Photos courtesy of The Image Girl.

February 25th 2006 was the first PrimeTime event for the year.

The event was titled “Last fighter Standing” and consisted of a women’s division run by Director Belinda Dunne and Men’ Grappling and Pankration run by Darryl Grauman and Jerry Beale of Integrated Fighting.

The event was at Tamaki Community Recreation Centre which is a part of Tamaki College situated in Glen Innes Auckland.

Kickoff was at 11am and it was expected to be a long day of eliminations and finals concluding at 10.30 pm.

The day event seen the males grappling division fight off in some very exciting and fast pace competition.

While at the same time (opposite ends of the stadium) the women were fighting off opponents to be eliminated down to one woman at the conclusion of the evening.

The grappling had some of the best competitors available in New Zealand and the results stood like this at the end of the day.

Under 76kgs

Gold – Neil Swailes
Silver – Craig Rowe
Bronze – Daniel Patterson

Under 87kgs

Gold – Pedro Fernandes
Silver – Mark Green
Bronze – Gareth Burke

Under 98kgs

Gold – Elliot Chisholm
Silver – Andreas Shpolvyy
Bronze – Graham Gliddon

Over 99kgs

Gold – John Misuepa
Silver – Morgan Scott

Some divisions were well represented and others I will aim to increase the competitor levels for next year’s event.

However over all there was a good number of quality fights and will make a fabulous contribution towards the TV coverage we will air starting in June 2006.

Thanks guys I appreciate your support and hope to see you all enroll for the next event in April.

While this was going on there were some real battles happening in the women’s ring.

I have to say I am really pleased with how seriously the female competitors took their training up to the event and that it was very much reflected in the high standard of fighting.

After elimination (the day event) we had just four women left in contention for the title of “Last Women Standing” and we had a ranking competition for second and third place in each division.

The situation with elimination means the women fought up to four times by the end of the evening and I could tell after the day event that there were a lot of tired but very happy female competitors.

They really put a lot of heart into their fights and the result was a few injures but a lot of great footage to promote our sport with……thanks girls im really impressed and you are putting the future of women’s fighting out there with your efforts.

So starting the evening we had four pankration bouts and the fight off for “Last women standing” ahead of us.

First fight out was Heavy weight champ (Nellie Stallworthy) VS Middle Heavy Weight Champ (Tabitha Avery). Nellie is one of Tabitha’s trainers and I could tell it was difficult for Tabitha to step in the ring with her.

However both women took a professional approach to the fight and it ended in a convincing win by Nellie Stallworthy.

I didn’t get the chance to speak to Nellie but im pretty sure she was proud of her student and Nellie certainly deserved to progress to the next round.

Second fight of the evening was between Middle/lightweight weight champ Emma Scott and lightweight champ Jill Gower.

Emma won the fight but Jill gave her some trouble in the process. There were no easy wins to be had in the entire event and it was fantastic to see these two fast pace light fighters compete.

The first Men’s Pankration fight was between Daniel Digby of Twin City Martial arts and Chris Doyle of Integrated Fighting.

This fight was one of the most well matched of the evening with some stunning moves by each fighter. The win eventually went to Daniel by JuJi Gatame armbar.

Next out were the fights that would determine 2nd and 3rd ranking in the women’s division. They ended with the divisions looking like this.

Heavy weight winner Nellie Stallworthy (Mania), 2nd Natasha Smith (Mania) and 3rd Melodie MCDonald (Integrated Fighting).

Middle heavyweight winner Tabitha Avery (Mania), 2nd Susanna Collinson (Mania) and 3rd Shannon Lita Misilisi(Mania)

Middle lightweight winner Emma Scott (Gracie Barra), 2nd Rina Pugeliese (Mania) and 3rd Diane Skudder (integrated Fighting)

Lightweight division winner Jill Gower (Mt Victoria Dojo), 2nd Claudia Williams (Mania) 3rd Odette Currie (Mania)

The second Pankration fight of the evening was between Damian Hornsby (Twin City Martial Arts) and Simon Done (Don Oliver Submission).

Damian took this fight last minute after Simon’s original opponent had a last minute injury.

The win went to Simon by JuJi Gatame Arm bar, for me this was the most full on fast fight of the night and I thank both the fighters for being both great athletes and flexible to deal with, you are a credit to your trainers.

The third and what turned out to be the last Pankration fight of the night was between Eugene Hynson (Don Oliver Wrestling) and Neil Swailes (Strike Force). The fight was so close it had to be decided by the judges at full time, the decision went to Eugene by points.

Both fighters fought well and the fact the decision had to be decided by judge’s points shows the compatibility of the fighters and the quality of their bout.

For the women the last and deciding fight was between Nellie Stallworthy (Mania) and Emma Scott (Gracie Barra) these two top class athletes fought well and the win eventually went to Nellie.

Nellie you have put a lot of training into preparation for this event and did a great job on the night, you deserve to hold the title and we look forward to supporting you when you fight the Aussie girls.

I extend my heart felt thanks to all those who helped and who competed every-one helped to make this a successful event and I look forward to April when I hope to see you all again in “Battle of the Codes”.

Belinda