ISKA Irish champion as Strike Martial Arts Academy hosted an incredible ‘HEAT’ event at Shantallow Community Centre on Saturday.

From a Junior 'Rising Stars' event during the day, which showed the undoubted talent of youngsters throughout the city, to the Senior showdown on Saturday evening, there was a real feast of kickboxing action for fans, who made their presence felt from the first fight to the last.

The night ended with an incredible victory for Nicell, who won his first senior title at the end of a thrilling fight with Ryan Mooney.

Having just turned 19, Jac embraced his main event status, and revelled in the atmosphere, before stepping into the ring against an opponent 10 years older than him.

Jac was up against a really formidable, but familiar opponent in Mooney, with both fighters meeting for a third time. Jac was dominant in the first two rounds, and while Mooney’s work rate was phenomenal, it was the Strike fighter landing the scoring shots.

Ryan, to his credit, came back into the fight and took the third and fourth rounds, so it was all down to the final round and it was Jac who got the nod in the end. It was a fantastic main event fight to end a memorable night.

Great action

Elsewhere on the card, Conor Boggs, in his first ever time in the ring, was completely dominant against Castle’s Shea Doherty. This was almost a boxer vs. kickboxer contest, with Doherty firing big, heavy hands throughout. Conor remained composed and kept using his kicks and movement in an overall exceptional performance.

Strike fighter Russell Morrison, now in his forties, has been training for the past five years and he has been attempting to get into the ring for a long time. He finally managed it on Saturday against Castle’s Graham Farren, who came out of his corner firing from the start. It took Rusell a moment to compose himself but when he landed a beautiful left switch kick to the body, and once he did that, the fight went out of his opponent.

Tommy Doherty’s fight against Rajan Patel from Leicester was an absolute war. In the first five seconds Tommy caught his opponent with a left hook-straight right combination and floored Patel. But to everyone’s amazement, Patel beat the count and came back into the fight. Tommy won the first round but his opponent fought back impressive, and the battle was so close that the judges eventually scored it as a draw, with the fighters unable to be separated.

There was disappointment for Rath Mor Warriors’ Conal McBrearty in the bout for the ISKA 4 Nations title, as he just lost out to Bilal Afgan from Leicester Kickboxing Club.

This was a real toe-to-toe battle, with neither willing t back down. There were lots of heavy hands landing and the crowd was right behind the home fighter. This one could have gone either way, but much to the fans’ displeasure, it was Afgan who had his hand raised at the end.

Sporting talent

It was a memorable and exhilarating show throughout and event organiser Daniel ‘Pinta’ Quigley was in awe of every participant afterwards.

“It was probably the best promotion that Strike has ever run,” he said. “Strike has been open 10 years this month, so we wanted to put on a display of what kickboxing I and promote it as best we could, and we delivered it for sure in the junior show and the senior show.

“The sporting talent in this town has always been fantastic and this just showed again, with kickboxing especially, because kickboxing has been a hotbed for sport for young people in the town, and it’s getting even more popular now. There’s a lot more young people involved in Mixed martial arts in general and this showcased the talent that the city has.

“We had clubs coming up from Wicklow and Dublin and we also had a club from Leicester, and all the coaches were very impressed by the display we put on and long may it continue. We want to build on this and keep going and keep pushing our young fighters through, all the clubs in Derry, nit just ours. There were a lot of clubs from Derry there on Saturday night, and it’s about us all working together to promote our young fighters.”

An event like this takes a lot of had work, and Quigley expressed his gratitude to those who made the ‘HEAT’ show a reality.

“I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who came along to support us. A special mention goes to David Carlin and Ashleen Nicell and all the Strike team.”