NETHERLANDS--With a minute and 10 seconds left in the first round, Akeem Lewis knocked Sebastian Heijblom out with a left right punch combination. The MMA pro-fight which was scheduled for 3 rounds of 5 minutes came to a premature end when Sebastian Heijblom decided to challenge Lewis to a stricking match.
When the bell of the first rang Lewis started with heavy kicks and landed all. Heijblom managed to catch one kick that was aimed at his head and tripped Lewis. From there he pursued dominance on the ground and managed to land a few punches in the face of Lewis.
Quickly Lewis put his BJJ skills into gear and effectively locked Heijblom both his hands and neutralized his attack. Heijblom realized that Lewis was very skillful on the ground and gave up his grappling attack and stood up.
This gave Lewis a chance to get up also and the fight quickly became a striking match. With Lewis landing several solid kicks to the legs and the body Heijblom decide to try to escape the punishment in the clinch. This also was not successful as Lewis took over the clinch by landing several knees to Heijblom’s body.
From there Lewis managed to take the fight to the center of the ring where he continued to land kick and punch combinations. During one of the combinations Lewis landed a solid strike to the face. He accelerated his attack further and cornered Heijblom with his back to the cage.
Heijblom had nowhere to run. Lewis set up a combination with a left straight jab followed by a right straight which landed flush on Heijblom’s chin.
He fell. Lewis chased him to do the ground with a barrage of punches. At that point the referee quickly intervened and stopped the fight.
Lewis and his coach Omar Marsham had travelled to the Netherlands on February 10. In the Netherlands they were joined by Kevin van Schaik who is an experienced grappler and trained with Lewis in St. Maarten while stationed here with the Dutch Marines. The team spent the week training at various camps working on the final touches before the fight.
They trained with Unity 99 gym in Rotterdam which was arranged by organizer of Fight Club den Haag Satish “the crazy Indian” Jhamai and ARJ training in Den Haag which is run by fight promoter Mike Polanen for ground fighting skills.
They trained with Sityodtong Amsterdam which is St. Maarten’s Dutch Affiliate club for Striking skills.
The fight was in the middleweight (84kg) category, under unified MMA pro rules. The event was organized by the World Fighting League (WFL) promotion, which is run by Dutch UFC legend Melvin Manhoef. Footage of the fight can be viewed on you tube under the “ World fight league” channel or by typing the following link https://youtu.be/FritjbHdsos.
Mixed martial arts is a growing sport and is a mix between kickboxing and grappling and allows fighters to use both punches and kicks while standing up and basic striking techniques and submission techniques while on the ground. The UFC is a large MMA organization that has become very popular in the last decade.
The trip was made possible by sponsors Pineapple Pete and GOsport SXM.
