Hey AKKIers,

Two of our studios fight team members, Justin Hughes and Kevin Shipley fought last weekend in The Combat in the Cage in Newark DE. Kevin won a 3 round decision and Justin arm bared his opponent 2 minutes of the first round. You got to love it when a guy from a kenpo school submits a BJJ guy.
Here is what Derek Coleman of CITC wrote about our fighters. “Flyweight Justin Hughes was dominant in his amateur debut, gaining the mount over Nick Buff and punishing his Eclectic MA foe with repeated body shots, as Delaware's amateur MMA rules disallowed strikes to the head while fighters were on the ground. Hughes eventually moved to an armbar, and although Buff wouldn't tap the ref used better judgment and halted the fight.

"I was a little disappointed that we couldn't punch in the face," Hughes said later, "or else he would've been knocked out."

Hughes' Carroll County Kempo teammate, Kevin Shipley, bested Dan Arrowood (302 BJJ) in the evening's finale. Shipley took a split decision in a 147-lb. bout that promoter Ed Hsu called "Fight of the Night".”

Yours in Kenpo,

Mike Guercio
Westminster, MD

Congrats to Justin & Kevin for a job well done.

Les