Silver Medal for Malta in MMA

He was part of the Ying Yang Kickboxing team who once again represented Malta on the world level in Martial Arts.

The competition was organized in Italy by WTKA and was spread over four days. Nearly 4,000 athletes from 80 countries took part in almost 15 different disciplines. The Maltese team competed in K1, Kickboxing and MMA. Charlot Spiteri, Jonathan Gerada and Clyde Camilleri, Ying Yang athletes, were those who took part in MMA.

Spiteri had four matches of four minutes each in a category of 30 athletes who competed against each other. He won the first two matches with points and showed good control both in the standing position and with grappling techniques. He won the third match with submission on the neck in less than a minute. In the final Spiteri faced an Italian athlete and it was a balanced match where they immediately went for grappling. But in the end the victory was given to the Italian.

Gerada was in the same category as Spiteri and although they did not face each other he managed to get to the quarter finals. The first match was a victory by points but lost the second one with points. Camilleri, the third Maltese MMA athlete, took part in another category of 25 athletes. He also arrived to the quarters finals by winning two matches with points. Both Camilleri and Gerada have trained in MMA with the Ying Yang under Master Noel Mercieca and Charlot Spiteri for the last four months. For all the three athletes this was also the first time they competed in MMA.

Given the large number of athletes, and although the matches began at 10am Spiteri had to wait about 12 hours between his first match and the final. To train for this competition both Master Mercieca and Spiteri, since they are members of the AFM, started using the 10-30 scheme of KMS. The other Maltese athletes who took part in Kickboxing and K1 were Reuben Azzopardi, Isaac Chetcuti, Kurt Zahra and Clayton Portelli.

The next event for the Maltese Kickboxing is the fourth edition of the Gladiators Night on the 23rd November where six Maltese athletes will compete with those from the Northern Ireland in Manuel Island. The main event will see Daniel "the Jet" Zahra in his next professional match. For more information visit www.yingyangkickboxing.com or contact Master Noel Mercieca or 79208283 or [email protected]