Epic Fighting #29, Josh Wang-Kim vs Raihere Dudes plus a whole lot more
From the archives comes this January 20, 2012, Epic Fighting 10 photo of Keith “Danger” Carson receiving the “Knockout of the Night” trophy after stopping Sean Najjar. That means that after the show on Friday, they’ll be celebrating their 30th in the series and you know that’s going to be a blast. Photo: Jim Wyatt
On Friday evening, November 6, starting at 7 p.m., the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel on Aero Drive in San Diego, will again host the top local Amateur Mixed Martial Artists as they battle another slew of no-nonsense, out-of-towners in the 29th Epic Fighting MMA Series. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the first bout is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
If you haven’t been to one of these shows, you’re in for a treat. At this point, they have over 30 athletes preparing to compete. The serious competition comes from near and far. On Friday, they’ll be close to 30 gyms being represented. From Los Angeles you have Hayastan Academy, from Temecula, Team Quest, from Huntington Beach, Ultimate Training Center, from Bakersfield’s Xtreme Training Center and so on and so forth.
In the Main Event, they have Joshua Kim (3-0 overall, 1-0 CAMO), one of the Wang-Kim half Korean/half Chinese twins, who favors a unique style of fighting and has thus far been quite effective with it. Along with his brother Jonathan Kim, they train at ISD (International Self Defense) MMA of Poway with Coach Nick Mechling where they teach Aikido, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Judo, Shaolin Kempo Karate and Tai Chi. In his last fight, Epic #28, he defeated Isaiah “Eight Limbed Lightning” Gray from the Team UFC Gym in Corona, Calif. and in doing so won Fight of the Night.
Joshua’s opponent, Raihere Dudes (2-1), one of the more popular Epic Fighters, is from The Arena, Point Loma. He too has benefitted from being schooled in a wide variety of disciplines, thanks to the trio of Baret Yoshida, Charles Martinez and Vince Salvador. While Dudes trains at The Arena, believe it or not, his permanent residence is 4,070 miles southwest of San Diego in Tahiti, French Polynesia. With MMA being illegal in his country, the only way he can compete is to fly here for the Epic Fighting shows.
Both of these gents are so polite, genuine and respectful, but all the fine manners disappear when they step into that cage to give the fans a show they’ll long remember.
As of this writing, Joshua’s twin brother Jonathan Wang-Kim is scheduled to face Alberto Romo of Gracie Humaita of Hemet, Calif. and there’s talk Manuel “Tic” Huerta of the Alliance Training Center is anxious to come out of retirement to defend his 125 lbs. Epic Fighting Championship. The tentative roster of 17 bouts can be seen below.
Again from our archives comes this blast from the past:
Back on June 26, 2010, San Diego hosted the very first Epic Fighting Series Show and on that fight card Andrew Lagdaan (r) of the So Cal Martial Arts Gym, at that time located in Chula Vista, Calif., defeated the always tough Larry Esparza of APEX MMA, Tempe, Arizona in what many considered the Bout of the Night.
