Campbell senior Isiah Soto wins K1 debut at Cage of Honor 89

Amid an action-packed event at Cage of Honor 89 at the AC Base Arena in Cape Girardeau was a local high school kid making his kickboxing debut.

Campbell senior Isiah Soto entered the K1 cage for the first time and defeated Belleville East's Tre Cherry by a unanimous decision.

"I was excited, and honestly, I thought I was gonna be more nervous," Soto said. "I was nervous leading up to it. When we got into the cage, I was ready to go."

Soto tried everything in his first fight, including a spinning kick that nearly connected. In what seemed like a close competition, he got in one last jab to his opponent's face just before the final bell.

"I think that added to it," Soto said, "and a lot of good hooks in there and a lot of strikes."

Soto got into kickboxing through a friend when he was 14 years old. It took him two years of training to get ready for this first fight. His friend introduced him to the Dark Horse Gym in Dexter, where he trains and fights for.

"We all train together," Soto said.

Soto plans to further into mixed martial arts as he gets older.

"My ground game is a lot better than my stand-up," Soto said. "I'm ready for that when I turn 18."

Soto was one of four Dark Horse fighters to compete in COH on Saturday. Among the group is Zach Carlyle, who fights out of East Prairie. He had little time to prepare for his fight, but still managed to knock out Austin Phelps in 32 seconds.

"We definitely have a lot to improve on, but it's starting to look a lot better," Carlyle said. "Especially when we got young guys coming up."

The event was highlighted by Mervin Miller upsetting the COH light heavyweight champion Tristan Overvig to take the belt. Miller overwhelmed Overvig to win the fight by unanimous decision.

Cape Girardeau native Keyth “The Sleeper” Dawson lived by his nickname in the co-main event by knocking out Tavae Lewis within the first two minutes of the fight. He set up his knockout kick by striking Lewis in the calf with low kicks. Lewis attempted to grapple Dawson to the ground before a high kick took him out. Dawson’s shin connected with the side of Lewis’ head and the fight was over after a round of ground and pound.

Just like the main card ended, it started with a surprise upset. Chris Carpenter, who was fighting for the first time since August 13, 2022, shocked the stage by forcing Dark Horse's Laroy Davis to tap out after a successful kneebar to become the new welterweight champion.

In the bantamweight title bout, Camden Hooe relied on his Muay Thai training and attempted to defend his belt with kicks. However, his low kicks set up an opening for Tyreace Wilbourn to charge in and wrestle Hooe to the ground to secure the unanimous decision.

The bout between Colton Rodgers and Dakota Ivie was the lone battle between Dark Horse and War Eagle, which is based in Cape Girardeau. Ivie attacked immediately and took over the fight winning within the first three minutes by technical submission. War Eagle went 2-1 in the event, highlighted by Dawson's victory.

The kickboxing bout between Antonio Munoz vs. Chris Bailey was a true battle of styles. Bailey was only boxing, while Munoz tried the win the fight through kicks alone. After a successful first round, he was rewarded with a majority decision.

Josh Clark defeated Trevor Hatton by submission via a rear-naked choke hold in the first round to win the first fight of the event.