{"id":349308,"date":"2021-08-05T06:03:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T20:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=349308"},"modified":"2021-08-05T06:03:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T20:03:14","slug":"big-hit-returns-to-the-ring-in-checkmate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/big-hit-returns-to-the-ring-in-checkmate\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Big Hit\u2019 returns to the ring in \u2018Checkmate\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kelvin \u201cThe Big Hit\u201d Fitial is set to make his long-awaited mixed martial arts return when he takes on Chandler Cole in the pro heavyweight fight of Showcase MMA\u2019s Checkmate set for Sept. 3 at the Meadowview Convention Center in Kingsport, Tennessee. <\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Fitial will come into the ring with a 15-9-2 win-loss-draw record. He will be challenging a fighter 11 years younger than him but 20 lbs heavier in Cole who has an MMA record of 8-3-0. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely excited to have this opportunity to train outside of the CNMI. I never really doubted or questioned if I was going to go back to fighting. Living on Saipan and being so isolated from opportunities made it difficult to find fights. With the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, I was not able to compete in Korea early this year but everything happens for a reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kelvin
Kelvin \u201cThe Big Hit\u201d Fitial prepares to train at the Blue Blood Muay Thai\/Four Seasons Martial Arts Gym for his Sept. 3 fight against Chandler Cole in the pro heavyweight division of Showcase MMA\u2019s Checkmate. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fitial is currently in Louisville, Kentucky for training camp under Raymond Diaz and his stable, Blue Blood Muay Thai\/Four Seasons Martial Arts Gym.
\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping to get some fight opportunities while I am out here. Right now, I have two scheduled fights, Aug. 21, 2021 in Kentucky and Sept. 3, 2021 in Tennessee\u2026I typically run in the morning, train at Blue Blood Muay Thai\/Four Seasons Martial Arts in the afternoon, and close out my night at the gym,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cole, affiliated with Wise County Combat Club, is 5\u201910\u2019 and has a reach of 75 inches. Fitial is 6\u20193\u201d and currently weighs 253 lbs. Cole is currently the No. 1 ranked professional MMA heavyweight in Tennessee and sixth ranked in the U.S. Southeast. In the country, he is the 28th ranked pro heavyweight in the sport of MMA.<\/p>\n

Fitial said he doesn\u2019t take this chance to revive his MMA career lightly. \u201cFirst and foremost, I would like to thank the Man above for this great opportunity. Thank you to my wife and son for all the love and support they have given me to be able to pursue this life dream. Thank you to my sponsor IT&E for making this dream come true. Thank you to my Muay Thai coach on Saipan, Tai Doram, for connecting me with a great team out here in Kentucky. Lastly, thank you to all my family, friends and the Mission Team back on Saipan for the outpouring love and support to keep me going. I am and will always be a very proud son of the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitial last fought professionally in March 2019 in Hex Fight Series 18 in Melbourne, Australia where he was knocked out in the opening round by Australia\u2019s Benjamin Sosoli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelvin \u201cThe Big Hit\u201d Fitial is set to make his long-awaited mixed martial arts return…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":349310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}