• 14+ Regional, National, and North American Championship Titles including 5 champions at the Thai Boxing Association-Sanctioning Authority Muay Thai Classic.
• The Cellar Gym Fighters & Coaches traveled to 5 Continents with Wako Team USA Kickboxing
• Several new BJJ blue, purple, and brown belts under Marcelo Nunes and #ZenithBJJ.
• Antonio Dvorak’s debut win at Lion Fight Promotions.
• Adam “Big Gunna” Mc Donough’s amazing run through the Bellator MMA Welterweight Tournament.
• Krista Olson being promoted to Kru under Ajarn Chai.
• Being a part of Tony Martin’s UFC Journey.
• Chris Cichon being promoted to Associate Instructor by Ajarn Chai at the Thai Boxing Association’s Pacific NW Camp.
• Marcelo Nunes improving to 4-0 as a MMA professional.
• Nate Richardson winning 3 fights in 1 night at Extreme Striking Promotions 8.
• Awesome seminars with Shawn Yarborough, Takeyoshi Ikehara, Richard Abraham, Pat “HD” Barry, and Artem “The Lion” Levin.
• And so many FUN memories!

Thank you to everyone who was part of another great year! #bestof2014 #thecellargym

The Cellar had 12 fighters competing in 11 different weight classes and when all the dust settled from 3 days of fights, The Cellar had captured 5 North American Championship Belts!

Luke Rudberg and Di Lin both fought and won 4 fights over the weekend to win their Men’s Light Welterweight (142lb) and Men’s Welterweight (147lb) divisions. Laura Marturano won 3 fights with 2 coming by way of TKO to win the Ladies Featherweight (127lb) division; she won her championship fight by TKO in just :37 seconds! Our smallest and biggest fighters in the tournaments were also in the smallest divisions. Jen Cichon and Antonio Dvorak only fought on Championship Sunday, but both walked away with championship titles. Jen won the Ladies Strawweight (112lb) division and Antonio won the Men’s Super Heavyweight (215+ lb) division.

With 500+ registered fighters for a single elimination tournament, not everyone could walk away with a belt, but that doesn’t mean their performance was not inspiring. All of the fights our team lost were closely contested and many of them could have gone either way on the judges scorecards.

Full Results from the Tournament:

• Jen Cichon – Ladies Novice 112lb Strawweight – CHAMPION
• Laura Marturano – Ladies Novice 127lb Featherweight – CHAMPION
• Pam Sorenson – Ladies A Class 135lb Lightweight – 2nd Place
• Lajly Yang – Men’s Novice 137lb Super Lightweight – 3rd Place
• Luke Rudberg – Men’s Novice 142lb Light Welterweight – CHAMPION
• Di Lin – Men’s Novice 147lb Welterweight – CHAMPION
• Ryan Sternberg – Men’s Novice 153lb Super Welterweight – 3rd Place
• Demian Ya Deau – Men’s Novice 153lb Super Welterweight – Quarter Finalist
• James Dipetro – Men’s Novice 165lb Middleweight – Quarter Finalist
• Pablo Castillo – Men’s Novice 215+lb Super Heavyweight – 3rd Place
• Devlin Borders – Senior Men’s Open 215lb Heavyweight – 3rd Place
• Antonio Dvorak – Men’s A Class 215+lb Super Heavyweight – CHAMPION

The night started off with an exhibition fight between The Cellar’s Krista Olson and The Cellar’s Pam Sorenson. Both women are training for the Muay Thai Classic tournament in late June and this exhibition match was a great way to help them both prepare. Krista wanted to get some ring rust off and Pam has yet to compete in her first fight so this was an excellent way to get some of the pre-fight jitters out of the way. The match was not scored, both women put on a great show and got the crowd primed for the rest of the night.

First up from The Cellar was Rico Washington taking on Tom Trutnau at 185lbs. Rico started out strong landing vicious leg kicks and throwing counter rights that blasted Trutnau backwards. He also kept far busier than he had in previous fights. In the second round Washington began to work his boxing a little more and continued connecting with his counter right every time Trutnau threw a kick. In the thrid round Washinton began to slow as the weight cut to 185 zapped him of energy, but the judges gave the fight to Washington by split decision.

Next up from The Cellar was heavyweight Antonio Dvorak who is also training to compete in the Muay Thai Classic this summer. Dvorak faced Wisconsin’s Kyle Anderson and for the first time in a long time, Dvorak did not have a height advantage as both fighters measured in at 6’5″. This fight would be all Dvorak as he came out strong at the opening bell landing huge low kicks and solid punches that forced Anderson to turn. Dvorak scored an early standing 8-count and after the second knockdown referee Rick Anderson called a stop to the match. Antonio Dvorak defeats Kyle Anderson by 1st Round TKO.

Last up from The Cellar was Mitch Whiley making his return to the ring after a 4-year layoff. Mitch faced Chris Keller from The Academy. This was a close, action packed fight and another battle that made it hard for the judges. The first round was close, but Whiley probably stole the round with strong leg kicks and a well timed head kick. The second round was all Whiley as he turned up his boxing and continued to set up great kicks. In the third round Whiley became a little too patient and Keller started scoring with combinations, but Whiley finished with a few strong head kicks that may have stole him the round. In the end, Mitch Whiley defeats Chris Keller by split decision.

The Cellar also had two friends participate in the show:
Luke Rudberg, who goes to school in Mankato, but trains with The Cellar when he’s in Minneapolis defeated Michael Jokondo by first round KO.
Deejay Jones from North Carolina and good friend of The Cellar’s Justin Whiley and Chris Cichon also competed on the card against Kou Lee. Jones started off strong landing a quick knockdown in the first, but later took a hard body kick that slowed him down and made it difficult to continue. It was later discovered he suffered a badly broken rib. Deejay Jones lost by 2nd round TKO.