Newark’s CJ Tony Ichida scores Rocky-like comeback in MMA debut
It isn’t often that someone’s amateur debut turns out to be an absolute classic, but that’s what happened with CJ Tony Ichida on Friday night.
The 26-year-old from Newark, N.J. put on the comeback of a lifetime in his amateur mixed martial arts debut, coming back from being dominated the entire round by Chris Holguin before scoring a one punch knockout with a left hook at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida.
It was a rough start for Ichida, who boxed in New Jersey under his birth name Ikenna Unachukwu. Holguin jumped him from the opening bell, taking advantage of Ichida’s inability to properly warm-up due to the 185-pound fight being moved up and down the card on the Combat Night Promotions card. It wasn’t a big surprise for Ichida, but that didn’t stop Ichida from being rocked repeatedly by his opponent’s heavy blows, including a knockdown with an overhand right, and slammed to the mat.
The fight looked like it was one punch from being over – just not in the way that most expected it. Ichida, who moved down to Orlando in 2024 and now trains in mixed martial arts under Juliene Williams at Fusion X-Cel Performance in Ocoee, Florida, listened to his cornerman Mike Sgroi’s advice to move his head off the line and found the opening to land the single left hook which knocked Holguin out with 1:07 remaining in the first.
For Ichida, the victory was a tribute to his friend’s husband, Tijo, who died just before the fight.
“He rushed at me, I expected it, he just caught me, I was like OK we’re still in there, I’m like alright I just need one shot,” said Ichida, who boxed at Newark’s Elite Heat Boxing under coach Anthony Mcphall.
“Eventually I moved my head out the line, I touched him, he left his head there. Slip, boom and that was the end of the story.”
Ichida tells NJBoxingNews that he will likely have one more amateur fight and then go professional, having sat the last year out recovering from an injury. Ichida has a deep athletic background, having wrestled and played soccer at Union County College. Aside from wrestling, Ichida is also a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has the distinction as an amateur boxer as the only one to ever defeat multiple-time national champion and Team USA boxer Malachi Georges in his home state of New Jersey.
Ichida says he doesn’t yet have a date lined up for his next fight.