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No title fight no problem for Superfights17

There will be no title fight this time around at Superfights17 Kickboxing and Muay Thai Championships this Saturday, but promoter Lyle Cheney insists there will still be plenty of action at the Westerner Prairie Pavilion.

There will be no title fight this time around at Superfights17 Kickboxing and Muay Thai Championships this Saturday, but promoter Lyle Cheney insists there will still be plenty of action at the Westerner Prairie Pavilion.

The main event will feature Red Deer’s Chris Lafantaisie – the Western Canadian super-heavyweight champion fighting out of Black Dragon Martial Arts — up against Dawson Creek’s Kenneth Schaefer in a non-title fight.

“(Lafantaisie) is really good and he’s very well skilled, and his opponent is quite big — about 6’5” and 250 pounds,” said Cheney, who runs Cheney’s Zen Karate and Kickboxing. “Now Chris is not small either, he’s about 6’4” and 240 pounds. So they’re both pretty big and quite skilled so it should be a really brutal match.”

There will be eight local fighters stepping into the squared ring including Kim Bobyk who will be fighting Brian Kong out of Edmonton in a 170-pound match.

“Both fighters are very well conditioned and very aggressive, so I anticipate someone going to sleep. Someone will be knocked out,” said Cheney.

Other local fighters include Josh Crump of Black Dragon Martial Arts in Red Deer taking on Jordan Rithaler of Regina; Travis Osmond of Cheney’s taking on Alex Santizo of Edmonton; T.J. Dubas of Cheney’s going against Steve Allen of Edmonton; Jeff Dent of Cheney’s fighting Kyle Watts of Edmonton; Scott Allen of Seven Star Praying Mantis in Red Deer battling Dwain Soon from Medicine Hat; Sean Enright of Red Deer Arashido meeting Danny Rodriguez from Lethbridge; and Will Quijada of Seven Star Praying Mantis facing Bruce Tran out of Calgary.

However, last-minute changes to the lineup have left the 14-fight event without a women’s fight due to injuries incurred during training.

Cheney is expecting another sell-out of the 1,000-seat venue that is normally rocking for the evening.

“The Red Deer audience is very enthusiastic — we always sell out — and it’s a fairly well educated audience. For instance, when the fighters get into a clinch the audience is yelling for them to knee at the right times, whereas you go to some other places and the audience isn’t quite sure what they are watching.”

Tickets are available at through Cheney’s Zen Karate and Kickboxing at 403-347-9020 as well as at the door. The first bout is slated for 7:15 p.m.

jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com