Superkombat, one of Europe’s top kickboxing promotions, returns to Iasi, Romania, on Saturday, Oct. 1, for the first time in over nine years. After a record-breaking performance in its last event, the promotion returns to the Romanian kickboxing hot spot with a battle for the vacant Superkombat middleweight title.
The middleweight strap was held by kickboxing great “Iron” Mike Zambidis from 2013 to 2015, when the K-1 MAX veteran hung up his gloves after 15 years in the sport and more than 150 fights. When Zambidis relinquished the belt upon his retirement, it created an opening in the middleweight division that has yet to be filled, despite a talented group of 72.5-kilogram fights. The opportunity has now opened for popular Romanian prospect Amansio Paraschiv to fight for the vacant belt against former It’s Showtime champion Chris Ngimbi.
Paraschiv has compiled an impressive record of 22 wins, four losses and one draw in his four-year career. The 24-year-old qualified for the 2015 Kunlun Fight 70-kilogram tournament with wins over Kunlun Fight veterans Kong Lingfeng, Liu Hainan and David Calvo. An injury forced Paraschiv out of the tournament field, but he won the Superkombat New Heroes middleweight title upon his return to the promotion. The Romanian prospect fought to a draw with top-20 70-kilogram fighter Cedric Manhoef and earned a decision win over fellow Romanian star Cristian Milea earlier this year. Paraschiv most recently stopped Ivan Rangel in the first round at the Superkombat World Grand Prix in Mamaia in July.
Ngimbi is a talented Dutch-style kickboxer that fled from war-torn Congo at the age of 11. The 32-year-old has compiled an impressive record in his nine-year career that includes victories over top fighters Chahid Oulad El Hadj, Marco Piqué, William Diender, Warren Stevelmans and UFC veteran Shane Campbell. Ngimbi finished just short of a second W5 71-kilogram tournament title when he dropped a close decision to fellow top-ranked kickboxer Artem Pashporin in December 2015. Ngimbi fell short in his bid to become the 2016 Kunlun Fight 70-kilogram tournament champion when he lost to Lee Sung-Hyun in the finals of the one-night, four-man qualifying tournament at Kunlun Fight 40. He won 2015 Combat Press Kickboxing “Knockout of the Year” honors with a monstrous flying-knee knockout of top Russian prospect Ilya Usachev.
The rest of the night’s action features many of Romania’s top stars taking on tough challenges from fellow European talent. The complete fight card is as follows:
72.5 kg: Chris Ngimbi vs. Amansio Paraschiv – Superkombat middleweight title
95 kg: David Trallero vs. Sebastian Cozmanca
86 kg: George Davis vs. Sebastian Ciobanu
65 kg: Cristian Spetcu vs. Jonathan Fabian
71 kg: Eduard Chelariu vs. Andrei Leustean
81 kg: Diego Mosquera vs. Bogdan Nastase
77 kg: Igor Scoda vs. Alex Filip
HW: Tomasz Czerwinski vs. Mihaita Golescu
81 kg: Adelin Mihaila vs. Adrian Rosca
81 kg: Daniel Stefanovski vs. Ionut Sandur
86 kg: Nicu Buceac vs. Razvan Tiru
77 kg: Cristi Stoica vs. Cristian Rotar
75 kg: Alexandru Panzari vs. Lascar Cornelius