The Martlet

For the second time this year Victoria will host a kickboxing card on April 4, featuring Gabriel Varga in the main fight of the night. Varga will be looking to defend his International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA) super-lightweight title against Emil Salva from Romania at Eagle Ridge Arena in Langford.

The kickboxing event will also feature UVic’s Brian and Alan Chou, who whet the appetites of martial arts fans when they put on a clinic of punches and kicks on the last card, both defeating their two opponents. Alan will fight Micha Schinne from Arizona, while his brother will battle it out with Tremeyne Dunbar of Las Vegas.

A new addition to the Victoria scene will be Criag McWilliam, who has been training for three years and will be looking to prove himself in this highly-contested card.

Hal Kriesel and Aaron Varga, both fighters in the last kickboxing event, will be absent due to heavy school workloads.

According to Gabriel Varga, his father Keith has set up the fight in a bigger venue and promises the city a high level of kickboxing.

“My dad wanted to keep it real exclusive; he didn’t want to just see anyone on the card ... [we] basically don’t want a mugging in the ring,” Varga said.

Varga knows what it’s like to be robbed of a full bout as he’s had five Knock Outs (KO) out of 11 fights, all way of the first round.

“I had trained for two months, six days a week, five hours a day, and some fights just end in two minutes, which is frustrating,” Varga added.

Besides a bigger venue, another feature will be the fighters teaming up as the American team will face off against the Canadian team, with Salva being the exception. Though many of the fighters are from different gyms within Victoria, it will be the first time they come together to represent the region.

“I think it’s going to be great because there is so much animosity between martial arts in general. [It is] nice to have everyone come to together,” Varga added.

Varga hasn’t taken it easy since capturing the super-lightweight title after he slowly dismantled Joseph Concha of Austrailia in five rounds last January. While there is a stigma within the kickboxing world that North Americans don’t train hard enough compared to other fighters in the world, Varga, who spent time last spring training in Thailand, knows better.

“Before, I trained three days a week at the club, then three days of running. But in Thailand, I trained six hours a day,” Varga said. “Every day you are doing your sprints, every day you are waking up and going to the track and basically making yourself throw up ... mentally, it can break you down pretty easily.”

Along with the intense workouts, Varga faces the challenge of dropping 11 pounds before the weigh-in, which consists of having no carbs after 3 p.m. Through a protein and spinach diet for dinner and drinking tons of water, Varga has been pushing himself to his physical limits.

With his sights set on reaching a career goal to fight in Japan, his dreams are getting closer and closer as he now holds a recognized belt. Yet Varga realizes there is still much work to be done.

“What I have been told by the president of the ISKA commission is that if I can do well in amateur he said he would give me a pro world title shot on a K-1 event,” Varga said. “We will see if it comes true, but that is pretty much what all this is going toward — a shot to get a in a K-1 world title.”

The K-1, which started in 1993, is based in Japan but travels around fusing centuries of tradition from martial arts such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do and kickboxing (the “K”) to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the “1”).

As for Varga’s friends, the Chou brothers and McWilliam (who will be on the card with Varga), he sees a positive outcome for their futures.

“[I] don’t think anyone will be able to challenge them [the Chou Brothers],” he said, noting they had five fights which fell apart at the last mintue. “If they both commit themselves within another year or six months and get some more fights, they will have a world title as well.”

For McWilliam, who started training a few years ago, his ability to watch film of fights has been a huge plus in increasing his fighting knowledge.

“Every time there is an event, I am backstage just itching to get in there but finally it is my time to see what can I do,” McWilliam said after one of his training sessions.

For Varga, Salva will be a good test for him as he is bigger than Varga, has double the ring experience and, like many other Eastern Europeans, is known for his damaging kicks.

“I am usually the guy who manhandles everybody else ... I have seen the Youtube video on him, [he is] sort of a crazy fighter,” Varga said.

Varga will look to his martial arts background to put together a series of jabs, front kick, punches and round kicks, and to alter from limb to limb — a huge factor in his win last time.

“Generally, my hands start dominating because other people focus too much on their kick because they try following Muy Thai boxing too much,” Varga said. “My kicks got a lot harder and a lot more accurate, and so if he just stands there I will try to break him down with my kicks.”

The card will also feature Tina Derix and Chase Ingalls from the Island who will compete against fighters from the famous Fairtex gym in San Francisco for the ISKA North American titles.