AVT fighters celebrate British and world titles

danny huxtable won five medals, including a kickboxing gold, in the World Martial Arts Games in Croatia. Picture: Dn4 Photography

Last week, three of the four AVT fighters competing in the ISKA Amateur MMA Championships, in Birmingham, were crowned ISKA British champions in amateur MMA.

Tom ‘The Viking’ Crosby stepped up to the light-heavyweight (93kg) category, in order to avoid clashing with his AVT stablemates, and despite having a weight disadvantage on his rivals, returned home with a superb gold medal.

Crosby, 26, won both of his fights by submission, defeating a heavyweight in the final who was drafted in to the division because of low numbers in his own category.

Not to be outdone by Crosby, AVT fighters Wesley Nunns and Dom Stringer also claimed gold medals.

Nunns triumphed in the middleweight (84kg) category, winning his first fight by submission and the second fight by technical knock-out (TKO).

Stringer’s gold came in the welterweight (77kg) category where he was given the decision in his first fight and took the second with a submission.

AVT teammate Danny Huxtable was also in the medals, claiming bronze at (77kg) in the opposite side of the bracket to Stringer.

Huxtable’s medal haul was further boosted by a terrific display in Croatia, where he competed in the World Martial Arts Games and won five medals.

Huxtable, 24, secured a gold in kickboxing gold, a silver in continuous kickboxing and three bronze medals in MMA, K-1 style kickboxing and submission grappling.

The AVT charge for medals in Split continued with Crosby, who completed a hat-trick of golds in MMA, submission grappling and kickboxing. He also won bronze in K-1 style kickboxing.

The superb results are just reward for the fighters’ long hours of training at the AVT base on Bradford Road, where they train in mixed martial arts, BJJ, Muay Thai, boxing and wrestling.

As well as the amateur team, there is a successful professional squad that has fought on high-profile shows in the USA, China, Thailand, Poland and Sweden over the past year.

However, AVT also caters for people wanting to train for fun and fitness in a welcoming environment.