2021 City Kickboxing UFC (/PFL) Tracker: The Mid-Year Basics
Mid-way through 2021 and after following City Kickboxing in the UFC for a year or two now, CKB's UFC activity tends to be clumped together leading to down periods and periods of frenzy. Right now we are in a down period and for Team CKB that means lots of training, helping each other out and learning new skills. This down period will quickly transform into a flood of fights though with Team CKB likely to get multiple fighters on the same card over the next few months and as Israel Adesanya is the only CKB fighter with two fights this year, I suspect the others will be rather hungry to step back into the octagon.
Seven fights all up so far this year for Team CKB in the UFC. Three wins coming via Adesanya, Brad Riddell and Kai Kara-France. Four losses coming via Adesanya's first fight this year, Dan Hooker, Shane Young and Carlos Ulberg.
Factor in CKB's boxing business and the results are still scattered with wins on the undercard of Junior Fa vs Joseph Parker, while Fa lost to Parker. The biggest mover and groover of Team CKB has been outside the UFC with Genah Fabian grabbing back to back wins in the Professional Fighting League in the lightweight women's tournament. Fabian is now set to fight Kayla Harrison in the semi-final coming up on August 19 and to help set the scene; Fabian's last win came deep in the PFL 6 undercard while Harrison headlined that event.
Also noteworthy here is Ray Sefo's role as President of PFL. Sefo is a combat sports legend from Aotearoa and came up through Balmoral Lee Gar alongside many of the CKB coaching staff and much of Aotearoa's modern striking history points back to Balmoral Lee Gar kaumatua Lolo Heimuli.
When pondering Aotearoa's standing in the world of combat sports, we not only have champions or contenders in Mixed Martial Arts and boxing, along with fighters in the three major ogranisations (shout out Jay Jay Wilson with Bellator) and some of the best coaches in the world; Aotearoa has also produced officials overseeing such matters.
Below are the basics to help track Team CKB's mahi in 2021...
Genah Fabian
Win vs Laura Sanchez - decision - lightweight - May 6.
Win vs Julija Pajic - tko - lightweight - June 25.
vs Kayla Harrison semi-final August 19th.
3-1 in PFL since 2019.
Israel Adesanya
Loss vs Jan Blachowicz - decision - light heavyweight - March 6.
Win vs Marvin Vettori - decision - middleweight - June 12.
10-1 in UFC.
Brad Riddell
Win vs Drew Dober - decision - lightweight - June 12.
4-0 in UFC.
Dan Hooker
Loss vs Michael Chandler - tko - lightweight - Jan 12.
0-2 streak after 3-0 streak. 10-6 in UFC.
Shane Young
Loss vs Omar Morales - decision - featherweight - March 27.
0-2 streak. 2-3 in UFC.
Kai KaraFrance
Win vs Rogerio Bontorin - KO - flyweight - March 6.
W-l-w-l-w run. 5-2 in UFC.
Carlos Ulberg
Loss vs Kennedy Nzechukwu - Ko - light heavyweight - March 6.
0-1 in UFC.
Hit an ad to show some love.
Almost Daily Olympics Podcast on Patreon.
Monday/Friday email is delightful.
Peace and love.