Sydney newspaper article about 2 fighters

[Guest]

This Friday night the paths of 2 elite Mixed Martial Artists will converge at Sydney’s Hard Knocks Arena and only one will continue the journey with the AXF bantamweight championship belt in hand.

 

For incumbent title holder Chopper Reid, the road to AXF champion has been a turbulent one to say the least. Reid, the son of a devout 7th day Adventist, spent most of his childhood in and out of orphanages. By his early teens he had turned to a life of crime to survive and at the age 15, under the instructions of his own mother, Reid was certified as mentally insane and sentenced to a shock treatment program that he would later go onto claimed changed his life...and not for the better.

 

Reid spent most of the next period of his life in the big house. In between these stints he earned a living as a standover man on the mean streets of Melbourne. It was a vicious cycle that consumed his life until a friend sent him a dusty old pirated VHS tape that would change his life forever…the Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament number 1.

 

Reid was immediately captivated and began to contemplate. All of the things that had made him such a highly sought after gun-for-hire, the toughness that saw him survive after having a screwdriver literally driven through his heart, those dark and uncontrollable urges deep within his makeup that lead him to spending most of his life in and out of state institutions…could they be put to good use in a sport that would not only support him financially but also give him a legal, safe and controlled outlet for these urges and enable him to lead a normal life and contribute positively to broader society?

 

Reid began training immediately and after defeating his first opponent by TKO in the 2nd minute of his first fight, he knew that MMA was the blessing that would offer him every opportunity he had hoped for.

 

Fast forward to 2010, 12 wins and 3 loses later and 26 year old Reid is the AXF Bantamweight champion, number 1 ranked bantamweight fighter in Sydney and number 13 ranked bantamweight on the planet.

 

Most importantly for Reid though, he has managed to free himself from the shackles of his former life of crime and is working to repay society for the damage he has caused in the past. He regularly volunteers with various charity groups and recently started his own program to help troubled and underprivileged kids find the path to a better life through the discipline learnt from training in Mixed Martial Arts.

 

He enters the cage on Friday on a 7 fight win streak, including a successful title defence in the now defunct OFC organisation and 2 successful title defences at AXF.

 

Standing across from him will be a man who has walked a very different, much less publicised but equally as tumultuous path to the AXF cage, Jimmy Sikblood.

 

Beneath Sikbloods brash and confident demeanour is an inspirational story of a man who has fought against the odds to ignite the fire that has driven him to the upper echelon of global Mixed Martial Arts competition.

 

Sikblood spent most of his life in the sleepy town of Huntingdon in the United Kingdom. The eldest of 5 children in a working class family, he spent most of his youth dabbling in many sports but it was the thrill of two very different, but equally as exhilarating sports, that fought for his heart…Mixed Martial Arts and Surfing.

 

Unfortunately for Sikblood, the nearest surf beach was over 50 miles from his home and even in the warmer months he would require the services of 3 wetsuits to protect him from the often below freezing temperatures.

 

Sikblood persevered with both sports, but it was in the gym that he found real success. By age 17 he was an accomplished amateur boxer and had simultaneously become a highly respected Jiu-jitsu artist.

 

Despite his successes, things away from the gym weren’t so rosy for Sikblood. He was falling into a pattern of self-destruction. His daily training sessions were gradually superseded by long drinking sessions and his concept of training had become exchanging intoxicated knuckles with patrons of the local tavern.

 

It was at this point that Sikbloods long time coach and friend Steve Riformato, concerned that the ability he saw in Sikblood was quickly going to waste, pulled him aside and afforded him an opportunity that would change his life…the chance to relocate to the sunny shores of Hilo.

 

Riformato was so intent on not seeing Sikbloods talents fall by the wayside that he had gotten in touch with an old friend who was running a gym and fight promotion business in Hilo to see if he Jimmy could slot into the organisation. Riformato paid for Sikbloods ticket, one way, and the rest as they say is history.

 

Sikbloods meteoric rise, however, wasn’t without adversity. Although Sikblood was enjoying the opportunity to start afresh, the opportunity to pursue his other long lost passion quickly became his priority. Within a matter of weeks, Sikblood had virtually traded his Gi for his surfboard.

 

In urgent need of money, Sikblood took his first fight in Hilo on 3 days notice and was defeated via decision.

 

One the eve of his next fight, his professional debut, Riformato got a call to say that Jimmy had not been seen at the gym since before his last fight.

 

Needless to say Sikblood lost the fight. Riformato’s fears were being realised and worst still for Riformato, Sikblood was on the other side of the world and unable to even be contacted. Riformato remembered a saying that had become the catalyst for change in his own life…”Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly”. If something was to trigger a change in Sikblood, it would have to come from within Sikblood.

 

Miraculously, in the days following his unsuccessful professional debut, something did happen that would light that fire within Sikblood.

 

Sikblood spent the days following his 2nd defeat in an alcohol fuelled binge that lead him to fall, hit his head and buckle unconscious on the shores of Hakalau Bay. Unbeknownst to Sikblood, the tide was rapidly rising, and there wasn’t a single soul in sight.

 

Before long, the situation was becoming critical; the tide had begun to cover Sikbloods body. Sikblood was still unconscious and bleeding heavily from a deep laceration to the head. By either sheer luck or at the hand of some divine force, local doctor Kai Kahana had returned to the Bay to try and retrieve a pair of sunglasses he had left behind whilst on a family picnic earlier in the day.

 

Putting his own life at risk, Kahana managed to remove Sikblood from the danger zone, stabilise his condition and get him to the hospital emergency department.

 

After several weeks in intensive care, Sikbloods condition continued to improve until the point where he was able to walk out of the hospital with his own two feet and a new lease on life. What would be most defining and life changing for Sikblood was not how close he came to meeting his maker, but the parallels between Kahana’s life and his own.

 

Kahana, a prodigious student, had been an avid surfer who had wasted the opportunity to go to medical school in favour of surfing the local breaks. One afternoon, whilst surfing in the dangerous waters of the very same bay where he would later meet Jimmy Sikblood, he had watched the life of his closest friend sucked from him into the menacing dark jaws of the Pacific Ocean. Had Kahana had even completed a single semester of medical school; he would have been able to save his friend. This tragic event was the catalyst for Kahana to turn his life around and 5 years later he graduated with honours from the highly regarded John A. Burns Medical School at the University of Hawaii.

 

Kahana had been celebrating the birthday of his passed friend the day he took those brave actions to save the life of Sikblood. It was the first time Kahana had so much as made contact with the waters that had taken the life of his friend all those years ago.

 

Kahana’s story resonated with Sikblood and triggered a fire within him that has not waivered since. Sikblood recovered fully, dedicated himself to the gym, and went on an 8 fight win streak that saw him successfully gain and twice defend the highly regarded Ring of Fire bantamweight belt.

 

In July this year, Sikblood suffered his first defeat since his life changing ordeal. Steve Riformato, who now manages Sikblood fulltime, admitted that there were concerns about what impact the loss would have on Sikblood. All questions were answered when Sikblood came out and, in true Sikblood style, bounced back to defeat highly touted Napoleon Bonaparte in a gruelling split decision.

 

The strength and resolve he has attained since the events at Hakalau Bay on that fateful day have enabled him to push on through any obstacles that have come his way and when he crosses paths with Reid tomorrow night he will be looking for his third successive win and 4th successful title fight. Reid will be just another obstacle, not unlike the many that have come before him.

 

To say that the task ahead of Sikblood won’t be easy is an understatement, but Sikblood has shown he has a history of doing things the Sikblood way…against the odds.

 

Don Logan

 

AXF Friday Night Fights 29 will be held at Hard Knocks Arena, Sydney, this Friday October 1st.