ADRIAN Moore, 34, who made a surprising but successful return to Jamaica’s combined martial arts team at the United States Open in Orlando, Florida, in July, is among six fighters gunning for glory at the International Sport Kickboxing Association’s Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) World Championships in Brisbane, Australia from October 15 to 19.

Moore was among the first Jamaicans to compete at an ISKA AMA World Championship, Holland 2012, at which Oshane Murray won gold.

Moore, Jason McKay, and Nicholas Dusard all won bronze medals in Holland 2012, setting the stage for a second generation of Jamaican fighters, who started dominating the event from 2015 after Kevin Brown’s silver in Cyprus 2013, and Kenneth Edwards won gold in Barcelona 2014 as Jamaica’s lone competitor.

Fighting as a light heavyweight in Brisbane, Moore will again face compatriot Dusard after both dominated that division at the US Open, sweeping the top places in clash and continuous sparring.

Dusard stopped Moore in the clash-sparring final to defend his 2024 crown but conceded to his teammate in the continuous-sparring finale, having pulled a hamstring in his dramatic knockout of the United States’ Joshua Wirtz.

Looking forward to seeing Moore and Dusard battle it out for the light heavyweight titles in Brisbane, coach Jason McKay warned that the weight division at the ISKA AMA World Championships has a bigger pool of fighters than the US Open.

“It doesn’t have the glitter of the ITF (International Taekwondo Federation) World Champs or the Olympic connection of the World Taekwon-Do Federation (WTF), nor the glamour of the US Open. However, it is, by far, the hardest fighting with the most contact and the most challenging to athletes’ cardiovascular,” he said.

Moore, the first graduate of the McKay Security Jamaica Taekwondo Association High School Martial Arts League to skipper the Jamaica combined martial arts team as a 25-year-old in 2017, returned from a five-year hiatus for the US Open.

Moore was a mainstay on Jamaica’s combined martial arts team, which went unbeaten for 53 international matches in team fighting, extending their record from ITF championships to their foray into the ISKA AMA World Championships.

In 2018, Moore fought alongside Dusard, Edwards, Akino Lindsay and Ackeem Lawrence to lift the ISKA AMA World Championships team-fighting gold at home, cheered on by supporters inside the Montego Bay Convention Centre.