This past Saturday marked the return of upstart boxing and MMA promotion, Carolina Fight Night or CFN. The promotion is ran by North Carolina based female fighter and promoter Erica Sayre.
The return event for the promotion was held this past Saturday at Skooters in Shelby, NC. Fighters from around the greater Charlotte area comprised most of the competitors. Hundreds of people showed up to see how the return of "The Spar Party" would play out.
CFN is an inclusive promotion that gives a place for nearly anyone to train. The event Saturday even featured kids matches (with parental permission of course). Those matches on the card involved one of the crowd favorites, 9 year old Ryland Robinson.
The card had 17 fights including amateur boxing, MMA and grappling bouts. There were a number of matches that were worthy candidates for fight of the night. The event featured hard hitting action and an electric atmosphere, maybe a little to electric at times.
There were a few matches on the card that stood out to me. One of which was when teenager Gage Lee upset his opponent Milton Edwards. The 4 round bout was as close as it gets with Lee getting a 38-37 win by decision. It was a hard hitting bout, Lee landed some shots in the 2nd round that proved to be the difference. Giving him a 10-8 2nd round advantage that ultimately was the difference.
The Welterweight boxing Main event between Erik Rivera and Jay "Ghost" Hamilton was just as competitive. Rivera landed a big shot in the 2nd round that was ultimately the difference in the fight. He would go on to win the fight by decision 29-28.
Another fight that stands out, is the MMA bout between Preston "Punisher" Huffman and Elijah Campbell. It was an extremely competitive fight that ended with Huffman locking in arm bar after a roll through. Campbell, a young man set to join the U.S. Marines was forced to tap out.
While I attend quite a few boxing and MMA events each year, I had not previously attended a CFN event. What I saw was a promotion that feels more like a family than probably anywhere else that I have been.
It was also apparent that the community was clamoring for this type of hard hitting action. It was obvious to see that on Saturday, Sayre was completely in her element overseeing and running the event.
All in all, the return of Carolina Fight Night left what I believe will be a lasting and good impression on the community who was more than receptive to the product.