The Cellar Gym’s Antonio Dvorak and Coach Chris Cichon traveled to Grozny, Russia over the weekend to represent Team USA Kickboxing. The USA amateur champion, Dvorak, was matched against the Russian heavyweight champion in a 3-round K-1 Rules match.

It was a difficult challenge for Dvorak as his Russian opponent had much more competition experience and was the hometown favorite. To make things even harder, Antonio and Coach Chris traveled 30+ hours to arrive in Grozny the morning before fight day.

Antonio started the bout very well. He strung together great combinations and was scoring effectively with punches, kicks, and knees. One of his strikes had the Russian bleeding from the nose and another shot started some swelling of the Russian’s right eye. But late in the round Antonio was blasted with a monster right hand that sent him to the canvas. He was able to finish the round, but appeared wobbly.

Antonio started the second round out well, but was knocked to the ground again, shortly after taking another power punch. As soon as the action resumed, Antonio was wobbled by another punch and the referee stopped the contest.

It was a disappointing result, but a valuable learning experience for Antonio. This was by far his toughest opponent to date and he is eager to get back into the gym and make adjustments. We were honored to represent Team USA Kickboxing and be part of another fantastic WAKO event.