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It’s time to take our final look at the second season of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League. We’ve now reached the final four episodes, with only the third place play-off and the championship final remaining.

Third Place Play-Off: New Jersey Tigers v Oklahoma Destroyers

This was the best match-up of the season so far. The first half began with the teams exchanging victories, beginning with Shennen Maceo getting the points win for New Jersey over Thomas Longacre.

Once again the women stole the show in this half as the Tigers’ Munah Holland and the Destroyers’ Jeri Sitzes had a great fight, with Sitzes’ win complimented by that of team-mate Anthony Njokuani, until Uriah Hall gave New Jersey the half-ending win over Jesse Lawrence.

So as Oklahoma went into the second half leading 80-66 New Jersey knew they’d have to up their game, and even though David Gonzalez, Jarrell Miller and Lyman Good put on great winning performances their points wins meant that Oklahoma were still in with a chance.

The Destroyers took that chance in style as Jeri Sitzes absolutely demolished Melissa Bopp for the knockout win, taking them to a 114-115 score, and successive wins for Anthony Njokuani and Jesse Lawrence secured the win and gave them the third place in front of their home fans.

Championship Final: New York Clash v Los Angeles Stars

It was almost a Cinderella-like story. New York didn’t win a regular season match and came into the final looking for an upset.

Both teams started tentatively. An accidental clash of heads meant that the opener between Leo Valdivia and Jason Bourelly was declared a draw, and the stars eked out the next two wins courtesy of Brandon Hastings and Jack Felton.

The Clash came back into it when Pat Barry’s leg kicks demolished the squatty Matt Thomas and Jennifer Santiago defeated Jessica Covarrubias. However, Raymond Daniels took the lead back for L.A. when he overwhelmed Jaime Fletcher.

The second half began with an upset as New York’s Abraham Han made Jason look human. The teams traded the next two wins until Pat Barry’s legs demolished another fighter in the form of Chris Hawk, knocking him down four times.

Then came the turning point. L.A. coach Colin Van Deusen threw his own wife Tara into the mix, and she took a rather scrappy win over the normally dependable Jennifer Santiago.

This meant that the Stars needed a knockout to win the championship. Up stepped Raymond Daniels as he got the desired result, putting Brandon Banda to sleep with a spin kick. Los Angeles had won the title by just four points, defeating New York 137-133.

In conclusion – well, it was a long ride, but we finally got to the final two matches, and what matches they were. They definitely saved the best for last here.

So now I’ve watched over 200 fights and 22 hours of action, what’s my overall view of the World Combat League?

It took a while for me to get used to it, but this is a great concept, although it could do with a few tweaks, such as having only the top two teams from each conference in the play-offs. After all, as I’ve mentioned before, New York didn’t win a match during the regular season, and although they put in some great performances in the play-offs and the final I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t really deserve to be there.

As for the fighters there were quite a few who impressed the hell out of me. The entire women’s division were great, while the likes of Pat Barry, Raymond Daniels, Jason Bourelly, Anthony Njokuani, Armin Mrkanovic and many more put in great performances.

But I’m left to wonder what’s next for the World Combat League. This season took place back in 2008. The 2009 season was cancelled.

If you look at the WCL website you’ll see that the last news item was posted late in 2009. There’s also mention of teams from Canada and Great Britain entering the competition.

The merchandise page doesn’t work anymore either, although you can still get WCL DVDs from Amazon.

I really hope that Chuck Norris and his team bring back the WCL soon. He shouldn’t let his dream die. It’s a great concept, and if handled and promoted correctly it could become as big as that other form of hybrid kickboxing K-1, or, dare I say it, the UFC.

Hopefully we, the fans, can do our bit. Maybe my reviews will make you want to buy these DVDs so you can see for yourselves what the WCL is all about. Watching these has made me want to seek out the first season box set.

So to Chuck Norris and the rest of the powers-that-be at the WCL, thank you for sending me this box set and allowing me to review these fights. This fan hopes to see WCL Season 3 sometime in the future.

WCL Season 2 Episodes 21-24 form part of the WCL Season 2 box set, which is available to buy at the usual online outlets.

Pat Barry (left) v Jarrell Miller

This edition of The Two Sheds Review sees us taking our fifth look at the world of hybrid kickboxing, season two of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League. The regular season is now over, and now it’s time to look at the divisional play-offs.

Eastern Conference Final – New York Clash v New Jersey Tigers

A very exciting match with a comeback performance that almost got the job done.

New York began strongly when the debuting Abraham Han knocked out Tom Grimmer. The Clash followed up with two more knockouts from Leo Valdivia and Remi Ibrahim, before future UFC star Pat Barry took a judges decision over John James.

New Jersey’s only win in the first half came when Uriah Hall defeated Jaime Fletcher. However, Jennifer Santiago saw that the Clash ended the half with a victory over old rival Munah Holland, although she re-injured her hand in the process.

New York began the second half well, as Abraham Han impressed again with a KO win over Thad Campbell. But then the Tigers began to claw their way back.

Wins from Lyman Good, David Gonzalez and Jarrell Miller upsetting Pat Barry saw them gradually lessen the Clash’s lead. The only problem was though that they weren’t getting the knockout wins they so desperately needed.

So even though Uriah Hall knocked out Brandon Banna and Melissa Bopp out-fought Virginia Baker it wasn’t enough. New York’s first half dominance gave them the 133-124 win.

Western Conference Final – Oklahoma Destroyers v Los Angeles Stars

This was the most dramatic match of the season so far.

LA began well, although Oklahoma’s Anthony Njokuani was able to hold Jason Bourelly to a single point victory.

Oklahoma took four of the five remaining fights in the first half, with impressive wins for Jesse Lawrence, Alicia Ashley, Thomas Longacre and UFC 1 finalist Patrick Smith. Only the ever-reliable Raymond Daniels kept the Stars in the match as he outclassed Chidi Njokuani.

Oklahoma changed their tactics in the second half, using alternates for all of the fights. It proved to be their undoing.

Randy Blake was their only second half success, and slowly but surely LA began to work they way back into the match, and when Travis McRoberts out-pointed Douglas Edwards the scores were tied going into the final fight.

Raymond Daniels stepped up to the mark again, this time out-classing Scott Clark as LA defeated Oklahoma 144-137 to progress to the final.

In conclusion – these episodes have been by far the best of season two. Splitting the matches so each half took up one episode made for great viewing, although I imagine that some fans would have be waiting for baited breath when they were originally broadcast as a weekly series on television. I would have been, because I hate cliff-hanger endings.

So now it’s on to the third place play-off and the final, and what looks to be a cracking encounter.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the World Combat League for supplying a copy of this release.

WCL Season 2 Episodes 17-20 form part of the WCL Season 2 box set, and is available to buy wherever DVDs are sold.

It’s time to step into the world of hybrid kickboxing as we return to the second season of Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, as we take a look at the play-offs with episodes 13 through 16.

Texas Dragons v Oklahoma Destroyers
The first Western Conference play-off was another of those one-sided affairs as Thomas Longacre, David Taylor and the always impressive Anthony Njokuani racked up three wins for Oklahoma.

Texas took a share of the spoils as Mike Sheppard drew with Jesse Lawrence, but the Destroyers got back to winning ways when Jeri Sitzes defeated Angela Hayes for the third time. The Dragons’ only first half win came when Lawson Baker defeated Alex Beck.

The second half followed the same pattern, with further wins for Taylor, Longacre and Njokuani. With three fights remaining Texas needed knockouts to stay in the match, and although Mike Sheppard beat Randy Blake there was no knockout. So when Lawson Baker drew with UFC 2 runner-up Patrick Smith Texas had no chance of making the finals, with Oklahoma winning 163-116.

New Jersey Tigers v St. Louis Enforcers
This was an incredibly close contest. New Jersey began the first half well when Uriah Hall got a stoppage win against Dusty Miller. But with St. Louis taking the next three fights Jerrell Miller’s win over John Turlington brought the Tigers back into it and evened the scores, although the Enforcers’ Tim Connors took them to a six point half-time lead when he defeated Shennen Maceo.

With Fernando Calleros and Jennifer Han winning the first two second half fights for the Enforcers New Jersey knew they had to really up their game to stay in the contest, and this they did, winning the next three fights, with the highlight being John James’ knockout win over Samir Seif.

It all came down to numbers in the final fight. John Greubal had to defeated David Gonzalez by eight clear points to give St. Louis the win, and although he dominated for the most part Gonzalez’s performance was just enough to give the Tigers the two point win, 133-131, and entry into the Eastern Conference final.

Los Angeles Stars v Denver Fury
This Western Conference play-off between the top and bottom teams was a one-sided affair.

As soon as Jason Bourelly knocked out Denver’s Gabe Walbridge in the first minute it was obvious that the Stars were going through to the final.

Denver won only one fight in the first half, trailing by forty-one points at half time, even though their luck changed in the second half when Matt Callahan earned a disqualification win over Donald Vickers and Colby Snyder knocked out Jack Felton.

But by the time Raymond Daniels sent El-Java Abdul Qadir down for the count Los Angeles had already won by a massive margin, gaining victory by 151-102.

New York Clash v Miami Force
Miami were supposed to walk over a team who had never won a match in WCL history. New York hadn’t read the script though.

The most enthralling play-off saw the Clash and the Force trading wins until Craig Oxley and the impressive Armin Mrkanovic built up a good lead for Miami. However, New York ended the first half when their best fighter Jennifer Santiago returned from injury to defeat Jessica Bednark.

The pattern continued in the second half, with Leo Valdivia’s win for the clash against Mark Spaziano evening the scores at 91 apiece. The teams remained tired when Terry Bullman and Rick Cheek contested a draw.

But with the teams trading the next two fights Miami went into the final fight four points ahead, needing reserve fighter Kelli Cofer to get the win. Jennifer Santiago was standing in her way though, and another impressive win for her sealed the deal for New York as they won 137-132.

In conclusion – this DVD box set continues to impress me. There were a ton of great fights on this fourth disc, all of which were really enjoyable.

However, and this is my only criticism of the WCL so far, the play-off format was a little perplexing, mainly because all eight teams were entered into the draw, making the regular season results slightly irrelevant, especially when you’ve got a team that didn’t win in the regular season going over a team that was undefeated.

But apart from that this slice of WCL action gets the thumbs up.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the WCL for supplying a copy of this release. These episodes form part of the WCL Season Two box set, which can be purchased from the usual online retailers.

It’s been a while since I’ve ventured into the world of hybrid kickboxing, so it’s about time we took another look at Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, and episodes nine through twelve of season two.

If you have no idea what the WCL is all about, then go to the kickboxing section of my website at www.twoshedsreview.com to read my previous WCL reviews. On with the show.

Denver Fury v Los Angeles Stars
This was another of those matches where the teams traded wins throughout, with the Stars kicking the show off as the always impressive Jason Bourelly took out the debuting Tarek Rached. Denver really came back into it when Eddie Burris knocked out Chris Hawk, but wins for Jack Felton and Raymond Daniels gave L.A. so much confidence that they began to send out some of their reserves for the second half.

The tactic worked as they picked up some good wins, and in the end Daniels came back to knock out Blake Lirette to give L.A. the 154-129 win, taking the to 3-0, while Denver still looked for their first win at 0-3.

New Jersey Tigers v Miami Force
A slightly one-sided affair saw Craig Oxley, Jose Sulsona and Remy Bonnel win the first three fights for Miami. However, New Jersey fought back well, winning the final three fights of the half.

But the lack of a back up fighter for the injured Marshall Blevins gave Miami a walkover victory at the start of the second half, and even though they scored some good wins, Miami had already won the match when Hall claimed a second victory of Mrkanovic, with Miami winning 158-126, going to 3-0 while New Jersey slipped to 1-2.

Oklahoma Destroyers v Texas Dragons
A very one-sided affair. After Thomas Longacre and Nick Gonzales contested a rather dour draw, Oklahoma took complete control, with only Mike Sheppard getting the first half win for the Dragons, countering great performances from Oklahoma’s Anthony Njokuani and Jeri Sitzes.

The Destroyers’ dominance continued in the second half, with David Taylor impressing with his TKO win over Sherif Ghaly. Oklahoma’s dominance was such that they sealed the match with three fights remaining, and it was left to Matt Thompson to get the somewhat hollow final fight win for Texas. Oklahoma moved to 2-1, while Texas slipped down to 1-2.

St. Louis Enforcers v New York Clash
If you want to see an array of knockouts then this is the episode to watch. After Kevin Engel opened St Louis’ account with a messy win over Jason Quick, New York won two straight as Terry Bullman and Virginia Baker scored impressive knockout wins.

It was the Clash’s last success of the night as St. Louis won every other match, with knockout wins for Fernando Calleros, the aforementioned Kevin Engel, Isaac Diomande, Lindon Chambers and Tim Connors, taking the Enforcers to a 156-81 win and a record of 2-1, while New York were winless at 0-3.

In conclusion – well, that’s twelve episodes down, and I must say that the WCL continues to impress. Okay, there were some messy fights here, but overall it made for great viewing, and once again the WCL comes highly recommended.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at the World Combat League for supplying a copy of this release. These episodes form part of the World Combat League Season Two box set, which is available to buy online and at all good retailers.

Bruce Lee takes on Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon

It’s debut time in The Two Sheds Review as we take a look at the World Combat League. Founded in 2005 by film star Chuck Norris, the WCL is a full contact striking competition, incorporating styles from boxing, muay thai, kick boxing, karate and tae kwon do, and like MMA’s M-1 Challenge it’s a team event. But perhaps the most interesting part is that all fights are contested in what the fans call “the pit”, a no ring circle.

Each fight last two three minute rounds, but the difference here is that after the fighters complete their first round, there’s a half-time interval, before the fighters re-commence their fights. Sometimes the fighters meet again, but sometimes the coaches send reserve fighters into action. There are three judges for each fight, and they score five points each for the superior fighter, although points are taken away for fouls such as holding, stalling and passivity, which means that the fighters must also be constantly active.

As for the teams, each team has six members, five men for each of the weight divisions and one woman. The winner is the team with the most points, but that’s pretty obvious.

So for this first review we’re going to look at the first four episodes from WCL’s second season.

Match 1 – Oklahoma Destroyers versus Los Angeles Stars
Boy this stuff was fast paced. Some very good performances here, with the women’s fights between Oklahoma’s Jeri Sitzes and LA’s Alicia Ashley the best in the show. Oklahoma’s attempts to reduce LA’s half-time lead by using some of their reserves backfired because one of them failed to make weight, giving LA’s Raymond Daniels a 15-0 walkover win. This was too much for Oklahoma to overcome, as LA won by 161-141.

Match 2 – St. Louis Enforcers versus Miami Force
This was a far more entertaining encounter, and was pretty even until Miami’s Craig Oxley got the knockout win over Tim Connors at the end of the first half, which began a series of KO wins that saw Miami take an unassailable lead, and even though they lost the last fight, Miami still win 145-121.

Match 3 – Denver Fury v Texas Dragons
A good if somewhat one-side affair saw Texas open up a big lead after Charles Wilson and Lawson Baker earned a couple of stoppage wins. Denver came back well at the end of the first half when Jack Johnson knocked Nick Gonzalez down three times, but with Texas leading Denver 81-45, they needed a minor miracle to overturn the score, which was something that just didn’t happen. Texas won four of the second half fights, eventually winning 150-102.

Match 4 – New York Clash versus New Jersey Tigers
The best of the four encounters so far. New York began strongly thanks to convincing performances from Tommy Bach and Jason Quick, but great performances from Corey Miller and John James put New Jersey back in the hunt, so much so that by the time Munah Holland handed Jennifer Santiago her first WCL defeat New Jersey were leading 77-73 going into half-time. Each team continued to share wins in the second half, with Corey Miller putting in another good performance against NY reserve Andy Young. Everything was still to play for in the final fight, and even though Jennifer Santiago avenged her earlier defeat to Munah Holland, Holland did enough to earn the points New Jersey needed as they won 140-135.

In conclusion – as a fan of K-1’s form of hybrid kickboxing I was very eager to see what Chuck Norris’ WCL was all about, and I have to admit that after my first viewing I have rather mixed feelings. Some of the fights seemed a little messy, but there were some who impressed me greatly, in particular the women. So I think the best way to describe these first four episodes of WCL’s second season is interesting, and I look forward to seeing how things progressed.

With thanks to the powers that be at WCL for supplying a copy of this release. These episodes are part of the WCL Season 2 box set, and can be purchased online at www.worldcombatleague.com.

Don’t forget you can read my other reviews and articles @ www.twoshedsreview.com.