It’s time to step into the world of British mixed martial arts once again as we take a look at the 27th offering from the Ultimate Challenge MMA promotion, shown this past Wednesday on Sky Sports here in Britain.
The broadcast began with UK1 kickboxing action as Peter Nemeth faced Tony Giles in the middleweight division.
No feeling out period in this one. Giles came out swinging, and it wasn’t long before numerous lefts and rights rained down on Nemeth.
The referee quickly stepped in to give a standing eight count, but Nemeth verbally gave up before the count was even finished. The time: just 22 seconds.
After a highlights package featuring action from some of the other fights, it was back to regular action as Arnold Allen faced Nathan Greyson in the bantamweight division.
This certainly was an action packed encounter. Allen, who was making his professional debut at just 18 years of age, put on an excellent display of ground work, going for a few submissions, which Greyson was lucky to escape from.
Greyson, for his part, was able to counter many of Allen’s moves, and if the first round had gone on any longer he may well have taken the win with his unanswered ground and pound.
Greyson unloaded with the heavy leather again early in the second, backing Allen up against the fence. But when Allen unloaded with a big left Greyson crashed down to the canvas, the referee called an immediate halt to the proceedings, giving Allen the knockout win.
Then it was up to the light heavyweight division as Max Nunes faced Shane Fourie.
An encounter between two undefeated fighters saw both fighters unloading before a engaging in a clinch against the fence. The referee separated them when that went nowhere.
Fourie went for a takedown but found himself on his back and on the receiving end of some hard ground and pound from Nunes. It wasn’t long before the blood was flowing and Fourie was verbally tapping, giving Nunes the impressive win.
Welterweight action followed as Andy Cona went up against Amil Smith.
Plenty of action in this one. Cona began his night’s work with a spinning back fist before taking the action to the ground.
It wasn’t long before Smith went for a guillotine, which Cona countered by getting to his feet and taking Smith down with what can be described as a powerslam in professional wrestling circles.
But in the end, it didn’t do much good. Seconds later Smith took Cona’s back and synched in a rear naked choke for the submission win.
The welterweight action continued with Lee Caers against Luke Newman.
Newman put on a great display of ground work in this one, taking Caers down with a big slam. Caers tried to defend, but it wasn’t long before Newman took control, taking Caers’s back.
Newman began to unleash with the ground and pound, eventually getting the rear naked choke he was looking for. Caers had no choice but to tap out, giving Newman the submission win.
A catchweight bout, made at 80 kilograms, followed as Miguel Bernard took on Michael Page.
Page began the fight with his usual side-on stance, a tactic that seemed to frustrate Bernard a little. Both fighters looked a little sloppy in their striking as they tried to land the first blow.
But when Page slipped, Bernard went straight into his guard. Page immediately went for an arm bar, and it wasn’t long before Bernard tapped out.
It was back to welterweight for the next fight as Warren Kee faced Bolo Omoyele.
Some nice work from Omoyele here. After a brief exchange at the beginning Omoyele went for the takedown. Kee managed to get back to his feet, but it wasn’t long before Omoyele took his back.
With both men still standing Omoyele connected with a series of left knees to Kee’s head while he still controlled his back. Kee could have simply avoided these strikes by putting his hand down but for some reason he failed to do this, and when Kee was knocked out for a brief moment the referee quickly stepped in to give Omoyele the KO win.
Then it was back to UK1 kickboxing action as A.J. Woodhall faced Louis King for the vacant Light Heavyweight title.
It’s a good job I didn’t use my blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair line earlier because that line would certainly apply here.
King came out swinging, and a big left sent Woodhall crashing to the mat. The referee stepped in immediately, giving King the KO victory and the title after just six seconds.
The main event featured light heavyweight action as Neil Bittong took on Ben Smith.
The second fight of the broadcast saw Smith putting in a dominating performance on the ground. Although his first two take downs were quickly countered when Bittong got back to his feet, Smith soon imposed his will on the fight, grinding Bittong down.
It was the same in the early stages of the second round, but when the fighters got back to their feet Bittong suddenly turned the tables, and when the fight went to the ground he soon took Smith’s back, locking in a rear naked choke for the submission win.
In conclusion, this certainly was an explosive night of MMA action, with only two of the fights shown making it out of the second round as we saw quick submission, TKO and KO wins.
But even though those performances were impressive, my fight of the night was the encounter between Arnold Allen and Nathan Greyson. It’s still kind of hard to believe that Allen is just 18 years old given his performance, mainly because I’ve got nieces and nephews older than him!
So having taken everything into account, UCMMA get the thumbs up treatment once again for another night of quality British action.
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