This past Friday May 23rd, Level Up took another huge step.
Patrick Rivera, would become the first fighter from Maryland to fight in the biggest Muay Thai promotion in the world. Lion Fight has run all their shows until now in Las Vegas. There was whispers that they planned to run a show on the East Coast, the excitement was in the air. This show has quickly become the equivalent of the UFC to MMA fans. So far Lion Fight Promotions has run incredible shows starring the American Pioneers of the sport, as well as big name fighters from all over the World. This event would take place at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. The card would feature some of Lion Fight and Muay Thai’s brightest Stars, including Jason Andrada, Cosmo Alexander, Tiffany Van Soest, and Kevin Ross. The East Coast has a thriving Muay Thai scene, between New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Virginia, you can find some high level fighting. Having Lion Fight come to the East Coast proved to be a monumental step in not only the state of the sport here on the East Coast but also for the sport in general.
The instant we heard that the show was definitely coming to the East Coast Coach Jason contacted Lion Fight. After a few emails, we were in. We drew a tough opponent from New York named Pawel Zawistowski. Pawel was listed as 13-2 with 8 Knockouts. Pat has only 6 Muay Thai and Kickboxing fights. With a record of 4-2. The last fight Pat had was at WKA nationals and was a controversial Decision loss. Coach Jason believes that Patrick is one of the future stars of Combat Sports and wanted him to get right back in the ring. When this opportunity presented itself, it was a no brainer. We had some bumps a long the road in training camp. Patrick injured his knee, and a few days later caught the flu which had him in bed and out of training all together for 5 days. We knew these variables would add extra pressure, but didn’t want to miss out on being a part of this historic event. We also had 40 people committed to coming up to support, so we couldn’t let them down.
On fight day we would report to the dressing room area at 5pm. The dressing rooms, were literally dressing rooms for performers. The room we were in was pretty small. At first it was just us and another Amatuer fighter from the undercard. By 6:30pm, the room would fill up with Lucy Payne and her Coach, Chris Mauceri and his Corner men, and Mark Holst and his team. We did our best to warm up in the space we had. Before we knew it, the time had come to make our way upstairs. This would be the biggest venue Patrick has fought on to date. He made the adjustment to the crowd and the lights quickly after we were able to find where our team was located in the stands.
Once the fight began Pat would work through his punching systems, landing big shots in combination. Mixing in the the kicks to put an exclamation on his work. We knew that Pawel likes to stalk, so we used footwork to find angles after Patricks combinations to keep Pawel from being able to get set for returns. Toward the end of the first round Pat caught a lead leg kick from Zawistowski and swept him off his support foot. Round two was more of the same. Pat landing big punches, as well as some well placed low kicks to both legs. Closing in on the end of the second round Pat was also able to land a clean head kick. Seeing that we were up two rounds, the call was to play it safe in the third. Pawel has knocked out 8 people, and is known for being aggressive. So Patrick used his footwork and movement to stay busy without getting drawn into a last round slugfest. We would give the third round to Pawel based on his activity level. Two rounds to one secures us the fight. Two judges saw it that way, one did not. Patrick Rivera would be awarded a split decision victory.
We can’t thank Lion Fight Promotions enough for the opportunity to be on this historic event. This was a huge step for our gym. We have been open less than a year, in that time we have accomplished a lot, this being one of our highest achievements. We are thankful to Work Shop and Pawel for giving us a tough fight. We’d also like to thank everyone that came to support Pat in this adventure. Also to INK Generation for printing our shirts, which as always were a big hit. We’d also like to thank Steve Bauzen for catching each moment with these incredible photos
Up Next we have Patrick and Jared making their A Class rules Muay Thai debut at Warriors Cup in New Jersey June 14th!!
The Warriors Cup
