Lunar New Year, January 24, 2026

I think we have to let the phrase “holy shi##” rank up in status or I’d be very embarrassed about how I handled myself at Lunar New Year Fight Night. With one shin snapping in the ring, and several bloody faces, our MTO doctor, Dr. Ayah, was busier than a UFC cut-man that evening. For the record, despite what I say in my blogs and how I train five days a week, I’m very much against violence, as “Violence is never the answer.”

I wasn’t sure if I could make it to Lunar New Year this year, so I didn’t conduct any interviews in advance, but I managed to get to the event late, and watching the fights, I knew I couldn’t stay quiet. Let’s get to those fights.

Our former MTO Title Holder, Simon Bonello from Etobicoke Martial Arts, went against Chiwale McDowell from Spartan Striking Academy. Chiwale’s record up to that evening was very clean, with 16 wins. Their fight started out kind of scary, as Chiwale was throwing a lot of those Taekwondo kicks that change direction 20 times before they knock you out. You know the ones? Chiwale landed quite a few of those, marking up Simon’s face, but Simon reminded everyone that this was a Muay Thai fight and we like clinch and elbows. In the second round, Chiwale, after being rocked by a few elbows, started throwing a lot of spinning kicks that only had the spinning part and were missing the kicks. I think Chiwale saved the kicks for his next fight. Although, the announcer at the event decided it was time for Chiwale and announced his retirement. I think the spinning may have confused everybody. Simon won the fight by ref stoppage in the second round.

The most popular fight of the evening was between Maria Belen Erazo Ruano from Triumph Muay Thai and Grace Richard from Redemption Muay Thai. To be honest, Maria won my heart just by stepping in the ring against an IFMA Bronze Medalist, but Maria didn’t stop at that. In the first round, Maria caught quite a few of Grace’s face teeps and kicks while landing a few head kicks of her own. The second round was very close and intense, with both of them trying to take each other’s head off in the clinch. In the third round, Grace landed a lot of elbows (ouch). Maria won the fight by split decision.

The main event on the card was the Title Fight between Amenzee Omozuwa from Hitters Fight Club and Fehn Foss from Lotus Muay Thai (60–63.5 kg). So, I don’t know about you guys, but up until that night, I hadn’t even heard about Hitters FC or Amenzee. I don’t think I’ve seen them on a fight card before either. I’m still trying to connect with Amenzee and her gym, but she sure came with a storm, holy shi##. Fehn is a very strong fighter with only 3 losses on her record (out of 18), so I was certain she was winning the fight, but Amenzee shocked the hell out of everyone. I hadn’t seen this much volume thrown in an A-class female fight before. Amenzee’s elbows weren’t kind to Fehn’s face. Fehn got an eight count in the first round, and she couldn’t recover from Amenzee’s sharp elbows. Amenzee won the 60 kg MTO title by ref stoppage in the third round. I think this win shocked the hell out of a lot of people! Amenzee spoke up on Fight Dynasty Promotions after the fight, asking to fight Samantha Skinner next. I’m biting my nails.

The evening had several other highlights. Spencer Emerson from Brothers Boxing broke his opponent’s shin by checking his kick. The female fighters from Mitten Muay Thai in Michigan, USA, brought tears to my eyes by winning against two of my very favorite female fighters. I mean, what’s going on? Do we like Trump now?

This was a great start to 2026. It set the bar quite high for the rest of the year, if you ask me. I’d like to point out that all fighters who fought at Lunar New Year picked fight camp over relaxing during the holidays. They all have my respect. See you all at the next event!

P.S. My apologies to Kru Ramuel (The Fighting Minister) for the language used in this blog.