Lion Fight Announces Lion Fight 16 Main Card
LION FIGHT, a professional combat sports organization taking part in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) International Fight Week event extravaganza, has revealed the entire lineup of fights for its full Muay Thai rules event LION FIGHT 16 on Friday, July 4th. As Lion Fight CEO Scott Kent previously announced, the headliner will be a super lightweight championship fight between Muay Thai Champion Kevin Ross vs. Australia’s Michael Thompson. In the co-main event, former Lion Fight featherweight champion Tiffany Van Soest will face Italy’s Sindy Huyer. Also, Thailand fighter “Rungravee” will face Adrian Morilla and “Katel” Kubis fights Michael Chase Corley. Tyler Toner vs. Gaston Bolanos will kick off the first live televised fight of the night.
LION FIGHT 16 will take place Friday, July 4 from The Pearl inside Palms Casino Resort presented on International Fight Week’s roster of fan events and activities taking place in the city’s hottest venues and clubs throughout the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Ross fights out of Dublin, California by way of Las Vegas, Nevada and owns 28 career wins with nine knockouts on record. The 5’10” fighter is currently ranked 10th in the world by the WBC for Muay Thai in the Super-Lightweight Division (140 lbs, 63.503 kg). Among Kevin’s titles is the Super Lightweight (140 pounds) WBC International championship Title, the Welterweight (147 pounds) WBC USA National championship Title, the FIDAM Welterweight championship of Mexico and the United States Muay Thai Federation (USMF) Welterweight champion.
Thompson, an Australian Intercontinental and World Muay Thai Champion, has racked up 34 wins and 17 knockouts at just 24 years old. He favors the aggressive Western style of Muay Thai equipped with heavy elbows and fast punching power. Last year, he defeated Thai superstar Pornsanae Sitmonchai, a pivotal career win that proved his skill and established him as one of the fastest rising stars in the sport.
Fighting out of Blue Ocean Muay Thai in San Diego, Van Soest is the former Lion Fight lightweight champion and holds a professional Muay Thai record of 9-1-1. She started her martial arts training when she was just eight years old with the U.S. Karate Organization in Riverside, California. She earned a second-degree black belt at age 17. Tiffany3After winning consecutive USKA State, National, and World karate titles, she began training in Muay Thai. “Timebomb” is coming off a win in her recent rematch with Lucy Payne at Lion Fight 15. On July 4 she will make an immediate return to the Lion Fight ring to take on the highly ranked Italian Muay Thai Champion Sindy Huyer.
“I’m looking forward to fighting Sindy Huyer – she is good!” said Van Soest. “With our fight styles, the fireworks won’t just be in the sky on the Fourth of July. I guarantee you’ll see some in the ring that night. We are going to give Lion Fight and UFC fans what they want, shock and awe and some world class Muay Thai thrown in, too.”
Sindy “The Thorn of the Rose” Huyer, 27 years old, is WMA Champion, WPMF Champion and WFC Italian Champion. She will make her Lion Fight debut against the promotion’s former 135-pound champion Van Soest. She has been training in Muay Thai since the age of eight and is a two-sport athlete, competing in boxing and professional Muay Thai. She is known for her devastating elbows and fierce aggression in the ring. She also makes no secret about wanting to beat Van Soest en route to removing the featherweight belt from Caley Reece, current 125-pound Lion Fight champion and the first woman ever to beat Van Soest in Muay Thai.
“I’m excited to fight at Lion Fight 16 and to be a part of this special UFC fight week and big event for Muay Thai,” said Huyer. “But my plan is to beat this American ‘Timebomb’ and then take the title from the Australian girl next. I want to be the Lion Fight champion and prove I’m the toughest Muay Thai fighter in this division.”
Also on tap for Lion Fight 16 is a superfight between Thailand’s “Rungravee” and San Diego’s Adrian Morilla. Rungravee is the Channel 7 Stadium Muay Thai Champion and MTAA World Muay Thai Champion known for his aggressive style and devastating leg kicks. “The Killa from Manilla” Morilla has been training in Muay Thai since he was a child in his native Manilla, and now serves as the head Muay Thai instructor at City of Champions in San Diego.
In the second televised fight, Vitelmo “Katel” Kubis, a rising Muay Thai fighter and American Top Team prospect who also trains with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva will take on Michael Chase Corley. Kubis is ATT’s head Muay Thai trainer and in the past has fought Muay Thai greats Tony De Souza and Cosmo Alexandre. Corley is a two-sport fighter who has competed in boxing and over 25 professional Muay Thai fights across seven countries, including the mecca of the sport – Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok.
Kicking off the first fight of the night will be former UFC featherweight Tyler Toner taking on Gaston Bolanos who is coming off a TKO victory over Brian Del Rosario at LION FIGHT 14.
“Presenting Lion Fight 16 as part of UFC’s International Fight Week, the biggest fan event in the world of combat sports, is a privilege and a honor and further proves that Lion Fight is the premier promotion in standup fighting,” said Kent. “I sincerely thank UFC owners Dana White and Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for giving Lion Fight this opportunity. I promise you and the fans that our Fourth of July full Muay Thai rules event will be the ultimate action-packed prelude to your UFC 175 mixed martial arts mega-fight on July 5th.”
