THREE Goulburn martial arts exponents will be fighting in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) competition in Canberra on Saturday night.
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Joel Downey who has competed internationally at an amateur level in taekwondo, will be making his professional MMA debut on Saturday night.
He will be competing against Jarrod Farlon also a debutante of the sport.
Downey has also trained in the discipline of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
His opponent is experienced in MMA and jiu-jitsu.
Downey has been training in taekwondo for about five years and through instructor Craig Harmer at the PCYC in Goulburn got involved in MMA after watching a couple of competitions.
“It was last August that I competed overseas in taekwondo and here it is a year later and I will be stepping into an octagonal wire cage for my first professional fight,” Downey said.
“In MMA the fighters wear boxing shorts or compression shorts and MMA gloves.
“The scoring system is similar to in boxing and a win can be achieved on points, by knockout or submission by the opponent.”
Also on the same card on Saturday night are Ben Metcalf and Ryan Green.
Metcalf will be fighting Jake Parkes while green will be putting his skills and fitness to the test against Joe Pollock.
Both these men have been fighting professionally for around 18 months and have three fights or so under their belts.
Besides training at the PCYC in Goulburn with Craig Harmer they also hone their skills at the Storm MMA gym in Canberra.
Training for Downey involves about four hours on Monday to Thursday and two hours on Saturday.
“If you want to succeed at any sport,” Downey said.
“You need to put in the hours of training to build on your fitness and skills.
“With MMA win or lose you come away from the contest learning more about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and what you need to address so you do not give your opponent an opportunity to exploit a gap in your defence.
“You also learn from observing your opponents techniques.”
The fight night, named Storm Damage 7 is being held at The Auditorium, Erindale Vikings on Saturday night doors open at 6pm and the fights start at 7pm tickets are available at the door.
Downey said anyone interested in learning more about martial arts training for sport fitness or self defence could contact the Goulburn PCYC or phone Craig Harmer 0409 302 883.