Chris Tapia ready to apply “heavy pressure” early on Stephens
Chris Tapia has been grinding away at the sport of Muay Thai for the better part of a decade. His home away from home is a training facility ran by Christrian Tran that has bred some of the top tier Muay Thai talent in the east coast. A home he calls Weapons 9. With the time invested at Weapons 9, he’s amassed close to 30 fights, and has faced the toughest opposition in front of him, no matter the rule set or titles on the line. Muay Thai or Glory rules…Tapia has fought through them all.
On Saturday, November 16th, Chris Tapia will take on local hometown standout, Jason “The Silent Assassin” Stephens in a Glory rules 145 championship endeavor. This bout will serve as the co-main event to the exciting main event that has Kevin Rhodes taking on Matt Lyall in a full rules Muay Thai bout.
While discussing the bout with Tapia, he undoubtedly knew of Stephens strengths going into the battle. With Stephens height and range, Tapia seemed to have an educated idea of the competitor he will be facing. When asked about if the rules detour a predominant Thai fighter, Tapia explains, “Even though we are a Muay Thai gym, we’re pretty heavy with our hands-boxing wise”, inferring that he doesn’t have to fight in the clinch to feel at ease. When asked about Stephens prediction of a “dominant performance”, Tapia seemed to smile and shrug it off, replying: “I’ve had close to 30 fights already, I haven’t been dominated once. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be confident in his range and everything else but I’m known as a pressure fighter. I apply heavy pressure from the beginning. I’m not going to predict a knockout because I don’t like talking about that stuff before the fight. I’m just going to put in the work and put on a show and you know we’re going to see how he responds to that…”
Tune in to hear the full one-on-one interview between Chris Tapia and myself as we go into the particulars about this title fight.
If you haven’t gotten tickets yet to Gut Check Championship Series: Rhodes vs. Lyall, please visit https://mvjgear.bigcartel.com/product/gutcheckmuaythai. These tickets are going fast and a night of standup combat action awaits!
