Moore rules at Ultimate Taekwon-Do Challenge in New Jersey

ADRIAN MOORE on Saturday won the lightweight title and grand championship at the Ultimate Taekwon-Do Challenge in Tenafly, New Jersey.

Moore swept past fellow Jamaican John Lindo and United States' Marc Akta, the 2013 International Taekwon-Do Federation junior lightweight world champion, to win the lightweight division.

He afterwards squared off with the Russian winner of the heavyweight division, George Kyomov, completing what coach Jason McKay said was a well-orchestrated plan to capture the grand championship title.

McKay spread three fighters over two divisions, Moore and Ackeem Lawrence in lightweight and Demar King in heavyweight, so Moore would face Akta in the lightweight final and the Russian in the grand championship.

"The strategy was to use Ackeem and Demar to wear down, if not defeat Akta and Kyomov, with the aim to clear the way for Moore, who is in significantly better fighting shape," said McKay.

Lawrence challenged world junior champion Akta, now fighting as an adult in the lightweight semi-final. The Jamaican held Akta to a tie at full time, but fell in time-added.

In the lightweight final, Moore and Akta were tied at full time. However, the Jamaican's speed and skill saw him wearing down Akta, who was obviously tired after his long battle with Lawrence.

King was stopped by Kyomov, who capitalised on his weight advantage to win the heavyweight division. Moore afterwards defeated the Russian to clinch the grand championship fight-off.

"I knew the real threat was Akta and I also figured the 10 pounds of extra weight on him would make the win harder for Ackeem, who is really a microweight," McKay explained.

"The plan was to give him an attacking match against Ackeem. He is really talented and fast, but Adrian had weight that Ackeem doesn't and better reach than Akta, so I figured Adrian had the best chance," he added.