Former TT boxer Manswell to feature in MMA bout

THE Ruff and Tuff Caribbean International Invitational Open Combat Sport Championships 2018 will be held at the National Cycling Centre, Couva from 9 am today.

President of the TT Sambo and Combat Sambo Federation Jason Fraser, describing the event said, “(The event will be) an historic one, epic. Having Herb Dean in Trinidad is already historic.”

World-renowned and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts referee Dean and vice-president of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) Sergey Tabakov are in Trinidad for the Championships.

Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica are among the other countries that will be represented at the championships.

The sporting disciplines which will be contested at the event include: amateur and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fights, grappling, boxing, combat sambo, and women’s sambo.

The series of disciplines will comprise more than 180 international athletes, trainers, officials, scouts, and media correspondents.

The main event will be a bantamweight mixed martial arts fight between Joash Walkins of TT and Brazilian Julio Rodrigues. The event will also feature former TT boxer Kerston Manswell in an MMA bout. Manswell does not expect his contest against Jeremy Rudolfo of TT to go the distance. “In the first second, don’t wait for the third or fifth. He is going to be coming, but I am going to be coming as well. We are two giants, we are two warriors. The first one that connects that’s it,” Manswell said.