Brisbane, Australia just staged a highly successful King's Cup Challenge to determine the first fighter for the King's Cup Tournament 2009. The prestigious King's Cup event is held annually in honour of H.M. the King of Thailand's birthday with this year's event to be staged on December 5th 2009 in Bangkok. The King's Cup 2009 will be jointly organised by Blackhawk AG, OneSongchai Promotions and the World Muaythai Council. Australian' super-promoter, Evolution had the honour of hosting the first qualifier for the tournament. It was televised on Fox Sport, AXN, and TGN. It was certainly an unforgettable night.

The King's Cup Challenge qualifier was organised in Super 8 format and featured fighters such as; John Wayne Parr, Dzhabar Askerov, Cosmo Alexander, Eugene Ekelboom, Bruce "the Preacher" Macfie, Jason Scerrie, and Diego Ballardin. It was a night of superstars.

The card opened with a WMC title fight between Mark Sarrachino vs. Beniah Douma. It was the right way to begin as the fight went 5 rounds full of non-stop action with Mark Sarrachino defending his Australian title. Then the Super 8 began with two Australians,  JWP vs. Jason Scerrie battling it out. Both fighters displayed world class Muaythai. It was JWP who moved on to the semi-final with a performance that earned him a standing ovation. Though Scerrie proved he has the heart of a lion.

In the second bout, Russian fighter Dzhabar Askerov took on Cosmo Alexander from Brasil. It was a fantastic display by both fighters but Cosmo took the fight with a strong performance moving on to the semi-final. Next up was Australian fighter, "The Preacher" Bruce Macfie versus Diego Ballardin from Italy. This was truly a great fight and Bruce Macfie won the match to move on to the semi-finals. The last quarter-final of the evening was the fight of the night. Eugene Ekelboom, WMC World Champ took on Madsua the 2008 WMC King's Cup World Champ. It was three rounds of non-stop action and Madsua gave the performance of a lifetime when he won the decision upsetting Ekelboom, winning over the hearts of the crowd.

The big boys then battled it out, Cedric NTG fought Thor Hoopman. If you are under the impression big guys can't fight Muaythai, this fight proves you wrong. There were flying knees and spinning elbows all around - truly spectacular Muaythai. Hoopman won by points decision. The first semi-final was JWP versus Cosmo Alexander. This was a highly anticipated match-up. Both fighters went hard from the start but sadly, JWP injured his leg during his first bout and had to throw in the towel at the end of round two. Cosmo moved on to the final as a result. Madsua fought Bruce Macfie in an entertaining match and Madsua moved on to the final.

The semi main event was another fantastic fight between Australian star, Daddy Cool and Malaysian upstart Ali Yakoob.

Both boys demonstrated excellent Muaythai skill. Ali stepped up a division but ended up losing by points decision in one of the most entertaining fights of the evening. It came down to the final with Cosmo Alexander the WMC South American Champion versus 2008 WMC King's Cup Champion Madsua. It was three rounds of knees, kicks, punches and elbows with both boys giving it all. The judges decided in Cosmo's favour awarding him as winner by split decision on points. Promoter John Sexton, Nugget, Benny Aebischer (representing Blackhawk AG and King's Cup TV), and Stephan Fox (Vice President of the WMC) were all on hand to congratulate the winner of the King's Cup Challenge, Cosmo Alexander. The calibre of these boys has everyone looking forward to the biggest upcoming King's Cup in the history the event.

Source: http://www.ifmamuaythai.org/HTML/09_Evo17.html