Looking to draw blood, Arley George of AKA tags his opponent Austin Peaker multiple times in Bout #4.
Raucous roars emanated from the crowd. Bloodlust could be felt amongst all those who witnessed the event.
The scene could be paralleled with days of old, like when Rome’s age of the gladiators kept spectators on the edge of their seats.
This wasn’t any ordinary saturday night at North Idaho College’s gym. The NIC booster club teamed up with Trevor Prangley’s American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) to host North Idaho Fight Night on Sept. 17.
The event was supposed to have 10-action packed events, but after a few alterations to the fight ticket, only seven fights came to fruition.
The main event featured Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter and former NIC student Trevor Prangley (24-8) knocked out Portland fighter Tony King in 25 seconds into the fight after his original opponent failed to show.
“I was supposed to fight Derek Anderson tonight but he wasn’t man enough to step up to the ring,” said Prangley. “I would like to thank Tony King for stepping up last minute to fill the spot tonight.”
Prangley runs an AKA affiliation in town and had three professional fighters from his academy racking up stats that night. The first pro bout started off with the heavyweight class. Josh “The Machine” Queen (4-2) forced his opponent Kyle “Kodiak” Keeney to tap out in the third round by armbar submission.
The second pro bout added blood to drama in the ring. The 155-pound class pitted AKA’s Arley “Spiderman” George against Spokane fighter Austin Peaker. Almost three minutes into the round, a doctor stopped the fight and ruled in George’s favor due to Peaker’s excessive bleeding when George landed a few good blows. George riled up the crowd with his trademark move of jumping and hanging from the fence after he improved his professional record to 4-2.
Jerome Jones (2-2) of TKO kickboxing out of Spokane increased the crowd’s intensity during the third round of pro fighting. He won by guillotine submission against Jacob Harkness 81 seconds into the first round. He said this adds a new vitality to his outlook as a career fighter.
“[This win] really means a lot because I lost my first two as a professional and then I won my last one and this one,” said Jones. “It is kind of like a fresh start, like I can start heading in the positive direction.”
Prangley’s AKA had their final pro win in the fourth fight. “Iron” Will Nolan (4-2), for AKA, and Chris “the Ginger Ninja” Ensley fought in the 185-pound class. Nolan was able to submit his opponent at 1:05 into the first round, winning by a rear naked choke hold.
After all the chaos and turmoil, Prangley asked for a moment of silence to remember those who perished in 9/11.
Prangley hails out of Cape Town, South Africa, and said that in comparison to his home country, freedom and democracy truly exists in the United States and he wanted to express his gratitude for those that were lost in one of our nation’s worst terrorist attacks in history.
Prangley was born in 1972 and attended NIC until 1998, when he transferred to Missouri State University. During his career as a wrestler for NIC, he received All-American honors twice, took eighth place his freshman year, and runner-up his sophomore year. In his sophomore match, Prangley was ahead on points up until the final match where a torn ACL prevented him from placing any higher.
Prangley has also competed in many UFC fights, showcasing his talent in “UFC 48,” where he defeated Curtis Stout by submission. His record for the organization currently stands at 2-2.
He has gone on to fight in many other organizations, including overseas in Japan recently. He lost by KO to Tatsuya Mizuno on July 16 this year, so he said this win reaffirms that he still has some fight left in him.
“I wanted to bring a different image to MMA and I think we accomplished that,” said Prangley. “I am hoping it has a big future here, but we will see how it goes. I mean, it was a decent turnout tonight. We will do the math, but I think we will be back here for sure.”
