Four members from The Cellar Gym traveled with Team USA to compete at the 2015 World Kickboxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia Oct 24 to Nov 2. The four included fighters, Nate Richardson & Antonio Dvorak; Team USA Head Coach, Chris Cichon; and Director of Ring Sports, Justin Whiley.

First to compete for Team USA was The Cellar’s Nate Richardson who was selected to compete in the Men’s 71kg (156.5lb) Low Kick Rules division. During the random draw, Nate was matched against the National Champion from New Zealand. This was Nate’s first time competing outside the U.S., but he wasted no time going to work. He swarmed the New Zealand fighter with powerful leg kicks and attacked the body well with his hands. In the middle of the 3rd round the referee called a stop to the action via 3-knockdown rule. Nate Richardson defeats New Zealand by 3rd round TKO!

Later that same day, heavyweight Antonio Dvorak was scheduled to compete against the Brazilian National Champion in the Men’s 91+kg K-1 division. Antonio was the bigger fighter, but the Brazilian had more than double the amount of fight experience. Antonio applied constant pressure but relied too much on throwing knees. The Brazilian edged out a small point advantage and was able to ride the lead the remainder of the fight. Antonio was eliminated from the tournament and the Brazilian eventually fought his way to a silver medal.

The following day Nate Richardson was back in action with his division scheduled to fight twice. In his first fight he fought a former junior World Champion and current national champion from Bosnia & Herzegovina. Again Nate applied his constant pressure, hard low kicks, and damaging boxing. Nate had a considerable lead on all 3 judges score cards as the fight was about to start the final round, but the Bosnian fighter refused to continue. Nate won the bout by 2nd round TKO.

Later that same afternoon Nate was matched with a 2x World Champion from France for his division’s quarterfinal bout. The match was about as close as it could get as both fighters landed significant shots. But in the end, Nate Richardson lost by split decision in an AMAZING and SUPER CLOSE fight against France. The fight was a war, but the judging was a problem. In fact, one of the judges that scored the fight for France got removed immediately after. Unfortunately it doesn’t help our situation, but Nate caught a lot of eyes with his performance. We had fighters and coaches from Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Ukraine, and more approaching us and telling us how great he looked and how he was robbed in this fight! Nate might also have numerous international fight offers coming his way. It was an unsatisfying way for Nate’s run in the tourney to come to an end, but we can’t express how proud we are of him. This was his first international event and he proved he belongs among the best in the world!