2 Nikiski fighters compete at AFC

Nikiski’s Mae Osborne, 36, and Josh Colby, 24, both fought in Alaska Fighting Championship events at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage recently.

Osborne fought on Feb. 15 and defeated Alicia McCollough in the first round when McCollough submitted after repeated strikes from Osborne.

Colby fought on March 8 and lost to Pat Glenday in the third round, when the referee stopped the fight after a blow from Glenday broke Colby’s jaw.

It was the first Alaska Fighting Championship for both fighters.

Both Osborne and Colby trained with Kenneth Wake in the building that formerly housed Nikiski Elementary School. Wake teaches mixed martial arts, which he says is a mixture of wrestling, boxing, kickboxing and jujitsu. He started teaching at his current location in December.

Wake said the classes are from two to four times a week. He said between eight and 15 people show up, but only three or four are looking at competing in the Alaska Fighting Championship. The rest are looking to get in shape.

“They want to get in shape, and there’s nothing better to get in shape than this,” Wake said.

Osborne said she started training with Wake in January. She started with two hour-and-a-half sessions a week and went up to three sessions a week with three weeks until her fight.

“I quit smoking cigarettes, because that screws with your stamina,” Osborne said. “When you’re wrestling around, it’s easy to burn out fast.”

Osborne also did some training on her own at the North Peninsula Recreation Area.

“She blew away everybody by how quickly she progressed,” Wake said of Osborne.

Osborne also blew away McCollough in their bout.

“I don’t think the young lady I fought trained as hard, or didn’t have as good of trainers, because we weren’t equally matched,” Osborne said.

Osborne said she would like to train for another fight and draw a better fighter this time.

“When you train hard, you want to be pushed to your limits,” Osborne said. “I wasn’t pushed to my limits. She didn’t even hit me.”

Despite his broken jaw, Colby also would like another shot at the Alaska Fighting Championship.

Colby said fatigue made him susceptible to the injury.

“I came out in the third round really tired,” Colby said. “He got in a really good right-hand punch and broke my jaw.”

Colby said fighting at the Alaska Fighting Championship is quite a rush.

“You get in there and the adrenaline kicks in,” he said. “It’s not just like training in the gym.”

Colby started working with Wake shortly after Wake started teaching at his current location. Colby also worked out at Body Master to get ready for the fight.

Colby said he has lost 10 pounds since breaking his jaw. For the first two weeks, everything he ate had to be pureed in a blender. He now has graduated to eating foods like ravioli.

“It’s healing up, but I haven’t been back to training,” Colby said. “As soon as it heals up, I’m planning on getting in there and fighting in six or eight months.”