Michael on the debut as a Wand Fight athlete

By Marcelo Alonso

Photo Marcelo Alonso

Who saw only the results of Art of War 14 – event that happened last Saturday in Macao (China), where all the fights with no winner ended as a draw, has no idea of the excellent performance of Michael Costa on the show. Called to face the rough Norwegian Simeon Thoresen, Joachim Hansen’s pupil, who came from 11 submissions in 12 fights and seems (at least physically) to be from a category above Michael’s, the Brazilian made his opening on Wanderlei Silva’s team making a big fight.

After take a knockdown and see the opponent on his back, Michael showed he has heart ans technique and he turned the fight, deserving to win, clearly, in case of a result for decision. After having calm to get out of the unfavorable position, Michael was back to the fight standing up and went for it, dropping the European and closing the first round hitting him with a strong ground and pound. With his eye hurt Simeon’s trainer had bad moments on the break. Didn’t want to be back to the second round, but the trained convince him.

Meanwhile, on the red corner, Wanderlei Silva, with Gustavo Gussem and Ivan Canelo’s help, putting the Brazilian’s moral up, and he came back more aggressive on the second and last round, deserving the winning on showing superiority standing up (when he fitted better blows) as on the ground (when he dropped the Norwegian and pressed his ground pound). In the end, the heroic turn of the Brazilian wasn’t computed because of the event’s rules.

“I knew it would be a rough fight, the guy has 15 fights and one defeat, with 11 winnings for submission. But I’m Brazilian and I have ground too. In the locker room I trained with Rilion and with Gussem to escape from that thing on the back with the triangle and thank God it works on the fight. I made the first round more defensive, because I broke my hand. I was training to fight with my left hand, but thank God everything went well“, remember Michael, thanking his idol and new technician. “Wanderlei helped me a lot, he’s an excellent teacher. It would be good if each one have the opportunity to meet him as a person, he passes security. I feel happy to represented my country well“, finalized.

COMPLETE RESULTS:

Art of War 14

The Venetian Hotel, Macao, China

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Main Event:

- Andy Wang (China) vs. Atsuhiro Tsuboi (Japan) - draw;

- Rolles Gracie (Brazil) defeated Peter Graham (England) by submission (arm triangle) on R1;

- Rodney Glunder (Netherlands) vs. Antonio Braga Neto (Brazil) - no contest (injury on the back spine due to bad ropes);

- Daniel Madrid (USA) defeated Daijiro Matsui (Japan) by submission (triangle) on R2;

- Michael Costa (Brazil) vs. Simeon Thoresen (Norway) - draw;

- Wang Sai (China) defeated Lee Yong Jae (South Korea) by KO on R1;

Preliminary Bouts:

- Arthit Hanchana (Thailand) vs. Dai Shuang Hai (China) - draw;

- Kim Dong Hyun (South Korea) vs. Vaughn Anderson (Canada) - draw;

- Claes Beverlov (Sweden) defeated Zhang Li Peng (China) by submission (armlock) on R2;

- Yao Qiang (China) defeated Jeong Soon Hak (South Korea) by KO on R1;

- Dorjderem Munkhayasgalan (Mongolia) defeated Elyorbek Akbarov (Uzbekistan) by TKO on R1;

- Hatori Kenichi (Japan) vs. Jason Schmidt (USA) – draw.