Empire Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) finished with a 1-1 win-loss record over the weekend, as E.J. Brown and Giovanni Johnson competed in Combat Night at the Hard Rock Casino in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Brown won by unanimous decision in his bout against Augustine Barrows in the 155-pound weight division, and founder/head coach of the Empire MMA team, Dr. Kent Bazard, said he was proud of the effort he put out.
"He executed the game plan that we had in mind," said Bazard. "He defended the take down, countered as much as possible and scored a lot of strikes, and although he was taken down once, he neutralized the opponent and got back up to his feet."
Johnson's original opponent was not able to fight due to some complications, and because of that he ended up fighting a fighter who was 20 pounds heavier. Johnson competes in the 135-pound weight class.
"Apparently his original opponent's lab tests didn't check out," said Bazard. "Since the fighter couldn't fight, the promoter asked if we would be open to fight someone else because his opponent didn't show up as well. Although his opponent was a lot heavier, we still chose to fight, because we didn't want the training to go in vain. Although 'Gio' did well in the first round, he lost by submission in the third round, and the weight was indeed a factor.
"I was not happy that it actually counted as a loss on his win loss record because of the circumstance, but it's something that we will learn from."
Although there was a large crowd, Bazard felt that he liked the way his fighters handled the bright lights of the Hard Rock.
Empire Mixed Martial Arts will take another major stride toward the local development of the sport, as they get set to travel to Orlando to fight at Real Cage Fighting 29 on October 18 at the Space Coast Harley-Davidson center in Palm Bay. This trip will be highlighted by the international debut of Jasmine Wilchcombe, the first Bahamian female to fight in the MMA cage. She has been training with Empire MMA for six months, and Bazard is confident she will have a good showing in her debut.
"She may be a little nervous, but I think she will execute her game plan," Bazard said. "In her case, we think she will be stronger than her opponent, even though her opponent has already been in two fights. Jasmine's striking will be better as well as her ground and pound game.
"Her opponent will have some reach on her, but we are working on getting her in close, even though she may have to weather some blows."
Some of the other fighters competing in Orlando include Pierre Simmons, Tyson Isaacs, and Ukinny Neymour.
Dr. Bazard started the Empire MMA team with seven fighters and has seen that grow to nearly 30. Empire MMA trains in Sanda (Chinese full contact striking), American Freestyle Wrestling, Judo and Brazilian JiuJitsu (BJJ).
Its affiliations include the Bahamas Wushu Sanda Association, International Wushu Sanda Federation, World Sanda League, World Combat Grappling Alliance, World Cup of MMA, BlackHouse MMA, MMA Masters, SUDA MMA and Bolt Wrestling.

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